There were all types of elements dancing around him in an elated manner in the surrounding s.p.a.ce, and he could clearly sense the changes taking place in the metal elements. His Spirit Domain realm spiritual power allowed him to experience all of these changes in greater depth, and as he forged, all of the natural elements around him were actually also constantly affecting the piece of metal before him.
He could even sense that as he breathed, his bloodline fluctuations was also affecting the metal that he was forging. This was a benefit of possessing immense spiritual power, and the benefits of having enormous spiritual power could manifest themselves in almost all aspects of a Soul Master"s abilities. Possessing tremendous spiritual power enhanced one greatly both in battle and in their secondary occupations. As such, almost all Soul Masters who excelled in their secondary occupations also possessed high levels of spiritual power.
Even so, there were very few Saint Blacksmiths who had reached the Spirit Domain realm.
For example, Tang Wulin"s teacher, Saint Blacksmith Mu Chen, was only at the Spirit Abyss realm, and that was already enough for a blacksmith.
Tang Wulin was using his Spirit Domain realm spiritual power to sense the intricacies of his forging, and he was completely immersed in sensing the metal that was being forged. He had become one with the metal that he was forging, and after reaching the soul refinement level, every soul refinement that was completed involved bestowing upon a piece of metal life and intelligence. This was why high-end blacksmiths were far rarer than mecha makers, designers, and mechanics.
A metallic life form with life and intelligence could be used to construct battle armor or mechas, but that was purely a molding process, while the forging process was one of creation.
Tang Wulin had been a Saint Blacksmith for quite a while now, and he possessed exceptional apt.i.tude when it came to forging. However, even so, he had only just attained the ability to create life.
The higher level of understanding of life force energy he had attained back on the demonic island and all of the soul refinements he"d completed had all been invaluable experiences, allowing him to advance further and further in the field of Saint Blacksmiths.
However, only in this moment was he truly beginning to take a step toward becoming an eighth-rank Saint Blacksmith. His Spirit Domain realm spiritual power allowed him to communicate perfectly with each and every metal element, thereby allowing him to experience the differences between metal elements and other natural elements in greater depth. At the same time, these experiences were allowing him to constantly improve, and at this moment, he was like a parent to the metal that he was refining. He was constantly modifying this fetus through his forging, bestowing upon it his DNA.
The forging process was quite lengthy and sustained, but as far Tang Wulin was aware, only a split second had pa.s.sed. He only awakened from his immersion after a ray of gentle light and an excited burst of intelligent spiritual fluctuations washed over him, and he took a deep breath before withdrawing his soul refined heavy silver hammers.
He looked at the piece of metal in front of him, and a faint smile appeared on his face. He reached out with his right hand and gently pressed it onto the silver metal, which appeared to be completely ordinary and mundane, and a startling turn of events immediately unfolded.
The piece of silver metal suddenly softened, then climbed up along his fingertips before instantly covering his entire hand. Immediately thereafter, it flowed up his forearm, then his elbow, and finally concealed his entire arm as if it were a piece of armor.
What was even more remarkable was that Tang Wulin could clearly sense the reverence emanating from the piece of metal. It was like a child who was joyfully showing off its abilities to its father.
A layer of rhomboid scales instantly appeared over the surface of the piece of metal at Tang Wulin"s behest, and those scaled patterns resembled the shape of his golden dragon scales. The scales were extremely lifelike, and they were even capable of opening and closing.
Tang Wulin raised his arm, and a faint smile appeared on his face. He no longer needed to forge the metal any further to complete the molding process; all he had to do was will it to take on any shape he wanted. The only problem was that he was now feeling quite reluctant to part with it.
Each and every piece of soul refined metal that he forged felt like his child, and he really didn"t want to give his children away to other people! It was no wonder that Teacher Mu Chen had told him that the higher the caliber of the blacksmith, the more reluctant they generally were to sell their creations.
The forging missions were quickly completed, and they were very simple jobs for Saint Blacksmiths, but due to the fact that these were soul refined metals, they were still going to fetch an astronomical sum. Furthermore, demand far outweighed supply in the market for soul refined metals.
By the time he emerged from the forging room, night had already fallen. He didn"t spend all of this time on forging; a large chunk of this time had also been spent on thinking and feeling.
His schedule had been extremely packed of late, and it was a rare opportunity to be able to ponder his own forging in such great depth like this. The forging missions that he had completed had allowed him to reap many valuable rewards. He could even sense that once he could completely integrate his Spirit Domain realm spiritual power into his forging, then he would definitely be able to become an eighth-rank blacksmith.
This was a level that countless blacksmiths had pursued for their entire lifetimes without any luck. The employee carried the refined metals from Tang Wulin to a designated testing room for an in-depth examination.
Soul refined metals were extremely rare and fetched astronomical prices; if a counterfeit piece of soul refined metal were to be sold, the blacksmith a.s.sociation would suffer severe repercussions, both in their finances and in their reputation.
Tang Wulin was taken to a VIP resting suite to wait, and he took the opportunity to further ponder the rewards that he"d reaped from his forging.
Not long after that, someone knocked on the door of his suite, and on this occasion, it was an elderly man who had come to see him as opposed to the young woman from before.
The old man"s eyes were practically glowing, and his gaze settled on Tang Wulin as soon as he walked into the room.
"May I ask your name? I recognize most of the Saint Blacksmiths in our federation, but forgive me for not being able to identify you." The old man cut straight to the chase.
With Tang Wulin"s experience, he was quickly able to deduce that this man was most likely also a Saint Blacksmith, and there was a good chance that he was the president of this blacksmith a.s.sociation branch. Otherwise, he wouldn"t be speaking on equal terms with Tang Wulin despite being aware that he was a Saint Blacksmith.
Tang Wulin smiled, and replied, "I only just became a Saint Blacksmith not long ago, and my teacher is the esteemed Divine Blacksmith, Zhen Hua. My teacher prohibited me from showing off my skills prior to reaching a level that he deemed to be acceptable, and I"ve only just satisfied his requirements not long ago."
He removed the Saint Blacksmith badge hanging from his chest as he spoke before offering it to the old man.
The man accepted the badge, and a respectful look immediately appeared on his face. He was naturally able to sense that this was a badge that had been created by a legendary Divine Blacksmith.
The old man chuckled, "I see, so you"re a disciple of the president; it"s no wonder that you can create such exceptional soul refined metals, then. My name is Yao Ling, and I was fortunate enough to have been given the honor of becoming the president of the Bright City blacksmith a.s.sociation branch. May I ask your name?"
Tang Wulin smiled, and said, "My name is Gu Yue."
He had initially planned to call himself Long Yue, [Another reminder that this is Long Yue (龙月), which directly translates to Dragon Moon, just like Tang Wulin"s suit of two-word battle armor, and it"s not to be confused with Long Yue (龙跃), the guy with the Mountain Dragon King martial soul.] but for some reason, he reflexively used Gu Yue"s name, and this slip of the tongue left him feeling a little forlorn.
"Gu Yue?" Sure enough, Yao Ling had never heard this name before. It appears that this was a disciple that the president had kept a secret from everyone. He appeared to only be around 40 years of age at most, but from the metals he had refined, it was clear that he was already very close to becoming an eighth-rank Saint Blacksmith. In fact, he could already be an eighth-rank Saint Blacksmith and simply wasn"t able to display his true abilities as the forging missions given to him were too simple.
"Welcome to our Bright City branch, Brother Gu; please do stay for a few days so we can communicate and exchange some ideas. By the way, I haven"t met the president for a long time; how is he?" Yao Ling asked.