He stood on the spot and fell into a completely calm and silent state. Even when faced with such a simple task, he still treated it with caution and a serious attitude. This was a gesture of his respect toward forging itself.
The best furnace always ensured a quick calcination process, and when the barrel rose up onto his forging bench again, it was already red hot. Even the temperature in the forging room had risen significantly.
Tang Wulin spread open his arms, and his pair of soul refined Heavy Silver Hammers immediately appeared in his hands. He brought his right arm down without any preparatory movements.
"Bam!"
One side of the barrel was completely flattened...
"Argh!" Long Yuxue couldn't help but let loose a cry of surprise.
It's over!
Even Lu Ni couldn't help but furrow her brows upon seeing this.
She had had her cannon barrel repaired by blacksmiths on many occasions, and the process wasn't very complex. After being calcined to a high temperature, the barrel would be adjusted back to its original shape using a mold, then solidified and cooled. Purple Iron was a very strong material in itself, so it could be calcined on many occasions without any issues.
However, Tang Wulin had immediately flattened one side of the barrel with a single hammer strike. It was certainly an indication that he possessed immense strength, but was he really repairing the barrel? Wasn't this destruction instead? After flattening the barrel, it wouldn't be a simple task to repair it back to its original shape. This man was quite confident, but he didn't seem to be very reliable!
"What are you doing, Wulin?" Long Yuxue couldn't help but yell in a horrified manner.
However, Tang Wulin seemed to have not heard her at all. His Heavy Silver Hammers fell at a rapid rate, and after a few resounding booms, the cylindrical cannon barrel had been completely flattened.
Long Yuxue couldn't help but bury her face into her hand as she couldn't bear to watch this any longer.
"I'm sorry, Sister Lu Ni; I'll, I'll buy you another one. I really didn't know things were going to turn out like this..."
She was full of remorse that she'd been led into trusting Tang Wulin's forging abilities.
A wry smile also appeared on Lu Ni's face. Her cannon barrel hadn't been very expensive to make, but she'd used it for a long time and naturally developed an attachment to it. The fact that it had been ruined by Tang Wulin in such a brutal manner made her feel quite uncomfortable. Even as easy-going as she was, she couldn't help but develop a very negative first impression of Tang Wulin.
He was clearly just bluffing when he didn't have any skills! And what was that nonsense about three plans? It was all just a laughable joke!
"Thump, thump, thump!" Tang Wulin's hammers fell in an extremely constant and rhythmic manner. His hammer blows came thick and fast, and during the brief conversation between Long Yuxue and Lu Ni, the cannon barrel had already been completely flattened into a metal plate.
The metal plate was then gradually smashed into a metal clump by his hammers. The process was very quick, and during Long Yuxue's apology, the cannon barrel had already been reduced to an unrecognizable lump.
Long Yuxue couldn't take it any longer and wanted to stop Tang Wulin from embarrassing both her and himself any further, but Lu Ni laid a hand on her arm to stop her. "Let's see what he's capable of."
"Thump, thump, thump!" The hammer blows gradually became heavier and faster, to the extent that it sounded like a torrential storm raining down upon a banana leaf, creating almost a single constant sound.
All of a sudden, a beam of light abruptly rose up into the air. The light ascended for over six feet, and a faint dragon's roar could be heard reverberating throughout the room.
"This is..."
Both Long Yuxue and Lu Ni's pupils contracted drastically. They weren't blacksmiths, but they were quite knowledgeable and experienced. The two of them exclaimed in unison, "First-grade thousand refinement?"
Lu Ni really liked this cannon barrel precisely because it was constructed from thousand refined metal, but it was only the most ordinary of thousand refinements. After all, this was only a soul weapon component, so it was already quite rare for thousand refined metals to be used on such parts.
However, she had never heard of a blacksmith who was capable of elevating an existing thousand refined metal to a first-grade thousand refined level!
No, this wasn't even normal first-grade thousand refinement! The best first-grade thousand refinements only had light rising up to five feet, but the light rising up from the piece of Purple Iron had definitely reached over six feet. On top of that, what was that dragon's roar they were hearing?
Even Tang Wulin wouldn't be able to upgrade a piece of thousand refined metal on his own, but he was able to accomplish this with his soul refined forging hammers.
The main trait of soul refinement was its ability to bestow intelligence upon a piece of metal. An intelligent piece of metal could combine as one with its master to form a spiritual connection.
The forging process just then appeared to have been quite simple, but it had actually been a product of brilliant craftsmanship. Tang Wulin had communicated with his Heavy Silver Hammer to alter the internal structure of the Purple Iron, forcibly enhancing its quality without resulting in a decrease in mass.
In reality, what he was doing was akin to using a cannon to kill a mosquito. It expended a lot of effort, and under normal circumstances, it'd be much more practical to just create a new barrel from scratch. However, his forging room had only just opened, and he wanted to show off his abilities to attract as many customers as possible in order to earn more accolades.
The light persisted for over 10 seconds before finally slowly fading away. Tang Wulin's hammer blows became lighter after this, but the frequency became even faster. The piece of metal quickly changed shape and began to flatten out before slowly being molded by his Heavy Silver Hammers.
Long Yuxue could even see that one of Tang Wulin's forging hammers had slowly changed into the shape of a long rod, and the piece of Purple Iron was wrapped around that rod with the help of his other hammer, thereby making the piece of metal adopt its original shape as a cannon barrel again.
Tang Wulin was moving far too quickly, and the cannon barrel had already reverted back to its original form even before they'd recovered from the astonishment of witnessing the first-grade thousand refinement that had just taken place.
"Sizzle!" The cannon barrel was plunged into water to be cooled. After it re-emerged, it had been completely repaired and enhanced.
"It's done now, Superior." Tang Wulin offered the cannon barrel to Lu Ni with both hands.
Lu Ni looked down to find that this cannon barrel was identical in size to what it was in the past, but all of the warping had vanished, and it resembled a brand new barrel. However, in contrast with how it had been in the past, a layer of fine patterns had appeared over its surface, making it look as if it were more substantial somehow.
After accepting the barrel, she discovered that it was still rather warm. She took a look inside to find that the internal surface was as smooth as a mirror, and the feeling of it in her hand had seemed to be quite different compared to in the past. She gently squeezed various parts of the barrel, and even though she hadn't tested it out, she could tell from the first-grade thousand refinement that the barrel had become at least 30% more durable than it was in the past. That 10% figure was just him being modest!
"Sorry for making you worry, but if I didn't repair the barrel in that manner, it would've been very difficult to increase its quality without adding any other metals. You should be able to use it right away, and it'll last a lot longer before you'll need to have it repaired again," Tang Wulin said with a smile.
Lu Ni exhaled as she cast her gaze toward Tang Wulin's hands, only to find that his forging hammers had already disappeared.
She turned toward Long Yuxue, and said, "You've truly found a brilliant partner, Little Xue! I really am envious of your luck. Tang Wulin, do you need any more investors?"
Tang Wulin shook his head in response. "Apologies, Superior, but I no longer require any additional investment." Of course he didn't need any further investors! He had only reluctantly agreed to be in this partnership with Long Yuxue as she had good and pure intentions; there was no way he was going to share his earnings with anyone else!
Lu Ni held the cannon barrel, and said, "I'm starting to regret my decision. If I'd been aware of your skills from the very beginning, I would've at least asked you to implement the second plan. I'm very curious; what would the third plan entail?"
Tang Wulin replied, "Cannon barrels need to be constructed from metals that can hold their shape even in the face of high heat. If you want a barrel that'll last you for a lifetime, it has to possess self-regenerative abilities, and the material used also has to be strengthened even further. The third plan would involve fusing two more types of uncommon metals into the barrel, then elevate it to the spirit refinement level. After that, it'll be able to repair itself even without any circuits, and you'll be able to use it for a long time without fear of damage.
"At the same time, you'll have the option of carving a soul circuit onto the barrel to increase the power output of your weapon. It'll be quite expensive to do this, but I think it's well worth the price. Of course, that only applies to your high-power and high-frequency weapon; for a weapon of lower power or shot frequency, such a heavy investment would simply be overkill."
Lu Ni couldn't help but exclaim upon hearing this, "Spirit refinement? Y, you're a fifth-rank blacksmith? Wait, no, you can fuse metals to form alloys, so you have to be a sixth-rank blacksmith!"
Tang Wulin smiled, and said, "I can complete some simple soul refinements as well."
He had displayed enough of his skills already, so it was time to lay the cards down on the table.
"Soul refinement? You're a Saint Blacksmith?"
Both Lu Ni and Long Yuxue felt as if their brains were about to shortcircuit.
He was a Saint Blacksmith? There wasn't even a Saint Blacksmith in the entire Blood God Legion! In fact, there were only a total of less than 20 of Saint Blacksmiths on the entire continent! The Blood God Legion was such a secluded place; even if the military wanted to send a Saint Blacksmith to them, no Saint Blacksmith would be willing to come here, and who could force them to come here against their will?
As such, the most accomplished blacksmith in the entire Blood God Legion was only a sixth-rank blacksmith.
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