Chapter 61: Soft Armor, the Horizontal Training Talent

Crafting soft armor is far more difficult than forging sabers, spears, swords, or halberds; the black-silver must be hammered and tempered many times, eventually liquefied, poured into molds, and finally drawn into silk-thin threads.

Only at this stage does the crafting of soft armor truly begin.

"Good, now that's more like it!"

Only then did Zhang Ben smooth his brow, step forward, and guide Li Yuan through the crafting. The making of soft armor is quite delicate—every silver thread has strict requirements for toughness and hardness; lacking any one of them, and it ceases to be a top-grade piece.

Master and disciple were just discussing the forging steps, preparing to begin, when the sound of hammering in the smithy suddenly stopped.

"Masters, please pause a moment."

Yu Zhen had appeared at the smithy door at some unknown time; only when he felt the eyes of everyone upon him did he give a light cough and say:

"I imagine you all know why I've come?"

Inside the room came the sound of an iron hammer hitting the floor; the faces of the smiths and helpers all looked rather grim.

After years of forging, they were far burlier and more robust than the inner-court apprentices, and their hammer work was not bad either, but they had absolutely no experience fighting people,

let alone leaving the city to battle mountain bandits.

"Shopkeeper Yu, the smithy has only thirty-two men in total—every day we barely have enough hands for forging. If you pull more away, I'm afraid we won't have enough weapons to ship to Fucheng!"

Zhang Ben cupped his hands slightly, his face also darkening.

The smithy was under his management, but nominally, the current chief steward of the inner court was Yu Zhen.

"What are you saying, Elder Zhang? You're a renowned master smith for miles around—with you here, how could we fear not forging enough weapons?"

Yu Zhen leaned half against the doorframe, his gaze turning cold.

In the days since Qin Xiong's death, he had been searching for hammer experts from Gao Liu County over the years, and at the same time keeping an eye on the Weaponry Shop.

And aside from the senior apprentices who had graduated from the inner court, the people with the best hammer skills and greatest strength in the Weaponry Shop were right here in the smithy.

If a few were truly hiding their skills, they might well have been able to ambush and hammer Qin Xiong to death.

Moreover, he recalled Nian Jiu in the dense forest, whose head had been smashed to pulp…

"I'll go find the Head Shopkeeper right now!"

Zhang Ben's eyelid twitched; he said coldly, but didn't move his feet.

Yu Zhen daring to come to the smithy to pull men—who's behind it, how could he not know?

Li Yuan gripped his forging hammer, his heart alert.

He well remembered how masterful this man's poisoning techniques were, and from the fact that the White Ape Foundation Diagram that should have been in his hands had appeared in Qin Xiong's, he could deduce a thing or two.

This hired blade lingering in the Weaponry Shop must have some other scheme…

"Why doesn't Elder Zhang go?"

Yu Zhen gave a mocking laugh, surveying the people in the room, utterly indifferent to Zhang Ben's livid face, and began pointing.

"You, you two, and those three over there—yes, the young one…"

Finally, his gaze shifted and landed on Li Yuan.

"Yu Zhen!"

Zhang Ben snatched up the iron hammer from the forging table, only for Li Yuan, quick-eyed and fast-handed, to hold him back.

"Elder Zhang has misunderstood."

Yu Zhen smiled; he studied the apprentice in the corner, feeling vaguely familiar, but didn't dwell on it:

"This young brother here is Elder Zhang's beloved disciple, the most gifted apprentice in our Weaponry Shop—Li Yuan?"

"What do you want?"

Zhang Ben stepped in front of Li Yuan, his gaze turning cold.

"The Head Shopkeeper specifically instructed that, as Elder Zhang's beloved disciple, he need not wade into this muddy water. I was simply too curious, so I came to take a look."

Yu Zhen's smile was warm, without his earlier aggressive pressure:

"May I ask, young brother, how is your qi and blood cultivation?"

Li Yuan lowered his head slightly: "Reporting to the Shopkeeper, thanks to my master's care, this disciple has, with the aid of pills, barely pushed his blood qi to Minor Accomplishment…"

"Minor Accomplishment?"

Yu Zhen nodded and asked no more; with a wave of his hand, he led the batch of named men—looking as if they'd lost a parent—out of the smithy.

"That man—despicable!"

Zhang Ben was so angry his whole body trembled.

"He's a venomous snake!"

Li Yuan gripped his forging hammer.

This Yu Zhen appeared gentle on the surface, but was in truth extremely dangerous; in just a few words, he had made the smiths' gazes toward him and Zhang Ben take on a strange flavor.

A whole room of disciples, and you protect only Li Yuan?

Only half the smiths remained, silently forging; Li Yuan, however, sensed their mood, and a chill rose in his heart.

"Despicable, despicable!"

He tugged at the trembling old Zhang; Li Yuan himself remained calm:

"Master, let's forge the armor first!"

"You prepare first…"

Zhang Ben steadied himself for a while, then said through gritted teeth: "I'll go find the Head Shopkeeper!"

It'll be useless even if you do!

Feeling the gazes of his fellow apprentices, Li Yuan hammered the iron hard—clanging wildly.

……

Cao Yan acted with thunderous efficiency.

That very morning, he and Lin Lin Qingfa of the Changyuan Escort Agency had already led several hundred men out of the city in grand procession.

Li Yuan glanced over; the scene was grand, and among them were familiar faces from the previous journey to Mount Fajiu Mountain, such as Yue Yue Yunjin and Wu Ming.

"Poison Snake Gang…"

As Li Yuan turned to leave, he happened to glance upward and saw Lu Lu Bailing and others watching from afar—the woman with the sword on her back was there too.

"This woman is probably not a bodyguard—could she be Lu's younger aunt, who entered the Divine Weapon Valley's inner sect? But she seems too young…"

Li Yuan muttered to himself.

But this time he didn't stare long; he cast a quick glance and hurried back. He had stepped out to find a tailor and get his measurements.

The soft armor's fit must match his body exactly.

…

"The Poison Snake Gang went too far—while Commander Qiu was away, they dared to rob and commit crimes! They deserve to die!"

On the city wall, Lu Lu Yunqing snorted coldly.

Fang Fang Yunxiu glanced at the retreating mob with indifference, her eyes fixed on Lu Lu Yunqing: "Brother-in-law, you truly knew nothing about Qiu's death?"

"On the day Commander Qiu was killed, I was discussing the Dao with Master Master Kongding—how could I have known such a tragedy would occur? Had I known, I would have gone with him!"

Lu Lu Yunqing's expression turned serious, then he sighed:

"Since that day, I ordered every patrol of government office Runners to search day and night—but not a single clue has surfaced. Worse, Chief Qiu Da has vanished too, and we still don't know his whereabouts…"

"I hope you're not involved."

Fang Fang Yunxiu said nothing, then turned and left.

"What about your aunt?"

Lu Lu Bailing, standing to the side, finally dared to speak.

"Nothing much."

Lu Lu Yunqing gave a faint, shaking smile:

"Your aunt merely suspects I've strayed from the Bai Shen Fa—that I've worshipped a demonic deity. But Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva was officially sanctioned as a true deity by the imperial court a thousand years ago."

Lu Lu Bailing had no doubt; she nodded.

"Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva is indeed a true deity."

…

…

Six days later.

Splash!

The crimson inner armor plunged into bone-chilling ice water, sending up thick clouds of steam.

"Did it succeed?"

Hearing the quenching sound, Zhang Ben grew tense.

Though further steps—quenching, polishing—still remained, the armor's grade was now set.

"It succeeded!"

Unlike Zhang Ben's unease, Li Yuan felt calm—he had already seen the glow on the armor.

【Black Silver Azure Water Inner Armor (Second Rank)】

Forged with black silver as the base, aided by azure essence sand and white secret mud… crafted by the Master-at-Arms himself, infused with immense effort and expectation—his first inner armor.

【Mastery Requirement: Proficient in Hardening】

【Mastery Effect: Resistant to Light Weapons, Hardening Talent】

Barely Second Rank!

Li Yuan exhaled in relief; he'd had no confidence crafting a superior-grade inner armor for the first time.

The forging steps

Were too numerous and complex—any misstep would ruin the final quality. Thankfully, it reached Second Rank, no worse than the one in storage.

And…

"The mastery requirement is much lower!"

Having forged the armor himself, Li Yuan felt joy. Zhang Ben, after carefully examining the armor as he pulled it from the ice water, also beamed with delight:

"Good lad! You've forged the hardest superior-grade inner armor!"

"Only because the Master guided me throughout—otherwise, I'd never have succeeded on the first try."

Li Yuan sincerely thanked him.

Every step of forging the armor had involved Zhang Ben's participation—he had practically taught him Shoubashou Sect style.

"Enough flattery—just take it!"

Zhang Ben scolded with a laugh, gazing at the untempered, unpolished armor, growing fonder by the second.

Except for a slight gap in material selection and heat control, this armor truly looked like he himself had forged it—even the smallest habitual details bore his imprint.

"Since you're so happy, what's the price of this armor?"

"Happy as I am, business is business."

Before Li Yuan could finish, Zhang Ben laughed and tossed the armor back:

"Tempering and polishing will take two days—but soaking? At least a year or two. It's still far from finished!"

Something worth two or three hundred taels couldn't be forged in ten days or half a month.

But Li Yuan didn't care—he only needed mastery. Semi-finished or finished, it made no difference to him; a month or two of soaking would only affect appearance.

If he didn't mind, the pitch-black thing right now wasn't unusable.

But he couldn't say that to Zhang Ben—he'd get scolded for sure.

"Proficient in Hardening won't come so fast…"

With practiced tempering, Li Yuan glanced toward the iron sand in the corner used for polishing blades—a single rub would probably peel the skin right off an ordinary person.

……

The semi-finished product inner armor—Li Yuan couldn't bear to let it out of his hands either. Hoisting it up, he left the Weapon Forging Shop and set it down on the already rather crowded grey Dingxin Dingxin Shitai.

Although the shop had a rule that the very first weapon of a different grade one forged by hand could be bought at half price, he still didn't feel comfortable with that.

A rare item worth two or three hundred taels—if someone snatched it up, he'd probably cough up blood.

"Better to play it safe in everything."

Following the rules, Li Yuan felt easy in his conscience—he wasn't refusing to pay the silver.

In the forging rooms, it wasn't uncommon to sneak out scrap iron, pig iron, and the like to sell. Li Yuan had it even easier than they did, but when he took a bag of iron sand, he paid for it too.

Giving someone a handle over something this small just wouldn't be worth it.

"Why are you here?"

Li Yuan had planned to take the iron sand home first, then go to his second brother's place for a meal, but the moment he pushed the door open, he spotted Fatty Sun.

And a table already laid out with wine and dishes.

"The work in the middle courtyard suits Fatty Zhong just fine. I've got nothing to do, so I came to stay at your place for a few days."

Fatty Sun poured the wine.

"Stay for a few days?"

Li Yuan glanced around the room—three sets of bedding had been brought along.

"Sigh, I'm scared."

Fatty Sun wore a long face.

Ever since returning to Huicheng, he hadn't dared sleep alone—his dreams were either of his brother-in-law and sister being killed, or of himself being captured by bandits again.

After enduring it for ten days, he really couldn't take it anymore.

"Good that you're here."

Li Yuan tore off a chicken leg and ate it as he agreed to let Fatty Sun stay.

Rubbing the body with iron sand—one person alone can't spread it evenly.