He suddenly opened his shirt, revealing his bronze back. A hideous scar severed the muscles around his waist.
Xu Yunfan's pupils shrank slightly. No wonder why Old Man Lu didn't use his waist and back to push forward when he lifted the hammer, but instead used his shoulder blades to push back.
"Back then, half of Shenbing Ridge collapsed... Who among the Thirteen Families of Qingzhou didn't dig for food among the ruins? This injury was caused back then."
After Lu Yi finished speaking, he seemed to feel that he had said too much. He coughed twice, drank a glass of wine, and spoke slowly.
"Otherwise, why would I come to Beiye City to retire... Never mind, I won't talk about this. It's just that you asked me questions, and I got excited and said a few more words."
Put on your clothes, Old Man Lu flicked his wine glass with his fingers and said.
"In terms of bone training, looking at the entire Great Zhou, the White Tiger Gengjin Bone Tempering Technique of the Tiger Demon Sect is second to none in the entire Great Zhou. There is also the Twelve Golden Tendons and Jade Bones Technique of the Taoist Dragon and Tiger Sect, which can be called an astonishing skill for tempering tendons and bones.
The Buddhist Arhat Dragon Subduing Technique, when practiced to the extreme, can transform bones into gold and jade."
Xu Yunfan's hand that was pouring the wine paused slightly.
The wine line condensed into an amber bridge in the air, reflecting the gleam in the eyes of blacksmith Lu.
He changed the subject.
"Let's not talk about far away places, let's talk about the Qingzhou area..."
A low laugh like thunder rolled out of the old man's throat, and his flushed face was drunken.
"Twenty years ago, the Qingzhou army suppressed a rebellion. Three hundred heavily armored Mo Dao warriors surrounded and attacked a master of bone training. That man used the Great Zhou army's Seven Killing Fists, breaking dozens of fine steel Mo Daos with his back scapula. This shows how skilled he was at forging bones."
An inexplicable smile appeared on his face, and he slammed the wine cup in his hand heavily on the table, causing the braised beef on the plate to jump three inches.
"The Great Zhou military department's Seven Killings Fist of Breaking the Army is open to all, but to practice this technique, one must enlist in the military and endure the blood miasma of Qingzhou for three years before being qualified to teach."
He suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed Xu Yunfan's wrist bone. Xu Yunfan remained silent, but his muscles were as hard as copper or iron, and his knotted arm muscles trembled slightly, which actually shook Lu Yi's iron-like fingers so that they could not hold on.
"Good boy! You've mastered the art of leather training and you're a martial artist!"
He clearly remembered that in the past at Shenbing Ridge, his peers had to endure hammering by the furnace for at least ten years in order to develop such copper skin, and they also had to use the secret medicine unique to Shenbing Ridge to avoid damaging their foundation.
I don't know how Xu Yunfan practiced.
Lu Yi was surprised to find that Xu Yunfan had mastered the Red Copper Body Cloak and Wind Hammer Kung Fu to such a high level that his skin was as tough as an ox and could not be hurt by swords or knives.
He felt a little relieved.
"This hammer technique is considered difficult to practice even in Divine Weapon Ridge. You've actually managed to master it, which is truly remarkable... If you have a chance, go to Divine Weapon Ridge again. There's a quenching pool in the back mountain. The founder of the sect..."
The words stopped abruptly here, Lu Yi's face was full of desolation and he shook his head.
"Forget it, there's no conclusion to this matter, so let's not talk about it."
Yun Fan noticed the bulging blue veins on the back of Lu Yi's neck, which was a sign of a warrior forcibly suppressing his emotions.
The old blacksmith finally stopped talking and instead grabbed the jar of wine and took three gulps.
"Three generations of the Wu Family Fort's ancestors raised ferocious tigers for the King of Longxi. They bred a white tiger and discovered the White Tiger Jade Art from it. They are particularly good at training bones, which is considered quite good in the entire Great Zhou.
The most outstanding event was the Wu Family Fort's contest to recruit a son-in-law three years ago, where seventeen experts in the Bone Forging Realm had their kneecaps shattered by the fort's daughter's White Tiger Jade Technique. It's a pity that the Wu Family Fort is extremely xenophobic. This bone-strengthening skill can only be learned by members of the direct lineage. What a pity! "
Blacksmith Lu used chopsticks to stir the wine in the glass and told the story.
"Besides that, the Iron River Gang on the Canglan River is a leader. Their 'Bone Strengthening Technique' involves standing in the rapids with a 300-jin iron anchor tied to them. The icy cold water allows the blood and energy to seep into the bones. If you do it right, your bones will be as strong as iron."
"In the southern mines, at Bailian Villa, they have a unique technique called Cold Iron Tempering. They use living people as iron molds, soaking them in cold iron water for three hours every ten days. Those who can withstand it will succeed, while those who can't will die."
"If we're talking about something that's quite conspicuous, it's the 'Camel Dragon Strength' of the Longmen Escort Agency in the city. It emphasizes a back like a giant dragon, connecting all four limbs and bones. A martial artist who has mastered bone training can have a spine that's three times thicker than an average person. If you see people in the city with necks thicker than their heads, they're undoubtedly from the Longmen Escort Agency."
Lu Yi's remarks revealed that he knew all the martial arts of the Qingzhou sects like the back of his hand.
He sighed and said, "Unfortunately, these sects are very prejudiced. If you want to join and obtain a bone-training skill, it will be difficult."
Xu Yunfan was somewhat helpless. Although he had fully anticipated this, he still felt somewhat depressed when he heard Lu Yi say this.
Seeing Xu Yunfan keeping silent with his head down, Lu Yi chuckled and changed the subject.
"There's a ghost market thirty miles west of the city. It opens every month on the fifteenth day of the lunar month. I got that handful of black iron sand from there. Last December..."
He burped, and a gleam of light flashed across his cloudy eyes. That was not drunkenness, but envy in his eyes.
"I personally witnessed someone using the fragments of the Black Turtle Carrying the Mountain Art. At that time, it caused a huge uproar in the entire black market. More than a dozen top masters appeared out of nowhere and almost destroyed the entire black market.
It was just rebuilt a few months ago, you can go and have a look during the full moon.
As he spoke, he took out an iron plate from his arms and threw it in front of Xu Yunfan.
"The entrance is across a stone bridge. The one guarding the bridge is a lame old Taoist priest. Just show him this token. Remember to hide your body. It's easy to deal with inside the black market, but outside the black market, anything could happen."
Xu Yunfan picked it up and took a look. The iron plate was polished to a shiny finish, and there was a word written in the middle of the token.
'fog'
"Thank you!"
By the time the moon was high in the sky, Old Man Lu had drunk his fill, and Xu Yunfan supported Lu Yi back to the blacksmith shop.
The moonlight shone down, and the entire snow-covered Beiye City emitted a faint silver glow.
Suddenly, Xu Yunfan stopped and looked sideways at a corner of the eaves. There was a person huddled in the corner, covered with thick snow, and had long been motionless.
Beiye City is located in the northern border of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It is extremely cold in winter and the snow is very thick. If there is not enough firewood and no place to keep warm, you can only freeze to death like this.
Moreover, many people froze to death in the city, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Nowadays, the number of refugees in Beiye City seems to be decreasing.
"These are all refugees from neighboring Wuzhou. Back then, the Empress ascended the throne, and the Xianghuo Cult was causing chaos in Wuzhou. The war raged on, and the city of Yonggu was in dire straits. If it weren't for the heavy snow that blocked the mountains in winter, Wuzhou would have completely slipped out of the control of the Great Zhou. Now, the Xuanjia Army of Zhongzhou has already set out, and they'll put down the rebellion next spring."
A slightly cold voice was heard, and Xu Yunfan looked over.
A slightly thin scholar wearing a mink coat looked like a scholar, looking at the scene in front of him with indignation.
Xu Yunfan glanced at him, turned around and left without saying anything.