Tianlin took the Nine-Lustre Spirit Core and Dragonfall Divine Iron—since storage soul tools couldn't hold them, he had to carry them himself.
Actually, this was a bit of a headache. Good as they were, in the world of Douluo Dalu, they were basically useless. Even Lou Gao would struggle to forge anything with them.
They were treasures that were too good to use.
"Amazing! It really is the Nine-Lustre Spirit Core and Dragonfall Divine Iron?" came an awed voice from the Spirit Pearl—descendant of Nuwa.
"Big sister Nuwa, are these stones really that amazing?" Skydream Ice Silkworm asked. It was the first time it had seen her so shocked.
"Of course, they are, big fat worm! I need to reassess your world. Even though your power system isn't the strongest, it's unique—gods here can attain immortality. In my original world, many cultivators might be stronger than your gods, but if they're not truly immortal, they're limited by lifespan. In that sense, your world is quite unique. And now, you can find divine stones here that take hundreds of thousands of years to form—like the Nine-Lustre Spirit Core and Dragonfall Divine Iron!" Nuwa's descendant exclaimed.
"These stones aren't just about time. The Nine-Lustre Spirit Core requires three powers—essence, energy, and spirit. Essence is the power of life, energy is destructive force, and spirit is a gathering of earth, water, fire, wind, thunder, plus yin and yang—nine forces in all, hence the name. Looks like your world has similar rules to mine, just weaker. Even so, you'd be lucky to find one or two such stones in your entire world."
"As for Dragonfall Divine Iron, it's simpler. It forms where a dragon falls. If a dragon dies and its blood lands on high-grade ore, after hundreds of thousands of years, it becomes Dragonfall Divine Iron."
"What can they be used for?" Skydream Ice Silkworm asked, seeing Tianlin happy but not too excited, and wondered about their value.
"Nothing! Your world's blacksmiths can't use them." Nuwa's descendant dashed their hopes. "The Qing Jue Sword and Feiwen Illuminates the Sun you mentioned are peerless weapons, but still within mortal reach."
"But the Nine-Lustre Spirit Core and Dragonfall Divine Iron are for making immortal artifacts. In the God Realm, the strongest weapons require these materials."
"For example, the God Realm's top general Fei Peng's Zhaodan Divine Sword was made by Emperor Fuxi from Zhaodan Spring Soul, fused with Meteorite Divine Iron. Dragonfall Divine Iron is on par with Meteorite Divine Iron. When fused with the Spring Soul of Yanbo Spring, it made the Yanbo Blood Blade, the strongest weapon of Demon Realm Lord Zhonglou."
"And the Nine-Lustre Spirit Core—legend says Fuxi combined it with divine wood and Spring Nourishing Power to create a sword that could cut through the seals of the Six Realms: the Chun Zi Sword. I can tell you, fat worm, that each of those three weapons far surpasses your world's super artifacts. Now do you see what these two stones mean?"
Skydream Ice Silkworm nodded in shock. Even with its low IQ, it understood: these were materials for super artifacts, but in a human blacksmith's hands, they were useless. No wonder Tianlin was pleased but not ecstatic—no one could use them.
"Then, big sis, why are you so excited?" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm asked.
"Of course I'm excited! Even in your God Realm, they might be useless, but they ended up with Xiao Tian. With them, if we can find the Zhaodan Divine Sword and combine it with the Demon Sword, that super divine weapon might reappear! Fat worm, I told you before—besides the Holy Spirit Pearl, there's an equally powerful evil artifact that came to this world with Xiao Tian. Originally, if he wanted to defeat its possessor, he'd need the Holy Spirit Pearl—just the Demon Sword wouldn't be enough."
"But now, if we can resurrect that divine weapon, that thing would be nothing! With both the Holy Spirit Pearl and a super divine weapon, nothing could stop Xiao Tian!"
"Really? The Zhaodan Divine Sword—is that the Demon-Suppressing Sword Xiao Tian mentioned? I know where it is!" Skydream Ice Silkworm had seen that sword before.
That sword was terrifying for soul beasts, suppressing all monsters. Even Di Tian, the Myriad Demon King, Bi Ji, and others feared it. In the Demonic Sword's eyes, soul beasts were all monsters.
Di Tian would never let that sword fall into human hands, so he must have sealed it away, not destroyed it.
"Xiao Tian, work hard! When you reach Titled Douluo, we'll find Di Tian and take back your divine weapon!"
Skydream Ice Silkworm used not to care about the sword, nor did it want Tianlin to face monsters like Di Tian. But now, for Tianlin's future, it was all in.
…
On the other side, back at the Blacksmith Association, Tianlin had no idea yet how these two stones would shape his future. He handed over Meyers' hoarded riches to the Blacksmith Association.
They deserved it—Meyers had always bid high at their auctions but never paid, causing the Association heavy losses.
So Si Long accepted the money without hesitation.
But he only took his rightful share and donated the rest.
With Meyers dead, life would be much better for the Blacksmith Association. Even if Spirit Hall sent a new overseer, however bad, he couldn't be worse than Meyers.
If so, Spirit Hall might as well be destroyed.
Tianlin told them that if the new overseer investigated Meyers' death, Si Long should just blame him—no need to worry about the Association.
He never intended to hide anything. Before, he'd only refrained from acting for Qian Renxue's sake.
Even if Spirit Hall learned it was him, what could they do? Now, whatever he did to Spirit Hall, he had a perfect excuse: revenge for the Soul Hunting operation.
They tried to wipe out his whole sect—wasn't he allowed to kill a scumbag or two in return?
Although Spirit Hall never admitted to the Soul Hunting operation, everyone knew, and Tianlin had evidence: the demon bear and porcupine elders' tokens were still with him.
If Spirit Hall pursued him over Meyers, he'd just reveal the truth, putting Spirit Hall at the center of the continent's ire—especially from the two empires, who would finally have a legitimate excuse to attack them.
So, for Spirit Hall now, as long as Tianlin didn't go too far, they could only endure. After all, they couldn't win in court, and they couldn't kill him—what else could they do?