What would come next? It was Soul Refinement Solidification. Once the solidification was done, the Soul Refinement would be seventy percent complete. Then, it would be the final soul summoning when completed would mean that the Soul Refinement was a success.
Without a doubt, Heavy Silver was one of the most easily forged rare metals. However, if a block of Soul Refined Heavy Silver was available, it would be sold at a whopping price! This was because when it reached the level of Soul Refinement, a rare metal was no longer a mere rare metal. It would be a true heaven and earth treasure!
The pace at which Tang Wulin’s hammers fell quickened. His blood essence power was formidable. There was no sign of it weakening at this point in time. The golden haze around his body had grown denser instead.
The Heavy Silver had completely turned golden. Roars of dragons resounded all around. It was the distinct sound of the Soul Refinement Resonance. This meant that everything was progressing well.
Suddenly, the block of golden Heavy Silver rocked fiercely. Then, it surprisingly leaped from the forging table.
This was…
“Be careful, it’s the tremor of life. It wants to run away!”
For a metal which was given life, once its life level stimulated by Soul Refinement hits a certain threshold, it would have its own intelligence. At this moment, it was flustered and did not want to be controlled by anyone. Hence, it would want to run away. Once it broke free from the blacksmith’s control, the soul which had just been raised had not yet solidified. The soul would then disperse at blinding speed, and the metal would return to its state of being Spirit Forged. From then on, it would be impossible for the block of metal to undergo Soul Refinement ever again.
Tang Wulin was in no hurry. He shouted coldly, “Come back!”
With his yell, the third golden soul ring on his body flashed suddenly. The block of golden Heavy Silver trembled. With a clang, it returned to the forging table.
Golden Dragon Roar!
This Heavy Silver already contained Tang Wulin’s bloodline aura. How powerful the Golden Dragon King’s bloodline was. Intimidated by Tang Wulin, this block of Heavy Silver no longer ran away but returned to him.
Tang Wulin drew a deep breath. He raised his heavy hammers in both of his hands again which dropped down brazenly. He started the next phase, Soul Solidification!
Tang Wulin’s eyes turned from golden to a purplish-gold. With every swing of his hammer, he decreased the release of his bloodline aura but increased his release of spiritual power. Two-foot-long purplish-golden light beams shot out strongly from his eyes. He used the Purple Demon Eye’s spiritual assault on the metal.
The magnitude of the golden Heavy Silver’s tremble immediately diminished. After it was controlled by the combined strengths of the spiritual assault and forging, the golden color on its surface began to seep into its interior. The patterns which had appeared before this began resurfacing as well.
However, they were no longer simple lines. Instead, they were diamond-shaped, life-like scales. They looked identical to the scales on Tang Wulin’s body.
Both father and daughter, Mu Chen and Mu Xi’s breathing became heavy. His Soul Solidification also seemed to be progressing smoothly. With this momentum, there was a good chance that he could complete Soul Refinement!
Even if he had only completed Soul Refinement once, Tang Wulin would be officially promoted from a rank-6 to a rank-7 blacksmith. He would then be a new Saint Craftsman.
Even in Shrek Academy, there was only a single Saint Craftsman, Feng Wuyu. Once Tang Wulin become a Saint Craftsman, his social standing on Douluo Continent would no longer be the same. He would truly be among the cream of society. He could even be the president of a large city’s blacksmith’s association.
What was more outstanding was that he was only nineteen years old. He would have ample opportunity to continue improving himself to reach the ranks of a Divine Craftsman.
To know just how important Zhen Hua’s social standing was on the Continent, even the federal assembly, Spirit Pagoda, and Shrek Academy dared not get on the wrong side of him.
For instance, when Zhen Hua was attacked by an assassin previously, Spirit Pagoda and the Federation launched a joint effort attack to eliminate him. The evil soul master was never heard from again and had completely disappeared from the scene to this day. It was apparent what a Saint Craftsman signified to the Soul Masters’ world.
More golden dragon scales appeared until the whole Heavy Silver was covered with them. The golden haze started to subside and the Heavy Silver began to flicker rhythmically.
The solidification was a success! Mu Chen could not restrain himself as he swung his arm around forcefully.
Be it the Soul Refinement Resonance or Soul Refinement Solidification, these two processes were extremely difficult to carry out. Although the final process of soul summoning was equally difficult, it could be practiced over time.
Tang Wulin was still forging, and he continued to solidify the metal. The blood essence wave on his body finally weakened.
However, at this moment, Tang Wulin dared not pause even for a second.
The reason why he chose to use his blood essence power to complete Soul Refinement and not his own soul power was because his soul power was insufficient!
For an ordinary Soul Refinement, the entire process would at least require a seven-ring cultivation base. This was what Tang Wulin obviously lacked. His blood essence power was not equal to the powers of seven rings. However, his bloodline was the Golden Dragon King’s bloodline. When one’s rank was high enough, it would be easier for blood essence power to be fused and controlled compared to soul power during the process of Soul Refinement. For instance, the process of Soul Refinement Resonance. If he relied on his soul power to refine, Tang Wulin could not do it with his current strengths. However, he could do it with his blood essence power alone.
That was where the difference lay!
Both his hammers dropped down. Amidst a crisp ‘Ding!’, brilliant golden light suddenly burst forth from the Heavy Silver. There was a faint dragon-shaped halo which circled the metal amidst the golden light.
Tang Wulin dared not slack off. He drew a deep breath. With a soft yell, his entire aura intensified. His eyes shone! His hands shook slightly and his pair of Heavy Silver Hammers took turns in striking the metal before him. Shortly after, a loud and clear dragon’s roar sounded from his body. His first golden soul ring shone brightly. It was precisely the Golden Dragon Body.
Soul summoning was a process during which the blacksmith infuses his own energy into the metal during the forging process to summon the Soul Refined metal and establish some sort of bilateral communication. It was only now that the soul within the metal could be regarded as being fully activated.
A Spirit Refining with life energy was like a plant. On the other hand, a Soul Refinement with a soul would make the metal behave as if it was a soul beast. This was true Soul Refinement.
Once Soul Refinement was a success, the metal would turn into a living being. That was the mysterious part which was also why Soul Refinement was such a difficult process.
The excited and indignant dragon’s roar resounded within the forging room. The block of metal let out a ceaseless buzz. Meanwhile, Tang Wulin’s brows appeared knitted together.
The process of soul summoning was truly difficult. In fact, he had not tried this often. Before this, he had only succeeded twice or thrice in completing the two processes of Soul Refinement Resonance and Soul Refinement Solidification as he had done today.
There was no way to teach another person soul summoning. This was because everyone’s forging process was different. This was a process that could only be experienced by oneself and could never be taught. The person could only feel it for himself.
“Buzz!”
The golden Heavy Silver shook, then, it suddenly quietened down.
Tang Wulin looked dejected. He had failed.
There was only a brief window of time to carry out soul summoning. After Soul Solidification was completed, the metal’s soul would be active for a short instant. If the blacksmith succeeded in transcending it via soul summoning at this moment, then he would have completed Soul Refinement. It would transform into a brand-new life form with a metallic body. If this could not be done, it would stabilize at the status of Soul Refinement Solidification.
The golden Heavy Silver covered in scales glowed faintly with golden light, a sign of its high intelligence. Unfortunately, in the end, it was unable to transform into a complete life form akin to a soul beast.
A big hand grabbed Tang Wulin’s shoulder strongly. “You’ve done your best. Don’t give yourself too much pressure.”
Tang Wulin turned to look. He saw Mu Chen smile.
“If you truly succeed in carrying out Soul Refinement, I’ll be ashamed to carry on being the president. Since you were able to achieve solidification, this metal could already be regarded as being half-step soul refined. Even if your master uncle knew about this, he’ll definitely give you a thumbs up. It had only been a few short years, but you already have a foothold to becoming a Saint Craftsman. Our judgments were not wrong. If you keep at this rate of progress, you’ll most certainly be a Divine Craftsman of the future generation.”
Tang Wulin scratched his head. “Teacher, you’ve praised me too much. I still have many shortcomings. I haven’t even touched the threshold of soul summoning. The few steps which preceded it expends too much of my energy. I rarely get to proceed to the final step. Besides, every time I reach this step, I’d always be short of energy.”
Mu Chen said in a deep voice, “Forging lies in accumulation. Of the three great hurdles of Soul Refinement, the most difficult to overcome is actually the first hurdle, Soul Refinement Resonance. This truly can’t be attained by hard work alone. What you need is luck and natural talent. Blacksmiths who went through this, given enough time to accumulate, most certainly end up as Saint Craftsmen. And you… you even managed to do Soul Refinement Solidification. What you need now is time and the accumulation of experience of Soul Refinement. Also, continue to improve your cultivation base. The higher your cultivation base, which includes your spiritual power as well, the feeling you’ll have when you’re summoning the metal’s soul will be more obvious. You’ll become a Saint Craftsman. From the looks of things, it’s only a matter of time.”