Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Smithing Art

After a deep exhale, Ou Yangming awoke from the mysterious state and realized that he was still in a martial-art squat.

“Fella, you may stand up.” A hoarse voice was heard, which came from Chen Yifan. “Are you going to squat forever?”

Ou Yangming jumped up due to the shock, then quickly stood straight. “Yes, General.”

Chen Yifan was satisfied. “You’re Ou Yangming, right?”

“Yes, General.” Ou Yangming was puzzled because Old Craftsman had introduced them to each other the day before.

However, he was unaware that it was not at all simple for an important figure to remember his name. If he could not give a good impression through his performance, Chen Yifan would never have remembered his name.

“Mm, Little Ming, you have a good aptitude and you’ll definitely succeed in the future if you’re hardworking in cultivating martial arts, but the most important thing about cultivation is perseverance. For the coming month, train according to what I taught you today,” Chen Yifan mentioned, then looked at Ou Yangming meaningfully. “Come find me again in ten days.”

Ou Yangming stuttered a little. Though he was confused, he dared not question Chen Yifan upon seeing his strict look, so he obeyed him and left.

Chen Yifan shook his head when he watched Ou Yangming leave.

It was true that Ou Yangming had a great aptitude, but he was slightly too old, thus his success would really depend on his hard work.

If he could give his utmost effort, Chen Yifan would be willing to lend him a helping hand, but if the young fellow was not self-motivated, there was no point for him to trouble himself.

By the time Ou Yangming returned to the Armament Camp after leaving the West Camp, he noticed that everyone was already having lunch.

He was rather shocked as he did not think that he spent the whole morning practicing the martial-art squat. Moreover, his body was not sore at all and he was still so energized that his body was still full of strength.

When he clenched his fists, he vaguely felt that his strength increased again. Indeed, a martial arts exercise like that could easily get one addicted.

Nevertheless, he did not know that the miraculous effect from his cultivation earlier was not due to his exceptional talent, but because his body was really full of Qi and blood, and his mental power was above average. This was why Chen Yifan was moved by his performance.

The foundation of martial arts was the practice of Qi and blood.

A person who was new to martial arts would first find a way to increase one’s Qi and blood, because that was the only way to cultivate better martial art skill.

Ou Yangming’s Qi and blood were initially ordinary, but they became rich and abundant after his fight at the armory.

If his Qi and blood were not properly guided, most of it would disappear after staying in his body for some time, but coincidentally, he had an encounter with Chen Yifan and began his martial arts journey.

Therefore, the abundant Qi and blood slowly transformed into martial arts power inside his body, which would not be wasted anymore.

Needless to say, doing the martial-art squat once would not transform all his Qi and blood, so he had to work harder if he wanted to be more successful.

After having his lunch in the kitchen, Ou Yangming went to Old Craftsman’s smithing workshop.

Although Old Craftsman accepted the task of smithing an armament for Chen Yifan, he still had free time to guide Ou Yangming in controlling his Military Fire.

“You did well today, it’s a good thing to gain General Chen’s approval.” As soon as they met, he asked how Ou Yangming’s meeting with Chen Yifan was, then added, “Since it’s General Chen’s order, for the coming ten days, you’ll be doing martial-art squat in the morning, and will practice using the Military Fire in the afternoon.”

Ou Yangming nodded, then began practicing his fundamentals in the Military Fire under Old Craftsman’s guidance and supervision.

He had a new discovery this time, which was that the Military Fire’s consumption was not limited to physical power and mental power only because he realized that the mysterious aura produced from doing martial-art squats could also provide energy to the fire. What made him more surprised was that the energy efficiency from that aura seemed to be much stronger than his physical energy.

If he had more of that aura, he could possibly endure for a longer time.

When Ou Yangming figured that out, he became more driven in practicing martial arts.

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and ten days had passed.

For the ten days, Ou Yangming had been worried that Zhang Yinfan might have found evidence or clues and was going to take his life in revenge. Nonetheless, Zhang Yinfan did not make a move for some reason, and there was no news about Zhang Hanyu’s disappearance at all.

It was as though Zhang Hanyu never existed.

Even though Ou Yangming knew that something was off, he was glad as long as he was not involved.

After ten days, he headed to the West Camp to meet Chen Yifan.

Chen Yifan was surprised when he scanned him from head to toe and frowned “Young fella, you’ve been cultivating well these days, but… Have you not been eating?”

Ou Yangming was stunned and bewildered.

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He quickly responded, “General, I’ve been eating well!”

“Your Qi and blood are much weaker now, you can’t let this go on.” Chen Yifan shook his head, then pondered, “You must get extra nutrition, or you might not be able to keep up with the cultivation, which is more harmful than helpful.”

Ou Yangming was startled. “Thank you, General.”

When he recalled how he had been cultivating, he was touched.

While Ou Yangming had been getting stronger due to the aura that was produced from doing martial-art squats, his growth during the last few days was not as good as before.

He would have been extremely satisfied if he did not compare his progress, but how could he be content if he suddenly switched from having scrumptious food to having just vegetables and beancurd?

All of a sudden, he made a guess, but he needed to verify his thought.

Subsequently, he did the martial-art squat for an hour under Chen Yifan’s watch. Chen Yifan had a strange look after the session, and he said to him, “I have some good ingredients with me, and I’ll ask someone to send them over to you later. You should… Train for another ten days.”

Ou Yangming responded to him, then left.

Chen Yifan shook his head as he was confused. The results of the young fellow’s cultivation after ten days were quite obvious, such that his aura stabilized and he was indeed a genius to be able to accomplish what he did in ten days. Despite that, Ou Yangming’s Qi and blood were no longer rich, and Chen Yifan could not figure out why.

He ordered his men to send some precious ingredients over to Ou Yangming as that was the only thing he could do. If Ou Yangming could not recover his previous state, it would be quite tough for him to advance further.

Ou Yangming returned to Old Craftsman’s smithing workshop after he left the camp.

On his way there, he had been thinking a lot and was struck with a very fearsome thought.

‘Was I abundant in Qi and blood because of what happened that day?’

When he thought about how Zhang Hanyu disappeared strangely in front of him, he felt chills down his spine. If he could, he definitely would not want to repeat the incident again.

It was also after the battle of life and death that he realized that he would be like fish on a chopping board that could be chopped any time if he was not powerful enough to protect himself.

That being said, success could not be achieved in a day. Before he could protect himself through martial arts, he needed some other tricks or another identity.

While gritting his teeth, Ou Yangming approached Old Craftsman. “Old man, I want to learn Military Fire Smithing Technique.”

Old Craftsman pondered for a while, then replied, “Okay, since you can somewhat control your Military Fire, you can start learning.”

Although Ou Yangming could restore some weapons, and also met Old Craftsman’s expectations, the restoration and smithing of weapons were two different things.

If one could not complete the whole process of smithing a weapon, how could one be a qualified blacksmith?

Since Old Craftsman decided to teach him, he was not going to hide any tricks from him. As such, he taught him how to pick materials, shape weapons using the Military Fire, polish important parts, and so on.

Ou Yangming was totally immersed in learning. When he combined his knowledge about the fire with what he already knew, he felt like everything became clear to him.

Under Old Craftsman’s guidance, he selected a good iron ingot, melted it with his Military Fire, then began refining it.

Military Fire Smithing Technique was extremely different from normal smithing techniques. As long as one had enough physical power, the results produced by the fire could not be matched by those that were forged using the normal way.

Ou Yangming could not afford to use his Military Power since he had enough power.

In his hands, his Military Fire seemed to have grown a size bigger, and the iron ingot was transformed into a huge steel saber in no time.

The steel saber shone brightly in the fire, and since the fire was also burning violently, they looked terrifying as a whole.

Old Craftsman was thrilled as he did not expect Ou Yangming to succeed on his first try. A brief moment later, he was at ease again.

‘Not only does he have mental power, but he also has some achievements in martial arts. With the abundant supply from his Military Fire, it’s clearly easier for him to smith something like that.’

At last, a brand new military saber was produced.

Ou Yangming was excited when he looked at the saber because a list of attributes instantly appeared.

[Item: Military saber]

[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Armament, Common Grade, Rank Two]

[Attributes: Sharpness +2, Toughness +2, Durability 2]