Over the next few days, Xu Haoyang personally taught his son every step of the forging process and even made a forging hammer especially for Xu Zhengyang.
When Xu Zhengyang summoned his Martial Soul and placed it in the already red-hot furnace, he felt heat spread from his Martial Soul throughout his body.
Even so, Xu Zhengyang continued pumping the bellows harder, stoking the furnace until all the firestones inside were burning. Only then did he grip the forging hammer and bring it down heavily on the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear.
Under that blow, the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear showed no reaction whatsoever. Xu Zhengyang could not even feel any force from the impact. The spear's entire surface remained utterly unchanged, without even the slightest alteration to its rust.
Xu Zhengyang paid little attention to that and began striking it again and again, putting his full strength into every blow.
Only after a full half hour, when even Xu Zhengyang's right hand had begun to ache, did the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear show the slightest change. Some of the rust seemed to be growing brittle.
At the same time, however, Xu Zhengyang felt as though his body had taken a heavy blow.
Instead, Xu Zhengyang was delighted. After so many hammer strikes, there was finally a reaction. The Martial Soul's reaction had also been transmitted to his body precisely because his body and Martial Soul were one. Hammering his Martial Soul was actually somewhat similar to hammering his body.
For some time afterward, apart from his basic spear practice every morning, he spent all his daytime hours hammering his Martial Soul.
Through the ceaseless hammering and tempering each day, the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear seemed to be subtly affected, showing signs of shrinking.
After a full day of hammering, Xu Zhengyang was utterly exhausted. His hands in particular seemed to have spent every last bit of strength, and his arms hung limp.
Only when evening came did Xu Zhengyang drag his limp body over and plunge into the bathing tub prepared well in advance, having exhausted all his Soul Power and physical strength.
After dinner, Xu Zhengyang spent some time studying the engraving of Soul Tool formations, then began meditating when it was time for bed.
To make Xu Zhengyang more proficient at forging, his father personally taught him how to hold the hammer and direct his blows, even inviting experts from the clan to give him pointers.
To put more power into each hammer strike, Xu Zhengyang could not help recalling the most famous hammer technique in the original novel, the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique. It was not particularly complicated, and the original novel contained a detailed account of it.
When using the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique, the user had to generate force from the calves, passing it through the thighs, waist, back, and arms in succession before finally releasing it through the hammer in their hands.
The instant the hammer rebounded and was about to reach its highest point, the user's body used inertia to swing it around, turning the rebound from the collision between hammer and metal into the force of the next strike, making every blow exceed the user's full strength.
During forging, Xu Zhengyang explored the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique step by step. Every use of it required him to exert his full strength and push his body's power to the utmost, making it another form of bodily tempering.
Time flew, and a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Over that year, perhaps because forging Soul Tools tempered his body, his rate of Soul Power improvement actually did not slow. In one year, his Soul Power rose from rank fourteen to rank seventeen, an increase of three ranks.
For Xu Zhengyang, whose Innate Soul Power was only half a rank, this rate of improvement was already quite fast-at least considerably faster than he had expected.
After this year of tempering, Xu Zhengyang had essentially mastered the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique. Although his body became extremely weak every time he used it, the tempering effects were still very evident. In particular, each time he underwent this hammering at the utmost limit, his body also broke through its limits again and again.
Xu Zhengyang discovered a very promising phenomenon. Every time he used the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique at full strength, especially after completing nine times nine, eighty-one strikes, soaking his body in the bathing tub afterward caused some black impurities to seep out. They seemed to flow from his muscles and meridians.
After this year of tempering, the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear finally no longer looked like a large iron rod and had taken on the shape of a long spear.
The rust on the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear's surface had all turned to ash through countless rounds of hammering and tempering, seemingly merging into the original Martial Soul. Unfortunately, no matter how Xu Zhengyang forged it, the spearhead still only had a rudimentary shape. It had faintly turned golden yellow, but it never developed an edge, leaving him able to defeat enemies only through great strength.
Xu Zhengyang knew very well that this flaw came from the Martial Soul itself and could not be corrected through external force alone. Only by finding rarer, more precious metals to merge into it, as Xu Yuanxuan had said, or by finding a way to awaken his Martial Soul again, could he fully resolve the issue of the spearhead's sharpness.
The Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear was now three meters long and roughly eight centimeters in diameter. Its entire shaft was pitch-black, giving off an icy gleam, while its spearhead had gained a trace of menace, like a fierce tiger yet to leave its cage.
After a year of study, Xu Zhengyang finally crafted his first Soul Tool by engraving formations. It was a cannon-like weapon that could fire shells at enemies, with power roughly equivalent to a Soul Master's first Soul Skill.
In terms of manufacturing precision and power, it was only an ordinary Class 1 Soul Tool. Even so, it was enough to make Xu Zhengyang a Class 1 Soul Engineer.
Seeing Xu Zhengyang so happy left Xu Haoyang speechless. His son really was far too interested in Soul Tools, getting this excited over becoming a mere Class 1 Soul Engineer.
By the time Xu Zhengyang received his Class 1 Soul Engineer badge, all preparations were complete. He finally planned to leave the clan and Dongyang City to gain experience in the outside world.
Although Dongyang City was a fine place, it was ultimately too comfortable. Xu Zhengyang knew that without real life-and-death battles and genuine experience in the outside world, he could never become a truly top-tier Soul Master.
His father, Xu Haoyang, seemed to understand his thoughts as well and prepared all sorts of things for him. Among them was a Class 4 Soul Tool for self-defense: Absolute Defense. It was a suit of soft armor that could be worn against the body. Once activated by the wearer, its defensive effect rivaled a thousand-year defensive Soul Skill.
There were other Soul Tools as well: the Class 4 Soul Tool Wings of Flight, a defensive bracelet, a Milk Bottle, a Class 5 Soul Tool flame spear, and several storage Soul Tools. He even prepared a Soul Tool capable of storing living things according to Xu Zhengyang's wishes.
These weapon-type Soul Tools were immensely powerful, generally Class 4 or Class 5. Although Xu Zhengyang could not fully use them yet, they could defend him and save his life at a critical moment.