Hammer techniques depended on rhythm, force, and speed, and Little Leopard had some insight into all three. He had experienced enlightenment in hammer techniques once already, giving him an exceptionally strong grasp of them. Although the Nine-Form Wild-Wind Technique he had learned was a martial art, it had originated in insights gained from forging iron. Combined with what he had gained through enlightenment, he could now fold and forge the metal nine times after each heating, delivering nine consecutive blows within a single breath each time, every blow carrying the same force. He heated it nine times, striking a total of seven hundred and twenty-one blows. Objects forged this way had a dense structure, uniform composition, extremely few impurities, and incomparable sharpness.
Of course, those seven hundred and twenty-nine blows were already the limit of what he could manage in a day. Although striking them took little time-only eighty-one breaths-it was enough to squeeze every last drop of strength from his body. Moreover, each heating, which was part of the refining process, required fire-control techniques that consumed no less mental energy than the hammering. Thus, although the whole process took only four to six hours, afterward he would remain listless for the rest of the day, unable even to lift his hammer.
He only took such pains because he was making weapons for himself. Items he made for other people-the weapons displayed for sale in the Wu Ironworks-received no such good fortune. Those weapons that others considered exceptionally sharp and high-quality were merely the results of his casual hammering.
Of course, he could hardly be blamed. No one had ever heard of a true master smith producing a vast number of works. Having a dozen or so surviving pieces was already impressive, precisely because pouring one's heart and soul into forging an object consumed tremendous physical and mental energy. Little Leopard's two kunai were merely nine-refined items, yet they had already exhausted him. After forging divine weapons refined dozens or even hundreds of times, their makers could not possibly recover their vitality without a long period of rest.
Overall, Little Leopard was very satisfied with the two kunai he had forged, especially after successfully applying the Origin-Guiding Art of the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Art. Although he still did not know what effect the Origin-Guiding Art would have on the two kunai, he was nonetheless delighted.
The following afternoon, Little Leopard put away his second completed kunai and left the forge, looking as though he had indulged himself far too much.
"You want to go home?"
Qin Xuanlong looked at Little Leopard in some surprise, but soon understood. He was only a nine-year-old child, and he had been with the Wu Household for almost a year without going home once. For anyone else, it would have been nothing unusual; apprentices commonly spent four or five years away from home.
But Little Leopard was different. He was no longer an apprentice, but a proper paid smith in the shop-and a smith who brought in money at that. The other smiths whose homes were nearby had a day or two off every month. Compared with them, the boy had shown considerable patience by staying in the shop for a year.
With that thought, he no longer hesitated. "All right. The New Year is only two months away, anyway. Go home, and come back after the New Year. Don't let your skills get rusty!"
Little Leopard thanked him repeatedly. Two months off to spend the New Year at home sounded rather good.
Still, he did not leave immediately. The first of the month was only a few days away, another market day at Green Ram Market. He could go home with the hunters from his village who came to trade, saving himself quite a bit of trouble.
The main reason he had asked to go home was something that had been lingering in his mind.
It was a scene from the memories Li Haoran had left him.
In truth, Li Haoran had left him few memories. Besides the cultivation method for the Twofold Heaven-Piercing Sword, there was his terror of the young man in green who had killed him. The other memory concerned the reason his soul had been able to leave his body.
The reason his soul had been able to leave his body
was partly that he had cultivated the Twofold Heaven-Piercing Sword, tempering his spirit with its Sword Qi, and partly that a sinister wind had suddenly risen at West Mountain Pass.
It was the icy energy carried within that cold wind that had held his soul together. Otherwise, given the strength of his soul, the mountain winds at West Mountain Pass would have scattered it long before.
Little Leopard had always suspected that the sudden sinister wind had been a kind of baleful energy.
Countless kinds of baleful energy existed between heaven and earth, but that did not mean finding one was easy. Just as there were countless beautiful women in the world, you might never get to sleep with even one in your entire life.
Finding baleful energy also depended on luck.
Ever since obtaining its cultivation method, Little Leopard had coveted the Twofold Heaven-Piercing Sword, but mastering this unusual art was hardly easy.
An ordinary person could search their entire life and still struggle to find even one kind of baleful energy. How much harder would it be to find the two kinds with extreme, diametrically opposed natures required for the Twofold Heaven-Piercing Sword?
In fact, even if that damned place, West Mountain Pass, really contained icy baleful energy, Little Leopard's current cultivation would not allow him to collect it, much less cultivate with it. He merely wanted to confirm its presence in advance and prepare for his future cultivation!
After spending so long with the Wu Household, he had learned quite a bit about cultivation in the martial world, and naturally had gained a deeper understanding of unusual arts like the Twofold Heaven-Piercing Sword.
He yearned intensely for methods that could refine the baleful energies of heaven and earth that the body could not absorb. No matter what, he wanted to visit West Mountain Pass and see exactly what its baleful energy was like.
The sky gradually darkened, and a light rain began to patter down. The cold, damp wind blowing against Little Leopard's face cast a chill over his mood as well.
It was the first of the month, and it was raining.
Far fewer people had come to the market, and not a single person from his village had shown up. When he reached the place where the villagers usually set up their stalls, it was completely empty.
Do I have to go back alone?! The muscles in Little Leopard's face twitched. In truth, his little mountain village was not far from Green Ram Market: fifty li, or twenty-five kilometers. In his previous life, that would have been a twenty- or thirty-minute drive. But this world was different. There were no cars, the roads were all mountain tracks, and the rain had turned everything to mud. Little Leopard could already imagine what he would look like by the time he reached home.
After hesitating for a long while, Little Leopard decided to go back anyway. He had already asked for leave, after all, and that mountain village where even birds wouldn't bother to shit was safer than Green Ram Market.
So he put on a straw rain cape, rented a small donkey from the Ding Family Horse-and-Carriage Shop, and set off. In weather like this, it was better to have something to ride. He could not ride a horse or control such a large animal, so he rented a small donkey that looked reasonably sturdy.
Riding the donkey in his straw rain cape, he headed toward his little mountain village, feeling quite at ease amid the fine rain filling the sky.
"Who would have thought the scenery would be so beautiful in weather like this!"
Beyond Green Ram Market lay an unbroken succession of hills. Though they were not high, mist rose through them beneath the hazy rain. Sitting on the donkey and gazing at the surrounding mountain scenery had a charm all its own, and as he traveled, an indescribable sense of delight welled up within him.
Just as he was enjoying himself, lightning flashed, thunder cracked, and a fierce wind sprang up. Raindrops the size of soybeans lashed down on the wind, which tore the straw hat right off Little Leopard's head.
Without his hat, Little Leopard's head and face were exposed to the downpour. The rain fell so hard and thick that he could not even open his eyes.
"Go, go!" Little Leopard dared not linger. With nowhere suitable nearby to shelter from the rain, he whipped the donkey's rump fiercely. Stung by the blows, the little donkey charged blindly through the rain. After running for a quarter of an hour, the heavy rain gradually stopped, and the donkey halted beside a mountain stream.
Originally, this stream had been no more than a thin trickle, lying along the route Little Leopard had to take home. Normally, even a person, let alone a donkey, could cross it in a single jump. But the rain had sent a torrent surging down from the mountains, and the rising water had turned it into something like a great river, thirty or forty feet wide. Rushing down from higher ground, the water churned violently, occasionally carrying tree trunks and animals downstream. It had completely blocked his way.
"When the roof leaks, the rain just keeps coming!" Little Leopard sighed at the raging mountain torrent. While he frowned and pondered how to cross, he suddenly heard a soft whistle overhead. Looking up, he saw a faint blood-colored shadow streaking toward him from the southwest. It moved incredibly fast. When he first raised his head, it was merely a faint shadow; after two blinks, it was already in the sky above him. Only then did he see that it was a fierce streak of bloody light. Before he could finish that thought, the pungent stench of blood-baleful energy assailed his nose.
Little Leopard felt the back of his neck tighten, and a tremendous force hoisted him straight up. In an instant, he was dozens of yards in the air. His mount, the little donkey, was struck by a powerful force and knocked into the mountain stream before him. It struggled a few times, then sank completely beneath the water and disappeared.
"Ah-!" A short cry of alarm had barely escaped Little Leopard's mouth before it cut off abruptly. A scorching force entered his body through his neck and sealed every acupoint. All he could do was stare wide-eyed and bewildered at the fine rain and mist in the air. His body felt as though it no longer belonged to him, as though he had become a ghost without sensation.
"Hm?!" Although Little Leopard could not utter a single word, his sight and hearing still worked normally. After that scorching force entered his body, he clearly heard an exclamation of surprise beside his ear.
The sound was brief but perfectly clear, and afterward there was only silence. Little Leopard felt an immense force gripping the back of his neck, carrying him straight toward the depths of the Vast Cang Mountains. During the flight, he even saw his little home village flash past and quickly vanish from sight.
I'm flying?! At last, Little Leopard's mind cleared. But his body remained immobile. He could not even turn his neck slightly to see who had hauled him into the sky.
Damn it, isn't this a martial arts world? How can this person fly?! Are those legends about astral qi true? Can astral qi really let people fly? Little Leopard's mind brimmed with questions, but unexpectedly, he felt not the slightest sense of danger. Instead, a faint excitement stirred within him.
They flew for a while longer, and the vast expanse of green gradually filled Little Leopard's vision. He knew this flight had taken him deep into the Vast Cang Mountains.
The Vast Cang Mountains stretched for ten thousand li. Carried through the air, he saw towering mountains and mighty rivers everywhere below. Ridge upon ridge rose and fell like waves, racing backward behind him. At times they passed into clouds, where the dense banks around him were shattered by fierce astral winds, swirling and billowing into clumps and wisps close enough to pluck with his hand.
This is much more immediate than flying in a plane used to be! The clouds around him gathered into clumps and wisps like cotton. Too bad I can't move. Otherwise, I could stretch myself out a little!
While he was silently lamenting this, Little Leopard suddenly felt his body drop, plunging straight down. The restraints on his entire body released in an instant. He watched the jagged rocks and sheer cliffs draw closer and closer, clusters of sword-pointed stones aimed straight at him. If he truly fell onto them, he would face certain death. Panic seized him, and he let out a string of frantic cries.
"Hahahahaha!"
While he was still crying out, the dense blood-baleful energy reached him again. His fall slowed, and that large hand caught him once more, lowering him gradually.
"I thought you really feared neither heaven nor earth. Turns out you're afraid to die after all!"
A rough, booming voice rang beside his ear, laden with mockery.
While carrying Little Leopard through the air, the man had noticed something strange: the boy showed no trace of nervousness. He could not help finding it odd. Anyone facing such an experience should have been shocked and terrified, yet the boy in his grip seemed abnormal. That was why he had suddenly let go-to see how he would react.
"Only an idiot isn't afraid to die!" Little Leopard discovered that he could speak again and shouted, "Even the king of heaven is afraid to die!"
"True, true! Even the king of heaven is afraid to die!" The man roared with laughter and, still carrying Little Leopard, plunged toward the depths of the mountain forest.
Just before they reached the ground, Little Leopard felt the force at his neck loosen, and strength returned to his whole body. Seeing that the ground was only seven or eight feet away, he drew a deep breath and abruptly somersaulted in midair, using the forward roll he had learned in PE class in his previous life. Several rolls dissipated the force of his descent. His toes touched the ground, and he steadied himself, delighted to discover that he had suffered no injury. Looking up, he saw that he had landed on a path between the cliffs of a valley. Countless ancient trees, so thick that it took two arms to encircle them, towered beside it, along with old vines a foot in diameter. Fine rain veiled the valley, and mist steamed upward, making it look like a realm of immortals.
Seeing Little Leopard apparently engrossed in the valley's scenery, the man behind him did not know whether to be angry or amused. This boy seemed to lack even the most basic sense of danger.
"Boy, have you looked enough?!"
"Uh-!" Only then did Little Leopard remember that he was still in danger, and he hurriedly turned around.
Fuck, surely I can't be this unlucky?!