Ding! Ding! Ding...
In front of the No. 1 forge at Zhuxin Workshop, Lu Qing had been hammering the iron bar for several hours.
But he didn't seem tired at all; his hands remained steady, and he didn't even break a sweat.
It was as if he were not beside a blazing blacksmith's furnace, but in a cool valley.
Outside the No. 1 furnace, the others had already gathered.
Like the old craftsman Lin, they all stared in disbelief at this scene.
The entire backyard fell silent, save for the rhythmic clanging of Lu Qing's blacksmithing.
Finally, after who knows how much time had passed, Lu Qing stopped forging.
At this moment, the iron bar in his hand had already changed its appearance, transforming into a sword blank shaped like a longsword.
laugh!
Lu Qing immersed the sword blank in cool water, and a burst of steam rose up.
After the sword blank cooled down, he took it out and examined it intently.
A faint red light appeared on the sword embryo.
【Refined Sword Embryo: A sword embryo formed through repeated folding and forging, reaching the level of a hundred refinements.】
【Only through repeated forging can a weapon be perfected; this sword blank already possesses the foundation to become a fine sword.】
It actually reached the Hundred Refinements level?
Lu Qing was a little surprised.
He was so engrossed in practicing the hammer technique in his mind that he didn't count how many times he folded and forged the iron bar.
I never expected that it would be forged into refined steel in one go.
Seeing Lu Qing examining the sword blank, the old craftsman Lin, who had been waiting anxiously outside, rushed in impatiently.
"Young Master Lu, may I also take a look at this sword prototype?"
"Of course, this was made using the materials you have here."
Lu Qing handed over the sword blank.
Master craftsman Lin took the sword blank with both hands and examined it carefully.
When he saw the unique forging pattern on it, he was shocked and couldn't help but blurt out: "A hundred-refined sword embryo!"
"What? Master, is what you're saying true? This sword blank has really reached the hundred-refinement level?"
The other blacksmiths were all incredulous when they heard this.
They didn't watch Lu Qing forge the sword from beginning to end, so they didn't know how many times Lu Qing folded and forged the sword blank.
"What, you're starting to doubt my judgment?"
Upon hearing this, Master Lin became displeased and immediately glared at him.
"No, no, we wouldn't dare question your judgment!"
The disciples shuddered and all forced a smile.
However, their hearts were still deeply moved.
The way he looked at Lu Qing had also changed completely.
They remembered what Lu Qing had said earlier: that he had some knowledge of forging.
In just one morning, a sword blank of the hundred-refinement level was forged, which is called "slightly knowledgeable".
Even their master would find it difficult to do!
Just who is this young master Lu?!
Master craftsman Lin was equally shocked.
He is not incapable of forging weapons of the highest quality.
As a blacksmith with near-master craftsmanship, he has been able to forge weapons that are five or seven hundred times refined.
However, forging weapons like that requires a long preparation period and a great deal of effort and time.
If the requirements are strict, it might take a year or two to get a single good game.
Even if it's a hundred-fold refined material, it would still take him several days to forge it.
But Lu Qing, right under his nose, forged a sword blank of the hundred-refinement level in just a few hours.
This level of efficiency far exceeded his.
How could Master Lin not be shocked?
However, what shocked Master Lin the most was not the hundred-refinement sword blank, but the state that Lu Qing had presented when he was forging it.
That state of extreme focus, single-mindedness, and not making a single mistake from beginning to end.
Every gesture and movement of his hammer technique is both beautiful and powerful, as if in harmony with nature.
If Lu Qing weren't so young, he would have suspected that this was some master craftsman in disguise, playing a joke on him.
By now, Master Lin knew perfectly well that Lu Qing's previous words were just self-deprecation.
It's laughable that he actually thought the other person was some ignorant young master.
Chief Steward Wei, who had remained silent until now, was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} also quite surprised.
He knew that a peerless genius like Lu Qing could not be measured by ordinary standards.
But seeing him forge a sword blank of the hundred-fold refinement level still left him somewhat stunned.
He knew very well about Lu Qing's background and knew that since he was with the old doctor, he shouldn't have had the opportunity to learn forging techniques.
But now he has personally forged a hundred-refinement sword blank. How did he manage to do that?
"Young Master Lu, are you perhaps from a family of forging masters?"
Master craftsman Lin asked respectfully.
If the old craftsman Lin's previous respect was out of flattery for Lu Qingwei's status as a distinguished guest, then...
That respect now comes from the heart.
A young boy, in terms of casting skills, was already subtly superior to him.
Such a person's background is definitely not simple.
"No, I only accidentally obtained a bit of forging knowledge. I just figured it out for fun and had no formal training or lineage."
"No teacher?"
Master craftsman Lin gasped, deeply shocked.
Without a master, he has honed his forging skills to such an extent.
He couldn't even imagine just how talented Lu Qing was in the art of forging.
Despite the shock of the crowd, Lu Qing showed no signs of smugness.
With his current cultivation level and the assistance of his supernatural abilities, learning a hammer technique would naturally not take him much time.
In fact, the hammer technique he practiced was merely the basics within the Li Huo Sect's lineage.
It was originally a basic hammer technique that the Li Huo Sect gave to some outer disciples to practice forging ordinary weapons.
The truly profound methods of weapon crafting can, in a single thought, activate one's natal fire to melt materials, infuse them with incantations, draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and forge magical artifacts and spiritual weapons. That is the true means of turning decay into wonder.
Compared to other methods, forging by hammering one blow at a time is hardly efficient.
Of course, a tall building starts from the ground up, and although hammering and forging are basic weapon-refining methods, Lu Qing does not look down on them.
This is the beginning of the art of forging. Only by laying a solid foundation and gaining a sufficient understanding of forging can one better comprehend the profound art of weapon crafting.
Thinking of this, Lu Qing picked up the hammer again, took out an iron bar, and prepared to continue forging.
This time, however, he chose the biggest hammer.
"Young Master Lu, do you want to continue forging? Does this sword blank not meet your requirements?"
Upon seeing this, Master Lin quickly asked.
“That was just a practice piece, it doesn’t meet the requirements for the weapon I want.” Lu Qing shook his head. “Don’t worry, Master Lin, I will pay you full price for the materials you used.”
A mere sword embryo at the hundred-refinement level barely meets the threshold of a fine sword; how could it possibly be Lu Qing's target?
The sword that Magu gave him back then was forged five hundred times.
"Young Master Lu, what are you talking about? That's not what I meant at all. It's just a little bit of pig iron. Please use it as you like. If you need more, there's plenty in the warehouse. But you've been forging for so long, don't you need to rest?"
Master Lin quickly explained, afraid that Lu Qing would misunderstand him as stingy.
"It's alright, I'm in good physical condition, this little bit of exertion won't bother me, and this forging shouldn't take that long."
Lu Qing smiled.
He lifted the hammer, a heavy hammer weighing dozens of kilograms, yet it felt as light as a feather in his hands.
Lu Qing first calmed himself down and prepared for a while, then suddenly slammed the hammer down.
when!
A loud bang was heard.
Master Lin's eyes widened instantly.
