Douluo: Dragon King's Divine Elegy

Chapter 24: Zhenhua's Substitute
Zhenhua took in everyone's expressions and said, "I have tried the Heavenly Forging countless times, but never succeeded."

"Until one chance encounter, I gave up the forging hammer and chose to focus my mind, channeling my soul to communicate with the soul-forged metal that had produced wisdom. My goal was to gain a more detailed understanding of the metal's emotional changes and endurance limits when subjected to tribulation lightning. However, this would cause the impact of the lightning to be even more severe, and I would be severely injured if I wasn't careful. In the past, for my own safety, I never dared to do this."

"But I didn't expect that, thanks to this desperate move, guided by my mind, the soul-forged metal would actually transform into my appearance. This transformation astonished me immensely. I quickly comprehended the laws of heaven and earth, causing an elemental resonance. I then attracted four elemental tribulation thunders, preparing to complete the imprint of the laws and achieve the heavenly forging in one fell swoop. When the first tribulation thunder struck, I finally discovered something that had eluded me hundreds of times before: a faint spirituality within the metal."

The pupils of the Saint-level forgers present suddenly shrank, and one of them couldn't help but interrupt, "Is this the metal instinct spirituality you mentioned, President?"

"That's right." Zhenhua nodded. "But this spiritual power couldn't even hold out for half a second and was directly annihilated by the lightning. Or rather, it was because of the communication guided by the mind that I discovered this spiritual power that was forced out by the lightning."

"With the arrival of the second tribulation thunder, the life level of this soul-forging metal suddenly decreased by at least six levels. It was completely unable to withstand the impact of the subsequent tribulation thunders, so the heavenly forging failed again."

"If it were in the past, I would have felt pity and anger, but now, I'm surprised. I clearly gave the metal spirituality when it was in the Thousand Forgings, but why is it that when it came to the Heaven Forgings, it actually hid another spirituality?"

"With this discovery, I immersed myself in the Thousand Forging Spirits for three months, experimenting with over five hundred types of metals, and ultimately discovered the inherent spirituality of metals."

"The reason why the Heavenly Forging failed is because of the alien spirituality we gave the metal. It dominated the metal's natural spirituality. As a result, during the Heavenly Forging, the alien spirituality had already been forged time and again, growing into a giant tree, while the natural spirituality received no nourishment at all. Faced with the impact of the tribulation lightning, it was like a seedling, naturally annihilated in an instant."

"The extinction of our instinctive spirituality is like the shattering of our human soul. Even if someone replaces your body with a new soul, is it still you?"

"A piece of metal that can't control its body with its own spiritual power will never be able to survive the thunder and achieve ascension."

Zhenhua was clearly aware of how shocking what he was going to say today would be. He even arranged for cameras to record the entire thing so that it could be easily shared online in the future. He said in a deep voice:
"Remember, the metal's instinctive spirit is like a child with its inner world sealed off. When we bestow an external spirit upon it at the First Thousand Forgings level, we must infuse it with mental and soul power at all costs, allowing this external spirit to become friends with the metal's instinctive spirit and lead it out of its closed world."

"After that, we will use our instinctive spirituality as the main focus, supplemented by external spirituality, to complete the subsequent forging step by step."

"Until, Tianduan!"

As the last word was spoken, a brand new door opened for all the blacksmiths. In an instant, everyone stood up and gave their most sincere applause without hesitation.

Perhaps for most people, Heavenly Forging is extremely far away from them and they may not be able to achieve it in this lifetime. But compared to the fog-filled and directionless forging road, a forging road with a clear destination is more exciting.

Nan Liujing also applauded from the bottom of his heart.

Zhenhua was able to discover the reason why Tianduan failed because of his unremitting experiments. If it weren't for his tenacious heart, he would not have been able to persist for so long.

What's more, he achieved a high position, but he did not hide it, but chose to announce it generously. For the countless blacksmiths who make a living by forging, it is definitely a great favor.

He could even select people from within the Blacksmith Association to teach individually, so as to prevent blacksmiths from other forces from learning from him. You know, if a master craftsman appeared in other forces, it would be a huge blow to the Blacksmith Association. However, he did not hide his skills, but showed them openly and was not afraid of challenges.

Zhenhua raised his hand again, and the applause gradually died down.

He smiled and said, "Alright, the experience of Heavenly Forging has come to an end. I see that the blacksmiths here today are generally young. Okay, then I'll find someone to do the Thousand Forging for me."

The so-called substitute is a higher-level blacksmith who brings the lower-level blacksmith into his rhythm and experiences a higher-level forging process.

When people heard that the master craftsman was going to come out and play in person, the scene immediately became lively, and countless people raised their hands.

Zhenhua didn't choose these people. He fixed his gaze on Nan Liujing and said with a faint smile, "Do you want to come up and try?"

Ye Changming and Ye Xinglan looked at Nan Liujing in surprise.

Nan Liujing took the initiative and walked out with a calm expression under the surprised gazes of thousands of people.

Even though his physical development was much faster than a normal six-year-old child because of his status as a soul master, his face still looked too childish.

No one can figure out why Zhenhua made this choice.

Zhenhua asked, "Have you ever been exposed to forging?"

"No." Nan Liujing answered truthfully.

Zhenhua smiled and said, "Then today's substitute will have to be changed. You just need to hold the forging hammer." A light flashed in his hand, and a pair of forging hammers appeared. The hammer bodies were white, but there was a faint blue mist floating in them, which was extremely magical.

This is a pair of forging hammers of the spirit forging level that can be stored in the flesh and blood.

Nan Liujing took it. He didn't feel much weight, but seemed to be blessed by some power.

In front of everyone, Zhenhua placed a gray piece of metal into the forging table for calcining.

After the calcination is completed, the red-hot silver appears.

Zhenhua stood behind Nan Liujing, with his legs slightly apart, his back straight, and his right hand raised.

Nan Liujing followed suit like a puppet.

This kind of substitute is indeed unique to Scorpion Baba. The originally surprised blacksmiths became curious.

The forging hammer was suddenly swung out, with a sound of breaking wind, tearing through the billowing heat waves that emerged after the metal was calcined, and smashed towards the side of the Shenyin. With a "bang", sparks flew everywhere, but the forging hammer did not bounce up, but stuck to the Shenyin. The vortex-shaped shock force penetrated into the interior of the Shenyin, and the entire forging table also made a dull sound.

Knowledgeable blacksmiths know that this is a special effect of the forging hammer called "shock". It is a top-notch special effect and is extremely effective in removing metal impurities.

Nan Liujing clearly felt a strong recoil force spreading up from his palm, but most of it was easily absorbed by the hammer. It seemed that Zhenhua wanted him to experience it, but did not want him to bear the entire recoil force.

Two seconds later, another hammer fell, but on the other side.

After two hammerings, the sunken silver actually emitted a faint silver glow, and silver sand-like powder impurities were peeled off from it.

The hundred forging and purification are completed.

As the purification was completed, a strange wave emanated from the inside of the sunken silver and was captured by the forging hammer and Nan Liujing at the same time.

Nan Liujing and Zhenhua's expressions changed slightly almost at the same time.

A smile appeared on Zhenhua's lips. With the help of the feedback from the forging hammer, he began to beat the hammer in an orderly manner. His speed was not fast, but it was fast enough for the young blacksmiths to see clearly.

'Boom, boom, boom!'

Nan Liujing held the forging hammer, striking slowly with each blow. Silver powder and impurities were constantly being stripped from the heavy silver, but this gradually became less and less. What outsiders didn't know was that at this point, the forging had almost become Nan Liujing's primary work, with Zhenhua providing support.

Nan Liujing's outstanding physical strength obviously made Zhenhua feel at ease.

He wanted to test more, and Nan Liujing was too lazy to hide it, so he just showed it to everyone.

There was a voice in the dark, reminding Nan Liujing where to strike. Even though he had Zhenhua's assistance, compared with the same master-level blacksmiths, Nan Liujing's mental and soul power consumption was still pitifully small. Every ray of energy released was used as delicately as a surgeon's hands, without wasting a single bit. The "disease" on the metal was almost gone, and a dim light emerged, obviously the prototype of the Thousand Forgings had been achieved.

As the light blue mist flowing on the surface of the forging hammer poured into it with the help of the "vibration", the particles inside the sunken silver were quickly squeezed together. Later, the surface of the sunken silver seemed to have a layer of fine and dense dark patterns, as deep as the waves.

Finally, the hammer fell, and under the gaze of thousands of people in the hall, the surface of the sunken silver suddenly jumped up with a brilliant silver glow, which seemed to be mixed with bright starlight. The height was more than five feet and lasted for a long time.

"Thousand Forgings, First Grade."

Cheers soon rang out in the auditorium.

Zhenhua smiled and said, "How do you feel?"

Nan Liujing stared at the Qianduan Shenyin in front of him, and a strange feeling emerged in his heart.

There seemed to be an urgent voice inside, telling him to keep going and not to stop.

That is the instinctive spirituality activated by the external spirituality. At this time, as long as it is spiritually forged and given life, it can become a piece of spiritually forged metal.

This brings us to the benefits of activating instinctive spirituality. Often, after forging a thousand times to reach the first level, if the subsequent forging is suddenly stopped, the external spirituality will become dormant. Afterwards, it must be reactivated by melting and forging before spiritual forging can begin. However, this spirituality, which is mainly based on instinct and supplemented by external spirituality, is like eating Xuanmai, and cannot be stopped.

"Uncle Zhen, can you let me experience the spiritual forging?" Nan Liujing did not disappoint the spirituality of metal.

"Okay." Zhenhua laughed loudly, and under the astonished gaze of everyone in the hall, he actually started a new round of proxy beating.

The reason why a blacksmith consumes so much soul power, mental power, vitality, and even mind when performing spiritual forging is that you have to give life to the spirit and not let it go astray. Just like a father, you must encourage it to take steps towards growth.

Martial spirit and soul power are bridges that keep the road between the outside world and the inside of the metal open; while mental power is a weapon to help you control the rhythm of forging. Once the mental power is consumed greatly and the control is chaotic, the spirituality will be like a car on the highway, gradually tilting and eventually crashing into the side of the road, causing forging failure.

During this period, it is like a loading circular image, which gradually reveals its true shape. If there is a problem, it will be a freeze or network disconnection.

But if you remain stable during this period, then the spirit will feel your breath of life through the bridge you build and the guidance of mental power. It will continue to pass through you, actively absorb the life elements between heaven and earth, and then combine with its own vitality, and finally build its own life system.

Such consumption is huge. Even though Nan Liujing has Zhenhua's assistance, he can clearly feel that there is not much soul power left in his body.

After all, he is only a one-ring soul master. Even if the spirit is eager to be favored by him, it is powerless at this moment.

But at this moment, something happened that surprised Zhenhua again.

Every time Nan Liujing gently hammered the metal to guide the spirit to deviate, invisible energy from heaven and earth would gather around his body to help him hold on. In this way, the forging time was extended several times.

Zhenhua thought to himself: "This child is not only affinity with metal, but also with the energy of heaven and earth. No, I have to ask Sun Kong for help. He will probably teach this child forging, so why not let me do it."

Zhenhua, who has no wife and no children and is devoted to the pursuit of forging, wants to accept an apprentice who satisfies him more than anyone else. Now that the apprentice has come to his doorstep, he would be letting down his ancestors if he doesn't accept him.

Thousands of spectators in the hall gradually widened their eyes, because the silver light emitted by the heavy silver on the forging table became increasingly strong.

Zhenhua retreated his legs, leading Nan Liujing with him, then clenched his hammers tightly and delivered the final blow to Chen Yin.

"boom"

With a dull thud, a silver flame shot out from the heavy silver, reaching several feet high. Under the gaze of everyone, it transformed into a ball of light mist in mid-air. A looming thunder dragon kept wandering around, and in the huge hall, one could hear the excited dragon roar.

Even if you are not a blacksmith, you can still hear the joy contained in the dragon's roar. It is the most sincere greeting to the world it has come into.

The flame lasted for ten seconds before disappearing.

The surface of the sunken silver is as smooth as crystal, but inside it is covered with a large number of dark blue lightning patterns, as if it has already turned into a world of storms.

Since it was mainly forged by Nan Liujing, this piece of sunken silver was naturally affected by the Thunder Dragon Soul.

At the moment when the forging was completed, the two forging hammers held tightly in Nan Liujing's hands turned into a stream of light and drilled back into Zhenhua's body.

"How was the experience?" Zhenhua laughed.

Nan Liujing could clearly feel the spirituality inside the Spirit Forged Shenyin, which kept thanking him. This feeling was very strange. A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and his voice was transmitted throughout the auditorium with the help of the amplified soul guide.

"happy!"

"Hahaha."

Suddenly, everyone in the auditorium burst into laughter.

Forging finished metal is, as Nan Liujing said, extremely satisfying.

The only thing that can compare to this is the first sip of ice-cold beer and ice-cold cola in summer.

In the end, this piece of spiritually forged metal was given to Nan Liujing by Zhenhua, but the teaching by the master craftsman did not end there.

This highly anticipated conference only officially ended after eight blacksmiths of different levels each raised their own difficulties in forging and Zhenhua explained them one by one.

People left reluctantly, and Zhenhua came to Nan Liujing and the others and said, "Changming, it's getting late. Why don't you stay for lunch?"

"Okay, I've been craving the food cooked by Muye for a long time." Ye Changming secretly guessed the reason why the other party invited him to eat.

As for forging, the original novel is extremely messy, and I made many changes to the settings. Of course, this doesn’t mean that my own settings are better than the original ones, it’s mainly to make it easier for me to remember.

Other professions are actually similar. I have not seen a very detailed division of professional skills.

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(End of this chapter)