Only after swallowing a pill did Xu Zhengyang take the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear and examine it carefully.
The Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear now seemed to have revealed seventy percent of its original appearance. Its shaft was cold as iron, faintly emitting a trace of red light, and its head resembled a giant tiger with its jaws open. The pointed blade alone was over a foot long. Although the entire spearhead had yet to be sharpened, it already exuded an extremely terrifying, intimidating presence.
Even the tiger head radiated an extremely terrifying, intimidating presence, like the king of beasts reigning over the world.
Ignoring the pain of his injuries, Xu Zhengyang breathed a sigh of relief and even appeared exceptionally excited.
Whatever the case, the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear now basically looked like a spear. As long as he found a way to sharpen its head, it would surely regain its true brilliance and truly rival a top-tier Tool Martial Soul.
Xu Zhengyang even felt that once the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear fully displayed its own characteristics, it would definitely be no worse than the Clear Sky Hammer and the Coiling Dragon Staff, and might even be stronger.
The Clear Sky Hammer and the Coiling Dragon Staff were both supreme strength-type Martial Souls that relied purely on strength to suppress their opponents. The Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear, however, was different. Not only did it possess ultimate strength, but it also had terrifying penetrating power, making it worthy of being called the true king of weapons.
Beside him, Lou Li could not help praising him. "Xu Zhengyang, it looks like your experiment succeeded after all. A Tool Martial Soul like this, which hasn't fully awakened, can indeed be reforged. However, the process is extremely difficult, and the smith's body also has to withstand this powerful pressure."
"You're the most promising blacksmith I've ever seen, and also the Soul Master with the greatest capacity to endure that I've ever seen. Perhaps your future truly will be boundless."
Xu Zhengyang said, "Thank you for your help this time, President Lou. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to complete the final step at all."
Only after the two spoke for a while did Lou Li leave the blacksmith shop. Even the five workers had been sent home early.
Xu Zhengyang carefully studied the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear in his hands. His year of hard work had finally borne fruit. Now that the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear had fully taken the shape of a spear, his combat strength would definitely increase significantly.
"It finally worked. Looks like it's almost time for the next step of the plan. Of course, I also need to get ready to go home. It's just a bit of a shame that I still haven't broken through to rank thirty."
Xu Zhengyang had originally planned to break through to rank thirty within this year, then go directly to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for a Soul Ring. Afterward, he would follow the Star Dou Great Forest and return to Dongyang City directly through the Heaven Soul Empire's Extreme North. This would allow him to bypass the heavily guarded border between the Sun Moon Empire and the Heaven Soul Empire.
Of course, Xu Zhengyang also knew very well that completely forging the large iron rod into the shape of the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear was only the first step. What came next would be harder: sharpening the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear and adding gold of life to it. Only then could the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear continue to break through, and perhaps eventually reach the level of a divine artifact.
However, this would be a very long process. Ji Juechen had spent ten years just barely forging extraterrestrial meteoric iron into the shape of a sword, and what he had to do would probably be even harder.
The first difficulty was that he needed to go to the Illustrious Virtue Hall to find the secret forging technique for turning a Martial Soul into a Life-Bound Soul Tool.
Of course, the most important thing now was to deal with a hidden danger at his side. It was a ticking time bomb that could cost him his life at any moment.
After recuperating for a night, Xu Zhengyang simply handed out one hundred gold soul coins to the five workers and dismissed them all.
At the same time, Xu Zhengyang shut down the entire Zhengyang Blacksmith Shop. He would probably find it difficult to return to Gengxin City in this lifetime.
Once everything had been dealt with, Xu Zhengyang put on his weights of over three hundred jin again and left Gengxin City without further delay.
He had spent an entire year in Gengxin City, and his days had been very fulfilling and peaceful. Xu Zhengyang had gotten to know quite a few people, including some exceptionally forthright blacksmiths with exquisite forging skills. He had even become friends with Lou Li despite their age difference and had sought his advice many times.
But in the end, he was not from the Douluo Continent. In the future, they might only be enemies.
After five days of brisk travel, Xu Zhengyang finally reached his destination in the southeastern part of the Star Luo Empire, around two thousand kilometers from Star Luo City.
An exceptionally lofty mountain rose before his eyes, but it differed from ordinary mountains. There was little vegetation anywhere on it, and thick stone covered the ground, all of it scorched black.
Even within a radius of ten kilometers, Soul Beasts and plants were very scarce, and any Soul Beasts present were unusual ones.
This place took its name from the gathering of wind and lightning. It was called Azure Thunder Mountain, and it was renowned throughout the Douluo Continent as a place where lightning gathered, sharing the fame of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Thunder Canyon of old.
Many lightning-attribute Soul Masters liked to search for Soul Beasts here, and quite a few lightning-attribute Soul Master clans even cultivated nearby. However, because the environment was too harsh, no great clans had arisen, nor had any major power occupied it.
Legend had it that Azure Thunder Mountain had given rise to many top-tier lightning-attribute Soul Beasts. It could even be called one of the Douluo Continent's rarely seen perilous lands. Ordinary people could not venture deep into it at all, and its summit in particular was wreathed in lightning year-round.
Azure Thunder Mountain was precisely Xu Zhengyang's destination this time. Ever since obtaining the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, he had harbored a faint sense of unease.
The Soul Devouring Carving Knife was rumored to be extremely terrifying. It bore the curse of a Titled Douluo Evil Soul Master, and its terrifyingly sharp presence left even Xu Zhengyang deeply alarmed. Even when it was inside a special box, Xu Zhengyang still felt as though that presence might bore its way out at any moment.
Not to mention the Soul Devouring Carving Knife's tendency to devour its masters. Thirty-seven of its owners had already died horribly. In the original story, if Huo Yuhao had not had Electrolux's help, he probably would not have been able to master the Soul Devouring Carving Knife either.
Xu Zhengyang did not dare bring something so terrifying back to his home, but he coveted the gold of life that the Soul Devouring Carving Knife was made from. This gold of life might be the key to allowing the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear to break through.
In terms of value, this piece of gold of life might be worth more than all the metals in the Illustrious Virtue Hall. It could be called a true treasure.
Lou Li's words back then had given Xu Zhengyang a reminder. No matter how hard he cultivated, he would definitely be unable to master the Soul Devouring Carving Knife in the short term, or even damage the gold of life, especially with that terrifying curse still there.
But if he used the lightning of heaven and earth, he might be able to destroy the Soul Devouring Carving Knife. In particular, lightning was the natural bane of evil and would definitely be able to remove the curse on the Soul Devouring Carving Knife.
After some research, Xu Zhengyang believed that Azure Thunder Mountain might be an ideal treasure land. It might be able to suppress the Soul Devouring Carving Knife completely, and there might even be unexpected surprises.
There was one other point: Xu Zhengyang did not want anyone to know that he had the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, much less that he had gold of life. He understood well that wealth could stir people's hearts, so he absolutely could not seek anyone else's help with this matter, not even members of his own clan.