Douluo: AFK to Become a God

Three days later, at the Chu residence.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The rhythmic hammering echoed nonstop from the forge room inside the Chu residence.

After a while, as Chu Chengzhou's Soul-Forged Heavy Silver Twin Hammers landed once more, a brilliant golden flame burst into the air, lighting up the entire forge in dazzling gold.

"I wonder if I got the Gold Essence to Magic Silver ratio right this time~"

Chu Chengzhou muttered as he looked at the small, fist-sized golden metal on the forge, flickering with radiant flames.

He didn't hold out much hope—better to keep expectations low to avoid disappointment.

Ever since upgrading his forging technique to the red-grade Hammer of Creation, he'd automatically gained the ability to soul-forge metals. According to the future classification of blacksmiths in the Douluo Continent, he was now a Saint Blacksmith.

In the future "Battle Armor Warrior" era, someone like him would have higher status than most Titled Douluo. Even recruiting a few followers as strong as She Long (Serpent Lance Douluo) would be considered low effort.

After all, any random seven-ring Soul Sage with a single soul core equipped with a Three-Character Battle Armor could go toe-to-toe—or even overpower—someone like She Long.

Of course, a full battle armor required collaboration between a blacksmith, a formation designer (to design soul guidance arrays), and a fabricator (to assemble and inscribe formations).

But as the saying goes, even the best cook needs good ingredients. While blacksmithing seemed rough, designers and fabricators weren't nearly as valuable as a blacksmith of the same rank.

A Saint Blacksmith like Chu could easily find equal-rank designers and fabricators lining up to work under him.

First thing he did was upgrade his Spirit-Forged Heavy Silver Hammer into a Soul-Forged one.

Upgrading hammers was simple. He didn't bother with alloy hammers—his skills were solid now. Just add heavy silver and hammer it hard—done.

But the special alloy he planned to use for his new armor and bow—Spirit Gold—wasn't so easy.

Spirit Gold was a rare alloy from the future, forged from Gold Essence and Magic Silver. Its special property was enhancing all elemental soul powers.

This universal enhancement was ideal for his future archery technique Sun-Shooting Divine Arrow, which involved multi-element soul power fusion.

He knew the rough formula for Spirit Gold, but not the exact metal ratio.

After all, that info came from a keyboard warrior—what would they know about blacksmithing?

Luckily, the alloy only involved two components. So with enough trial and error, he'd eventually find the perfect ratio.

After three days of testing, he had indeed successfully forged Spirit Gold several times.

And when tested, it did enhance all elemental soul powers. At the very least, the five elements he currently mastered—wood, light, fire, metal, and water—were all amplified.

But the problem was that the amplification effect was weak. Even the best sample couldn't match the amplification that standard Refined Steel gave to metal-element soul power.

Clearly, while the Spirit Gold was technically forged, the ratio wasn't quite right.

It was like steel: same iron and carbon, but good steel makes fine swords, and bad steel makes farm tools—worlds apart in value.

He cooled the newly forged, fist-sized Spirit Gold ingot using his water-element soul power, then began testing it.

Why fist-sized?

It was just a test piece. No need to waste materials. Also, it wasn't soul-forged—just spirit-forged for comparison purposes.

He didn't need it to be perfect, but the elemental boost should at least be close to what Refined Steel gives to its matching element.

"Hm?"

As his water-element soul power flowed into the Spirit Gold, he noticed it boosted power by 30%—his eyes widened.

He quickly tested the other four elements—wood, light, fire, and metal.

"Nice! A 30% boost across the board!"

After verifying that all five elements had the same boost, Chu Chengzhou nodded in satisfaction.

He only had five elements now, but if the boost was uniform, it likely applied to others as well.

A 30% all-element boost wasn't insane, but it was quite good for spirit-forged material. If it were soul-forged, the effect would surely be higher.

After all, soul-forged materials were used to craft Three-Character Battle Armor in the future. A seven-ring Soul Sage wearing one could rival a nine-ring Titled Douluo. That showed how valuable soul-forged metals were.

No more test runs. This ratio was good enough. Time to get to work.

Three hours later, a full suit of armor (including helmet), a large bow, and over a hundred arrows sat on the forge.

Chu smiled at the freshly made:

Nine Heavens Profound Spirit Armor

Nine Heavens Profound Spirit Bow

Flowing Gold Armor-Piercing Arrows

The armor weighed 1,000 jin (~500kg), entirely made of soul-forged Spirit Gold.The bow was 4.5 feet long, 300 jin (~150kg), with a Spirit Gold body and Fa Jin (sharp metal) string.The arrows were 3 feet long, with Fa Jin triple-edged heads and Spirit Gold shafts (no fletching).

With his current strength, he could handle the weight—barely.

Armor weight didn't directly determine defense, but more material usually meant stronger defense.

And with continued cultivation of his Indestructible Golden Body, 1,000 jin would soon feel like nothing.

Also worth noting: the soul-forged Spirit Gold outperformed expectations. At his five-ring Soul King level, the elemental boost reached 60%—as long as materials were sufficient.

Why "sufficient materials"? Because quantity matters. For example, if the bow had too little Spirit Gold, firing three arrows at once might not give all of them the boost.

"Click~ Such a powerful weapon deserves a real target."

Stroking the bow and arrows, Chu Chengzhou thought.

Back when he was just a four-ring Soul Sect, he used the spirit-forged Flowing Gold Soul-Cutting Bow with Titanium Armor-Piercing Arrows and illusion techniques to one-shot a seven-ring Soul Sage.

Now, with five rings and soul-forged gear, he figured he could headshot an average eight-ring Soul Douluo.

As for test subjects?

Since the tournament ended, he hadn't left Heaven Dou City. He'd been quietly cultivating at home. Maybe his enemies figured assassinating him in the city was hopeless—no attempts had been made.

But Chu knew—after eloping with Zhu Zhuqing—even with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's protection, the humiliated Star Luo royal family wouldn't give up.

They might not go full "till death," but a revenge attempt was guaranteed.

He was in the light; they were in the shadows. Time to set some bait.

Of course, to avoid trouble, he'd better have a heavy hitter backing him up.

After putting away the new gear, he resumed alloy experiments.

His own gear was done, but his three girls' equipment still wasn't.

Spirit Gold amplified all elements, but Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing didn't have elemental soul power—it wasn't suitable.

Luckily, after some luck and experience, he came up with two new alloys over the next two days:

Blue Gold: forged from Refined Steel and Lan Yun Copper. Boosts general soul power. Not as strong as Spirit Gold but still solid—offers a 50% boost at soul-forged level.

Soul Silver: forged from Magic Silver and Soul Iron. Boosts spiritual power.

After advancing to five rings, Chu's spiritual power grew a lot—likely on par with a newly advanced eight-ring Soul Douluo.

Soul-forged Soul Silver gave him a 30% mental power boost.

After realizing this, he replaced the helmet of his Nine Heavens Armor with Soul Silver—too good to pass up, especially since his illusion technique Void Illusory Domain scaled with spiritual strength.

The next morning after breakfast:

"Rongrong, write your dad and tell him to come over."

Time to start the fishing plan.

He didn't know how strong or how many assassins Star Luo had sent.

To be safe, he didn't want just his neighbor for backup—he preferred someone like Chen Xin or Gu Rong.

Dugu Bo was a Titled Douluo but not the best in one-on-one combat. If the assassins were elite elders from Star Luo with fusion skills like Nether White Tiger, Dugu Bo could easily get wrecked.

Besides, he'd just finished soul-forging Blue Gold. Might as well make a set of armor for his father-in-law and the Sword and Bone Douluos too.

Even if the soul power boost would be weaker for Titled Douluo, the defense alone made it worthwhile.

"Sooo~ you've been holed up in the forge for days. Planning to make armor for my dad?"

Ning Rongrong blinked at him.

"Yup. Won't take much time. I'll make a set for your dad and both grandpas too."

Chu nodded.

"Seriously? Scumbag, why are you so generous today?"

Ning Rongrong gave him a suspicious look.

"When have I not been generous?"

Chu rolled his eyes.

"If I recall correctly, someone once said a spirit-forged armor set costs five million gold soul coins flat price!"

She held up five fingers.

Chu shook his head. "That was then. Now he's my father-in-law. Not the same. But—"

He looked at her meaningfully.

"But what?"

"You know~"

He licked his lips and winked at her.

Ning Rongrong blushed and glared at him.

Weird vibe, but she wasn't exactly against it.

"Zhuqing~ go next door and ask Grandpa Dugu to come over."

Chu turned to Zhu Zhuqing.

He hadn't forgotten the help from the Herb Grandpa. If it didn't hurt his own progress, he wasn't stingy.

And he sensed Dugu Bo was home, so might as well forge a set for him too.

Even though they had servants, it was more polite for Zhuqing—as one of the ladies of the house—to deliver the message.

"Oh~"

Zhu Zhuqing nodded.

"Come on, Xiao Wu, let's get your measurements."

After the two girls left, Chu Chengzhou immediately began taking Xiao Wu's measurements—after all, what if the soul-forged armor didn't fit properly once it was made?

Inside the forging room:

"Whoosh—"

Blazing phoenix fire spewed from Xiao Hong, who had shrunk to about three feet long. It poured into a large heat-resistant crucible.

Soon, the Lan Yun Copper ingot and Refined Steel ingot inside began to melt, fusing into a molten orange-gold alloy.

With his mastery of the Absolute Control technique, Chu mixed and shaped the molten alloy, then cooled it into a dark red, steaming-hot mixed metal ingot weighing over 300 jin (≈150kg).

He clamped the ingot onto the forging table with crucible tongs, then materialized his soul-forged Heavy Silver Twin Hammers, and activated the Chu Clan "Strength Brings Miracles" forging technique.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Rhythmic hammering filled the room.

After over an hour, the final hammer strike landed, and the ingot erupted with a brilliant blue-gold glow.

Without needing a prompt, a line of blood shot from Dugu Bo's wrist and fell onto the glowing ingot.

About ten minutes later, after molding and cooling, the ingot transformed into a full-body blue-gold armor set.

Dugu Bo stepped forward, picked up the newly soul-forged armor infused with his blood, and donned it. Instantly, a flash of blue-gold light engulfed him—and a majestic full-body Lan Jin (Blue-Gold) armor appeared.

"How does it feel, senior?"

Chu Chengzhou asked once Dugu Bo had gotten used to the armor.

"Amazing! Way better than my old set. Not only is the defense stronger—it even boosts my soul power by 15%!"

Dugu Bo marveled as he compared it to his old Ling-Forged Cloud Titanium Armor.

"Fifteen percent?"

Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow.

He, as a five-ring Soul King, could gain a 50% boost from the same armor. Yet for Dugu Bo, it was only 15%.

That's the limitation of not having a proper soul guidance formation embedded. Raw soul-forged armor couldn't compare to future Three-Character Battle Armor.

Still, a 15% soul power boost wasn't bad. More importantly, it didn't conflict with buffs from support-type soul skills. In fact, since the boost mechanisms were different, they stacked multiplicatively.

Chu had tested this with Ning Rongrong already.

Say his gold-element soul power arrow has base attack power of 100. With a 50% buff from Ning Rongrong's support skill, it becomes 150. Then with his Nine Heavens Profound Spirit Bow adding a 60% elemental boost, it's not 100 × (1 + 50% + 60%) = 210—it's 100 × 1.5 × 1.6 = 240!

This armor gave Dugu Bo a 15% soul power boost, and with its defense, it effectively raised his combat strength by at least one level. For Titled Douluo under level 95, the gaps between levels weren't that big anyway.

Now that he had the armor, Dugu Bo didn't stay longer—Chu still had to make armor for his three girlfriends.

Before leaving, Dugu Bo slapped Chu's shoulder nonstop and kept saying, "Come to me if you ever need anything."

To Dugu Bo, who didn't know the true value of immortal herbs, Chu Chengzhou was an outstanding young man—not only talented and strong, but generous too, even helping detoxify him and his granddaughter.

Like this armor—it was easily as valuable as a soul bone.

Comparison is the thief of joy. Dugu Bo used to think Yu Tianheng was decent, but ever since meeting Chu Chengzhou, Yu Tianheng had become more and more of an eyesore.

Yu Tianheng: "…"

As the eldest of the trio, Xiao Wu generously let Chu make armor for her second and third sisters first, saving her own set for last.

But once she got her armor, Xiao Wu immediately showed it off proudly. Then she turned to ask, "Ge, what should we name our armor?"

"How about… Azure Gold Cloud Armor?"

Looking at the three girls standing like war goddesses, Chu suggested.

"Azure Gold Cloud Armor…"

Xiao Wu mulled it over.

The armor was blue-gold in color, with cloud-like patterns on the surface. The name actually fit pretty well.

"Alright! Let's call it Azure Gold Cloud Armor then!"

Unable to come up with anything better, and after whispering with her two sisters, Xiao Wu accepted the name.

Though all three used Soul-Forged Blue-Gold as the main material and weighed 400–500 jin each, their designs weren't identical.

Xiao Wu's had a bunny insignia on the chest, Ning Rongrong's had a nine-story pagoda, and Zhu Zhuqing's featured a Nether Spirit Cat symbol.

Using Ning Rongrong's armor as a template, Xiao Wu's helmet was made with Soul-Forged Magic Silver, enhancing her second soul skill—Charm.

Zhu Zhuqing's armor stayed mostly the same, but Chu crafted a pair of soul-forged Fa Jin claws that fit over her gauntlets.

Fa Jin is a rare metal that becomes incredibly sharp when soul power is infused—and even more so when soul-forged.

As a sensitive attack-type soul master, Zhu Zhuqing fought with her claws. At four rings, her Wuhun-transformed claws couldn't match the cutting power of soul-forged Fa Jin.

If not for other shortcomings, even standard defense-type Titled Douluo would struggle to block her attacks.

Of course, for now, both Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing found the 400–500 jin armor a bit heavy for combat.

But that wouldn't be a problem for long. As their Immortal Golden Body cultivation continued, their physical strength would quickly catch up.

Let alone Chu's own 1,000-jin Nine Heavens Profound Spirit Armor, later after testing the Azure Gold Cloud armor in detail, they found that even without soul power infusion, soul masters under level 70 couldn't break through its defense.

As for soul power-infused defense—they couldn't fully test it. Even the strongest among them, Xiao Wu, couldn't detect any difference when infusing her soul power. Probably because their soul power levels were too low to "pull the big cart."

That afternoon, Ning Fengzhi arrived—summoned by a letter from his precious daughter.

With him was his constant companion, Sword Douluo Gu Rong.

"Daddy! Grandpa Bone!"

Seeing her father and grandpa arrive, Ning Rongrong ran to greet them.

"Little one, has that boy bullied you?"

Ning Fengzhi lovingly patted her head, then glanced at Chu Chengzhou with a smile.

"Come on, Father-in-law. I barely have time to spoil her—how would I dare bully Rongrong?!"

Chu Chengzhou said seriously.

He swore to the heavens he'd never bullied Ning Rongrong—aside from some mischief.

"Hmph~ You better not."

Ning Fengzhi snorted, but didn't doubt him.

Chu welcomed them into the courtyard. After some small talk, Ning Fengzhi got to the point.

"You brat. That forging manual you gave me—you're holding something back, aren't you? It's been over two months, and none of the blacksmiths in my clan have managed to forge that so-called Thousand-Forged Metal."

Ning Fengzhi eyed Chu suspiciously.

"Don't blame me. I said it before—success in forging depends on perception just as much as soul cultivation depends on innate soul power. Some people break through to thousand-forging quickly. Others? Never in their life."

He wasn't making that up. Even in the future, with master forgers teaching hands-on, most students would still fail to reach thousand-forging.

Just like cultivation, forging had its own bottlenecks. And those blacksmiths only had a manual—no actual master to guide them. It wasn't surprising they couldn't do it.

As for having him, a Holy Craftsman, teach them?

No way! Why waste time tutoring sweaty men when he could be enjoying life with his girls?

T/N: For up to 30 chapters ahead on most of my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle