Douluo Dragon King: I'm creating a golden age behind the scenes!

"Very good. Zhou Mingyu's side has achieved the expected results. At the Spirit Pagoda headquarters, some important figures have already come to contact Lei Peng Douluo."

"Who is it?"

"It is said that His Majesty the Heavenly Phoenix has come in person."

"Oh? That means the higher-ups at the Spirit Pagoda have started to take him seriously and will solve many problems for his future."

"Then it's time to see your performance."

"Don't worry, my next performance will add fuel to the fire in this era of geniuses."

.......

The next day.

Today is the day of the blacksmith group competition. Early in the morning, Tang Wulin was the first to run out of his room and head to the blacksmith association to meet up.

As is customary, the blacksmith competition should have been the first to be held and concluded. The first round went well and was indeed held on time according to the competition organizers' plan.

However, due to the large number of participants and high popularity of the individual competition this year, the manpower was prioritized for that competition, so the second round was postponed and scheduled for today.

After finishing this competition, he had to participate in the individual competition, and finally the three-person team competition in the afternoon. It was like he was rushing between events.

So, after finishing his cultivation of the Purple Demon Eye in the morning and having breakfast, he quickly went to find Master Cen Yue.

Cen Yue, wearing a Level 6 blacksmith badge, walked at the front, followed by the other blacksmiths. Tang Wulin and Mu Xi, being the youngest, walked at the back.

Mu Xi wore a Level 4 Blacksmith badge on her chest, with four bright orange stars. Thanks to the example of her senior brother Li Ziming and the encouragement of Mu Chen, her blacksmithing skills were also higher than in the original story, reaching the level of a Level 4 Blacksmith.

Tang Wulin's blacksmith badge is also orange with yellow stars, four stars in total.

"Sister Mu Xi, will Brother Ziming come today?" Tang Wulin asked Mu Xi in a low voice, full of anticipation.

"My senior brother said that the organizers invited him to give a demonstration of advanced forging techniques here in order to encourage young blacksmiths in the Tianhai Alliance region." Mu Xi turned around and smiled at him, speaking with a sense of pride.

"Really? That's wonderful!"

As the two were talking, Zheng Tianlin, who was also representing the Donghai City Forging Association in the competition, came to Tang Wulin's side.

"Junior brother, Master told me to tell you that this time you don't need to hold back anymore. Just unleash the full power of your level four blacksmith skills and go all out."

"Many important figures have come this time. With your age and talent, you will definitely gain their favor and investment, which will be of great benefit to your future cultivation and acquisition of rare resources." Zheng Tianlin said to Tang Wulin in a low voice.

Unlike the original story, Mu Chen has focused his teaching efforts on Li Ziming since he took him as his disciple. In addition, he also has to take care of Mu Xi's upbringing, so he has no intention of taking on another disciple.

Therefore, after discovering Tang Wulin's talent, Mu Chen recommended him to Zheng Tianlin's teacher, Huang Xing, who is another Saint-level blacksmith in the East China Sea Blacksmith Association. However, Huang Xing is a Level 7 blacksmith, whose strength is only slightly weaker than President Mu Chen. He is the vice president of the East China Sea Blacksmith Association.

Therefore, Tang Wulin and Zheng Tianlin became fellow disciples.

After being repeatedly challenged by the talent of Li Ziming and Tang Wulin, two forging prodigies, Zheng Tianlin realized the gap between himself and these true geniuses. He gradually curbed his arrogant attitude and began to work diligently to hone his forging skills, thus growing considerably.

"I understand, senior brother. I will do my best," Tang Wulin replied confidently.

Soon, the group arrived at the competition venue.

The blacksmith competition was also held in a stadium near Tianhai Stadium. As soon as Tang Wu entered, she felt her spirits lift.

Looking around, he saw that hundreds of forging platforms had been set up in the stadium, and they all looked to be state-of-the-art, significantly better than the ones he used in his own workshop. He had only seen forging platforms of this caliber at the association before.

Although the Tianhai Alliance doesn't have many strong individuals, it is extremely wealthy.

There weren't many spectators in the stadium stands. To the average person, forging wasn't something they paid much attention to. After all, the most captivating thing was the battles between Soul Masters, followed by things like mecha manufacturing.

Forging is a tedious process, a perception many people subconsciously hold.

Besides many industry professionals from the forging world who came to watch the ceremony, there were also many mid-to-high-level members of various forces attracted by the popularity of the individual competition. They also wanted to see if they could find outstanding forging geniuses. They didn't dare to hope for someone of Li Ziming's level, but if there were someone of slightly lower level, they could try to invest in and win them over.

Tang Wulin glanced at them and didn't recognize a single one, but he figured they must be at least level 5 blacksmiths or high-level Soul Masters above Soul Emperor level to be on the stage.

"The second round of the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition, the Blacksmith Competition, is about to begin. All participants, please prepare yourselves. After the first round of selection, only 30% of the participants remain. We hope you will cherish this opportunity and give your best performance."

At the same time, you must carefully select your rare metals. After forging, there will be a third round of shaping competition. The second round begins in one minute.

The examiners in charge of the competition have begun announcing the competition details.

Once you pass the first round, you can proceed to the second and subsequent third rounds of assessment. Then, based on the combined scores, the rankings will be determined.

The participating blacksmiths all focused intently on their forging tables, their minds at ease.

For every blacksmith, dedication and focus are the most fundamental qualities. Those who can pass the first round and complete a high level of refinement through a hundred forgings, despite their young age, demonstrate remarkable skill in this area.

Tang Wulin was the same; he concentrated his mind and seemed to have entered a strange rhythm.

When Mu Xi glanced at him subconsciously, she felt that Tang Wulin, whether in his breathing or his mental state, seemed to have entered a special rhythm, as if he had become one with the forging platform, inseparable from it.

Such an outstanding talent, worthy of praise from both her father and senior brother, is truly extraordinary! Mu Xi secretly admired him as well.

She was beginning to understand her senior brother's assessment of Tang Wulin more and more. His amazing talent in forging was definitely not as simple as just innate superhuman strength.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

The countdown has begun.

"Three, two, one, go!"

"The match begins!"

On the forging platform, pieces of rare metal, already heated to a sufficient temperature, were raised again under the control of the blacksmiths. The second round of the forging competition was about to begin.

On the platform, all the examiners turned their gazes to the various competition stages, with the white-haired old man in the very center fixing his eyes on Tang Wulin.

"Isn't that the little guy from the first round? I remember, he seems to be Old Huang's apprentice." The white-haired old man pointed in Tang Wulin's direction.

"Yes, we have investigated. He is from the Donghai City Forging Association and is a disciple of Vice President Huang. His senior brother also participated in this forging competition, but in the youth group, and his results were also very good."

Next to him is the daughter of Mu Chen, the president of the Donghai Forging Association, who is also extremely talented.

"If we also include Li Shengjiang, the East China Sea Forging Masters Association has truly produced a wealth of outstanding young talents in recent years!" A middle-aged man next to the old man exclaimed in admiration.

The white-haired old man nodded: "I want to see if this little fellow can bring us any more surprises today. Let's investigate further, preferably to find out about his family situation and background."

"Mr. Duan, what do you mean?" The middle-aged man looked at the old man with some surprise.

The white-haired old man smiled slightly: "Although our Tianhai Forging Masters Association has also produced many talents, it is not as good as Donghai in terms of top talents. They have been making a name for themselves in recent years."

We have to find a way to improve things. They can eat meat, and we can at least have some soup. This is an opportunity for us.

"I understand, I'll arrange it right away." The middle-aged man understood and went to the side to make a soul communication call.

Tang Wulin was completely unaware of all this; at this moment, the competition had already begun.

Two beams of light flashed, and a pair of forging hammers appeared in his palms—the very same pair of thousand-refined silver hammers.

The left hand tapped lightly on the silver, producing a crisp "ding" sound.

The thousand-times-forged tungsten steel hammer is swung up and down with a loud bang, then another hammer is swung.

Gradually, Tang Wulin increased the speed of his hammer swings on the forging platform, but the movements were not chaotic; they possessed a subtle rhythm and cadence.

Feel, rhythm!

He was most familiar with and had forged the most rare metal, but this time, his feeling was completely different.

He could usually sense the aura of the sunken silver, but he found that this feeling was gradually becoming clearer, and the sunken silver's feedback was constantly producing wonderful responses under this rhythmic and melodic tapping.

In his constant interaction with the metal, he gradually emptied his mind and forgot everything—forgot he was in a competition, forgot he was forging, forgot the death knell that bound him.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!" The series of striking sounds was pleasing, but he was completely absorbed in it. His soul power flowed into his arms on its own, maintaining a high frequency of forging, and he was completely immersed in it.

At this moment, he felt as if he had shed all kinds of shackles and gained true freedom!

No longer needing to worry about life-or-death crises, no longer needing to worry about the expectations of his teachers or the pressure of survival, at this moment, his world consists only of forging! He only needs to forge with all his might!

He didn't realize that while he had already begun his rapid and intense forging, the other young blacksmiths around him hadn't even started yet.

. . . .

The competition was over, and the referees stood in front of them, able to clearly see the thousand-refined silver on the forging platform.

Without a doubt, this is a finished product after a thousand forgings, and its quality has reached the first grade!

The first-grade thousand-refined silver that Tang Wulin forged was nothing in their eyes, but his age was terrifying! Ten years old, a ten-year-old thousand-refined silver, even Zhen Hua and Li Ziming were no more than that at their age.

Elder Duan's breathing became somewhat rapid as he looked at Cen Yue and said, "How come I've never heard of Mu Chen taking on a disciple? Have you heard of it?"

The blacksmiths from the Tianhai Blacksmith Association all shook their heads and echoed, "Never heard of it."

Cen Yue's expression changed drastically, and he said, "Elder Duan, what do you mean by this?"

"It's nothing. I just feel that we shouldn't hold this child back."

Duan Xuan's gaze towards Tang Wulin gradually became intense, even scorching.

There was no other way; the Tianhai Forging Association had been under immense pressure in recent years. Tianhai City, as the leading force in the Tianhai Alliance,

In the forging world, they have been consistently overshadowed by Donghai City, which was once inferior to them. This is all because the Donghai Forging Association has produced a new generation of dominant figures, Li Ziming. His rise was too rapid and too unexpected, leaving them utterly powerless to fight back!

This wouldn't normally be a big deal, after all, it's Mu Chen's disciple's success, and they can live their lives however they want.

But the most fatal flaw was that after Li Ziming rose to power, investigations revealed...

Li Ziming was born in Tianhai City. He used to be a member of the Tianhai Forging Association, but it was only after he went to the Donghai Forging Association to become Mu Chen's apprentice that he soared into the sky like an eagle spreading its wings!

As a result, the Tianhai Forging Association found itself in a very awkward position. The investigation report was like a blatant mockery of their poor judgment and failure to recognize a true talent, causing Li Ziming to be tarnished in Tianhai City.

This caught the Tianhai Forging Association off guard. Even if they tried to explain, few people would listen. Every time Duan Xuan went to the headquarters for a meeting, there would always be a few old fogies who would ridicule him about this incident. As a result, Tianhai City also suffered a lot of humiliation.

In addition, in recent years, they have indeed been facing a talent shortage. There are still some young geniuses, but there are very few top geniuses who have the potential to become master craftsmen. On the other hand, the East China Sea Forging Association has produced a wealth of talents. Not to mention Li Ziming, who is a pillar of the association, there are also many outstanding mid-level geniuses.

"Child, would you like to become my disciple?"

"I..." Tang Wulin was about to refuse outright when he found himself unable to make a sound, as if he were being forcibly restrained by some force, and his body kept kneeling down.

For a moment, Tang Wulin was completely flustered. He wanted to ask Cen Yue for help, but he couldn't break free from his restraints and couldn't react at all.

Looking at Tang Wulin, whose talent might rival Li Ziming's, Duan Xuan made up his mind to establish a master-disciple relationship in front of so many forces while the higher-ups of the East China Sea Forging Association were away. Even if Huang Xing came to cause trouble for him in the future, he could use the excuse that he did not know about the master-disciple relationship before to fool him.

By then, the die will have been cast. Even if he only holds the title of master, the Tianhai Forging Association can benefit from his success and wash away their reputation for not recognizing talent when Tang Wulin achieves fame and success in the future.

Just as Tang Wulin was about to bow down before Duan Xuan and was about to succeed,

At this moment, a warm breeze swept over Tang Wulin, removing the force binding him and lifting him up, followed closely by a voice.

"Old Master Duan is joking. Tang Wulin has already become the last disciple of Huang Xing, the vice president of the East China Sea Forging Association. How could he possibly become the disciple of someone else?"

Tang Wulin turned around upon hearing the familiar voice and saw that it was Li Ziming who had arrived just in time. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said to Duan Xuan, "I'm sorry, Elder Duan, I already have a master and cannot become your disciple."

When Elder Duan saw Li Ziming arrive, his face stiffened, and he knew that it was no longer possible to get Tang Wulin to become his disciple.

"In that case, there's no need to bring this up again. Alright, everyone go back now, don't let it affect the children's competition." After saying this, he took the lead and walked towards the podium.

Seeing Duan Xuan leave, Li Ziming looked at Cen Yue beside him and said, "Master Cen, you should take Wu Lin and leave first. You don't need to worry about him anymore; he won't bother you any further."

"Thank goodness you arrived in time, Ziming, otherwise I really wouldn't know what to do," Cen Yue replied.

"What about you, Ziming?" Tang Wulin asked from the side.

"Wu Lin, you guys go to the VIP room and wait for me. Vice President Huang has already arrived. I have some other things to attend to."

After saying this to him, Li Ziming smiled mysteriously.