Douluo Continent: The Book of Witness and Peerless Tang Sect

While a heated cutting board can achieve the same purpose, it works like a gas stove by emitting flames to maintain temperature.

Not to mention the heat, the uncontrollable flames are also extremely dangerous if they splash out.

However, the Yangyan Chenyin Forging Hammer is different. The flames created by the Explosive Flame Strike appear fierce, but their point of attack is concentrated. There is neither excess heat dissipation nor unruly flames flying around.

After striking the hammer once and confirming its special properties, Long You, whose arm muscles were already starting to tremble slightly, stopped swinging the hammer randomly.

A slight upturn of the corners of his mouth revealed Long You's signature mischievous smile. Turning his head, he saw the lingering surprise in the eyes of his teacher Fan Yu and his senior brother Cai Tou, and a sly glint flashed in Long You's eyes.

With a slight flick of his wrist, Long You made the Yangyan Chenyin Forging Hammer disappear from his hand in the blink of an eye.

All metals that have undergone spirit forging are able to communicate with their master's mind and, to some extent, become part of the master's will. Therefore, it becomes logical to store objects made of spirit-forged metals directly inside the body, just like retrieving a martial soul.

If the Explosive Flame Strike was surprising, then Long You's Forging Hammer Vanishing Technique was truly astonishing. Fan Yu, being an eighth-level Soul Master, was confident he couldn't have misjudged whether Long You had used a storage Soul Tool at that moment.

He explained the situation in detail, took out the Yangyan Chenyin Forging Hammer again and handed it to Fanyu for careful observation, then went to Qian Duoduo to report the good news (and boast about his success). With this series of events, Longyou missed lunchtime once again.

It was just a lunch, but it resulted in a two-level upgrade in his eligibility to use rare metals, which made Long You very satisfied.

Shrek Academy is indeed rich in resources, and its Soul Guidance Department is incredibly wealthy, but an academy is not a charity. It's fine for a student to use the academy's resources to learn skills, but even the wealthiest academy cannot allow students unlimited access to those resources.

On the one hand, this blind accumulation of resources can give growing students the illusion that resources are worthless and easily obtained, which can easily lead to a distorted value system. On the other hand, a system of egalitarianism cannot stimulate creativity.

Shrek Academy's Soul Guidance Department has always had a tiered system. Students receive a resource list corresponding to the level of Soul Guidance Master qualification they pass. Only items on the list can be purchased or exchanged from the academy.

The reason there is an option to exchange money is that not every student who comes to Shrek Academy is rich.

According to Shrek Academy's motto, as a member of Shrek Academy, you may lack money, but you cannot lack ability. As long as you have the ability to complete the tasks assigned by the academy, you can earn academy points, which can then be exchanged for what you desire.

Originally, Long You's authority was only level three. The reason he went to apply with Fan Yu to use Yangyan Gold was because this rare metal was not on Long You's level three exchange list at all.

Now things are much better. Qian Duoduo has raised Long You's authority to level five, meaning Long You is now eligible to exchange for virtually any rare metal that can be mined within the original Douluo Continent.

The issue of spirit forging has been resolved, and Fan Yu and He Caitou, under Qian Duoduo's instruction, have begun to try to master the spirit forging technique, with Long You responsible for providing guidance.

With the new students' first year of school over, Longyou has essentially exhausted all the major commotion it could muster. Now, all Longyou can do is rebuild its quantitative accumulation, preparing for a new round of qualitative leaps in strength.

Three years passed in the blink of an eye, and it was now the fourth year since Longyou enrolled in school, which was the holiday after the completion of the third academic year.

A team of four, consisting of three men and one woman, traveled on the official road outside Shrek City in a Soul-Guided Off-Road Vehicle.

Yesterday, the school year just ended. Long You, Bei Bei, He Cai Tou, and Tang Ya, who had completed all their third-year studies, left Shrek Academy together.

After mastering the Spirit Forging technique, nearly three years passed. He Caitou became familiar with Bei Bei and Tang Ya, and was successfully "tricked" into joining the Tang Sect by Bei Bei. During holidays or rest periods, they often went out together or found a good place to team up and fight in the Great Soul Arena.

However, the four of them left Shrek Academy in a hurry as soon as the holiday started, not to go out and play, but to go to the Star Dou Great Forest to find suitable spirit rings.

Although they didn't have any cheat codes to rely on, the four of them had a fully automatic meditation system (autonomous cultivation of their martial soul consciousness), so their soul power increased at a fairly fast pace. Before the third year was even halfway over, Bei Bei, who had the highest martial soul talent and didn't need to be distracted by her soul tools, was the first to break through to level 40.

Over the next two months, Longyou and He Caitou also made breakthroughs. Unfortunately, the semester was already halfway over, and many courses had entered the crucial stage, making it difficult to ask for leave.

It's been three or four months now, and although their soul power level has reached the required standard, they still haven't been able to obtain their fourth soul ring. In other words, whether or not they acquire a soul ring doesn't affect their soul power accumulation; otherwise, they'd have to take leave from school to avoid disrupting their studies.

Finally, the holiday arrived, and everyone rushed off to the Starry Sky Forest in a flurry of activity.

The official road was bustling with people, and many cast curious glances at the speeding Soul-Guided Off-Road Vehicle. However, these glances had no effect on the four people inside the vehicle.

Although they can now easily control flying soul tools, and although everyone has high expectations for obtaining their fourth soul ring, in order to improve their understanding of the customs and culture of the continent, the four of them have gotten used to driving instead of flying when traveling.

Sitting in the car with good friends and chatting is a great way to pass the time.

"Oh dear, I really envy you! You've become Soul Masters so quickly. It's getting harder and harder for me, a mere Soul Venerable, to catch up with you."

The one who said those words was Tang Ya. After her martial soul awakened a second time, Tang Ya's talent was no less than that of the average Shrek Academy student. But there was nothing she could do; after all, those around Tang Ya were among the strongest and most formidable members of Shrek Academy's elite group.

"Sister Xiaoya, you're just being greedy. If you let those students in your class who only started making it to grade 30 this year hear what you're saying, would they even be considered human?"

Level 36? Are you cheating?! It took you over three years, almost four, to go from level 20 to 30, Xiaoya. And after breaking through level 30, you jumped six levels in a year?!