Chapter 348 - Spirit Alloy
Spin forging? Is he capable of doing even this?
Mu Chen finally came to realize he had not known his disciple as well as he thought. His philosophy had dictated that as long as a student established a solid foundation and he was there to steadily guide them, success would follow like water downstream.
As such, he had been livid after catching wind of Feng Wuyu’s actions. That eccentric taught Tang Wulin about alloys, breaking the gradual pace he had set for his student. Yet before his eyes, Tang Wulin was forging the alloy without a hitch, his hands full of care and his craft methodical.
At first glance, Mu Chen had thought his disciple would create the alloy by press forging, but now it was clear that would not be the case. He switched to spin forging, a far more demanding process.That said, in exchange for requiring more skill, taking longer, and consuming more soul power, it produced alloys with greater harmony and consistency.
Normally, five soul rings were required to spin forge. Tang Wulin only had three. Nevertheless, he had been aware of this, and applied a trick in order to bypass this obstacle; by press forging it in the beginning, Tang Wulin treated the alloy to the point where he could finish the process with spin forging.
And he had more than one trick up his sleeve.
His hammers came crashing down nonstop, emitting light as the metal spun faster and faster.
Is he alternating between using soul power and raw strength? Mu Chen stared in shock.
Can he really succeed without soul power strengthening his body?
Soul power was mainly used in forging to create a connection between blacksmith and metal. If the blacksmith stopped supplying soul power, however, the connection could hold for a while longer before sizzling out. Tang Wulin took advantage of this phenomenon, only working in bursts of pure strength. While it was mentally exhausting to maintain the residual connection, providing soul power at the cusp of its death, this technique saved him a wealth of soul power in the long run!
Seconds ticked by. Then minutes. Yet not once did Tang Wulin pause in his time-consuming task. He needed to constantly adjust for the changes and harmonization of the two metals. It was taxing and sipped away at his soul power.
An hour soon crept by. Tang Wulin’s focus had not waned since the beginning, his mind and body working at optimal settings and his soul power dwindling at a steady rate. By carefully timing his switches and using the Mysterious Heaven Method, which had improved after he obtained his third soul ring, he could persist in spin forging.
Astonishment practically dripped from Mu Chen’s form. He had never thought his disciple was this advanced.
Alloy forging was a completely different beast from spirit refining. While spirit refining taxed a blacksmith’s mind, body, and soul power, alloy forging tested a blacksmith’s technique and understanding of metal.
Tang Wulin had spent three years polishing his thousand refining skills, which helped him build an exceptional foundation and an understanding of metal far beyond his same-ranked peers. He had unknowingly prepared for this the whole time.
After two hours, Tang Wulin’s forehead became slick with sweat, his body swaying from fatigue. Not much was left in his soul power reserves after three. Even so, the strikes of his hammer never stopped and the metal continued to spin.
Sucking in a deep breath, Tang Wulin’s gaze sharpened and his blood essence roared. His three purple soul rings, a golden one appearing in their place.
His body shuddered in tune to the golden soul ring’s radiant shine, his right arm swelling with strength. Golden scales rippled into existence across his arm and chest.
With each stroke of the hammer, a hint of gold spread further into the white whirlpool of light gathering around the metal. The gold ate away at the white with every strike, and soon the whirlpool was a brilliant gold throughout.
His unrestrained blood essence rose the temperature in the room several degrees. It coursed through his body so loudly even Mu Chen could hear it.
Although Mu Chen had been aware of Tang Wulin’s blood essence soul ring, this was the first time he experienced for himself the extent in which Tang Wulin’s blood essence had strengthened since coming to Shrek Academy.
If there was something Tang Wulin couldn’t accomplish with three soul rings, then he would pull through with his blood essence soul ring and bodily strength!
However, now that he activated Golden Dragon Body, he could no longer use the previous switching method to conserve soul power. He redoubled his efforts, his forging more touched of frenzy than ever before. Now whenever his hammers struck the metal, a radiant ring of light blossomed. Coupled with the golden whirlpool, the spectacle was more than awe-inspiring.
Suddenly, Tang Wulin dropped one of his hammer-wielding arms and raised the other high into the air.
“Rise!” And he slammed his hammer down.
A beam of light shot out of the metal toward the skies. The golden whirlpool accelerated its spin, a droning buzz filling the surrounding space.
The light rose five feet into the air!
For a moment it quivered, then tendrils of blue bloomed from its peak. A second later, a dragon’s roar shook the room as golden light sprouted from the blue, rising another three feet in height.
“It’s thousand refined with spirit, forged together to give rise to the spirit,” Mu Chen proclaimed.
The label of first-grade thousand refined was different between alloys and homogeneous metals. An alloy becoming thousand refined with spirit marked the success of the metal fusion. Or at the very least, an initial success.
A pleased smile formed on Tang Wulin’s lips. It was his first successful alloy forging since he began learning about them.
The beam of light shooting from the metal represented its spirit rising and signified a successful alloy forging. That light only appeared when the metals completely fused while retaining their spirit. The act of spirit rising differed for every blacksmith as it was affected by their martial souls. Furthermore, the tendrils of blue light came from Tang Wulin’s bluesilver grass and the golden light stemmed from his Golden Dragon King bloodline.
Since the golden light reached five feet into the air, it was clear as day that his Golden Dragon King bloodline eclipsed his bluesilver grass. The height of the light correlated with the degree of the metal’s fusion and the characteristics of the soul master’s martial soul. Generally, a foot-tall light was considered rare. Yet Tang Wulin managed to get it to three feet. This was a blacksmithing miracle.
The light of white, blue, and gold persisted for over twenty seconds before gradually dissipating.
An oval lump of metal sat on the forging table. Its body glistened like jade, the cloud pattern within it dancing like mist. Even though it wasn’t spirit refined, it was full of life, a silver aura hovering around it.
This was jade silver!
Mu Chen stood up from his seat, grabbed the metal, and placed it in an apparatus. “The harmony rate is ninety-one percent,” he declared.
“Only ninety-one percent?” Tang Wulin thought his forging had been perfect and was disappointed by how far he was from one hundred percent.
Mu Chen’s mouth twitched. “Only? What do you think alloy forging is? Just a sixty percent harmony rate is enough to be considered a success, and with every five percent increase, the level of the metal also increases. The ninety-one percent harmony rate isn’t due to solely your blacksmithing skills. No, it’s also influenced by your martial soul and bloodline. Without those two, you never would have been able to produce something of this calibre.”
Kid, that’s a ninety-one percent harmony rate! Even a Saint Blacksmith like me isn’t guaranteed to produce this kind of feat!
Of course, Mu Chen didn’t forge alloys as easy as jade silver. In addition, heavy silver and magic silver shared many of the same qualities, which eased the alloy forging process. However, Tang Wulin was only thirteen years old! Once again, he set a new record in the blacksmithing world!
Before he could think further, a voice derailed his thoughts.
“Teacher, can I keep this piece of jade silver?” asked Tang Wulin.