Ning Tianya kept shaking his head.
He was feeling inflated with pride, but he still knew the distinction between levels. Right now, he was only a Spirit Elder; there was no way he could defeat Duan Jin, who was a Spirit Ancestor.
Zhu Jiuyang reminded him from the side, "Xiao Ming was talking about his Spirit Soul. His Spirit Soul is called Little Gold."
Although these disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, including Ning Tianya, had been in the Blacksmiths Association for a year, they had very little contact with Su Ming and the others. The entire association had many skilled blacksmiths in the past, and those who could teach them basic forging techniques were plentiful. There was no need for Su Ming to teach them personally. Additionally, Su Ming knew that cultivating his own strength was paramount, so he had been silently training all along.
Because of these reasons, Ning Tianya didn't know much about Su Ming's Spirit Master information.
Not to mention Ning Tianya, even Ning Fengzhi didn't have a deep understanding.
Su Ming hadn't updated his Spirit Master information at the Spirit Hall since he had two Spirit Rings. It was impossible to retrieve his information from the Spirit Hall. Ning Fengzhi only knew that Su Ming had a bear-type Spirit Soul and judged from its appearance that Little Gold was a Dark Gold Bear.
Hearing Zhu Jiuyang say that Little Gold was a Spirit Soul, Ning Tianya's face flushed red.
"You...!"
He was currently at the peak of his youthful arrogance, yet Su Ming looked down on him so much.
"If you can defeat Little Gold, I, as your teacher, will grant you the position of senior brother," Zhu Jiuyang spoke up to 'pacify' Ning Tianya.
Ning Tianya's forging talent was indeed good. He succeeded in Spirit Infusion on his fifth attempt, acquiring the prerequisite condition for performing Thousand Refined Spirit Metal, and could officially begin practicing the techniques for Thousand Refined Spirit Metal. He was already ahead of the starting line.
In Zhu Jiuyang's understanding, this indicated that Ning Tianya had a quite sharp intuition regarding spiritual nature. His future progress in forging probably wouldn't be slow either, so he accepted him as a disciple.
At the same time, Ning Tianya had just broken through, was young and vigorous, his heart swollen with pride, and proposed to become the senior brother.
Zhu Jiuyang decided to guide the situation accordingly. He came to Su Ming's side, preparing to have Su Ming teach this new disciple how to be a junior brother, which would also serve to establish some authority initially.
Given Ning Tianya's circumstances, the possibility of him becoming the main person in charge of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan within the association in the future was extremely high. Su Ming subduing him early would make it easier to control the association better in the future.
As for the situation where Su Ming couldn't defeat Ning Tianya, Zhu Jiuyang never even considered it.
What?
Are you saying Su Ming, with his three four-thousand-year Spirit Rings, can't defeat Ning Tianya with his two yellow and one purple rings?
Or are you saying Su Ming, with his Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear Spirit Soul, can't defeat Ning Tianya with his inferior Explosive Gold Bear Martial Spirit?
That's right, back when Little Gold evolved, Su Ming had already let Little Gold try to control his first Spirit Ring. Little Gold accomplished this, incorporating Su Ming's first Spirit Ring under his own 'command,' smoothly causing Su Ming's first Spirit Ring to anomalously change into a four-thousand-year ring.
Was Ning Tianya outstanding?
Of course, he was outstanding.
Zhu Jiuyang never denied that.
But Su Ming was definitely the most outstanding one.
Zhu Jiuyang didn't know how many attempts Little Gold and Su Ming used to develop Spirit Infusion, nor did he know how long it took Little Gold to master the Thousand Refined Spirit Metal forging technique. But he had witnessed Little Gold's performance after his forging technique took shape.
Zhu Jiuyang brought Little Gold and Ning Tianya to an empty field in the suburbs.
Ning Tianya wore an expression of indignation.
Damn Su Ming, he really couldn't even be bothered to come watch this match.
He glared fiercely at the harmless-looking Little Gold opposite him, vowing to teach Su Ming a lesson and make him understand the importance of Spirit Power level to a Spirit Master.
"Roar!"
(Let's start, I don't have much time either!)
Little Gold roared, urging Zhu Jiuyang.
"Tianya, if you're ready, just start the fight directly."
Ning Tianya had long been impatient.
He let out an angry roar, and possessed by his Martial Soul.
His Martial Soul was the Explosive Gold Bear, a branch lineage under the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear bloodline, on par with the Dark Gold Bear.
Besides being powerful, the Explosive Gold Bear also had an extremely high affinity for metals. This was also why he was selected by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan and sent to the Blacksmiths Association.
Besides having the Explosive Gold Bear as his Martial Soul, his Spirit Soul was also an Explosive Gold Bear!
The superposition of these two aspects gave him an affinity for metals far exceeding that of ordinary people.
This was also the reason he could master Hundred Refinements within a mere year.
As for being able to suddenly have an epiphany and complete Thousand Refinements on ordinary metal, followed by succeeding in Spirit Infusion on his fifth attempt, that was purely a matter of personal circumstance and chance.
When he was held hostage by Tang Hao, gritted his teeth to send a message according to the clan's training, and prepared himself for death, at that moment, Ning Tianya's perception was highly concentrated. He was ready to face death, and that state coincided with the process of the spiritual nature within that piece of Spirit Metal in the Heart Protection Mirror extinguishing.
Destruction and creation are always relative.
Having experienced the process of spiritual nature extinguishing, Ning Tianya gained an inexplicable sharp intuition in imparting spiritual nature to metal.
"Explosive Gold Bear, Possessed!"
Ning Tianya shouted.
His body grew a size larger, his entire person transforming to two meters tall. His eyes turned red, his body's muscles bulged, and a pair of arms became extremely thick and strong.
His hair took on a dark red hue.
Zhu Jiuyang stood to the side, already prepared to watch Ning Tianya suffer a setback.
Su Ming didn't take action personally?
It was even better that he didn't take action personally.
Just a Spirit Soul alone making Ning Tianya powerless to resist would be a more effective deterrent.
"Let me see what strength you have!"
Ning Tianya was quite principled; he actually gave Little Gold a chance to power up.
"Adjust your state, enter your strongest form."
Little Gold tilted his head.
He tried to release the aura of his bloodline that he usually kept.
"Still standing there da—"
Ning Tianya's words caught in his throat as his entire body began to tremble under the intimidation of Little Gold's aura.
His pupils contracted, his heart felt as if gripped by a hand, and he felt his breathing halt.
His legs couldn't help but tremble, feeling all his muscles turn weak and sore.
In his Sea of Consciousness, his Explosive Gold Bear Spirit Soul kept roaring, utterly panicked.
Little Gold placed his right hand in front of his eyes, glanced at his own bear claw, made a rough judgment, and then swung out his claw.
He just tilted his head and, in his half-person-tall mini form, casually and effortlessly swung out this claw.
However, Ning Tianya, opposite him, felt his entire body screaming with warning alarms.
A chill rose from the base of his spine, shooting straight to the crown of his head.
In his field of vision, five dark golden claws of light that filled his sight seemed to tear apart heaven and earth, already approaching his body.
Zhu Jiuyang, looking at the terrified Ning Tianya, directly intervened and saved him.
Ning Tianya's chin chattered up and down. Pointing at the five deep furrows plowed by the claw light just moments before, he complained in a grievous tone, on the verge of tears, "Teacher, d-don't use your own Spirit Soul to scare me like that!"
He was about to cry.
Zhu Jiuyang's face turned stern. He said seriously to Ning Tianya, "Tianya, your talent is good, but you are still too arrogant and conceited. What your teacher wants to tell you today is not to underestimate the Spirit Masters of the world. You must know there is always someone better, there is always a higher sky."
He paused for a moment, then told Ning Tianya the cruel truth very seriously.
"Little Gold is your senior brother Su Ming's Spirit Soul."
"Oh, wait, Xiao Ming might not necessarily be your senior brother either."
"Speaking of which, Tianya—"
Zhu Jiuyang smiled and stared at Ning Tianya. As Ning Tianya mechanically turned his head to look, his eyes staring blankly at him, Zhu Jiuyang asked softly.
"Do you still want to be the senior brother?"
(End of Chapter)