The Legend of the Dragon King

Zhen Hua waved his hand and said, “It’s fine. What a waste that it’s just one step short of success.”

As he was speaking, he raised the metal, struck by lightning three times, in his hand and displayed it to Tang Wulin.

A four-colored glow circulated on the surface of the metal before spreading outward. It appeared bright and dazzling and was filled with an unreal sense of beauty. Moreover, Tang Wulin could clearly sense that the piece of metal contained incredibly strong vitality that far surpassed Tang Wulin’s soul-forged metal.

“This is still not considered successful? I can already feel its power,” asked Tang Wulin.

Zhen Hua shook his head. “Heavenly Refinement is not as easy as it seems. It is still lacking in the final strike of calamity. This is because four types of elements are combined in Heavenly Refinement. Thus, it will need to pass four strikes of calamity lightning. It will undergo a certain transformation after crossing all four attempted calamities. All the colors that you’re seeing now are the strength bestowed to it through the Heavenly Refinement process it went through. Even so, the strength can’t be completely utilized without the final strike and it can only amplify itself by a little. The difficulty when attempting Heavenly Refinement lies in the most important step. That is the final crossing the calamity. Successfully crossing the calamity is like a fish leaping over the dragon gate and becoming a dragon. The metal will be completely different from that point onward. If it fails to cross, everything is finished. This piece of metal can only be considered a quasi-heavenly-refined metal. This will greatly reduce its selling price. Of course, it can be used as the metal for four-word battle armor if one is desperate, but it will be much weaker.”

As Zhen Hua explained this to Tang Wulin, he was feeling a little awkward. He thought he was in good condition on this day, for he could clearly feel that it was possible that his effort would succeed. However, he chose to use the One Pound Soul Forge technique to impress Tang Wulin, and it had exhausted him a little too much. He found that it was difficult for him to endure the final process of crossing the calamity during Heavenly Refinement.

Tang Wulin asked the question that bothered him the most, “I think I saw you use your own strength to protect the metal when it is enduring the lightning during the final crossing process. Is that right?”

“Hmm.” Zhen Hua nodded. “The Spirit Forging process gifts the metal with life, Soul Forging gives it intelligence, while Heavenly Refinement bestows it with abilities. However, it is just like a newborn baby growing step by step during this stage. It needs the protection of the blacksmith. When it is crossing the calamity, we need to bear a large portion of the calamity lightning’s power ourselves. As we take some of the damage, the strength of the calamitous lightning can be absorbed by the metal in a slightly gentler manner due to our protection. This is beneficial for the metal in crossing the calamity smoothly. Otherwise, it’s impossible for the metal to endure the process on its own.

“This is also the reason why a Divine Craftsman must be a Title Douluo. For one, the consumption of energy during the process of Heavenly Refinement is immense. The other reason is that one cannot withstand the calamity lightning without an adequate cultivation base.

“Frankly, this is also the biggest problem that you’re about to face too. The calamitous lightning is very hazardous to use. A careless misstep could affect our bodies. This is the reason my cultivation base has stagnated at nine rings all this while. Every time I engage in Heavenly Refinement, it damages my body a little which prevents me from elevating. You’re certainly much better than I am in this. Your body’s strength is far beyond mine. In addition, you’re still cultivating yourself into a Title Douluo step by step. Thus, you have my confidence. So, what do you think? Did you come to any conclusions after seeing my Heavenly Refinement process?”

Tang Wulin nodded slightly. “I understand a little better now. However, I can only truly understand the specific details when I do it myself.”

Zhen Hua nodded. “You’ll surely be faced with constant failure when you first begin to attempt Heavenly Refinement. Back in those years, I had failed thousands of times before I succeeded in the end. Your grandteacher was already calling me a genius at the time. Remember not to grow impatient when you’re at the level of Heavenly Refinement. If you allow the anxious emotions to take over, it’s impossible for you to forge successfully.”

“Yes, Teacher!” said Tang Wulin respectfully.

Zhen Hua smiled. “Alright, give it a try yourself. Remember to link yourself and your heart fully to the metal during the process of Heart Forging. Only a smooth connection will ensure the process of Heaven Refinement later becomes more harmonious. This is because the lightning baptism in Heavenly Refinement is actually destructive to the metal itself. You must communicate with the metal such that it understands that this process is good for itself. It is meant to remold itself thoroughly. Otherwise, the Heavenly Refinement is destined for failure if the metal has conflicting emotions.”

Zhen Hua quickly elaborated about all sorts of precautions and some minor details to Tang Wulin patiently.

Every single detail in the process of Heavenly Refinement required utmost precision without the slightest mistake. Tang Wulin listened to Zhen Hua intently. This was an experience. A sharing session with a Divine Craftsman beyond his time! It would help Tang Wulin to avoid countless detours in his path toward Heavenly Refinement.

“Alright, that’s about it. Do give it a try first. It’s alright to fail. It’s important that you experience the process. I’ll help you to mobilize the elemental power. You need to infuse four types of metals in Heavenly Refinement and that’s the simplest form of Heavenly Refinement. The more elements infused into the metal, the better the quality when the Heavenly Refinement process is successful. There’s one more step after the end of the calamities. It’s called Molding. At that point, we will need to adjust the metal’s attributes according to the requirements of the customer in an even more detailed manner so that the divine-ranked metal can finally take its form.”

Tang Wulin was burning with eagerness to try after watching Zhen Hua’s Heavenly Refinement and listened to his explanations. Without a doubt, the Heavenly Ascension Platform was the most suitable spot for Heavenly Refinement. With the addition of his uncle master’s guidance, this was definitely the best situation for him to try it.

His uncle master went through a thousand trials before succeeding, so he would need to work hard to reach the goal. Moreover, there were still so many matters that were waiting for him to attend to in the academy. It would be better for him to make this breakthrough as soon as possible.

Tang Wulin walked to the front of the forging table. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes slowly as he tried to calm his emotions.

It was his first attempt at Heavenly Refinement. Firstly, he gathered his spirit with close attention followed by channelling his spirit to fully experience everything about the metal and comprehended the profoundness of Heavenly Refinement.

Zhen Hua stood by Tang Wulin’s side. He sensed as Tang Wulin’s blood essence fluctuation gradually softened while his entire aura purified as well. Zhen Hua could not help shaking his head at how spectacular Tang Wulin’s natural talents were! He was capable of being so steady and calm at his age. Was that not impressive?

Years ago, Zhen Hua was already a middle-aged man when he first tried Heavenly Refinement. After a thousand attempts over six years, he finally made a breakthrough and became a Divine Craftsman beyond his time. The process was tough and he was the only person aware of this after experiencing it.

Zhen Hua believed deeply that Tang Wulin would not need much time to achieve that due to his impressive natural abilities. The exact period of time he needed to achieve that rank would depend on his understanding and efforts.

In Zhen Hua’s life, his happiest moment was when he became a Divine Craftsman. He would never forget the day he completed Heavenly Refinement for the very first time. On the other hand, what would make him happiest now would be to cultivate another Divine Craftsman personally so that he could have a worthy successor.

Even though Zhen Hua was a Divine Craftsman, his usage of numerous heaven and earth treasures during his younger years to elevate his cultivation base had resulted in his unstable foundation. In recent years, the success rate of his Heavenly Refinement had decreased because his body was gradually deteriorating after continuous encounters with the calamity lightning baptism. Thus, he had greatly reduced the frequency he engaged in Heavenly Refinement so that his body could recover.

This was another reason that he hoped that Tang Wulin could become a Divine Craftsman sooner and take his place. The Blacksmith’s Association would only be considered a first-class organization on the continent when it had its own Divine Craftsman. Only then they would they have easy access to so many resources.

While these ideas were running through Zhen Hua’s mind, Tang Wulin began moving as he stood in front of the forging table. He opened his eyes and guided with his right hand in a similar manner. A piece of metal shot out from a corner of the Treasure Pavilion at once and landed on the forging table.

Zhen Hua could not help chuckling upon seeing the piece of metal. The boy had truly taken a fancy to Heavy Silver, huh?

Yes, Tang Wulin’s choice remained the same as before. He chose Heavy Silver for his first attempt in Heavenly Refinement just like when he was Soul Forging and Spirit Forging. Moreover, there was only this very piece of Heavy Silver available. In order to ensure that he could experience the profoundness of Heavenly Refinement even better, he did not choose to begin from fuse-forging process.

On the other hand, the process of Heavenly Refinement was extremely difficult and the requirement for heavenly-refined divine-ranked metal was exceedingly high. Given that, Zhen Hua would almost never use Heavy Silver for Heavenly Refinement. At most, he would add a little Heavy Silver during the fuse forging process.

Tang Wulin cherished Heavy Silver more than anything else. He always began with Heavy Silver when forging, so naturally gained a peculiar sense of affinity with it.

Thus, he took what he was most familiar with when he chose the metal for his first attempt at Heavenly Refinement almost without the slightest hesitation.

He raised his hands, and his pair of soul-forged Heavy Silver Hammers appeared in his grasp. He turned on the forging table to begin melting the Heavy Silver.

He waved the hammers in his hands instinctively. Tang Wulin could immediately sense the excited cheers that radiated from inside his hammers. Their voices were filled with waves of emotion.