Half a month passed in a flash.
Su Ming successfully adapted to the ice and fire forces at the valley's core.
"Little Gold, your skill is still lacking. You'll need extra practice from now on."
"Roar." (Got it...)
Little Gold was dejected.
Seventy-five forging attempts after Spirit Infusion over half a month, and he, the mighty Little Gold, hadn't succeeded even once in achieving Thousand Refinements, Spirit Awakened!
It was enough to make a bear furious.
Simultaneously, Little Gold also realized he wasn a one-in-a-million genius.
"Roar."
He let out a listless cry.
(I'm just an ordinary blacksmith.)
As for those blacksmiths and Spirit Souls worse than him?
They were mediocrities.
Seeing Little Gold so defeated, Su Ming couldn't bear it. He stepped forward and patted the bear's head. "You've done well enough. When your cultivation is higher and your spirit is more abundant, you'll be able to adapt more freely."
"Roar!" (Blacksmith, you go now!)
Even with Su Ming's comfort, Little Gold still had to face reality.
His attempts during this period made him understand one thing: he wasn't a bear who liked to use his brain.
As for improving forging techniques, he'd leave that to the Blacksmith.
As long as the Blacksmith mastered the latest techniques and could teach him, then he, Little Gold, would know everything.
Blacksmith masters = Can teach.
Blacksmith teaches = Little Gold masters.
Blacksmith masters = Little Gold masters.
Blacksmith = Little Gold.
Blacksmith pioneers = Little Gold pioneers.
Perfect!
Little Gold sat contentedly on the ground, facing the forging platform, ready to watch Su Ming's attempt.
Dugu Bo also became interested, wanting to see if Su Ming, the Spirit Master, could perform better than his Spirit Soul, Little Gold.
Su Ming took a deep breath, adjusting his mindset.
He had watched Little Gold's forging over the past half-month with a portion of his focus and had a general understanding of the ice and fire forces' impact on forging.
He turned on the furnace.
The ice and fire forces in the valley were the biggest influence on forging. Logically, he could use the Trinity state, borrowing Douluo 3 Su Ming's ability to control elements, to minimize the influence of the ice and fire forces as much as possible.
However, he chose not to do this.
Little Gold had tested the waters for him, but he didn't plan to take the conventional forging path, solving each problem Little Gold encountered one by one to complete the forging.
He had a brand new idea.
This time, he would utilize the ice and fire forces!
"Little Gold, stop spectating. Come help me with Spirit Infusion."
Su Ming called over Little Gold, who was watching from the side.
Did you really think your Spirit Master needed to try as many times as you did before starting Spirit Infusion?
Little Gold got up and trotted over to a spot not far from Su Ming's forging platform. From this distance, he could transfer his own spirit to Su Ming at any time, allowing Su Ming to use this portion of spirit for Spirit Infusion.
Su Ming focused his entire mind.
He observed the Heavy Silver in the furnace intently.
Once the Heavy Silver was heated, softened, and glowing red all over, a forging hammer appeared in his hand.
He didn't use Rotational Forging, nor did he hold a hammer in each hand. Instead, he held a single heavy hammer with both hands.
Boom!
The forging hammer struck the Heavy Silver.
Instantly, the ice and fire forces surged in. Su Ming's gaze was blazing.
Dugu Bo, watching from the side, held his breath.
He didn't understand forging.
At this moment, Su Ming seemed almost identical to Little Gold during his first failure.
But he also knew Su Ming wouldn't make the same mistake.
So, what was he trying to do?
Boom!
Before Su Ming's hammer moved, a phantom shadow appeared after his hammer fell, striking the Heavy Silver.
Boom!
Another phantom shadow landed.
Triple Overlap Hammer.
Three consecutive hammer strikes. Due to Su Ming's control, the subsequent two strikes didn't perfectly replicate the path of the first. Striking the Heavy Silver in sequence, they actually minimized the damage the ice and fire forces inflicted on the Heavy Silver's internal structure to the lowest possible level.
Taking a deep breath, Su Ming swung the hammer again.
"Little Gold!"
He shouted.
Little Gold, coordinated with him, immediately transferred his spirit over.
The forging hammer shone with the light of spirit.
Boom!
The spirit was hammered into the Heavy Silver.
Boom! Boom!
Two more overlap strikes further drove the spirit into the Heavy Silver while minimizing the damage from the ice and fire forces.
Moreover, if one could perceive the internal changes of the Heavy Silver instead of Su Ming's senses, they would find that the damage from the ice and fire forces was extremely uniform—so uniform that if the Heavy Silver shattered, it would turn into fine powder.
Boom!
Boom!
Su Ming's forging hammer fell again and again. After a total of nine primary strikes, plus the overlap strikes making twenty-seven hits in all, the surface of the Heavy Silver was already covered in cracks.
Little Gold breathed rapidly, enduring immense pressure.
His spirit acted as a frontline sensor, allowing him to deeply perceive every change within the Heavy Silver.
He absorbed this knowledge hungrily, like a sponge.
'Su Ming masters = Little Gold masters!'
This wasn't just an empty saying.
Unconsciously, Dugu Bo had moved to the other side of the forging platform to observe the Heavy Silver up close.
The Heavy Silver was on the verge of breaking apart.
Yet he could feel that a qualitative change was also imminent.
Boom!
Su Ming's forging hammer slammed down decisively.
Fragments of Heavy Silver shot out, yet the phantom shadows of Su Ming's overlap hammer strikes still fell, emitting thump thump sounds.
This was——
Dugu Bo's breath almost hitched. His gaze was locked firmly below Su Ming's forging hammer.
There was a mass of glowing substance.
The Heavy Silver had shattered, yet its unique innermost structure had been preserved by Su Ming, perfectly fused with the spirit. Now, it retained the most essential part of the Heavy Silver, yet was transformed by the Spirit Soul's spirit, presenting itself in an energy state.
It had shed its material form, leaving only the form of an energy body!
Placed in the Douluo 3 era, with simple processing via a Spirit Soul array, this would be a metal Spirit Soul.
Su Ming was also somewhat excited now. Looking at this energy-state metal on the forging platform, his breathing became rapid.
Spirit Infusion, Spirit Infusion—its initial goal was to endow the rare metals of the current era the foundation for forging. Now, with the environmental boost of the Ice Fire Two Eyes, Su Ming had developed this technique to its extreme.
"Now this piece of Heavy Silver can be called a life embryo. It's very stable and can even be said to already possess some characteristics of Spirit Refinement."
What is Spirit Refinement?
It is the process of creating life, truly giving rare metal with life.
But how does one specifically give life?
Essentially, it's about communicating with the spirit within the metal, perfectly preserving the metal's characteristics while expelling the impurities from the metal, ultimately leaving only the Spirit Metal that can transform into an energy state at any time.
At this moment, Su Ming had completed this step before Thousand Refinements, Spirit Awakened.
After admiring his work for a moment, Su Ming knew he couldn't delay any further.
He was still forging.
If he stopped now, this metallic life embryo would perish—that would be truly cruel.
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
He actively drew the ice and fire forces, gathering them into red and white streams that merged into the embryo before him.
"Thousand Refinements, Spirit Awakened!"
Su Ming shouted. The embryo before him suddenly erupted with a six-chi radiance of spirit.
This was Sacred Grade Thousand Refinement. Even in the Douluo 3 era, this was truly top-tier Thousand Refinement, as some Spirit Refined metals didn't even have a spirit radiance of six chi.
On the six-chi light pillar, the two forces of ice and fire intertwined and spiraled, forming dazzling patterns.
Su Ming didn't stop, continuing to temper.
Half an hour later, under Su Ming's sweat-drenched forging, the six-chi radiance was hammered back into the energy-state Heavy Silver before him.
"Spirit Refinement, Life Creation!"
Under extreme compression came an extreme eruption. As Su Ming landed his final hammer strike, a special波动 emanated from the Heavy Silver. A new, vibrant life appeared in the valley, cheering and leaping for joy.
The Heavy Silver had come to life. It actively absorbed the ice and fire forces, form
ing intricate patterns on its surface, while also devouring large amounts of Life Vital Energy. Nearly half of this Life Vital Energy was fed back to Su Ming.
Even so, its life force climbed rapidly.
(Chapter End)