Soul Land 5: The Rebirth of Tang San

Zhang Haoxuan felt helpless and intensified the infusion of his bloodline power, turning the flames erupting from his palm golden-red. The fierce golden-red flames were scorching, gradually causing the furnace to turn red. Meanwhile, the Black Crow Stone' hue shifted increasingly toward red.

"The furnace can't be heated any further, or it will blow up," Zhang Haoxuan warned.

"That's enough. Please continue with the heating, Black Crow Stone," Tang San said as he picked up the tongs nearby and extracted the piece of Black Crow Stone that had undergone the most significant color change due to Zhang Haoxuan's flames.

This piece was red-hot, radiating intense heat when removed from the furnace.

Tang San placed it on an iron anvil, steadying it with the tongs in his left hand while his right hand swung the forging hammer.

Having cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Technique to the sixth order, Tang San wielded the hammer effortlessly. With a resounding clang, the first strike fiercely landed on the Black Crow Stone.

Zhang Haoxuan saw that the blow flattened the usually hard Black Crow Stone. He immediately looked surprised; under the high temperature of his fire, the hard and brittle Black Crow Stone had actually become malleable!

Tang San's movements did not cease. The forging hammer in his hand repeatedly struck down as he twisted his upper body. While holding the tongs with his left hand, he still managed to leverage the force of his upper body, making each strike more potent than the last.

While this wasn't the complete Disorder Wind Splitting Hammer technique, it was nonetheless imposing.

With each heavy blow, the Black Crow Stone kept changing shape; noticeably, black powder scattered with each change in shape.

Watching Tang San forge, Zhang Haoxuan was amazed. When Tang San swung the forging hammer, his entire demeanor seemed to change, as if the hammer was a natural extension of his body, giving off a sense of unity between man and hammer.

Tang San felt the same way. In his previous life, his second martial soul had been a hammer! Known as the foremost in strength, his Clear Sky Hammer had been his final trump card, his most potent weapon whenever he faced formidable enemies.

Alas, he hadn't brought any of that with him in this life. Yet, the sensation of wielding a hammer remained.

Clang, clang, clang!

Clang, clang, clang!

As the forging hammer fell blow by blow, the piece of Black Crow Stone rapidly shrank, but it also underwent some peculiar changes.

As it shrank in size, the originally pitch-black stone gradually began to emit a metallic sheen. The ore’s original black-golden hue also became increasingly rich with Tang San's forging. With each heavy strike, the color became more vibrant, slowly acquiring a metallic essence.

"This is..." Zhang Haoxuan's pupils constricted. Metal? Could Black Crow Stone be forged into metal like other metal ores? There had been attempts before, but none had been successful. Was the temperature not high enough, or was the power used during the forging not enough?

As he pondered, the Black Crow Stone under Tang San's hammer suddenly burst into a brilliant light, shooting up nearly ten feet high. The light shone for several seconds before silently fading away. The Black Crow Stone transformed into a piece of black-golden metal, its size reduced to less than a fifth of the original.

Tang San crouched down, closely examining the metal. The inherent hardness of the Black Crow Stone remained, and it had become even stronger. Moreover, its toughness had increased!

Black gold, in his previous life, had been a scarce metal. Its primary characteristic was its inertness, and it showed little reaction to any substances or interactions. It was also incredibly tough. In other words, it was an excellent choice for both weapons and armor.

When Tang San first saw the Black Crow Stone, he couldn't be confident that it was black gold ore. Only upon his second observation, with his enhanced Discerning Eye of Heaven, did he make a more accurate judgment, concluding that the Black Crow Stone was, in fact, black gold ore.

Now that the forging was complete, the presence of black gold ore was confirmed, and its purity was also quite high.

Although black gold was not particularly precious, it was the most suitable for making forging hammers due to its great toughness. Additionally, it was excellent for creating hidden weapons, as it was able to easily penetrate elemental defenses.

This was why Tang San had bought up basically all the Black Crow Stone. They could be used to make hidden weapons. He was currently lacking effective means of attack, but that would change soon enough.

"What is this?" Zhang Haoxuan asked, looking at Tang San in surprise.

Tang San shrugged, saying, "I don't know either. I just wanted to forge some metal and then try to make some of the hidden weapons recorded in the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record. Teacher, this metal seems quite tough."

Zhang Haoxuan lifted his hand, drawing the successfully forged black gold into his palm. He silently felt it, squeezing hard with his hand. Just as Tang San said, the quality of this metal seemed very high, extremely tough. At the very least, it was one of the toughest metals he had ever seen.

This works?

Is this what they call transforming trash into treasure?

"Teacher, let's continue. Let's try to refine all the Black Crow Stone this afternoon," Tang San said.

Zhang Haoxuan couldn't help but ask, "What was that burst of light just now?"

Tang San, with an innocent look, said, "I don't know either!"

He couldn't exactly tell his teacher about the Thousand Refinement, a reaction that occurred when forging reached a certain level with rare metals. Hundred-Refined metals were top-quality, and Thousand-Refined metals even had a little spirituality! Although his current cultivation was far from his previous life's level, producing such top-notch effects was still relatively easy for him. In fact, if Zhang Haoxuan hadn't been there, looming over him like an eagle, he could have even further refined the metal.

For now, he was simply refining the Black Crow Stone. The biggest issue with black gold ore was that it required extremely high temperatures for forging. Once transformed into black gold, however, such high temperatures weren't necessary, as the furnace's heat was sufficient. High temperatures were the only thing that genuinely affected black gold, as it could be softened under high heat. Beyond this, it feared almost no other elemental properties. As for its weakness against high temperatures, Tang San would find another way, such as matching it with another metal for alloy forging.

But for now, such extreme considerations weren't necessary. Pure black gold by itself was already an excellent material for making hidden weapons.

Zhang Haoxuan continued heating up the ore, and Tang San continued forging. Zhang Haoxuan quickly noticed that while Tang San seemed somewhat unskilled initially, he gradually became more proficient. The forging hammer swung vigorously in his hands, occasionally emitting bursts of light. The rhythmic hammering sound resonated beautifully within the blacksmith shop as if carrying a unique melody.

Over the years, Tang San had observed that the forging standards of this world were quite ordinary, perhaps due to the world's abundant resources and the overwhelming strength of the demon and nymph races. Naturally, he couldn't reveal forging techniques far beyond this world's level, but he could still employ some of the basic forging techniques that he knew.

Piece by piece, the Black Crow Stone was refined. Tang San wasn't hurrying to shape it; the most crucial task for now was to refine all the Black Crow Stone into black gold. This required Zhang Haoxuan's bloodline flame to reach the critical temperature. Once the black gold was produced, Tang San could proceed with forging using just the blacksmith shop's resources.

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