Author Note: Before we begin — a quick note. Regarding Yun Ming's battle armor and soul ring configuration, I looked into it. Although some sources mention a combination of four black and five red rings, it feels a bit off. So, I've updated it here to nine red rings for consistency.
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"I'll agree to your request — but only if you pass the test." Zhen Hua gave a firm nod.
Yun Ming stood silently by, offering no further comment.
Meanwhile, Gu You was practically trembling with excitement. Life ore — such an incredibly rare material! And looking at the quality of the chunk in the room, it was top-tier, the kind that even veteran master craftsmen might never get their hands on.
Gu You stepped forward toward the forging furnace, his fingers brushing lightly over the surface of his Spirit-Forged Life Essence Hammer — the same hammer he had forged himself under the guidance of Feng Wuyu. He remembered it well: back then, his soul power hadn't been enough on its own, and he'd had to rely on Feng Wuyu channeling soul power into him to force the forging through.
That experience had sparked a crucial idea in Gu You's mind — the concept of forging soul power reservoirs like the soul tool milk bottles common in the Absolute Tang Sect. With his own blood-sacrificed hammer, he could not only forge materials but also imbue them with life, creating tools that could return a massive amount of energy to the user — essentially combining the effects of two high-level crafting techniques into one.
Zhen Hua could immediately sense the vitality radiating off the hammer, and his eyes widened in shock. That hammer… it had been blood-bound. Wait — had this kid already mastered spirit forging?!
Zhen Hua sucked in a sharp breath. No wonder the boy had been so eager to ask for life ore. To upgrade his own hammer, he would need an even rarer piece of life ore to craft a higher-grade, integrated version. But…
Zhen Hua's brows furrowed slightly. The boy standing in front of him was only about thirty rank in soul power — and yet, spirit forging was something normally impossible without being at least at the Soul Ancestor level. How could he be doing it?
Zhen Hua was, admittedly, a bit behind on some newer methods. What he hadn't considered — and what even Gu You found a little odd — was that, although the original texts clearly stated that insufficient soul power limited what a forgemaster could craft, they'd all overlooked one detail. If you couldn't use your own energy, why not borrow someone else's?
Soul tool energy reservoirs — like the milk bottles popular in the Absolute Tang Sect — had long solved this problem.
Gu You selected ice crystal ore from the storage cabinet. Zhen Hua frowned slightly, puzzled. Why choose such a difficult-to-forge material, skipping the easier options? Was the boy still half-dazed from fighting evil soul masters?
What Zhen Hua didn't realize was that Gu You had spent countless hours perfecting his work with two types of materials: ice crystal and life ore. With these, as long as he had enough soul power, he could guarantee spirit forging success.
Gu You opened the furnace, pressed a few buttons, and slowly lowered the ice crystal ore inside. The material began to burn under the roaring heat. Gu You carefully released his internal soul power, attuning himself to the familiar sensation flowing through the Life Essence Hammer. It was a feeling like no other — as intimate and familiar as his own heartbeat.
He let out a slow, steady breath.
Spirit forging was, for a forgemaster, the ultimate dividing line — the gap between a mere master and a true grandmaster. Crossing that boundary marked the difference between earth and sky.
Thousand Refinement techniques could craft the basic materials needed for one-word battle armor. But only with two-word battle armor did you start creating what was truly recognized as battle armor in its fullest form. One-word armor offered little advantage over mechas — but spirit forging was the key to making the refined materials needed for two-word armor.
The ice crystal ore had burned long enough. The furnace shut off, and the material slowly rose up, gleaming in front of Gu You.
To complete spirit forging, one had to merge body, heart, and soul — to completely immerse oneself in the world of the metal. In the final moment, the metal wouldn't just be a tool; it would live.
"Spirit forging… is the act of creating soul life." That was how Feng Wuyu had explained it.
Right now, Gu You was not just a soul master. He was a forgemaster. And with his soul, he would craft the most perfect metal soul possible.
Suddenly, Gu You lifted both hammers lightly, his entire posture straightening, his presence sharpening.
A surge of immense spiritual power gathered in an instant, converging as one.
A faint purple light flashed across Gu You's eyes.
Spirit Sea Realm!!
Good heavens — what was Zhen Hua witnessing right now?
A nine-year-old boy — already at Spirit Sea level spiritual power. Never before seen, never to be repeated.
Spiritual power was critical to spirit forging. The "spirit" in spirit forging and the "soul" in soul forging both referred to the forging of a metal soul — awakening the metal, granting it life. One was a lower-level technique; the other, higher. But both required astonishing spiritual control.
Yun Ming stood silently at the side, his gaze darkening slightly.
'It seems this child still has many secrets,' he thought. But he didn't ask. After all, didn't everyone have their own secrets? Without secrets, was someone even fully human?
"Where did you find such a prodigy?" Zhen Hua muttered, his voice laced with awe. "A few days ago, I saw the news about his fight with the evil soul masters, earning first-class merit. I thought it was exaggerated — sounded too ridiculous to be true. But today… I see it for myself. He's truly a three-good student!"
Zhen Hua's heart was now firmly set. He would definitely take Gu You as his disciple.
Yun Ming gave a wry smile. There was no easy answer to that question. This child — he was simply too monstrous, unlike anyone the world had seen in thousands of years. Not just a Child of the Plane. No — calling him a Child of the Plane was underestimating him. He was practically the embodiment of fate itself.
But Yun Ming could only shrug and answer, "I picked him up."
…?
You picked him up?! Zhen Hua felt a surge of jealousy. Why hadn't he ever had that kind of luck? Maybe after this, he needed to go check on all the poor kids wandering the streets. Who knew — maybe he could pick up a heaven-defying genius himself.
"This little guy really isn't ordinary," Zhen Hua murmured, watching closely. Every strike Gu You made, every controlled impact, every precise force application — all of it reflected a level of mastery far beyond his years.
"Who taught him before this? Judging by his stance and technique, his fundamentals are incredibly solid." Zhen Hua asked again, unable to hold back his curiosity.
"Feng Wuyu," Yun Ming said simply, offering no further explanation.
"Ah, so it was him." Of course Zhen Hua knew that name — one of the two Double Holy Dragon Douluo, a figure who had once stirred storms in the forging world, someone Zhen Hua himself had competed against for the title of Divine Craftsman.
But if Feng Wuyu had trained Gu You… why hadn't he taken the boy as his disciple? There was no way he would've missed Gu You's astonishing talent.
Zhen Hua turned, ready to ask, but Yun Ming seemed to anticipate the question.
"Feng Wuyu couldn't master Heavenly Forging. Gu You's talent is destined for the path of the Divine Craftsman. He has to become your disciple."
Zhen Hua was deeply moved. He understood exactly what Yun Ming was saying. Whoever took Gu You as their disciple would, in the future, be known across the continent as the master of a legendary forging prodigy — a reputation beyond measure. And yet Feng Wuyu had stepped back, giving up that honor entirely for the sake of the boy's development.
What kind of determination did that take?
Zhen Hua felt a surge of warmth in his chest.
The sound of hammering grew faster.
In the forging chamber, the steady bang! bang! of metal on metal quickened.
Gu You spun, leaped, and — in a move neither Yun Ming nor Zhen Hua expected — slid into a smooth, gliding strike.
The two men froze, dumbfounded.
'What… what kind of forging technique is that?!'
The twin Life Essence Hammers rang out with each impact, their reverberations practically singing through the air. It was as if even the hammers themselves were excited, eager to prove what they could do.
(End of Chapter)
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