Everything was happening way too quickly! It had only been five minutes since he'd begun the spirit refinement process!

According to Mu Xi's knowledge, even the veteran blacksmiths who'd been stuck at the sixth rank for several decades couldn't complete spirit refinement in just five minutes!

There was a virtually insurmountable gulf between spirit refinement and soul refinement. Countless blacksmiths were unable to take this step, and that was why Saint Blacksmiths were so rare.

However, even Mu Chen couldn't complete spirit refinement in just five minutes!

Was this the effect of the extreme thousand refinement that Tang Wulin had completed?

At this moment, Mu Xi had already forgotten all of her complex emotions toward Tang Wulin, and she'd been completely absorbed in his forging.

"Buzz!" Right at this moment, a faint buzzing sound rang out from the piece of heavy silver, and it shuddered slightly, following which the patterns on its surface seemed to have sprung to life. The patterns rearranged themselves to form the shape of a dragon, and the faint dragon's roars emanating from the piece of metal instantly became clearer and more pronounced.

A burst of elation erupted from the piece of heavy silver!

Tang Wulin had successfully completed spirit refinement from thousand refinement in just seven minutes!

Even Mu Chen's eyes widened upon seeing this, and he reflexively clenched his fists. He had just received a glimmer of inspiration from watching Tang Wulin's forging, and for a Saint Blacksmith, this type of inspiration was indescribably important.

Mu Chen had thought that it would be impossible for him to become a Divine Blacksmith during this lifetime, but in that instant, he suddenly felt as if he had a slight chance after all. That was an indication of just how profound an effect Tang Wulin's forging had had on him.

Tang Wulin paused momentarily here, and a faint smile appeared on his face as if he were listening to the heavy silver's cry of elation. The piece of metal was like a newborn child showing off to its father.

In the next instant, the aura emanating from Tang Wulin's body transformed dramatically. Powerful blood essence fluctuations erupted forth, and countless golden scales appeared all over his skin, giving him a rather intimidating appearance.

Only the skin on his neck and his two arms were visible, and those sections of his body had already been completely covered in scales. Golden scales had also appeared over his hands, but his golden dragon claws didn't emerge. Even so, the powerful blood essence fluctuations erupting from his body still gave Mu Chen and Mu Xi a huge fright.

The immense bloodline intimidation had even forced Mu Xi to unleash her martial soul, and a series of soul rings emerged beneath her feet.

Mu Chen wasn't forced to such an extent, but he was still quite startled by this development.

This aura...

He had felt Tang Wulin's blood essence fluctuations a long time ago, but they had never been this immensely powerful.

How could his aura be so potent? Furthermore, they could see golden rings of light emerging from beneath Tang Wulin's feet, and a total of four rings appeared in quick succession.

Last time Mu Xi had seen these blood essence soul rings, Tang Wulin had only had two of them.

He spread open his arms, and his body shuddered slightly as the bloodline aura intensified even further. Golden light began to revolve around his body, and his eyes had also turned golden in color.

The piece of heavy silver seemed to have also sensed the aura fluctuations emanating from Tang Wulin's body, and its elation gradually turned into intrigue and curiosity.

Right at this moment, Tang Wulin's hammers sprung into action again. At this point, both of his Heavy Silver Hammers had already taken on a golden hue from his blood essence power. The hammer blows he delivered this time were extremely heavy, and no longer bore any semblance of the delicate touch he had before.

With each and every hammer blow he struck, the entire forging room would tremble slightly, and it was as if a string of explosions were being set off in the room.

Every time the piece of spirit refined heavy silver was struck, it would emit a whimpering moan, as if it were experiencing pain and pleasure in equal measure.

Furthermore, Mu Xi could see that in the face of Tang Wulin's hammer blows, the heavy silver had taken on a golden color. This color would fade in an instant following each blow, but it was undoubtedly the case that it was being affected by his Heavy Silver Hammers.

The main difference between spirit refinement and soul refinement was that spirit refinement bestowed life upon a piece of metal, yet soul refinement passed on one's inheritance to the piece of metal. It was just like soul spirit inheritance.

As such, for one-word and two-word battle armor masters, the ideal secondary occupation was to be a mecha maker as only then would they be able to create battle armor that suited themselves the most. After all, no one knew a person better than themselves.

However, after becoming a three-word or even four-word battle armor master, the most important element of one's suit of battle armor would become the metals used, as that was the stage where soul refined metals became a necessity.

If the battle armor master were a Saint Blacksmith themselves, then the metal they forged would possess their soul power, and even special characteristics from their martial soul. As such, that suit of battle armor would undoubtedly be extremely synergistic with the battle armor master. This was even more important than the circuits used.

Unfortunately, being a blacksmith was one of the most difficult secondary occupations, and there were only a dozen or so Saint Blacksmiths on the entire Douluo Continent, while Zhen Hua was the only Divine Blacksmith on the entire continent.

Those statistics alone were a clear indication of just how difficult it was to progress in this occupation.

At this moment, Tang Wulin was undoubtedly beginning to progress from spirit refinement to soul refinement. He was injecting his bloodline aura into the piece of heavy silver with all his might, and at the same time, he was injecting into it his soul and his own aura.

Soul refinement didn't just involve refining a piece of metal from the outside; it was also an internal process that involved infusing one's aura, soul power, and spiritual power into a piece of metal. Only then could they forge a connection with the piece of metal itself, and refine it from the inside. The combination of external and internal refinement would activate all of the metal's special properties and also infuse the blacksmith's powers into the piece of metal.

It was sometimes said that soul refined metals were clones of the Saint Blacksmiths who had forged them.

This was a slight exaggeration, but it wasn't entirely nonsensical. Spirit refinement could bestow sentience upon a piece of metal, thereby allowing it to attain certain abilities that normal metals didn't possess, such as self-regeneration. However, soul refinement was different. Soul refined metals made Soul Masters feel as if they had a friend by their side.

Suits of battle armor created using soul refined metals were like second lives for the battle armor masters they belonged to, and they could even follow some orders and instructions.

Of course, if one weren't a blacksmith themselves, then the first thing they had to do before having their suit of three-word battle armor constructed would be to communicate with the metals that their battle armor was going to be constructed from. Due to the fact that battle armor masters would've already become very intimate with their suits of two-word battle armor, this process could be accomplished, even though it could take a very long time. However, battle armor masters who were also blacksmiths could skip this process.

After commencing the soul refinement process, Tang Wulin had clearly become a lot more cautious. Every single hammer blow was extremely heavy, and his powerful bloodline fluctuations were being injected into the piece of heavy silver without any reservation.

As time passed, it took longer and longer for the golden hue to fade from the piece of heavy silver after it was struck by his hammers. It was often the case that the golden color hadn't even had a chance to completely fade from Tang Wulin's last hammer blow before he struck it again.

Thus, the piece of heavy silver began to maintain a perpetually golden state. Tang Wulin was swinging his hammers with mechanical precision, and the frequency of the hammer strikes was gradually decreasing.

"Clang!"

"Ding!"

All of a sudden, a crisp echo resonated from within the piece of heavy silver following a hammer blow from Tang Wulin.

Mu Chen's entire body abruptly shuddered upon hearing this sound.

Resonance! This seemed to be something very ordinary and mundane, to the extent that the six other members of Shrek’s Seven Monsters didn't even notice it. However, it was like the most delightful music to his ears as he knew far too well what this sound entailed.

Soul refinement was extremely difficult, and resonance was a precursor of successful soul refinement! It meant that all of the types of energy that had been injected into the piece of metal had been combined, thereby allowing it to be refined from the inside.

This was an extremely important step, and also the most difficult step in soul refinement. Many sixth-rank blacksmiths couldn't achieve this even after toiling away for their entire lives!

Soul refinement resonance was also an indication of how well a blacksmith knew a piece of metal, and it showed that all of the preparatory work that had been done beforehand hadn't gone to waste.

Tang Wulin's expression remained unchanged, and he continued in his forging. As expected, with each and every hammer blow, the metal would resonate with him, and this sound was only becoming more and more pronounced.

Mu Xi's eyes widened even further.

Could it be that he's already able to...

She had thought that the gap between them had dwindled, but if he'd already taken that step, then they would no longer even be on the same level.

Mu Chen had told her that with her current rate of progress and how hard she was currently working, she should be able to attempt a breakthrough to become a Saint Blacksmith when she turned 30.

But what about Tang Wulin? He was only 19 years old, yet he'd already achieved soul refinement resonance! In contrast, she had no idea how to get to this step.

Everyone had different blood essence, soul power, and spiritual power. As such, there was no set technique to soul refinement; a teacher could only pass on feelings and experiences, and the blacksmith had to find their own way.

Mu Xi was currently at this stage, but never would she have thought that Tang Wulin would've already mastered the most difficult step to soul refinement.