Chapter 1151: Soul Refinement!

Zhen Hua's lips twitched as he turned to Mu Chen. "So this is how you teach your disciple? Forging is an art; how could you allow him to become such a violent blacksmith?"

Mu Chen chuckled, "You have to admit that his violent methods are very effective, aren't they? He's making up for his shortcomings in technique and experience with his own unique advantages; you can only commend him for being extremely intelligent in the way he goes about his forging. The blood sacrifice that he offered earlier was a preparatory measure for the subsequent stages of his forging."

Indeed, Mu Chen was right; Tang Wulin had already made preparations for the rest of this forging process during his blood sacrifice. The main effect of the blood sacrifice was its ability to perfectly fuse his own bloodline power with the Goldwater Consonance, and that was an extremely important opportunity.

Tang Wulin wasn't at an eighth-rank blacksmith yet, but through this type of method, the effect of the soul refinement he completed was far superior even to that completed by the average eighth-rank blacksmith. 

To put it in simpler terms, he was treating this Goldwater Consonance as a part of himself during this forging process. The Goldwater Consonance that he forged was perfectly integrated with his own Golden Dragon King bloodline, thereby bestowing upon the metal some of the special characteristics of his bloodline. As such, it could be said that Tang Wulin was giving the metal a part of himself while also bestowing intelligence upon it. As such, his synergy with this piece of metal would be heightened, and of course, it could only ever be used by him.

Tang Wulin had already formulated this plan when he first caught sight of this piece of Goldwater Consonance, and he was merely enacting his plan now.

His initially heavy and rapid hammer blows gradually became more gentle, and as he kneaded his own Golden Dragon King aura into the piece of metal, Tang Wulin became completely immersed in his communication with the Goldwater Consonance.

The Goldwater Consonance was like an extremely adorable and energetic newborn baby, and it continued to grow in response to Tang Wulin's forging and injections of energy. From an infant, it grew to become a child, then a young boy, and finally a young man.

In the end, Tang Wulin was even struck by the feeling that he and this piece of Goldwater Consonance were one and the same. They were connected by bloodline, and there was nothing separating the two of them.

The scales on his body gradually began to undergo a transformation, and specks of light emerged from his joints. His body also began to grow taller and broader as he released his Dragon Moon battle armor.

His aura swelled once again, and the Great-Beast-like aura fluctuations erupting from his body struck even Zhen Hua and Mu Chen with a slight sense of asphyxiation. He had truly grown up and was now a force to be reckoned with!

As his shimmering golden Heavy Silver Hammers fell for the final time, an elated cry suddenly rang out. In the next instant, the piece of Goldwater Consonance swayed before transforming into a miniature golden dragon and rising up into the air. It then flew directly over to Tang Wulin before fusing with his suit of battle armor.

Immediately thereafter, scintillating light erupted from Tang Wulin's suit of battle armor, and the dragon patterns on its surface took on a glittering and translucent quality, as if a layer of enamel had appeared over it. As a result, the dragon patterns were made to look more life-like, and it was as if they had truly sprung to life. The suit of battle armor even began to squirm in a gentle manner, presenting quite a peculiar sight to behold.

There was no extravagant release of aura or spectacular light effects, but both Zhen Hua and Mu Chen knew that Tang Wulin had succeeded. He had completed soul refinement!

The Goldwater Consonance had even become directly connected with his heart and mind as soon as soul refinement was completed, and only then was it able to immediately fuse into his body and his battle armor to do what he needed it to do the most.

Even though Tang Wulin hadn't begun forging his suit of three-word battle armor, the Goldwater Consonance had already begun to enhance his current suit of two-word battle armor, thereby forging a stronger foundation for when he decided to progress toward a suit of three-word battle armor.

"Can you do that?" Mu Chen nudged Zhen Hua in a provocative manner.

Zhen Hua harrumphed coldly, "I can definitely replicate this if I were to offer a blood sacrifice as well, but there's no point for me to do that."

Mu Chen chuckled, "Stop trying to argue; I know you better than anyone else. At the very least, you couldn't achieve this back when you were an eighth-rank Saint Blacksmith, right? It's always been my belief that if one wants to become the best Divine Blacksmith, they have to possess exemplary forging skills, but also power in equal measure. Wulin holds advantages that you don't possess, so you can expect him to surpass you any day now, hahaha!"

Zhen Hua immediately flared up with rage, "What are you acting all smug for? The Goldwater Consonance was given to him by ME; what have you given him? You're not even qualified to be his teacher! If you ask me, Wulin should become my disciple!"

"Oh? Sounds like you're losing your cool," Mu Chen chuckled, "If you can convince him to become your disciple, then go ahead; I definitely won't do anything to stop you. However, I trust that Wulin is one who respects the importance of his teachers."

"Hmph, you merely hit the jackpot and discovered him before I could. Let's get out of here and leave him to meditate in peace." Zhen Hua turned and strode out of the forging room as he spoke.

Mu Chen glanced at Tang Wulin, who was standing in front of the forging bench with his eyes closed, and a gratified smile appeared on his face before he followed Zhen Hua out of the room.

Tang Wulin was currently completely oblivious to what was transpiring in the outside world as he had completely immersed himself in sensing the changes that had taken place within his Dragon Moon battle armor following the infusion of the Goldwater Consonance.

As expected of one of the most premium types of uncommon metals in this world; following its soul refinement, it could no longer just be considered as a catalyst. At this moment, his Dragon Moon battle armor was constantly undergoing evolution, just like Goldsong when it had first begun to evolve in response to his power.

The Dragon Moon battle armor already had a very high harmony rate, but under the influence of the Goldwater Consonance, there were minute defects that were being rectified in a subtle manner. In particular, following so many major battles, the suit of battle armor had inevitably incurred some damage, yet all of those damaged areas were slowly being repaired by the Goldwater Consonance.

The entire suit of battle armor seemed to have softened as if it had been calcined, thereby allowing it to be molded and enhanced as the Goldwater Consonance saw fit.

After an indeterminate period of time, the transformation that his suit of battle armor was undergoing finally ceased. However, his Dragon Moon battle armor had now lost its original luster, and even the scales on it had become quite indistinct.

Tang Wulin opened his eyes and inspected his own suit of battle armor, and as opposed to being alarmed by these changes, he was very elated. He knew that these were signs that his suit of battle armor was now prepared to progress to the three-word level.

Of course, due to the fact that it had entered this basal state, he wouldn't be able to use this suit of battle armor before it was elevated to the three-word level. As such, it was a good idea for him to take this opportunity and make that significant stride.

The development of soul tools had already made it very difficult for an individual's power to influence an entire battlefield, but individual power was still the foundation to everything. After all, no matter how powerful soul tools had become, divine-grade mecha pilots and four-word battle armor masters still stood at the pinnacle of the entire continent.

In the example of the Atlas Douluo, if he had turned his back on Shrek Academy and was determined to escape, no one would've been able to stop him. Even a Godslayer missile would have only been able to kill him if it had been detonated right next to him.

Seeing as this opportunity had arisen, he would be remiss not to capitalize on it.

With that in mind, Tang Wulin dialed a number on his soul communicator.

"Yuxue, I'm going into seclusion in the blacksmith association headquarters for a while. During this time, you can take everyone to familiarize them with Heaven Dou City, as well as the neighboring cities."

Long Yuxue didn't inquire about why Tang Wulin was choosing to go into seclusion at a time like this; she merely replied in a calm voice, "Alright."

Tang Wulin was being made more and more aware of just how important Long Yuxue was; her presence truly had saved him a lot of trouble.

"Yuxue, ask my senior disciple brother to come to the blacksmith association as well," Tang Wulin continued.

"Sure." Long Yuxue's reply was still a very simple and concise one.

Tang Wulin withdrew his suit of battle armor before emerging from the forging room and arriving at Zhen Hua's office.

Zhen Hua and Mu Chen were both waiting for him, and as soon as he walked in, Mu Chen turned to him with a smile on his face. "How do you feel?"

Tang Wulin nodded, and replied, "Thank you for providing me with this opportunity, Uncle-teacher; Goldwater Consonance truly is a priceless treasure."

Zhen Hua grumbled, "Hmph, not only did you take my Goldwater Consonance, this shameless teacher of yours is constantly provoking me! I've been good to you, haven't I, Wulin? How about you become my disciple instead of his? You've reached a stage where he can't teach you much anyway; you have to find yourself a better teacher so you can continue to improve!"

An awkward look immediately appeared on Tang Wulin's face. "Uncle-teacher, a teacher is like a father figure, I can't just..."

Mu Chen turned to Zhen Hua with a smug expression. "You see?"

Zhen Hua harrumphed, "You two are a pair of stubborn idiots! Wulin, I suggest you stay here for a while. Forging that piece of Goldwater Consonance should've been a very educational experience for you, but in reality, you were only able to complete soul refinement on it through a somewhat non-replicable gimmick. Even so, I'm sure that this process has given you a deeper understanding of soul refinement. As such, you should stay here so Mu Chen and I can offer you our guidance. I'm sure that you'll have a very good chance of reaching the eighth rank within three months at most."

This was already very high praise from Zhen Hua, and he hadn't been of this opinion prior to witnessing Tang Wulin's forging.

However, after discovering that Tang Wulin's spiritual power had already reached the Spirit Domain realm, he knew that there was nothing that could stop him from reaching the eighth rank. As such, it was naturally best for him to take that step forward as soon as possible.