"Have you finished eating?" Feng Wuyu looked at Gu You, whose mouth was still glistening with oil. This kid had woken up early, saying he was hungry and needed food. Feng Wuyu initially thought, How much can a child eat? So, he shared his breakfast with Gu You. But unexpectedly, the boy ate everything. And this wasn't ordinary food—these were century-old natural treasures, rich in energy. Feng Wuyu couldn't fathom how big this kid's appetite actually was.
Gu You patted his stomach and nodded.
"Today's task is to hammer this piece of tungsten steel one thousand times. You may use your soul power. During the process, listen carefully to the sound and discern the purity of the impurities. This kind of insight can only come from within you, and it will determine your talent in forging." With that, Feng Wuyu gestured toward a block of silvery-white steel.
"Alright!"
The two Life Essence Hammers from the previous day appeared in Gu You's hands. His arms were already fully healed. Even Feng Wuyu was astonished to see how energetic Gu You was in the morning—his recovery ability could be described as a walking medical machine.
Gu You immediately gave it his all, activating his martial soul. Purple scales covered his palms, and the continuous bang bang of hammering echoed through the room.
Seeing this, Feng Wuyu curiously observed Gu You's martial soul. He noticed that his own martial soul was trembling, which meant that Gu You's martial soul had to be of a higher level.
No wonder his strength is so immense. Perhaps it's a pure strength-based True Dragon martial soul, Feng Wuyu thought.
"Alright! Done!" Gu You wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I see… Wait, what?! You're done? It's only been five minutes. Are you sure?" Feng Wuyu spat out his tea in shock. He had only been deep in thought for five minutes, and it was already finished? Not even one strike per second would be enough at that speed!
"I really finished. The hammer is so light—I can do three or four strikes per second," Gu You replied with a slightly wronged expression.
Feng Wuyu checked the tungsten steel that had been hammered a thousand times. His eyes immediately widened in shock.
Thousand refinement?
Although it was the lowest grade of thousand refinement, the impurities in this piece of tungsten steel had completely disappeared, and it had even gained an enhancement effect!
How is this possible?
A child with no prior knowledge of forging had somehow created a thousand-refined metal just by randomly hammering?
Thousand refinement wasn't just about hitting the metal a thousand times. It required meticulously removing impurities, increasing the metal's density, and—most importantly—achieving sublimation.
For example, tungsten steel was already highly durable. After undergoing thousand refinement, its volume would shrink by one-third while its strength increased by 200%. Its sublimation effect was an additional 30% weight increase.
For a metal to undergo qualitative transformation and gain weight through sublimation, its density and strength had to reach an extreme level.
Tungsten steel's sublimation was among the simplest. The best thousand-refined metals could gain additional unique properties. The better the sublimation effect, the higher the market value of the metal.
At the thousand refinement level, the metal had to be refined first before it could be shaped into a usable item.
Thus, metals refined through thousand refinement were worth hundreds of times more than those refined through hundred refinement. Only upon reaching this level could a blacksmith be considered truly initiated.
But for 90% of blacksmiths, achieving thousand refinement was a lifelong impossibility.
Thousand refinement wasn't just about strength and soul power—it was mostly about comprehension, especially an intuitive understanding of metals.
Gu You had only been learning forging for two days, yet he had unknowingly produced a thousand-refined metal just by hammering randomly. This alone was proof of his extraordinary talent in forging. Even though the sublimation effect was rather weak—only a 2% weight increase—it was still superior to hundred-refined metals, and it even contained some life energy.
"This is thousand refinement?" Gu You was dumbfounded. When he was forging, he really was just hammering randomly. He only changed positions whenever he heard a different sound. Plus, the Life Essence Hammers had been constantly emitting weak life energy.
Feng Wuyu shook his head. "It was just a lucky coincidence. The life energy in the hammers was absorbed by the metal, leading to sublimation. Combined with your slight comprehension of metal refinement, the process was completed."
So that's how it is… Gu You seemed to understand. At the same time, he felt that forging might actually be quite simple.
"It looks like we need to move ahead of schedule. I'll teach you thousand refinement directly," Feng Wuyu decided. He felt that there was no point in teaching anything below thousand refinement to this monster of a student. He might as well take advantage of the current situation and go straight to the real thing.
"Are there any special techniques for thousand refinement?" Gu You asked.
Feng Wuyu shook his head. "No."
"What? If even you, as a teacher, don't have any, how am I supposed to learn?" Gu You was speechless.
"I'm not your teacher yet," Feng Wuyu grinned mischievously.
Oh? So that's how you want to play it?
Gu You immediately saw through Feng Wuyu's little scheme.
"Master, from now on, you are my forging teacher. Satisfied now?" Gu You said in a resigned tone.
"That's more like it, my good disciple! Thousand refinement does have techniques, but they are mostly passed down through verbal guidance. The best advice I can give you is: Do more, listen more, and feel more.
Doing means continuously hammering.Listening means carefully hearing the sounds of the hammer strikes and identifying the differences in impurities.Feeling means treating the metal as a living entity. When forging, don't see it as a lifeless material—try to communicate with it. Only by truly connecting with the metal can you understand its secrets and discover its structure.
This is why thousand refinement is also called intent forging. Every blacksmith's technique for thousand refinement is unique. You must use your heart to forge and comprehend."
Feng Wuyu spoke at length, leaving Gu You in a daze.
"Did you understand?" Feng Wuyu asked.
"I think I got a feeling for it. Let me try," Gu You said, rubbing his chin.
He originally thought Feng Wuyu would demonstrate first, but that idea was completely shattered. The old man clearly considered him a prodigy who could grasp everything just by listening.
Approaching the forging table, Gu You glanced at a book nearby and placed a block of Ice Crystal Ore into the furnace for heating.
The Ice Crystal Ore was about a foot in size and emitted a cold glow. As it heated in the furnace, Gu You skimmed through the book to study its properties.
Ice Crystal Ore came from the distant Extreme North and was an extremely rare mineral. In the outside world, people would fight over it. Yet in Feng Wuyu's workshop, it was just lying around.
The ore was incredibly brittle, yet under high temperatures, it became remarkably malleable, making it an excellent conductor for soul devices. High-quality Ice Crystal Ore could even enhance soul power transmission by 5% to 10%.
However, Ice Crystal Ore had a major drawback: it was extremely difficult to refine. It was too brittle when cold and too unstable when heated, making it challenging to shape.
Not only was it rare in inland cities, but even in the Extreme North's border cities, it was considered a precious resource.
(End of Chapter)