"Young Master Chu, isn't this supposed to be silver? Why is it so hard to burn?"
Ma Hongjun groaned in frustration. Soul skills couldn't be used endlessly. Spraying fire wasn't a problem, but he couldn't keep doing it forever!
"Who told you this was normal silver? This is Heavy Silver!"
Chu Chengzhou rolled his eyes.
"Heavy Silver? What's this stuff even used for?"
Ma Hongjun froze. He had thought so—how could ordinary silver ingots remain unmelted after being scorched by the Phoenix Fire Line? Turns out this wasn't silver at all.
"Don't worry about that. Just make sure they turn red-hot."
Ma Hongjun: "..."
"Second Soul Skill, Phoenix Rebirth! First Soul Skill, Phoenix Fire Line!"
After resting for a minute, both of Ma Hongjun's soul rings lit up. First, he activated Phoenix Rebirth to increase the power of his phoenix flames by 30%, then unleashed the Phoenix Fire Line to scorch the Heavy Silver ingots in the furnace.
A few seconds later, Ma Hongjun, whose stamina was clearly lacking, collapsed again.
Peering into the furnace, Chu Chengzhou noticed significant progress compared to last time—at least the eight Heavy Silver ingots were now glowing red. However, they were still far from the ideal forging temperature.
"Alright, I'll just make do with this! Fatty, take a break. When it cools down, we'll heat it up again!"
With that, Chu Chengzhou used tongs to transfer the eight red-hot Heavy Silver ingots from the furnace to the forging table. He then pulled out his thousand-refined Black Iron hammers and began pounding away with great force.
BANG BANG BANG—!
For a while, rhythmic metallic pounding echoed throughout Shrek Academy.
Fortunately, Chu Chengzhou had excellent control over his strength. Most of the force from his hammer strikes landed squarely on the Heavy Silver ingots; otherwise, the ordinary iron forging table wouldn't have been able to withstand such abuse.
"Fatty, give me some heat!"
BANG BANG BANG—
"Fatty, keep burning!"
BANG BANG BANG—
Normally, a blacksmith forging metal would produce a "clang clang" sound. But Chu Chengzhou possessed immense physical strength—perhaps not much else, but brute force was certainly his specialty.
His powerful strength, combined with precise control, allowed him to forge at an incredibly fast pace.
More than an hour later, the previously intact Heavy Silver block had already been hammered into a single piece, its volume noticeably reduced. Suddenly, it emitted a dazzling silvery glow.
The forging aura radiated outward—a thousand-refined Heavy Silver was complete!
Immediately, Chu Chengzhou channeled a bit of soul power to his fingertips and slashed a small cut on his arm. As his blood circulated, fresh blood spurted out, splashing onto the thousand-refined Heavy Silver glowing brilliantly on the forging table.
Blood sacrifice bound the metal to his bloodline, making it an extension of his body. In the future, any blacksmith who forged metals at the thousand-refinement level or above for personal use or important items would perform a blood ritual.
This thousand-refined Heavy Silver was destined to become Chu Chengzhou's forging hammers, and as his forging skills improved in the future, it could be upgraded. Naturally, it required a blood sacrifice.
At this moment, the Heavy Silver was still blazing hot from the thousand-refinement process. The fresh blood sizzled upon contact, emitting a series of "hissing" sounds and releasing wisps of green smoke.
Soon, the smoke dissipated, revealing the true form of the thousand-refined Heavy Silver.
Compared to before, its volume had shrunk significantly. After the dazzling silvery glow faded, the once-brilliant silver color disappeared, leaving behind a dull, unremarkable appearance. Only a fine, wave-like texture resembling ocean ripples remained on its surface.
As Chu Chengzhou admired his handiwork with satisfaction, Ma Hongjun beside him was utterly dumbfounded.
The dazzling aura that emerged when the Heavy Silver reached the thousand-refinement stage, along with Chu Chengzhou's subsequent blood ritual, left an indelible impression on Ma Hongjun.
Blacksmiths could produce radiant light while forging? And they even bled for it? This completely shattered Ma Hongjun's preconceived notions about the blacksmithing profession.
After some hesitation, unable to suppress his curiosity, Ma Hongjun voiced his doubts.
"What, you want to learn how to forge from me?"
Chu Chengzhou asked teasingly.
Forging was a profound art, heavily reliant on intuition. Achieving a hundred-refinements was manageable with effort alone.
But beyond that—thousand-refinements, spirit-refinements, soul-refinements, and even heaven-refinements—all required extraordinary insight.
If asked who among the younger generation of soul masters on the continent could go the furthest in forging, in Chu Chengzhou's opinion, it would undoubtedly be Tang San.
Setting aside Tang San's character, his intuition was undeniable. Otherwise, how could he, as an outer disciple of the Tang Sect in his previous life, recreate the long-lost Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus?
Even if Ma Hongjun wanted to learn, Chu Chengzhou wouldn't teach him—not even Xiao Wu, whom he already considered his future partner.
Of course, refusing to teach Ma Hongjun was because they weren't close. Why waste the effort?
And not teaching Xiao Wu was because he was enough. There was no need for another blacksmith in the family.
After all, forging was exhausting work. If it weren't for his cheats allowing him to improve his skills effortlessly, he would never have chosen this path, no matter how promising its future. Instead, he'd focus on becoming a soul master and ascending to godhood at level 100. Wouldn't that be better?
"No, no, no! I'm a soul master—I'll never stoop to being a blacksmith!"
Ma Hongjun hastily shook his head. Joking aside, I'm a noble soul master. How could I do such lowly work as forging?
"If you don't want to learn, I don't want to teach anyway!"
The implication in Ma Hongjun's words revealed his disdain and rejection of the blacksmithing profession. Chu Chengzhou shot him a glare.
This fatty probably didn't know that in the future of Doulu Continent, top-tier experts were all top-tier blacksmiths.
Even ordinary Title Douluos held less status than 2nd-rate blacksmiths in the industry!
Without top-tier blacksmiths, there'd be no top-tier metals. Without top-tier metals, there'd be no top-tier battle armor, and without that, one couldn't become a top-tier expert.
Thus, in the future, the continent's strongest individuals naturally turned to blacksmithing.
However, the future was the future, and the present was the present. Currently, blacksmiths' status on the continent was pitifully low—only slightly better than the lowest commoners.
Take Lou Gao, hailed as one of the continent's three divine craftsmen. His status as a "divine craftsman" likely didn't surpass his own seven-ring Soul Sage strength.
"Hurry up and light the fire!"
Saying this, Chu Chengzhou placed the thousand-refined Heavy Silver back into the furnace.
The current Heavy Silver was still just a lump. To transform it into a pair of forging hammers and a bow, shaping was still required.
Instantly, two of Ma Hongjun's soul rings lit up again as he resumed his role as the burner toolman.
Night fell.
In the blacksmithing shed, Ma Hongjun, responsible for burning the fire, had collapsed from exhaustion.
Chu Chengzhou, however, was full of energy, admiring a pair of dull gray forging hammers on the table.
After two hours of effort, setting aside a portion for the Heavy Silver bow later, the thousand-refined Heavy Silver had finally been shaped into a pair of thousand-refined Heavy Silver hammers.
But they were only roughly shaped—their surfaces were still quite rough.
However, this wasn't a problem. Hammers only needed a head and a handle to function. Being too smooth might even make them harder to use!
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