Chapter 73: Struck by a Chill |
Clang... clang... clang... clang... clang...
In the silent cave, the powerful sound of forging iron rang continuously throughout the entire night.
Not a single person in the camp showed any sign of impatience. All eyes were fixed on Xia Hong, watching intently as he hammered the blade blank, their faces full of anticipation.
It was only when dawn began to break that Xia Chuan snapped back to reality and hurriedly called for the cave entrance to be sealed again.
Coincidentally, at this moment, Xia Hong’s hammering was nearing its end.
Clang... clang... clang...
The last three hammer strikes fell, and Xia Hong released the grinding stone from his hand, taking a deep breath before realizing his entire body was drenched in sweat, his arms swollen, and every joint in his body throbbed fiercely with soreness.
“Phew... this is several times more exhausting than chopping trees!”
Xia Hong sighed inwardly, rubbing his arms as he clamped the now-shaped blade with a piece of wood. Looking at the ten exquisite silver-white forging patterns along the blade’s side, although exhaustion was written all over his face, the excitement in his eyes was impossible to conceal.
Xia Hong’s excitement was not without reason. Before trying last night, he did not expect to succeed all at once—he only wanted to see how many forging patterns he could produce.
But as the forging patterns appeared one by one, he realized his limit was far from reached, so he gritted his teeth and kept going to find out just how far he could push himself.
Unexpectedly, he truly forged a Ten-Forged weapon in one go.
And all by himself!
Wait.
Xia Hong turned to look at the grinding stone on the ground and immediately understood: the biggest contributor must be this tool.
At Rogge Camp, Luo Ming once let Xia Hong try their forging tool—a hammer weighing over two thousand jin. Such a heavy tool was impossible for even a Digging Realm expert to swing continuously all night.
But the grinding stone given by the system felt almost weightless in hand, yet when striking the blade blank, it did not deform it in the slightest. Judging by the speed at which the blade blank formed, its efficiency far surpassed the heavy hammer at Rogge Camp.
“The only drawback is that the iron blank forged from this ore can only be hammered by someone at the Digging Realm. Those at the Lumberjack Realm can’t suppress the blank’s rebound force at all. Looks like I’m the only one who can do the forging for now.”
Xia Hong shook his head with a helpless expression.
When Luo Ming said only Digging Realm cultivators could forge iron, Xia Hong thought the problem was with the forging tool itself. Even the two-thousand-jin hammer was difficult to swing continuously for Digging Realm experts, let alone those at the Lumberjack Realm.
But the grinding stone weighs almost nothing—wouldn’t that allow Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and others at the Lumberjack Realm to forge as well?
Yet from the first strike last night, Xia Hong realized Luo Ming’s words weren’t about the tool’s weight, but the iron blank itself.
Due to the material’s nature, the iron blank forged from the ore produced a tremendous rebound force when struck. Without strength over ten thousand jin, it was impossible to suppress this rebound.
Yuan Cheng eagerly wanted to help last night, and Xia Hong couldn’t refuse. When Yuan Cheng tried swinging once, he was immediately flung backward, nearly dislocating his shoulder.
As Xia Hong pondered this, the rest of the camp had already gathered around, all looking excitedly at the blade blank in his hand.
“Leader, why is this blade still pitch black?”
Hearing Yuan Cheng’s confusion, Xia Hong smiled. Just as he was about to explain, Yue Feng and Xia Chuan arrived carrying a large wooden bucket filled with water.
Xia Hong signaled everyone to step back and threw the pitch-black blade directly into the water.
Sizzle...
The water in the bucket immediately boiled violently, thick smoke rising continuously. After more than ten breaths, the noise gradually quieted and the smoke slowly dissipated.
When the smoke cleared completely, the blade inside the bucket had changed completely.
What was once pitch black had now turned silver-white.
Even underwater, everyone seemed to feel a cold gleam radiating from the blade. The ten silver forging patterns on the side were clearly visible, adding a layer of mystique.
Xia Hong was somewhat excited as he fished the blade out of the bucket, then took the leather cloth handed over by Xia Chuan, carefully wiping the water off. Finally, he attached the pre-prepared handle.
At last, a complete large blade—only missing the final finishing step—appeared in Xia Hong’s hands and before the eyes of everyone in Great Xia Camp.
“The blade length is 1.3 meters, 1.5 meters including the handle. The thickest part of the spine is about 2 centimeters, and the net weight is 620 jin.”
Hearing Xia Hong carefully report these figures, everyone’s eyes burned with excitement as they looked eagerly at the large blade.
“Don’t rush. There’s still one last step!”
Xia Hong naturally noticed their gazes and gestured for everyone to hold on. He leisurely picked up the grinding stone beside him again.
The last step: sharpening the blade edge.
This step was much easier and didn’t require Xia Hong’s own effort.
Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others had been itching to try all along. Without being asked, they all came over and told Xia Hong to rest while they took turns sharpening the blade, busy and lively.
Perhaps because this large blade was Great Xia’s first weapon, they sharpened with exceptional seriousness, repeatedly changing the water in the bucket.
Xia Hong checked several times and felt it was probably enough, but they insisted on continuing, saying it needed more polishing. Xia Hong could only yield to them.
Just like the hammering last night, the sharp scraping sounds from the grinding stone lasted over four hours until nightfall, when they finally stopped.
“Leader, sharpening is done! Come try it!”
As night fell and the cave entrance reopened, Xia Hong was practicing his punches outside. Hearing their call, he quickly went back inside.
The ten who sharpened the blade were drenched in sweat but still looked excited with no sign of fatigue.
Xia Hong took the large blade and looked at the incredibly sharp edge. A gleam of excitement flashed in his eyes as he walked over to the pile of wood.
Everyone knew he was about to test the blade and eagerly followed behind.
Xia Hong selected a vermilion frost tree over three meters thick. Raising the large blade, he swung down with about half his strength.
Crack...
The sharp blade sliced straight through the wood, cutting more than half a meter deep.
Moreover, when he pulled out the blade, there was not a shred of damage or bending on the edge.
Xia Hong let out a long breath and turned to the crowd, raising the large blade with a beaming smile.
“Great Xia’s first iron weapon is done!”
At Xia Hong’s words, everyone in the camp erupted in cheers.
“Hahaha, it’s really done! From now on, we can forge weapons.”
“As long as we have coal mines, we’ll always have weapons.”
“Not only Rogge Camp, but Great Xia here in Redwood Ridge can forge weapons too.”
“With weapons, we won’t fear those Frost Beasts anymore. Hahaha!”
“Long live the leader!”
…
“Leader, this is our camp’s first weapon ever forged. You should give it a name!”
The crowd’s cheers were interrupted by Xia Chuan’s suggestion.
Everyone looked up at Xia Hong, waiting for him to name the blade.
Xia Hong was momentarily stunned by the proposal.
According to Luo Ming, Ten-Forged weapons can be forged by any Digging Realm expert, so this blade was basically a basic iron weapon. Its value was definitely not precious.
But as Xia Chuan said, this was Great Xia Camp’s very first forged weapon and held extraordinary significance. Even if only for commemoration, it deserved a name.
Xia Hong lowered his head to think for a moment, then raised the blade and lightly sliced through the air, reflecting a cold gleam that shot straight toward the direction of Redwood Ridge outside the cave.
“Frostbite!”
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