Xu Yuan did not step forward.
The power of the lightning tribulation exceeded his expectations, and without the help of heavenly-forged metal to share the damage, he naturally stayed back.
This heavenly forging lightning tribulation was different from the one Feng Wuyu had faced. Zhen Hua had just confronted only four strikes of the tribulation.
Because four elements had been integrated, it was a four-colored tribulation, and similarly, there were four strikes. As long as they endured, it would count as success.
Feng Wuyu's tribulation must have been due to a different method of withstanding the lightning, resulting in a continuous, slanted bombardment. The total power of the tribulation remained unchanged, but it came down in an uninterrupted stream.
In Feng Wuyu's case, the individual strikes of lightning weren't particularly strong, but they tested the soul master's physical endurance, as he was directly facing the lightning.
The metal that Zhen Hua had forged just now faced the essence of the entire tribulation, all condensed into four bolts of lightning. The fourth bolt alone accounted for nearly half of the total tribulation's power.
This was also why Zhen Hua decisively gave up.
The first three strikes had already pushed the metal to its limits, and the fourth bolt would undoubtedly exceed its threshold, completely destroying it.
Similarly, Zhen Hua, who was connected to the metal, would also be affected, suffering damage to his very essence.
With his wealth of forging experience, Zhen Hua naturally wouldn't do something reckless. He ensured maximum benefit.
"Such a pity—it ended in failure."
Zhen Hua's body swayed slightly, showing signs of weakness.
Seeing Xu Yuan move to support him, he waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.
"Being able to forge it to the stage where it could attract tribulation lightning is already considered a success. The subsequent tribulation isn't about us anymore—it's purely a matter of luck. Its evolution was just a step too slow compared to the tribulation, so it couldn't withstand further strikes. If it had evolved faster, awakening its life energy earlier and gaining nourishment, it definitely could have endured the fourth strike."
Zhen Hua briefly explained to Xu Yuan.
He extended his hand, presenting the semi-heavenly-refined metal that had endured three lightning strikes to Xu Yuan.
The surface of the metal shimmered with four-colored light, radiating a golden glow. It looked dazzling, filled with an ethereal beauty.
Xu Yuan could clearly sense the vibrant life force within it—a hallmark of newly created life.
However, true transformation had yet to occur.
Although it possessed this vibrant life force, it was temporary, a borrowed vitality rather than an essence of its own.
Only by acquiring its own life essence could it become an independent living entity, capable of growth!
"Since it was forged with four elements, it needed to endure four strikes of the tribulation. If it had withstood them all, it would have undergone a qualitative change. The characteristics it displayed were granted by the tribulation—it couldn't fully internalize them—but these traits undeniably provided enhancements. Although it didn't complete the transformation and remains semi-heavenly-forged, it still holds value. It can be used as material for four-word battle armor, as long as it's not a core component. Of course, there's a more extravagant use—adding it to god-level mecha."
God-level mecha generally referred to red mecha.
Typically, red mecha could unleash power equivalent to that of a Super Douluo. If the pilot also reached this level, under specific conditions, they could even achieve Limit Douluo-level effects, hence earning the title of "god-level mecha."
In reality, it had nothing to do with gods.
Of course, some pilots' mecha incorporated large amounts of semi-heavenly-forged metal, significantly boosting their performance beyond most red mecha, providing substantial advantages even against Limit Douluos in battle.
Such mecha truly deserved the title of "god-level mecha."
After all, Limit Douluos were already near-godlike. If something could enhance a Limit Douluo, calling it divine wasn't an exaggeration.
Extravagant use?
Xu Yuan's lips twitched.
He could imagine where many of Zhen Hua's semi-heavenly-forged metals had gone.
It wasn't just the semi-heavenly-forged ones; Zhen Hua must have given Mu Ye some fully successful heavenly-forged metals after they had endured the tribulation.
That blade… its enhancement was no small feat.
Zhen Hua continued to provide Xu Yuan with more explanations.
Xu Yuan was only nineteen years old. Even though Zhen Hua knew Xu Yuan had fully mastered soul forging, he didn't expect him to grasp all the techniques of heavenly forging in one go.
Thus, he repeatedly offered guidance to Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan didn't hesitate either. Within the Dream Space, he continuously practiced the techniques Zhen Hua had taught him.
The flow of time in the Dream Space was extremely fast, allowing him to experiment extensively with what Zhen Hua had explained.
Soon, Zhen Hua finished his explanations and gave Xu Yuan five minutes to digest the information before signaling that he could begin attempting.
Xu Yuan took a deep breath.
In truth, he hadn't expected to succeed in one attempt.
Tang Wulin's situation was different from his.
Xu Yuan's spiritual power hadn't yet broken through to the Spirit Domain Realm, and his accumulation of forging experience was still limited. He had only advanced to the rank of Saint Craftsman two and a half years ago.
If given another two years to accumulate, he was confident he could quickly break through to heavenly forging and achieve the status of a Divine Craftsman.
The reason he came to Tian Dou City early to learn was because he needed heavenly forging to enhance Jue's capabilities.
Taking a deep breath, he approached Zhen Hua's forging platform.
Xu Yuan adjusted his state.
He pushed the Seven Forbidden Techniques to their peak, merging his essence, energy, and spirit with the surrounding environment.
Zhen Hua looked around, visibly surprised.
"Such profound control—has Xiao Yuan's Seven Forbidden Techniques already reached this level?"
Zhen Hua felt that his current mastery over the forces of heaven and earth was absolutely inferior to Xu Yuan's.
"It seems my previous guess was correct. If Elder Yun Ming were to switch to forging, he would undoubtedly have the potential to quickly become a Divine Craftsman!"
Strength and cultivation were the foundation.
At this moment, Zhen Hua could tangibly feel the difference.
Xu Yuan selected two rare metals: heavy silver and demon silver. These were the sentient alloys he had chosen when initially exploring perfect fusion forging techniques—the original form of Jue's body.
Placing the two metals on the forging platform, Xu Yuan pressed down as Zhen Hua had done earlier. The platform quickly activated, swallowing the metals and then spitting out a fireball. It was already melted and perfectly blended on a physical level.
Though it was only a physical blend, it still provided significant assistance for forging.
A forging hammer appeared in Xu Yuan's hand.
This was his original forging hammer, imbued with the property of penetration!
Boom!
With one strike, the force permeated every aspect of the metal's interior, rapidly altering its internal structure.
Simultaneously, Xu Yuan's spiritual power communicated with the faint traces of sentience within the metal.
From the initial thousand refinements to the present, the hammer had advanced to soul forging. The penetration ability had been progressively strengthened by Xu Yuan, and under the guidance of his spiritual power, this penetrating force effortlessly entered every aspect of the metal.
One hammer—the thousand refinements.
A beam of light shot up into the sky, reaching ten feet high.
This signified that Xu Yuan had achieved the first-grade thousand refinements in one hammer strike, matching Zhen Hua's results.
This made Zhen Hua's heart skip a beat.
"What a remarkable young man—has he already honed the foundational techniques of thousand refinements to this extent?"
Xu Yuan didn't look back. He continued forging.
His forging hammer rose high and then came crashing down with great force.
Boom!
The second hammer—Spirit Forging!
Zhen Hua watched the completed Jade Silver shape and immediately understood that this piece of Jade Silver had successfully undergone spirit forging, and it was at the pinnacle of spirit forging.
Xu Yuan hadn't sacrificed quality for flashy techniques.
Finally, Xu Yuan's forging allowed Zhen Hua to breathe a sigh of relief.
Xu Yuan hadn't completed soul forging with the third hammer.
Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
The five elemental forces converged, flowing into the massive hammer in Xu Yuan's hand.
Boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
Six consecutive hammers struck down, causing the Jade Silver's glow to become increasingly crystalline, with the shimmering starlight looking exceptionally brilliant.
Xu Yuan activated the Heavenly Refined Forging Table, rapidly gathering the five elemental forces. A dense sea of five-colored elements formed across the entire platform.
The five elements supported each other, creating a perfect cycle, forming a ring in the air. Only after being refined would they flow into Xu Yuan's forging hammer through the funnel.
Boom!
Another hammer struck.
Xu Yuan infused the five elemental forces into the Jade Silver before him.
Soul Forging—complete!
Zhen Hua watched from the side, his heart filled with astonishment.
By this point, all of Xu Yuan's preliminary forging steps had been flawless.
Each hammer strike had reached its peak, and both the Thousand Refinements, Spirit Forging, and Soul Forging had been pushed to their limits.
Not only that, but Xu Yuan's fusion forging was also a perfect fusion forging—this piece of Jade Silver was a perfect alloy.
This was where Xu Yuan's forging differed from his own. Xu Yuan's first hammer was only for Thousand Refinements, and his subsequent Spirit Forging didn't fully complete the fusion forging. Instead, it was only through the following few hammer strikes that it was thoroughly completed.
This was the application of the penetration effect of the forging hammer in his hand.
Fusion forging didn't necessarily have to be completed before Spirit Forging.
All in all, after nine hammer strikes, an ultimate soul-forged piece of Jade Silver was completed.
However, at this moment, Xu Yuan's expression remained solemn, without any signs of relaxation.
Because the real test had only just begun.
Xu Yuan continuously swung his forging hammer, each strike carrying the force of a thousand jun.
In reality, through the penetration effect, he had already divided this immense force into countless smaller forces, each one traveling within the Jade Silver, reshaping every internal pattern of the metal.
Strike after strike.
Xu Yuan couldn't perform Heart Forging like Zhen Hua.
First, he didn't have the extreme resonance with materials like Feng Wuyu did with the dark yang stone—he lacked the epiphany and the breakthrough to the Spirit Domain Realm. Second, he lacked Zhen Hua's experience; this was his first attempt at heavenly forging, so such advanced techniques were completely out of reach.
Of course, once he gained more experience, he might be able to try this forging method. After all, Heart Forging was time-efficient, and while it might consume mental energy, for Xu Yuan, this consumption was still within acceptable limits.
After all, the first soul skill of Xu Yuan's Brain martial soul was highly compatible with the Heart Forging method.
The surface of the Jade Silver became increasingly transparent, and its interior was no longer purely shimmering starlight—it now contained the flow of the five elemental forces.
The five-colored elemental forces depicted a perfectly harmonious scene within the Jade Silver.
This was the process of reshaping the internal structure of the Jade Silver using elemental forces, thereby imbuing it with the blacksmith's insights and triggering the elemental lightning tribulation.
At this moment, the Heavenly Refined Forging Table continued to draw in the five elemental forces, and Xu Yuan ceaselessly absorbed all the elemental power, channeling it into the Jade Silver before him through his hammer strikes.
Zhen Hua watched intently, holding his breath so as not to miss a single detail.
So far, Xu Yuan hadn't made any significant mistakes.
Could he really succeed on his first try?
Zhen Hua's heart trembled.
While he was still in shock, Xu Yuan's forging finally entered its final stages.
All the five elemental forces within the Heavenly Refined Forging Table were instantly absorbed by Xu Yuan, and layers of five-element halos began to glow on his forging hammer. The five colors of power intermingled and rotated, forming a perfect cycle.
One halo after another was hammered into the Jade Silver.
Yes, it was literally being hammered.
This immense five-element power was nearly solidified by Xu Yuan and forcibly hammered into the Jade Silver, eventually encircling it with rotating five-element halos.
Boom!
In the air, the five elemental forces mutated, forming the Five Elements Lightning Tribulation.
Xu Yuan looked up at the five-colored tribulation formed during the forging process, a slight sense of surprise in his heart.
Although both were lightning tribulations born from the five elements, this Five Elements Lightning Tribulation was quite different from the Five Elements Divine Thunder he had cultivated.
"Since that's the case, let me see what makes your Five Elements Lightning Tribulation special!"
Xu Yuan grabbed the Jade Silver in front of him and merged it into his body.
Seeing this, Zhen Hua was greatly alarmed and wanted to stop Xu Yuan.
The forging platform could serve as the target for the upcoming tribulation, but if Xu Yuan skipped even one tribulation, wouldn't all his previous forging efforts be wasted?
Clearly, Zhen Hua had never heard of Xu Yuan's method of enduring the tribulation.
After Feng Wuyu's successful breakthrough, although he hadn't gone back into seclusion, he had also not left Shrek Academy or communicated with Zhen Hua, so Zhen Hua was unaware of Feng Wuyu's tribulation-enduring method.
That scene was witnessed only by the inner court students of Shrek Academy.
The next scene left Zhen Hua feeling somewhat unfamiliar.
Instead of condensing into a single bolt, the tribulation rained down like a deluge, pouring entirely onto Xu Yuan.
He didn't activate the forging platform's function?
A mistake?
No!
Zhen Hua quickly realized Xu Yuan's intention, shifted his perspective, and reevaluated Xu Yuan's actions, soon deducing some principles.
Boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
A torrent of lightning poured down, but Xu Yuan showed no signs of pain. Instead, he sensed the differences in the Five Elements Lightning Tribulation.
"The Five Elements Lightning Tribulation contains more life-giving power!"
Xu Yuan nodded silently.
Though the elemental tribulation was terrifying, its primary purpose was to help the heavenly-forged metal complete its final evolution and achieve true life. Therefore, the proportion of life laws contained within it was very large.
Jue was also bathing in this Five Elements Lightning Tribulation, and the Thunder Source Metal within him quietly devoured this power, undergoing sublimation.
The tribulation came quickly and dissipated just as fast.
Xu Yuan's resistance to lightning was already maxed out, so enduring the tribulation was extremely easy for him.
As the thunderclouds dispersed and Zhen Hua was still slightly dazed, Xu Yuan retrieved the Jade Silver he had forged.
"A single Five Elements Lightning Tribulation only increased Jue's years by about... five thousand?"
No, dividing this power evenly, Jue's increase was less than a thousand years.
Because the ability to devour lightning belonged to the sixth soul ring, and since Jue existed as a sentient alloy, the strength of the Thunder Source Metal represented the overall strength. In this organic integration, there was no need for Xu Yuan to balance anything—the power would naturally distribute to the other soul rings.
"Five-colored tribulation, so is it five thousand years? If it were a nine-colored tribulation, wouldn't it only be nine thousand years?" Xu Yuan muttered, finding this efficiency rather low.
If he wanted to increase Jue's cultivation by a hundred thousand years, he'd need to perform heavenly forging at least a hundred times.
It seemed relying on devouring heavenly forging tribulations to rapidly increase Jue's years wasn't realistic.
However, the good news was that rapidly increasing Jue to a hundred thousand years was still within reach.
Ten times.
Just ten times, raising Jue's years to ninety thousand, and then he could use Jue's true form for heavenly forging.
By that point, it would be enough.
Because Xu Yuan wouldn't absorb a single shred of that tribulation.
Jue would endure the tribulation himself.
"It succeeded in one go." Zhen Hua still marveled.
Looking at the Jade Silver in Xu Yuan's hand, his heart was filled with mixed emotions.
He had attempted over a thousand times, spent six years, and consumed countless resources before successfully completing his first heavenly forging by chance.
Yet, Xu Yuan succeeded on his first try.
Was this talent?
Zhen Hua took a deep breath and looked at Xu Yuan.
"Xiao Yuan, you're much more outstanding than I am. Although heavenly forging is currently the pinnacle of forging, I hope you won't abandon forging. There's definitely a future for forging, and the endpoint isn't just heavenly forging."
"Don't worry, Master Uncle. I understand your pursuit, and I'll help you achieve it," Xu Yuan said confidently.
He looked around, found an open space, sat cross-legged, and began to recover.
About half an hour later.
Xu Yuan started forging again.
This left Zhen Hua dumbfounded.
Even during his peak years, Zhen Hua had never forged with such high frequency.
His six years of attempting a thousand times amounted to only once every two days.
But Xu Yuan was going to forge twice in one day?
No, based on his rest intervals, he wouldn't stop at just twice.
Of course, Zhen Hua's peak years were during his middle age, and his physical endurance had naturally declined to some extent.
Xu Yuan was not yet twenty—perhaps he could handle two, three, or even four sessions in a day?
Next, Xu Yuan began his second forging session.
Success.
Third time, success.
Fourth time, success!
Four consecutive forging sessions, all successful and having endured the tribulation, resulted in heavenly-forged Jade Silver.
After observing four times, Zhen Hua finally understood the root of Xu Yuan's success.
First, he was working with perfect alloys.
Every time, it was a perfect alloy, which drastically reduced the difficulty of Xu Yuan's heavenly forging process.
Second, Xu Yuan had a method for dealing with the tribulation.
The method of fusing the metal into his body and then enduring the tribulation could maximize the safety of the metal, helping it withstand the tribulation.
Of course, this would still cause damage. Unless one was exceptionally strong, this method wasn't suitable for widespread adoption among other Divine Craftsmen. Xu Yuan was completely unafraid of the tribulation. From Zhen Hua's observations, Xu Yuan seemed to have swallowed most of the tribulation's power.
As for how he swallowed it, Zhen Hua roughly guessed it was due to the Great Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique.
"Xiao Yuan, now that you've just mastered heavenly forging, you shouldn't push yourself so hard with forging," Zhen Hua still chose to advise Xu Yuan.
There was plenty of time for forging—no need to rush.
Your body comes first.
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