Gengxin City.
Little Ming's Forging Shop.
Ten days had passed since Ning Yuan left with a piece of first-grade thousand-refined metal. No forging sounds had emanated from Su Ming's forging shop during this time. Only a bear and a young man remained, sitting cross-legged in meditation, cultivating.
"Roar!" (I'm coming in!)
Su Ming, eyes closed, frowned.
Little Gold was learning bad habits.
"Roar!" (Spirit Master, quickly release the Spirit Ring! My Dark Gold Power needs to enter!)
"Knock, knock, knock."
The knocking at the door interrupted the cultivation of both the human and the bear.
Su Ming opened his eyes, a glint flashing within them.
He sensed faint, almost imperceptible, Spirit Power pressure outside the door.
Very strong.
Two people.
One was very imposing, while the other was powerful yet carried a trace of gentleness.
Su Ming was first surprised by how quickly the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan had acted, then relaxed.
He had guessed the visitors' identities: the fragile Clan Leader Ning Fengzhi and the professionally assigned 'bad cop,' Bone Douluo Gu Rong.
For a clan leader to risk assassination by visiting personally showed full sincerity. Additionally, the one accompanying him was Gu Rong, who specialized in playing the tough role and was defense-type, not the assault-type Chen Xin.
Regardless of whether this clan was truly ruthless in reality, the sincerity displayed before him was, at the very least, evident.
Even before truly opening the door to welcome them, Su Ming felt anticipation.
"Roar?" (Who's here?)
Little Gold also opened his eyes and looked towards the door.
Having been taught by Su Ming for so long, he had memorized many rules and could usually restrain himself from causing random destruction or losing his temper arbitrarily.
The Spirit Master said his nature should be wild and violent, but constant venting was not conducive to meditation and cultivation. If he could learn to control it, cultivate his mind and nurture his nature during peacetime, accumulate power through meditation and cultivation, and then enter a frenzied state during battle, he would experience the pleasure of his innate nature erupting more profoundly.
Initially, Little Gold was forced into this.
But after that evolution, he began to restrain himself. During that evolution into a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, just a few roars made him feel like his entire bloodline was burning out, an indescribable pleasure coursing through his body.
Maintaining his nature constantly versus holding it in and releasing it once after a long time—the latter turned out to be unexpectedly comfortable.
Of course, holding it in was genuinely uncomfortable.
Despite the discomfort, under Su Ming's constraints, he meditated daily and often forged until exhausted, even lacking the strength to be frenzied. Naturally, he persevered and formed a habit.
This was also why, now that he finally had a feeling and was about to truly gain control over Su Ming's first Spirit Ring, he wasn't enraged when suddenly interrupted.
"Come back. No need to hide."
Su Ming pressed Little Gold down, making him continue sitting and cultivating where he was, then stood up to open the door.
Understanding what his Douluo 1 self could secure for his two future selves, many of his plans had changed.
First was the dissemination of the techniques he mastered.
Could hoarding the Thousand Refinements with the Spirit technique improve himself?
No.
Could hoarding the Spirit Soul technique make him rich?
No.
On the contrary, spreading these two aspects could secure status for his future self.
The Spirit Infusion technique he mastered depended on Spirit Souls. Therefore, spreading the forging technique was inseparable from the simultaneous spread of the Spirit Soul technique.
Spreading it now could, first, earn future status, and second, create an information gap. While the true strengths of these two techniques remained unknown to outsiders, spreading them would be safer.
For example, the fact that a Spirit Soul Contract directly opened the Sea of Consciousness, benefiting a Spirit Master's Spirit Power cultivation, was known only to Su Ming and his teacher. By revealing the existence of Spirit Souls now without volunteering this information, other Spirit Masters wouldn't know. Instead, by emphasizing the difficulty and disadvantages of obtaining Spirit Souls, Su Ming could make Spirit Souls exclusive to blacksmiths who wanted to master Thousand Refinements with Spirit in the very beginning.
As for losing the advantage by spreading the technique in the Douluo 1 era?
Su Ming held the future, a mature system, not just these two basic techniques.
So what if other Spirit Masters had Spirit Souls? So what if they had weapons and armor made of Spirit Metal? Would this primitive application pose an obstacle to Su Ming?
Spreading these two techniques would first reform the Blacksmith Association, establishing it as the core place for Spirit Souls and the Thousand Refinements with the Spirit technique. Secondly, it would secure support from several major powers to achieve balance.
This way, in the future, when outsiders research the 'surprises' of these two techniques, they would only marvel at the genius of the two systems pioneered by Su Ming, rather than developing malicious thoughts like covetousness.
Having reasoned through this, Su Ming held Little Gold back today.
Little Gold could be exposed in front of outsiders.
Simultaneously, Ning Fengzhi's personal visit today was key.
If Ning Yuan had come today, Su Ming would have continued operating slowly, gradually guiding the cooperation.
But since Ning Fengzhi came himself, showing sincerity, Su Ming aimed for a one-step complete solution.
If he had truly misjudged, and the situation spiraled out of control, Su Ming still had the most basic confidence in mutual destruction with Ning Fengzhi.
Opening the door, outside were indeed the two Su Ming had guessed: the elegantly dressed Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong, with his gaunt face, dry, shriveled skin, and an astonishingly large skeleton.
Ning Fengzhi scanned the room. Besides noticing Su Ming, his gaze also locked onto Little Gold, who was cultivating not far away.
His eyes contracted.
After realizing something, he quickly turned to look at Gu Rong. Seeing only confusion and no other out-of-line reactions on Gu Rong's face, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Not a Spirit Beast in human form.
Seeing Ning Fengzhi's reaction, Su Ming relaxed.
"Clan Leader Ning, your presence honors us. I apologize for not welcoming you properly," Su Ming said proactively. "This is Little Gold, my partner. He is also related to the content of our upcoming negotiation."
A flash of surprise crossed Ning Fengzhi's eyes.
He glanced down at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan emblem on his chest and chuckled ruefully.
This young lad was truly clever.
"Since you've guessed, I'll be straightforward. Can you stably forge that first-grade thousand-refined metal?" Ning Fengzhi asked. "Also, you're about the same age as my daughter. If you don't mind, you can call me Uncle Ning. No need to keep addressing me as Clan Leader."
"Uncle Ning."
Su Ming called out. Ning Fengzhi proactively suggested that he call him Uncle Ning, which made him relax further.
Mentally grumbling that Ning Yuan had gotten a great deal, Su Ming answered Ning Fengzhi's previous question.
"First-grade Thousand Refinements can be mass-produced."
"Kid, take us to see your teacher. Surely you're not the one partnering with us?" Gu Rong interjected at this point.
"What you need is Spirit Metal, and I can forge it. Why wouldn't I be the one partnering with you?" Su Ming retorted, then added, "Moreover, talking to my teacher is useless. Currently, I am the only one who has mastered the first-grade Thousand Refinements. Of course, if you're willing to wait, my teacher should master it soon, too."
Ning Fengzhi's face showed a question mark.
He genuinely didn't react.
What did he mean, only you have mastered it now, and soon your teacher will master it?
Wasn't it the other way around?
He paused for a moment, realized something, and looked at Little Gold behind Su Ming.
"If I remember correctly, you just said he is related to what we are going to discuss. So, is it because of him?"
"Correct."
Su Ming turned and called to Little Gold behind him.
"Little Gold, stop cultivating. Come here and introduce yourself."
Little Gold's ears twitched. He stood up and tiptoed to Su Ming's right side.
The reason for the right side was that Su Ming's left needed to face Gu Rong directly.
"Oh!"
From a closer distance, upon careful observation, Ning Fengzhi noticed Little Gold's abnormality.
"He's not physical!"
"Correct." Su Ming said. "He is a new form of Spirit Ring I accidentally created."
"Spirit Ring form?"
Ning Fengzhi was confused again.
How was this related to Spirit Rings now?
"Correct. Little Gold is essentially my Spirit Ring. During the process of my absorbing the Spirit Ring, his soul was preserved, and he formed a contract with me. Using my Spirit Ring as a vessel for his origin, he ultimately took this spiritual form. I call him a Spirit Soul."
Listening to Su Ming's introduction, Ning Fengzhi clicked his tongue in amazement.
The Douluo Continent was truly full of wonders. Absorbing a Spirit Ring could actually lead to such an experience.
"The prerequisite for mass-producing Spirit Metal is the Spirit Infusion technique, and this technique is inseparable from Spirit Souls. So far, Little Gold is the only Spirit Soul on the continent. That's why I said only I have mastered the method of forging first-grade Thousand Refinements for now."
"But you said your teacher will soon master it too." Ning Fengzhi said.
He analyzed much from this. First and most importantly, Zhu Jiuyang had broken through to the eightieth level and was seeking his eighth Spirit Ring. Secondly, this Spirit Soul accident seemed replicable.
"Uncle Ning, let's first discuss the cooperation between us. I wonder what form of cooperation Uncle Ning has in mind?"
"What are your thoughts?"
Ning Fengzhi hadn't come with a complete plan either, but intended to hear the ideas from Su Ming and Zhu Jiuyang's side.
From what he sensed, Su Ming and Zhu Jiuyang might have special plans for changing the status of blacksmiths and might make some special requests during cooperation.
"I have two models here. One is to continue the previous cooperation model: I am responsible for forging, you state your requirements, and we exchange payment for goods. Of course, on this basis, my payment would need to be in rare metals. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan must have collected many metals with special properties. These are the rare metals I need."
A gleam flashed in Ning Fengzhi's eyes.
Metals with special properties!
The Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda had a treasure-finding innate talent, always able to sense treasures. Using this ability, they had collected a vast number of treasures, including metals with special properties. However, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan had also conducted extensive research on these special metals. Apart from their inherent special properties, they hadn't discovered anything else particularly remarkable. Their inherent special properties weren't particularly useful either, just curious effects like a night pearl emitting light.
Although nothing was researched, since the Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda always reacted to these metals, it meant they were treasures. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan still collected them.
Now it seemed these metals were indeed special. With the first-grade Thousand Refinements technique, Su Ming seemed to have discovered the use of these metals.
Could it be that the so-called special properties were just external manifestations before being activated? After activation, would these properties transform into some ability?
"And the other model?"
...
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(End of Chapter)