Zhen Hua was standing not far away, and even though he was trying his best not to show it, his eyes were filled with amazement.
Did Tang Wulin necessarily possess superior forging aptitude compared to him? Zhen Hua didn't believe this to be the case. In fact, he had never conceded inferiority to anyone when it came to forging aptitude, even his forefathers.
However, after reaching the heavenly refinement level, forging aptitude was no longer the only thing that mattered; one's abilities played a very important role as well.
Currently, Tang Wulin's heavenly refinement success rate was at around 35%, and this was due to the fact that there were many unpredictable elements in the process of heavenly refinement.
In contrast, Zhen Hua's heavenly refinement success rate was only 11%.
This didn't mean that Tang Wulin had already exceeded Zhen Hua; in terms of technique and experience, he was still significantly lacking. However, he was far better at handling elemental tribulations than Zhen Hua, and that was what resulted in his significantly higher success rate.
To put it in simpler terms, if Zhen Hua also had Devouring Heaven and Earth and an Infernal Lightning Vine soul spirit, his heavenly refinement success rate would most likely swell to over 60%. Unfortunately for him, he didn't possess such assets, and this made Zhen Hua realize that even if one wanted to dedicate all of their focus on forging, cultivation was still necessary.
Only a truly powerful Soul Master could become an exceptional Divine Blacksmith!
Tang Wulin already had no issues performing heavenly refinement on one type of metal, but ever since he began attempting heavenly refinement on alloys, his failure rate had begun to climb.
Zhen Hua was most amazed by the rate at which Tang Wulin was improving. With each heavenly refinement, Zhen Hua felt as if Tang Wulin would undergo an evolution.
As a Divine Blacksmith, he had extremely sharp senses when it came to fundamental changes taking place around him, and he was confident in his own judgment. Not only had Tang Wulin achieved heavenly refinement, he had found something that he needed the most.
To him, heavenly refinement was the best method of cultivation. He had already forgotten his initial agreement with Zhen Hua, and at this point, he wouldn't be willing to leave even if Zhen Hua tried to chase him away. There was no one to disrupt him here, and he also had access to the best facilities for heavenly refinement.
Through his heavenly refinement, he was improving both in heavenly refinement itself, as well as in his cultivation.
"Boom!" The final bolt of tribulation lightning fell, and even though the Infernal Lightning Vine had absorbed a part of it, smoke was still rising up from his entire body from the lightning strike.
Thankfully, his immensely powerful physical constitution meant that he was able to withstand the lightning strike without sustaining any substantial damage.
Unfortunately, the piece of alloy that he was forging clearly hadn't evolved, which meant that he had failed yet again.
In its current state, this piece of alloy could only be considered to have undergone faux heavenly refinement.
The higher the caliber of a piece of metal, the more powerful the elemental tribulation it would attract.
The Infernal Lightning Vine had an insatiable appetite for tribulation lightning, but it was precisely due to its insatiable nature that Tang Wulin didn't dare to allow it to absorb too much in case it self-detonated.
The Infernal Lightning Vine had already reached a point of saturation, so he would have to stop for the day.
He summoned the Infernal Lightning Vine for examination and discovered that its bluish-purple color had become darker than before. What was even more intriguing was that each and every vine was shimmering with rainbow light that could only be discerned upon careful inspection, and its aura was completely different from when Tang Wulin had first obtained it.
Elemental tribulation was feared by countless Saint Blacksmiths, yet it was a brilliant catalyst for growth in Tang Wulin's eyes.
Not only could it create divine-grade metals, it could also help him refine his Infernal Lightning Vine and his own body.
After mastering the Body Sect's congenital secret method, Tang Wulin had thought that he had reached his peak physical constitution, but these elemental tribulations had presented a new way for him to refine his own body.
Of course, he had to be very careful when using elemental tribulation to cultivate in order to avoid breaking his Golden Dragon King seal.
However, as his physical constitution had continued to improve, he could clearly sense that his next Golden Dragon King seal showed no signs of loosening.
Furthermore, he had a feeling that even if the next seal were to be broken, it wouldn't pose much of a threat to him.
During the next half a month, he spent the vast majority of his time in the blacksmith association practicing heavenly refinement, and he would meditate whenever his Infernal Lightning Vine and body were unable to bear continuing any longer.
He naturally also participated in the rest of the elimination stage during this time, and his luck turned out to be very good as Ao Wuchang was the most powerful opponent he faced.
He had encountered one other Soul Douluo after Ao Wuchang, but that opponent wasn't even as powerful as Ao Wuchang and was brushed aside with ease. Thus, he secured four victories out of four matches and progressed to the round-robin stage.
All types of promotional material for the round-robin stage had already been released, and even seeds had been predicted for each group.
With only 100 participants left, everything became a lot more manageable. The Spirit Pagoda had announced a three-day break to improve the venue, following which the round-robin stage would officially commence.
The stakes in the round-robin stage didn't seem to be as high as a loss wouldn't equate to immediate elimination, but every single match was still very important as only the top participant in each group could progress to the final 10.
Lots had to be drawn to decide the groups, and all of the 100 remaining participants were required to attend the lots-drawing ceremony.
As Tang Wulin arrived at the Bright City Sports Stadium, he was looking rather weary and sleep-deprived.
He cast his gaze around him and discovered many familiar figures, including Qiangu Zhangting and Lan Fuozi.
Following their separation on that day, Tang Wulin had kept tabs on her matches, and he discovered that she really was staying to participate in the rest of the event. She didn't take the initiative to seek out Tang Wulin, and the two of them acted like complete strangers.
However, she had left a very strong impression on Tang Wulin, and now, she was also in the top 100.
Could it be that she really wanted to fight for a spot in the final 10?
Lan Fuozi seemed to have sensed Tang Wulin's gaze, and she turned to face him. As their eyes met, Lan Fuozi gave him a vicious glare before turning away, leaving Tang Wulin feeling rather bemused.
Following the renovations, the entire Bright City Sports Stadium had been transformed. There was only one competition platform left in the entire venue, and in contrast with the square platforms from before, this was a circular platform with a diameter of 300 meters, so it was significantly larger than the previous ones.
A giant screen that was 50 meters tall had been constructed across from the rostrum, and even though the lots-drawing ceremony was a very grand event, it wasn't open to the general public. As such, there were no spectators in attendance, but the event was going to be broadcasted live to the entire continent.
In order to ensure fairness, the Spirit Pagoda had invited personnel from the Battle God Hall to oversee the ceremony. Each participant had received a new number prior to entering the stadium, and a machine had been set up directly under the large screen.
The machine was comprised of a massive glass cover, within which were placed 100 small balls, each of which held a number that corresponded to a certain participant.
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