Divine Weapon! The Shock of the Forging Department

"Chieftain, this... is this the new equipment you mentioned? These armor plates are too thin and light. While they look exquisite, on the battlefield, I fear they won't even stop a Xiongnu bone arrow. All show, no go."

As a veteran general who had spent over a decade fighting on the front lines, Sun He had the most intuitive judgment when it came to the quality of equipment. In his opinion, armor was best when it was thick and heavy. This new set of armor, in his eyes, was no different from mere decoration.

Qian Hu and Hu Lei nodded in agreement, their faces mirroring Sun He's skepticism.

"All show, no go?" Wei Zhe chuckled. "Whether it's useful or not, we'll know once we test it."

He instructed Qian Hu to retrieve a set of the finest infantry heavy armor issued by the army and place it on a wooden dummy. Then, he fitted the new "Fish Scale Armor" onto another dummy.

Having done this, he took down a three-stone heavy crossbow, the most powerful weapon in the armory, from the weapon rack and handed it to Sun He.

"Sun He, you have the greatest strength, you shoot."

"Chieftain, this..." Sun He hesitated. Testing armor with a three-stone heavy crossbow was serious business. What if it broke...

"Just shoot when I tell you to, stop blabbering. Shoot the heavy armor first, with all your might!"

"Yes!"

Sun He no longer hesitated. He took a deep breath, his arm muscles bulging, and slowly drew the three-stone heavy crossbow. He aimed at the chest of the heavy infantry armor and abruptly released the trigger.

"Hummm--"

The bowstring let out a violent twang!

"Swoosh!"

A specially made armor-piercing bolt shot out like a black lightning bolt!

"Clang!!!"

A deafening clash of metal on metal!

The armor-piercing bolt struck the heavy armor's chest fiercely. The sturdy metal plate was dented deeply, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading around it. Though the arrowhead didn't penetrate completely, it had already sunk in by more than half an inch.

"What great force!" Qian Hu couldn't help but exclaim.

Sun He himself felt quite proud. He had used all his strength for this shot, enough to pierce an iron-clad shield at fifty paces.

"Now," Wei Zhe said, pointing to the seemingly flimsy Fish Scale Armor on the other side, "shoot that."

"Chieftain, this... are you sure?" Sun He hesitated again. "This armor looks so thin, my shot will probably go straight through. That would be too..."

"Stop the nonsense and shoot!"

"...Yes!"

Sun He gritted his teeth and drew the heavy crossbow again. This time, he actually felt a pang of regret, thinking it a shame to destroy such beautiful armor.

He aimed and released.

"Swoosh!"

The same armor-piercing bolt, at the same speed, shot towards the set of black Fish Scale Armor.

However, what happened next caused everyone present, including Sun He himself, to stare with wide eyes.

"Ding!"

A crisp sound, like jade striking jade, rang out!

The armor-piercing bolt, capable of cracking heavy armor, erupted in a shower of sparks the moment it touched the Fish Scale Armor, and then... then it was as if it had hit an unmovable mountain, bouncing off and lodging itself diagonally in the distant muddy ground!

And on the Fish Scale Armor's plates... there was only a shallow, almost negligible white scratch!

"This... this... how is this possible?!"

Sun He threw down the heavy crossbow and rushed frantically to the Fish Scale Armor, his hands caressing the intact plates. His mouth hung open, wide enough to fit an egg.

Qian Hu and Hu Lei also crowded around, their expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

"Is it fake? Am I seeing things?" Qian Hu rubbed his eyes.

"Is this armor... made of profound iron?" Hu Lei murmured to himself.

"It's not profound iron, just ordinary fine steel," Wei Zhe walked over slowly, explaining in a calm tone. "It's just that the forging method and the quenching process are different from ordinary weapons."

He pointed to the overlapping plates. "This special arrangement can deflect most of the impact force along the surface of the armor plates. Combined with my unique 'Thousand Refinement Force' and quenching techniques, the hardness and toughness of each plate have reached an extreme. Therefore, let alone a three-stone crossbow, even a five-stone ballista at thirty paces wouldn't be able to pierce it."

Sun He and the other two listened, utterly bewildered. Impact force, hardness, toughness – they didn't understand. But they understood the result.

This armor was amazing! Amazingly, unbelievably amazing!

"Chieftain! With such divine armor, won't our Tiger and Wolf Army be... be invincible!" Sun He's face turned red with excitement, his speech becoming a little slurred.

"This is only one part."

Wei Zhe then led them to the weapon area.

There, two types of new weapons were displayed. One was an extended and reinforced three-edged armor-piercing awl, which they were already familiar with – incredibly sharp and designed for close combat.

The other was a batch of strangely shaped glaives. These new glaives were slightly shorter and lighter than the standard army glaives, but the design of the glaive head was extremely ingenious, integrating thrusting, hooking, pecking, and chopping. The tail of the glaive shaft was also fitted with a heavy armor-piercing spike, making it versatile for both offense and defense, with endless variations.

"This... this glaive..." Sun He picked one up and casually twirled it. He felt the weight was just right, the balance stable, and it felt more comfortable in his hand than any long weapon he had ever used.

"A good glaive! Truly a good glaive!" he couldn't help but exclaim.

While the three were still in awe of these divine weapons and tools, Wei Zhe walked over to a forging station.

He took off his shirt, revealing a well-proportioned physique and muscles that held explosive power. He picked up a red-hot steel ingot from the side, placed it on the anvil, and then grabbed a sledgehammer weighing eighty catties.

"Watch closely."

As soon as he finished speaking, he moved.

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The sound of the hammer, dense as a rainstorm, instantly echoed throughout the entire workshop!

The heavy sledgehammer, in his hands, seemed to weigh nothing, transforming into a blurry afterimage. Each strike of the hammer landed with pinpoint accuracy on the most crucial part of the steel ingot. The power, speed, and rhythm were as perfect as an impassioned battle song.

Sparks flew!

In the completely stunned gazes of Sun He, Qian Hu, and Hu Lei, the originally oddly shaped steel ingot was elongated, flattened, folded, and hammered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the time it takes for a single stick of incense to burn!

When Wei Zhe stopped and casually tossed the sledgehammer aside, On the anvil, a new glaive head, gleaming with a cold glint and already taking shape, was formed!

The entire workshop fell silent.

All the blacksmiths stopped their work, looking at the bare-chested young man, steam rising from his body like a descending god, with eyes as if they were watching an immortal.

Sun He's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty. He had spent half his life in the military and considered himself knowledgeable, but what he was witnessing now was completely beyond his understanding.

He finally understood how those divine weapons and sharp tools were made.

His voice trembling, he asked a question that shook Qian Hu and Hu Lei to their core.

"Chieftain... Chieftain... You are also... a Grandmaster Blacksmith?"

Wei Zhe picked up a cloth, wiped the sweat from his face, and grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

"I told you long ago, follow me, and as long as you're willing to work, you'll have everything."

He cast his gaze towards the mountains of iron and timber, his voice becoming incredibly impassioned.

"Now, our Tiger and Wolf Army's first mission has arrived! I want you all to equip these three thousand wolves, from head to toe, with this new gear in the shortest possible time!"

"Sun He, you have the highest rank, you're responsible for supervising everyone and coordinating production! Qian Hu, you're quick-witted, you're responsible for the dispatch and procurement of all materials! Hu Lei, you're the most meticulous, you're responsible for the quality inspection of all finished products. Any item that isn't up to standard gets thrown back into the furnace!"

"Starting tomorrow, the three of you will follow me to learn this 'Thousand Refinement Force.' I will personally teach you the most crucial forging techniques!"

Sun He, Qian Hu, and Hu Lei looked at the mountain-like raw materials before them, then at the blacksmiths beside them trembling with excitement, and felt a surge of hot blood rush from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads!