Chapter 51: Inside the Smithy's Warehouse

"Hah!"

"Hoo!"

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and in the outer room on the second floor of the small courtyard, long breathing sounds were already audible.

Li Yuan was very self-disciplined.

He even felt that if he had been this self-disciplined in his past life, he could at least have mixed his way into becoming a registered formal Daoist Priest.

But he also felt this was not his own fault.

Compared to the boredom of chanting scriptures and memorizing classics, practicing hard led to progress; one could feel self-improvement through Wu Gong, and the motivation was truly far stronger.

"No, that's not right either. Ordinary people's Wu Gong progress is far from comparable to mine. The reason I am so self-disciplined now ultimately lies in the Command of Soldiers Talisman..."

Li Daoist, who had run the Jianghu and suffered society's beatings, knew his own positioning very well, and also knew that compared to the massive boost from the Command of Soldiers Talisman, his efforts were far from enough.

"But if I rely on having the Command of Soldiers Talisman in hand and indulge in enjoyment, then in the end, I will only waste this supreme treasure talisman granted by the Azure Heaven!"

Practicing the Bai Yuan posture, Li Yuan constantly adjusted his breathing, wanting to explore a breathing method more suitable for the Soldier Dao combat hammer.

Compared to the rapid progress of the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer, the Cheng Wu Gong he had invested more effort and blood in had yet to enter the door; up to now, he had only learned one Shi Da Fa: 'Soldier Strike'.

This was certainly because the Cheng Wu Gong was too difficult to learn, but also because he lacked a breathing method, making his practice yield half the result for double the effort.

Nevertheless, he still invested a huge amount of effort and blood.

His current hard practice seemed to show little progress, but if he could enter the Divine Weapon Valley and learn the breathing method for this Cheng Wu Gong,

then today's hard practice would become the fuel for future rapid progress.

"Hah!"

When the sky brightened, Li Yuan slowly concluded his posture.

Second Sister-in-law had made breakfast early; when he went downstairs, Li Lin had already taken up an axe and left with a rope on his back.

After hastily eating breakfast, Li Yuan casually washed the pots and bowls, bid farewell to his sister-in-law, and walked briskly toward the Smithy.

"The changes after Blood Qi reaches Great Perfection are all-encompassing; my stamina has increased greatly, and my speed has also become much faster!"

Li Yuan was still feeling the changes of Blood Qi reaching Great Perfection.

This was very obvious.

Using his usual strength, he walked much faster than before; as Blood Qi circulated to the Yongquan, he felt power supporting him from beneath the soles of his feet,

making him stride as if flying.

This was without even activating it; if he truly exploded with power, Li Yuan felt he could already break the world records of his past life, perhaps even shatter them by a large margin.

"But compared to the Second Shopkeeper, I am still lacking far too much..."

Li Yuan felt joy in his heart, but unconsciously remembered the time Yu Zhen broke into the inner courtyard and Tang Tong's sudden burst of speed.

A leap of thirty meters, a round trip of over sixty meters, probably took no more than two or three seconds; a shuttle run at this speed was already far beyond the limits of the human body.

"Internal Force!"

With a sigh of emotion, Li Yuan left the Chaiyu Lane. The sky had just brightened, and people were already setting up stalls on the street; he bought a few meat buns on the way, stuffed them in his mouth, and soon arrived at the Forge.

As usual, he lit the furnace and blew the fire, beginning to forge weapons.

The Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer had a close relationship with the Art of Forging; during forging, the speed of the hammer technique and the consumption of Blood Qi were only slightly lower than during hard practice.

Not to mention this was his only source of income at present; windfalls were not something one had all the time.

If he was diligent, with his current hammer technique and level of attainment in the Art of Forging, plus the care of Master Zhang Ben, four or five taels of silver a month was still within reach.

When striking iron, Li Yuan worked harder than anyone else in the Forge; from thirty or forty meters away, one could hear his iron-striking sounds: Ding-ding, dang-dang.

Most of the blacksmith masters and assistants had long been accustomed to waking up only after hearing his iron-striking sounds every morning, and Zhang Ben would often come at this time to test his progress.

Clang~

Zhang Ben lightly plucked the Jade Knife; the palm-wide blade surface revealed fine patterns, and the knife's ringing sound was crisp.

"A good knife!"

Old Zhang's eyes lit up; he casually danced a few knife flowers, the sound of breaking the air humming, showing the quality of this Jade Knife:

"It only lacks a bit of heat treatment; it would be a superior sharp blade!"

Zhang Ben could not stop praising, feeling quite joyful in his heart.

'This disciple resembles me very deeply!'

He never expected that late in life he would still take on such a disciple; the forging technique, the line of thought, and the heat treatment of this knife were almost identical to his own before he reached Great Perfection in the Art of Forging.

If he had not seen Li Yuan forge it with his own eyes, he would have truly thought it was made by himself back in the day.

With good talent and resembling himself, such a disciple made him satisfied beyond all satisfaction!

"If the heat treatment is lacking a bit, it does not count as a superior grade."

Glancing at the Jade Knife emitting a white light, Li Yuan shook his head, feeling somewhat regretful.

With the breakthrough in hammer technique and Blood Qi, his Art of Forging had naturally improved as well, but it was still some distance from Great Perfection; after all, he had forged only thirty-some weapons in total, and sharp blades numbered only six.

"How many days have you been striking iron? When I was your age, it took me no less than twenty years!"

Zhang Ben was very satisfied and also full of expectation:

"Soon, you will be able to forge superior sharp blades! For every one you forge, this old man will grant you seven taels of patterned silver!"

"Seven taels?"

"Seven taels is not a small amount; the shop has cultivated you. Do you perhaps want to split it in half?"

Zhang Ben glared at him, picked up the Jade Knife, and walked toward the back courtyard; he had to go show off to those few old fellows.

Just as he was leaving the room, he paused slightly: "By the way, I previously promised that when you reach Great Perfection in the Art of Forging, you could go to the warehouse and pick a superior sharp blade. Now,

you may go!"

"Thank you, Master!"

Li Yuan was truly overjoyed.

The gold and silver from forging are the shop's rewards and punishments, but this—this is the master's personal gift. No one else gets this kind of treatment, and the blacksmiths nearby watched with eyes so envious they turned red.

A top-grade sharp blade, sold internally, would still fetch over thirty taels of fine silver!

"Brother Li, you've got to treat us to drinks one of these days!"

"A top-grade sharp blade! Junior Brother Li, listen to your senior brother—head straight for the Jade Edge blades, pick one of the swords and sabers forged by the old master himself back in the day!"

"Junior Brother, your forging skill is probably already close to grand mastery!"

……

The moment Zhang Ben left, the smithy immediately livened up. A crowd of blacksmiths and helpers started clamoring—half congratulating him, half demanding he treat them.

The dozen-odd apprentices working the bellows watched on, full of envy.

"Alright, another day for sure!"

Li Yuan of course agreed wholeheartedly. After dealing with them, he set down his forging hammer and, feet barely touching the ground, hurried off to the warehouse.

"Oh, Junior Brother, you're glowing all over—could it be that the old master is about to hand you what he promised?"

Wang Hu, who guarded the warehouse, spotted Li Yuan from afar and came forward with a smile.

"Sorry to trouble you, Brother Hu, to open the warehouse door!"

Li Yuan smiled.

These past days he'd been running over here quite often, and every now and then he'd bring some wine and meat, so naturally his relationship with Wang Hu wasn't bad.

"You're too polite by far. Here, let's open it up!"

With a grand sweep of his hand, Wang Hu led Li Yuan into the warehouse. Only after putting some distance between themselves and the other two guards did he lower his voice and say:

"Junior Brother, you'd best not take those few sabers and swords the master left behind back in the day—too eye-catching…"

"Thanks for the warning, Brother Hu."

Li Yuan nodded.

The two of them walked straight through the vast warehouse to its depths, where Wang Hu produced a key and unlocked an inner room.

The warehouse had two sections, inner and outer. The outer one held mostly various iron materials and ordinary weapons; even the best of those Jade Edge blades and Green Tipped Swords were only first-tier.

In the inner armory, even the worst weapons were tiered.

Li Yuan had been in a few times before and had been utterly dazzled; several of the weapons in particular had made his heart pound.

Stepping into the inner armory, feeling the tremor of the Weapon Register, a flash of white-blue light flickering in his eyes, Li Yuan couldn't help feeling a bit torn:

"I want them all—which should I pick?"

(End of chapter)