The Legend of Fangren

Chapter 148 Make a Hammer

Fang Shi took the full bucket of iron, and Lao Gang's eyes widened immediately, because when the bucket fell into Fang Shi's hands, his hand didn't drop at all, as if he had taken a calligraphy brush.

"Um?"

Old Gang raised an eyebrow, realizing something was wrong. Could this kid's so-called talent for great strength be compared not to ordinary people, but to cultivators?

He immediately scooped out a large pile of broken iron scraps from a hidden corner next to the furnace. These scraps were usually left unattended in the corner, but today he took them all out and added them to the bucket piece by piece.

"I'd like to see just how strong your arms are, kid."

He started by taking it one piece at a time, but when the bucket was almost full, he simply scooped up a bunch with a shovel and poured it all over the bucket at once. Only then did Fang Shi's hand sink slightly.

"7

Even Fang Shi was a little surprised to see that his arms, which didn't look particularly strong, actually had such great strength.

Could it be that the self-destruction of the Black Stone Dragon Carp's corpse recharged his inner and outer qi circulation, which had just been upgraded to the fourth level? He had been feeling a bit bloated for the past few days, but he felt better this morning. It seems that he had digested the profound energy.

Fang Shi tried to open his palm, but the heavy iron bucket slid off his tilted palm and landed heavily on the ground, the heavy iron inside deforming the bucket.

Old Gang, standing to the side, stared in disbelief, quickly pulling his foot back to avoid being hit. Then, he reluctantly admitted, "Alright, I admit that your strength is your talent."

"Master Gang, what kind of mystical weapon would suit someone with my talent?"

Old Gang rolled his eyes and answered irrelevantly: "Even a piece of ore that has not been forged in any way can crush and kill a high-level cultivator if it rolls down a mountain."

His meaning was very straightforward: Fang Shi's strength was already at this level, so why bother with anything mysterious? All he needed to do was grab a heavy and sturdy weapon, which would be the most suitable for him.

"Uh, this—" Upon hearing this, Fang Shi realized that the problem was simply that he didn't have a suitable magical artifact.

However, Lao Gang shook his head, still firmly believing in his own ideas: "There are always exceptions to everything. As I said before, I can also misjudge people. But now that I've met you, kid, with your amazing strength, I've actually come up with some new ideas."

"Oh?" Fang Shi asked, quite curious.

"Are you short of money, kid?" Lao Gang suddenly asked.

"We don't lack anything."

"Good, you have confidence."

"9

Lao Gang immediately stood up, slapped open the door, told Fang Shi to follow him, and instructed a servant to stand guard at the door and explain their whereabouts to the other senior and junior sisters when they returned, asking them to wait there for a while.

The two, one big and one small, walked straight up. Fang Shi originally thought that Lao Gang was going to take him to see some good materials, but after following them, he found himself at the top floor.

"Master Gang, I don't think this is a good place to practice weapon crafting."

"Of course."

"Um?"

Old Gang replied, "I think you're not suited for any other weapons, just like me, swinging a hammer."

Each floor of the Li Huo Hall is very large, with a small square on each floor. The side of the hall that is attached to the mountain wall is full of all kinds of rooms. Lao Gang took Fang Shi directly to the top floor. There were far fewer passers-by here, and the clanging of blacksmiths that had been bustling down the previous floors was no longer heard.

"Do you know what this floor is for?"

"This is my first time back, I didn't know."

Old Gang didn't keep them in suspense and said directly, "This is where we weapon refiners gather our gear. Those cultivators need a good, handy mystical weapon, and we weapon refiners need a good, handy forging hammer just as much."

He continued, "Your strength is so great, and your profound energy is so well contained, that it immediately reminds me of a forging hammer. The materials used in forging hammers are all carefully selected 'useless materials,' which are extremely heavy and detached from profound energy."

Fang Shi asked, "Why use such materials? Don't mystical artifacts also contain many components related to mystical energy?"

"Haha, this is the difference in weapon crafting—kid, of the three treasures of a cultivator, elixirs, mystical weapons, and robes with magical runes, which one do you know anything about?"

"I am not very knowledgeable; I have only heard of some things about elixirs, and my knowledge is very limited."

"That's enough. Let me give you an example."

As Lao Gang spoke, he led Fang Shi into a martial arts pavilion. As soon as they entered, the overwhelming aura of iron and stone was suffocating. The temperature inside was much lower than outside, making it feel as if they had instantly entered a secret underground cave.

"The elixir seeks a state of perfect harmony, emphasizing the five elements of Qi, which are mixed within the elixir, flowing and dynamic; while the art of weapon crafting is exactly the opposite. Weapon crafters must do everything they can to forge the five elements of materials in a mysterious weapon into a single entity in a specific form and structure, and firmly fix it in place, so that a stable mysterious Qi path is formed inside, thereby allowing the mysterious Qi that cultivators infuse into it to be contained and released along the Qi path to unleash mysterious techniques."

This is very similar to how cultivators control the flow of Xuan Qi within their bodies to release spells. However, the dynamic Xuan Qi circulation in the Yang Xuan Form has limited capacity, and the power of the spells is often limited by the body. If it is too strong, the cultivator will suffer great harm the moment the spell is released.

The Xuanqi, a type of Yin-Yang artifact, serves as a "barrel." In addition to the Xuanqi itself having its own Xuanqi circulation channels that can release Xuan techniques, cultivators can also use the Xuanqi as an output port for their spells. This allows the Xuanqi gathered by the spells to be transferred to the outer circulatory system before exceeding the limits of the body, and then injected into the Xuanqi, which will then release the spells, thus outputting more powerful spells.

"Based on these requirements, there are three points to consider when determining whether a magical artifact is excellent or not."

The room was filled with shelves made of iron and stone. Lao Gang walked to the outermost shelf, picked up a hammer about the length of his forearm, and tossed it to Fang Shi so he could play with it.

"The first point is to ensure that the five elements of materials are firmly fused together. If the forging hammer can transmit profound energy, then when the weapon refiner holds the hammer handle tightly, the profound energy that is accidentally transmitted into the hammer will interfere with the materials in the blank during forging and striking, causing the fusion point of the materials to be wrong. If a profound weapon is wrong when it is shaped, it can only be melted down and remade. Some of the materials that cannot be melted down will have to be scrapped."

"If that's the case, then just don't use your inner energy when grabbing the hammer."

"Hahaha, you're really talking without understanding the pain. If other cultivators don't use their Xuan Qi to generate strength, where do they get such strength? You should know that some Xuan weapons are extremely difficult to forge. The forging hammers that can be used to strike them are all as heavy as city gate stones. Let alone swinging them, even picking them up is a problem. But if we want to make a weapon specifically for your physique, I have a brilliant idea."

Old Gang licked his chapped lips, rubbed his hands together, and excitedly walked to the innermost part of the house. He used a trailer to pull out a piece of black metal that was only the size of a head. Judging from the fact that the trailer was not even shaken when it was pressed down, the piece of metal was incredibly heavy.

"I'm confirming one last time, are you really not short of money?"

"Uh, not bad."

"Alright, then I'll use this azure black gold to make you a hammer today."