"Li Yuan, add more fire!"
"Right away!"
Boom! The bamboo basket and firestones were thrown into the furnace. The bare-chested young man was drenched in sweat.
Liang Qu patted the young man's thick arm as he hammered iron. "Not bad. You've grown much sturdier. How many years have you been an apprentice at the shop now? Can you forge a hundred-refined weapon today?"
"Ha, nearly seven years! Master Liang, don't underestimate me. This March, I used a hundred pieces of black iron in layered forging and produced one hundred sixty-seven refinements!"
"Oh? Not bad at all."
The apprentice of old, now Little Master Li Yuan of the forge, grinned. "It's all thanks to Master Lu's fine teaching."
"What are you chatting about? Don't stop!" Lu Gang shouted.
"Coming." Li Yuan shifted his feet and got back to work.
Outside the courtyard, Fat Catfish spread his hands and lay flat on the ground, peering one round eye through the window. Seeing the molten iron flowing, he slapped his tail against the ground, his heart full of delight.
Liang Qu laughed and stepped out through the small door.
June's blazing heat was oppressive, yet after leaving the forging room, it actually felt somewhat "cool."
"A Fei, you've been watching for half an hour. Have you decided what weapon you want forged?"
Fat Catfish nodded repeatedly, his two long whiskers wagging. He held up the little book in his hands, flipped to a page in the middle, and stood upright. His hands clenched empty air—one raised above his head to hold up the sky, the other planted at his waist to brace the earth—looking utterly imposing.
Liang Qu looked again at the page.
A pair of dragon-patterned war hammers.
Their handles were short, their heads massive. Most importantly, the hammer bodies were covered