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--- Chapter 491 ---
When Han Tianyi first discovered that his grandson had not only achieved both Hundred Refinements and Thousand Refinements Forging, but had also successfully done a Spirit Forging all in a single forging session, his swift, rational thought was that Zhen Hua and Mu Ye were playing a joke on him.
Yet, the moment the Illusory Brain Douluo arrived at the chambers of the Blacksmith Association and witnessed Han Yuan casually tossing a small, adult-hand-sized block of radiant, starry silver metal between his palms like a common toy, he stood frozen, completely dumbfounded.
"..."
"Right? I told you he would look exactly like that," Mu Ye snickered from the side, crossing his massive arms with a look of pure satisfaction.
"To be completely fair, Old Han... we were just as shell-shocked when we realized Xiao Yuan could do all of this so quickly," Zhen Hua added, slowly shaking his head as he stared at the glowing metallic masterpiece in the boy's hand. "I did not even teach him that much..."
Han Tianyi quickly forced his racing mind back into composure, throwing a sharp, narrowing glare at the two older men who were openly enjoying his rare loss of control. "Explain... every single detail. Right now."
"Alright..." Zhen Hua replied with a shrug.
As the Divine Craftsman described the details. He started from the exact beginning of when Han Yuan learned forging from him, and slowly got the hang of it. But the boy unexpectedly got the Hundred Refinements and Thousand Refinements in one go.
Then, he even wanted to learn a higher level of forging, and Zhen Hua naturally guided him about Spirit Forging. And yet again, the genius boy successfully did it, and using the Power of Devouring to get rid of the impurities this time, elevating Spirit Forging to a whole other level.
Upon hearing all this, the Illusory Brain Douluo's brain genuinely seemed to short-circuit for a brief moment.
He wasn't the most knowledgeable about forging, but he still knew none of what his grandson did was easy. Yet, the silver-haired elder turned his gaze toward his grandson, his expression softening into one of helpless affection.
"Xiao Yuan... did you have fun forging?" Han Tianyi asked, his voice very gentle.
Han Yuan blinked his large silver eyes and caught the metal alloy he had just tossed into the air, a material he had internally dubbed SSS, or Starry Silver Steel.
He offered a bright, radiantly happy smile. "Yes! Forging is way more fun than I originally thought it would be!"
And that is the truth. Forging is indeed so much more fun than walking around and doing nothing.
"Then that is all that matters... You can forge as much as you want," Han Tianyi replied, a faint, incredibly gentle smile gracing his expression. "Just promise me you won't push yourself too hard, okay?"
"Remember, your bones and meridians are still growing. Forcing your body to handle tools that are too heavy and experience too many shocks can cause damage to your foundation."
"Okay! I understand, Grandpa Han!" Han Yuan nodded obediently, though his gaze was already drifting back down to analyze the internal structure of the Starry Silver Steel. This thing might become the first material for making his own Battle Armor, or even Mecha.
Mu Ye nudged Han Tianyi's shoulder with his elbow, whispering, "Wait, that's it? Are you not going to scold him or restrict his hours? I thought you were going to be angry."
"Why would I scold or restrict him?" Han Tianyi shook his head gently, his voice firm. "As long as Xiao Yuan genuinely enjoys the craft, I will never stand in his way."
"I am a bit angry at you guys... for not telling me beforehand, but as long as he was fine... Then everything is good."
Secretly, the silver-haired elder already swept his mental senses across Han Yuan's body. Upon confirming that the boy's Spirit Energy pathways, blood circulation, and muscles showed no signs of strain or tearing, he heaved a massive sigh of relief deep within his chest.
"You really are... a doting grandfather," Zhen Hua remarked, raising his arms in mock defeat.
In truth, the Divine Craftsman had deeply desired to test the limits of the boy's forging talent today. However, seeing Han Tianyi's hyper-vigilant protectiveness, he understood the caution.
Han Tianyi was terrified of Han Yuan reaching his physical limit too quickly and accidentally destroying his own monstrous foundation. It was out of this care for the child's well-being that Zhen Hua had also purposefully stopped the lesson at Spirit Forging, choosing not to mention or even push toward the next step of Blacksmithing, Soul Forging.
Han Tianyi rolled his eyes at Zhen Hua's comment before turning his full attention back to the silver-haired boy. "Xiao Yuan, get ready. Grandpa is going to take you to the Heaven Dou City Spirit Pagoda branch."
"Today, we will select your very first Spirit Soul."
"Grandpa Han, are you saying that I can begin my cultivation?!" Han Yuan immediately tossed the uninteresting chunk of Starry Silver Steel onto a nearby workbench, his bright eyes snapping to his grandfather with intense, burning expectation.
Han Tianyi nodded with a smile. "Indeed. However, you still need to choose before we go there. Do you wish to cultivate one martial soul at a time, or do you intend to cultivate both simultaneously?"
"The advantages and inherent disadvantages are exactly as I detailed to you yesterday..."
"This..." Han Yuan fell into deep, silent contemplation.
Logically speaking, cultivating two martial souls at the same time shouldn't pose an issue for him. He possessed both the monstrous Spirit King physique to withstand the violent spirit energy and a Spiritual Sea capacity that could easily ease the mental strain.
However, the cultivation disadvantages of doing so were also incredibly obvious.
Cultivating both spirits simultaneously would naturally split his focus and slow down his own spirit energy progression. Granted, with the power of Devouring All Things constantly devouring and refining the atmospheric spirit energy, his cultivation speed would still easily rival or surpass the most elite geniuses of the current era.
On the other hand, if he chose the traditional route, focusing entirely on a single martial soul first, his cultivation speed would skyrocket at a very incredible speed.
He could thoroughly master his first martial soul, reach the Spirit King or even Spirit Saint realm, and then rapidly boost his cultivation upward by attaching older Spirit Souls to his second martial soul during the mid-to-late stages.
By taking that path, breaking through to the realm of a Limit Douluo by his mid-twenties would be a certainty.
Yet, Han Yuan knew a truth the elders did not. He didn't merely have twin spirits. He possessed three. His path of cultivation was fundamentally different from anyone else's in history.
Finally, raising his head, Han Yuan spoke about his decision with a determined look.
"I want to cultivate the Underworld Anchor of Heaven and the Star Liberation Crown at the same time!"
"As expected..." The three elders exchanged knowing glances with one another.
Honestly, in the modern era of the Federation, possessing Twin Martial Souls was often considered more of a liability than a blessing.
The reason was both incredibly simple yet complex, ruled entirely by two modern aspects: Spiritual Power Cultivation and the Spirit Soul System.
In the ancient past, while the Spiritual Power cultivation path existed, it was primitive and unrefined.
Furthermore, Spirit Souls did not exist, and ancient Spirit Masters hunted wild Spirit Beasts to obtain their spirit rings. While laborious, that ancient system granted Spirit Masters an incredibly diverse pool of choices and highly personalized cultivation paths.
Presently, modern Spirit Masters faced strict, suffocating limitations of choice and resources.
Because human spiritual power was measured, an average spirit master could only ever contract a maximum of three Spirit Souls across their entire lifespan before their mind reached its breaking limit.
Consequently, an individual born with twin martial souls naturally required twice as many spirit rings, and by extension, twice as many Spirit Souls. This forced their spiritual power to its very limits, frequently bottlenecking their progress because their mental limit could not grow fast enough to accommodate the Spirit Souls' strength and growth.
This was precisely why modern spirit masters measured talent not merely by Innate Spirit Power, but by the numerical threshold of a child's spiritual capacity, testing the structural purity and density of a young genius's mind.
Naturally, none of these universal constraints applied to a monster like Han Yuan.
If it were any other twin-soul wielder on the continent, Han Tianyi, Zhen Hua, and Mu Ye would have directly discouraged them, sternly advising them to focus on a single martial soul to keep their option open.
But Han Yuan did not require this. Whether it was his physical fitness, his Spiritual Power baseline, or the divine quality of his spirits, every single aspect was so fundamentally beyond ordinary that the common laws of the world merely bent around him.
Even now, at the mere age of six, Han Yuan had the mental fortitude to easily contract two separate, ten-thousand-year-old Black Spirit Souls simultaneously without any backlash.
"Well, then, since you already made up your mind... Let's visit the Heaven Dou Spirit Pagoda!" Han Tianyi chuckled, ruffling Han Yuan's hair.
"Don't leave us, Senior Brother!" Mu Ye excitedly nudged.
Zhen Hua nodded and added, "Yes, I wanted to see what kind of Spirit Souls Xiao Yuan is going to contract."
"Spirit Pagoda must have more than enough variety, right?"
Han Tianyi smiled mysteriously, "Of course... The depth of Spirit Pagoda is even more than you expected, Brother Zhen..."
"And I have prepared special choices for Han Yuan to choose."