Douluo: Brains Over Bloodline

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Shrek Academy.

Inner Court.

Sea God Lake.

Above, a middle-aged man with fiery red hair held aloft a block of metal radiating dark crimson energy.

Higher above, thunderous roars filled the air as an overwhelming divine presence blanketed Shrek Academy, plunging the entire academy into an oppressive atmosphere.

"What is this?"

An inner court disciple burst out of their seclusion room, looking up at the sky. Seeing the terrifying elemental storm clouds, they were utterly shocked.

They had never witnessed an elemental tribulation before, nor did they know what the scene of successful Heavenly Forging looked like.

But after witnessing the earlier manifestation of spiritual power and now seeing the fiery figure holding the dark red metal, they naturally understood that this was forging—Heavenly Forging.

The fact that a tribulation had been triggered already said everything.

Even if this attempt failed, it wouldn't diminish the fact that Feng Wuyu was already a Heavenly Forging-level blacksmith.

The aura of the tribulation wasn't confined to the inner court; its terrifying divine pressure concentrated there, but the massive fluctuations of primal energy spread outward, reaching the outer court and even most of Shrek City.

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Spirit Pagoda.

At the top floor of his office, Qiangu Dongfeng stood by the window, gazing in the direction of Shrek's inner court.

Though he couldn't see exactly what was happening above the inner court, this terrifying tribulation clearly wasn't a good sign.

"Have we figured out what's going on?"

Qiangu Dongfeng's secretary behind him wore a grim expression, shaking his head. "Our grasp of information from Shrek has grown weaker recently. We can only rely on observations. Based on the latest reports from the front lines, there are four elemental forces surrounding the core of the tribulation. This appears to be the elemental tribulation triggered by a successful Heavenly Forging."

Qiangu Dongfeng's expression darkened instantly.

Heavenly Forging!

This was a highly sensitive term.

Any blacksmith capable of performing Heavenly Forging would naturally become the center of the continent.

Whether as a blacksmith or a battle armor master, they would form the core of various structures.

Why? Because Heavenly Forged metals were the foundation of four-word battle armors. A god-tier blacksmith capable of Heavenly Forging could produce enough Heavenly Forged metals in their lifetime to cultivate more than ten four-word battle armor masters.

And every single four-word battle armor master was undoubtedly one of the most elite existences on the continent.

Currently, while not every four-word battle armor master had reached the quasi-god level, all quasi-gods—excluding evil soul masters—were four-word battle armor masters.

Even the two quasi-god-level evil soul masters had battle armors that, due to special circumstances, rivaled four-word battle armors.

This alone highlighted the immense value of four-word battle armors.

Without four-word battle armors, becoming a half-god might be the pinnacle.

But the advent of four-word battle armors allowed soul masters to further transcend their own limits.

Ten thousand years ago, the emergence of Level 10 soul tools might have granted certain Limit Douluo quasi-god-level power, but that wasn't the soul master's inherent strength.

The enhancement provided by four-word battle armors was fundamental.

As defined, battle armors were worn by martial souls, directly fusing with them. By the time one reached the four-word stage, the battle armor itself had become an integral part of the soul master's martial soul. Through the power harnessed via the four-word battle armor, soul masters could truly internalize and digest that strength through their connection.

Above Feng Wuyu's head, the four-colored tribulation finally took shape.

Xu Yuan looked up at the sky, analyzing whether this Heavenly Forging would succeed based on the four elements within the tribulation.

Triggering the tribulation essentially meant success—it indicated that the blacksmith had done everything perfectly.

In terms of forging, the standards had been met. Thus, triggering the tribulation was already a success.

However, Heavenly Forging also aimed to produce the final forged metal. Only surviving the tribulation counted as true success.

Generally speaking, ordinary rare metals couldn't withstand Heavenly Forging—or even Spirit Forging—but this Dark Yang Stone was of exceptionally high quality. It inherently possessed extreme attributes, particularly the extremely advanced yang attribute.

This made the Dark Yang Stone capable of enduring the highest level of Spirit Forging strikes.

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Feng Wuyu's ability to elevate the Dark Yang Stone to Heavenly Forging stemmed from the uniqueness of his forging method.

He directly communicated with the soul of the metal, awakening it.

Such a forging technique was unheard of.

The essence of Heavenly Forging lay in comprehending the laws of heaven and earth and imprinting those laws onto the forged metal, granting it abilities. The elemental tribulation was the tangible manifestation of this baptism of laws.

Typically, at least four elemental forces were required for Heavenly Forging.

A single rare metal, without undergoing fusion forging, was too biased in its properties and lacked versatility. In theory, it shouldn't be able to undergo Heavenly Forging. Even if it could withstand the forging process, it wouldn't balance at least four elemental forces.

The pairing of elemental forces with the chosen metal was another crucial aspect of Heavenly Forging.

Xu Yuan hadn't yet learned all of this.

Still, he could make simple analyses.

The four elements in the current tribulation were fire, metal, earth, and light.

Fire and metal aligned perfectly with the Dark Yang Stone.

Though called a "stone," the Dark Yang Stone was solid metal once refined, and it didn't conflict with the earth element either.

Additionally, the light element subtly resonated with the Dark Yang Stone.

Under these conditions, balancing the four elements would be relatively easier.

Of course, everything still depended on fate.

Elemental tribulations, no matter how theoretically compatible with the metal being forged, could never guarantee 100% success—not even a 50% success rate.

Holding the Dark Yang Stone, Feng Wuyu looked up at the tribulation in the sky and smiled calmly.

He wasn't the least bit worried.

If it were Zhen Hua, he might have been cautious, but Feng Wuyu was a Super Douluo—a Level 98 Super Douluo.

His spiritual power had broken through to the Spirit Domain Realm, and he was just one step away from condensing a soul core to become a Limit Douluo!

This tribulation, when calculated, was equivalent to a beast calamity lasting two or three decades.

For a Level 98 Super Douluo, there was absolutely no danger.

As for the metal in his hand?

Feng Wuyu took a deep breath, releasing his soul power to perfectly fuse with the Dark Yang Stone. The stone transformed into a radiant light and merged into his body.

Below, Xu Yuan watched with wide eyes.

Not only was the method of awakening life unique, but Feng Wuyu's approach to enduring the tribulation was groundbreaking.

This might very well become a new school of Heavenly Forging.

The tribulation descended.

The four-colored tribulation formed a spiral of golden, yellow, red, and white light, integrating into the storm.

Four-colored lightning struck.

BANG!

Feng Wuyu let out a mighty roar, a dragon's cry echoing across the inner court.

Fire Dragon True Body!

A fire dragon exhaled a torrent of dragon breath, its extreme flames colliding with the four-colored lightning.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The lightning fell relentlessly, quickly extinguishing the dragon's breath.

But the fire dragon still had strength left. Swinging its claws, it unleashed a terrifying claw strike, shattering countless bolts of lightning.

Scattered remnants of lightning rained down on the fire dragon's body, permeating its entire form.

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