Chapter 3388: 1687: Resisting Hammer 2 Pillars Knock Old Knife, Elephant Dragon Rank 1 Look at Today (2) |
"Impossible..."
"'Impossible' as in 'absolutely not possible,' or is it that you just don't know whether you can or can't?" Elder Sang leaned forward, "Have you forged a famed sword before? Kids shouldn't lie."
Cao Erzhu was dumbfounded by the question, overwhelmed by the oppressive air confronting him. Scratching his head, his voice came out shaky:
"I... dunno..."
Elder Sang said nothing more.
He pointed towards the empty ground ahead with his finger, pursing his lips. Words were unnecessary.
In that moment, Cao Erzhu inexplicably saw traces of his father's shadow in Elder Sang.
Not much needed to be said, just one word:
Forge!
Cao Erzhu worried he might have misunderstood. After all, this came far too suddenly. There were no neighbors or relatives visiting the house, and this wasn't the sort of warm, affectionate display his father ever engaged in back at home. Why would he suddenly be asked to perform?
The Water Ghost, sprawled atop a large stone, squinted its eyes with curiosity and peered over.
Elder Sang smiled, deliberate in his tone: "This old man wants to see your best craft, young one. Show us a trick, will you?"
For some reason, Cao Erzhu suddenly felt as if someone had singed him with fire on his backside. His blood surged, and heat coursed through his veins.
He straightened himself upright. This was one of the rare things he was truly proud to show!
"Really forge?"
"Really forge."
"Right here?"
"Right here!"
Cao Erzhu burst out laughing, his body emanating boldness. With a swish, he summoned a massive forging platform and a forged hammer from his storage ring, and then spilled out a mountain of ore.
After preparing everything thoroughly, he placed a large stone barrel in position but hesitated about where to gather water...
"Gurgle, gurgle~"
At that moment, water began to overflow from inside the stone barrel, gurgling out. Its energy felt extraordinarily pure—perfect for quenching—it seemed even better than the water used in his father's blacksmith shop!
"Is this enough?"
The Water Ghost squinted its eyes and smiled at him.
"Enough, enough!"
Cao Erzhu nodded firmly, feeling as if the scrap of knowledge he'd spent a dozen or so years letting stew, unsure if it was right or wrong, had finally been affirmed by the elders.
They were all watching me.
They all loved forging.
Loving forging—this is what makes a man!
"I'll forge one of my best works."
Cao Erzhu let out a powerful shout, stripped off his upper clothing, swung up his hammer, and began forging the refined iron.
His movements were skilled and precise. Every step was as if honed through countless trials, perfected to the point where he resembled an exquisitely specialized Divine Puppet built for forging.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Material selection, heavy hammering, precision forging, shaping, quenching...
The long-silent Divine Relics echoed with rhythmic and melodic hammering sounds, captivating both Elder Sang and the Water Ghost.
Feng Yujin glanced back briefly, unable to agree with this group's outrageous ways of killing time, and then continued refining Mo Mo.
Before long, Elder Sang and the Water Ghost snapped out of their thoughts, exchanged glances, and each saw the shock in the other's eyes.
Unity of Man and the Heavens!
This big, burly kid—just his focus during the act of hammering iron could bring him to the boundary of Unity of Man and the Heavens!
"This level of talent... phew, no wonder their family has those random flashes of enlightenment."
"No, it's not just talent. Kui Leihan might have nurtured this level of focus in him purposefully. Twenty years of persistence—his achievement isn't without reason." Elder Sang, as always, saw deeper.
In a specific environment, a specific character is naturally honed.
He couldn't give a high evaluation for Kui Leihan's methods of teaching Cao Erzhu but acknowledged that, in their setting, this was the absolute limit achievable for both father and son.
Adhering to the rules, they had honed perfection.
This was already insane—not everyone could cultivate such unwavering focus.
The rhythmic sound of hammering continued for half a day. The mound of refined iron, about the size of a grindstone, was hammered down into one solid piece under Cao Erzhu's relentless force.
Not a single ounce of spiritual source was used in the process—everything depended on mass strength.
Even the forging of jointed sections relied purely on the high heat generated from Fire Stone, disregarding the option of using lightning to instantly melt the iron.
Cao Erzhu did not resort to it.
Perhaps Kui Leihan never allowed it.
And now, unsupervised, all Cao Erzhu used was a forging hammer and a platform to pound the refined iron into a weapon.
"Hard hammering, huh..."
The Water Ghost was a bit shocked.
No smelting, just pure brute force pounding the massive lump of refined iron into the form of a small knife.
As for shaping, there were no tools to assist—everything relied on his hammer skills, shaping the iron block into the exact figure Cao Erzhu envisioned.
"Speed control, power control, reflex precision..."
Elder Sang murmured under his breath, his eyes gleaming: "If the iron block were an enemy, with hammer techniques alone, he could completely subdue it. The key here is that he's using this technique to hone his battle consciousness."
"But the iron block isn't alive..." The Water Ghost shifted its gaze.
Elder Sang shook his head: "The iron block may not be alive, but from the first unpredictable rebound caused by striking it, every subsequent spring and firmness of the block represents vitality. Controlling that vitality through his hammer techniques, at its essence, is the principle of steering the situation to one's advantage. And isn't that the best interpretation of battle consciousness?"
"Forging iron to temper the man; tempering the man to forge the iron." The Water Ghost nodded with a tone of admiration. "Kui Leihan, he's got real substance."
Elder Sang cast a glance at the Water Ghost.
Kui Leihan has substance?
And what sort of substance do you think you possess to make such a judgment?
"Done!"
With the final sizzle of the quenching process, Cao Erzhu carefully withdrew his freshly tempered short blade and presented it to the two senior figures.
The Water Ghost accepted the blade, scrutinizing it, unable to detect even a hint of spiritual energy. Could it be Returning to its origins?
"What kind of blade is this?"
"A pig-slaying knife—my specialty, hehe." Erzhu scratched his head.
Slay... slay pigs?
The Water Ghost was momentarily stunned, its eyes twitching as it asked: "Literal meaning?"
"What literal meaning..."
Cao Erzhu muttered under his breath, pointing to the blade: "This knife I've forged is amazing for slaughtering pigs! Uncle Yang loves it... Oh, right, Uncle Yang's the town butcher. All the pigs in the town? His. Wolves too. Also cows. Oh, and sheep... Lots and lots of them."
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