Zhen Hua replied, "We'll be firm backers of yours at all times, but what you have to understand is that regardless of whether it's us, or the Tang Sect, or any other power who wants to support you, no one will step in unless the time is right. We're not doing this because we're selfish and solely looking out for ourselves; the issue is that all of us represent more than just ourselves, do you understand?"

"I do," Tang Wulin replied with a nod.

Zhen Hua continued, "If it were 10,000 years ago, individual powerful beings could resolve a lot of problems. Under those circumstances, I would've advised you to reach at least the Titled Douluo level, and perhaps even the Limit Douluo level before you consider reviving Shrek Academy. However, with the rapid advancements of soul technology, even Limit Douluos are no longer invincible. Otherwise, no one would've been able to destroy Shrek Academy.

"At the same time, the military's attitude is very important; you have to do your best to garner support from the military. At the same time, you have to be wary of the Spirit Pagoda. Qiangu Dongfeng is a very ambitious man, and it can be said that the Qiangu Family are the main beneficiaries to the destruction of Shrek Academy. The Spirit Pagoda has also released synthetic black soul spirits and drastically lowered the prices of synthetic purple soul spirits, so they are truly at the height of their powers. As such, now would not be a good time to directly clash with them."

Mu Chen stretched lazily as he interjected, "Wulin, if you require anything in forging, both your uncle-teacher and myself will be more than happy to support you. You've already reached a level where you can handle a suit of three-word battle armor, right? You should complete your three-word battle armor as soon as possible. Once you reach the Titled Douluo level, you can get your uncle-teacher to forge you a set of heavenly refined metals to use as an inferior substitute, then forge something for yourself once you're capable of doing so."

Zhen Hua flared up with rage upon hearing this. "Inferior substitute? Is my heavenly refinement that worthless in your eyes?"

A disdainful look appeared on Mu Chen's face. "It's pretty mediocre. If you hadn't had those miraculous strokes of luck back in the day, how could you have possibly become a Divine Blacksmith?"

A surge of warmth flowed through Tang Wulin's heart as his teacher and uncle-teacher bickered with one another. This feeling of warmth was something that he hadn't experienced in a very, very long time.

"Alright, let's stop bickering about these useless matters. Wulin, seeing as you're close to the eighth rank, forge something for us before you leave," Zhen Hua said. It was clear that he wanted to offer Tang Wulin some guidance.

Being close to the eighth rank and actually reaching it were two completely different concepts, and this was also an extremely important step to be taken. If he could establish a good foundation for himself as an eighth-rank blacksmith, then there would be a greater chance for him to become a Divine Blacksmith in the future.

Tang Wulin may have become a Saint Blacksmith in his early twenties, but neither Mu Chen nor Zhen Hua dared to proclaim that he would definitely become a Divine Blacksmith in the future.

The step to be taken from Saint Blacksmith to Divine Blacksmith was like a massive gulf, and exceptional luck was required to take this step. Otherwise, no one would be able to reach that level no matter how hard they tried.

Mu Chen had already been stumped by this bottleneck for 20 years without being able to take that final step. Tang Wulin clearly had a far greater chance of taking this step than he did, but no one dared to proclaim that he would definitely reach that level.

"Yes!"

Zhen Hua's private forging room was undoubtedly the most high-end one in the entire federation. It was completely isolated from the outside world, and only in the forging room could one hear the sounds of forging. The room had also been reinforced to the highest level, and it could be said that this was Tang Wulin's favorite place; just the uncommon metals that lined the entire wall were extremely appealing to him.

Some of the uncommon metals that Zhen Hua had here were ones that he had only seen in pictures elsewhere, and they were all priceless treasures. Only a Divine Blacksmith like Zhen Hua could get his hands on such precious metals.

A faint smile appeared on Zhen Hua's face at the sight of Tang Wulin's intense gaze. "If you can reach the Divine Blacksmith level, I'll give you everything here, including this entire forging room, how about that?"

"Really?" Tang Wulin's eyes immediately lit up. As a seasoned cheapskate, the prospect of being able to inherit so many precious things was an extremely alluring one to him. Furthermore, some of these uncommon metals couldn't even be bought with money! On top of that, Zhen Hua's forging bench was constructed from soul refined metals with a layer of heavenly refined metals on its surface; even a full-force attack from a Limit Douluo may not be enough to destroy it. For a low-grade or mid-grade blacksmith, a forging bench of this caliber wouldn't be much different from a normal forging bench. However, for Saint Blacksmiths and above, such a forging bench could improve their success rate by at least 10%.

Almost all Zhen Hua's heavenly refined metals had been forged here, so one could only imagine just how valuable this forging room was; its value could not be measured in monetary terms.

"Don't fall for his sly tricks! He's willing to give you everything here, but he's also going to offload all of his responsibilities onto you! Besides, this place belongs to the blacksmith association, so it's not even his to give!" Mu Chen hurriedly cautioned.

Zhen Hua turned to glare at him in an enraged manner. "Why are you sabotaging me? I offered this position to you, and you didn't want it; you can't dissuade someone else from taking it!"

Mu Chen smiled, and replied, "I've already gotten what I wanted the most. You've already made your choice, so there's no use regretting it."

A wry smile appeared on Zhen Hua's face. "I've been regretting my decision for several decades now, but what good will that do? It's not like we can go back to the past. Besides, even if I were given a second chance, I'd probably make the same choice anyway. This is just a product of my personality; there's no use lamenting over spilled milk."

Tang Wulin scratched his head, and said, "Uncle-teacher, if I inherit your forging room, do I have to become the president of the blacksmith association?"

Zhen Hua smiled, and asked, "Don't you think it's about time I found a successor for myself? Don't worry, I know you have a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders, so I won't force you to constantly stay at our association. However, you have to at least be the president on an in-name basis. After all, by the time you inherit this position from me, you'll already be a Divine Blacksmith, and the association needs a Divine Blacksmith as its leader."

"Alright, I agree," Tang Wulin accepted this offer almost without any hesitation.

Mu Chen and Zhen Hua were both slightly surprised by this. Both of them knew Tang Wulin very well, and even though he was quite young, he knew that he definitely wasn't the type of person to make rash snap decisions. There were indeed many precious materials here in Zhen Hua's forging room, but as a Saint Blacksmith, it wouldn't be impossible for Tang Wulin to gather such a collection for himself if he were willing to put in the time and effort.

Tang Wulin smiled at the sight of the surprised expressions on Zhen Hua and Mu Chen's faces, and said, "It's all thanks to Teacher and Uncle-teacher that I've become who I am today, so I certainly can't shirk my responsibilities when the blacksmith association needs me. As a disciple, it is my duty to share the load with my teachers."

Zhen Hua burst into elated laughter upon hearing this. "Good on you, Wulin! I'm very happy to hear that you think that way."

In contrast, Mu Chen heaved a faint sigh. "You really have grown up, Wulin."

He knew that Tang Wulin's words were genuine, but at the same time, he also understood that this arrangement would tie the blacksmith association to Tang Wulin to a certain extent. As such, if he were to truly begin reviving Shrek Academy in the future, the association would be compelled to lend him its assistance. Hence, Tang Wulin was killing two birds with one stone here.

He had truly already grown up and was no longer the naive child he once was.

Tang Wulin stepped up to the forging bench, and asked, "Uncle-teacher, what kind of metal will I be using?"

The difficulty of soul refinement differed vastly depending on the type of metal used.

Zhen Hua waved a hand, and a piece of metal rose up from the nearby shelf before landing on the forging bench.

"Use this one. If you refine it well, I'll give it to you free of charge, but if you can't satisfy my standards, then you'll have to pay for it."

Tang Wulin lowered his head to look down at the piece of metal, upon which a shocked expression immediately appeared on his face. He then abruptly turned to Zhen Hua, and said, "Uncle-teacher, this, this is way too valuable!"

In terms of pure value alone, the piece of metal that was currently sitting on his forging bench definitely ranked among the top three of the hundreds of types of metals in this entire forging room. On top of that, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was the rarest type of metal in the entire room. Even more importantly, this type of metal was truly extremely useful to Tang Wulin.

He had already prepared the metals for the construction of his own suit of three-word battle armor, and all that was left for him to do was integrate his current suit of two-word battle armor, then mold the shape of the battle armor before carving the core circuits.

The main use for this piece of metal was as an intermediary agent as it could maximize the level of affinity between any metals. In other words, with the addition of this type of uncommon metal, the harmony rate of any spirit alloy that was forged would be raised to 100%, no matter how many types of metals were used to create the alloy. Of course, the prerequisite to this was that the alloy forging had to be successful. Even so, this piece of metal would still drastically decrease the difficulty of metal fusion!

The piece of metal was of a faint blue color, but there were golden thread-like strands within it, making it appear as if it were a combination of golden threads submerged in blue water. As such, it was given the name Goldwater Consonance, and it possessed both metal and water elements, fusing the two perfectly as one.

It had an affinity with all other types of metals and could also fuse with any other type of metal to become a part of that metal. However, it was extremely rare, and its value far exceeded that of the vast majority of metals. As such, no one would be willing to convert it into another type of metal.