Soul Land 5: The Rebirth of Tang San

Chapter 141: Smithing

"Originally, my spiritual power felt kind of like a gas. Since I broke through to the fourth order, it has been growing quite a lot, and practicing the Purple Demon Eyes you taught me actually made it even better. Today, I suddenly felt my spiritual power condensing. It’s turning liquid, I think! There’s a lot more of it, but it takes up a lot less space, so I can gather a lot more of it. That means I have much more room for improvement."

"Liquid spiritual power?" Tang San was also astonished. His spiritual power had become liquid due to the absorption of the Discerning Heart’s Gaze, Falcon Eye, and Celestial Fox Vision, along with a bit of divine consciousness at the center of his sea of consciousness and his fifth-order cultivation at the time.

Yet Du Bai, having only broken through to the fourth order, was already transforming his spiritual power into a liquid form! Even without the Purple Demon Eyes, merely with the Celestial Fox Vision, he could probably have achieved it, albeit in a longer time.

"Truly worthy of being a first-tier demon bloodline! Indeed formidable!"

"Congratulations, senior brother Du Bai! It seems like your spiritual power is becoming much stronger. Do you have any new sensations with your Celestial Fox Vision?" Tang San asked.

Du Bai nodded, "I feel much more now. I can see luck more clearly. For instance, I feel your luck today is quite good. But for some reason, it seems to me like your luck is different from others’. For one, I feel a lot closer to you for whatever reason. Also, I can see other people’s luck much clearer, but yours seems kind of elusive, as if it’s trying to escape my sight."

Tang San thought this must be related to his own Celestial Fox bloodline. It seemed the teachers' assessment was correct; entering the fourth order of the Celestial Fox Transformation had brought about a fundamental change in Du Bai. Such changes would continue to enhance as Du Bai's spiritual power grew, truly bringing out the capabilities of this top-tier Demonic God Transformation.

"Senior sister Zicheng, your transformation is also great. How do you feel?" Tang San asked Cheng Zicheng.

"I'm doing quite well. My body has become much tougher. As you said, my Golden Wings are stronger, and my flying speed has improved, not to mention that I’m faster anyway since I broke through. I can use the Golden Wing Splitting Wind Slash much easier, and it’s more powerful too," Cheng Zicheng said with delight.

Du Bai exclaimed, "Indeed, money can make things happen! It's all about having money. With it, even cultivation speeds up."

Seeing his companions improve brought only joy to Tang San. Their advancement was akin to his own; their strength represented the limit of his bloodline power.

Classes went on as usual—mainly physical training, since other teachers were absent. After consuming the Dragon Tendon Fruit, Tang San felt the physical training became more effortless. He voluntarily increased his workload to better absorb the medicinal effects of the fruit.

The morning was for physical training, and there were no classes in the afternoon, a rare break. Tang San had previously arranged to meet with his master, so after lunch, he went straight to Zhang Haoxuan's residence.

"You've eaten the Dragon Tendon Fruit?" Zhang Haoxuan scrutinized him and immediately noticed the changes in him.

Tang San nodded and said, "The effect is quite noticeable, isn’t it? I can feel my body becoming tougher."

Zhang Haoxuan smiled and nodded."The effect of the Dragon Tendon Fruit is indeed good. Though it's not considered a top-tier natural treasure, it's really not bad. Too bad it’s rare; our academy only managed to get a few. Either way, it doesn’t matter to you, because it can only be consumed once. The effect diminishes greatly the second time. You do need to strengthen your body, but don't rush it. After all, you're still young. As long as you regularly consume demonic beast meat and you grow normally, your body's endurance should be comparable to an adult's by the time you're fourteen or fifteen."

"Yes."

"Let's go. I've already made arrangements with the blacksmith shop. Are you sure you want to forge it yourself?" asked Zhang Haoxuan.

Tang San nodded and replied, "I want to try it, Master."

"Alright. Give it a try, then." Zhang Haoxuan had great faith in Tang San. Although the boy hadn't been there long, he had significantly impacted Zhang Haoxuan's understanding of human cultivation.

Zhang Haoxuan increasingly realized how marvelous the Mysterious Heaven Technique was. He had tried it in secret but couldn't get it to work. If it weren't for the fear of exposing it, he would have liked to find a human child without the Demonic God Transformation to try it.

Since Tang San's arrival at the academy, not only had his cultivation improved rapidly, but he had also significantly influenced the other students. Particularly, Du Bai's Celestial Fox Transformation and Gu Li's Chrono Croc Transformation, which had been significant challenges for the academy, had all broken through after Tang San took them out for training. It was fitting to call him the lucky star of the Redemption Society.

Upon entering the blacksmith shop, they were greeted by waves of heat. Warm air circulated in the shop, where several muscular blacksmiths worked.

Seeing Zhang Haoxuan arrive with Tang San, the blacksmiths set aside their work to greet him.

Being able to live in the academy town, they were naturally vassals. With a glance from his Discerning Eye of Heaven, Tang San could tell that the blacksmiths' Demonic God Transformations were of the strength type. Their cultivation was not very high, around the third order, but it was sufficient for blacksmithing.

"Alright, you guys take a break. Leave this place to us for a while," Zhang Haoxuan said.

The blacksmiths nodded and left, showing great respect for him as the mayor.

"What do you plan to do?" Zhang Haoxuan turned and asked Tang San.

"I'll need your help with the smelting, Master, and then I'll give forging a try," Tang San replied.

"Alright. What do you need to smelt?" Zhang Haoxuan asked curiously.

Immediately, Tang San took out the black crow stones he had purchased.

"Black Crow Stone? What do you need to smelt it for? Apart from being hard, it has no special properties. It’s very hard, I guess, but because it’s too hard to work with, it’s practically useless. These stones are only good for fence repairs. The ones in the shop have probably been gathering dust for a long time," Zhang Haoxuan said, looking at Tang San with confusion.

Tang San said, "Master, I really want to try it. With such hard ore, I am wondering if I can produce something even harder if smelted. I want to try forging a weapon."

Zhang Haoxuan shook his head somewhat helplessly, "This is wishful thinking. If you want a weapon, finding a better metal for forging is better. What use could Black Crow Stone possibly have?"

Tang San insisted, "Please, Master, help me try this out." He had already put the Black Crow Stone into the smelting furnace as he spoke.

He had bought many pieces of stone, almost enough to fill the entire furnace.

"Let's give it a try then," Zhang Haoxuan said, somewhat resignedly.

Tang San picked up a forging hammer from the side. Zhang Haoxuan approached the smelting furnace, raised his right hand toward it, and activated the Fierce Tiger Transformation. His body visibly enlarged and a fierce flame shot from his palm onto the Black Crow Stone, starting the high-temperature smelting process.

Tang San stood beside him, watching intently, silently waiting for the Black Crow Stone to show a change.

Black Crow Stone seemed to have a very high melting point. After being heated for a while by Zhang Haoxuan, they only turned slightly red, with no other changes.

Just as Zhang Haoxuan was about to say something, Tang San preemptively said, "Master, please increase the temperature."