Chapter 56: Forging the Spirit Armor

  The next morning when Su Dong woke up, Ye Wei had already quietly left.

  Ye Xiaosheng still cooked for himself, but unlike yesterday when he only ate some vegetables and fruits, today he stewed a mountain chicken, big chunks of chicken meat, dipped in sauce and eaten with a kind of slightly hard steamed bun.

  "Today you have to go with me to the workshop on the mountain, so you need to eat something good, or you won't have enough energy." Ye Xiaosheng explained, seeing that Su Dong's eyes were a bit strange.

  Su Dong understood that yesterday, Ye Xiaosheng intentionally only ate melons and vegetables, just to let the royal people see that he was in Douhu without desires or demands, and had no intention of returning to the imperial palace to fight for anything.

  The Tian family is ungrateful. Once something gets into the imperial family, it becomes very strange. Even Ye Xiaosheng, a casting master, cannot escape this fate.

  After dinner, the two of them took a mountain road and climbed up to the top. Ye Xiaosheng's workshop was built near the summit, requiring a five-mile hike along the mountain road.

  The scenery along the way is excellent, with white clouds floating beside it. The vast and majestic forest of Daliang can be seen at a glance, and occasionally you can hear the sound of animals howling in the forest.

  As he walked, Ye Xiaosheng said: "You must have heard what Ye Wei and I said last night?"

  Su Dong nodded and said: "I know you're saying this on purpose for me to hear, so I listened carefully."

  Ye Xiaosheng didn't say anything else.

  He had Ye Wei go back and deal with all the people who knew the inside story last night, just to show Su Dong that even though Su Dong killed Ding Ziwu, the royal family still decided to support Su Dong.

  Su Dong and Ye Xiaosheng are both clever people, a hint is enough, no need for too much explanation.

  Before long, the two of them arrived at Ye Xiaosheng's workshop. The workshop was built on a mountain in a fairly large cave. With the help of the stable structure of the cave, a fence made of whole wood planks was built around it, and there were no too many defensive facilities. It seemed that Ye Xiaosheng was not afraid of someone coming to steal things.

  The foundry's workshop is far more complex than a typical blacksmith's, but it seems like these things haven't been used in a long time, with a thick layer of oil applied to prevent rust.

  "To be honest, I've been making very few weapons this year, let alone spiritual armor. The reason is simple: I'm at a critical moment in my career advancement, and putting all my energy into breaking through to the next level is what's most important. However, don't worry, considering you saved my nephew's life, no matter what, I'll do my best to make a suitable spiritual armor for you." Ye Xiaosheng pointed to his workshop.

  Su Dong cupped his hands and said: "Then I'll have to trouble you, Master."

  Ye Xiao Sheng sighed and said, "But I must say this beforehand, I found that your spiritual power is very special and doesn't belong to the common types on the mainland. Last night, I thought about it for a whole night and finally came up with a compromise, which is for us to inject our spiritual powers into the Ling Jia together."

  "My spiritual power is used for the final formation of Ling Jia and level shaping, while your spiritual power will determine its hardness and defensive capabilities."

  Su Dong was taken aback and curiously asked: "Rank? Isn't the rank of a spiritual armor decided when it's being forged?"

  Ye Xiaosheng shook his head and said, "No, when the Ling Jia was first created, it was no different from an ordinary armor. What truly determines the nature of the Ling Jia is the subsequent infusion of spiritual energy. The level of spiritual energy infused will determine the final nature of the Ling Jia."

  "To put it simply, I am currently a second-level casting master, and I'm climbing to the third stage. Assuming I infuse 100% of my spiritual power into this spiritual armor, it will ultimately be classified as high-ranking spiritual martial arts. But if I only infuse 50%, or even less, the effect of the spiritual armor will be greatly weakened, and it may only reach the level of primary or intermediate spiritual martial arts."

  "And you, how much spiritual power will you infuse, depends on how much spiritual power I infuse?"

  Ye Xiaosheng nodded and smiled without saying a word.

  "What a scam!" Su Dong cursed in his heart.

  Ye Xiaosheng is really cunning, dividing the work of a master craftsman into two parts and giving one to Su Dong. In this way, if Su Dong doesn't have too much spiritual power, he won't need to pay much and can easily deal with him.

  A second-level peak casting master is equivalent to a warrior's high-grade Lingwu, Su Dongcai Lingzhan, and the level difference with Ye Xiaosheng is quite large.

  Ye Xiaosheng was also very pleased, on the mainland, no casting master was willing to manufacture Ling Jia, just because making this thing was really too costly in terms of spiritual power. A full-strength attempt to create a set of Ling Jia would definitely severely injure the casting master's primordial energy, and recovering in ten days or half a month was already the lightest consequence.

  Ye Xiaosheng is now sprinting towards the critical stage of three-tier casting, and doesn't want to waste it, so he thought of this trick to trap Su Dong.

  Do you want top-notch Ling Jia? Alright, then go all out and pour your spiritual energy into the Ling Jia. Whatever amount you put in, I'll match it. After all, Ye Xiaosheng's level is much higher than Su Dong's, so it's easy to get through this.

  Su Dong had nothing to say about this, after all, his own spiritual power was really not the same, and a spiritual armor made in the traditional way could not achieve a 100% fit.

  Seemingly understanding this layer, Su Dong slightly furrowed his brow and nodded: "Alright, then let's follow the master's method."

  Ye Xiaosheng smiled and nodded, using a leather ruler to measure Su Dong's body. He then lightly wiped his finger on the star ring and took out a piece of fine steel that shone with a cold light.

  "Look, this is a great material for forging Ling Jia, called Turtle Shell Steel! This steel is taken from the fine iron in the sea, each piece has a shape similar to that of a turtle shell, with fine cracks on it, hence the name."

  "It can withstand the corrosion of seawater in the vast ocean for billions of years without changing, you can imagine how good this turtle shell steel is. This fine steel was originally reserved by me to forge a sword and armor for my nephew, I spent 500,000 taels of silver to buy it from someone else back then, now I'll give it to you."

  The underlying meaning of Ye Xiaosheng's words is, see for yourself, I didn't cheat you, the materials I provided are the best, if even with these, a good Ling armor can't be forged, it's entirely because your own spiritual power is insufficient, not my problem.

  "Damn it!" Su Dong cursed again in his heart.

  ……

  For three days in a row, Ye Xiaosheng carefully hammered the turtle shell steel into a plate armor shape. The plate armor was like a horse armor, tightly protecting the warrior's chest, arms and head were exposed, more flexible than a full set of battle armor.

  Under Su Dong's request, Ye Xiaosheng also made shoulder guards, knee pads, elbow pads, and a pair of exquisitely crafted steel gloves.

  Can't help but say that Ye Xiaosheng is really impressive, the craftsmanship is astonishing. The steel glove is only one millimeter thick and feels completely unobtrusive on the hand. The armor also has an active lock chain, after all, Su Dong is only 14 years old and his physique will become stronger, adding an active chain so that even if Su Dong grows taller, he can still wear it.

  The Ling Jia was made with high standards, and Ye Xiao Sheng didn't plan to take action on the surface, he just cherished his spiritual power and didn't want to waste too much on Su Dong.

  Firstly, Ye Xiaosheng is about to become a third-grade casting master and needs spiritual power to help him break through. Secondly, spiritual power is not easily obtained, unlike Su Dong, who has the inheritance of Feng Shui array method, with spiritual power coming in abundance.

  People on the mainland only use one kind of spiritual power, the Star Spiritual Power. Su Dong, whether good or bad, collects all kinds of spiritual powers. This non-picky eater is naturally easier to fill his belly than those picky eaters.

  "Try again." Ye Xiaosheng said as he put the Ling Jia suit on Su Dong.

  Su Dong tried to move his arms and legs, kicked them up, and raised his thumb: "Perfect! This set of Ling Jia can be described as perfect, it's very light on the body, just like not wearing anything."

  Ye Xiaosheng was also pleased with his own methods, and said nonchalantly: "Now this set is just an ordinary helmet and armor, next is the most important work, turning the armor into a spirit-repelling armor that can block spiritual energy! Follow me."

  Su Dong followed him into the cave, and unlike the simple fence outside, there was a large black iron gate inside the cave, extremely thick and mysterious, and it was unknown what treasures were hidden inside.

  Arriving in front of this large iron gate, Ye Xiaosheng gently stroked the door with his hand, reluctant to let go. He sighed and quietly took out a key from his star ring, inserting it into the lock.