Chapter 55: Astonishing Results

April is one of the most pleasant months of the year.

At night, a cool breeze blows gently.

Li Yuan's hearing was sharp; once he heard his brother and sister-in-law were fast asleep, he went downstairs, took his training hammer, and stepped into the courtyard.

Four round moons hung high in the sky.

"How strong am I now?"

In the moonlight, Li Yuan set down the hammer and walked to the big water vat in the southwest corner.

The small courtyard had no well, of course; storing water depended entirely on this big vat.

This big vat was nearly two meters tall; to draw water one had to step up on a large stone. It had been used jointly by the three families sharing the courtyard before, and could hold twenty or thirty buckets of water at a time.

"A bucket of water weighs fifty or sixty jin; not counting the vat itself, that's over a thousand jin. A few months ago I tried and could lift one corner. What about now?"

Li Yuan rubbed his hands together, spread his arms to grip the vat, exerted his strength, and the big vat wobbled once, sloshing water out. It left the ground, but he couldn't lift it completely.

"Much more than a few months ago, but still can't lift it. Maybe it's just hard to exert force this way? Then right now, my two arms must be around eight or nine hundred jin, more or less?"

Having tested his natural strength, Li Yuan's mind stirred, and the 'Force of a Thousand Jin' from the Jade Essence Copper Hammer surged into his body like a tide.

"Lift!"

The next moment, Li Yuan pushed off from the ground, his shoulders taut. With a great splash of water, the big vat was actually lifted clean off the ground by him!

"Again!"

A faint surge of blood from his feet, and Li Yuan felt both his arms and legs swell a size larger, veins and sinews bulging.

Exerting force once more, the water-filled vat was tossed over a meter into the air by him,

and with both hands bracing beneath, he held it up!

"Truly, the Force of a Thousand Jin! Even the cauldron that King Xiang lifted probably wasn't as heavy as this big vat, was it?"

Holding the big vat aloft, Li Yuan walked two laps around the courtyard before slowly setting the big water vat back in place:

"Still had strength to spare, but the burst was too violent—muscles are a bit torn…"

Shaking both arms, Li Yuan was quite satisfied, though the sudden addition of a thousand jin of force to his body was a bit too much of a burden.

"I'm short a body-tempering Wu Gong…"

Kneading his shoulders and arms, Li Yuan sighed inwardly.

In these past eight-plus months, he could be said to have advanced by leaps and bounds; he had entered the ranks, and even obtained a second-tier weapon.

But aside from the Soldier Path Combat Slaying Hammer he had chanced upon, he hadn't been able to obtain any Wu Gong at all.

The dozen-plus factions in and around Gao Liu County each had more than one Wu Gong, but getting one's hands on one was far too difficult.

Quan Fa, swordsmanship, blade techniques, Zhang Fa, flying daggers, body-tempering Wu Gong—he couldn't even touch them, let alone learn them.

Most internal-force martial artists in the inner and outer cities only knew one kind of Wu Gong; among those who practiced two kinds of Wu Gong, the only one he knew was Qin Xiong.

Those who could teach multiple Wu Gong were, exclusively, sects.

This greatly limited the variety of weapons he could wield, such as the several blades and swords in his inner treasury.

"Divine Weapon Valley!"

Letting out a long breath, Li Yuan picked up the hammer and, using the interval while his muscles recovered, took up the Bai Yuan stance, digesting the medicinal power of that Leopard-Fetus Sinew-Changing Pill.

A pill costing ten taels of silver—wasting even a little of it pained his heart.

Nourished by blood and Qi, Li Yuan soon could no longer feel the ache of torn muscles. The hammer, which he had been swinging slowly, suddenly accelerated,

tearing a blur through the wind and letting out a muffled explosive boom in midair!

"The same force strikes out, but the impact is nearly twice as heavy. Is this what they mean by 'momentum and great weight'?"

Hearing that his brother and sister-in-law inside seemed to have been startled awake, Li Yuan hurriedly picked up the hammer and went upstairs.

"The Force of a Thousand Jin and momentum with great weight really suit each other! If I could add mastery of long weapons, armor-breaking body-tempering, how heavy would my full-strength hammer strike be?"

Li Yuan was very excited; relying on the undigested medicinal power, he began practicing the Soldier Body Stance inside the room.

After completing all twenty-four forward forms, he even pushed into the reverse twenty-four.

Though it was the same stance work, the Soldier Body Stance was far more complex than the Bai Yuan stance. Moreover, after his blood and Qi reached Great Completion, practicing it, he discovered an even more formidable aspect.

Practicing the Bai Yuan stance, blood and Qi at Great Completion formed an 'X'-shaped circulation centered on the waist and abdomen, connecting the four limbs. The Soldier Body Stance, however, seemed to want to spread throughout the entire body,

seeming to transform into a massive blood-and-Qi circulation encompassing all four limbs and the hundred bones.

Upon discovering this, Li Yuan decisively chose a practice method centered on the Soldier Body Stance with the Bai Yuan stance as supplement.

Though he had no one to guide him, he knew that a great blood-and-Qi circulation encompassing the whole body must be stronger than a small one limited to the four limbs.

"The medicine really can't stop—my silver…"

Feeling the rapid drain of blood and Qi within his body, Li Yuan was both delighted and pained.

Originally, after blood and Qi reached Great Completion, he had planned to stop taking pills and devote all his efforts to preparing the materials needed to advance the Weapon Registry to the third tier.

"Hah!"

"Hoo!"

Li Yuan held his stance until deep into the night, dozed for a few hours, then got up again to continue. Until the sky was about to brighten, he exhaled a mouthful of turbid Qi,

and a great sweat suddenly surged out from head to toe, soaking his clothes.

"The medicinal power of the second Leopard-Fetus Sinew-Changing Pill is nearly used up. I'll take a Zeng Xue Dan first to ease things, and save the last pill for a few days later."

Drawing water to wipe himself down and changing clothes, Li Yuan took a Zeng Xue Dan before going downstairs for breakfast.

……

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Daybreak had just arrived, and Li Yuan was already at the forge, beginning a day's work. The forging hammer, More than ten jin in weight, he could no longer feel as heavy—strike after strike.

"Heavy and powerful!"

Li Yuan could feel the change in his own hammer technique. With the same force, one strike of his hammer now equaled two from yesterday—every strike heavy and powerful.

"The essence of the Soldier Register is to constantly take control of new weapons, and ultimately thoroughly digest every kind of effect, fusing them into one body…"

Li Yuan immersed himself in it, forging iron, familiarizing himself, digesting the control effects.

After daybreak, the other blacksmiths arrived one after another and began working. They did not notice anything unusual about Li Yuan, but Zhang Ben, who arrived unhurriedly with his hands behind his back, noticed keenly the moment he stepped inside.

"This kid—his forging art has already reached great completion?"

Listening to the ring of the forging hammer, Zhang Ben was somewhat astonished. He did not approach right away, but watched his disciple immersed in the work from afar, deeply gratified.

Watching the hammer shadows fly, Zhang Ben could always sense his own shadow in them. He had taught countless apprentices and taken on quite a few disciples,

but he had never seen any disciple so alike himself.

"Truly takes after me!"

Zhang Ben sighed inwardly, all the more pleased. He waited until Li Yuan finished hammering and moved to quenching before stepping up. After a few words of praise, he asked:

"Would you like to try crafting a superior grade blade?"

Hiss!

The red-hot iron sword was plunged into water.

"A superior grade blade?"

Li Yuan was of course very interested—the joy of his forging art reaching great completion could not compare to this: "Seven taels of silver per blade?"

"No, the Shopkeeper said, for every blade you forge, eight taels of silver!"

Zhang Ben smiled.

This was something he had secured from Cao Yan; in addition, there were also rare iron materials from the warehouse.

"Thank you, Master!"

Li Yuan hurried to thank him, feeling quite grateful in his heart.

The later stages of a superior blade often required special treatment before it could be sold, but the actual forging was not much more complicated than an ordinary blade.

In other words, forging the same iron, if he forged superior blades, his income could more than octuple!

Moreover, just like with the first blade, the first superior blade he forged with his own hands, he could buy at half price.

"Your control of the heat is still not very proficient. Practice regulating the heat for a few more days. If at the end you're off by even a little on the heat, the price will differ by tenfold!"

Next, Zhang Ben personally took over, instructing Li Yuan on the control of heat, the temperature of the quenching water, and the timing.

Li Yuan settled his mind and studied, ravenously.