Douluo Continent III Haotian Wulin

"See that?"

In the grove, Wan Yunchao held the short knife in his hand horizontally, the white spirit ring glowed slightly, and a white blade light about half a foot long immediately shot out from the tip of the blade.

The blade's edge wasn't long, but it was sharp enough, falling in the evening breeze like a thin, cold light.

"My first soul skill is called Blade Aura." Wan Yunchao tried to raise his chin higher, his expression full of barely suppressed pride. "My dad spent extra money to choose a soul spirit that best matches the short sword. See? The soul spirit is also a sword, attached to my martial soul, hence the Blade Aura."

He paused deliberately at this point before uttering four words with emphasis.

"They're not to be trifled with."

Tang Wulin stood opposite him, saying nothing, just watching quietly.

For the past week, he'd felt a heavy, oppressive weight weighing on his heart, making it hard to even breathe. Now, with Wan Yunchao's constant chatter, he was surprisingly starting to feel a long-forgotten impatience.

"You talk too much nonsense," he said.

Wan Yunchao was taken aback at first, then his eyes widened immediately.

"Even now, you're still being stubborn?" He held his sword horizontally and took half a step forward. "I'm just giving you a heads-up. If we really start fighting, my blade won't be blind."

After saying that, he waved his hand back to show off his power.

The blade flashed out, sweeping diagonally across a small tree about the size of a bowl. With a crisp sound, the tree trunk was instantly sliced ​​in half, and the leaves trembled wildly.

Tang Wulin's eyes darkened slightly.

"Plants have life too." He looked at Wan Yunchao, his voice not loud. "What are you trying to show off with that?"

Wan Yunchao was speechless for a moment, and just as he was about to retort, he saw that the boy opposite him had already raised his hand.

A flash of dark light.

The sinking star hammer fell into his palm.

Immediately afterwards, a pure white soul ring rose from beneath Tang Wulin's feet, pulsating slowly. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the branches and leaves, falling on the black short hammer. Deep within the originally inconspicuous hammer body, several extremely faint dark gold patterns emerged, like gold threads buried in black iron, serene yet inexplicably causing a jolt in one's heart.

Wan Yunchao, who had been confident, felt a sudden sinking feeling in his heart when the hammer appeared.

"Come on," he gritted his teeth, trying to bolster his courage.

Tang Wulin did not move immediately.

He simply lowered his center of gravity slightly, his gaze falling on Wan Yunchao's shoulders, wrists, blade, and feet.

This wasn't the first time he'd gotten into a fight.

But this was the first time he had truly stood before others as a Soul Master.

The wind blew through the treetops, rustling the leaves. The next moment, Wan Yunchao moved first.

He was still just a child, and his so-called sparring lacked any real technique. He gritted his teeth, drew his sword, and charged forward, unleashing a burst of blade light that slashed directly at Tang Wulin.

This didn't come quickly, at least not in Tang Wulin's eyes.

He didn't retreat, but simply took a half-step to the side and forward.

The movement was small, but it was just enough for the blade's edge to graz the side of her shoulder, severing a few strands of hair that were being blown by the wind.

Wan Yunchao's strike missed its mark, and before he could retract his hand, the dark short hammer had already been raised.

Nothing fancy.

No sloppiness.

It's just a very simple hammer blow, pressing down.

"First Soul Skill, Thousand-Pound Drop."

Tang Wulin's voice wasn't loud, but as soon as those four words were spoken, Wan Yunchao felt that the hammer in front of him, which wasn't very big to begin with, suddenly became frighteningly heavy, as if something in mid-air was pressing down on him.

He instinctively raised his knife to block.

"when."

A crisp sound exploded in the forest.

Wan Yunchao felt a numbness in his wrist, and his entire arm felt like it wasn't his own anymore. The blade's edge was actually suppressed by this hammer blow, causing him to stagger backward, with fallen leaves flying everywhere.

Before he could even stand still, Tang Wulin had already taken a step forward.

The sinking star hammer fell again.

This time, the hammer didn't strike the dagger head-on, but instead pressed down on the back of the blade, using the immense downward force to pull the dagger downwards at an angle. Wan Yunchao was already fat, but his balance was unstable, and when his hand went empty, half of his body was pulled to the side.

The next moment, Tang Wulin swung the hammer handle horizontally and struck him directly in the chest.

"Bang!"

Wan Yunchao fell to the ground with a thud, almost dropping his knife.

"Ouch!"

He cried out in pain, his eyes widening in shock.

"You...you're cheating!" He sat on the ground, still gripping the knife tightly, his face filled with disbelief. "How come this hammer is so heavy!"

Tang Wulin stood still, his breathing steady.

The Sinking Star Hammer trembled slightly in his palm. The "falling" intent drawn from the Soul Ring had not completely dissipated. It pressed down along the tiger's mouth into the arm bone, making him feel a little more at ease.

He looked at Wan Yunchao sitting on the ground, his tone flat.

"Didn't you say you wanted to see my soul skill?"

Wan Yunchao held it in for a long time, his face turning red.

"Then, go ahead and try again! That last one doesn't count, I wasn't ready!"

Tang Wulin didn't speak, but simply lifted the hammer slightly upwards.

The posture clearly didn't seem threatening, but Wan Yunchao subconsciously took a half-step back.

He was stunned.

Then I felt even more embarrassed and annoyed.

"Don't come any closer!" he said, then immediately felt ashamed and stubbornly retorted, "...Fine, I give up!"

The woods suddenly fell silent.

Looking at his nonsensical appearance, Tang Wulin felt a sudden release of the pent-up frustration that had been building up inside him for a whole week.

It wasn't because we won beautifully.

It was because after that fight, the tightness in my chest that had been bothering me finally eased.

"Get up," he said.

Wan Yunchao reluctantly got up from the ground, not forgetting to brush the dirt off his pants as he did so, muttering, "Something's not right... even with a soul skill, how come I still can't beat you..."

Tang Wulin put the hammer back into his body and turned to walk out.

"Because you're too fat," he said without turning his head.

"That's prejudice!" Wan Yunchao immediately bristled, dragging his knife as he chased after him. "I'm sturdy, not fat!"

Tang Wulin glanced at him sideways.

"Teacher Lin said long ago that your martial spirit is more suited to close-quarters combat. Your blade is indeed fast, but you are slow."

Wan Yunchao choked for a moment, then felt even more aggrieved.

"Then where's your hammer? Aren't you a melee fighter too? How come I couldn't even block it?"

Tang Wulin paused for a moment.

Actually, he himself had been thinking about this problem.

After his soul skill took shape, he could clearly feel that the Sinking Star Hammer was not simply "heavier." The moment it fell, it was as if even the air beneath the hammer seemed to sink. Wan Yunchao couldn't block it, not only because he was weaker than him, but also because he simply didn't know how to catch such a "fall."

Thinking of this, Tang Wulin simply replied:

"Because it's heavier than you think."

After hearing this, Wan Yunchao fell silent for a couple of moments.

After a while, he whispered:

"Tang Wulin".

"Um?"

"You're starting to look like a real Soul Master now."

This statement was said in an awkward way, sounding like both a compliment and a hint of defiance.

Tang Wulin paused slightly, but did not turn around, only giving a soft "hmm".

By the time Wan Yunchao was seen off, it was already getting dark.

Without delay, Tang Wulin headed straight for Mangtian Studio.

As he reached the door, he was thinking that since he was a little late, his teacher would probably frown again. But when he pushed the door open, he found that the front hall was quiet, and Brother Long wasn't there either. Further inside, the door to his own forging room was ajar, letting in a warm yellow light.

Tang Wulin gently pushed the door open.

Mang Tian was standing in front of the forging table.

"Teacher." He immediately composed himself and greeted the teacher respectfully.

Mang Tian turned around, his gaze lingering on his face for a moment.

"Graduated?"

"Yes." Tang Wulin nodded. "I just received the recommendation letter today."

"Intermediate Academy, are we going to Donghai City?" Mang Tian asked again.

"Yes." Tang Wulin answered, then felt a slight sinking feeling in his heart. He then said what he had been wanting to say all along, "Teacher, I was just about to tell you this. After I go to Donghai City, I... may not be able to continue learning forging from you."

The blacksmith's workshop fell silent for a moment after those words were spoken.

Mang Tian glanced at him, his expression unchanged, and simply said:

"Who told you you can't learn it?"

Tang Wulin was taken aback.

Mang Tian turned around and put the blueprints in his hand on the table.

"I just like the peace and quiet here, but that doesn't mean I'm only staying in Aolai City," he said. "Most of the work we do comes from Donghai City. The workshops there are much bigger and have better equipment. If you go to Donghai City to study, you can continue practicing there."

Tang Wulin's eyes lit up immediately.

"Teacher, you mean...?"

"I have a place over there," Mang Tian said calmly, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary. "I'll reserve a forging room for you. I'll come over and give you some pointers every now and then."

Tang Wulin felt a sudden surge of heat in his chest, and he almost blurted out "Teacher, you're so kind!" But remembering how he almost lost two days' wages after hugging her last time, he managed to hold back, though he couldn't suppress the light in his eyes.

"Thank you, teacher," he said earnestly.

Mang Tian seemed not to hear the thank you, and only raised his chin slightly.

"Don't get too excited yet," he said. "Donghai City is a real metropolis, incomparable to a place like Aolai City. There are many more talented people there, even more blacksmiths, and their eyes are much sharper. If all you can do is make these small parts, you won't even be good enough to be a doorman there."

Tang Wulin felt a chill run down his spine and immediately straightened up.

"Teacher, are you testing me?"

Mang Tian looked at him and finally nodded.

"A thousand forgings".

The two words fell like two light but extremely steady hammer blows.

Tang Wulin was taken aback at first, then his eyes lit up instantly.

"Teacher, you've finally agreed to teach me the Thousand Forging Technique?"

Mang Tian glanced at him indifferently.

"It's not about teaching," he said, "it's about seeing if you're qualified to learn."

"You'll only pass if you complete a true thousand-fold forging process. If you don't, you'll have to stay here and continue honing your basics."

If it were someone else, upon hearing the words "thousand-times forged," they would most likely think of difficulty first.

But Tang Wulin is not.

Over the past three years, he has practiced step by step, starting with the most basic skill of hammering iron blocks. He has watched his teacher and Brother Long perform countless forgings. For him, it wasn't a hassle, but a threshold he had always wanted to reach but was always just a little short of.

"Teacher, shall we begin now?" he asked almost without thinking.

Mang Tian shook his head.

"Don't rush," he said. "You've ruined a lot of parts these past few days, not just because you're distracted, but also because you've lost control of your power."

Tang Wulin was taken aback.

That really hits the nail on the head.

These past few days in the workshop, besides being distracted by Na'er's matter, he also vaguely sensed that something was wrong. Every time he struck the hammer, a few blows would suddenly be heavier than expected, as if the force had suddenly surged outwards, to the point that several times he almost smashed through the stone with the force that should have been contained.

He just hadn't had time to think about it in detail.

Now that the teacher mentioned it, that feeling suddenly became clear.

Since fusing with his soul spirit and truly entering the Soul Master level, his body felt as if it had been quietly tightened up again. His strength didn't suddenly surge to an exaggerated level, but every bit of force he exerted became more substantial, heavier, and easier to cross the line.

"Come here." Mang Tian turned and walked out. "Let's test your strength first."

At the very back of the workshop, there is a small room specifically used for testing and calibrating forging data.

There are several instruments here that are not usually used, the most eye-catching of which is the strength testing machine.

The square base features a central metal pillar designed to withstand heavy impacts, connected to a tall graduated tube at the rear. During testing, simply striking the front with a standard forging hammer causes the graduated liquid column at the rear to rise according to the force applied, ultimately providing a relatively accurate reading.

This thing looks simple, but it actually requires extremely high precision. Many professional blacksmiths come here regularly to calibrate their strength and control.

Tang Wulin was certainly familiar with him.

Since he came here at the age of six, he has had the test done almost every year.

In the first year, 140 kilograms.

The following year, 200 kilograms.

Later, the numbers continued to rise.

But that all happened before the fusion of souls.

Mang Tian took a standard hammer used for testing from a shelf and handed it to him.

This hammer is neither a martial spirit hammer nor a practice hammer used casually in the workshop. It is a specially calibrated test hammer, weighing 100 jin (50 kg), with standard size and counterweight, in order to minimize variables as much as possible.

"Left hand first," Mang Tian said.

Tang Wulin reached out and took it.

He paused for a moment as soon as he picked up the hammer.

light.

It's not that it's not heavy, but compared to the current Star Hammer, this 100-pound test hammer feels strangely light, like holding a piece of iron that has a decent weight but lacks any sense of "weight".

He looked down at the hammer in his hand, then at the metal pillar in front of him, and for some reason, he slowly took a breath.