"Shopkeeper Li, please take a look."
Su Mu presented the long saber with both hands. The moment they saw it, every blacksmith in the shop wore an expression of disbelief.
"This... is this a Ten Refinements Weapon?"
The blacksmiths had spent years forging weapons, and many of them had made Ten Refinements Weapons. They could make an initial assessment of the saber at a glance. One of them couldn't believe his eyes and exclaimed.
Under normal circumstances, an apprentice starting from scratch needed several years of study to forge a proper Ten Refinements Weapon. Those with poor talent might need more than a decade.
But Su Mu had been at the shop for less than a year—and that included three months spent doing odd jobs. He'd actually spent only a few months learning to forge. His talent was simply monstrous.
A chorus of swallowed breaths rang through the forging room, and everyone's eyes fell on Li Tie.
They'd only made an initial assessment. Whether the saber truly met the standard still depended on Shopkeeper Li's inspection.
Li Tie picked up the saber and first examined its blade. Then he ran a hand along its length, studying every inch of it. From time to time, he tapped it with his calloused fingers. As he inspected it, the light in his eyes grew ever brighter.
"Hmm. The blade is straight, with no bends..."
"The steel is slightly heavy, and the edge is sturdy. There are a few minor flaws, but they don't diminish its overall quality. This long saber meets the standard of a Ten Refinements Weapon."
Li Tie looked astonished as he gave his verdict.
Another chorus of sharp breaths filled the forging room. Shopkeeper Li might have been an honest, unassuming man, but he had high standards when it came to weapon quality. To receive such praise after forging a weapon for the first time...
Su Mu was the first in the shop to manage it!
Whenever a newly hired blacksmith first came to the shop, Shopkeeper Li had them forge a weapon as a test. Back then, several of these old hands had failed to satisfy Li Tie.
That showed just how deeply Su Mu had stunned the blacksmiths. As for the flaws Li Tie had mentioned, they were no problem at all. After all, it was Su Mu's first time forging a weapon.
Soon, Li Tie announced to everyone, "Su Mu, starting today, you're the ninth Weapon Blacksmith at our shop. In addition to a monthly wage of two taels of silver, you'll receive a bonus of three hundred copper coins for every Ten Refinements Weapon you forge. I hope you'll keep up the good work."
Su Mu's face lit up with joy. Back when he'd chosen between forging farm tools and weapons, he'd picked weapons for the higher pay. Right now, he urgently needed more silver to keep his expenses in balance.
Forging the long saber for the first time had taken Su Mu more than twenty days. As the saying went, the first step was always the hardest. Now that he had some experience under his belt—and his forging skill had reached mastery—he'd get better with every attempt.
Su Mu was confident that he'd become far more efficient at forging weapons. He could forge at least two a month, bringing his monthly earnings to more than two and a half taels—over eight times his previous wage of three hundred copper coins!
"Thank you, Shopkeeper Li. I'll work twice as hard from now on."
Su Mu thanked him.
"Kid, congratulations."
Zhou Shan stepped forward to congratulate him. To be honest, Su Mu's growth had far surpassed anything Zhou Shan had imagined. At first, Zhou Shan had only hoped he'd forge a weapon on his own. He hadn't expected a Ten Refinements Weapon; as long as Su Mu could forge one from start to finish, that would have been enough.
He hadn't expected Su Mu to give him such a huge surprise. Seeing the envy in the other blacksmiths' eyes, Zhou Shan couldn't help beaming. He was every bit as happy as Su Mu to see the young man become a full-fledged blacksmith.
"You've got a bright future ahead of you, Su Mu. Now that you're a proper blacksmith, you'd better work hard and try to take a wife in a few years. Heh."
The other blacksmiths came over to offer their congratulations, and of course the older generation couldn't resist teasing the young man. For a while, the forging room was filled with laughter and good cheer.
Su Mu thanked each of the blacksmiths in turn, but he didn't let the praise go to his head. He knew that hard work was important, of course, but the key to becoming a full-fledged blacksmith in just a year was his improved comprehension.
My comprehension is now at seven points, seven times what it was when I first transmigrated. Whether I'm learning forging or cultivating martial arts, I'm far faster than ordinary people...
Most people need several years, but I only need a few months.
There's no limit to comprehension. This is only the beginning!
Su Mu looked forward to the future. As long as he kept moving steadily, one step at a time, he knew a bright future awaited him.
Spring had come, and drizzle fell without end.
At dusk, Su Mu returned to the village and took off his rain cape. By his count, forty-three days had passed since he last took the antidote—more than ten days beyond the one-dose-per-month limit.
The damp weather stirred the poison in his body. It felt as if countless bugs were crawling inside him, gnawing at his flesh and organs. Su Mu's whole body trembled in faint spasms, and cold sweat poured off him, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.
When the stabbing pain finally eased, Su Mu's face was pale as he let out a long breath.
"I can hold out for a few more days. In the past three months or so, I've only taken two antidotes... I still have four left."
The young man narrowed his eyes. Ever since the person in charge had left, he'd quietly begun preparing to break free of the death-soldier life. Escaping the control of the medicine outright wasn't realistic. His first step was to see how long he could put off taking the antidote.
Doing so could gradually lessen his dependence on it. Even a small reduction mattered. And the antidotes he saved would become a trump card in his hand—perhaps one that could prove useful at a critical moment.
"Time to cultivate."
After catching his breath, Su Mu first brewed Three-Complete Body Strengthening Soup. Even after all these days, he still grimaced whenever he drank it. Gritting his teeth, he tipped back a bowl, then began practicing Five Animal Frolics and Tiger Subduing Fist in the woodshed.
His punches howled through the air, fierce as a tiger.
Once he was drenched in sweat and thoroughly exhilarated, Su Mu finished his practice, washed up, and went to bed.
A few days later, several new apprentices arrived at the shop. Li Tie hadn't been interested in taking on apprentices before, but after seeing Su Mu come along, he'd gotten a taste for success and seemed to take a new interest in it.
This time, it wasn't just the shopkeeper who was eager. Several of the blacksmiths in the forging room were keen as well, and volunteered to take apprentices.
When Zhou Shan heard about it, he grinned and didn't try to compete with them. He was more than satisfied with having trained Su Mu—a boy destined to surpass his teacher.
Zhou Shan knew full well that someone like Su Mu was hard to come by. The boy's rapid rise hadn't been because Zhou Shan was such a good teacher. It was mostly thanks to Su Mu's own exceptional talent, hard work, and perseverance.
Clang!
Sparks flew in every direction, and the clear, ringing clash of metal against metal rose and fell.
"So this is the Blacksmith Su the shopkeeper mentioned? Did he really only just become a full-fledged blacksmith?... Why do I feel his forging skills are better than those of the other veteran blacksmiths?"
Several new apprentices at the shop worked the bellows for Su Mu, watching, entranced.
The Forging Hammer weighed twenty or thirty jin, yet it seemed as light as air in Su Mu's hands. He deftly channeled his strength and Tiger Subduing Fist into every blow. The ground trembled faintly with each strike. One hammer blow followed another, steady as spring rain, then relentless as a gale.
Even a layman could see the skill in his technique after watching for a few moments.
"That kid's improvement is astonishing."
Zhou Shan glanced over now and then, deeply impressed. At this rate, Su Mu would surpass every blacksmith at the shop before the year was out—including a veteran who'd been smithing for decades, and perhaps even the shopkeeper himself, Li Tie.
Clang, clang, clang!
The forge roared, and the ringing blows of hammer on metal carried the years swiftly by. Spring passed, and summer arrived.
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.
The sun blazed overhead. In the shade of the woods on the mountain behind the village, Su Mu was practicing Tiger Subduing Fist. Each movement cut through the air with a sharp, forceful crack. With every punch, he felt the blood and qi in his body grow hotter and more restless. The strength flowing through his arms was also nearing a bottleneck.
If he could break through it, he would enter an entirely new realm.
Su Mu threw himself ever more completely into his punches, his movements growing faster and more forceful.
Heaven rewarded diligence; every effort bore fruit. Months of accumulation erupted into a transformation in that moment. Su Mu's final punch carried the faint roar of a tiger, and the bottleneck shattered with a thunderous crash!
Rumble.
Like a river bursting through a dam, the strength within Su Mu surged through the acupoints across his body, one after another. They resonated together, and his entire body crackled.
The strength inside him surged and churned like a river swelling beneath a summer downpour, rising higher and higher—and growing denser by the moment.
Strength filled every acupoint; Refined Strength achieved!
Before you continue