Apprentice

An apprentice's life was hard. Every day, they had to rise at the crack of dawn, practice the horse stance together for an hour, then go to the Smelting Room to help out. The older apprentices forged tools and utensils, while youngsters like Little Leopard assisted them. In the afternoon, they learned the fundamentals of smithing in the courtyard.

At night, they were also responsible for cleaning up the mess left in the Smelting Room after a busy day.

See? Those books I read were right. Apprentices really don't have any human rights! Holding a section of wood as thick as the mouth of a bowl, Little Leopard hammered away in the courtyard, silently cursing this evil old society with every blow.

This was the apprentices' daily afternoon training: each had a hammer in his hand, a small stone platform before him, and a section of wood as thick as the mouth of a bowl on top of it.

Yes, a section of wood as thick as the mouth of a bowl. Their task was to strike the wood on the stone platform again and again with their iron hammers. Naturally, they were not allowed to hammer any which way they pleased. There were requirements: every blow had to land on the same spot. In other words, the hammer always had to strike where the very first blow had landed.

Do not imagine this was easy. The wood had some give to it, and its surface was semicircular rather than flat, making the hammering that much harder.

"Knock, knock, knock-!" Dull blows rang through the little courtyard, forming an interesting counterpoint to the clang of hammers striking metal in the Smelting Room.

"Boys, concentrate! Once you can hammer a hole through that wood in a single afternoon, I'll teach you the next step. Anyone who can't manage it within six months can go home!"

Old Xing slowly circled the courtyard, watching the apprentices under him. Eventually, his attention settled on Little Leopard.

This lad is young, but he concentrates well. He's practiced martial arts, too, and has a good frame. He's promising material!

Compared with the other apprentices, Little Leopard, who had been here for less than ten days, was clearly a cut above. His blows were not powerful, but he kept every one under control, preventing the hammerhead from bouncing up uncontrollably after striking. His other hand held the wood steady, ensuring that it did not shift even a fraction on the stone platform after each blow.

The only regrettable thing was that he could not make every blow land on the same spot. Despite his best efforts, he had hammered a small, bowl-shaped depression into the wood.

"Boy, don't rush, and don't get flustered. Pay attention to keeping your right hand steady when you swing the hammer. A steady left hand isn't enough. If your right hand isn't steady, you won't hit the same spot!"

After standing beside Little Leopard and watching for a while, Old Xing suddenly spoke.

"Thank you, Master!" Little Leopard gave him a grateful glance. His hammering slowed noticeably as he began carefully feeling out the force in his hand with each swing.

"What are you staring at? If you had this boy's understanding, I'd give you pointers too. Get back to practicing!"

While Old Xing spoke to Little Leopard, the other apprentices had involuntarily stopped working and looked over.

Before they could get a proper look, however, Old Xing barked them back to work. They lowered their heads and resumed hammering. Still, Little Leopard's keen perception occasionally caught gazes laden with jealousy and resentment falling on him, making him distinctly uncomfortable.

What's wrong with me? Why the hell am I getting upset with these little brats? How pathetic!

Noticing the shift in his emotions, Goudanzi laughed without quite knowing why. Across his two lives, he was nearly forty, and his outlook had long since matured.

He had never expected his emotions to waver now.

Only mediocrities escaped envy!

In his previous life, he had been a mediocrity. Though he had studied all the way to a doctorate, no one had ever envied him. After graduating, he had muddled along in a government office, and before he could amount to anything, his life had ended. He had never experienced what it felt like to be envied.

Yet here he was in his second life, only eight years old, and already someone envied him-and in the highly "promising" profession of blacksmithing, no less.

I hope these little brats don't cause trouble for me. If they do, it really will be awkward to handle! Little Leopard smiled bitterly to himself and immersed his mind in his hammering once more.

Smithing really does have something in common with martial arts. Why are the principles of exerting force that Old Xing explained so similar to the principles of the boxing techniques Wang Tianlei taught me?

As he hammered, he thought, relating the movements to the boxing techniques he had learned before. Gradually, Goudanzi's mind entered a mysterious state.

"Knock, knock, knock, thud, thud, thud—!" Unnoticed by anyone, the sound of his hammering began to change ever so slightly. The shift was so subtle that none of the apprentices practicing alongside Little Leopard noticed. Only Old Xing sensed that something was different.

At that moment, he had his back to Little Leopard and was standing beside an apprentice of eleven or twelve. This apprentice's aptitude was second only to Little Leopard's. Though his technique was not as impressive, he was still promising material. Old Xing was about to offer him pointers as he had Little Leopard when an unbelievable sound reached his ears.

At first, he thought he had misheard. But when he turned and saw Little Leopard striking the wood blow after blow in utter concentration, he froze. Then uncontrollable delight surged across his face. He hurried over in two strides and leaned forward gently, watching Little Leopard hammer. Seeing the boy's calm yet slightly vacant expression, Old Xing stepped back twice, unconsciously softening his footsteps as though afraid to disturb him.

Naturally, Old Xing's unusual behavior drew the other apprentices' attention. One by one, they stopped working and followed his gaze.

This time, Old Xing did not order them back to work. He simply let them watch.

Gradually, the apprentices, too, began to see the subtlety of the iron hammer in Little Leopard's hand. He was neither fast nor forceful, yet strangely, every blow landed on the same spot on the wood, driving that spot a little deeper each time. Most importantly, Little Leopard seemed to hammer at a fixed rhythm. His swings grew increasingly practiced until, at last, they flowed like drifting clouds and running water, creating a sense of perfect harmony.

Little Leopard seemed oblivious to their attention. In fact, he truly knew nothing of it. His mind was completely immersed in that state.

An unknown amount of time passed before a sharp "click" rang out. Little Leopard's movements abruptly stopped, as though he had been startled awake from a dream. His slightly vacant eyes instantly returned to normal. Only then did he discover that he had hammered clean through the wood on the stone platform before him. A hole the size of the hammerhead had appeared in it. That strange sound had come from his hammer striking the stone platform beneath.

At last, he noticed what was happening around him and froze in surprise.

"What's-!"

"Little Leopard, come with me. The rest of you, get the hell back to work and keep practicing!" Suppressing his delight, Old Xing roared. Like cats whose tails had been stepped on, the other apprentices scurried back to their places.

Little Leopard's performance had indeed been remarkable, but to them, it was merely remarkable-or perhaps just strange. What could a bunch of boys around ten years old understand? They had simply watched it as though it were a magic trick.

Old Xing was different.

He knew what the state Little Leopard had just entered was called: enlightenment. Enlightenment meant suddenly grasping a profound truth, gaining an extraordinarily deep understanding of a particular field. That was enlightenment.

Such enlightenment had nothing to do with aptitude. It depended entirely on fortune and luck. Some heaven-blessed talents might never experience it even once in their entire lives, while certain fools could experience it several times and attain great accomplishments in a particular field.

Old Xing had never entered a state of enlightenment, but tales of it were widespread throughout the world, much like the encounters with immortals found in novels and unofficial histories. Even if you had never eaten pork, surely you had seen a pig run? And even if you had never seen one run, you had at least heard of such an animal!

Wasn't Little Leopard's state, and the result it had produced, exactly like the pig he had heard of-no, the enlightenment he had heard of?

At that thought, Old Xing's heart surged with emotion. His gaze softened considerably as he looked at Little Leopard, frightening the boy badly.

This old fellow doesn't have some peculiar fetish, does he...?!

As it turned out, the old fellow had no peculiar fetish. He simply cherished talent.

"Come here. Sit down!"

Once they entered the room, Old Xing pointed pleasantly to a stool nearby.

Little Leopard very much wanted to sit, but after some thought, he remained standing and said respectfully, "How could I presume to sit in my master's presence?"

"To think you're a lad who observes proper manners!" Old Xing gave Little Leopard a surprised look. "You hardly seem to have come from the mountain backwoods!"

Little Leopard smiled. "Though I come from the countryside, I did study poetry and books for a few days. Naturally, I know a little about how to conduct myself!"

"You studied poetry and books for a few days!" Old Xing's expression shifted. "You can read?!"

In this world, literate people were few and far between. Just like the old society of his former life, the illiteracy rate was extremely high. Even Old Xing knew no more than a hundred or so characters. As for writing, he could probably only write his own name, and that was already considered fairly good. In the mountain village where Little Leopard's family had lived for generations, literate people were even rarer. Little Leopard's claim that he could read therefore took Old Xing completely by surprise.

Little Leopard gave a bashful smile, looking a little embarrassed. "That's all thanks to my brother-in-law!" He then recounted everything Wang Tianlei had done in the village, leaving Old Xing deeply moved.

"So that's how it is. He's a man of foresight. No wonder I've heard that a little village near Green Ram Market has been thriving these past few years. It must be yours!"

At this point, he glanced at Little Leopard. Seeing the pleasure on his face, he said, "How did that feel just now? Quite marvelous, wasn't it?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. It was very strange!" Little Leopard paused, then realized what Old Xing meant and hastily added, "It's just-!"

"It's just that when you try to recall it now, it's very difficult. You can't find that same feeling again, can you?"

"Yes!" Little Leopard hurriedly nodded.

"Don't look at me. I haven't had your good fortune. I've never experienced enlightenment myself, only heard people talk about it!" Faced with Little Leopard's hopeful gaze, Old Xing felt rather embarrassed. "Still, after this experience, you must have gained a great deal of insight into hammering. Leaving you here as an ordinary apprentice would be a waste of your talent. I heard you've practiced martial arts. Is that true?"

"It's true. My brother-in-law used to be a soldier. I learned boxing techniques and Internal Energy from him!" Something stirred in Little Leopard's mind, and he answered truthfully.

"You've practiced Internal Energy too?!" Old Xing was astonished once again. When he had heard that Little Leopard practiced martial arts, he had assumed the boy had only trained in ordinary external techniques. He had never imagined that he had cultivated Internal Energy as well.

"Have you developed any Internal Energy yet?!"

"Yes, but I haven't been practicing long, so-!"

Before he could finish, Old Xing reached out with his left hand and seized Little Leopard's right. A stream of scorching inner energy then entered through the pulse point on his wrist.

Little Leopard's expression changed. Before he could consciously react, the flameheart inner qi within him had already launched a counterattack.

"Oh? Well, well, boy! It's actually fire-element Internal Energy!" Sensing the counterattack from within Little Leopard's body, Old Xing looked even more puzzled. With a surge of his own Internal Energy, he broke through Little Leopard's Internal Energy.

This was also because Little Leopard had deliberately held back. Otherwise, with his cultivation, he could have resisted for a little while.