The twelve small hammers suddenly hovered in the air simultaneously. Gu La's spiritual power transformed into invisible tendrils, gently caressing the metals to soothe their volatile spirituality, which had been unsettled by the intense forging.
Suddenly, a clear phoenix-like cry echoed through the forging room. To everyone's astonishment, six pieces of metal simultaneously emitted faint glowing silhouettes on their surfaces.
"Such powerful spirituality…" Tang Wulin's voice was hoarse. "He actually awakened the spirituality of six different metals at once!"
Gu La's movements became extremely slow. With both hands gripping the hammers, he moved as if wading through thick honey, each inch of progress carrying an overwhelming sense of pressure. When the hammers finally struck, time seemed to freeze for an instant—
Clang!
The crisp sound of the hammer resounded throughout the forging room. The four pieces of metal trembled and began to slowly fuse together.
Gu La's face was as pale as paper, but his eyes burned with a fiery fervor.
"Combine!"
With this shout, the six pieces of metal suddenly levitated and began to spin rapidly above the forge table. The twelve small hammers moved like summoned soldiers, striking the metal joints in a specific sequence. Each strike elicited a joyful cry from the spiritual silhouettes.
Bang bang bang—
The dense hammering sounds merged into a continuous rhythm, and the glow on the metal surfaces grew increasingly intense. When the thousandth hammer fell, all the silhouettes abruptly sank into the metal.
Gu La continued adding Heavy Silver or Magic Silver as the second metal for fusion forging—a material suitable for most soul masters.
At the 49th minute of forging, an unexpected incident occurred. A shard of metal suddenly flew out, shooting directly toward Wu Siduo, who was nearest. She instinctively raised her hand to block it, and the shard slashed her wrist. A few drops of blood splattered onto the glowing red metal embryo.
"Oh no!" Tang Wulin's face turned pale. Blood could contaminate the metal's purity and hinder the birth of its spirituality.
But Gu La's reaction was unexpected. Instead of stopping, he increased the frequency of his hammer strikes while chanting an obscure incantation.
Rather than contaminating the metal, the droplets of blood were completely absorbed, and faint blood-red patterns emerged on the metal's surface.
A flicker of reminiscence passed through Gu La's eyes. Whether it was Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua's teachings or the Spirit Pagoda's research on spirit soul contracts, both had deepened his understanding of the essence of metals.
That was why he had confidently refrained from using telekinesis to prevent the blood from splattering.
"The final strike!"
Gu La suddenly leapt into the air, channeling all his soul power into the forging hammer. The hammerhead glowed with blinding golden light as it slammed heavily onto the metal embryo. The entire forging room shook, and the intense light forced everyone to close their eyes.
When the light faded, the forging room fell into an eerie silence so profound that a pin drop could be heard. Only three peculiar pieces of metal floated in midair: a pale gray-silver Youyin (Nether Silver), a silvery-white Kongyin (Space/Void Silver), and a pale green Luyin (Green Silver).
All three contained traces of Heavy Silver, their surfaces shimmering with a mercury-like luster. Mysterious totems formed from intricate patterns could be faintly seen within them.
The most striking piece was the one that had been splashed with Wu Siduo's blood. Its surface displayed a spiral pattern of gray-silver hues, overlaid with faint, blood-red halos. Most astonishingly, the metal pulsed rhythmically, as if alive.
"Living metal… granting spirituality to metal…" Gu Yue spoke for the first time, her voice tinged with unmistakable shock. Every time she witnessed such feats, she was astounded by human creativity.
Clatter!
The metal suddenly trembled on its own, then gradually retracted its spiritual phenomena, transforming into an ordinary-looking piece of metal. When Gu La reached out to grasp it, the metal emitted a clear, resonant hum, vibrating softly like a living creature.
"Spirituality born naturally," Gu La said with a weary smile, placing the metal back on the forge table. He turned to the five people: "Mission accomplished."
---
Tang Wulin rushed to the forge table in a single stride, his trembling fingers brushing over the metal. "Two metals perfectly fused—it's even better than my usual forging results."
He suddenly looked up. "How could you possibly balance the spiritual conflicts of four metals at once?"
Gu La wiped the sweat from his brow and revealed a mysterious smile. "Who said I was balancing conflicts?"
He pointed near the forge table. "Even the strongest spirituality is newly born. I used telekinesis to isolate them, so there was no need to consider conflicts between different metals."
Tang Wulin wanted to scold him for taking such an unorthodox approach, but forging inherently relied on martial soul abilities. This kind of shortcut was essentially a "talent" for blacksmiths.
His unique bloodline force would also infuse the metal, helping it awaken its spirituality—an advantage that, for other blacksmiths, was equally a shortcut.
Wu Siduo hesitantly reached out to touch the metal. The moment her fingertips brushed its surface, the metal emitted a soft roar resembling a tiger's growl, startling her into quickly retracting her hand.
"What's the fusion rate?" Luo Guixing asked urgently, his eyes wide behind his glasses.
Gu La placed the metal into the testing device. The numbers on the screen jumped rapidly before finally settling on—93.6%.
The room fell into stunned silence. This number exceeded everyone's expectations, even surpassing the boundaries of common sense.
The fusion rate of the metals forged under divided attention, combined with the accidental inclusion of blood, had reached such a terrifying level—approaching the realm of divine alloys with fusion rates near 95%.
"How did you do it?" Tang Wulin couldn't help but ask, his eyes gleaming with fervor.
Gu La dismissed it lightly. "Basic operations, really. It's all about controlling the spirituality, which allows me to pull off these flashy moves."
Inwardly, he mocked himself. Next time, he wouldn't be so reckless. While other aspects were manageable, simultaneous spirit-forging drained his mind too much, leaving him mentally fatigued.
His gaze burned into Wu Siduo, a meaningful smirk curling his lips. "Now, do you believe I'm qualified to discuss this deal with all of you?"
Wu Siduo's chest rose and fell sharply, her slender fingers unconsciously clenching.
She had never imagined that this seemingly carefree classmate harbored such astonishing forging prowess.
The pulsating Youming attribute within the active metal, glowing with a faint blue aura, matched her martial soul almost perfectly. Its value to her was simply immeasurable.
"Twenty pieces," she said after taking a deep breath, her purple eyes flashing with determination. "I need twenty pieces of such spirit-forged metal. Name your terms."
Gu La chuckled softly, his gaze sweeping over the group like the edge of a blade. "What's worrying you? Today was merely an appetizer."
Wu Siduo's pupils suddenly contracted, realizing something, and her voice quivered. "You can simultaneously spirit-forge six metals… Could it be that you've already touched the threshold of soul-forging?"
Gu La's long, slender fingertips tapped the metal ingot, eliciting a clear, resonant hum. "Still far from it."
He casually brushed his sleeve. "After all, I'm only a four-ring Soul Ancestor."
At least until he broke through to become a Soul King and condensed his first soul core would he have the confidence to attempt the soul-forging realm.
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