Chapter 401 - Spirit Refined Titanium Gold
Tang Wulin’s hammers glowed with soul power. Gone was the gentleness from before. They came down upon the titanium crystal like an endless, crashing waterfall, thundering booms now shaking the arena. The explosions of sound were further amplified by the stacked hammers effect. Upon being thousand refined, his hammers were capable of drawing on his soul power. However, after being spirit refined, they could now use his soul power to its fullest potential.
Soul power surged through Tang Wulin’s body like roaring waves. He didn’t hold any part of himself back. Compared to his first spirit refining, he now had enough soul power to spare. Even if he did run out of soul power, he still had the power of his bloodline at his disposal. In addition to that, the two bean buns he had previously eaten roused his blood. He could take advantage of that to reverse the flow of his blood, the technique that had helped him complete Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens and defeat Wu Siduo.
After successfully activating Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens and reversing his blood flow, Tang Wulin perfected the technique and could now use it on command. In doing so, his blood essence became thirty percent stronger, and when he used Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens, his power doubled! As of now, his strongest attack consisted of his dragon claw, his gauntlet, and Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens!
Tang Wulin had long since been able to harness the power of his bloodline to reduce his stamina consumption, improving his forging efficacy. Spirit refining titanium crystal was nothing to him now. He could use his blood essence as a substitute for his soul power, and doing so would also increase his chances of successful spirit refining a metal! During the past few days of forging alloys, he noticed that his success rate had increased. It was clear to him that the bond between metal and blood essence was deeper than the one between metal and soul power. After that discovery, Tang Wulin’s level of forging entered a whole new realm. He didn’t increase in rank, but his success rate soared.
This was the reason why he could forge the titanium crystal so perfectly today.
Tang Wulin’s hammers rained down on the titanium crystal. The golden ball inside of it grew brighter with each heavy hit, growing larger as the crystal that encased it became smaller. This was a truly bizarre scene to behold. It looked as if he were actually granting life to the metal.
Everyone knew that titanium crystal was spirit refined the moment that only its gold remained. Titanium gold had an astronomical value. It was one of the top ten metals and could be reforged into an alloy. Forget normal soul masters, even Titled Douluos desired such a metal! All who were not yet four-word battle armor masters would! A single piece of titanium gold could drastically boost the toughness and other properties of battle armor. It was an absolute treasure. Titanium crystal was rare, but finding titanium gold was like spotting a unicorn! A piece once appeared in an auction auction and sold for a whopping eighty million coins! It was so rare that it didn’t have a set market value!
Tang Wulin had imbued the metal with his blood essence as he forged. He was the only one who could finish forging it now. If that weren’t the case, Feng Wuyu would have jumped in to finish it himself. No one would pass up an opportunity to obtain some titanium gold. Even with Feng Wuyu’s cultivation level and status as a three-word battle armor master, only three pieces of his battle armor had titanium gold infused in them!
Feng Wuyu balled his hands into tight fists. You have to succeed!
Tang Wulin’s soul power depleted rapidly as he forged the titanium crystal. Every strike of his hammers sent a burst of soul power into the titanium crystal, reducing its size and granting it life. Titanium crystal was much faster to spirit refine than other metals. However, this speed came at the cost of increased soul power consumption during the refining process. The amount of consumption was so shocking that Tang Wulin couldn’t keep up. Only fifteen minutes had passed by the time Tang Wulin’s soul power ran out. As soon as it did, his three purple soul rings disappeared and a resplendent golden one took their place. Tang Wulin called his blood essence forth in a surge of awesome power, activating Golden Dragon Body as an intense, draconic roar resounded from deep within him. Anyone with sharp eyes would see golden scales shimmering faintly in the air around him.
From his seat on the platform that overlooked the arena, Zhuo Shi gawked at Tang Wulin. “He succeeded! That brat succeeded at learning my Dragon Shocks the Heavens with just three soul rings! I had to wait until I had five rings before I could refine my bloodline to half that of a true dragon’s and complete it! No wonder he can forge like that… he’s using the power of his bloodline to supplement his forging!”
Golden light streamed from Tang Wulin’s spirit refined heavy silver hammers as his blood essence coursed through them. The golden ball on the forging table before him shrank rapidly as he continued to forge. He could feel the connection between the metal and his bloodline growing deeper and more intense. The titanium crystal was an infant about to be born and on the verge of gaining awareness.
Tang Wulin could feel his blood essence roar within him. It was being consumed at a much slower pace than his soul power had been. He allowed its flow to reverse, feeling no need to really control it. The aura of his blood essence immediately grew thicker, a warmth spreading throughout his body.
Boom after boom filled the air. The song of Tang Wulin’s forging now followed the same tune as He Xiaopeng’s had. In fact, it was even louder. The titanium crystal grew brighter with each strike, the golden ball rapidly filling the space that the crystal of the metal previously occupied.
W-what! He’s about to succeed at spirit refining? H-he’s actually a fifth-rank blacksmith?
He Xiaopeng stared at Tang Wulin in shock. At the age of seventeen, he was the oldest student in the second grade. He always thought himself a prodigy for becoming a fourth-rank blacksmith at the age of seventeen. Yet Mu Xi, being a fourth-rank blacksmith herself, transferred in and showed him that wasn’t the case. If she hadn’t transferred in late, she might have threatened his position as blacksmith representative of the second grade. Even before this match, some said she should go up instead of him. They had believed it impossible for the first grade to win and thought it would be a good chance for her to show off her skills. In the end, however, the teacher had settled on him being the one to go up, saying that the first grade had an extremely talented blacksmith.
He Xiaopeng hadn’t minded the teacher’s words back then, but he hadn’t looked down on his opponent either. He believed that, as long as he did his best, victory was certain.
Yet reality had played out differently.
He Xiaopeng had performed to the very best of his ability today, even surpassing his limits a bit. He had been completely satisfied with the result.
But then Tang Wulin did the impossible!
He’s still young! He can’t be more than fifteen, much younger than me, yet he can actually spirit refine! I don’t even know when I’ll be able to!
In the audience, a pair of shining eyes stared at Tang Wulin in astonishment. These eyes belonged to Mu Xi!
Mu Xi knew Tang Wulin was a fifth-rank blacksmith, but this was her first time seeing him spirit refine. He really can do it! That golden light should be his blood essence... I can’t believe it’s already so strong. He’s even more amazing than before.
As Tang Wulin’s senior sister, no one understood his blacksmithing skill and his comprehension level better than her. She had been absolutely certain that Taing Wulin would be the first grade’s blacksmith representative, so she hadn’t fought He Xiaopeng for their own grade’s position. She didn’t want to compete with Tang Wulin because she never won against him before, and she knew this time would be no different.
Mu Xi’s smile grew wider and wider as she watched him forge. He’s advanced step by step, and now he’s able to spirit refine titanium crystal. Is there anything he can’t do? Fortunately, none of her classmates paid any attention to her. They were all focused on the spectacle happening on-stage. If some had seen her face, they surely would have doubted which side she was on.
Tang Wulin brought his hammers down upon the titanium crystal once more. They struck the metal, sending a thundering tremor through the arena and everyone present. The golden light around Tang Wulin began to fade, and all of a sudden, a crack appeared in the titanium crystal.
Everyone stared at the metal, eyes wide. A crack! There’s a crack in it! Did he… did he actually fail?
The crack spread. The process was slow at first, the first crack slowly giving way to another, gradually making its way across the surface of the crystalline metal like a web being patiently spun. Yet that patience was soon forgotten. Cracks quickly ran rampant across the metal ball, branching off into two, then four, then eight, until a myriad of them completely covered the ball.
Then, after a tense moment, the crystal broke apart. Thin translucent flakes fell away from the ball one by one, each coming to rest atop the forging table to reveal a flawless golden ball that exuded life. The Holy Spirit Douluo could clearly feel the life force within the metal. She nodded imperceptibly, a warm smile forming on her lips. Awe filled her eyes.
The golden ball resembled a bird that had just hatched. It slowly floated up into the air, then it began circling Tang Wulin like a baby bird greeting its mother, breaking the silence of the arena with cheerful humming.
Tang Wulin smiled. He had granted this metal life and sentience. He had succeeded at spirit refining before, but the product hadn’t been anywhere near as intelligent as this golden ball before him. This was his first time seeing such intelligent spirit refined metal.
It was a miracle.