Chapter 518: Sixth-Rank Forger (8k)

Tang Wulin stood facing the rare metals placed on the table, not acting immediately but carefully observing the types of metal Zhen Hua had taken out.

Zhen Hua saw that he had not acted immediately and nodded in satisfaction.

Forging as a technical task is absolutely not as simple as merely hammering iron.

In fact, the preparations before forging are also a very important part; if this step encounters serious problems, forging cannot possibly succeed.

Especially fusion forging, as a forging technique for spirit alloys, choosing the wrong forging target has serious consequences.

At such a time, not being dazed by excited emotions but acting calmly, it is no wonder that he could reach his current realm as a genius forger without anyone's guidance.

Tang Wulin weighed it slightly and then made a decision.

He grabbed two pieces of metal and placed them in front of himself.

Zhen Hua's expression became increasingly satisfied.

Seven-Colored Stone and Blue Light Crystal are two rare metals very suitable for fusion forging.

What Tang Wulin did not know was that fusion forging actually has specific alloy formulas.

These formulas have been hammered and refined by predecessors, verified countless times and summarized; each alloy formula is extremely precious and certainly something to be cherished.

Alloy formulas are divided into ordinary and rare types; rare types can also be called secret formulas, known only to a very few, while ordinary types are widely used on the continent and most people know them.

In the process of making spirit metal, the more types of rare metal fused, the harder the forging; the changes produced during mutual fusion become more numerous, and the formula becomes even more precious.

Generally speaking, alloys forged from two to three metals are mostly ordinary types; above three metals, they are all rare formulas, and the more rare metal types used in forging an alloy, the higher the rarity of the formula.

Upon entering the stage of learning alloys, inheritance becomes very important; even ordinary alloy formulas must be purchased to obtain from the Forging Master Association.

According to the original plan, although Zhen Hua would not really teach Tang Wulin all of his secret skills immediately, he could still transmit most of the rare formulas to Tang Wulin.

But before he could begin the transmission, Tang Wulin had actually already chosen a formula that, in his view, was quite good.

This gave him a small surprise.

Tang Wulin naturally did not know Zhen Hua's thoughts; at this moment, his spirit and energy were entirely focused on the forging table before him.

He reached out, and two small hammers appeared in his hands, exactly the forging hammers he had been accustomed to using these years.

He did not start hammering hard as usual, but kept lightly tapping the surfaces of the two rare metals, as if feeling something.

Zhen Hua's gaze could no longer be described as satisfied; it even became somewhat surprised.

Is this the Listening Hammer?

The so-called Listening Hammer, as the name suggests, is the technique of lightly tapping rare metal with a forging hammer and then judging the metal's quality by the sound produced; generally only top-tier forgers with highly skilled technique can use it.

Zhen Hua dared to affirm that this was definitely not a forging skill that the nine-year-old Tang Wulin, who had just time-traveled, would know; considering that the time since Tang Wulin's time-travel return has not been long, could it be that he actually comprehended this himself in that era ten thousand years ago? At this moment, Zhen Hua's gaze had already become somewhat fervent.

Previously, in his eyes, Tang Wulin's greatest value was still his strength.

But now, Zhen Hua has begun to feel that Tang Wulin's talent in the forging field is more attractive than his combat ability.

Tang Wulin kept lightly tapping the two rare metals, judging their material.

As a result, he was very satisfied.

He chose Seven-Colored Stone and Blue Light Crystal these two rare metals mainly based on his years of forging experience; in fact, he did not have much confidence.

But after performing the Listening Hammer, he had already confirmed in his heart that he had not chosen the wrong materials; the compatibility of these two rare metals is absolutely not just ordinary good.

After confirming this, Tang Wulin stopped probing and began his own forging.

"Dang——"

A lingering sound rang out in the forging chamber, followed immediately by hammering like a violent storm.

"Dang dang dang dang dang dang……"

Zhen Hua's eyes involuntarily widened.

This forging speed is absolutely impossible for an ordinary fifth-rank forger.

Because usually a fifth-rank forger's cultivation does not exceed a Soul King by much, aside from a few extreme cases, the vast majority of fifth-rank forgers have cultivation between Soul King and Soul Saint; those who can reach the Soul Douluo realm should generally also be promoted to sixth-rank forger.

But Tang Wulin is different; although he is only a fifth-rank forger now, his cultivation has reached the Honored Douluo realm, and his combat power is even among the strongest in the Limit Douluo tier, making him absolutely the most ferocious fifth-rank forger in history.

Therefore, even if he had suppressed his forging speed as much as possible for success rate, his striking speed in reality still far exceeded Zhen Hua's comprehension.

Zhen Hua's complexion turned somewhat bad.

Tang Wulin's forging speed is absolutely abnormal, and what is even more astonishing is that his forging precision is actually also very high.

Although Zhen Hua himself possesses Honored Douluo-level cultivation, and given that Tang Wulin deliberately greatly reduced his forging speed, he is still able to see Tang Wulin's movements clearly.

Every hammer strike of Tang Wulin lands in the most suitable place; even if Zhen Hua asks himself, it would be very difficult to do better than Tang Wulin.

But…… this seems prone to problems, right?

Forging is not just simple hammering of metal; heating with fire to melt it and thereby change its form is also very important, especially for fusion forging.

After all, the characteristic of fusion forging is to combine two rare metals into one, so heating is very important.

Tang Wulin's relentless high-speed hammering will easily cause problems later on.

While Zhen Hua was seriously considering whether to remind Tang Wulin to change it now or let him continue, letting failure serve as a lesson, a variable occurred again.

Only hearing a dragon's roar, a fiery red dragon flew out from Tang Wulin's left arm, opened its mouth wide, and spewed flames onto Tang Wulin and the rare metals.

Zhen Hua jumped in fright, quickly leapt to the side, and then his eyes stared straight.

He actually saw that Tang Wulin, bathed in flames, was completely unaffected, and thus continued forging normally under the fire's bathing……

Although Zhen Hua felt it, this flame's temperature is actually not that high; at least it would hardly harm an Honored Douluo-level existence, obviously he was holding back, but to be completely unaffected is simply too outrageous.

Is this the forging method of top-tier powerhouses…… Zhen Hua felt he had truly opened his eyes.

Watching Tang Wulin forge with a normal complexion, Zhen Hua actually felt moved and somewhat envious.

He knew this was a forging method he could never learn.

However, with the help of the Fire Dragon King, heating is obviously no longer a problem.

The two rare metals placed on the forging table softened rapidly, and under Tang Wulin's striking control, they quickly fused together, gradually becoming a single piece from the two metals.

Then, as the Fire Dragon King returned to his left arm, he struck hard, and instantly a pillar of light rose; afterward, on this pillar of light, a fiery red light shot upward a distance.

Zhenhua instinctively shouted: "Great! Thousand Forging gives spirit, Fusion Forging awakens spirit! Beautiful!"

The appearance of spirit awakening in fusion forging means the alloy forging is completely successful; only thorough fusion and full spirituality can produce such a sight, and every blacksmith's spirit-awakening state is different, each related to their own martial soul.

Obviously, the appearance of this fiery red light is because Tang Wulin used the power of the Fire Dragon King during the forging process.

This piece of alloy was thus endowed with the Fire Dragon King's fire and dragon attributes, and will be highly compatible with soul masters possessing the fire dragon attribute.

Tang Wulin had received no instruction on forging alloys; he merely heard of fusion forging from here and directly completed it in one attempt, which to Zhenhua seemed utterly unbelievable.

He had just wanted to step forward to take that piece of alloy and test its fusion degree, but he abruptly stopped.

Because he suddenly noticed that Tang Wulin had not stopped his own movements, his gaze fixed on the alloy before him was very serious.

Zhenhua was instantly stunned.

No way? However, Tang Wulin's subsequent actions confirmed his thought.

"Clang!"

Tang Wulin raised his hammer again and then struck down fiercely.

He intends to directly continue upgrading this piece of alloy! Zhenhua instantly saw what Tang Wulin planned to do, and burst into laughter mixed with tears.

Normally, blacksmiths performing fusion forging first conduct spirit forging, then fuse two pieces of sentient metal; the resulting sentient alloy is not only of higher quality but also generally easier to make.

But Tang Wulin, this being his first time, accidentally messed up the steps, completing fusion forging during the thousand-forging stage.

Actually, it's nothing; no matter how you say it, he successfully completed fusion forging, and no one will deny the fact that he forged sentient alloy.

However, the quality of fusion forging done this way is inevitably imperfect, and Tang Wulin noticed this, so he intends to boost the alloy's quality in one go.

Under Zhenhua's astonished gaze, Tang Wulin's body rose with nine-colored light.

Facing this nine-colored light, he instinctively felt a shudder of fear; his biological instinct told him that the person standing before him was no longer that humble, courteous youth, but an incredibly terrifying ancient ferocious beast.

Even the alloy before Tang Wulin seemed to sense this, emitting an aura of fear.

Tang Wulin narrowed his eyes, lifted his forging hammer, and as the nine-colored light flowed, he infused the nine-colored light into the hammer and then struck down fiercely.

"Hum—"

This time the sound produced was clearly different from before; struck by such a hammer, the alloy violently trembled for a moment and actually emitted an aura of submission.

Zhenhua stood there, dumbfounded.

Submission? In his impression, this was the first time he had seen sentient alloy submit to a blacksmith.

What exactly is that nine-colored aura? Tang Wulin naturally wouldn't answer his inner question; he simply kept raising and lowering his hammer, earnestly forging that sentient alloy.

He was obviously using the power of the Dragon God bloodline, a force so domineering that even the Beast God Emperor Tian could hardly resist it; how could a tiny lump of metal that had just gained sentience possibly resist?

Tang Wulin can be said to be forging entirely by relying on his terrifying strength, something only he could accomplish; even Zhenhua could not do it, for although both are Honored Douluo, Zhenhua's strength differs from Tang Wulin's by more than a hundredfold—what Tang Wulin can do with a flick of his wrist is a feat Zhenhua could never achieve in a lifetime.

Under Zhenhua's stunned gaze, this sentient alloy rapidly shrank and refined under Tang Wulin's hammer; finally, when it could no longer be refined, a resounding dragon roar echoed throughout the Tiandu City Blacksmith Association.

Yes, it was not just the forging room, but the entire Tiandu City Blacksmith Association; this resounding dragon roar could not be completely blocked even by a specialized forging room.

At the same time, nine dragon shadows emerged from the alloy's surface, quickly intertwining and merging into a nine-colored giant dragon, which then slowly drifted in the air.

And the nine-colored light emitted while drifting in the air was not wasted at all; it was entirely infused into that sentient alloy.

Instantly, the sentient alloy emitted another resounding dragon roar, its sound no smaller than before, obviously achieving another level leap.

Zhenhua was completely speechless.

Is this forging sentient alloy? Is this a fifth-rank blacksmith performing fusion forging? Those who don't know might think Tang Wulin is doing heavenly forging! Even if he gave it his all, he might not be able to produce such a commotion! In that instant, Zhenhua's heart was finally utterly convinced of Tang Wulin's talent in the forging field.

He no longer cared about Tang Wulin's identity; at this moment, in his eyes, Tang Wulin was simply a terrifyingly gifted forging genius, and only then his other identities.

He must take this brat as a disciple! At this moment, Zhenhua's heart firmly made that decision.

Just then, he suddenly felt a vibration in his pocket; he reached in and found it was a message on his soul conduit communicator.

He instantly understood; apparently the commotion from Tang Wulin's successful forging was so great that it startled everyone.

As the soul conduit communicator received the message, the forging room's door was also knocked, and a voice from outside came: it was Zang Xin's.

"Old brother Zhenhua, are you alright? May I come in?"

"Of course."

Zhenhua pressed a button on his watch, and the forging room's door was soon opened.

Seeing both of them unharmed, Zang Xin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He wasn't worried about Tang Wulin getting hurt; after all, this kid could defeat him outright and had once easily repulsed the ferocious beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest—his strength is probably on par with Yun Ming.

But if something were to happen to Zhenhua, that would truly be a loss to all of human society.

Given Tang Wulin's situation, if the Beast God Emperor Tian were to attack again, it's really uncertain whether he could protect Zhenhua from the Emperor Tian's hands.

Moreover, the recent sound was again a dragon roar, which made Zang Xin's heartbeat involuntarily slow by a few seconds.

Fortunately, it seems he was overthinking, and no external enemy is attacking.

Zang Xin asked:

"What just happened? What's with that dragon roar?"

Zhenhua waved his hand at him.

"I'll explain right away; before that, please wait a moment."

After saying that, he picked up his soul conduit communicator and dialed someone.

"Brother Liu, rest assured, nothing happened; let everyone not worry, the Amorous Douluo is by my side; just now I merely had a new breakthrough in my forging."

After ending the call, he put down his soul conduit communicator and let out a long sigh.

Hearing his explanation, Zang Xin's gaze involuntarily turned strange: "A new breakthrough in forging... Zhenhua old brother, could it not be that the commotion just now was caused by Wulin?"

Although Zang Xin is not a blacksmith, having never seen pork but seen pigs run, he still has a basic understanding of forging.

Metals forged by blacksmiths usually bear strong traits of the blacksmith himself; if the commotion just now were truly produced during forging, it would basically be impossible for Zhenhua to have caused it.

Thinking of Tang Wulin's martial soul being related to dragons, Zang Xin then had this question.

Only after associating Tang Wulin's martial soul with a dragon did Zang Xin have this question.

When he asked, he himself thought it unlikely, but then he saw Zhen Hua nod heavily.

"That's right, it was him who caused it."

"Ah?"

Zang Xin stared, mouth agape.

Ignoring the dazed Zang Xin, Zhen Hua came before Tang Wulin, observed him, then nodded thoughtfully, and again took out his soul conduit communicator, saying:

"Clear out a new forging room for me; I estimate I'll need to switch forging rooms for the next few days."

"?"

Zang Xin blinked, then suddenly realized that Tang Wulin had been still since just now.

He instinctively looked at Tang Wulin, then suddenly understood.

"Is he entering a deep meditation state?"

Tang Wulin held twin hammers, eyes tightly shut, breathing steady—these are the signs of entering deep meditation.

Deep meditation differs from ordinary meditation; it doesn't greatly boost soul power, but it is absolutely a meditation state that all soul masters desperately seek.

If ordinary meditation merely raises a soul master's cultivation, then deep meditation enhances the soul master's innate talent—a fundamental improvement that no soul master could refuse.

I never expected that merely bringing this kid to learn forging would actually let him enter deep meditation.

This is truly a rare opportunity that one can encounter but not seek.

"Hmm."

Zhen Hua nodded, picked up the spirit alloy already tinged with nine-colored light on the forging platform before Tang Wulin, and left the forging room.

He sighed and said to Zang Xin, "Sorry, please go tell Spirit Ice Douluo about Wulin's situation; at least for the coming period, he will likely stay here with us."

For soul masters, the longer the deep meditation, the better; thus it must not be lightly disturbed.

Merely speaking near Tang Wulin is fine, but moving him and waking him from deep meditation would be bad.

"No problem."

Zang Xin readily agreed.

Since Tang Wulin was the one he brought over, he naturally should explain the situation to Huo Yutong.

After getting along for a while, he roughly figured out Huo Yutong's personality; she is quite easy to talk to, so this small matter likely won't bother her.

He curiously looked at the metal in Zhen Hua's hand and asked:

"Is this the metal that Tang Wulin just forged, causing such a commotion?"

"Hmm."

Zhen Hua weighed the spirit alloy and said:

"Come, let's test its fusion degree."

Zhen Hua had a feeling that the test results would far exceed their expectations.

As expected, when Zhen Hua placed the spirit alloy on the tester, the number one hundred instantly appeared.

Zang Xin widened his eyes in surprise.

"A hundred percent fusion? How is that possible!"

Zhen Hua also couldn't help but give a wry smile.

One important indicator for testing fusion forging is the degree of fusion between metals.

Normally, the higher the fusion degree, the better the fusion forging quality, and the more likely it is to succeed.

Generally, achieving a sixty percent fusion degree already counts as successful fusion forging; above ninety-five is called divine-base metal, meaning it has a chance to become a god-tier metal alloy.

As for Zhen Hua, he originally thought that, without systematic training in fusion forging, Tang Wulin's first attempt could reach sixty percent completion and already be extremely talented; reaching over ninety would be nearly impossible, and reaching over ninety-five… impossible to reach over ninety-five; in Zhen Hua's mind, the possibility of Tang Wulin achieving over ninety-five percent fusion forging was zero, an absolute impossibility.

Who would have thought Tang Wulin would actually turn in a heaven-defying answer of a hundred percent fusion degree.

Ninety-five and a hundred seem to differ by only five percent fusion degree, but the gap between them is like heaven and earth.

Even ninety-nine percent versus a hundred percent, their levels are worlds apart.

After all, under normal circumstances, a hundred percent fusion degree is itself an impossible event.

Know that, for any metal, there will always be a slight mutual exclusion; no matter how superb the smith's skill, there will always be a little difference, and that difference stems from the metal's nature, making it impossible to overcome.

Yet Tang Wulin turned the impossible into possible, successfully forging a metal with a hundred percent fusion degree.

Although Zhen Hua is reluctant to accept this reality, the facts are before him and he cannot deny them.

After all, how exactly did Tang Wulin manage this?

Zhen Hua recalled the details of Tang Wulin's forging, and a flash of light appeared in his eyes.

He suddenly realized that when Tang Wulin burst forth with nine-colored light, the metal's aura began to turn toward submission.

Could it be that the two metals composing this spirit alloy both submitted to him and voluntarily relinquished their own traits, enabling the fusion? If true, this would be unique in the entire forging world.

Moreover, the mysteries of this spirit alloy are likely not limited to this.

Gazing at this unprecedented nine-colored halo, Zhen Hua instinctively felt that the metal's quality probably far exceeded his imagination.

It is necessary to test its quality.

Zhen Hua placed the spirit alloy on the table, took out a forging hammer, and began lightly tapping it.

Zang Xin dared not breathe beside him, intently watching Zhen Hua's every move.

He too was curious about what grade of metal Tang Wulin had forged.

Zhen Hua's expression first was calm, then turned shocked, then incredulous, and finally became somewhat numb.

Finally, he put away the forging hammer and sighed.

Then he abruptly turned, seized Zang Xin's shoulders, and with piercing eyes said, "Sir, may I ask you a favor?"

"Er, what is it?"

"Could you please help me persuade this kid to become my disciple? I am willing to impart all my lifetime learning!"

It can be, it can be...

Zang Xin blinked, asking curiously:

What's wrong, is the quality of this metal of his heaven-defying?

This can no longer be described as heaven-defying.

Zhenhua revealed a bitter smile.

He released his grip on Zang Xin's hands, sighed, and said: "Let me put it this way, this piece of living metal of his that hasn't even undergone soul forging, in terms of quality, has already approached the heavenly forging I achieve with my full effort."

……What?

Zang Xin, for a moment, thought he had misheard.

Zhenhua repeated: "I'm serious, the quality of his fusion forging has already approached the heavenly-forged metal I produce with my full effort."

Zang Xin was stunned.

As one of the few fourth-rank battle armor masters on the continent, he understood all too well what Zhenhua's words meant.

Before Zhenhua appeared, there were actually no divine craftsmen on the continent, nor any so-called heavenly forging; the highest was only soul forging.

At that time, the material for the four-word battle armor was merely an alloy produced through fusion forging via soul forging.

Approaching the heavenly forging that Zhenhua performs with his full effort basically means that the quality of Tang Wulin's fusion forging has already surpassed the best material produced by Zhenhua's previous forgers.

In other words, rounding it off, the quality of the metal Tang Wulin currently forges is such that even if he calls himself a divine craftsman, it's no big deal, after all, the quality of the metal he forges is already sufficient to serve as raw material for four-word battle armor.

And this isn't even the scariest part; the scary part is that this is Tang Wulin's first attempt at fusion forging, and this grade of metal is still far from reaching his limit.

Just performing fusion forging with two rare metals as raw materials can achieve such quality; then what about soul forging, heavenly forging—could the theoretical limit be even higher? No wonder Zhenhua is so excited; Tang Wulin's talent in the forging field has reached an unprecedented degree, and if expectations hold, this young man will change the history of the entire Douluo Continent.

At Zhenhua's level, for him, the forging field actually already finds it difficult to achieve higher accomplishments; heavenly forging is his limit, and he cannot reach a higher grade.

But Tang Wulin is different; on him, Zhenhua saw hope of breaking through the limit and reaching a higher level.

Unfortunately, he still doesn't understand how Tang Wulin managed to reach this point.

However, his intuition tells him that perhaps only Tang Wulin in the whole world can achieve such a level of accomplishment.

In fact, his intuition is indeed not wrong.

Tang Wulin's fusion forging is fundamentally not something others can successfully replicate, because during the forging process he utilized the power of the Dragon God bloodline.

For a blacksmith's forging, at the low stage it's still okay to say; they merely remove impurities from the metal and raise the metal's own level; the ultimate success of this stage depends more on the metal's inherent quality.

But higher-level forging is different; it is the process of a blacksmith infusing his own power into rare metals, and some even exaggerate by saying that soul forging is a new organ of an eighth-rank blacksmith who has reached the sage artisan level.

Although saying that is somewhat exaggerated, it can still be seen that at this stage, what matters more than the metal's own material has become the blacksmith's realm; metals forged by high-level blacksmiths generally possess part of the blacksmith's own power.

And Tang Wulin's Dragon God bloodline is definitely considered one of the most domineering powers in the world.

In fact, what Tang Wulin himself doesn't know is that he has already almost gathered all the conditions needed to become a deity.

Divine power, divine sense, divine-level bloodline—what he still lacks is basically just completing the Dragon God assessment and carrying out the final inheritance of the god's position.

Even he might not necessarily need a god's position; as long as he reaches rank one hundred, he can break through to a higher level.

Therefore, the fusion-forged metal into which he infused his power naturally far surpasses ordinary fusion-forged metals, directly jumping several ranks to reach the level of heavenly forging.

As Zhenhua speculated, this is an exclusive forging that only Tang Wulin, as a top-tier powerhouse, is capable of completing; it is fundamentally not something anyone can learn.

If one were to say who might possibly learn his forging method, it would probably only be his future child.

Zang Xin gave a wry smile and said: "This really is a monster… Alright, I will definitely help you with this, and you don't need to worry—Wulin will surely be happy."

Tang Wulin is now considered a half-wild blacksmith; although he has Teacher Mangtian, it's obvious that Mangtian cannot compete with Zhenhua.

After all, in terms of setup, there is no blacksmith in this world who can be compared to Zhenhua.

He took out a soul-guided communicator, dialed Huo Yutong's number, and roughly explained what had happened to Tang Wulin.

After hearing his explanation, Huo Yutong asked:

"In short, Wulin is currently in a deep meditative state and needs a quiet environment, right?"

"Yeah, that's right, so we decided to lend Zhenhua Junior's forging room to him for now."

Zang Xin replied.

Upon hearing his words, Huo Yutong fell silent for a moment.

Afterward, a voice came from behind Zang Xin and Zhenhua.

"No need to go through all that trouble."

The two quickly turned around and discovered that Huo Yutong had somehow already stood behind them.

She said calmly:

"Come, take me to see Wulin; I'll bring him home."

She would not allow Tang Wulin to be out of her sight for that long.

(End of chapter)