Entering the smithy was like walking into a den of lions, if he was not killed by the heat then he would surely be burned by the high temperature, or swallowed whole by the billowing smoke that seemed to coil and writhe like hungry serpents. Fortunately, it seemed that the furnace was not functioning, or else he would already have fainted. Soon, he was near the furnace, and he could see some patterns on it that should be used to conduct soul power, making this furnace a soul guide. On a table not far from this huge stove, there were not only all kinds of drawings but also some coal and various ores in the corner.
"Alright, Xiao Meng, this is the smelting room of the smithy where you will observe and work for the next month, since you will leave for the Academy. During this month, I will try to teach you what I can, but I hope you remember that forging is a never-ending process, and what may seem perfect is never really perfect," said Tian Yun
"Alright, you said it yourself, look at me now, I will hit the iron in front of you once, you should try to remember as much as possible."
While nodding Xiao Meng fixed his eyes on Tian Yun. Despite surely knowing more about smithing than Tian Yun, Xiao Meng still didn't say anything, after all, he has only the information about smithing provided by the books which are quite unclear, and seeing is believing so now that he can see an expert crafting iron he was obviously excited.
"Striking iron is not an easy thing even if you are doing it once, you have to be mentally prepared and if you are not ready you can quit at any time," said Tian Yun while looking at the enthusiastic expression of Xiao Meng "I won't say anything more, remember to memorize my movement so you can copy them as much as possible after."
As soon as the voice of Tian Yun fell, an Iron Tong appeared in his left hand, which he used to clamp the iron bar out of the door of the forging furnace. Then Tian Yun picked a small iron ore, dull and unattractive, dominated by shades of brown or gray, surely due to the impurities present in the ore. This ore was smelted under our eyes by the use of the remaining heat of the furnace, and once it seemed hot enough, Tian Yun retrieved it from the forge to place it on an anvil to hammer it. It was at that moment that Xiao Meng focused all his attention on the movements, indeed, despite the failure of so many attempts at trying to absorb the so-called "purple-qi" to enhance his eyes, all these at least helped him to be able to enhance his focus on one task. So, he can only rely on his concentration to etch Tian Yun's movements into his mind, trying to memorize them to replicate later.
The hammer rose above the shoulder and fell in a straight line, smashing the red-hot iron ore directly. then another blow came faster, and this continued for a long time, approaching the " Thousand Refinement" popularized later from what Xiao Meng could see. Each blow gave birth to countless sparks that were thrown out, and each blow made the shape of the ore change, from a round ball to a short iron bar and finally to a short blade just smaller than a sword.
As the last hammer went down, Tian Yun took the hot dagger in a bucket filled with water, and a sound of boiling water came over "bubble...bubble," and the whole room was filled with steam for a short while.
As the steam cleared, revealing Tian Yun's work, Xiao Meng stood there still in a trance over the memory of more than 500 blows of a hammer being engraved into his mind. The once unremarkable and dull ore had been forged into an exquisite dagger blade with sharp edges, and despite its finesse, you could sense a powerful aura of "heaviness" that made the blade appear unbreakable.
Tian Yun looked at his creation with proud eyes before handing it to Xiao Meng with reluctant eyes. It was certainly a masterpiece made with his highest skill, despite the poor material that made it. "Here, it's yours from now," said Tian Yun with a complicated voice
Hearing this Xiao Meng was surprised and then happy, he was still considering how to hunt a soul beast in the future, and a dagger made from five hundred forgings fell on his lap so he said "Thank you, Uncle !!"
"It's your turn now," said Tian Yun, smiling peacefully, then took out a small ore similar to the one previously melted and gave it to Xiao Meng.
"I'll remember it first, and then do it," said Xiao Meng while sitting and recalling the process of the first twenty hammers and pushing those memories to the front of his mind. After finishing this, he took a hammer, then closed his eyes, and began to synchronize the movement he had seen with his body. At the same time, the hammer in his hand was gently swung to simulate the feeling of swinging a hammer.
Soon, he opened his eyes, looked at Tian Yun, the furnace, and the ore with determination, and threw it into the forge.
Though Tian Yun didn't express anything on the surface his heart was already overwhelmed, 50 years prior when he awakened poor talent when he was 6 years old he was still complaining to his master about why he should become a craftsman but in contrast, Xiao Meng a 6 years old child who had a "waste martial soul" recognized by all didn't and emerged stronger...
"Master, is this what you meant when you said that I was not built for being a Soul Master....?" Tian Yun whispered, his gaze fixed on Xiao Meng with mixed emotions. At this moment, regardless of how this test would finish, he was already ready to teach Xiao Meng the basics of forging.
Tian Yun knew how difficult the technique he had just shown was, so he didn't expect Xiao Meng to repeat the technique he had just shown but he at least hoped for a similar movement.
After a while, Xiao Meng watched the iron ore almost burning red, so he turned his head and glanced at Tian Yun for approval.
And, Tian Yun, satisfied with Xiao Meng's choice to seek his approval before proceeding to put the iron ore on the anvil, nodded his head, indicating that the iron ore was hot enough to be hammered.
Following what Tian Yun previously did, Xiao Meng picked up the iron tongs in his left hand, picked up the red iron bar and placed it on the anvil, took a deep breath, raised the hammer, and swung it abruptly. Xiao Meng's forging hammer landed firmly on the iron bar, producing a distinctive, high-pitched, resonant sound of the hammer colliding with the metal: "clang". Although the strength was not as good as Tian Yun's, the position was similar.
Xiao Meng's arm was hurt by the huge counter-shock force, but the first hammer was just his use of the gravitational force, unlike Tian Yun who just used his body strength to do this task Xiao Meng preferred to use his head, indeed, by using the gravitational force he could theoretically produce a technique similar to the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer of the Clear Sky Sect helping him to be able to hammer more. He just recovered after a bit of pain but took the opportunity to adjust his lower body making his position more stable and solid helping him to withstand the counter-force of the next five hammers. It became more difficult at this stage but Xiao Meng gritted his teeth knowing that at this point in time, Tang San and the other main character of Soul Land whatever past or present were already stronger than him at this age.
After a while, Xiao Meng felt that his arm swelled and thickened at a speed visible to the naked eye but he still had to keep going. It was not until Xiao Meng swung down the twentieth hammer that he couldn't hold it and roared the last of his strength. The counter-shock of this hammer blow caused Xiao Meng to stagger backward, his momentum abruptly halted as he landed on his backside winded.
Seeing this Tian Yun picked up the hammer and the iron tongs on the ground and, then put the iron bar back into the furnace to heat it again "Yes, good, good, I will finish the forging next, you have to watch it carefully."
Next, Tian Yun held a small forging hammer and continued Xiao Meng's forging process. This time, it only took dozens of hammers to shape the iron bar perfectly, and a dagger blade nearly identical to the previous one appeared on the anvil.
After a slight check, there was no problem, and then he threw the dagger blade into the bucket.
Sitting on the ground, Xiao Meng watched intently the movement of forging again, trying to learn the forging technique of Tian Yun. Gradually, Wan Xuan had forgotten that his arm was swollen and that his hand was hurt. Watching Tian Yun forging a blade made him think about the future, although forging his stone martial soul was his goal he never thought about what could it be forged into, but seeing these dagger blades made of poor iron ores gave birth to an idea that maybe his low talent and that thunder strike were opportunities to become a unique existence among the Soul Master.
After coming to this realization, Xiao Meng regained his spirit and looked at Tian Yun, who was coming to his side, looking at his arm and laughing while looking at it with nostalgia, and said, "Can you still stand up? Let's go apply medicine, it will not be so uncomfortable after the treatment."
Seeing that Tian Yun was going to treat his arm, Xiao Meng forced his body to stand up and said while gritting his teeth, "It's alright, it should be the blood vessels that were solicited too much."
"Heh, you are already so knowledgeable about your body, it seems you really understood all these books in Old Gorge's room, but if you are injured, it's better to take medicine now to not leave hidden wounds in the future. Forging is not that simple so let your arm rest during the next two days while I take advantage of this period to teach you about various materials and various blacksmith common sense." Tian Yun said, seeing that Xiao Meng was putting on what he thought was a strong face. Tian Yun took Xiao Meng to the small courtyard behind the forge, where a small hut was built, and put him on the table, then took out a small porcelain bottle from nowhere and scraped a milky white ointment with a bamboo stick evenly on the injured arm.
Feeling the cold relief on his injured arm, Xiao Meng took a deep breath, surprised by the efficiency of the medicine. "Uncle, what kind of medicine is this? The treatment is so fast." said Xiao Meng in excitement.
"Haha, it's a mix of herbs found in the village and the forest that I concocted based on a recipe found in an old ruin, although it may not be as good as medicine refined by an alchemist or a doctor the quality is still quite good for the price," said Tian Yun seeing Xiao Meng so curious.
Hearing Tian Yun's words, Xiao Meng was surprised. You must know that at this point in time, the so-called "ruin" should be remnants of the Sun Moon Empire, which was separated from this continent and will reappear in thousands of years. At this point in time, most of the complicated and useful Soul guides(or Spirit tools) are rare or unknown and the fact that a recipe was found means that maybe these "ruins" are not as useless as the original work portrays them to be, if seeds or material could be retrieved maybe he could use them to strengthen himself if he was lucky enough. He was still contemplating stealing or negotiating with Dugo Bo to own the "Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well," but was still unsure if he would be strong enough, now that he had an alternative option, then maybe this option could be avoided. In many fanfictions he recalled that getting immortal grass was often easy, either by seducing Dugu Yan or making a deal with Dugo Bo to treat him and/or his daughter from the poison but they all often use the same method as Tang San which is temporary and don't treat the problem, sometimes they even take all the herbs not leaving any root for the future and never thought on a long time basis.
After trash-talking Chinese fanfiction plots and Tang San for a while, Xiao Meng came back to his senses and, wanting to acquire more information about this opportunity to strengthen himself Xiao Meng said in a surprised voice "Uncle? Did you just say an old ruin? Was it near the village?"
Hearing this question Tian Yun nodded, a knowing look in his eyes, and said with nostalgia "Yes, there's an old ruin which I explored with a soul-hunting team formed with my friends in my younger days, it's also my reason to stay here despite being near the border of the Star Luo Empire"
Despite being shocked by the frankness of Tian Yun Xiao Meng didn't relax, secretly maintained his guard and hand near the dagger blade previously stuffed near his back, and tried to ask in an excited voice like a child wondering about what he would receive at his birthday "Is there a treasure?"
"Heh, kiddo, you think too much, it's just that this ruin is built with a strange shape allowing the soul power to circulate in an altar, making it a ruin helpful to break one's bottleneck below a certain level ."
Although this answer helped Xiao Meng to relax his guard, he still kept alert; even in front of Old George, he wouldn't let his guard down. Although they were kind to him and, from the point of view of the people of this continent, he should respect them but he knew that even if he was alone, he would still be able to live. It's not like he thought they had any malicious intent toward him, but more that they were too "kind" in his opinion and that maybe their opinion might change him into one of these "kind" protagonists trying to help others just because it's their "responsibility". He knew that they shouldn't be able to change his mind but how many protagonists changed from "I want revenge" to "I want to love" just because an action gave birth to a feeling of "love", like in many Chinese martial novels where the main character hopes to transcend the martial way but fall in love with their childhood friends or an arrogant girl from a good background or these protagonists being the son of a powerful people but being abandoned with his talent sealed and struggling to became stronger only to recognize their family as soon as he is contacted. While complaining, he thought about the fact that the soul power could be gathered into this ruin, meaning that maybe there was a "formation," meaning that his idea of forging his martial soul or building a better environment to cultivate was possible. "That's all? Really?"
"Yes, and in fact it's not really useful for soul masters above level 20, if it were not because the formation could maybe be built in another place, making my teacher curious, I wouldn't have stayed in this village studying it for so many years. Seven years ago, my teacher made me stay here to collect information about it, but the fact that in these seven years, I haven't found anything useful means that I will be called back by the new chairman. In fact, even with our relationship, I would have left without saying anything, but seeing you are half my disciple and was quite sensible growing up, I still want you to understand me. after teaching you for one month, I will leave, and our next meeting will be left to fate." Tian Yun said while finishing bandaging his arm and tidying the hut
"Alright, Uncle! I will come back tomorrow then" said Xiao Meng in a solemn voice while leaving quickly and silently, not wanting to disturb this serious atmosphere and lose this precious opportunity
Watching Xiao Meng leave Tian Yun muttured, "If it's you...maybe..that teacher legacy won't end.."
10 minutes later, back into his bedroom Xiao Meng locked the door, opened a blank book, and wrote all of his speculation and guesses whatever they were on, forging, his future or the ruins, and finally tore out all the written pages, folded them into four and hide them on his body with all the other written in the previous years. After doing that Xiao Meng took a bath ate his dinner and slept.