Chapter 171: Precious Tome

This book is one meter long, half a meter wide, and half a meter thick.

Although every possible method was used to reduce the weight of the book, it still weighs several thousand jin.

Calling it a book is less accurate than calling it something disguised as a book; setting aside the difficulty of reading it, even the pages themselves are not something an ordinary person could flip open.

The moment he took the book out, Lou Gao's face flushed red from the excessive exertion, and it was only after Zhou Heng gave him a hand that they were able to gently place the book on the ground.

Zhou Heng flipped through it a few times and could tell that this was a book on forging compiled by Lou Gao, with the writing completed roughly within the last two or three months.

The beginning section describes the origins of forging, the basic processes and principles of forging, and the ideal realm of forging.

The main body describes, from shallow to deep, the techniques of forging and the requirements for each realm, as well as the insights and processing methods of senior blacksmiths for each realm.

It contains a vast amount of precious forging data.

From simple hammer swinging to the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique known as the highest forging technique of blacksmiths, and from forging ordinary armor to forging lightweight armor capable of resisting attacks from a Soul Emperor.

From the most basic agricultural tools to the large-scale siege equipment used in siege warfare.

From simple mechanism locks to complex and bizarre mechanism arts; starting from the middle of the book, the content shifts to records of various metals, documenting the properties possessed by each metal and the methods to stimulate those properties.

It includes an appendix of a large number of alloy formulas accumulated by the Blacksmith Association and methods for manufacturing alloys with corresponding properties based on actual situations.

It can be said that this book was completed by Lou Gao in a rush with all his disciples and trusted blacksmiths during the time he was harboring a determination to die; it is the condensed embodiment of the entire heritage of the Blacksmith Association.

The massive book contains over ten million characters of written records alone, an unprecedented feat in the blacksmith industry, a tome that can truly establish the foundation of the blacksmith profession.

Relying on this book, even a layman with no knowledge of the blacksmith industry could grow into an excellent blacksmith; if they have excellent talent, they could even become a God Craftsman of this era.

If it were on a continent where forging technology is underdeveloped, this single book could trigger a revolution of the era, building a metallurgical system from scratch and significantly advancing the progress of the entire civilization.

The level of shock this book gave Zhou Heng was no less than that of the piece of soul-forged metal from just a moment ago, and perhaps even exceeded it.

This book was compiled by completely emptying out all the knowledge of the entire Blacksmith Association, and it also includes Lou Gao's records and detailed descriptions of the three realms of Spirit Forging, Fusion Forging, and Soul Forging.

As long as this book is in his hands, Zhou Heng can cultivate a large number of his own blacksmiths, and even cultivate his own Saint Craftsmen or even a God Craftsman capable of completing Heaven Forging.

Just by flipping through a few pages, Zhou Heng himself gained some understanding of forging techniques; if he were to study it a little, with his current physical control and learning ability, he would soon be able to digest and absorb the contents of this encyclopedia and become an outstanding blacksmith in a very short time.

"Hall Master, this book is something I have condensed with my life's blood."

"I originally intended to leave this book to my disciples after my death, letting those unpromising children continue to explore the higher path of the blacksmith. But since the Hall Master has helped me solve the problem of my lifespan..."

Speaking to this point, Lou Gao smiled somewhat awkwardly.

"Then this book shall be at the Hall Master's disposal."

People all have their own selfish motives; Lou Gao was able to prepare to give his greatest forging masterpiece to Zhou Heng without reservation, but he still wanted to leave his own legacy to his disciples.

However, the things in this book were all things Lou Gao had learned, and many of them were even created by Lou Gao himself.

Lou Gao himself is equivalent to a living encyclopedia that is even more comprehensive and detailed.

Since Lou Gao no longer has to die, this legacy is naturally no longer needed.

Ever since his epiphany a few months ago, Lou Gao had been unable to forge; many insights could only be stifled in his heart without being able to be practiced, and he could only simulate and deduce the necessary changes in his mind over and over again.

It was not that Lou Gao had not thought about letting those disciples conduct experiments on his behalf, but in the eyes of Lou Gao, whose technology had broken through several levels in succession at this moment, the forging techniques of his disciples, which had been passable in the past, were now no different from children swinging large hammers.

Not to mention the experimental results, just watching them conduct experiments over and over again and fail over and over again made Lou Gao feel his life slipping away rapidly.

Now that he can return to normal and continue forging, Lou Gao feels that his forging technique will definitely reach a higher level, and perhaps in the future, he will be able to complete Soul Forging easily without consuming his own life force.

Zhou Heng accepted this forging compendium without any false modesty and secretly gave Lou Gao a thumbs-up in his heart.

He intends to go to other continents to collect Faith Power in the future, and in this era, Douluo Continent is undoubtedly the only protagonist on Douluo Star; even the Sun Moon Continent, which has a heritage of Soul Guidance Devices, cannot be more developed than Douluo Continent.

The two continents mentioned in the original work that were occupied by Star Luo and Dou Ling after being mentioned in passing are even less comparable; they are probably still around the primitive society stage.

This Blacksmith Compendium is enough to allow Zhou Heng to harvest a large amount of faith on the new continent, perhaps even converging into the prototype of a Godhood of Forging or Civilization?

After all, a Godhood prototype is slightly inferior in quality to a Demigod Position; with Zhou Heng's insights and uniqueness, as long as the faith is sufficient, the difficulty of condensing it is not particularly great.

After accepting this generous gift, Zhou Heng and Lou Gao continued to talk; Lou Gao spoke of his insights into forging, while Zhou Heng spoke of his insights into the world.

Lou Gao's insights were not of much use to Zhou Heng, but Zhou Heng's insights were incomparably precious to Lou Gao; some flaws in forging that had been overlooked were magnified in his mind, and he also found clues for some areas where he previously did not know how to proceed.

After talking for a long time, Lou Gao began to introduce the small soul-forged metal ball in his hand.

Lou Gao opened his palm and placed the soul-forged metal ball on the tabletop.

In an instant, the small ball spread out, turning into a shape resembling a Metal Slime; its bright silver body squirmed rhythmically, absorbing the soul power between heaven and earth.

When Zhou Heng used his finger to poke the Metal Slime, this Metal Slime could even instinctively emit some feelings of confusion.