But his training was not in vain. Although the Xuan Tian Technique had not broken through, this internal energy had become even more resilient as he forged the iron lump, and its recovery speed seemed a bit faster than before.

Eleven days passed, and William Carter had swung the hammer more than eight thousand times. The iron lump kept shrinking, now less than a third of its original size. With the physical training and increased food, his body had become sturdier, as if a strength from within was gradually pouring into him, causing his internal energy consumption during forging to decrease. And when he channeled all his internal energy, his strength increased significantly.

When he struck the thousandth hammer, the iron lump had already changed noticeably, shrinking by a whole circle. Even though it was glowing red in the charcoal fire, it was faintly visible that the impurities inside had greatly diminished.

"Refined into steel after a hundred smeltings"—this phrase appeared in William Carter's mind, further strengthening his resolve to complete the ten thousand strikes. And he was already very close to this goal.

William Carter's perseverance greatly surprised Henry Carter. In his view, even if his son was born with divine strength, it would be impossible to persist for more than three days. The hammer's handle was so rough for slip prevention, and constant swinging would inevitably cause great harm to the palms due to friction. Yet he found that, although William Carter was truly forging, his tender little hands showed no change at all—not even a single blister.

Chapter One: Douluo Continent, Another World William Carter (Part Four)

William Carter did not want to lose this father, nor did he want anyone to know about his past, so naturally he would not tell Henry Carter that it was because he practiced the Tang Sect's Mysterious Jade Hand.

To master hidden weapons, the most basic requirement is the integration of eyesight, hand strength, and mental focus. As the saying goes, where the mind goes, the eyes follow; where the eyes go, the hands follow. Therefore, in the Tang Sect's inner training methods, the requirements for eyesight and hand strength are extremely high.

Purple Demon Eye, practiced during the brief moment when purple energy rises with the morning sun, greatly enhances eyesight.

Mysterious Jade Hand can make the palms extremely tough and immune to any poison.

These two abilities are compulsory for inner disciples of the Tang Sect. Although William Carter's Mysterious Jade Hand was still far from mastery, it was enough to protect his palms from blisters.

"Just a bit more effort, and I can finish today." William Carter swung his hammer with all his might. In this monotonous process, his heart was far from calm. His understanding of this world was still very basic—after all, this was just a small village.

This world was called the Douluo Continent. On the continent, there were two great empires, or rather, two alliances. Because within the two empires, vast territories were divided among feudal lords, and there were countless nobles with armed forces.

One of these empires was the Heaven Dou Empire, where William Carter lived; the other was the Star Luo Empire in the south.

Fasno Province was located at the border of the two countries, and Notting City, next to Holy Soul Village, was less than two hundred li from the Star Luo Empire.

From the villagers' conversations, William Carter learned that there was no martial arts like in his previous world on the Douluo Continent, but there was something called a "spirit." It was said that everyone had their own spirit, and a very small number of people's spirits could be cultivated, forming a profession called "spirit master." The most noble profession on the continent was the spirit master. Like the legendary "Spirit Saint" who left Holy Soul Village a hundred years ago, he was a spirit master—"Spirit Saint" being a title for spirit masters who reached a certain level.

Spirits were divided into two main categories: tool spirits and beast spirits. As the names suggest, those whose spirits were tools had tool spirits, and those whose spirits were animals had beast spirits. Relatively speaking, tool spirits covered a wider range, and most people had tool spirits, but the proportion of tool spirits that could not be cultivated was also higher than that of beast spirits.

William Carter had once seen a villager whose spirit was a hoe, obviously a spirit that could not be cultivated, but even so, he still plowed the fields faster than ordinary villagers.

That was all William Carter knew, because everyone had their own spirit, and William Carter also wanted to know what his spirit was. Was it a tool spirit or a beast spirit, and could it be cultivated?

On the Douluo Continent, people's spirits awakened at the age of six. In a few days, William Carter would turn six. For some reason, he vaguely felt that the reason his Xuan Tian Technique could not break through seemed to be related to this spirit.

William Carter was not particularly interested in becoming a spirit master, but he was determined to become a Tang Sect inner disciple-level hidden weapon expert, and how could he do that without internal energy?

"Henry Carter, busy?" Just as William Carter was working hard toward his ten thousand strikes, he heard an old voice from outside.

It was afternoon. Henry Carter was working, forging farm tools, and only grunted in response.

William Carter curiously walked out of his room and saw that the visitor was an old man, looking to be in his sixties, tall and thin but full of energy. His clothes were clean and tidy, his hair meticulously combed—compared to Henry Carter, they were complete opposites.