Chapter 299 – The Might of Spirit Refined
Tang Wulin’s hammers weighed so little to him, he might as well have been holding air. Due to the spirit refinement, they were connected to Tang Wulin as an extension of his own body. Even though their weight meant nothing to him now, he could still feel the recoil from every blow he struck against the iron. That recoil was enough to tell him that the hammers, despite not increasing in size, were twofold heavier than they were before.
The stacking effect of the hammers still remained, but Tang Wulin was surprised to discover that the number of stacks increased by one. Each of his hammers now stacked three times. On top of this, he could now make use of the connection between himself and his hammers to sense and control the power of each individual stack, making every strike more precise than it had ever been before.
The strangest change he noticed was the way his soul power naturally flowed into his hammers, which not only empowered his strikes, but also enabled him to enlarge the hammers at will.
That one blow from his spirit refined hammer was now more effective than five strikes from his thousand refined hammer.
A ringing peal echoed through the air as Tang Wulin’s hammers cleaved into the two pieces of meteoric iron, despite the extreme density that made it notoriously difficult to forge. The iron was nothing before his soul power imbued strikes and the stacking effect of his hammers.
So this is the effect of spirit refining! Not only does it help me forge even better, it also helps bridge the gap between me and the metal. It tells me what the metal is feeling and how best to forge it!
The instant Tang Wulin’s hammers descended, the eyes of the red-haired man behind him flashed with astonishment.
Spirit refined forging hammers?
But immediately after the thought occurred to him, the man furrowed his brow. Are those hammers the reason he can perform such high-level forging? If someone forged those hammers for him, it would only be natural he would be ahead of his peers. But then that would mean his foundation is lacking.
Tang Wulin continued his forging, completely obliterating the man’s presumptions in the process.
Tang Wulin raised his hammer into the air, beginning to twist his body at the same time.
This was a secret art of the Tang Sect—the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer technique!
This was one of the first arts that Tang Wulin bought from the Tang Sect. The Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer technique utilized the centripetal force that a person created by winding up their body, channeling it into their hammers. As one continued to build momentum, winding up their body strike after strike, the power in their hammers increased. The only drawback that this technique had was the recoil. The user had to be strong enough to endure it.
Before he succeeded at spirit refining, Tang Wulin had only been able to use his innate divine strength and Golden Dragon King bloodline to successfully execute forty-eight strikes in a row. He needed to strengthen his body in order to increase that number.
According to legend, the Disorder Splitting Wind Technique had the potential to reach eighty-one consecutive strikes. If anyone reached that level, they would be a force to be reckoned with. Even the blacksmithing prodigy, Tang Wulin, had stagnated at forty-eight consecutive strikes for more than half a year now. He could only begin to imagine how arduous it would be to walk the path to eighty-one strikes.
The room shook with a constant, ear-splitting pounding. The steady rhythm of Tang Wulin’s hammering, as well as how immersed he was in his task, served as a testament to his level of skill.
Spirit refined hammers could be forged for other people to use, but such a tempo could only be achieved when one forged day in and day out.
Tang Wulin’s hammering continued to transform the two chunks of meteoric iron, their dull gray giving way to a faint golden sheen. Evidently, this was an effect caused by the spirit refined hammers. With every fall of his hammers, the two pieces of iron became smaller and more of the gray exterior faded away.
When Tang Wulin spirit refined the heavy silver, it only took him a few hits to hundred refine it. Yet this time, with his improved hammers and the meteoric iron, it took him over ten strikes to achieve hundred refinement.
Booms continued to thunder without end, growing more frequent as his hammers flew faster and faster. His hammers whirled through the air, creating powerful, hissing gusts of wind that flowed throughout the room.
As the rumbling continued, two soul rings rose up from beneath Tang Wulin. He poured soul power into the iron through his hammers, taking advantage of the special properties of spirit refined metal to increase the efficacy of his forging.
It would have been impossible for Tang Wulin to simultaneously forge two metals prior to reaching the fifth rank. Not only would he have had to focus on one at a time, it would have taken him longer as well.
Yet now that he had spirit refined hammers, he needed to remember the experience of spirit refining and use it to elevate his work. By using what he learned from spirit refining to thousand refine, he could make it so that he only put in half the effort for twice the gain.
A boom thundered when Tang Wulin spun around, unleashing the forty-eighth strike. He no longer had any control over the power coursing through his body, yet despite that, confidence blossomed forth from his heart. As he spun around once more, his purple soul rings disappeared and his golden soul ring rose. A suffocatingly thick aura of blood essence poured out, increasing the strength of his body to a new plateau.
He swung his hammer!
The forty-ninth strike exploded, the rumble of hammer on iron tearing through the air.
A pair of golden lights soared into the air, a clear sign that this was a thousand refining with spirit, and an indication that it had reached the first-grade.
The two pillars of light gradually dissipated after ten seconds, accompanied by the faint draconic roar emanating from the pulsing dragon pattern on Tang Wulin’s hammers.
Tang Wulin stood there pensively, his mind deep in contemplation.
So it’s actually like this…
The red-haired man watched with bated breath from behind Tang Wulin. When the forty-ninth strike fell, he sucked in a deep breath, his crimson eyes bright as stars.
“I understand now!” Tang Wulin shouted in excitement, bouncing with joy.
The red-haired man made a strange face at the proclamation. “What do you understand?”
“Now that my hammers are spirit refined, they need to be fed blood essence in order to bring out their full power. They can also give me feedback, sending the shock of the collision into me through our blood connection. This allows me to conserve my stamina, enabling me to forge longer and more effectively.”
The feedback that the forty-ninth strike sent to his Golden Dragon King Bloodline made his blood boil over with excitement. In that instant, his body exploded with strength and the effects of his forging soared!
Since it’s like this, my chances of successfully spirit refining will be greater and less taxing than normal. Once I get my third ring, the next time I spirit refine will be easy!
Seeing the excitement in Tang Wulin’s expression, the red-haired man said, “Good. You pass. From this moment forth, you are a member of Shrek Blacksmith’s Association. You can rejoice at the achievement.”
As he spoke, the red-haired man conjured a black badge out of nowhere and moved his hand toward Tang Wulin’s chest.
“Huh? Wait a second! I haven’t agreed yet!” Tang Wulin jumped back in alarm, but the red-haired man was too quick. All Tang Wulin felt was a warmth on his chest, and the next thing he knew, the badge was stuck to him.
“You don’t have the right to refuse. As a blacksmith yourself, what association are you going to enter but the Blacksmith’s Association?” the man drawled nonchalantly.
Tang Wulin smiled bitterly. “How can you be so forceful? You haven’t even told me who you are yet.”
“Me?” The red-haired man pushed his bangs out of his eyes, revealing a pair of arrogant yet tender eyes. “I am the president of Shrek Blacksmith’s Association and the eighth-rank Saint Blacksmith, Feng Wuyu! So, do you still dare refuse?”
A Saint Blacksmith? Tang Wulin was shaken by the revelation. So Shrek Academy also has a Saint Blacksmith!
“Alright, I accept,” Tang Wulin said sincerely.
“Then hurry up and pay your respects to me as your teacher. In light of your prodigious talent, I shall graciously accept you as my disciple, take you under my wing, and guide you,” Feng Wuyu said.
Shrek Academy has so many eccentrics! Tang Wulin thought.
“My apologies! I already have a teacher so I cannot kowtow to you as my teacher.”
“You already have a teacher? Who? Who could possibly be as great as I?” A trace of anxiety appeared in Feng Wuyu’s eyes.
“My teacher is also an eighth-rank Saint Blacksmith. He’s the president of Eastsea Blacksmith’s Association. He should be a few years younger than you.”
Though Tang Wulin didn’t explicitly say Mu Chen was better than Feng Wuyu, just mentioning his age was more than enough to get his point across.