Chapter Twenty: Forged a Thousand Times with One Strike, Then Tempered with Spirit, and Finally Tempered with Soul!

The next morning, after spending the night in meditation and breath regulation to restore himself to peak condition, the Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua could hardly wait to take Xu Zhao to his private forging room.

"Zhao'er, I have been thinking. With the power of the Silver Wolf spirit soul, your Spirit Soul martial soul grants you the ability to command the seven elemental forces. Since that is the case, allowing you to learn about the realm of Heaven Forging ahead of time can hardly be called pushing a seedling to grow."

Zhen Hua stood with his hands behind his back, speaking slowly with the air of an expert. "As everyone knows, forging is divided into: Hundred-Forging, Thousand-Forging, Spirit-Forging, Soul-Forging, and Heaven-Forging. Hundred-Forging and Thousand-Forging refine the metal; Spirit-Forging imbues it with spirit; Soul-Forging grants it life; and Heaven-Forging allows that metallic life to evolve into a powerhouse."

"The gap between Soul-Forging and Heaven-Forging is immense—much like the difference between an ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul beast and a fierce beast of two hundred thousand years or more that has survived its heavenly tribulation. Since we compare Heaven-Forging to a fierce beast, the transition from Soul-Forging to Heaven-Forging requires the metal to undergo an elemental lightning tribulation, just as a hundred-thousand-year soul beast must survive its tribulation to become a fierce beast."

"When a Soul-Forged metal successfully survives the tribulation, it absorbs the heaven-and-earth power contained within the elemental lightning to evolve into Heaven-Forged metal. That is where the name 'Heaven-Forging' comes from."

Xu Zhao listened with a calm expression. He had already learned all of this from books in his previous life. Zhen Hua did not mind; since his disciple knew that Heaven-Forging was related to elemental lightning, it was not surprising that he knew these basics. This was not the point, however. He was merely setting the stage for what he was about to demonstrate.

"Zhao'er, given your family background, you have surely seen the forging process before. Would you like to see how I, a Divine Craftsman, forge metal?"

As he spoke, Zhen Hua placed two pieces of metal onto the forging table. In an instant, they melted from solid to liquid, merging into a single, spherical orb of molten metal. Xu Zhao realized his teacher was about to show off.

Sure enough, Zhen Hua unleashed his full cultivation. With a twist of his hands, a large, dark red hammer formed from soul power appeared. He struck the metal on the table three times in rapid succession. Although each strike took longer to prepare and generated a greater disturbance than the last, the progress made on the metal with each hit was exponentially greater.

The first strike: The two metals fused, and a beam of light shot ten feet into the air. Thousand-Forging with spirit, top-grade Thousand-Forging, and the peak of radiant light emission!

The second strike: A halo of spiritual aura rippled across the surface. Spirit-Forging complete!

The third strike: A sense of joyous vitality radiated from the metal. Soul-Forging complete!

In just three strikes, the metal had jumped from ordinary material to Soul-Forged metal. Less than two minutes had passed. Zhen Hua stopped there; to continue would be to enter the realm of Heaven-Forging. While he wanted to impress his disciple, he had no desire to endure an elemental lightning tribulation just for the sake of a display.

"Well? Does your teacher's technique meet your standards?" Zhen Hua turned back confidently, trying to keep his tone from sounding too boastful. However, he was met with a complete lack of shock or admiration on Xu Zhao's face.

"Zhao... Zhao'er, don't you think those three strikes were impressive?"

"They were impressive!" Xu Zhao replied calmly, causing Zhen Hua to breathe a sigh of relief. But then, he added, "But Teacher, you are the only Divine Craftsman on the continent. Shouldn't those three strikes be basic operations for you? You couldn't possibly have needed to use all your strength just for that, could you?"

*It couldn't be! It just couldn't be!* These words echoed in Zhen Hua's mind, forcing him to say, "This... is of course a basic operation. It’s just that one cannot gain new insights during the forging process this way, so I don't usually forge like this."

*Heh, keep pretending,* Xu Zhao thought to himself, though he remained silent. Zhen Hua was his teacher, after all; he had to save him some face. After a few seconds, seeing that his disciple didn't press the issue, Zhen Hua secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Zhao'er, I heard from your grandfather that you only decided to learn forging after awakening your martial soul, so you likely don't have your own forging hammers yet." Zhen Hua flashed his hand, and a pair of white forging hammers appeared, shimmering with a faint light and swirling with a pale blue mist.

"These are Spirit-Forged hammers made from Cloud Gold, which is a fusion of Cloud Copper and Platinum Crystal. Before I reached the rank of Saint Craftsman, this was the set I used. I have no use for them now, so consider them a welcome gift. Be careful; they are quite heavy for you."

"Thank you, Teacher," Xu Zhao said, taking the hammers with ease. He added sincerely, "I will work hard to ensure I can retire these hammers as soon as possible."

Zhen Hua was stunned for a moment. He realized that to "retire" these Spirit-Forged hammers, his disciple would have to reach the rank of Saint Craftsman—the level of Soul-Forging. His disciple was essentially saying he intended to reach the rank of Saint Craftsman as quickly as possible.

"Ambitious," Zhen Hua chuckled, not offended. His disciple was only six, the age of fearless ignorance. "But if you want to retire these hammers, you will indeed have to work very hard. I broke history by becoming a seventh-rank forging master at the age of twenty, the youngest Saint Craftsman ever. Since you have such aspirations, let me see how much you can shatter my record."

He did not doubt his disciple could do it. With such innate talent and his personal tutelage from the age of six, breaking the record was inevitable. The only question was by how many years he would beat his teacher's record.

"Er, Teacher," Xu Zhao said, feeling a bit awkward. "You misunderstood. I meant that I will work to reach the level where I can use a hammer condensed from soul power, just like you. Such a level requires sufficient soul power and precise control; I imagine I will be able to satisfy both conditions once I reach the five-ring Soul King level. Of course, if you believe I can become a Saint Craftsman before reaching the Soul King level, then I suppose I will have to work even harder on my forging."