"Borrowing power once extends it by one year. If that's all there is, then even if I borrow power once a day, it would still take over twenty years to connect to the Douluo 2 node. The efficiency is too slow."
Su Ming recalled the number of times he had borrowed power over the past year and could confirm he hadn't reached four hundred times.
Not to mention four hundred, he hadn't even reached one hundred. He stayed in Gengxin City, didn't engage in frequent battles, and could even be said to have rarely fought. Even when forging, he only borrowed power when his Spirit Power was insufficient.
"So, there must be other factors influencing the extension of the illusory future."
Su Ming couldn't analyze anything specific for now and could only continue his normal cultivation for the time being.
His thoughts returned to the present.
"Master can almost replicate Spirit Refinement now, and Second Senior Brother has also mastered Thousand Refinements with Spirit."
Unlike the Su Mings from Douluo 2 and 3, the Douluo 1 Su Ming focused on Spirit Refinement forging. After his first Spirit Refinement, Zhu Jiuyang also began learning from his disciple again. By now, apart from success itself, he had mastered all the necessary techniques.
The Douluo 3 Su Ming happened to achieve a breakthrough through forging faith during forging. After that, all three Su Mings worked to replicate that feeling.
The Douluo 2 Su Ming succeeded once.
The Douluo 3 Su Ming also succeeded twice more during the year.
The Douluo 1 Su Ming, without using external aids like faith, purely relying on forging technique, replicated Spirit Refinement thirty-six times this year!
This was an achievement that even the Douluo 2 and 3 Su Mings, who shared his memories and thoughts completely, couldn't replicate.
Su Ming looked at Little Gold, who was meditating while holding a large piece of Heavy Silver inside the forge, and couldn't help but smile.
Little Gold was the key to his success.
Of course, it was also somewhat important that the Douluo 3 Su Ming was learning Fusion Forging from Zhen Hua without focusing on Spirit Refinement guidance from him, and the Douluo 2 Su Ming was consolidating his Fusion Forging skills.
Gengxin City Spirit Hall Main Hall.
Miles looked at the two pieces of Spirit Metal in front of him, his eyes flickering, greed shooting out from them.
"So it's because they have this technology. No wonder the entire association underwent reforms from top to bottom, even canceling the title of Divine Blacksmith."
A raging fire ignited in Miles's heart.
Could he swallow it whole?
As a greedy Platinum Bishop, after finally confirming the changes in the Blacksmith Association, Miles's first thought was to take control of it and seize all the blacksmiths who mastered the new forging technology.
But similarly, having reached the position of Platinum Bishop, he also possessed the ability to weigh the pros and cons.
After a brief period of greed, a sudden sense of fearful hindsight swept through him.
"Zhu Jiuyang. This piece of Spirit Metal was forged by Zhu Jiuyang. On the contrary, the former Divine Blacksmith President Lou Gao has no works, proving the technology is in Zhu Jiuyang's hands."
A look of apprehension flashed in Miles's eyes.
The Spirit Hall had four Platinum Bishops in total. Compared to positions like Spirit Hall Branch Hall Masters, Platinum Bishop was a titular position, more of an honor representing status within the Spirit Hall, but it held no substantive power.
Salas was a true Platinum Bishop. His Spirit Power was as high as level 87, and he held the position of Heaven Dou City Spirit Hall Hall Master, one of only two Spirit Great Halls located in the capitals of the two great empires. His status and power were second only to the Pope, Elders, and Offerings.
Miles was different. His own cultivation was only at the Spirit Emperor level, yet he held the title of Platinum Bishop.
Spirit Hall Bishop positions weren't hereditary like imperial titles. That Miles could hold the position of Platinum Bishop clearly indicated he had performed great services for the Spirit Hall; he couldn't possibly be brainless.
Of course, his greed for wealth and lust was undeniable; he was truly greedy and lecherous.
Zhu Jiuyang had already reached the Spirit Douluo level. Although he hadn't announced it publicly himself, Miles had learned this through inferences from his subordinates.
The key point was that Zhu Jiuyang's identity was unusual. Others might fear his status as Platinum Bishop, but Zhu Jiuyang would not.
If Zhu Jiuyang really killed him, the Spirit Hall would probably only issue a symbolic condemnation. If an investigation revealed the fault lay with Miles, he might have to bear all the blame.
"My capacity isn't enough to swallow the current Blacksmith Association."
Miles was somewhat annoyed.
Hadn't he come to Gengxin City precisely because he had his eyes on the Iron Smithing Association?
As the gathering place for blacksmiths on the continent, this was essentially a place to build an army. Controlling all the blacksmiths here would inevitably allow for the rapid creation of a well-equipped army.
It was just that the Spirit Hall hadn't yet established its own nation and couldn't openly expand its army on a large scale, so they hadn't taken over the Iron Smithing Association.
But Miles had long ago begun making arrangements here. A mere Spirit Emperor had pressured the Spirit Sages of the Iron Smithing Association into not daring to talk back, already breaking their spirit. Whenever the Spirit Hall needed it, they could encroach upon and swallow the Iron Smithing Association at any time.
He originally thought this major merit was steadily in the bag, but now he was being told the meat by his mouth had become even more plump and juicy, and then that he couldn't eat it.
Miles felt as uncomfortable as if he had eaten shit.
His face ugly, he made a difficult decision.
"Have the Pope's Hall send people to negotiate cooperation. I'll only take the credit for discovery and effort."
Having made his choice, he ordered someone to send a message to the Pope's Hall.
"Speed it up, don't waste time. Ten pieces of Spirit Metal were released in this auction. There's no guarantee other forces won't notice this place."
Naturally, Miles discovered the Spirit Metal because the Blacksmith Association promoted an auction, selling a full twelve pieces of Spirit Metal.
The Spirit Main Hall here only managed to acquire two pieces.
Miles was warned on the spot against monopolizing the auction and was even humiliated when Zhu Jiuyang pressured him from a distance with Spirit Power.
He could imagine that not only would other forces notice this place, but the Blacksmith Association itself was also sending out signals, trying to attract attention.
Su Ming finished his daily forging tasks and brought Little Gold to the Blacksmith Association.
It had been over a year since he began externally revealing Spirit Souls and the Spirit Infusion Technique. The entire association only had two new Forging Masters—Zhu Jiuyang and Duan Jin.
That's right, Duan Jin.
When he and Zhu Jiuyang were learning Spirit Infusion from Su Ming, he seemed to perform poorly, but he was actually quite excellent. It was just that Zhu Jiuyang's foundation was too good, allowing him to force continuous forging with a high trial-and-error frequency, making Duan Jin look foolish by comparison.
In reality, Su Ming had calculated that the number of failures Duan Jin had before successfully performing his first Spirit Infusion was similar to Zhu Jiuyang's. Afterwards, the number of failures in continuing the forging after Spirit Infusion to complete a full Thousand Refinements with Spirit was also not much different.
Including Su Ming, there were only three Forging Masters so far. However, there were still some blacksmiths who possessed Spirit Souls, numbering over ten.
Among them, the former Divine Blacksmith and the other Grandmaster-level blacksmiths besides Zhu Jiuyang were still far from breaking through. Among the former Master-level blacksmiths, three had broken through their rank. Additionally, there were seven newcomers whose original forging skills were lower.
Among the seven newcomers, four were from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, and the remaining three were from Lou Gao's disciple's generation.
Of the three who were originally Iron Smithing Masters, two cooperated with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, obtained authorization for the Spirit Soul formation, and absorbed Spirit Souls. The other made contributions to the association and absorbed a Spirit Soul from Su Ming.
Mentally calculating the association's changes over the past year, Su Ming pondered the direction of the next reforms as he headed towards Zhu Jiuyang's forging studio.
...
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(Chapter End)