Chapter 517: Divine Artisan Zhenhua (5k)

After finishing breakfast, Tang Wulin set out for the Blacksmith Association.

He did not go in his true appearance; instead, he used a disguise to take on a less conspicuous look.

After all, he was now genuinely famous, and his true face was the type that would be recognized at a glance in a crowd; if he went to the Blacksmith Association without a disguise, he would likely be surrounded by passersby, which would be quite troublesome.

The Blacksmith Association in Heaven Fighting City is basically the largest in the world; here people come and go, and countless robust-looking blacksmiths line up in the first-floor lobby waiting to receive forging tasks.

Tang Wulin did not linger long in the lobby; upon entering the Heaven Fighting City Blacksmith Association's main doors, he headed toward the rest area.

As expected, he saw Affectionate Douluo Zang Xin here.

He plopped onto the sofa opposite Zang Xin, greeted him, and asked, "Morning, Affectionate Senior. Where is Senior Zhenhua?"

"?"

Zang Xin instinctively froze for a moment, then realized and said somewhat surprisingly:

"It's you, kid. Your disguise skill is impressive—I couldn't see through it at a glance. Also, don't call me Affectionate Senior; your seniority is now far above mine. After confirming Yutong's identity, if you keep calling me senior, I'll feel off."

Of course, there's another reason: he simply doesn't like his own title.

The title "Affectionate Douluo" always makes him seem promiscuous, but in reality only two people in the world know what his true situation is.

It was that other person who gave him the title "Affectionate," and Zang Xin can't fathom what that person is thinking; anyway, he actually harbors some aversion to the title.

Tang Wulin said helplessly:

"All right, but what should I call you then?"

"Just call me by my name."

Zang Xin stretched, stood up, and said:

"Come on, I'll take you to meet the blacksmith who is currently the best in the world at his craft."

"Sure."

Tang Wulin instantly felt a bit excited.

Although his strength and influence have actually surpassed Divine Artisan Zhenhua's, on the path of blacksmithing he still can't compare to Zhenhua.

For a blacksmith who has been stuck at the fifth rank for about five years, the Divine Artisan's guidance is undoubtedly meaningful; perhaps a single sentence from Zhenhua could give him an epiphany, saving him many years of detours.

The two went up the stairs toward the top floor of the Blacksmith Association.

One could say it's no surprise that this is one of the largest blacksmith associations in the world—every floor is packed with blacksmiths.

Only upon reaching the top floor did the environment suddenly quiet down.

Zang Xin explained, "This floor is for blacksmiths of seventh rank and above to reside; each resident has a personal forging room, and the soundproofing is excellent."

While speaking, he led Tang Wulin to the door of the innermost room and knocked.

"Zhenhua, bro, I've brought the person over."

With a "beep," the red light on the door's password lock turned green.

Zang Xin smiled at Tang Wulin, gestured with his eyes for him to get ready, then pulled the door open.

The interior was spotless; a person sat silently before the forging table, as if pondering something.

He was a middle‑aged man with black hair and black eyes, very handsome in appearance.

He looked to be in his thirties, but his eyes were full of weathered depth—nothing someone that age could normally have—and his sideburns were completely white, forming a stark contrast with his black hair.

Most striking were his hands—a pair of palms at least fifty percent larger than an ordinary person's, yet without prominent knuckles, pale and slender, like a woman's hands magnified several times; even the skin on his palms was crystal clear and translucent, resembling jade.

This man is Divine Artisan Zhenhua, the strongest in the entire Blacksmith Association, an existence at the Honored Douluo level.

In reality, he isn't as young as he looks; he's about forty‑five, became a Divine Artisan at thirty‑seven, and has been one for eight years—the prime of a blacksmith's life.

He became famous in his youth, yet he was not arrogant; he worked diligently, starting as president of a small city's blacksmith association and climbing step by step to the peak, eventually becoming president of the Blacksmith Association and the sole Divine Artisan on the continent today.

Before his appearance, crafting a four‑word battle armor required several Saint‑Artisan‑level blacksmiths working together, and even with the full support of an Honored Douluo, it was unknown how much effort it took to barely complete it; that kind of four‑word battle armor wasn't a true existence—it could only be called a half‑step four‑word.

Only eight years ago did he finally complete Heavenly Forging, becoming a Divine Artisan of his generation, after which the four‑word battle armor could truly be called a four‑word battle armor.

Over the past eight years, the four‑word battle armor forged by his hands has begun to be passed down; it can be said that he holds a pivotal position across the continent, and he himself bears countless halos.

If Tang Wulin were merely an ordinary fifth‑rank blacksmith, he certainly wouldn't have the qualification to meet him alone—but he isn't.

Whether it's his identity or his strength, both are enough for Zhenhua to value him greatly.

Seeing Tang Wulin and Zang Xin enter, Zhenhua hurriedly rose, glanced at Tang Wulin, and smiled at Zang Xin:

"Is this the recently famous Tang Wulin?"

"Yeah."

Zang Xin nodded and said to Tang Wulin, "Wulin, drop the disguise."

"Sure."

Tang Wulin lightly patted himself a few times and returned to his original appearance.

The speed of that transformation left Zhenhua stunned, and he exclaimed, "Your disguise technique is impressive—can you teach it to me and my guards?"

As the continent's sole Divine Artisan, Zhenhua's influence cannot be underestimated, yet contrary to his status, his strength among Honored Doulois is actually only average.

Before truly powerful opponents, he easily runs into danger.

Therefore, this concealment‑identity technique of disguise is extremely important to him.

He himself isn't incapable of disguise, but he falls far short of Tang Wulin's level; if he could learn this technique, his safety index would rise sharply.

Tang Wulin smiled and said:

"Of course no problem; if you'd like, I can teach you right now, and I might later open a course at Shilake Academy, where you could send your people to study."

Zhenhua waved his hand.

"Forget it for now; no rush. We'll talk later when you have time. If you really do open a course at Shilake Academy, I won't even need to send my guards—I can personally go to show my support."

Although Zhenhua is a Divine Artisan who has peaked in the blacksmithing field, he is not like those researchers Tang Wulin has seen before who are inflexible; rather, he is quite adept at dealing with people, and his relations with the major powers' experts on the continent are excellent.

He well knows that the handsome youth before him, if he wished, could even ignore Affectionate Douluo Zang Xin's will and instantly kill him in a flash—he is one of the people Zhenhua must absolutely avoid provoking.

Therefore, before Tang Wulin arrived, he had already made up his mind to impart his teachings wholeheartedly in the upcoming instruction.

And as the vice sect master of the Tang Sect, Zang Xin's reaction was not quite the same as his.

Wulin, have you already decided to go to Shilake Academy?

Although the Tang Sect and Shilake Academy are basically like one family, if possible, Zang Xin still hopes Tang Wulin will come to the Tang Sect, after all, no one would dislike having too much top-tier combat power in their own forces; Shilake Academy already has Yun Ming, so their actual demand is much lower than that of the Tang Sect.

Tang Wulin smiled and shook his head. "No, this is just my plan; after all, I will eventually have to learn something from the Academy, so I also want to share what I know with you—only fair, right?"

In ten years, Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong will leave this world and return to ten thousand years ago, and they will most likely never come back.

Tang Wulin is not someone who forgets kindness; he does not want to accept others' favors, then in ten years just pat his butt and leave without giving anything back. Therefore, he has already discussed with Huo Yutong that, while these top powers teach them future knowledge, the two will also do their utmost to repay them.

His answer exceeded Zang Xin's expectations; his eyes shifted, and he sighed.

"I didn't expect you to think that way; even if you don't do this, you won't get fewer benefits."

"I understand."

Anyway, Tang Wulin didn't decide to do this just to gain more benefits.

Zang Xin smiled, feeling emotional.

"I kinda understand why you managed to win the favor of the Spirit Ice Douluo… Forget it, you go ahead and study; I won't disturb you any further, I'm leaving."

"Mm, goodbye."

Seeing Zang Xin out of the room, only Tang Wulin and Zhen Hua remained inside.

Zhen Hua sat down again in the seat he had just been occupying, pointed to the seat opposite the table, and kindly said to Tang Wulin:

"Please have a seat as well."

Tang Wulin obediently pulled out a chair and sat down, then asked curiously:

"My lord, would you like to see how I forge?"

Normally, forging is a skill that highly values hands-on practice; usually, before teaching an apprentice, one would first look at how the person forges with their own hands.

However, Zhen Hua shook his head and smiled: "We'll talk about that later; your situation is rather unique."

He had already heard from Zang Xin about Tang Wulin's general situation in the forging field.

Tang Wulin is only nineteen this year, yet he has been stuck at the fifth-rank forging master level for nearly five years, indicating that he became a fifth-rank forging master around age fourteen.

Such talent is obviously astonishing; even Zhen Hua, at fourteen, was only a fifth-rank forging master, and at that time he was recognized as the number one genius by the Forging Master Association.

Tang Wulin had already time-traveled to ten thousand years ago at age nine, yet despite lacking a teacher's guidance, he achieved accomplishments on par with Zhen Hua, suggesting that his talent in forging might surpass Zhen Hua's.

Now Tang Wulin is a fifth-rank forging master with a near‑hundred‑percent success rate in spirit forging; clearly, he is not lacking the ability to advance to sixth‑rank forging master, he simply hasn't found the right path—with a little guidance, advancing to sixth‑rank forging master would be easy.

You should know that Zhen Hua, without lacking resources or a teacher, became a sixth‑rank forging master at eighteen, and in doing so set the highest record in the Forging Master Association.

Therefore, rather than watching Tang Wulin forge, he prefers to first teach Tang Wulin what distinguishes a sixth‑rank forging master from the earlier ranks.

Zhen Hua asked:

Do you know what the biggest difference is between a grandmaster‑rank forging master after reaching the spirit‑forging level and before?

Tang Wulin instinctively replied: "Can spirit forge?"

"Yes, but also no."

Zhen Hua smiled: "Before spirit forging, forging masters merely followed procedures; they were basically just skilled workers. Upon reaching the spirit‑forging level, a forging master truly possesses their own spirituality, and how to unleash that spirituality is the most important thing for a forging master."

Having said that, he paused a moment, seeing that Tang Wulin could follow his lecture, then continued:

"The biggest difference between a fifth‑rank forging master and those below fourth rank is that, from now on, what you forge will no longer be a single metal but an alloy."

"Alloy?"

Hearing those two words, Tang Wulin's heart gave a slight jolt, as if he had vaguely grasped something.

"That's right."

Zhen Hua lightly tapped the table and asked:

"You are now a skilled fifth‑rank forging master; I ask you, when performing spirit forging, which step is the most difficult?"

Tang Wulin replied without hesitation: "It is the process of imparting life; the metal itself gradually develops spirituality during forging, and when spirituality accumulates to a certain extent, the metal gains the basis for a qualitative change. At that point, we forging masters use our own life force to awaken its spirituality, truly giving the metal life, thereby completing spirit forging. Since the metal originally has no life, the degree to which its spirituality is awakened is crucial to whether spirit forging succeeds."

Zhen Hua nodded in approval.

"Not bad, your analysis is spot on. Do you know why it's hard to awaken life in metal? It has to do with the metal's own quality: the better the metal, the greater the chance it can be spirit‑forged. Creating life is an immensely sacred act in the entire universe. At the instant life is created, it generates an energy we cannot fully perceive; to us it's almost inaudible, but to objects that inherently lack life, it is enormously vast. If the object accepts this energy, it becomes a living being; but if it cannot withstand this special energy, the object will break. This is why spirit‑forging failures lose rare metals—we call this special energy 'creative energy,' meaning the energy that creates life."

"…"

Tang Wulin listened silently to Zhen Hua's lecture.

In fact, Zhen Hua's lecture proved to be extremely helpful to him.

Before, he was basically feeling his way across the river by touching stones, completely unaware of theoretical knowledge, only able to constantly try and error; thus, for five years he made no qualitative breakthrough and remained stuck at the fifth‑rank forging master level.

Now, merely after Zhen Hua gave him a little guidance, he feels as if the clouds have parted to reveal the sun, benefiting greatly, as if a bright road is slowly unfolding before him.

Zhen Hua continued:

"In order to increase the success rate of spirit forging, after countless generations of forging masters experimented, we found another method: increase the metal's own strength and its tolerance for creative energy; this method is called forging alloys."

"As the name suggests, an alloy is simply different metals fused together in a certain proportion. Alloys are widely used in mechs, but the alloy we forging masters speak of is different from that kind of metal alloy, which is generally made by high‑temperature smelting to turn different metals into liquid, then mixed and adjusted according to proportion before final shaping, possibly aided by some chemical elements. The alloy we forging masters refer to, however, is entirely achieved by using the forging hammer in hand to help the metals fuse."

"We likewise must fuse different metals according to proportion, but the entire process consists solely of forging, making the different metals forge together into one, uniformly shaped, to enhance their inherent qualities, ultimately completing spirit forging, and even higher‑level soul forging in the future. A piece of metal, at the instant it takes shape in spirit forging, determines the foundation of its future development."

"What I will teach you today is how to forge alloys; this forging method is called fusion forging."

"When you can perform two‑metal fusion forging with more than six types at an extremely high success rate, and three‑metal fusion forging with more than three types, that marks your official entry into the sixth‑rank forging master realm."

Having said that, he paused, looking at Tang Wulin with an inquiring gaze, as if asking whether he understood.

Tang Wulin let out a long sigh, nodded heavily, and eagerly asked:

"I understand; can I try it now?"

Zhen Hua has not yet taught him exactly how to carry out fusion forging, but just what he has explained so far has already made him feel his inspiration bursting forth.

He is now eager to put the ideas that have come to mind into practice, to see if he can continue advancing in the field of forging.

Zhen Hua's eyes widened in surprise, then he revealed a relieved smile and stood up, saying:

"Of course no problem, please wait a moment."

For a blacksmith, the most important thing is actually not fearing failure, daring to try, daring to practice. In Tang Wulin's situation, whether this first attempt succeeds or fails, it is destined to become a valuable experience that will greatly benefit his later development.

Watching the excitement in Tang Wulin's eyes, Zhen Hua realized that he was increasingly fond of this young man; his feelings toward Tang Wulin gradually shifted from reverence for the strong to pride in having a promising student.

He took out rare metals from the cabinet, placed them on the table, and Zhen Hua made a "please" gesture toward Tang Wulin.

"Come on, you just asked why I didn't let you demonstrate your forging skills, didn't you? The time has come to show your strength; let me personally witness the level of your understanding of forging."

By the way, starting today we resume normal updates; we currently owe eighteen thousand characters, which we will repay as soon as possible. (End of chapter)