Chaotic Cloak Residual

Chaotic Cloak · Residual

"Fifth Brother~ Fifth Brother~~~"

Under Ling Yi's soft calls, Wang Meng, who had suffered a small shock, finally came back to his senses. He looked at Ling Yi with a complicated expression and was speechless for a long while.

Forcing himself to gather his thoughts, Wang Meng shook his head and tightened his grip on the forging hammer, which made his heart feel a little steadier.

He nodded at Ling Yi and said, "Your analysis was very good... Mm..."

As Wang Meng spoke, he faltered again. While organizing his words, he continued:

"According to Master, when he was learning his craft in Metal City, 'Gengxin City,' his master once said that the Clear Sky Sect's Tang Family was the only place on Douluo Continent, apart from the Blacksmith Association Headquarters in 'Gengxin City,' that possessed the complete inheritance of the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique—"

"And the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique truly is the strongest forging art we blacksmiths have for expelling impurities from metal!!!" (Note 1)

At this point, Wang Meng's previously chaotic emotions once again turned into deep pride, and his entire mental state calmed down quite a bit.

Seeing this, Ling Yi stopped provoking him. Instead, his eyes shone as he stared straight at Wang Meng with an impatient, eager look. "Then~~ Fifth Brother, do you and Master know the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique?"

"Of course!"

Wang Meng raised his head, lifted his chin, and opened his mouth in a grin. "Back when Master studied forging skills in 'Gengxin City,' he learned the Thirty-Six Forms of the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique from Grandmaster!"

"Then... then..."

Although Ling Yi was already feeling a slight disappointment at the number "Thirty-Six Forms," his face still maintained a look of yearning and expectation as he looked at Wang Meng.

Wang Meng was very pleased by Ling Yi's gaze and expression. This time, he did not directly say the words Ling Yi was hoping for. He merely shook his head and continued with a sigh on his face, "Unfortunately, my aptitude was lacking. I only learned the Thirteen Forms. No matter what I do, I can't connect the combo into the fourteenth hammer..."

At this point, a trace of dejection inevitably appeared in Wang Meng's heart, and he immediately lost the mood to show off in front of Ling Yi.

Without keeping him in suspense any longer, Wang Meng lifted the forging hammer he had been holding all this time and walked two steps to the forging table beside Ling Yi. He gestured to Ling Yi and said, "Little Yi, I'll demonstrate it once for you first. After that, I'll explain it to you in detail..."

After saying that, Wang Meng used the iron tongs to take out an ingot that had turned dark red under the licking flames and placed it on the anvil.

Wang Meng first took a deep breath and assumed the exact same posture as when he had been forging earlier. Immediately after, Wang Meng suddenly exerted force through his feet.

Under Ling Yi's spiritual perception, the muscles in Wang Meng's calves contracted and bulged violently. A tremendous force surged upward from below, traveling along his thighs, waist, back, and arms, all the way to the forging hammer gripped tightly in his hand...

Clang—!

Amid that resonant metallic ring, the forging hammer in his hand smashed onto the iron ingot. As it bounced up from the recoil, Wang Meng followed that force and spun around. His calves exerted force again, and the forging hammer gripped in his broad, thick hand swung up with it. Amid a fierce whistling of wind, another loud crash rang out, and the hammerhead fell onto the Iron Body once more. This strike was not only extremely fast, but its power was faintly greater than the first strike!

After that, every time the forging hammer rebounded high into the air, at the instant just before it reached its highest point, neither early nor late, Wang Meng's body would draw an arc, driving the forging hammer in his hand to circle once before smashing down again. His entire movement and the height of the hammer's rebound reached an almost perfect harmony.

For some reason, Ling Yi felt that the scene before him looked somewhat familiar.

However, Ling Yi did not mobilize his mind to ponder it deeply. He merely noted that familiarity and poured more of his attention into every movement and every detail of Wang Meng before him.

It had been more than seven years since he transmigrated here, and at last he had come into contact with the first secret technique native to Douluo Continent apart from the Martial Soul and Meditation Method. Moreover, it was a secret technique that occupied a considerable amount of space in the original protagonist's mid-to-late-stage battles, so naturally he had to give it a certain degree of importance.

He watched as, starting from the second strike, the power of every blow exceeded the full force of Wang Meng's first strike. Yet through that marvelous bodily posture, the increasingly powerful force still remained under his control. The perfect, coordinated movements avoided the damage of the rebound force to himself to the greatest extent, and instead added that force to the next hammer blow.

Wang Meng's movements gradually grew faster. The forging hammer in his hand struck the iron ingot like a string of arrows, making the ingot rapidly deform. Moreover, the positions Wang Meng struck were not fixed in one place, but landed evenly on every corner of the ingot. When the ingot had been hammered to one quarter of its original thickness, as the forging hammer in Wang Meng's hand fell and rose again, a sticky force appeared, drawing the iron ingot up and flipping it over. The next hammer happened to strike the ingot's original underside.

Ten breaths. Only ten breaths!

When Wang Meng's final hammer smashed down, producing a deafening clash of metal against metal, and he stood there panting heavily, only ten breaths had passed since he had raised the hammer and swung the first strike!!!

The speed of the first three hammers was still manageable, roughly one hammer per breath. But starting from the fourth hammer, Wang Meng's speed grew faster and faster. In less than seven breaths, he instantly struck out the remaining ten hammers in succession.

Ling Yi moved his gaze away from Wang Meng, who was breathing in great gulps, and looked at the iron ingot on the anvil that was still dark red.

At a rough glance, the ingot did not seem to have changed much. It seemed a little smaller than before, and yet also seemed not to be.

But Ling Yi's five senses were extremely sharp, and with the sensing of his Mental Strength, he immediately discovered that the iron ingot's volume had decreased by about one thirtieth compared to before!

"Huff—huff—" Wang Meng's breathing gradually slowed. His gaze fell on the iron ingot before him. His years of experience and eye for smithing allowed him to easily distinguish the change in the ingot.

First, he smiled in satisfaction. But immediately afterward, as if thinking of something, Wang Meng shook his head helplessly, turned to look at Ling Yi, and said with a somewhat proud expression, "This is the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique!"

To be honest, in the month since he had met Wang Meng, this was the first time Ling Yi had seen such an expression on him.

Clearly, to Wang Meng, the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique truly held an extraordinary meaning.

"Amazing!"

Ling Yi very obligingly raised his thumb and praised Wang Meng enthusiastically. "Fifth Brother, if those Great Soul Master-level teachers at the academy saw that move just now, they'd all be dumbstruck—!"

"Hehe~"

Hearing Ling Yi's words, Wang Meng's face was still full of smiles, but the pride had faded. It was as if that completely different person from just now had never appeared. His signature bashfulness surfaced again, and he waved his hand while hurriedly saying, "Not that much, not that much. This move of mine can only be used in forging. I can't use it in battle..."

"Besides, Master said that the complete Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique can swing out Nine-Nine Eighty-One Hammers in a row. Back then, he only learned thirty-six hammers, so it counts as learning an incomplete fragment~

As for me, I can only swing out thirteen hammers. It's a fragment within a fragment..."

As he spoke, before Ling Yi could say anything else, Wang Meng took the lead in asking, "How was it? Little Yi, after watching just now, what thoughts do you have about the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique?"

Ling Yi's mind withdrew from the comprehension of the scene of Wang Meng performing the residual forms of the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique just now. At the same time, he also recalled the source of that earlier sense of familiarity—the Hoeing Form from the Farmer Three Forms!

Thoughts surged in his heart, but they did not delay Ling Yi from answering Wang Meng's question. "Based on your body movements just now, Fifth Brother, the principle of this Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique seems to be a method of borrowing force to use force. Through the rotational movements of the body, arms, and forging hammer, it neutralizes the recoil and merges it into the next strike...

However, it's easy to say, but I'm afraid it's very difficult to do!"

"More than just difficult!"

Even Wang Meng, who had already grown somewhat immune to Ling Yi's astonishing intelligence, still froze when he heard Ling Yi's words. Then a bitter smile appeared on his face, and he shook his head as he said, "Just grasping the timing of that rebound force has stopped countless people. The apprentices Master taught the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique to numbered no fewer than a hundred, and all of them started as Advanced Blacksmiths, but in the end, fewer than thirty managed to master it to this point!"

"And the only ones who can swing more than ten hammer strikes in succession are the twelve of us personal disciples!"

If ordinary soul masters, Great Soul Masters, and even Soul Elders could rely on their own powerful strength to forge Hundred Refinement tools and be evaluated as Advanced Blacksmiths...

Then the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique was not something soul masters could forcibly learn through strength alone.

It involved forging techniques and experience, and one also had to possess a certain amount of talent before they could grasp the mysteries within.

So, in a certain sense, aside from being an extremely powerful forging and Combat Secret Skill, the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique was also an excellent method for testing a blacksmith's talent and skill.

Next, under Wang Meng's guidance, Ling Yi began his first hands-on attempt at the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique.

Based on Wang Meng's understanding of Ling Yi after observing him over the past month or so, with Ling Yi's talent, he figured it would not take long for him to get started with the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique.

As for how long it would take him to reach the thirteenth hammer strike like Wang Meng, Wang Meng was not quite certain.

But Wang Meng felt it would take at least half a year or so, right?

After all, learning this secret skill required practice until familiarity bred skill, which meant a great deal of training.

Once Ling Yi had more or less mastered it, he would then take him to his master, Old Master Jin, to learn the later content.

The old master was getting on in years. In recent years, work like swinging an iron hammer was something he only did occasionally, just to keep himself from getting rusty.

Only when a major customer came to the door would he summon his disciples to assist from the side and personally light the forge.

Thank you to book friend 20210317235826218, book friend Xing Tou, and book friend 20210731211213510 for the monthly tickets. Thank you to book friend Burning Dark Green Ink for the reward, and thank you to all book friends for your Recommendation Tickets and continued reading. Thank you, everyone!!!

Note 1: In the original work, it is indeed "casting." Because earlier on, the author continued using the term "casting," but a book friend pointed out the difference between casting and forging, so here is an explanation.

The following comes from Baidu:

Casting is forming in one step. After metal is melted into liquid, it is poured into a casting cavity that matches the shape of the part. After it cools, solidifies, and is cleaned, it yields a part or blank. The casting field focuses on the metal-smelting process and the control of techniques during the pouring process.

Forging is gradual forming. Using forging and pressing machinery to apply pressure to a metal blank—through methods such as squeezing and hammering—turns metal material in a plastic state into a workpiece with a certain shape and size. Forging is plastic forming in a solid state, divided into hot working and cold working. Processes such as extrusion, drawing, upsetting, and punching all fall under forging.