After the meal, Xu Qing took the initiative to clear away the bowls and chopsticks. Gu Yuena quietly stayed beside him, helping wipe the table.
Once they finished tidying up and washing, Xu Qing and Gu Yuena went into the patch of Blue Silver Grass in the backyard. They sat facing each other and soon entered a meditative state.
Meanwhile, as Xu Qing entered meditation, faint golden specks of light began emanating from his body again.
The specks slowly drifted down around him like fireflies, gradually being absorbed by the Blue Silver Grass in the backyard.
The Blue Silver Grass swayed its stems and leaves joyfully, releasing tiny motes of vitality that slowly gathered toward Xu Qing within the patch of grass.
Some of the specks also settled on Gu Yuena and were absorbed by her. The bloodline within her body slowly absorbed and integrated them, improving at an extremely slow pace.
Early the next morning,
The two emerged from meditation.
After they exchanged a glance, Gu Yuena summoned a ball of fire to dispel the dew that had settled on them.
After breakfast, they left home side by side and walked toward Red Mountain Academy.
The morning air in the streets carried a faint dampness, and students streamed past all around them.
"Oh, Xu Qing, Gu Yuena!"
A surprised voice came from behind them. Xu Qing turned and saw who it was.
It was Tang Wulin!
Tang Wulin caught up with them and greeted them with a smile. "Morning, you two!"
"Morning, Wulin!" Xu Qing replied.
"Oh, right, Xu Qing. How did it go? Did you get the Soul Spirit you wanted?" Tang Wulin asked curiously.
Xu Qing nodded, then summoned Lingrong.
Looking at the little fellow on Xu Qing's shoulder, Tang Wulin said in wonder,
"So this is a Soul Spirit?"
Intense envy instantly welled up in Tang Wulin's eyes.
Both of their Martial Souls were Blue Silver Grass, yet Xu Qing cultivated so much faster than he did.
Tang Wulin immediately felt a little dejected.
Xu Qing patted his shoulder and said,
"I just got lucky. Besides, you should probably break through in less than a year too. There's no need to envy me." Xu Qing smiled faintly.
Tang Wulin nodded and soon rallied his spirits.
"I'll definitely work hard."
Xu Qing nodded. "Let's go!"
The three then headed toward Red Mountain Academy.
That afternoon,
The bell rang throughout the campus, and soon it was time for school to let out.
After saying goodbye to Gu Yuena, Xu Qing headed to Mang Tian's Workshop with Tang Wulin.
"Wulin, Xu Qing, you're here!"
Brother Long greeted Xu Qing and Tang Wulin when he saw them walk in.
"Good afternoon, senior brother!"
"Good afternoon, Brother Long!"
Xu Qing and Tang Wulin replied.
Xu Qing asked, "Brother Long, is Teacher here?"
"He is. Teacher isn't forging right now; he's resting. Did you need him for something?" their eldest senior brother asked.
"Yes. I successfully fused with a Soul Spirit yesterday and broke through to become a Soul Master."
Xu Qing answered truthfully, "Teacher told me before that I'd already become fully proficient in Hundred Refinement, and that I could start trying to learn Thousand Refinement once I became a Soul Master. So I came specifically to report it to him."
"You became a Soul Master so quickly?"
Their eldest senior brother's face was full of surprise, and a trace of envy flashed in his eyes.
Seeing their eldest senior brother's shocked expression, Tang Wulin immediately felt that he knew exactly how he felt.
"Senior brother, I'll go finish today's tasks first! You two keep talking."
Brother Long looked at Tang Wulin and nodded.
"Go ahead!"
Tang Wulin then nodded to Xu Qing and went inside.
Brother Long, meanwhile, took Xu Qing to find Mang Tian.
Looking at Xu Qing's distinctly youthful little face, he was filled with emotion.
He had started learning forging from Mang Tian at twelve, only begun learning Thousand Refinement at twenty, and barely managed to forge his first Thousand Refinement piece at twenty-five.
Compared with a monster like Xu Qing, he clearly fell far short. Still, he knew that with Xu Qing's and Tang Wulin's freakish strength, those two were simply born to forge.
There was no way he could compare.
In the inner forging room, Xu Qing saw Mang Tian listening to music and bowed respectfully. "Teacher."
Mang Tian raised his eyes and swept his gaze over Xu Qing. He instantly noticed the fluctuations of Soul Power around him, and approval appeared in his eyes.
"You've become a Soul Master? Your Martial Soul and Wulin's are both Blue Silver Grass. I originally thought you'd break through at about the same time, but I never expected you to be this quick."
Mang Tian nodded slightly, his tone clearly gratified. "After becoming a Soul Master, both your physique and strength will receive a boost. At your current level, you're indeed qualified to begin working on Thousand Refinement."
"But there's no rush. Before I teach you Thousand Refinement, I need to take you to test your physical strength."
As he spoke, he led Xu Qing into another room, where there was a strength-testing device.
The device was very simple in structure, consisting of three parts in total. At the bottom was a square metal platform with a thick cylindrical metal block mounted on it. Behind it stood a cylinder two meters tall, with a long, thin column of mercury inside.
It was actually very simple to use. A blacksmith only needed to strike the lower metal cylinder with a forging hammer, and the mercury column behind it would rise according to the force of the blow. The strength-testing device would automatically subtract the force contributed by the forging hammer itself, thereby measuring the force of the blacksmith's strike.
Xu Qing was very familiar with it. He could hardly avoid being familiar with it! After all, he and Tang Wulin took a strength test almost every year.
"We'll test your left hand first."
Mang Tian handed Xu Qing the testing hammer and instructed him.
"Understood, Teacher."
Taking the hammer from Mang Tian, Xu Qing gripped its handle tightly, spread his feet, and settled into a horse stance. He drew a deep breath, gathered all his strength into his right arm, then abruptly sank his waist and exerted his strength.
Whoosh-
A sound tore through the air. Under the combined effects of Xu Qing's own strength and gravity, the heavy testing hammer carried tremendous force as it slammed into the metal cylinder!
Bang-!
A deep, heavy crash suddenly rang out, making the entire forging room tremble slightly. The clear ringing of colliding metal echoed endlessly through the room.
The device's screen instantly reported the result automatically: 650 kilograms.
Mang Tian looked at the number and nodded, not particularly shocked. There was no helping it; he had long since prepared himself for this result.
He still remembered testing Xu Qing half a year ago, when his strength had already approached 500 kilograms. An ordinary adult forging apprentice, without activating their Martial Soul or Soul Power, could only deliver a hammer blow of a little over 200 kilograms through physical strength alone.
Xu Qing's pure physical strength was now fully three times that of an ordinary person!
At the time, he had even wondered whether something had gone wrong.
And, of course, there was that boy Tang Wulin too.
But after comparing the changes in Tang Wulin's and Xu Qing's strength over the past few years, he found that both were constantly improving at an astonishing rate, and the changes in Xu Qing's strength were even more pronounced than Tang Wulin's.
If those two boys' Martial Souls hadn't been Blue Silver Grass, he might even have suspected that they were some sort of soul beasts who had undergone Soul Beast Transformation.