2 Chap 2 : A path ?
Two days passed since the awakening of the martial soul and Xiao Meng was thinking of the development path of his martial. After observing his martial soul for two days he could confirm that in fact, his martial soul was not a stone but an unknown ore, he wondered whether it could be turned into an object like iron could be forged. Although at this moment even Xiao Meng who is familiar with the Douluo continent can't think about how to put his martial soul on the right path, don't look at the path that Tang San took for his Blue Silver Emperor if it were not for his Haotian hammer and the duo Shura-Poseidon help then he would have been a cripple in the god realm, the blue silver grass is known for its vitality but he took the opposite path which ruined it, it may also be the reason why he can't rival other god-kings despite having more god position than them.
Just as he was thinking about this the sky turned dark and even the moon was obscured, this happened so fast that he felt his hair stand as a bolt of blazing blue lightning suddenly pierced the sky, he didn't hear it but his body instinct sensed it, he didn't know if it was the spiritual power of his two lives or something else but this allowed him to push his martial soul floating in his palm before him causing it to be instantly hit by the incandescence like a lightning rod. At that moment all the grass near him was black but if you looked closely you would see a little bit of lightning remaining on each plant. The impact was so powerful that Xiao Meng was propelled backward making his martial soul disappear instantly.
Old George who was in the house fixing a chair was about to call Xiao Meng to go back to the house to take shelter from the rain so he raised his head and looked out of the window only to see that Xiao Meng was lying on the ground with his right arm charred. Seeing this Old George dropped his hammer, shouted "Xiao Meng!" and picked him in his arm to run back to the house without delay. What surprised him was that after checking Xiao Meng's breath and his body, only his right hand was charred.
Some time later Xiao Meng woke up,
"XiaoMeng, how do you feel ?" Old George asked in concern while sitting on the bedside
Xiao Meng cursed secretly in his mind, he was feeling pain all over his body and it was despite his martial soul taking the most damage he was still paralysed. He could only grunt a few times to indicate that he was fine.
Listening to Xiao Meng grunting which was not as weak as a dying person Old George immediately felt relieved "You lie done and have a good rest. I'll go to Notting City to find a healing soul master"
Hearing this Xiao Meng reluctantly lay on the bed and moved his head to shock it from right to left. Although he was numb like he was given general anesthesia and his soul was in pain he felt it may be an opportunity for his martial soul to mutate so he had to persist without the help of another soul master, who knows if the addition of the soul power of another person would result in a mutation similar to Yu Xiaogang.
Old George sighed, "Okay Xiao Meng take a good rest and grunt if you feel uncomfortable"
Then Old George exited the room. He understood that Xiao Meng had been very smart since he was a child and had a strong learning ability. He could read, and write at a young age and also was quite sensible. Knowing he was not wealthy he also often saw him put his pocket money aside which showed he had a very advanced self-awareness so seeing him denying the help of a healing soul master showed that his body didn't suffer too much.
After he saw Old George leaving the room Xiao Meng resumed his thought while recalling the incident 'It seems that my martial soul was used as a lightning rod and this lightning was composed of soul power or something else because my martial soul absorbed it...' he could only hope in his heart that surviving this catastrophe was a blessing for him and not a misfortune.
Three days later, Xiao Meng felt his hand could be moved again, in fact, his paralysis had worn out after a good night of sleep allowing him to eat with his left hand but he didn't summon his martial soul directly because he could feel that his hand still contained lightning and even if the pain in his soul dimmed it was still going on meaning that his martial soul hadn't finished his mutation and now after two days his original charred arm became normal again but the lightning still strike left a scar, if he remembered correctly it was called Lichtenberg figure. The scar was a feathery-looking, fern-like pattern running down to his hand. Since the pain disappeared when the tattoo appeared Xiao Meng decided to try to summon the martial soul out of his body, a block stone slowly appeared on his right palm, upon closer inspection he could see a few faint blue spots on the black iron ore, sometime those blue spots would turn purple but it was all. Upon seeing this change Xiao Meng was happy and said "Is this...the martial soul mutating? I was right !" this change brought hope to Xiao Meng because he thought of a theory a fanfiction he read once that had forgotten, the martial soul can be tempered with the help of natural energy or external stimulation, it means that if this theory is right then his martial soul could grow into a top-level martial soul like the Clear Sky Hammer. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is based on the evolution of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda with the help of the Beautiful Silk Tulip, in Soul Land 2 some martial souls gained the so-called ultimate attribute after adding a soul ring with a high bloodline talent. "This means that since only energy is needed then aren't soul power, soul rings, soul bones, and fairy grass can temper martial souls?" Thinking of this Xiao Meng had a primary idea of his development in his mind.
The next day, after a night of sleep Xiao Meng examined his dantian carefully, yesterday he could feel that the soul power in his body had become stronger but he didn't know how much. He had just awakened his martial soul and he didn't had time to study in depth the meditation technique given by the Spirit Hall, it was only before he was struck by lightning that he memorized it entirely but since he hadn't had time to look at his soul power before the lightning he couldn't know if the amount of soul power had changed significantly.
Seeing that breakfast had been prepared on the table Xiao Meng decided to wash himself and after began to eat.
Hearing a jingling sound outside Xiao Meng knew it was Tian Yun, old George's neighbor, who had already started his daily work, after two years of living in the house of Old George he became accustomed to it so it didn't bother him. Unlike the Holy Spirit Village where Tang Hao is the only blacksmith and the villagers have to wait for him to do the work. In Iron Village, the blacksmith prepares various kinds of work and only some items that need to be customized are made fresh. Tian Yun is one of the eight blacksmiths in this village and even if his reputation is not high it's only because he focuses on weapons contrary to the others but it doesn't mean that his skills are worse than others in fact from what Xiao Meng observed he should be an advanced Smith since he can do the Hundred Refinement. Speaking of blacksmithing he quietly looked at his right hand and clenched it.
"Xiao Meng how is your right arm?" a familiar voice reached his ears and interrupted his thought.
He put down his rice bowl and replied to Old George while looking into his eyes and shaking his head "It's better I can move it again, it seems that since I used my martial soul with my right hand the paralysis lasted longer in this area"
Old George hearing this sighed in relief and said "That's good, if your right arm was still black I would have regretted listening to you for the rest of my life. The Notting Junior Soul Master Academy will start in a month and we will go to report in twenty-five days."
Hearing Old George saying this brought Xiao Meng back to earth, it seemed that he didn't have much time remaining before his new life leaving him in a hurry to learn blacksmithing. After eating he quickly stood up and said "Grandpa George I will go to Uncle Tian to try to learn forging, see you later".
Seeing this old George who was eating sighed softly "Ahh....poor child.....maybe it's for the best for him to learn forging...at least if he can't become a Spirit Master then he could accompagny me in my old days..".
--
Entering, the heat blew in his face; any smithy was like that, of course, but he was unaccustomed to this heat due to his young body. On the right side of the hall hung a variety of well-forged iron armor and weapons. After all, in this world spirit masters were only a small minority. The source of this heat was a colossal furnace with no more fire under it meaning that it wasn't used anymore
.
"Little Meng, why have you come here?" He looked up at a bare-chested burly fellow looking straight at him, swarthy skin over bulging lumps of muscle, looking extremely solid, in his hand holding a large-sized forging hammer, his forehead completely covered by sweat.
"Uncle Tian, can you teach me forging ?" asked Xiao Meng with an uncertain tone.
When Tian Yun heard this he immediately thought that Xiao Meng was dissatisfied with his martial soul and had given up on cultivation which didn't look like what his nephew would habitually say so he said "Little bastard...are you stupid because of the elextric shock? You think that your martial soul is trash and you can only become a blacksmith?"
Hearing this the corner of Xiao Meng's mouth twitched, his uncle was really the only one to dare to call him a bastard, if it hadn't been for the last two years of acquittance he would already have left so he immediately explained "Uncle...This is related to my future practice, I don't need to learn casting now but I would like to learn iron forging"
Hearing this Tian Yun immediately understood Xiao Meng's intention, the last two years of getting along with this little boy made him a little aware of how his brain worked, there were always some wild ideas. As a person present during the awakening of the martial soul of the younger generation he certainly knew what Xiao Meng's martial spirit was. "You mean...You want to forge your own martial soul?"
Xiao Meng nodded and pointed to the various ore in the room "Since they can be forged, I want to ask Why can't my martial soul be forged ?"
Hearing this Tian Yun was shocked and excited, if Xiao Meng was successful then it would mean that maybe other martial souls could be forged too maybe even his anvil (martial soul) could be cast into another form but still hesitantly said "Xiao Meng you can't make fun of your martial soul, what if it destroys your innate aptitude? You may not know it but with an innate soul power at five you can become a Soul King at the very least.."
Knowing that it would be hard for Tian Yun to support him in this path if he didn't show his determination he activated his martial soul in the palm of his right hand interrupting him "Uncle, look at the difference after my martial soul was struck by lightning"
Tian Yun looked at Xiao Meng's martial soul and said "It's really different..". As an experienced blacksmith, he could tell at a glance that this stone ore was different from the day of the awakening ceremony. It looked like it didn't change but he could see some blue spots and the aura of the ore changed, it was more "heavy" and "dense". He subconsciously raised his hand and touched it, the next second his pupil shrank and his fingers instinctively retracted "Is this...Thunder-patterned iron?"
Xiao Meng was a little surprised when he heard this, wasn't his martial soul a unique existence but was really found in this world? After all, based on his deduction martial souls are based on something that existed in the DD dimension which means that maybe...if other elements had also their own patterned ore.. he could perhaps take an elemental soul ring path, as soon as he was thinking of this a seed unknowingly took place in his mind but the question is will this seed grow or will be forgotten? "Wait...Wait Uncle Tian are you sure it's not a mutation of a stone? does my martial soul really exist ?"
"Little Meng how can I make a mistake for such a precious ore, you know I have been a blacksmith for thirty years and I am also an Advanced Smith certified by the Blacksmith Association. And even if I didn't encounter such a precious ore I once saw the teacher of my teacher refining a piece of space-patterned iron to build an Essence ring able to function as a storage compartment. It's a pity that such a knowledge disappeared with his death or our Blacksmith organization wouldn't be so disdained by others".
Hearing this Xiao Meng was surprised although he didn't remember much of the levels of Blacksmith in the early part of the story because it was not as interesting as a Saint or a divine Craftsman able to fuse life and intelligence into the metal in Daluo Dalu III, which teenager didn't dream of having a mecha. He originally planned to only learn forging but maybe it would not be a bad idea to learn how to forge other things..."Uncle are Advanced Smith very powerful?"
Tian Yun was quite emotional and explained "The requirement of the Advanced Smith is no joke, you need to be able to touch the legendary hardening-softening realm, it consists in being able to make forged iron ore as flexible as clothes. It's a realm that only two people have reached to this day and the current president of the blacksmith association who beat my teacher is one."
Sensing the depressive atmosphere Xiao Meng decided to joke "Uncle, how about I forge a Hammer Soul and beat this man?"
Listening to Xiao Meng's joke the heavy mood of Tian Yun alleviated a little and said while looking serious "Xiao Meng this is no joke, are you sure you want to try forging your martial soul?"
Hearing the serious tone of the other party he also knew that this uncle had taken his decisions and said decisively "Uncle, being ordinary isn't my dream so yes let's go !"
Tian Yun took Xiao Meng to the forging platform and said carefully trying to make Xiao Meng give up"You kid...I hope nothing goes wrong...If it does I will be beaten by Old George"
