Douluo Dalu 3: Legend of the White Fox

A thirteen-year-old Rank Five Blacksmith—Even as the junior brother of a Divine Craftsman, Mu Chen was utterly shocked.

Even his proudest disciple, Tang Wulin, whom he had painstakingly trained, was only a Rank Four Blacksmith at this point.

But Xia Yi had mostly learned blacksmithing on his own.

The only person who had truly taught Xia Yi in any systematic way was Mu Xi.

Previously, when Mu Xi had told Mu Chen that Xia Yi was attempting Spirit Forging, Mu Chen had scoffed.

In his view, unless Xia Yi possessed a terrifying bloodline power like Tang Wulin, it would be impossible for him to successfully spirit forge before reaching a four-ring cultivation level.

Yet now, Xia Yi had actually dared to register for the Rank Five Blacksmith certification test.

"Xia Yi must have broken through to Soul Elder. He was already so close to succeeding in Spirit Forging before. If he dares to take the Rank Five Blacksmith test now, he must be completely confident. I have to go see this!" Mu Xi didn't even care about her meal, dropping her bowl and rushing outside.

After spending so much time with Xia Yi, she had developed an inexplicable faith in him, believing that he wouldn't attempt something unless he was absolutely certain.

"Wait a moment. Change your clothes, and I'll go with you," Mu Chen grabbed Mu Xi, stopping her. Both of them were still covered in the rice grains he had spat out earlier. As the president of the Eastsea City Blacksmiths' Association, it would be disgraceful to go out like this.

Quickly changing their clothes, Mu Chen and Mu Xi left Yuan Bao'er behind and hurried toward the Blacksmiths' Association.

The moment they arrived, a crisp and rhythmic hammering sound reached their ears.

The clear and precise cadence of the hammering made Mu Chen and Mu Xi feel as if they were basking in a spring breeze.

"The Thousand Refinements are already complete—he's in the Spirit Forging phase now." Mu Chen took a sharp breath. Though he wasn't a Divine Craftsman like Zhen Hua, he was undoubtedly among the top five Saint Craftsmen.

Just from the sound alone, he could tell that Xia Yi was deep into the Spirit Forging process, already in the final stages.

He had even completed all the necessary preparations for the most difficult step—infusing life into the metal.

Mu Chen knew just how difficult this step was. If anything went wrong, the mind could suffer severe damage.

Tang Wulin's first blacksmithing mentor, Mang Tian, had suffered a severe mental injury while attempting Spirit Forging and had yet to recover.

Even now, Mang Tian still didn't dare take on high-level blacksmithing commissions.

That was precisely why, before breaking through to three rings, Xia Yi had repeatedly attempted Spirit Forging but always stopped short at the final step.

Now, although Xia Yi had only reached the three-ring level, the fact that he dared to attempt Spirit Forging meant he had confidence in his abilities.

As the rhythmic hammering echoed, Mu Chen could even feel the air in the Blacksmiths' Association pulsing in harmony, as if it had come to life.

"Good heavens, what an intense reaction." Mu Chen sighed softly and, following the sound, gently pushed open the door to Xia Yi's forging room with Mu Xi.

The moment they entered, Mu Chen raised his hand to stop the evaluator from greeting him. Bringing Mu Xi along, he silently observed Xia Yi's forging.

At this moment, Xia Yi had already entered his Martial Soul Possession state, his three snow-white fox tails rhythmically moving behind him, sweat pouring from his forehead like rain.

They watched as Xia Yi gently struck his chest, spitting a mouthful of blood onto both his Thousand-Refined Green Origin Copper Hammer and the Crimson Demon Gold he was forging.

Crimson Demon Gold—an extremely rare fire-attribute metal. Many fire-element soul masters, when creating their battle armor, would request their blacksmiths to include a small amount of Crimson Demon Gold if possible, as it greatly enhanced the fire-element affinity of the battle armor.

As the blood splattered, Xia Yi's face immediately turned pale. It wasn't because he was injured, but because the Spirit Forging process was consuming his soul power and mental energy at an astonishing rate.

"This won't do! We have to stop him—his soul power isn't sufficient to sustain the infusion of life. If he continues, his mind will suffer permanent damage!" As a Saint Craftsman, Mu Chen could see the issue at a glance.

Xia Yi's understanding of Spirit Forging was flawless. His only shortcoming was his insufficient soul power.

"I believe in him!" Mu Xi gritted her teeth, blocking Mu Chen from intervening. She refused to believe that Xia Yi would gamble recklessly with his own body.

Just as she finished speaking, Xia Yi's Thousand-Refined Green Origin Copper Hammer suddenly emanated an immensely dense life aura.

Both hammers instantly turned into a translucent jade-green color, radiating a dazzling emerald glow. Within a hundred-meter radius, all the life energy in the air surged toward them like rivers flowing into the sea.

Since Xia Yi had already performed a blood sacrifice with the Thousand-Refined Green Origin Copper Hammer, the life energy was also being funneled back into him.

With this influx of life energy, his soul power consumption drastically decreased.

It was now regenerating faster than he was expending it.

"This… this is the legendary Life Gold!" Mu Chen's eyes widened in shock.

He had only ever heard of Life Gold when Holy Spirit Douluo Yali had commissioned Zhen Hua to craft her four-word battle armor.

At that time, Shrek Academy had exhausted every possible avenue trying to acquire a small amount of Life Gold to incorporate into Yali's battle armor—but in the end, they found nothing.

They had been forced to use Life Crystals as a substitute.

Yet Xia Yi was using Life Gold as his forging hammer?

Even Mu Chen, let alone Zhen Hua, would have called Xia Yi a reckless spendthrift.

That was a metal even Holy Spirit Douluo had desperately sought in vain!

With Xia Yi's current abilities, he was far from capable of fusion forging. If it had been an ordinary metal, he wouldn't have been able to integrate it into Green Origin Copper.

But Life Gold was different. It was already the most perfect metal. Even Zhen Hua had no right to forge it.

In its natural state, Life Gold surpassed even Heavenly Refinement metals.

Xia Yi hadn't actually forged the Life Gold; he had simply merged it into the Thousand-Refined Green Origin Copper Hammer.

Which meant that his hammer wasn't just Thousand-Refined anymore.

It was Spirit-Forged.

"He's not just forging the Crimson Demon Gold—he's also using it to Spirit Forge his own hammer! And his forging hammer has already achieved life infusion!" Mu Chen said in a deep voice. The bright green radiance spreading from the hammer was due to its completion of Spirit Forging the moment it touched Xia Yi's blood.

"This hammer could rightly be called the Hammer of Life," the evaluator murmured, eyes filled with undisguised envy and greed.

Unfortunately for him, Xia Yi had already performed a blood sacrifice on the hammer twice—no one but Xia Yi could use it.

"Nobody is to speak a word of what happened here. If anyone leaks this information, it will be treated as betrayal of the Blacksmiths' Association," Mu Chen said suddenly, his sharp gaze falling on the evaluator.

"Rest assured, President—I would rather die than reveal anything!" The evaluator hurriedly swore.

Mu Chen nodded. The evaluators were the most loyal members of the Blacksmiths' Association, so he wasn't worried about betrayal.

"And you," he said, turning his gaze to Mu Xi.

Mu Xi had no intention of betraying the association, but she might brag about Xia Yi's accomplishments.

"I know how serious this is," Mu Xi nodded solemnly.

With the infusion of life energy, Xia Yi's complexion improved. After the time it took to burn an incense stick, his third soul ring suddenly lit up, releasing an extreme cold that sent shivers through everyone present.

Mu Chen, shocked, quickly activated his martial soul, summoning a blazing sun above his head to shield Mu Xi and the evaluator with a burst of firelight.

What kind of soul spirit did Xia Yi have, that it granted him abilities so vastly different from one another?

One tail healed, one wielded ice—what about the third? Could it be fire? If so, then forging a dual-attribute Spirit-Forged metal would make sense.

Yet even Mu Chen wouldn't dare attempt to forge ice into fire-attribute metal.

But Xia Yi had.

And he had succeeded on his first try.

Under Mu Chen's shocked gaze, Xia Yi's forging did not stop. He continued wielding his forging hammer and took out a shaping machine. In just a few minutes, the spirit-forged Crimson Demon Gold in his hands transformed into a small, delicate gourd.

With a flash of light, both the forging hammer and the spirit-forged Crimson Demon Gold directly merged into his body.

Yes, merged.

Not simply stored away in a spatial soul tool.

Once a metal reaches the level of spirit forging, it gains life and inevitably integrates with the one who grants it that life. This is precisely why spirit forging is so valuable.

If someone wishes to obtain a piece of spirit-forged metal, they must be present alongside the forger throughout the forging process. As the forging reaches the spirit-forging stage, they must continuously infuse their own blood to assist in the process and establish a life connection. Only in this way, upon the completion of the forging, can they fully merge with the metal, making it a true part of their body.

(End of Chapter)