Oscar and Dugu Yan spent half a month returning to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. When Dugu Bo and Gai Yue saw Oscar and Dugu Yan, they could not help but feel a surge of joy.
The two young people had been gone for more than a year. Naturally, their return made everyone happy.
Moreover, Gai Yue and Dugu Bo could clearly sense that the two had undergone tremendous improvement in their strength. That faint yet terrifying aura of slaughter alone made others instinctively fearful.
Inside the sect's main hall, Gai Yue, Dugu Bo, Oscar, and Dugu Yan gathered together.
Looking at the overwhelming killing intent Oscar and Dugu Yan could not hide, Gai Yue raised an eyebrow. "I didn't expect you two to complete the trial of the City of Slaughter so quickly. This is truly unexpected."
Oscar smiled slightly. "Teacher, with my sister and me, even in the City of Slaughter we were among the top."
Dugu Yan covered her mouth and chuckled. Dugu Bo rolled his eyes at Oscar. "You brat. But your improvement this time should not be small, right? I feel your soul power level has at least reached level seventy."
Dugu Bo's guess was entirely correct, but he never imagined Oscar had already obtained his seventh soul ring, because Oscar and Dugu Yan's soul power foundation far exceeded that of soul masters of the same level.
Oscar replied, "Grandfather, our gains this time are indeed great."
Then Oscar recounted to the two elders their experiences in the City of Slaughter over the past year. The more the two listened, the more shocked they became. Finally, when Oscar revealed his hundred-thousand-year seventh soul ring, they could not help but exclaim out loud.
Even Gai Yue, who already possessed a hundred-thousand-year soul ring, showed envy. Although Oscar's sixth hundred-thousand-year soul ring came from the Evil God Orb, the seventh soul ring was a genuine hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
As a result, Oscar, still at the Soul Sage level, already possessed two hundred-thousand-year soul rings.
Moreover, his soul power had reached level seventy-five, saving him several years of hard cultivation.
Even more astonishing, Oscar had upgraded his head soul bone to one hundred and fifty-five thousand years. What kind of strange soul beast could that have come from?
On top of that, Oscar had not yet attached soul rings to his second martial soul. In the future, would Oscar gather a full set of hundred-thousand-year soul rings for himself?
Adding the Killing God Domain gained after passing through the Hell Road, Oscar's improvements could only be described as terrifying.
They had always believed Oscar's future would be extraordinary, but after just over a year his progress was already this frightening.
Although Dugu Yan was not as heaven-defying as Oscar, she too had made great gains.
Her soul power had reached the bottleneck of level seventy. She needed only one more soul ring to advance to the Soul Sage level. She also obtained the Killing God Domain, and her external soul bone, the Eight Spider Spears, successfully evolved to thirty thousand years.
This improvement brought her strength to a whole new level. The progress and opportunities these two young people had gained were enough to make even super experts feel envy.
For Oscar and Dugu Yan's improvements, Gai Yue and Dugu Bo felt not only envy but also deep comfort. At this rate, within ten years these two young people would be able to make their names known throughout the continent.
By then the two old men might even be caught up with, or even surpassed. After all, Oscar had yet to attach soul rings to his second martial soul.
After spending most of the day listening to Oscar and Dugu Yan recount their experiences of the past year, Dugu Yan took out from her soul guide the soul bone she had obtained from the Hell Slaughter Field.
This was a ten-thousand-year left leg bone, about fifteen thousand years old. Its skill should be related to burst or speed, which was not very suitable for Dugu Yan.
After hesitating, Oscar accepted it. Since it was not suitable for them, there was no need to absorb it. Originally this soul bone was perfect for Zhu Zhuqing, but she already possessed the Swift Stealth Wind-Chasing Left Leg Bone from the tournament, so she could not absorb it either.
After consideration, Oscar decided to keep this soul bone as a reward for outstanding contributions to the sect.
Gai Yue and Dugu Yan had no objections. Gai Yue already had a full set of six soul bones and did not need it. For Dugu Yan, it was not very useful either, so there was no need to absorb it.
Thus using it as a reward was the most appropriate approach, especially since it would eventually go to one of their own people.
However, Oscar did not neglect Dugu Yan. He took out two soul bones over fifty thousand years old that he had been keeping and gave them to her.
This was also a carefully considered decision. Back when he only had one martial soul, he had planned to keep these two top-quality soul bones in case he could not gather a full set of hundred-thousand-year soul bones in the future.
But things were different now. With two martial souls, Oscar would inevitably hunt hundred-thousand-year soul beasts for his soul rings. Thanks to the soul spirit method, he already had a plan. These two top-quality ten-thousand-year soul bones were thus no longer necessary for him.
After thinking it through, he decided to give them to Dugu Yan. Both soul bones were of power and attack type. After Dugu Yan's martial soul evolved into the Jade Scaled Dragon Emperor, she had both poison control and strong attack abilities. These two soul bones were undoubtedly the most suitable for her.
With the boost from these two soul bones, her seventh soul ring could at least reach eighty thousand years. If she could also obtain a head soul bone, her seventh soul ring might even be a hundred-thousand-year ring.
It was just that, although Oscar had handled many soul bones over the years, torso and head soul bones were indeed rare, and this was something he could not provide for Dugu Yan.
But that was not a big problem. There happened to be a soul beast in the Star Dou Forest suitable for Dugu Yan. By then she would only need to accept its sacrifice. Although not a hundred-thousand-year beast, it would definitely be a top-tier existence.
Before that, however, Oscar and Dugu Yan both needed a period of seclusion because they had not yet fully mastered the Killing God Domain. This would require time to settle and refine, a so-called cleansing of the lead.
…
Gengxing City, known as the Metal Capital of the Douluo Continent, was the headquarters of the continent's Blacksmith Association. It was one of the main cities of the Star Luo Empire, located in the southwest of the empire.
Gengxing City was not considered a famous city. Even within the main city domain, it ranked only in the middle or lower tier. Because Douluo Continent was a world of soul masters, a city of metal like this not being valued was normal.
The status of blacksmiths was essentially the same as commoners. The influence of the Blacksmith Association only had some weight within this city.
The Spirit Hall, which was actually the Soul Master Association, could influence the entire continent.
This showed how vast the gap between blacksmiths and soul masters was.
Moreover, because of the special nature of the soul master profession, the better the blacksmith, the more likely they were to be a soul master.
Only the abilities of a soul master, far beyond those of ordinary people, could make forging more precise. Of course, this was not absolute. There were also some special blacksmith geniuses who, without the help of martial souls, still achieved great success in the blacksmith world.
But such people were as rare as innate full soul power, one in a hundred years.
A true blacksmith master still had a decent status. Although blacksmiths were not valued by the two great empires, the army's weapons and equipment, farm tools, buildings, and furniture all required the participation of blacksmiths.
Thus, the higher a blacksmith's level, the more valuable their products.
A month ago, Tang San and Xiao Wu traveled across the continent and arrived at this city. For Tang San, who specialized in making hidden weapons, this city, a paradise for blacksmiths, was also his paradise.
In Gengxing City, he could buy almost all kinds of rare metals. As long as he had money, he did not need to worry about materials for making hidden weapons.
The only problem was that after a year of travel, Tang San's savings were not much. It was actually not enough to buy materials for hidden weapons.
But Tang San had found a perfect way to solve this problem. That was to take the blacksmith certification exam in Gengxing City. Once he obtained the blacksmith profession certification, he would be a professional blacksmith.
Then he could work in the Blacksmith Association in Gengxing City, manufacture special weapons to sell, improve his forging skills, and earn some gold soul coins.
Blacksmithing had seven levels. From low to high: Apprentice Blacksmith, Intermediate Blacksmith, Senior Blacksmith, Blacksmith Master, Blacksmith Grandmaster, Blacksmith Sage, and Divine Craftsman.
Tang San had learned the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique from Tang Hao since childhood. Later, under Oscar's guidance, he continued to refine it. Coupled with his own outstanding forging skills, he shocked the entire Blacksmith Association during the assessment.
At only fifteen years old, Tang San already had forging skills close to a Blacksmith Sage. His level reached Blacksmith Grandmaster.
Even the current president of the Blacksmith Association, Lou Gao, one of the three Divine Craftsmen of the world, had two disciples who had only just reached Blacksmith Sage.
Those two disciples were already considered the youngest blacksmith geniuses in the Association, but they were over thirty years old.
And how old was Tang San? A fifteen-year-old child. In their eyes, being an apprentice blacksmith at that age would already make him a genius.
Even if he had been cultivating in the womb, at this age it should have been impossible to achieve such accomplishments.
More importantly, Tang San himself was a Soul Sect level expert. A fifteen-year-old Blacksmith Grandmaster and Soul Sect at the same time. Either of those achievements alone would be astonishing on the continent, but now they were combined in one person.
In just one month, Tang San had become a rising star in the Blacksmith Association. Divine Craftsman Lou Gao personally came out to meet Tang San. In forging, the two felt as if they had known each other forever. Soon, Lou Gao accepted Tang San as a disciple, making him a closed-door disciple at the Blacksmith Association headquarters.
Tang San had two reasons for apprenticing under Lou Gao. First, to further improve his forging skills in preparation for creating the Tang Sect's ultimate hidden weapons in the future.
Second, to use Lou Gao's status and resources to collect materials he otherwise could not access, greatly shortening the time needed to forge those ultimate hidden weapons.
Lou Gao's acceptance of the peerless forging genius Tang San caused a huge sensation in Gengxing City. After all, a fifteen-year-old who had already reached a level close to Blacksmith Sage was a historic moment.
What no one knew was that while Tang San indeed had talent in forging, this was due to the combination of his two lifetimes and the power of the Clear Sky Hammer.
Nevertheless, in this life Tang San's forging skills were genuinely his own.
In the Blacksmith Association's main building, Tang San finished a day's forging and, with Xiao Wu, prepared to stroll through the market. He hoped to find some treasures.
Tang San and Xiao Wu were both fifteen now. Over the past year, they had improved greatly. Tang San's soul power had risen from level forty-five to level forty-nine, just one step from breaking through to the level fifty bottleneck to become a Soul King.
Xiao Wu had improved similarly. She was working even harder now. Her soul power was also at level forty-nine, not far from fifty.
"Xiao San, how are you feeling today?" The now fifteen-year-old Xiao Wu, more mature than before, asked while holding Tang San's arm.
Tang San smiled. "I enjoy every day now. And I've already touched the bottleneck. It won't be long before I can break through to level fifty."
Hearing this, Xiao Wu smiled slightly. "Congratulations, Xiao San. That's amazing."
Tang San gave a bitter smile. "But I can't catch up with you, Xiao Wu. Back then your soul power was one level lower than mine, and now you've caught up."
Xiao Wu stuck out her tongue. "I don't have to forge every day. I can only work hard at cultivation, or I'll be left far behind by you."
Tang San gently stroked Xiao Wu's rabbit ears. "You've worked hard this past month. I've been forging every day, spending less time with you."
Xiao Wu shook her head. "Improving is the most important thing. Only when your strength is strong enough can you protect me well, right?"
Tang San and Xiao Wu were just like an ordinary young couple, strolling through the market while chatting lovingly, drawing envious looks from others.
On the second floor of an inn not far away, a middle-aged man with gloomy eyes watched their every move.
The man turned to his subordinate. "That's Tang San? He looks quite ordinary."
The subordinate replied respectfully, "Yes, Archbishop. After multiple confirmations, he is indeed the internally wanted Tang San. He disappeared for a year and only recently showed himself in Gengxing City. This may be the opportunity Heaven has given us."
The Archbishop's gloomy face revealed a bloodthirsty smile. "Go prepare. He's only got four soul rings. No matter how talented he is, a genius who hasn't grown yet is no different from trash."
The subordinate knelt. "Yes."
At that moment, Tang San and Xiao Wu were examining a good-looking ore. Tang San suddenly felt a chill down his back. His heart immediately became vigilant. He secretly activated his Purple Demon Eye to observe but found nothing.
Tang San was puzzled. "Strange, why do I feel someone is secretly watching?"
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