Douluo: Dragon King's Divine Elegy

Chapter 133 Soul Forging Difficult? I'll just use cheat codes!
"To be precise, spirit-forged metal is endowed with spiritual life, but the life of spirit-forged metal does not have a strong self-awareness and can only operate passively according to the guidance of the blacksmith."

“Soul forging is different. During the forging process, the blacksmith will give part of his inheritance to the metal, which is similar to the inheritance of a soul. Therefore, soul-forged metal will give birth to a higher degree of intelligence, or independent consciousness. For this reason, it is much simpler for blacksmiths to fuse three-word battle armor or even four-word battle armor than for other professions, because the intelligence of the metal comes from you and is born with a near-perfect affinity.”

The Blacksmith Association of Tiandou City, Zhenhua's exclusive forging room.

Nan Liujing was listening to the lecture very attentively.

Zhenhua said, "Now that I've explained the difference between spirit forging and soul forging, I'll explain the details and requirements of soul forging to you."

"In general, soul forging requires both direct forging from the outside in and infusion forging from the inside out. Direct forging, as the name suggests, involves shaping the metal's appearance with a forging hammer and guiding and stabilizing the metal's soul after its birth, preventing it from escaping due to life fluctuations. Remember, once the metal's soul escapes, the metal is ruined and can only remain at the spirit forging stage, unable to be improved further."

Infusion forging refers to the process of directly forging while simultaneously injecting one's own soul fluctuations, life force, soul power, and spiritual power into the metal. This is similar to spiritual forging, which guides the instinctive spirituality to sense the primal energy of heaven and earth. However, the difference lies in the fact that during spiritual forging, the energy you inject only helps the metal's instinctive spirituality and your own external spirituality establish their own life system; the energy and energy you inject are not actually integrated.

Soul forging is different. You must seamlessly integrate every bit of energy you inject and distribute it evenly within the metal. It's like the metal itself is the body's framework, while the energy you inject becomes the nascent organs, facilitating the metal's subsequent absorption of energy from the outside world and its growth. This step is difficult enough to stump 99% of level six blacksmiths, but once completed, your energy will be completely integrated with the metal, becoming a part of it, ultimately allowing your innate spirituality to develop its own nascent soul.

At this point, you will hear a strange echo. If you do, congratulations! You have completed the integration of various energies, and a metallic soul has been born. You can understand this process as a spiritual enlightenment.

Here's the important part. Soul enlightenment only means you've completed 30% of the soul-forging process. The next challenge you'll face is soul-forging solidification, which is stabilizing the soul of the metal prototype. At this stage, the life-vibration phenomenon I just mentioned will occur. You can think of it as a slight stress response in the soul. Our solidification process is about calming its restless mind.

If you successfully complete this step, you will arrive at the final step of Soul Forging: Soul Awakening.

The so-called "soul awakening" is about uniting the soul with the "organs," allowing the soul, as the key brain, to control the body that now possesses the organs.

It sounds simple to summon a soul, but it is actually quite difficult. In this process, you can only continuously release your spiritual power and then use a forging hammer to tap and guide it.

Remember the key point: the soul-calling process is extremely brief, lasting no more than fifteen seconds. During these fifteen seconds, when you successfully solidify the soul, the metallic soul will become exceptionally active. The soul-calling process is about perfecting it within its active time. Once the golden time is missed, the awakening will fail, the brain and body will be unable to connect, leading to 'death'.

Do you have any questions for me?

Zhenhua added one last sentence.

Nan Liujing asked in a deep voice, "Teacher, how do we distinguish the grade of successfully forged soul-forged metal?"

Zhenhua smiled and said, "The earlier the soul echo appears, the higher the grade of the metal. Generally speaking, if an echo appears within an hour, it can be classified as a high-grade soul forging. After that, the grade decreases by one level for every hour that passes. If there is no soul echo within four hours, it means that the soul forging has failed. Different grades of soul forging metals result in different specifications of the core array that can be inscribed. Some three-word battle armor domain auras can reach a diameter of twenty meters, some are only ten meters, and some are even less than ten meters."

Nanliu nodded, quickly digesting the information.

Zhenhua checked the time: "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. I will demonstrate the soul forging process to you twice. Observe carefully. If there is anything you do not understand, write it down first. After I finish forging, you can explain it all."

"Yes." Nan Liujing responded.

Without wasting any words, Zhenhua picked up a rare metal called Storm Stone and immediately began a master craftsmanship lesson.

To Zhenhua's great satisfaction, Nan Liujing observed very carefully, as if he were a beginner, and was very serious about the forging process before the soul forging.

Seven days later.

It remains Zhenhua's exclusive forging room.

With a deafening roar, the entire forging room was instantly enveloped by a strong life force. On the forging table lay a piece of dazzling metal, its surface dotted with stars. One could faintly hear the life cries emanating from within the metal, as if it were instinctively joyful at its own birth.

"Prepare for the Soul Forging." Zhenhua stared intently at his disciple and said, "Several days of preparation have been made, and today will be the day to see what happens."

Holding the Soul Forging Grade Cloud Gold Forging Hammer, Nan Liujing nodded silently, took a deep breath, and his body seemed to instantly gain some kind of amplification. His dark blue eyes seemed to carry billions of thunderbolts, and thick lightning paste spread from his arm to the forging hammer, giving off a deep luster.

Soul fluctuations, spiritual power, soul power, and blood and qi all emerge together.

Bang, bang, bang.

Each time Yun Jin's hammer falls, the surface of the Star Silver is struck by a violent lightning bolt, causing it to burst into a dazzling dark blue glow. Inside the metal, the energy continuously injected is constantly fused together with each strike from Nan Liujing.

In just a few seconds, Nan Liujing discovered the key point, which was something Zhenhua hadn't explained to him in detail, clearly a test he was being deliberately given.

Soul forging requires a series of steps, which are unrelated to Soul Forging Echo, Soul Solidification, and Soul Summoning.

To put it simply, the goal of spirit forging is to inject energy to activate innate spirituality, allowing it to establish its own life system. Once successful, the energy is withdrawn and the process is complete.

But soul forging is different. You must first build the body's 'organs' for the metal, and then prepare for its soul to be born. You cannot have a soul first and then build the 'organs'.

Unfortunately, when the Soul Forging process injects energy to prepare for the integration and construction of 'organs', the instinctive spirituality will greedily devour it, preventing you from ever perfecting the energy integration.

Because in the eyes of the instinctive spirit, the energy you inject is a great tonic, and it can't help but consume it indiscriminately. This will cause the soul to be born prematurely, but there is not enough body to support it, resulting in the soul's dissipation and the soul forging being in vain.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, you need to first stop your instinctive spirituality from consuming energy, and then allow it to consume energy after your 'organs' are fully developed, thus laying the foundation for the soul's birth.

The key is that instinctive spirituality has no wisdom. Although you, as the blacksmith, helped it establish a life system, the temptation of energy is obviously greater than you, its benefactor. The more you stop it from devouring, the more dissatisfied it becomes, and it will intensify the devouring speed, eventually dragging down the blacksmith.

Nan Liujing suddenly understood why Soul Echo was said to be the most difficult step in Soul Forging.

After several hours, everyone is exhausted and numb. How could they possibly succeed?
It's no wonder that Zhenhua didn't provide him with any technical instruction in this area, because at this stage, one can only rely on their own experience to understand it.

How can we both restrain our instinctive spirituality and, before it becomes uncontrollable, quickly perfect the construction of our 'organs'?

The above findings would be a colossal problem that would make anyone's scalp crawl, and you could only deal with it based on experience. But for Nan Liujing, it was a piece of cake.

Soul Forging Difficult?
Hang up!

Unbeknownst to Zhenhua, a dimensional mark appeared imperceptibly between his brows.

"Don't eat yet, wait until I'm done before you eat."

The spirit and ideas of Nan Ryu-kyō are conveyed within the metal.

One second it was still driven by the instinctive spirit of a greedy snake, the next it became obedient and respectfully retreated to the side. It stubbornly resisted the energy that aroused its instinctive desire, refusing to greedily take a bite.

When the metal surface was enveloped in a deep light, making it almost impossible to discern its original appearance, Zhenhua was stunned.

The metal is enveloped in light, which means the body is being perfected, but isn't this happening too fast?

Is your innate spirituality asleep?
"Eat." In less than twenty minutes, Nan Liujing saw that the 'organ' was completed and gave the order.

The instinctive spirit, which had been drooling for a long time, opened its blood-red maw and desperately devoured the energy. Gradually, the light covering the surface of the star silver began to recede, and a piece of metal with interwoven star lines and a soft, rippling light came into view. The star lines inside seemed to be alive, and they rose and fell like breathing as energy was injected.

The "organ" has been constructed!
"Ding ding ding."

A crisp, melodious echo suddenly rang out.

Zhenhua stood to the side, numb.

He failed twelve times in his attempt to complete the Soul Forging Echo.

As it turned out, his disciple succeeded on the first try.

Is he truly born with an innate blacksmithing physique? Without any bottlenecks whatsoever?
Especially since you weren't even wearing battle armor, yet the Soul King completed the Soul Forging Energy Injection that usually requires at least a Soul Saint to accomplish!

At this moment, Nan Liujing's forging speed suddenly slowed down, and his body twisted violently as his abyss-like spiritual energy poured into the metal like raindrops hitting banana leaves.

After completing the Soul Forging Echo, the next challenge is Life Shock.

However, what left Zhenhua speechless was that the life-shaking event that had caused so many master craftsmen to fail never occurred!

He could clearly sense a faint soul force within the metal, obediently accepting the dense, rain-like spiritual energy baptism. The metal soul, which was originally on the verge of dissipating, stabilized, unlike the small flame on a candle stub that would be extinguished by a gust of wind.

"When did metal souls become so obedient and sensible?" Zhenhua's pupils dilated in shock; he no longer knew how to express his feelings.

After a moment of silence, Zhenhua immediately decided that once the Star Silver forging was finished, he should take more metal for his apprentice to try.

It's possible that the exceptional quality of this piece of Star Silver is what caused the forging process to proceed so smoothly.

That's called meticulousness!

Once the soul solidified, in addition to the normal breathing fluctuations, the star lines on the surface of the Star Silver also showed some fine lightning patterns, and a blue-gold mist arose, with a strong emotional fluctuation emanating from the inside of the metal.

The final step: summoning the soul!

While the previous steps could rely on dimensional imprints, this step required Nan Liujing to take it on his own.

Exploding lightning magma flowed from his skin, instantly covering his entire body. With his battle armor activated, Nan Liujing, whose aura soared to the level of a Soul Saint, suddenly raised his Cloud Gold Hammer. Vines sprouted from his back, frantically pouring in lightning power.

The next moment, the Cloud Golden Hammer tore through the blue-gold light mist emanating from the Star Silver and slammed into the metal center with the force of splitting a mountain.

There was no roar as I had imagined; instead, the forging table and the metal twisted for a moment.

The terrifying power of thunder forcefully slammed the metal soul into the body, completing the unification of soul and body.

hum~
Suddenly, the metal burst into light, reflecting a halo of dazzling starlight. It felt warm to the touch and faintly pulsed like a heartbeat, as if this piece of metal were a living fragment of a celestial body.

Soul Forging Complete!
Nan Liujing retrieved his battle armor, and some residents of Bengbu glanced at their dazed teacher.

"Teacher, do I consider myself successful?"

Gudong.

Zhenhua swallowed hard, looking at Nan Liujing with an extremely complicated expression. "If the God Realm still existed, you would definitely become the God of Blacksmithing."

"Forget about being the God of Iron Forging, I don't want to become a laborer..." Nan Liujing said with a faint smile, "My touch is pretty good today, teacher, would you like to try a few more?"

"You have to come." Zhenhua refused to believe it, and then called Muye, asking him to prepare highly nutritious food, since soul forging is extremely energy-intensive.

Upon learning that Nan Liujing had successfully forged his soul, Mu Ye, the well-informed sect leader of the Body Sect, was stunned. He didn't even have time to prepare food, and instead ran to the forging room, holding the piece of Star Silver, and remained silent for more than half an hour.

After a day, Zhenhua and Muye's eyes returned to complete calm, and on the shelf were three pieces of top-grade soul-forged metal.

It's top-grade, not just good-grade!
At this stage, three Soul Forgings a day is the limit for Nan Liujing. Of course, if he is willing to lower the quality of Soul Forgings, he can get more Soul Forgings, but there is no need.

At dusk, after declining Mu Ye's invitation to drink, Nan Liujing left the Blacksmith Association with the Soul Forging Level Fusion Forging Tips given to him by Zhen Hua.

The two brothers stood side by side by the window.

Mu Ye said in a deep voice, "If it weren't for the fact that the Heavenly Forging is limited by the spiritual power of the Spirit Domain Realm and the tribulation lightning is too terrifying, requiring at least a Title Douluo to withstand it, this kid would probably become a Divine Craftsman before he's even eighteen years old. That's too outrageous."

Zhenhua smiled faintly and said, "With Liu Jing's talent, how likely do you think it is that he will become a Title Douluo at the age of eighteen?"

“If it were someone else, I would say it’s wishful thinking, but with this child, I would say the possibility is not low.”

In Mu Ye's opinion, it was already quite remarkable to become a Title Douluo in one's early twenties, let alone at eighteen. It was simply unbelievable, but Nan Liujing was precisely the kind of person who created miracles.

“I thought you’d say it was impossible.” Zhenhua glanced at his friend. “These past few days, you’ve been feeding this kid foods that are extremely rich in qi and blood. I suppose you’re eyeing his talent for cultivation?”

“Yes.” Makino did not refute.

Zhenhua laughed and said, "If you like something, just give it a try. The Body Sect shouldn't be completely buried by rules and regulations." After saying that, he turned and left.

Mu Ye watched Nan Liujing get into the car and leave before turning his gaze away.

(End of this chapter)