"Honored guest, here are the twenty roast geese you asked for!"
Before long, the young blacksmith came in carrying a huge wooden tub, filled to the brim with roast geese.
"You eat too. I don't want you running out of strength to work the bellows for me later!"
Wang Hao casually tossed a roast goose to the young blacksmith, then grabbed another and tore into it in great mouthfuls.
That earlier ordeal had nearly exhausted the strength he had built up the previous night. He had been worrying about how to replenish it so he could finish forging, but who would have thought the young blacksmith would offer himself up?
Naturally, he wouldn't stand on ceremony. At the same time, this was also a test for the young man.
Clearly, he had passed!
The young blacksmith looked at the roast goose in his hands and wanted to refuse, but Wang Hao's words left him no room to do so. In the end, he licked his lips and began tearing into it in great mouthfuls as well.
He couldn't remember how long it had been since he'd tasted meat, and he was craving it badly. Today was the perfect chance to indulge.
"Force rises from the four extremities, gathers at the tip of the heart, passes through the yin lung, and travels through the liver and spleen..."
As they ate, words suddenly came haltingly from Wang Hao's mouth, somewhat muffled and audible only to the young blacksmith right beside him.
The young blacksmith froze for a moment, then was overjoyed. He hurriedly circulated his own force as instructed.
He had practiced some rudimentary martial arts for a few years, so he naturally understood that Wang Hao was describing a method of circulating force, and an exceptionally profound one at that.
No matter why the man was teaching him such a precious method, he couldn't go wrong learning it first.
He soon felt how extraordinary this secret force-circulation method was. Normally, one roast goose would have been enough to fill him, but this time, after eating the whole bird, he felt only half-full, as though he could eat another.
At that moment, Wang Hao tossed him another roast goose. The young blacksmith hesitated, but ultimately didn't refuse and began tearing into it again.
"Whimper, whimper!"
Just as the two of them were clutching their roast geese and devouring them, a cheerful whimper sounded outside the door. At some point, a skinny little dog with dirty, disheveled fur had appeared there.
The little fellow grew quite excited at the sight of Wang Hao. He clambered clumsily over the threshold, ran to Wang Hao's feet, and wagged his little tail happily.
"How come you show up every time I eat, little fellow?"
Wang Hao flicked the little fellow on the head, delighted.
He had already been very fond of the little fellow, and today, thanks to him, he had somehow managed to pull the wool completely over the eyes of that big shot Dugu Qiubai and obtain a powerful sword technique. That made him like the little fellow even more.
Seeing the little fellow again was a kind of fateful encounter, so he was naturally delighted.
"Whimper, whimper!"
The little fellow's eyes were fixed on the roast goose in Wang Hao's hand, and his tail wagged even more vigorously.
"All right, all right, here you go!"
Wang Hao smiled helplessly, tore the rump off the roast goose in his hand, and gave it to the little fellow. Then he went back to devouring the rest.
Meanwhile, the young blacksmith finished his second roast goose and fell silent for a moment. At last, seeming to have made a decision, he quietly shut the doors and windows, moved the great iron anvil aside, and solemnly took a perfectly ordinary-looking iron ingot from the wooden stump beneath it.
Wang Hao watched the young blacksmith curiously but said nothing.
After taking out the ingot, the young blacksmith respectfully kowtowed to it three times, his head striking the ground with a clear sound each time. Then he pressed his large hands against the ingot in a particular pattern. Before long, the ordinary-looking ingot split down the middle, and a delicate golden scroll fell out.
As it turned out, the iron ingot was a special kind of lock. Only a particular method could release the catch inside and reveal what was hidden within.
"Honored guest, this is the Secret Forging Scroll handed down by my ancestors. Unfortunately, only the lower volume remains; the upper volume was lost long ago. It is of little use to me, so I offer it to you in repayment for the kindness of teaching me your method."
The young blacksmith respectfully offered the scroll to Wang Hao, his expression deeply sincere.
Although the force-circulation method Wang Hao had just taught him could only aid digestion and increase food intake, as a practitioner of hard-body arts himself, he naturally understood how enormously helpful such a secret method was to their cultivation.
Cultivating hard-body arts required a tremendous amount of food. One could even say that the speed of cultivation itself was tied to how much one could eat.
Now that his food intake had doubled, the speed of his hard-body cultivation would double as well.
And that was only the beginning. As he continued to practice the force-circulation method, his food intake would increase further, perhaps even reaching the point where he could eat a full eighteen roast geese in one sitting, like Wang Hao.
Such a secret method was in no way inferior to the divine arts that sects guarded as their foundations. It was even more powerful and precious.
As a man of principle, he naturally wouldn't accept such kindness for nothing, so he could only offer the man his most precious treasure.
Of course, he had long since memorized the contents of the Secret Forging Scroll. It was just that, without the upper volume, he had no way to put them into practice.
So he didn't lose much by giving it to Wang Hao.
Wang Hao had already been curious about the scroll, so he didn't make a show of refusing. He took it, unrolled it, and studied it carefully. Only after a long while did he put it down and look up in surprise at the young blacksmith before him.
"This was handed down by your ancestors? It seems your family has a long tradition of learning!"
The Secret Forging Scroll was no ordinary thing. It was made of gold beaten as thin as paper, and despite its compact size, it was a full three zhang long when unrolled.
It was covered in densely packed characters as small as fly heads, recording nearly a hundred advanced forging techniques.
Even Wang Hao, who had inherited the forging methods of his prehistoric previous life, gained quite a lot from it. It could be called an unparalleled manual bringing together the forging methods of the world.
Unfortunately, the secret methods in the Secret Forging Scroll required a special inner cultivation art to activate them. That art was presumably recorded in the lost upper volume, and without it, the scroll's value had naturally fallen considerably.
No wonder the young blacksmith had fallen on such hard times despite possessing such a treasure.
What caught Wang Hao's attention even more, however, was that the signature at the end of the gold-paper scroll was written in six large characters: Sharp Metal Flag, Wu Jincao.
He didn't know who this Wu Jincao was, but he did know of the Sharp Metal Flag. It was one of the Ming Cult's Five Elements Flags in The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.
If he wasn't mistaken, the blacksmith's ancestor must have been a high-ranking member of the Ming Cult's Five Elements Flags. It was no exaggeration to say his family had a long tradition of learning. Unfortunately, that inheritance had been broken.
"I'm ashamed!"
The young blacksmith looked helpless. He knew his family had a long tradition of learning, and that the lower volume of the Secret Forging Scroll handed down to him was extremely precious. Unfortunately, though he possessed a mountain of treasure, he couldn't find the door to enter it, and had ended up in such dire straits.
He had truly failed his ancestors!
"What's your name?"
A thought occurred to Wang Hao, and he asked.
"My surname is Wu, and my given name is Tai!"
Though he didn't understand why Wang Hao was asking, Wu Tai respectfully gave his name.
"Have you memorized everything on it?"
Wang Hao asked another question, his expression growing more serious.
"I memorized it long ago!"
Hearing the young blacksmith Wu Tai's answer, Wang Hao casually tossed the Secret Forging Scroll into the furnace and said gravely, "It's best never to let anyone know your ancestor belonged to the Sharp Metal Flag, especially the Great Ming Imperial Court. Otherwise, your life will surely be in danger."
Although the ending of the original The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber didn't state what became of the Ming Cult, given the ruthless Zhu Yuanzhang's nature, the Ming Cult's fate had surely been miserable.
By now, the Ming Cult had even ceased to exist. The Sun Moon Holy Cult might have some connection to it, but that connection surely wasn't strong.
From this, one could see the Great Ming Imperial Court's attitude toward the Ming Cult. If word got out that Wu Tai was the descendant of a high-ranking Ming Cult member, who knew whether the Great Ming Imperial Court would send people to capture or even kill him?
Wang Hao had a good impression of Wu Tai, which was why he had kindly warned him.
"Many thanks for the warning, benefactor!"
Coming to his senses, Wu Tai hurriedly bowed in thanks. At the same time, a large patch of cold sweat broke out on his back.
That was the imperial court they were talking about!
To think his own ancestor had been an enemy of the imperial court. That really put him in a pit!
He was also filled with gratitude toward Wang Hao and began addressing him as his benefactor.
After all, this kindness had saved his life!
"There are some things I'm about to do that it wouldn't be convenient for you to see. Cover your eyes."
Feeling that his strength had returned, Wang Hao spoke calmly. Some of the things he was about to do truly weren't suitable for outsiders to know about, not even Wu Tai, despite his good character.
After all, one must not harbor the intent to harm others, but neither could one do without a heart on guard against them!
Wu Tai, who was now completely convinced by Wang Hao, said nothing more. He went straight back to his room, fetched an outer robe, and covered his entire head with it.
He really is an honest fellow!
After that private remark, Wang Hao placed the forged piece of thousand-refined fine steel in the furnace and shouted, "Full blast!"
Hearing him, Wu Tai didn't dare delay, even with his head covered. He hurriedly worked the bellows, bringing the fire to its greatest intensity.
Meanwhile, Wang Hao took out the wrapped Ziwei Soft Sword and placed it beside him. Next, he intended to encase it inside the new sword.
Originally, he hadn't been very confident about this method of enclosing one sword within another. It might not look difficult, but it was actually quite hard. One mistake could ruin both swords.
If he had possessed all the strength of his prehistoric previous life, it wouldn't have been much of a problem. But his current body was too weak, even with the support of sword intent.
However, the techniques recorded in the Secret Forging Scroll had given him considerable inspiration. He was now seventy percent confident of forging it successfully.
The rest was relatively simple. First, he heated the thousand-refined fine steel until it glowed red, then hammered it into a long iron bar. Next, he enclosed the entire Ziwei Soft Sword inside it and hammered it again.
Wang Hao threw himself into the work. After all, this was the first weapon he had forged in the true sense, so he couldn't afford to be careless.
Once he had completely enclosed the Ziwei Soft Sword, he also had Wu Tai lift the clothing covering his head so he could watch the forging of the treasured sword up close.
Wu Tai watched the forging process in rapt fascination. Many things that had puzzled him before became clear, and he even gained some understanding of certain techniques in the Secret Forging Scroll. He had gained quite a lot.
One shichen later, a greatsword much larger than an ordinary treasured sword finally took shape.
This was Wang Hao's first sword of his own!
The sword measured five chi and five cun in total, with a blade four chi and seven cun long and a handle eight cun long. The blade was seven cun wide and two cun thick. Including the bronze sword guard added afterward to show off, it weighed a total of one hundred and eight jin. It was worthy of being called a greatsword!
Wang Hao swung the greatsword a few times and felt very satisfied.
Although it was a little heavy for him now, he would adapt once his strength improved further.
Moreover, the heavy blade gave a tremendous boost to the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle. Combined with the greatsword's sharp edge, he was now confident he could fight a peak second-rate expert.
"Woof, woof!"
Just as Wang Hao was getting used to the greatsword, the little husky, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly barked at the tightly shut door, baring his teeth as though he had detected something bad.
"Who's there?!"
Wang Hao's face turned cold. Gripping the greatsword, he used Two Armies Facing Off, the stance with the strongest burst of power from a stationary position in the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle. With a backhanded upward swing, he struck the great iron anvil in front of him, sending it smashing toward the door.