"Raise the stakes?"
Long Xiaoyao stared at Chen Ping, his eyes wide. "You don't think I would be afraid to call, do you? What, are you planning to scare me with a wager I can't cover?"
"Of course not, Senior Long. As you said, our original wager was that I could still stand up and speak to you after taking one strike from you, and that one strike from me could make you move half a step."
"If I manage it, you'll turn around and leave without another word. If I don't, I'll hand over the forging method for thousand refinement metal, but you'll give me all the rare metals Jing Hongchen promised, correct?"
Seeing Long Xiaoyao nod unhurriedly, Chen Ping beckoned with one hand, and a structurally complex Mechanism Recoil-Free Hammer appeared in his palm.
The little hammer drew Long Xiaoyao's gaze the instant it appeared.
It had none of the rugged solidity of an ordinary forging hammer. On the contrary, its structure displayed a dizzying precision and complexity.
The hammer's main body was not a single solid piece, but countless components, fine as scales and intermeshed like gears, nested and layered together.
An exquisite Hydraulic Buffering Device was faintly visible inside the hammerhead. A closer look revealed multiple telescoping structures moving back and forth within it.
The end of the handle was even more complex. A miniature Gyroscope Stabilization System of interlocking rings operated silently, ensuring absolutely precise directional control.
Inside the hammerhead were countless tiny rare metal balls, enclosed within an exceptionally tough special alloy casing, evidently intended to counteract, disperse, and redirect the terrifying impact that could recoil upon its user.
A forging hammer so intricate that even slight damage to a single component would send its usability plummeting absolutely, absolutely could not be a martial