Chapter 180 - Improvement
This whirlpool compressed his soul power and barely took up any room in his dantian.
The bitterness had ended and the sweetness began the moment Tang Wulin awoke.
“We should go now.” Due to their one week delay, their one month vacation had already passed. In fact, as a teacher, Wu Zhangkong was supposed to report in a few days earlier than students and was already late.
“Teacher Wu, thank you.” Tang Wulin sincerely spoke his thanks as they walked to the soul train station.
This trip actually wasn’t particularly enriching for him as he spent most of his time cultivating, but still, he was bursting with joy.
During this trip in Heaven Dou City, he laid eyes on the sculptures of the almighty and legendary Tang Sect figures and officially joined the Tang Sect. He also started cultivating two Tang Sect methods; the Mysterious Heaven Method and the Purple Demon Eyes. In both he had reached a relatively high level and held a basic comprehension of the two.
He managed to acquire a thousand-year Dragonscale Fruit, one of the four spirit items he needed and later evolved his spirit soul. Every one of these events had been a major event for him.
Although he didn’t know how much his strength had grown, he could feel a fundamental change in his entire being.
The Mysterious Heaven Method helped consolidate his understanding of the changes brought about by his spirit soul’s evolution on his own body. I have a thousand-year spirit soul now, a thousand-year spirit soul! I’m probably the only student in the academy whose first soul ring is at the thousand-year level!
These events solidified his foundation and would aid him as he developed as a Soul Master. Although the timeframe posed some problem to him, especially the risk he faced when it came time to break the second seal, all of this was a problem for the future. For now, he was developing quite nicely.
“I only showed you the way. The only person you can rely on is yourself.” Wu Zhangkong said.
Tang Wulin stared, dumbfounded. He clearly remembered his father telling him the same thing. ‘In this world, the only person you can rely on and trust is yourself.'
These words were carved into his heart. He never expected Wu Zhangkong to say something so similar.
Yearning welled up in his heart. Mom, dad, where are you? Na’er, where did you go?
☀
After entering the soul train, Tang Wulin didn’t waste any time and immediately began meditating. He didn’t let his spirit soul’s evolution get to his head; he clearly knew how weak his martial soul and innate soul power were as well as how his cultivation rate lagged behind Xie Xie and Gu Yue.
Soul power was the foundation of all Soul Masters and all he could do was work hard to compensate for what he lacked. His spirit soul had evolved and he would soon become a rank 20 Soul Grandmaster.
Tang Wulin was filled with confidence, now convinced that he would reach that level within the next year or two, depending on his luck. He would become a Soul Grandmaster by the time he turned twelve.
A rank 20 at twelve years old was the definition of genius.
Once they reached Eastsea City and the familiar skyline filled with skyscrapers entered his view, Tang Wulin though he gained an appreciation for the city. Every city was different and had their own unique character. It’s a pity I didn’t get a chance to properly sightsee inside Heaven Dou City. In the future, I definitely have to travel the continent and see all the famous sights! Maybe I’ll even travel to the other continents. I wonder what kind of scenery I’ll see in the other two continents?
“There are still three days left until school resumes. Use this free time for yourself and relax a little.” Even as his words lingered in the air, Wu Zhangkong was already walking away.
Tang Wulin didn’t immediately return to the dormitory but instead went to the blacksmith’s workshop.
He hadn’t touched the forging hammer for a whole month and his skills were beginning to rust. I’ll go visit Mu Chen first and accept two tasks to warm up my forging.
I still owe Teacher Wu over one million coins! I need to pay it back quickly and earn enough money for the other three items.
He had felt wealthy saving three million but after buying the thousand-year Dragonscale Fruit, he understood just how frighteningly expensive it would be to break through his second seal. He resigned himself to spending every free hour earning money.
If I continue to improve my forging, will I be able to forge my own battle armor when I have four rings?
The very thought of having a battle armor got his blood pumping. On the road home, he recalled Wu Zhangkong’s explanation about battle armors. If I had a battle armor, that Three-Eyed Demon Ape wouldn’t have even stood a chance!
Teacher Wu is so awesome! Tang Wulin had witnessed five of Wu Zhangkong’s six soul skills, and though he didn’t really know what the ten-thousand-year soul skill was, the unparalleled might of that slash which killed the Three-Eyed Demon Ape was obvious.
Will I be that strong in the future? Tang Wulin had unknowingly placed Wu Zhangkong as his goal.
Tang Wulin visited the Blacksmith’s Association and immediately went to find Mu Chen.
“Teacher, I’m back.”
At the sight of his enthusiastic disciple, Mu Chen cracked a smile. “How are you? Was your vacation relaxing?” He was the most easy-going among Tang Wulin’s teachers. As long as he wasn’t in the middle of teaching, he would reveal a warm temperament.
“I gained a lot from it, but I didn’t have a chance to practice forging the whole time.” Tang Wulin lowered his head in shame.
Mu Chen let out a hearty laugh. “You’re such an honest child. Don’t worry about it so much; relaxing is also a part of cultivating. Once you reach a certain level of forging, practicing constantly is no longer as important as accumulating and consolidating your experiences.”
“Dad, you’re too nice to him. Why didn’t you let me go out and play during my vacation? You made me forge every day,” a familiar voice whined. Mu Xi entered the room with a pouting face.
Mu Chen said, “When your own forging level is as good as Tang Wulin’s, then you can have a vacation too.”
“Hmph!” Mu Xi shot a glare at Tang Wulin before stomping out.
Tang Wulin was at a loss as to how to deal with his senior disciple sister’s hostility. She really is unbridled.
“This kid…” Mu Chen knit his brows. He understood the competitive nature of his daughter but he never thought about correcting it. It was a virtue for youngsters to have such a personality. A competitive heart would drive one to work harder.
Mu Xi definitely made Tang Wulin her goal, otherwise she wouldn’t have acted like that. This is good, but it’s a pity that her rival is a little freak like Wulin. It won’t be easy for her to surpass him!
“You’ve just returned; go rest first. But let me warn you, your training will be even more rigorous from now on, so prepare yourself. Since you have three days until school resumes, use one day to rest and return to learn the other two days.”
“Yes.” The lack of any admonition set Tang Wulin at ease, but still, he resolved himself. I can’t let Teacher down!
After leaving Mu Chen’s office, Tang Wulin went to accept two rank three blacksmith tasks before returning to the workshop.
He had meditated the entire ride home so he wasn’t tired at all and planned on completing these two assignments before he went to learn from Mu Chen. They would count as a warm-up and prevent his hands from being shaky when he was with Mu Chen.
He adjusted the forging table, set the metal down, and began forging.
He became more comfortable with the Thousand Refined Heavy Silver Hammers as time passed and was surprised to discover the truth in Mu Chen’s words. He hadn’t simply said them to comfort Tang Wulin. After a month away from forging, the process he made was actually going more smoothly than before. He could easily sense the fine changes within the metal and its spirit now.
Tang Wulin had assumed he would produce a failed product the first time as he readjusted himself to forging, but contrary to his expectations the entire process flowed smoothly. Every chunk of metal was Thousand Refined successfully and was of an even higher quality than before the vacation. With the aid of the Purple Demon Eyes, his efficiency had also increased by fifty percent. His soul power had also increased, and aided by the compression due to the Mysterious Heaven Method, he now possessed more stamina to forge for longer lengths of time.
This was a markedly pleasant surprise. In the past, he could only Thousand Refine two chunks of metal in a row, but now he could work with four and end up with even higher quality results.
Regardless of whether they were Hundred Refined or Thousand Refined, there were several grades assigned to the quality. There were three grades for Hundred Refined: low, medium and high. The Thousand Refined had five grades total with first grade at the top and fifth grade at the bottom.