Zhao Tieshan's expression kept shifting.
Su Ming hadn't given him a definitive answer, but had instead offered a conjecture that left him deeply unsettled. Now, his gaze towards this eleven-year-old boy was different.
"Senior, someone from the Spirit Hall Main Hall will cooperate fully, isn't that right?" Su Ming said with a smile.
He emphasized this point once more.
Zhao Tieshan no longer dared to underestimate Su Ming. Pondering seriously now, he gleaned deeper implications from Su Ming's repeated statement.
The people from the Spirit Hall Main Hall shouldn't even think about slacking off either!
That's right! A Spirit Hall Elder was coming as an emissary; who wouldn't want to show their worth? This was for cooperation, not some other reason, and they were pressed for time too. They would definitely travel light, without extra personnel.
So, who would replace Miles' position? Who would take charge of the cooperation with the Blacksmith Association?
Zhao Tieshan's thoughts instantly became clear.
He took his leave. Right now, he needed to go mobilize the city guard army, and then head to the Spirit Hall Main Hall to explain the situation.
While the Blacksmith Association members were discussing, Tang Hao, waiting below the association building, was growing impatient.
He tightly gripped the Spirit Metal in his embrace, his aura beginning to fluctuate slightly.
One could see that the Spirit Metal in his hand had already begun to deform, losing its full spiritual vitality. The areas gripped by his hand had their spiritual light extinguished directly, with even a deep red power spreading out, corroding the entire piece of metal.
"Miles is dead. Shouldn't the Spirit Hall Main Hall be searching the Blacksmith Association? And what about the people from the City Lord's mansion? What are they all doing?"
Tang Hao was anxious and restless inside.
His plan was simple: use Miles' death to create chaos, giving him an opportunity. Either Chen Xin would be drawn away, allowing him to enter the association building to search for Spirit Metal, or the people inside the association would scatter, letting him seize the chance to kidnap the person who mastered the Spirit Refinement technique.
But until now, the people from the Spirit Hall Main Hall hadn't started moving against the Blacksmith Association.
Why are they so cowardly?
Not just the Spirit Hall Main Hall, the Blacksmith Association's reaction was also far calmer than he had anticipated, actually maintaining stability for so long.
"Is it the confidence Chen Xin gives them?"
Tang Hao had a massive headache over Chen Xin's presence at the Blacksmith Association. This guardian Douluo of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan wasn't staying with his clan, but had to come to Gengxin City within the Star Luo Empire's borders.
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan also has quite a few disciples inside the Blacksmith Association. Could this new Spirit Refinement technique be related to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan?"
"No, it's more likely the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan discovered it early. They definitely don't possess the technique themselves, otherwise they wouldn't have come all this way to learn."
"Looking at it from another angle, they must know better who has mastered this technique!"
Tang Hao's logic wasn't flawed, but after thinking for a while, he grew irritable. For some reason, he felt that while staying in Gengxin City, especially in front of this Blacksmith Association, the killing intent within him kept bubbling up uncontrollably, as if even his Killing God Domain was becoming hard to restrain.
"Not a move for half a day. I'll grab someone first to ask about the situation."
After Zhao Tieshan left, the others in the room fell silent.
Chen Xin looked deeply at Su Ming.
He had a feeling that Su Ming hadn't been entirely truthful just now.
'This kid probably has other information confirming that the one coming from Spirit City this time is indeed a Titled Douluo.'
Chen Xin preferred to believe that Su Ming, because he was certain of this point, had guided the situation to force Zhao Tieshan to exert effort in searching for the hidden Titled Douluo. He was unwilling to believe that Su Ming had racked his brains to come up with those earlier arguments just to deceive Zhao Tieshan into action.
Could Su Ming be sure?
Of course, he could. He could even determine who was coming—Chrysanthemum and Ghost.
The key to his judgment was that he shared the same information as Yueguan—Qian Renxue had infiltrated the Heaven Dou Empire deeply, becoming the Crown Prince, Xue Qinghe.
Now, the Heaven Dou faction was practically equivalent to the Spirit Hall's Elder Hall faction. Therefore, if Spirit Hall were to send someone, it would definitely be from the Pope's faction. And the capable people the Pope's faction could send were pretty much just the Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo.
As for why it couldn't be a Spirit Douluo or a lower-ranked emissary, it naturally came down to importance.
As long as Bibi Dong attached enough importance, the person sent would definitely carry weight.
If Su Ming remembered correctly, the two pieces Miles had auctioned off were both Thousand Refined One Peak Blood Essence Iron—a not-too-rare metal. Among the twelve pieces of Spirit Metal at that auction, five were Blood Essence Iron, and the other seven were Heavy Silver.
Miles had auctioned two pieces, both Blood Essence Iron. When he sent word to Spirit Hall, he would have necessarily sent at least one piece of Thousand Refined Blood Essence Iron back.
After Thousand Refinement, the special effects of Rare metals will be enhanced. The special effect of Thousand Refined Blood Essence Iron was very direct: it could temporarily enhance physical strength.
As a twin-spirit master, Bibi Dong couldn't possibly fail to understand the significance of physical strength to herself.
The enhancement Amplitude provided by Thousand Refined Blood Essence Iron wasn't large, but it was definitely present.
Of course, one couldn't spare extra effort to resonate with the Thousand Refined Blood Essence Iron while absorbing a spirit ring. But what about Spirit Refined Blood Essence Iron fused directly into the body?
Bibi Dong didn't know about Spirit Refinement yet. But just based on the fact that resonating with Thousand Refined Blood Essence Iron could enhance physical strength, it wouldn't stop her from wanting Blood Essence Iron forged with even higher-level techniques. She would think that since the Blacksmith Association dared to expose what they had now, they might have even more advanced techniques held back.
Therefore, she would send capable subordinates to properly investigate.
Could Spirit Refinement be exposed?
Not yet.
But Fusion Forging could.
The amplification degree of Fusion Forging was still limited, but it could also fuse into a spirit master's body and could incorporate the properties of other rare metals.
This was also the maximum extent of exposure in his original plan.
The Fusion Forging technique alone was enough to gain the Spirit Hall's attention. With their support, the association's subsequent development would be much easier.
In Su Ming's plan, exposing Fusion Forging was also divided into two steps. First, expose the ability of Fusion Forged Spirit Alloy to fuse into a spirit master's body, but do not expose the Spirit Alloy formula using Blood Essence Iron as a material. Use the pretext of development to secure support from Spirit Hall.
Spirit Hall was full of talent and had immense influence. With their support, more talent could be attracted to the forging cause, and the expansion of the Blacksmith Association could be further promoted.
"The Star Luo Empire side has revealed its claws here. Next, as long as the Spirit Hall personnel arrive, whether they did it or not, it will be blamed on them. This way, the association can occupy the moral high ground during cooperation."
Of course, Su Ming still hadn't forgotten the possibility of Spirit Hall staging the incident themselves.
To be honest, Miles really wasn't a good person, having numerous conflicts with the former Blacksmith Association. For a Platinum Bishop's status, he only had Spirit Emperor cultivation... He looked exactly like a pawn that could be discarded at any time.
Precisely because of this, Su Ming still hadn't dismissed this suspicion.
Noticing Su Ming still seemed to be deep in thought, Zhu Jiuyang spoke up, "Xiao Ming, do you still have some doubts?"
"Teacher, if it really was done by the Star Luo Royal Family, then they were not necessarily too decisive, and..." Su Ming paused, then continued, "It's too offensive."
(End of Chapter)