After the auction ended, Xu Zhengyang could hardly wait to collect the Soul Devouring Carving Knife from the auction staff.
Clearly, even the auction staff were deeply wary of the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, actually storing it in a specially made Soul Tool case. After paying the balance, Xu Zhengyang took the Soul Devouring Carving Knife straight back to his hotel.
Only after reaching the hotel did Xu Zhengyang truly begin examining the Soul Devouring Carving Knife closely.
The Soul Devouring Carving Knife was about half a foot long and only around two centimeters in diameter, roughly as thick as a finger, making it look very slender.
Yet even through its case, Xu Zhengyang could clearly sense its astonishing weight. It was far denser than any metal he had ever seen.
Its tip in particular shone with the edge of a sharpened sword, giving off a chilling gleam, as though it could tear apart everything around it.
Although its surface looked exceptionally ancient and simple, a peculiar presence seemed to shroud it, containing some kind of obscure energy.
After so many years of body tempering, especially his long periods of training in Sunset Forest and the Ice Sea, Xu Zhengyang's physical strength had long since far surpassed that of ordinary people. Even his senses were sharper than those of ordinary people, and his entire body was like a mass of blazing fire, relatively sensitive to any evil presence.
However, even without directly touching the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, Xu Zhengyang sensed an inexplicably unsettling presence enveloping it, like a Fierce Beast ready to devour the people around it at any moment.
When Xu Zhengyang opened the Devil Tiger's Eye between his brows, he could even see densely packed, ancient patterns on the Soul Devouring Carving Knife's surface. At the same time, it emitted an exceptionally evil presence that actually ignored its surroundings and began gradually spreading along the Devil Tiger's Eye's line of sight.
Xu Zhengyang was startled as well. This Soul Devouring Carving Knife was simply too dangerous. Even a high-ranking Titled Douluo would probably struggle to resist this evil presence. This was likely the source of the curse the auctioneer had mentioned.
When an ordinary Soul Master cultivated, if an evil presence invaded their body, both their Soul Power and their body would gradually begin to change. This would cause problems with the circulation of Soul Power, and especially when facing an opponent, problems with Soul Power circulation would spell fatal disaster.
No wonder all the Soul Devouring Carving Knife's previous owners had died horrible deaths. This strange, evil energy was the cause.
And this was only what Xu Zhengyang had discovered while observing the Soul Devouring Carving Knife from a certain distance. If he actually touched it, given his current Soul Power, his entire body would probably begin changing before long, and it might even affect his future cultivation.
"What should I do? I'm only interested in the gold of life used to make this Soul Devouring Carving Knife. I have no interest in the curse or evil energy on it."
Xu Zhengyang stared blankly at the Soul Devouring Carving Knife for a while. Now that he had obtained such a treasure, how was he supposed to use it?
As everyone knew, carving knives could be considered among the hardest of all tools. In particular, they needed to carve various formations into top-grade metals, so their edges were generally exceptionally sharp, and their bodies were usually forged from special materials.
For example, the Xu Clan's Soul Tool factory in Dongyang City might be able to manufacture Soul Tools, but it could not make carving knives. That was because the requirements for making carving knives were too stringent: not only did they demand extremely high-quality metals, but they also required a thousand hammerings and a hundred temperings.
Xu Zhengyang himself also had a carving knife, which his father had given him back then. It was said to be capable of making Soul Tools up to Class 3.
"What can I do to destroy this carving knife and turn it into the gold of life I want? Above all, I can't let the peculiar curse on it spread, or I'll really be in trouble."
Looking at the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, Xu Zhengyang had no solution for the time being. Even if he returned to Dongyang City, he probably would not be able to destroy it or extract the gold of life.
After all, when he had wanted to hammer-temper the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear in Dongyang City, he had likewise hit a bottleneck. On one hand, he was limited by his forging skills, and on the other, by the forging furnace. The finer the metal, the higher the temperature it required.
The Xu Clan enjoyed such high status in the Sun Moon Empire not only because of its original imperial lineage and powerful Martial Souls, but also because of its unique Sun Martial Soul. This Martial Soul possessed extreme heat, and its fire control could be called unparalleled under heaven, particularly its ability to produce extremely high temperatures.
Xu Zhengyang did not want anyone else to learn about the gold of life in the Soul Devouring Carving Knife. Extracting it would require a better furnace; at the very least, Dongyang City's facilities could not accomplish it.
At this thought, Xu Zhengyang suddenly remembered a place. It might fall short when it came to manufacturing Soul Tools, but its forging skills could absolutely be called top-notch.
Early the next morning, Xu Zhengyang packed his bags and left Star Luo City.
After two days of traveling at speed under a heavy load, Xu Zhengyang finally reached his destination: Gengxin City.
Gengxin City was the renowned blacksmith capital of the Douluo Continent, famed throughout the world for its casting techniques. It had the finest blacksmiths on the entire Douluo Continent and was also home to the continent's Blacksmith Association.
Perhaps in terms of Soul Master ranks, Gengxin City fell far short of the Sun Moon Empire's top Soul Engineers, but its research into casting techniques and the forging of iron and steel was absolutely unrivaled under heaven.
After entering Gengxin City, he found that it was indeed filled with shops selling metals, as well as countless smithies. Quite a few shops even stocked some very good metals.
Yet the prices were considerably higher than in the Sun Moon Empire, while the quality of the metals was ultimately still somewhat inferior. Clearly, the Sun Moon Empire possessed uniquely favorable advantages in both metal output and quality.
Moreover, Gengxin City focused on casting and had no Soul Engineer Association. Its people were still relatively poor, not making money the way Soul Engineers did.
After wandering around Gengxin City for two days, Xu Zhengyang gave it a little thought and simply bought a smithy.
The smithy was clearly poorly run. Although it had five blacksmiths, their casting skills were relatively low, but its casting facilities were very good, especially its top-notch blast furnace.
Xu Zhengyang spent a thousand gold soul coins to buy the entire smithy and registered in Gengxin City under the name Long Aotian. Once he completed registration and passed the Blacksmith Association's assessment, he could formally join the Blacksmith Association, participate in some of its internal affairs, and even obtain more information.
Xu Zhengyang did not particularly care about any of that. What mattered to him was whether truly superb casting techniques existed here and whether he could truly communicate with highly skilled blacksmiths.
Besides, Xu Zhengyang had now mastered the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique. Although his formation inscription skills only allowed him to make Class 1 Soul Tools, in terms of casting techniques, he could successfully forge even the blanks for Class 3 Soul Tools.