"Faith!"
Among the many methods Su Ming mastered, faith was undoubtedly the most sophisticated.
"As long as Tang Hao and Tang San learn my Spirit Infusion Technique, there will be faith belonging to me."
This point was unrelated to their intentions.
Just like how the Angel God occupied the status of a Sky God, the concept of the sky itself constantly provided her with vast amounts of faith, which was also a crucial support for her Godhood.
The Spirit Infusion Technique was uniquely created by Su Ming in the Douluo 1 era. Anyone who learns Spirit Infusion will generate faith belonging to Su Ming.
"With Tang San's skill at stealing techniques, even if Tang Hao doesn't act, I feel he could manage to steal it."
Su Ming didn't think it mattered much if the forging techniques were learned by Tang San.
This was destined from the moment the development model for the Blacksmith Association was decided.
Tang San was bound to learn forging techniques; the key was whether he could master them thoroughly.
"You kid, preparing to release the Spirit Refinement technique so soon?"
Dugu Bo was very surprised, not expecting Su Ming to have announced the breakthrough in Spirit Refinement technique so early.
"Just promoting the advancement of forging technology. I feel the Spirit Master world on the continent doesn't value forging enough yet, so of course, I need to add fuel to the fire."
Although Su Ming said this, it was actually out of helplessness.
Many factors contributed to his decision.
First, he wanted to use Spirit Refinement to further spread forging technology, thereby indirectly lowering the threshold for the Tang Hao father-son pair to learn forging techniques through underhanded means. Lowering the threshold meant smaller losses for the Blacksmith Association.
Second, he truly couldn't amass too much profit in this era.
The benefits the Douluo 2 him could obtain without Spirit Refinement couldn't be exchanged for even with Spirit Refinement in the Douluo 1 era.
Another three months passed.
Still in that same valley.
Tang Hao returned with good news.
"Spirit Souls and Spirit Infusion, these are the keys to the forging techniques. I've seized them for you."
Tang San was overjoyed.
"Can I finally obtain my third Spirit Ring?"
"Yes, just fuse a Spirit Soul for your third Spirit Ring. I've also gathered much information. Spirit Infusion has a lot to do with the Spirit Soul's aptitude, but no matter what, forging treats metal as life to be forged. A life-attribute Spirit Soul is the most compatible."
A life-attribute Spirit Beast?
Tang San's heart trembled.
His first and second Spirit Rings were already on the path of poison. If he changed to a life attribute for the third ring, it would mean his previous cultivation was wasted.
Not only that, but he had already added a poison attribute to his Blue Silver Grass, which would become a permanent flaw in his Blue Silver Grass Martial Spirit.
"It's fine. Having that bit of poison is acceptable. At worst, we can use poison to temper the metal," Tang Hao said.
Tang San breathed a sigh of relief.
"Then, Father, where do we go to hunt for a spirit?"
"Hunt? Unnecessary. I've already found the most suitable Spirit Soul for you."
Saying this, Tang Hao led Tang San to the outskirts of the valley. A half-dead Blue Silver Grass was desperately taking root downwards, trying to draw vitality from the earth to sustain itself.
"Blue Silver Grass?"
Tang San was somewhat disappointed.
"To be precise, a Blue Silver King. This is a Blue Silver Grass with the qualifications of a king, but its cultivation is only a thousand years," Tang Hao explained. "Your Blue Silver Grass possesses the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline, granting you natural dominance over Blue Silver Grass. It becoming your Spirit Soul will only become an extension of your senses and is absolutely the most beneficial for you to learn Spirit Infusion."
Hearing this, Tang San nodded.
He gritted his teeth and made a decision.
At worst, it would waste one Spirit Skill; that was something he could accept.
An hour later.
Tang San absorbed this thousand-year Blue Silver King as his Spirit Soul.
"Father, I want to learn Spirit Infusion."
"So fast? He's already fused a Spirit Soul?"
After Tang San fused the Spirit Soul, Su Ming sensed it immediately.
Electrolux was truly reliable.
The Douluo 2 him had sought help from Electrolux, using the pretext of preventing Evil Spirit Masters from stealing forging techniques and corrupting the forging and Spirit Soul ethos, to have Electrolux develop two faith secret arts for him.
Electrolux gladly accepted.
He was already very interested in faith.
The two faith secret arts: one for tracking, the other for Fortune Seizing.
Tracking, as the name implies, allows precise tracking of a desired target based on faith. Su Ming 'developed' this secret art specifically to track Tang San in Douluo 1, showing single-minded devotion, and also refined the conditions of this art to the extreme.
I will only track Tang San.
In return, it naturally had an excellent tracking effect.
The moment Tang San fused the Spirit Soul, he sensed it immediately.
"He fused a Spirit Soul, so it must be for his third ring. This faith... doesn't have the feeling of a Human-Faced Demon Spider. It seems the Eight Spider Lances have nothing to do with him."
From this perspective, Su Ming felt it wasn't a loss.
The second secret art, Fortune Seizing, wasn't about plundering luck.
The effect of this art was actually the opposite of Su Ming using forging faith to assist his own forging.
Su Ming could use faith to help himself have sudden inspirations, break through barriers, and even help other blacksmiths.
Fortune Seizing, on the other hand, allowed him to suppress a blacksmith's success.
They were part of the same system.
All the potential Su Ming seized from Tang San was transferred to the blacksmiths of the Blacksmith Association.
So far, all of Su Ming's plans were proceeding smoothly.
"Let me see where you father and son are hiding."
Sensing Tang San's faith, Su Ming immediately initiated tracking.
He took out a map of the continent and, comparing it with his feeling, quickly determined a vague direction.
"This place... is indeed suitable for hiding. Could it be they've hidden in that valley ahead of time?"
A flash of light passed through Su Ming's eyes.
The valley with A Yin!
After all, she was a reusable hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beast, still quite valuable.
Especially since the Blue Silver Emperor possesses the life attribute.
"My fourth Spirit Ring is already ten-thousand years. I definitely can't absorb a hundred-thousand-year ring for the fifth. Should I harvest A Yin after cultivating her to ten-thousand years?"
Su Ming frowned.
In his plan, he had basically already regarded A Yin as his future Spirit Ring.
"That might work. The Blue Silver clan is indeed special. Tang San could crowdsource to condense a Spirit Ring; perhaps I can crowdsource to increase a Spirit Ring's age limit."
"Hmm, that's it. First, cultivate A Yin to about forty or fifty thousand years, harvest her at the limit my fifth Spirit Ring can bear, and later, when my capacity increases, find a Blue Silver King to help increase the Spirit Ring's age limit."
There were many difficulties to overcome, but undoubtedly, the feasibility was high.
"Tang Hao, oh Tang Hao, when will you take your son and run away from home again..."
Su Ming activated the tracking secret art to further confirm the location of the Tang father and son.
Three days later.
"Not just the faith from the Spirit Soul anymore; the forging faith has finally appeared too. Tang San has Spirit Soul faith and forging faith; my tracking error is no more than ten meters. Tang Hao also has a faint trace of forging faith, remnants from his former title of Divine Blacksmith."
"Hmm, now everything is ready."
***
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(Chapter End)