Forging Genius

Lou Gao's tone carried encouragement.

Lin Xia took the forging hammer, and the moment it touched his hand, it sank heavily. The weight of this hammer far exceeded ordinary tools, obviously custom-made.

Lin Xia weighed it, his arm muscles naturally tightening as he felt the texture of the hammer handle and its center of gravity.

His past-life knowledge and the formidable physique tempered during this period allowed Lin Xia to adapt quickly to this weight.

Lou Gao walked straight to the forging furnace, rolling up his sleeves to reveal his thick, muscular arms covered in scalds and calluses.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the surrounding blacksmith apprentices and several intermediate blacksmiths who happened to be on break, this Divine Craftsman, renowned across the continent, actually bent down himself and grasped the huge bellows lever!

"Hiss..."

A suppressed intake of breath instantly echoed all around.

Divine Craftsman Lou Gao, pulling the bellows... himself for a disciple?!

This was simply an unheard-of honor!

All gazes focused squarely on Lin Xia, filled with unbelievable shock and intense envy.

Being personally guided by a Divine Craftsman was already supreme fortune, yet now he had made the Divine Craftsman willingly act as an assistant to pull the bellows?

Lin Xia felt the scorching gazes around him, but at this moment his mind and heart were completely immersed in the raw iron before him and the forging hammer in his hand.

Lin Xia took a deep breath, calming his emotions, and clamped the cold pig-iron ingot with long tongs, steadily delivering it into the forging furnace, which Lou Gao was pumping so hard it roared, the furnace fire instantly shifting from dark red to dazzling, blinding white.

The high temperature licked at the iron ingot, the dull black quickly replaced by orange-red, and then turning golden and blazing bright!

"Now!"

Lou Gao let out a low cry, his sharp gaze fixed on the color changes of the iron block.

Lin Xia's eyes narrowed, his wrists exerting force as the long tongs clamped the iron ingot—which had burned to a bright yellow with edges even turning slightly pale—and pulled it out quickly, steadily, and accurately, placing it on the thick, solid anvil!

The high temperature distorted the air, and a wave of heat hit his face.

"Ha!"

Without any hesitation, Lin Xia let out a low shout, waist and horse stance aligning, the strength of his entire body instantly unleashed like a tightened bowstring!

He swung the heavy forging hammer high, tearing through the air to produce a muffled whistle, and brought it down fiercely toward the center of the scorching iron block with the momentum of a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger!

"Clang—!!"

A deafening metal-on-metal clash, as if about to tear eardrums apart, exploded with a roar!

The huge sound wave echoed within the forge room, drowning out all other sounds of hammering!

With the strike point as the center, searing sparks burst forth abruptly like a volcanic eruption!

They formed a dazzling, brilliant orange-red sphere of light that scattered in all directions, with a few sparks even splashing several meters away!

That momentum looked nothing like a novice testing a hammer; it rather resembled an old master well-versed in this craft forging at full power!

The entire forge room instantly plunged into a deathly silence!

The expressions of all the watching blacksmiths, whether apprentices or experienced old masters, froze.

Eyes widened to the limit, mouths agape enough to stuff an egg in.

The previous envy was instantly replaced by extreme horror!

What... what kind of terrifying strength was this?!

He could produce this kind of commotion on the very first hammer?

That hammer weighed at least several dozen catties!

A trace of surprise also flashed in Lou Gao's eyes, but it was immediately replaced by even deeper appreciation.

The arm pumping the bellows became even steadier and more powerful, the furnace fire whipped up like a roaring giant beast.

Lin Xia, however, seemed completely unaware of the surrounding shock.

The massive recoil from the first hammer traveled up the hammer handle, numbing the web of his thumb and forefinger, but this sensation not only failed to make him shrink back, it instead stirred up the resilience deep in his bones and his desire for mastery over strength!

Knowledge from books flashed rapidly through his mind.

Strike point, angle, force, folding timing...

Lin Xia's eyes were sharp as a hawk, fixing on the process where the iron block rapidly deformed, elongated, and changed in color from bright yellow to dark red under the heavy hammer strikes.

His arm muscles bulged, and he swung the forging hammer once more!

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

One hammer! Two hammers! Three hammers!

Lin Xia's movements went from slightly unpolished at the start to smooth, precise, and rhythmic at a startling speed!

Lin Xia seemed to naturally understand how to twist the strength of his entire body into a single strand, transmitting it through his waist and abdomen rotation to his arms, and then precisely pouring it into that single point on the hammerhead!

Moreover, Lin Xia discovered that perhaps due to having the talent of a Larvitar, he knew precisely where to strike with every single hammer.

The speed at which Lin Xia swung the hammer grew faster and faster!

The heavy forging hammer seemed to lose its weight in his hands, transforming into streaks of swift dark light!

The hammer shadows merged into a blur, landing densely on the glowing red iron block like a violent storm!

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—!!"

The dense, loud, highly rhythmic hammering sounds were like stirring battle drums, completely dominating the forge room!

Every time a hammer strike fell, a large amount of sparks would inevitably burst out like fireworks, illuminating Lin Xia's focused and powerful figure.

Sweat quickly oozed from his forehead and temples, sliding down his sharply defined cheeks to drip onto the scorching anvil, instantly turning into white vapor.

Yet Lin Xia acted as if he didn't notice, his entire mind poured into the metal blank before him that was constantly deforming, elongating, and having its impurities hammered out bit by bit.

Folding, forging, reheating... Lin Xia strictly followed what was described in the texts and Lou Gao's occasional hints.

He seemed to enter a marvelous state where strength, technique, and knowledge fused perfectly.

Lou Gao watched from the side with great delight, the rhythm of his bellows-pumping matching Lin Xia's forging completely.

There was no longer any scrutinizing in his eyes, leaving only pure appreciation and immense gratification!

A genius! This was a true forging genius!

Not only was his mind fast, but this physical talent and mastery over strength were one in ten thousand!

The surrounding blacksmiths had long since recovered from their shock, and now only deep admiration remained.

They watched silently, the envy and jealousy in their eyes long vanished, replaced by heartfelt reverence.

Some old masters even subconsciously began counting the number of hammer strikes.

"...Ninety-eight... Ninety-nine... One hundred!"

A full one hundred hammers!

Done in one breath!

When Lin Xia's final hammer fell and was lifted steadily with a perfect concluding posture, what lay upon the anvil before him was no longer that crude, clumsy pig-iron ingot.

About a foot long, three inches wide, of even thickness, its surface displaying dense cloud-like patterns, straight edge lines, and faintly radiating the cold light of metal, a bar of fine iron was quietly lying right there.

Although it was only the most basic forged shaping, its regular form, uniform material, and the tough texture naturally revealed after a hundred refinements all testified to the success of this forging!

Lin Xia let out a long breath of hot air reeking of iron, his chest heaving slightly, sweat streaming down his forehead, but his eyes were startlingly bright.

Lin Xia put down the forging hammer, looking at the first piece of work he had forged with his own hands, as an indescribable sense of accomplishment and excitement surged into his heart.

Inside the forge room, you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone's gaze focused on that bar of fine iron and Lin Xia.

Lou Gao released the bellows lever, straightened up, and his booming laughter exploded like a rumble of thunder in the quiet forge room, filled with incomparable pride and joy.

"Hahahaha! Good! Good! Good! Steel is refined through a hundred hammerings, the fledgling phoenix sings its first song! Xiao Xia, well done! You truly are a disciple of mine, Lou Gao! From this day forth, you are a genuine blacksmith of the Blacksmith Association!"

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