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Xuanwu looked at Liu Guanfeng and the others, nodded, and said, "You did very well. You managed to crush all the ores and turn them into Pig Iron so quickly, even faster than I expected. When I saw your results on the first day, I thought you would need to mine for another two weeks. Since you have already refined the Pig Iron, starting tomorrow we will officially call you blacksmiths. However, you must listen carefully. Once all this Pig Iron is used up, you still need to go mining to produce more Pig Iron ingots. Do you understand?"
Liu Guanfeng and the others straightened their backs and replied, "Understood, Xuanwu Master." Liu Guanfeng thought to himself: As long as we don't have to mine and smash Stone every day, mixing in a few different activities will be more enjoyable.
"Alright, you can all go back to eat and rest. Remember to come early tomorrow afternoon," Xuanwu said before striding out. Liu Guanfeng followed behind with his four attendants as they left the deep pool.
At this moment, Iron Bull was visibly excited, rubbing his hands as he asked Liu Guanfeng, "Third Brother, do you really think Xuanwu Master will teach us blacksmithing tomorrow? We've been doing hard labor here for over two weeks."
Liu Guanfeng also looked happy and replied, "It should be true. Our first two weeks were spent mining and refining Pig Iron ingots to provide materials. Now that the materials are ready, we will definitely be able to start blacksmithing tomorrow. Don't worry."
Copper Bull clenched his fists and exclaimed, "Finally, we can learn blacksmithing! I can't believe I've lived to see this day."
Liu Guanfeng and the others nodded in agreement. The past two weeks had not been easy; every day was filled with mining that made them feel nauseous just thinking about it. After Copper Bull's remark, Five Boys unconsciously rubbed their arms.
To encourage everyone, Liu Guanfeng said, "Now that we can learn blacksmithing, all the hardships we've endured will be worth it. Right? I've decided that I'm going to forge a set of equipment for myself so that I can take revenge for my father."
After saying this, Liu Guanfeng stood on the ground looking toward the east—the direction of his hometown in Knight's Continent—wondering about his parents and two older brothers and what their situation was now: whether they were alive or dead. Tears filled Liu Guanfeng's eyes but did not fall.
Bao Rui, Copper Bull, and the other four stood behind Liu Guanfeng with clenched fists, gazing toward the east. The recent family tragedy had left Copper Bull's father severely injured while both of their mounts had died, and their mother was missing. Bao Rui's parents were also unaccounted for. The main reason they could endure was the burning desire for revenge in their hearts.
Bao Rui patted Liu Guanfeng on the shoulder and said, "Third Brother, don't think about it too much right now. Let's go back and eat. Even if we want revenge, we need to wait until we have strength first. If we go back now, we'll only end up dead."
Liu Guanfeng nodded; he understood very well that if he wanted revenge, he needed to master his skills first. If his father Liu Yong'an was dead, then it would be up to him to fulfill his father's wishes and help Third Prince regain the throne.
The next day when they got up, Liu Guanfeng and the others showed a remarkable change in spirit. They had been frowning every day before, but today everyone looked radiant. Even Liu Yongmin was secretly surprised—what kind of medicine did these kids take today?
The excitement stemmed from the fact that they would finally get to learn blacksmithing techniques.
Due to their high level of excitement, Liu Guanfeng and the others learned weapons training very quickly in the morning, leaving Four Sacred Beasts astonished at their progress. The learning effectiveness of these kids today was surprisingly impressive.
For instance, Liu Guanfeng not only mastered the sixth form of Heavenly Gang Spear Technique taught by Bai Hu yesterday but also completed the second form of Earthly Destruction Hammer Technique. He even practiced the third form of Earthly Destruction Hammer Technique taught by Bai Hu today quite well; the only thing lacking was practical experience in combat.
Even Dai, who had been training outside under the guidance of the Ghost Leopard, returned happily and said, "Today, Master Ghost Leopard King told me that my stealth skills are ready for graduation. Starting tomorrow, he will teach me how to find opponents hiding in the shadows. Hehe!"
Bai Hu was taken aback by Dai's words. "Are you serious? You can graduate with your stealth skills already?"
"Yes, Lord Bai Hu. My performance today exceeded our expectations. I led all fifteen guards and five dozen Sixth Tier cubs to look for him, but we couldn't find him at all. I thought he had left the area I designated, but as soon as time passed, he suddenly appeared right beneath my feet. His concealment technique is already on par with mine." At that moment, Ghost Leopard King emerged from the depths of the forest. At the same time, Bai Hu heard the aforementioned words in his mind.
Bai Hu looked at Dai again and nodded. "You did well. You learned such advanced concealment techniques in just two weeks; it seems I wasn't wrong. You are naturally suited to be an assassin. Since that's the case, starting tomorrow, you will learn tracking techniques from Ghost Leopard King. A good assassin must not only have excellent hiding skills but also highly developed senses to swiftly identify dangers around them and react correctly during missions."
Dai cupped his hands toward Bai Hu and replied, "Yes, Disciple will remember this and will diligently learn from Master Ghost Leopard King."
"Alright then, today's practice session ends here. After lunch, report to your bald master."
"Understood." Liu Guanfeng and Dai responded simultaneously to Bai Hu before heading to the well to wash off their sweat and dirt in preparation for their meal.
After lunch, Liu Guanfeng and Five People completely forgot about resting and excitedly went to find Xuanwu.
When Liu Guanfeng, Bao Rui, and others arrived near the deep pool, Xuanwu was already waiting there. Next to the large furnace were five small blacksmithing furnaces.
By now, Liu Guanfeng and his companions were accustomed to Xuanwu's abilities. Liu Guanfeng approached Xuanwu with four others and bowed slightly. "Master San, we have arrived."
Xuanwu opened his eyes. "You’re here; then let’s start learning blacksmithing." After saying that, Xuanwu picked up a piece of Pig Iron ingot and placed it into the large furnace in front of him.
He then turned to Liu Guanfeng and the others and said, "What you processed these past few days is Pig Iron; however, Pig Iron cannot be directly forged into weapons as such weapons are unusable. What kind of weapons can be used? They need you to further process the Pig Iron. Now watch closely how to perform this secondary processing."
After finishing his words, Xuanwu took out a red-hot Iron Ingot from the furnace and placed it on an iron mat. He lifted his heavy five-hundred-pound hammer and struck down hard on the Iron Ingot. Each blow landed firmly on the Iron Ingot as if Xuanwu was consciously controlling its shape to remain rectangular. After nearly a hundred strikes of "clang clang," what was once a shoebox-sized piece of Pig Iron was hammered down to the size of a lunchbox.
Liu Guanfeng and the others rubbed their eyes vigorously. Is this real? A piece that large was just hammered down like that? The other four were puzzled by this transformation, but Liu Guanfeng understood clearly. Xuanwu's nearly hundred strikes had removed excess impurities from the Pig Iron; what remained was a piece of iron with an extremely high iron content—one could say it was steel now.
Moreover, Liu Guanfeng noticed that during Xuanwu's hundred strikes, he had added fuel three times; this meant that when Xuanwu struck more than thirty times, the Pig Iron cooled down and could no longer be hammered further. Liu Guanfeng wondered when he would reach such a level.
Xuanwu set down his hammer and said to Liu Guanfeng and the others, "Did you see that? Your first task is to forge all subsequent Iron Ingots down to my size."
Copper Bull scratched his head and said, "Master, can we do it?"
Xuanwu glanced at his disciple and replied, "Useless thing, even if you can't do it, you have to make it happen. You all have a week; whoever can't do it will go mine for me. Having such disciples is embarrassing. Go practice on your own; I have already taught you my techniques."
Liu Guanfeng and a few others took their Hammer and approached the furnace. This time, Xuanwu intentionally increased the distance between the five furnaces to avoid accidents.
Liu Guanfeng looked at the large hammer in his hand and then at the Iron Ingot that was still heating in the Furnace. He squatted down and pulled the Bellows with force, watching as the Iron Ingot slowly turned red in the Fire. When he saw it was almost ready, he took out the Iron Ingot. Imitating Xuanwu's movements, he struck the Iron Ingot with the hammer.
After several days of practicing mining, Liu Guanfeng's hammering skills had improved significantly, and he was using a lot of strength. When Liu Guanfeng struck the Iron Ingot, his arm felt numb instead of lifting the hammer again lightly like Xuanwu did.
When he was mining, if he used that much force, the ore would almost shatter. However, the red Iron Ingot in front of him remained unaffected, only showing a slight dent where the hammer had struck. Liu Guanfeng put down the large hammer and rubbed his numb arms. He lifted the hammer again with the same force and position. Sparks flew everywhere, but the effect was similar to before; his arms still felt numb.
Liu Guanfeng thought to himself: This doesn't make sense; if I feel this way, then Xuanwu should feel similarly too. But why can he continue striking without stopping? Is there some trick to it?
At that moment, the sound of clanging echoed continuously. Liu Guanfeng turned his head and saw that among the Five People, only Copper Bull was still forging iron. Iron Bull, standing next to his brother, watched him strike iron repeatedly with confusion and asked:
"Brother, how are you able to do that? I can barely handle two strikes before my hand goes numb. How can you keep going like that?"
Copper Bull set down the Iron Ingot in his hand and placed the now-cooled Iron Ingot back into the furnace. While operating the fan, he said to Iron Bull: "When Master Xuanwu taught us how to forge iron earlier, I realized that his method is actually the second technique of hammering that Master taught me. So I tried a few strikes, and surprisingly, it really worked well for me."
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