In the next second, Chu Chengzhou pointed a finger. Earth, water, fire, and wind soul power surged around him, and six four-colored giant hammers condensed out of thin air in midair.
"Hiss, do you not need physical forging hammers to forge metal?"
At the side, Fang Quan could not help clicking his tongue.
Using one's own fire-attribute soul power to heat metal was one thing, but from the look of it Chu Chengzhou was planning to display this so-called Heavenly Refinement with soul-power hammers alone.
Good grief. Truly the pioneer of the forging path, far beyond a newbie like him who had only just entered Thousand Refinements.
Hearing this, Chu Chengzhou cast Fang Quan a subtle glance, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
Not bad. He knew the craft, and he even had potential to be a competent hype man.
Boom!
With a flicker of intent, one of the four-colored giant hammers above the massive Heavy Silver ingot crashed down. With the thunderous impact, the ingot's height instantly shortened by a large section, turning into a rectangular block, and a brilliant silver radiance a full zhang long flared out.
With a single hammer, a certain Divine Craftsman completed Heavy Silver Thousand Refinements, and at the peak of that level at that.
"Radiance extending outward. Thousand Refinements in one blow?!"
Fang Quan's eyes went wide in disbelief.
This was Heavy Silver, one of the rarer metals that was comparatively harder to forge. Given two or three hours, he could manage Thousand Refinements on Heavy Silver, but he had never imagined Chu Chengzhou would settle it with a single strike.
A professional reveals the truth at a glance.
As expected, the young man had not been bragging. He deserved the title of Divine Craftsman of this age.
After that first blow, the two four-colored hammers on the left and right smashed down, sandwiching the Heavy Silver ingot in the middle.
Boom! Boom!
With the two thunderous impacts, a faint breath of life suddenly surfaced from the ingot.
At the same time, the ingot shrank again. In the span of just three strikes, the original square block had become a rectangle whose length was unchanged, height reduced by one third, and width abruptly halved.
Hum!
Abruptly, the greatly shrunken Heavy Silver ingot let out a hum, silver halos rippling across its surface.
"A breath of life. This is Spirit Refinement?!"
Fang Quan's cry rang out again.
Following Thousand Refinements in one blow, the elder who had only just stepped onto the forging path now witnessed Spirit Refinement he had never mastered, and with two blows at that. Truly an eye-opener.
Hearing Fang Quan's exclamation, the lift at the corner of Chu Chengzhou's mouth grew a bit more. A proper hype man.
"Fengzhi, you should not have brought Old Fang."
Noticing the change at Chu Chengzhou's lips, Chen Xin could not help sending a voice transmission to Ning Fengzhi.
Receiving it, Ning Fengzhi glanced at Fang Quan, the corner of his own mouth twitching slightly, and said nothing.
This Fourth Elder usually seemed steady. Why was he so loud at a critical moment?
Fortunately, Chu Chengzhou was not an outsider. Otherwise this would have been quite embarrassing.
In the next second, Chu Chengzhou hooked a finger. The three four-colored hammers at the front, rear, and below smashed onto the Heavy Silver ingot.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A terrifying wave of energy erupted in that instant. As brilliant silver halos coursed over it, a gleeful, jubilant emotion spread out from the ingot.
Three blows. Soul Refinement, achieved.
"Heavens, so this is Soul Refinement granting wisdom?!"
The familiar cry sounded yet again.
As Fang Quan's words fell, Ning Fengzhi, Chen Xin, and Gu Rong all lifted hands to their foreheads.
"Uncle Sword, you were right. I was careless."
Ning Fengzhi sent a voice transmission back to Chen Xin.
Right now Chu Chengzhou had no mind to pay attention to Fang Quan the hype man. With Soul Refinement complete, the next steps were to draw in and infuse elemental energy, imprint laws, withstand elemental tribulation lightning, and endow the metal with abilities. As a pseudo Divine Craftsman with ample theory but no practical experience, he had to focus completely.
"Draw."
Chu Chengzhou barked the word. Under his guidance, the earth, water, fire, and wind elemental energies of heaven and earth rapidly converged, casting the entire courtyard in yellow, blue, red, and cyan.
Although once the Hammer of Creation advanced to gold quality Chu Chengzhou had gained some insight into the laws of all elements, for a first attempt at Heavenly Refinement he absolutely could not jump straight to an all-elements Heavenly Refinement. To be safe, he would perform the most basic four-element Heavenly Refinement.
The more elemental types involved in metal Heavenly Refinement, the greater the power of the elemental tribulation lightning. Chu Chengzhou did not believe that with only eight rings as a Spirit Douluo he could withstand the elevenfold elemental tribulation of an all-elements Heavenly Refinement.
He was already crossing realms to perform Heavenly Refinement by relying on his powerful foundation. If he courted death beyond that, even the soul bone skill Crystal Body, an absolute defense, might not save him.
Crystal Body's defensive scope was beneath the divine. Eleven-element tribulation lightning might well have already stepped into the divine category.
Of course, Chu Chengzhou did not even know whether the world's rules permitted an eleven-element all-elements Heavenly Refinement.
What was certain was that even if the rules allowed it, he would not be attempting it any time soon.
This was not only a matter of his own strength. It was also a matter of the metal itself.
Elemental tribulation did not test the forger alone. It tested the metal even more. Only metal that had undergone baptism by tribulation lightning could become Heavenly Refined metal.
If the metal's inherent properties were lacking, then mud could not be sculpted into a wall. It could not bear the baptism of tribulation lightning.
Most single rare metals were clearly insufficient to withstand multi-element tribulation lightning. To perform multi-element Heavenly Refinement, one needed powerful alloys fusion-forged from multiple rare metals.
The problem was that fusion-forging alloys was like materials science in his previous world. It was very hard and had to be explored step by step. It depended not on craft but on luck. Heaven only knew when he would be able to tinker out strong fusion-forged alloy formulas.
At this moment, as four elements poured in madly from all around, the already sizable four-colored giant hammers in midair swelled larger again.
Then the six four-colored hammers, carrying surging elemental force, rained blows onto the Heavy Silver ingot at the center.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
With each strike of the four-colored hammers, a portion of the four-element energy carried by the hammers was injected into the Heavy Silver.
As the forging proceeded, the red-hot ingot began to grow translucent. Inside, halos of yellow, blue, red, and cyan seemed to interweave and shine.
Seeing this, Chu Chengzhou dispelled the six four-colored hammers in midair. He guided the ingot to float before him, spread his arms, closed his eyes, and fully directed the four converging elements.
T/N: For 40 chapters ahead on my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle