Chapter 401 - Spirit Refined Titanium Gold (1/2)
Tang Wulin's hammers glowed with soul power. Gone was the gentleness from before. They came down upon the t.i.tanium crystal like an endless, cras.h.i.+ng waterfall, thundering booms now shaking the arena. The explosions of sound were further amplified by the stacked hammers effect. Upon being thousand refined, his hammers were capable of drawing on his soul power. However, after being spirit refined, they could now use his soul power to its fullest potential.
Soul power surged through Tang Wulin's body like roaring waves. He didn't hold any part of himself back. Compared to his first spirit refining, he now had enough soul power to spare. Even if he did run out of soul power, he still had the power of his bloodline at his disposal. In addition to that, the two bean buns he had previously eaten roused his blood. He could take advantage of that to reverse the flow of his blood, the technique that had helped him complete Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens and defeat Wu Siduo.
After successfully activating Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens and reversing his blood flow, Tang Wulin perfected the technique and could now use it on command. In doing so, his blood essence became thirty percent stronger, and when he used Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens, his power doubled! As of now, his strongest attack consisted of his dragon claw, his gauntlet, and Golden Dragon Shocks the Heavens!
Tang Wulin had long since been able to harness the power of his bloodline to reduce his stamina consumption, improving his forging efficacy. Spirit refining t.i.tanium crystal was nothing to him now. He could use his blood essence as a subst.i.tute for his soul power, and doing so would also increase his chances of successful spirit refining a metal! During the past few days of forging alloys, he noticed that his success rate had increased. It was clear to him that the bond between metal and blood essence was deeper than the one between metal and soul power. After that discovery, Tang Wulin's level of forging entered a whole new realm. He didn't increase in rank, but his success rate soared.
This was the reason why he could forge the t.i.tanium crystal so perfectly today.
Tang Wulin's hammers rained down on the t.i.tanium crystal. The golden ball inside of it grew brighter with each heavy hit, growing larger as the crystal that encased it became smaller. This was a truly bizarre scene to behold. It looked as if he were actually granting life to the metal.
Everyone knew that t.i.tanium crystal was spirit refined the moment that only its gold remained. t.i.tanium gold had an astronomical value. It was one of the top ten metals and could be reforged into an alloy. Forget normal soul masters, even t.i.tled Douluos desired such a metal! All who were not yet four-word battle armor masters would! A single piece of t.i.tanium gold could drastically boost the toughness and other properties of battle armor. It was an absolute treasure. t.i.tanium crystal was rare, but finding t.i.tanium gold was like spotting a unicorn! A piece once appeared in an auction auction and sold for a whopping eighty million coins! It was so rare that it didn't have a set market value!
Tang Wulin had imbued the metal with his blood essence as he forged. He was the only one who could finish forging it now. If that weren't the case, Feng Wuyu would have jumped in to finish it himself. No one would pa.s.s up an opportunity to obtain some t.i.tanium gold. Even with Feng Wuyu's cultivation level and status as a three-word battle armor master, only three pieces of his battle armor had t.i.tanium gold infused in them!
Feng Wuyu balled his hands into tight fists. You have to succeed!
Tang Wulin's soul power depleted rapidly as he forged the t.i.tanium crystal. Every strike of his hammers sent a burst of soul power into the t.i.tanium crystal, reducing its size and granting it life. t.i.tanium crystal was much faster to spirit refine than other metals. However, this speed came at the cost of increased soul power consumption during the refining process. The amount of consumption was so shocking that Tang Wulin couldn't keep up. Only fifteen minutes had pa.s.sed by the time Tang Wulin's soul power ran out. As soon as it did, his three purple soul rings disappeared and a resplendent golden one took their place. Tang Wulin called his blood essence forth in a surge of awesome power, activating Golden Dragon Body as an intense, draconic roar resounded from deep within him. Anyone with sharp eyes would see golden scales s.h.i.+mmering faintly in the air around him.
From his seat on the platform that overlooked the arena, Zhuo s.h.i.+ gawked at Tang Wulin. “He succeeded! That brat succeeded at learning my Dragon Shocks the Heavens with just three soul rings! I had to wait until I had five rings before I could refine my bloodline to half that of a true dragon's and complete it! No wonder he can forge like that… he's using the power of his bloodline to supplement his forging!”
Golden light streamed from Tang Wulin's spirit refined heavy silver hammers as his blood essence coursed through them. The golden ball on the forging table before him shrank rapidly as he continued to forge. He could feel the connection between the metal and his bloodline growing deeper and more intense. The t.i.tanium crystal was an infant about to be born and on the verge of gaining awareness.
Tang Wulin could feel his blood essence roar within him. It was being consumed at a much slower pace than his soul power had been. He allowed its flow to reverse, feeling no need to really control it. The aura of his blood essence immediately grew thicker, a warmth spreading throughout his body.
Boom after boom filled the air. The song of Tang Wulin's forging now followed the same tune as He Xiaopeng's had. In fact, it was even louder. The t.i.tanium crystal grew brighter with each strike, the golden ball rapidly filling the s.p.a.ce that the crystal of the metal previously occupied.
W-what! He's about to succeed at spirit refining? H-he's actually a fifth-rank blacksmith?
He Xiaopeng stared at Tang Wulin in shock. At the age of seventeen, he was the oldest student in the second grade. He always thought himself a prodigy for becoming a fourth-rank blacksmith at the age of seventeen. Yet Mu Xi, being a fourth-rank blacksmith herself, transferred in and showed him that wasn't the case. If she hadn't transferred in late, she might have threatened his position as blacksmith representative of the second grade. Even before this match, some said she should go up instead of him. They had believed it impossible for the first grade to win and thought it would be a good chance for her to show off her skills. In the end, however, the teacher had settled on him being the one to go up, saying that the first grade had an extremely talented blacksmith.
He Xiaopeng hadn't minded the teacher's words back then, but he hadn't looked down on his opponent either. He believed that, as long as he did his best, victory was certain.