Negotiating with Ning Fengzhi, Su Ming had handled it based on the circumstances. The other party came in person with ample sincerity, so his side didn't need to beat around the bush.
But dealing with the Blacksmith Association side required some consideration.
"Lou Gao is truly obsessed with forging; he'll probably be easy to persuade. I can handle him alone without much issue. The key problems are the name change and the series of collaborations. Neither Lou Gao nor I will personally manage these."
The cooperation with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan—the negotiation just now merely set the intention. The two parties would be cooperative partners in the future. As for how to cooperate and the content of the cooperation, it all required more detailed discussions later, which wasn't something Su Ming could handle.
"After renaming to the Forging Master Association, there will be a series of operational matters. Lou Gao and I aren't cut out for that; we'd need to hand it over to others, and they must be trustworthy."
Su Ming frowned.
"Let's get the senior brothers here first."
Zhu Jiuyang had three disciples in total; Su Ming was the third. He had two senior brothers, the second naturally being Duan Jin, who introduced him to the craft.
When Su Ming entered the sect at seven years old, Duan Jin was a Spirit Elder. Now, after three years, Duan Jin was level 39.
There was no helping it; he had been stuck at level 39 for a full year, unsure when he would break through this bottleneck.
This was the normal cultivation speed for Spirit Masters.
As Su Ming was pondering, he heard the forge's door being knocked on again.
He opened the door, surprised to see Duan Jin's arrival.
"Senior Brother, what brings you here?"
Although asking, looking at Duan Jin's excited expression, Su Ming had a guess.
He moved aside to let Duan Jin and the First Senior Brother behind him enter.
Su Ming's First Senior Brother was named Huo Lie, Zhu Jiuyang's first disciple. Unlike Duan Jin and Su Ming, this First Senior Brother didn't initially apprentice through the blacksmith path; back then, Zhu Jiuyang wasn't yet obsessed with the blacksmithing industry.
As Zhu Jiuyang became engrossed in blacksmithing, Huo Lie followed him to Gengxin City. If nothing else, the environment of Gengxin City was very suitable for his cultivation, having a simulated cultivation effect. This was why, even when he didn't understand the teacher initially, he stayed by Zhu Jiuyang's side.
Later, after trying it once, he discovered that he could also enjoy the effects of the simulated environment while forging, and the effect was even better!
Thus, Huo Lie also fell into the world of blacksmithing alongside Zhu Jiuyang.
Zhu Jiuyang was a latecomer who surpassed them, quickly becoming a Grandmaster-level blacksmith, while Huo Lie purely enjoyed the process of forging, not the results. So, after all these years of forging, he was only a Master level, but his strength was not weak; he was a five-ringed Spirit King with Spirit Power as high as level 59, and he was only thirty-five this year, in his prime.
Like Duan Jin, he had been stuck just before a level ending in zero for a long time. Duan Jin was stuck at level 39 for a year, while he had been stuck at level 59 for a full three years.
This显然 (clearly) wasn't Huo Lie's limit, so it was inevitable he would break through to level 60 within a year or two.
Later, after another ten years, the probability of him breaking through to Spirit Sage was also very high.
"Little Ming, I broke through!"
Duan Jin's first sentence upon entering confirmed Su Ming's guess.
"So, Senior Brother, are you planning to obtain a Spirit Soul for your fourth ring?"
"Of course!" Duan Jin replied very firmly. "Thousand Refined Spirit Metal was the standard for Divine Blacksmiths of the past. I must learn it."
"Have you chosen a Spirit Beast?"
"Already have a lead. It's a six-thousand-year Wild Ape, very suitable for me. After all, I'm not the teacher, needing such a high year-limit Spirit Ring. And didn't you say it? Millennium Spirit Beasts aren't very intelligent yet; most follow instinct. As long as you beat them into submission, you can contract a Spirit Soul."
Su Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Senior Brother, you only heard the first half. Signing a Spirit Soul contract like that is fine, but your purpose for absorbing a Spirit Soul is forging. A six-thousand-year Spirit Soul... Senior Brother, you'll probably only have this one chance. Who knows what level your mental power will need to reach to attempt a second Spirit Soul later."
The Spirit Communication Realm could fuse with one millennium Spirit Soul; only upon reaching the Spirit Ocean Realm could one fuse a new Spirit Soul.
The Spirit Ocean Realm wasn't much in the future, a standard for powerful individuals. Duan Jin had the talent to become strong, but the problem was he was a Spirit Master from the Douluo 1 era.
Obtaining a Spirit Soul now, while beneficial for his subsequent mental power improvement, meant he had already passed the红利期 (bonus period) of physical development.
If he fused a Spirit Soul before the age of ten, he could enjoy both the effect of easier mental power elevation brought by the Spirit Soul and the红利期 (bonus period) of physical development; the two were stackable, one plus one greater than two!
Now, at twenty-three, Duan Jin, while not yet at his peak, had missed the biggest bonus period.
"Don't worry, we've analyzed this. The Wild Ape species isn't very bright. After beating them into submission, fooling them should be relatively easy," Huo Lie interjected.
Su Ming was taken aback.
That works?
A six-thousand-year Wild Ape...
Well, probably easier to fool than Little Gold was back when it was just over a thousand years.
"So, will you senior brothers set up the array yourselves? Or should I go with you?"
"Do we look like people who know how to set up Spirit Tool arrays?" Duan Jin retorted.
Su Ming knew it.
"I have other matters to resolve first."
He explained the cooperation he discussed with Ning Fengzhi to his two senior brothers.
"Your courage is certainly big enough," Huo Lie said. "But it's alright. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan should also be wary of our teacher's identity."
Su Ming was drawn in by the latter part of his sentence.
"Right, Senior Brother, what's special about our teacher? You never said before."
Huo Lie hesitated, then said, "It's not exactly a good thing, so I didn't tell you before."
Not a good thing?
Su Ming frowned.
How could an identity that made the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan wary not be a good thing?
"Sigh, let's put it this way: the teacher's younger sister almost became the Pope's wife."
Hmm.
Hmm?
Su Ming's expression changed immediately.
Pope's wife?
Whose wife?
Their teacher wasn't that old; his sister would be even younger. The recent Pope who fit the conditions... it had to be that one, right?
"Qian Xunji?" Su Ming blurted out.
Huo Lie showed a surprised expression.
"It was him," Huo Lie explained further. "The Zhu family, from which our teacher comes, inherits the Sacred Flame Martial Spirit. They have maintained marital alliances for generations with the Qian family, which inherits the Angel Martial Spirit."
Su Ming inwardly noted he had stumbled upon a major piece of gossip.
That scumbag Qian Xunji almost became his teacher's brother-in-law?
Thank goodness it didn't happen!
"So, the teacher actually holds a high status in the Spirit Hall?" Duan Jin asked.
His understanding of the Spirit Hall's upper structure wasn't as deep as Su Ming's; hearing about the Qian and Zhu families didn't evoke much feeling.
"The teacher had a falling out with the Qian family and directly called off the marriage agreement with them," Huo Lie said with a bitter smile. "So, the teacher has no relation with the Spirit Hall now."
Duan Jin was puzzled.
No relation? Then what is the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan wary of?
Su Ming, however, understood.
No relation, but a relation could be re-established at any time.
...
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(End of Chapter)