Chapter 59: The Shaken Weapon-Forging Shop

Qin Xiong was killed at home!

The rain had not stopped through the night; when the sky was just beginning to brighten, Qiu Da, who had received the news, arrived in haste leading a group of government office Runners, only to be stopped outside the gate.

"Captain Qiu, please halt!"

Outside San Yuan Wai, several guards from the weapons forge blocked Qiu Da, the leader being precisely Zhao, the squad leader.

"Brother Zhao, what is the meaning of this?"

Qiu Da forcibly suppressed the fury in his heart. Before his own elder uncle's death, who in this outer city would dare block him?

"Captain Qiu, don't make things difficult for me!"

Zhao He held his long spear, his face expressionless: "County Lieutenant Liu is inside; surely you don't distrust him?"

"You—!"

Qiu Da was furious, yet unable to vent it. He could only let out a sullen snort and leave with a flick of his sleeve, though in his heart he was secretly swearing vengeance:

"Just wait, once Elder Han arrives, let's see how you die…"

He had always suspected that his elder uncle's death was connected to these factions at the weapons forge!

"Qiu Da has left."

Zhao He walked into the courtyard.

Yu Zhen stood holding his blade, brows tightly knit; Cao Yan's face was cold. In the mud before the two of them lay a corpse that had been smashed almost into pulp.

"Q-Qin, the guard was ambushed; caught off guard, he was beaten to death with hammers!"

Beside the corpse, a slightly plump man paced as he examined the scene, glancing around from time to time, occasionally looking up. After a long while, he cupped his fist in greeting and said:

"The killer used what should be the most common kind of hammer; as for the Wu Gong…"

After a slight pause, the man's expression turned somewhat peculiar:

"It was the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer, killing move—Bai Yuan Hammer Strike!"

Bai Yuan Hammer Strike!

Cao Yan's eyelid twitched. Even though the night's heavy rain had washed away every trace, the wounds on the corpse could not be faked.

"Brother Liu is not wrong; Qin Xiong indeed died from the Bai Yuan Hammer Strike."

Yu Zhen, holding his blade, circled the courtyard. Reaching the gate, he turned with his back to the door:

"Last night's heavy rain—Qin Xiong appears to have gone out during the night. When he returned, he saw the lights in his house extinguished and the door wide open. As he rushed inside in haste,"

"the killer, who had been lying in wait on the roof, used the heavy rain as cover to ambush him. The very first hammer blow shattered both arms crossed in front of his body…"

Yu Zhen gestured as he spoke, as though he had seen it with his own eyes, causing both Cao Yan and Liu Bin to nod involuntarily.

Finally, he stated with certainty:

"The killer deliberately used a hammer, most likely to conceal his true weapon and Wu Gong. This person should be one who has cultivated internal force but has yet to complete body tempering."

"Otherwise, there would be no need for such elaborate laying-in-wait and surprise attacks!"

"Brother Yu speaks well!"

Liu Bin nodded repeatedly, expressing admiration:

"This thief is quite cunning—smashing the corpse to pulp, leaving no trace of internal force—clearly intending to mislead us and hide his identity this way. Pity, he still gave himself away!"

"This person deliberately left no trace of internal force, but precisely because of that, his identity was exposed. Without internal force, who in Gao Liu County could shatter Qin Xiong's arm bones and chest bone with a single hammer blow?"

Yu Zhen let out a cold laugh.

Liu Bin glanced at Cao Yan, then quickly looked away, speculating:

"Could it be Nian Jiu? But that doesn't add up either—where would Nian Jiu have learned the Bai Yuan Hammer?"

Cao Yan's face darkened as he set the matter: "That Nian Jiu comes from Thousand Jun Cave, a long-time bandit. What's so remarkable about him imitating a few moves of the Bai Yuan Hammer?"

"Could it be that Cao Mou sent men to kill Qin Xiong, cutting off his own arm in the process?"

"How would Liu dare harbor such a suspicion?"

Liu Bin expressed righteous indignation: "That heaven-cursed thief actually dared to commit murder! If he falls into this county lieutenant's hands, I'll flay him alive!"

Then he cupped his fist in farewell and departed to report to the county office.

After Liu Bin left, the courtyard fell silent. Yu Zhen's gaze turned slightly cold: "Qin Xiong's death is suspicious."

"It must have been Nian Jiu who killed him. What's suspicious about it?"

Cao Yan turned away indifferently and instructed Zhao He: "Qin Xiong has no close relatives at home. The forge will handle his funeral arrangements—have him buried soon, laid to rest in the earth!"

"Yes!"

Zhao He understood perfectly. He called over several guards to lift the corpse and hurried away.

"The Bai Yuan Fundamental Chart is lost…"

Yu Zhen's face twitched, equal parts heartache and fury:

"Yu Mou will naturally compensate; I hope Brother Cao does not take offense."

Cao Yan only grunted in acknowledgment, gazing into the distance, his eyes cold and deep:

"Han Han Chuijun is about to arrive."

……

……

"Horizontal training Wu Gong, also called the Wu Gong of taking beatings, is a Wu Gong trained by using Yi Hu Xi Fa together with medicinal wine and medicinal oils to strike the entire body—and it requires striking harder and harder?"

"No wonder so few people practice this kind of Wu Gong…"

In the forging room, hammers rang against iron—ding, ding, clang, clang. Li Yuan split his attention, recalling the Seven Star Horizontal Training Body, and could not help the corner of his mouth twitching.

Striking the entire body, from wooden-staff beating to iron-sand abrasion—before reaching mastery, the intensity of the striking must be increased seven times!

How painful would that be?

Iron sand is used for sharpening blades, after all…

Just thinking about it made Li Yuan's teeth ache—wasn't this Zi Nve Wu Gong?

"Did you hear? Guard Qin was beaten to death last night by that Nianjiu who broke into the gate. The Shopkeeper was furious and raised the bounty on Nianjiu to five hundred taels of silver!"

"Five hundred taels! But no matter how much silver, it's not worth your life. That Nianjiu is far too vicious—even Captain Qiu was… by him…"

"Poor Guard Qin. He just died, and the mistresses he kept are already fighting each other bloody over it. That Niu Gui's face got scratched all up!"

Amid the clanging of forging, the blacksmiths were also gossiping.

The outer city had little entertainment; to hear a tune you had to go to the inner city. Normally there was nothing to do, so any matter, big or small, would spread like wildfire and become the talk of the town over meals.

"Buried the same day?"

Li Yuan had Captured the heavy one of the point.

Clearly, this was the intention of the head Shopkeeper, Cao Yan.

"Could it be that people from the Divine Weapon Valley are coming?"

The hammer fell, sparks flew, and Li Yuan's heart settled into calm.

Without the threat of Qin Xiong, he felt the progress of his forging had sped up considerably. As for people coming from the Divine Weapon Valley, it had nothing to do with him.

Even if Qiu Long was killed by Cao Yan, so what?

Executing nine clans had nothing to do with him either!

"Old Zhang didn't take part in this…"

Li Yuan let out a long breath, calmed his mind, and starting from selecting ore, prepared to forge his first superior blade.

"The first superior blade I forge with my own hands, I can buy back at half price. What to forge needs no saying—of course it's an inner armor!"

Arriving at the warehouse, accompanied by Wang Hu, Li Yuan began selecting ore, starting with black silver ore.

"Black silver stone? Junior Brother Li, you can't be planning to forge an inner armor, can you?"

Wang Hu was startled.

The imperial court prohibited armor and crossbows, but did not prohibit inner armor. The biggest reason was that forging inner armor was far more tedious and difficult than forging regular armor.

In the smithy over several decades, the number of blacksmiths who could forge inner armor could be counted on one hand. Now only Zhang Ben remained, and because his energy was failing, he needed others to assist when forging—at most two pieces a year.

"Picking this right off the bat—isn't it too hard? If the forging fails, you'll still have to pay half the cost of the ore and iron materials…"

Wang Hu was a little worried.

"With Master watching beside me, of course I have to take the chance to forge the hardest thing. After this, I won't get such treatment again!"

Li Yuan smiled.

Without that Horizontal Training Wu Gong, he would have hesitated. Now, naturally, soft armor came first.

If Tang Tong hadn't had that soft armor protecting him, that slash would likely have done more than just wound his internal organs. If Qin Xiong hadn't had Horizontal Training, he couldn't have withstood his eighteen hammer blows either.

Horizontal Training paired with soft armor might save his life at a critical moment.

If he could forge a soft armor with the 'Horizontal Training Talent' boost, that would be even better.

(End of chapter)