Gu You's hammering continued relentlessly. With every strike, his soul power surged forward, pouring into the ice crystal. His spiritual energy churned violently, racing to keep pace. But the ice crystal seemed like an endless abyss, a bottomless well, devouring both his soul power and spiritual energy without mercy, giving nothing back.
He gritted his teeth.
'I have to succeed. And not just succeed — I have to make this perfect.'
He clenched his jaw tighter, determination burning in his chest.
He hadn't spent three years training, learning, and refining his craft just to fail here.
Three years of relentless honing, three years of painstaking accumulation — and now, in this moment, everything was coming to the surface, fully unleashed. Under the fierce pressure of his willpower, Gu You activated every ounce of his latent potential, forcing his body and mind to their peak.
With his potential fully awakened, each hammer blow, each delicate moment of communion between his essence and the ice crystal, became exquisitely precise. And as that communication deepened, the ice crystal began to shift — faintly at first, then more obviously, as if it were awakening to his touch, sensing the guide who was shaping it.
In spirit forging, the greatest danger was always the same: losing connection with the rare metal.
If the lifeforce construction was interrupted, even for a heartbeat, the rare metal's budding spirit would collapse instantly, leaving behind nothing but lifeless scrap. It wouldn't even retain the level of a Hundred Refined piece — just common, dead material.
That was why spirit forging was so costly. So many forgemasters, even those with promising talent, spent their entire lives trapped at this bottleneck, unable to push through.
It wasn't just personal strength or talent that mattered. It was resources — pure, overwhelming resources.
The reason great clans and factions had higher success rates when cultivating spirit forgemasters was simple: they could afford to dump mountains of materials into the process, trying again and again until something finally stuck.
Gu You's movements picked up speed, his feet gliding swiftly around the ice crystal. He wished, briefly, that he'd mastered the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track Steps — if he had, this dance would have been even smoother. But unfortunately, that wasn't a skill he could learn.
The blue light around the ice crystal blazed brighter, more intense. Its body shrank rapidly under the hammer blows. Gu You's Life Essence Hammers gleamed faintly green in the glow, delicate golden patterns flickering across their surfaces — the residual marks left by the blood sacrifices he had performed when he had first forged them.
Over the past few years, he had forged countless creations with these hammers, earning money, honing his skills, and embedding layer upon layer of experience into them.
Now, as they struck the ice crystal, the hammers themselves seemed to join the conversation, resonating faintly, subtly shifting in response — evolving alongside the crystal they shaped.
But there was a problem.
His soul power was draining too fast.
Since the start of the spirit forging, only ten minutes had passed — and already, Gu You was nearly depleted.
Without soul power acting as the bridge, he couldn't continue the delicate communication.
And if that bridge broke…
The ice crystal, now partially awakened, would lash out in rage, its disrupted spirit exploding into a surge of resentful backlash.
Even a four-ring Soul Ancestor would be crippled by such a blow, forced into months or years of recovery.
And Gu You? He only had three rings.
If he suffered that kind of backlash, it could mean permanent damage — a wound he might never heal from.
His soul power scraped the bottom, his reserves teetering on the edge of collapse.
But the forging wasn't finished.
The ice crystal had already begun to birth a spark of life, a delicate pulse of emerging vitality. It needed more, much more, to complete the cycle and stabilize its own lifeforce.
What to do?
That's when the hidden advantage revealed itself.
The soul power bottle.
A massive surge of cool, powerful soul power flowed into Gu You's body, instantly replenishing his reserves to peak condition.
"Brilliant~"
Zhen Hua couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
He had never even thought of it — using a soul tool bottle to replenish a forgemaster's energy during spirit forging! Was his brain just old and inflexible? His eyes flicked toward the small, gourd-shaped soul power bottle hanging at Gu You's waist, his mind whirling with ideas.
If this worked, it could completely reshape the forging world.
Even low-level soul masters, with the right tools, could attempt higher-grade forging.
Gu You made a bold decision.
He suddenly shifted, crossing his hammers into his left hand and continuing the strikes with that arm, while his right hand pressed directly against the surface of the blazing-hot ice crystal.
"Ssshhh!"
A faint hiss of white smoke curled up as Gu You's palm trembled violently.
That heat — it was extreme, thousands of degrees.
If an ordinary person so much as brushed against it, their entire body would melt away in an instant.
But Gu You didn't flinch.
His palm steamed, but he held firm.
A circle of purple-blue soul rings rose around him, and purple dragon scales rippled up his right arm.
He had gone insane.
Zhen Hua stared, wide-eyed.
He desperately wanted to ask: What was that strange soul ring color? Where had it come from?
But before he could voice the question, Gu You did something even more shocking: he stopped the supply from the soul power bottle.
Zhen Hua's jaw dropped.
What was this kid doing?
He had the eye of a master forgemaster, yes — but when it came to understanding martial souls and bloodline powers, his knowledge was limited.
He had heard rumors of blood energy, of the mysterious force that pulsed through certain soul master lineages, but he had never seen it firsthand.
"Haah!!"
Gu You let out a fierce shout, sweat pouring down his face. His forehead glistened with moisture, and his body trembled from the pain.
But with that single shout, he forced himself through it, driving the agony deep into his gut.
The communication continued.
But now, he no longer used soul power as the bridge.
He replaced it — with his own vital energy, his bloodline force.
Gu You was testing himself.
He wanted to know just how vast, how potent, his bloodline power truly was.
After the last battle, he had realized something: the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's right paw bone had completely fused with his dragon claw, creating something new, something stronger. He had even thought of a new name for it: the Purple Emperor Terrorclaw.
Not only had the combined soul bone enhanced his destructive capabilities — it had amplified his blood energy as well.
As his shout echoed, the air trembled.
His upper garments burst apart, shredding into tatters.
Underneath, his lean, well-toned body gleamed. Zhen Hua could clearly see the fine, diamond-shaped purple scales spreading across his right arm, crawling up his shoulder and chest.
The scales shimmered, dazzling and radiant.
Gu You's right hand glowed with a misty purple-gold aura as it enveloped the ice crystal. Meanwhile, his left hand continued its precise hammer strikes, circling smoothly around the crystal.
Zhen Hua watched, wide-eyed, as he felt the air itself pulse with power.
That pressure, that heat — it was unmistakable.
This was true dragon bloodline energy.
It was the first time in his life that Zhen Hua had seen it.
The moment Gu You switched from soul power to vital energy, he felt the difference.
For a split second, the ice crystal's nascent lifeforce wavered, teetering on the brink of collapse.
His heart shot into his throat.
But as soon as his dragon-scaled right hand made contact, before the scales had even fully formed, his blood had already started seeping into the crystal.
And somehow, miraculously, that blood stabilized everything.
Instead of collapsing, the ice crystal's lifeforce stilled — then strengthened.
Gu You's vital energy surged outward, flowing steadily into the crystal. Its original brilliant blue glow deepened, darkened, taking on hints of pale purple. Wisps of faint gold shimmered faintly at the edges.
Replacing soul power with bloodline energy?
Zhen Hua stood frozen, dumbstruck.
How was this kid so gutsy?
Gu You's eyes gleamed brightly.
'It's working.'
He could feel it. His bloodline energy — it really could substitute for soul power in spirit forging.
If he had been more practiced, if he had transitioned cleanly from the start, he probably wouldn't have even burned his palm.
His blood surged through his body, rushing like a roaring river. His heart thundered in his chest as he poured it all into the crystal.
And the results were immediate.
The ice crystal began changing even faster, responding eagerly.
Gu You's Life Essence Hammers struck down at astonishing speed, each blow causing the crystal to shimmer, then — unexpectedly — break apart slightly.
Each strike seemed to pull a fragment of the crystal's energy, drawing it into the hammers themselves.
(End of Chapter)
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