Even without a forging hammer in his hand, the sinews and bones of his arms seemed to have been tempered a thousand times, already instinctively aligned with the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer. A formidable, heavy, and forceful bearing faintly surrounded him.
Now that's a cheat!
At the same time, Tang San's movements abruptly froze, and the sounds inside the smithy vanished without a trace in an instant.
The arm holding his small iron hammer jerked to a halt. His eyes were full of astonishment and disbelief as his hammering came to an abrupt stop.
Anyone with hands could do it?
Was he kidding?
This was a technique his father had taught him. He had practiced it day and night, studying it over and over and hammering iron hundreds of times a day, yet he had only managed to scratch the surface and barely stack a second layer of force.
And Han Qiu had the nerve to make it sound so easy?
Anyone with hands could do it? Why don't you just fly up to the heavens?
Curiosity nonetheless compelled Tang San to take another look at Han Qiu, but that look raised stormy waves in his heart!
Han Qiu was clearly standing there quietly, his body relaxed. Yet under Tang San's Purple Demon Eye, the rhythm of the movements of Han Qiu's muscles, sinews, bones, and Qi and blood bore some resemblance to his father's bearing!
Could he really understand it?
Tang Hao, who had been leaning lazily against the doorway and drinking, suddenly focused his previously vacant, murky eyes!
The wine jar in his hand trembled slightly, nearly spilling its contents. His despondent, numb expression vanished in an instant, and a terrifying gleam flashed through his eyes.
Well, well. This brat really isn't afraid the wind will twist his tongue.
Tang Hao slowly raised his eyes, narrowing them as he looked at the young man walking toward him. His voice was hoarse and weathered, with a trace of almost imperceptible anger hidden within it. "Little Qiuzi, do you know what you're saying?"
Who was he?
The Clear Sky Douluo, renowned throughout the continent.
He had roamed the Douluo continent unchallenged for half his life. Even a direct-line genius of the Clear Sky Sect would struggle to master his Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer without years of arduous practice under a dedicated instructor. How could a mere village boy dare claim anyone with hands could do it?
Han Qiu remained composed, showing not the slightest trace of fear. He walked straight to the anvil, his gaze falling on the piece of red-hot refined iron, and spoke calmly.
"Uncle Hao, the key to your hammer technique lies in building up force and stacking vibrations, not smashing away with brute strength, right?"
"In ordinary smithing, each blow stands alone, its force scattering instead of gathering. But with your hammer technique, the first blow lays the foundation, the second stacks the force, and the third sends vibrations through the grain, each layer building on the last, right?"
With those words, he had precisely exposed the core principle of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer!
Tang Hao's imposing body trembled slightly, and his pupils contracted sharply!
Those profound principles were secrets the Clear Sky Sect never passed to outsiders!
Even when teaching Tang San, he had only made his son work on the basics first, never telling him the fundamentals of stacking force in advance!
Where had this boy of barely a dozen years seen through the essence of the supreme technique he had spent his life mastering?
If Han Qiu had heard Tang Hao's thoughts, he would surely have told him, "I read the original novel, you know."
Tang San stood rooted to the spot beside them, his fingers tightening slightly around his hammer. The sense of crisis in his heart completely engulfed his mind like a rising tide.
He had always thought that, with the Tang Sect Secret Arts and the years he had spent tempering his body, he stood at the peak among his peers in Holy Soul Village.
But ever since Han Qiu had beaten him at climbing the mountain some time ago, he had seemed to have a cheat, utterly crushing Tang San in both physique and perception. And now he had even seen through the hammer technique his father taught him at a glance and casually revealed its core!
How could the gap between people be this vast?
Tang San had begun to question his life.
Tang Hao was silent for several breaths. Suppressing the towering shock in his heart, he raised a hand and pointed to an idle sledgehammer nearby. His voice was deep and resonant, carrying a hint of a test.
"Since you say anyone with hands can do it,
"Then you try.
"Let me see whether you really understand it or are just talking big."
A faint smile curved Han Qiu's lips. Without declining, he stepped forward and gripped the smithing sledgehammer, which weighed a full hundred jin, in one hand.
The hammer, impossibly heavy and difficult to control in an ordinary person's hands, felt as light as a feather in his grasp. He handled its weight with ease.
The Qi-State Origin-Flow circulated slightly within him, and the sinews and bones of his body worked to align themselves fully with the proficient-level understanding of the hammer technique in his mind.
The next instant!
Han Qiu's arm suddenly surged with force!
Clang!
The first blow fell neither fast nor slow, striking the center of the scorching billet with steady force, heavy and firm, laying a solid foundation!
Clang!
The second blow followed close behind, its speed soaring as it landed precisely on the same spot. The force stacked, and the billet shuddered violently!
The third blow, the fourth!
Hammer shadows flew as the wind howled!
Unlike Tang San's slow, unpracticed rhythm, Han Qiu's hammerwork was swift, precise, and fierce. The force, angle, and vibration of every blow were flawless!
Layer upon layer of force built up, the vibrations in the billet grew ever more violent, sparks flew with increasing brilliance, and dull explosive reports rang out one after another!
Six blows!
In just a few breaths, six layers of force had taken shape, steady and firm!
He had deliberately held back ninety percent of his ability, showing only six layers of stacked force.
It looked stunning, a little better than the beginner Tang San and just enough to reach the threshold of stacking force with the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer. In the eyes of an ordinary person, it was already enough to mark him as a prodigy of extraordinary talent.
But in the eyes of Tang Hao, who truly knew the art, he would only be considered exceptionally gifted, someone who had independently worked out a few shallow tricks, rather than a heaven-defying monster who had fully comprehended the Clear Sky Sect's supreme technique.
The degree was just right.
He had it easily under control.
This was how one handled people.
If he had gone on to strike twenty or thirty layers of force, he would have been no genius, but a monster.
A village boy with no sect or school had thoroughly mastered a secret technique of the Clear Sky Sect in just a few days. It was too inconceivable, and might even arouse Tang Hao's wariness and killing intent.
A tree that stood above the forest would be the first to be battered by the wind.
One step ahead, and the world would flock to praise him as a genius.
A hundred steps ahead, and the world would fear him as a monster.
Han Qiu's mind was crystal clear, his abacus clacking away.
What he had just used was not the orthodox Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer either, but something he had mixed together and reshaped using the understanding of hammer principles instilled by the system, his knowledge from his previous life, and the physical properties of Qi-State Origin-Flow.
It merely resembled the technique in form, without the mark of the Clear Sky Sect's orthodox hammerwork.
Even if Tang Hao examined it personally, he would only see that the technique was similar yet different. He absolutely would not see that Han Qiu had already mastered all the profound principles of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer.
Knowing just how much of his ability to conceal was his best trump card for staying alive in this world, where the strong ran rampant and killing intent lurked in the shadows.
The smithy fell deathly silent for a moment.
Tang San stared blankly at the sledgehammer in Han Qiu's hand, his pupils trembling slightly as the sense of disparity came crashing down on him again.
He had practiced hard for dozens of days, yet even with all his strength, he could barely keep three layers of force steady, and his force often went awry and his rhythm fell apart.
Han Qiu, on the other hand, had casually struck six blows, each layer building on the last, steady as a rock, the force even and the vibrations pure. Every blow had landed with utmost precision.
Tang Hao slowly straightened up in the doorway, his murky gaze fixed on Han Qiu. The gleam in his eyes flickered, and no one could read his thoughts.
Six layers of stacked force.
It did not seem like much, but it was enough to shock the world.
After all, even a carefully nurtured direct-line disciple of the Clear Sky Sect would need at least several months of hard practice to work out five or six layers of stacked force without guidance.
This boy had needed only one look to casually expose the core and stack six layers as soon as he raised the hammer. Although what he used was not the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, his comprehension was astonishing.
Tang Hao sighed inwardly, unable to keep himself from admiring the boy's talent.
But what followed was deeper scrutiny and wariness.
It was too strange.
Too smooth.