novelraw Chapter 63
Chapter 63
In the weapon room’s rear courtyard.
Everyone was hard at work, the atmosphere blazing with activity.
Some apprentices were smashing iron ore. Others were feeding ore into the blast furnace, while clearing shattered slag from the discharge port.
The molten pig iron was sent off to be refined into refined molten iron. From there, it could be sent to the forging tables—either to be shaped into iron weapons or forged into Hundredfold Steel weapons.
Six forging tables were already occupied, hammering ringing out nonstop as the craftsmen worked with enthusiasm.
Room Master Zhang was among them.
He had noticed Su Wangchuan’s arrival long ago. He nodded once, then continued forging a Hundredfold Steel saber.
This was a task assigned from above.
In the past, he could still delay it with various excuses. But now, with Su Wangchuan as a competitor, if he did not work overtime and finish it quickly, his status and influence within the Yulong Gang would only continue to decline.
Su Wangchuan walked over to an empty forging table and said to the four helpers under him, “You four will take turns forging ironware. How you rotate is up to you.”With that, he began making preparations on his own.
“Master Wangchuan, I’ll assist you.”
Chen Ergou was quick-witted. Instead of competing for a forging table, he ran over to lend a hand—raising the furnace, transporting refined molten iron, and preparing the tongs. He stood by attentively, movements practiced and smooth.
The other three discussed among themselves and decided that Dali would start forging, making crude iron arrowheads, while the other two handled miscellaneous tasks.
Su Wangchuan quickly got into the flow.
There were no fancy or unnecessary movements. He started with eight Hundredfold Steel arrowheads, just like during the sparring session in the afternoon—One-Breath Quadruple Strike, straight into form.
With Chen Ergou assisting at his side, Su Wangchuan no longer needed to handle cooling, scooping molten iron, or switching billets himself. All of that was taken care of naturally.
He focused entirely on forging the Hundredfold Steel arrowheads.
His speed was even faster than before.
Everyone knew, however, that this also meant his physical stamina was being consumed at a much higher rate.
Yet Su Wangchuan was like a tireless machine. He hammered relentlessly for nearly half an hour, completed eight finished Hundredfold Steel arrowheads, then immediately recast the molten iron and began the second round of forging without pause.
The One-Breath Quadruple Strike technique, combined with alternating both arms, allowed each arm to work and rest in turn.
The weapon room helpers were the first to give out, gradually retreating to rest.
Then even Room Master Zhang could not hold on any longer. He massaged his aching arms and left the rear courtyard, returning to the east wing to rest.
Only Su Wangchuan remained, continuing to hammer without stopping.
CLANG!!!
CLANG!!!
He worked straight through until midnight, producing a total of forty Hundredfold Steel arrowheads.
Although the experience of the 《Hundredfold Steel Forging Technique》 did not budge at all and remained stuck at 4/2000, his newly accepted task progressed to 48/500.
“Bring the finished products back to my room.”
“We’ll continue tomorrow!”
“Everyone can go rest.”
After Su Wangchuan gave the order, Chen Ergou and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief and returned to rest.
Logging off in his own room, with Yulong Gang disciples standing guard outside and defenses tight, he slept especially soundly that night.
Morning.
While everyone else was still asleep, Su Wangchuan was already up.
He had thought he would be the first to arrive in the rear courtyard, but to his surprise, the helpers under Room Master Zhang were already there, busy around the blast furnace preparing the various chores for the new day.
Although Room Master Zhang treated his subordinates harshly, his rules and organization were solid. The entire weapon room ran smoothly, saving Su Wangchuan quite a bit of effort.
“Master Wangchuan.”
“Good morning.”
A group of helpers greeted Su Wangchuan.
They all knew he had been forging late into the night yesterday and had not expected him to rise so early.
Su Wangchuan nodded in response, then quickly went to his forging table and began warming up his hands.
As soon as the rhythmic hammering began, Chen Ergou arrived in a rush, hurriedly straightening his clothes before running over to assist.
“Master Wangchuan, you’re up so early.”
“Don’t worry, I definitely won’t be late again.”
Chen Ergou was afraid Su Wangchuan might be displeased.
After all, the most exhausted person yesterday should have been Su Wangchuan.
“Be careful next time.”
“Yes.”
CLANG!
CLANG!!
Su Wangchuan quickly entered his rhythm.
“Master Wangchuan, the meat buns sold at the docks are especially good. Please try one.” Zhang San came in from outside, holding steaming meat buns.
Su Wangchuan had eaten two pieces of wolf meat jerky when he got up. He was not hungry, but he still accepted and took a bite.
The buns were large, with thin skin and fragrant meat.
Big Meat Bun: (Value: 2 Copper Coins)
Reduces Hunger by 20.
(Fresh meat filling, tender and fragrant.)
Su Wangchuan immediately tossed three large copper coins to Zhang San.
“From now on, this is what I’ll eat morning, noon, and night. Bring me five each meal.”
“Got it.”
Zhang San happily pocketed the coins.
Everyone took their positions.
Su Wangchuan hammered away for a full hour, producing sixteen finished pieces, before Room Master Zhang finally appeared, rubbing his arms as he entered from outside, yawning and looking poorly rested.
Whether it was because he had been lost in thought the previous night or because his sleep had been disturbed early in the morning, he cast a cold glance at the bustling scene in the rear courtyard, then went in leisurely, enjoyed a breakfast of soy milk, fried dough sticks, and bread, and only then began work.
After lunch.
The wooden frame at Su Wangchuan’s feet already held over a hundred Hundredfold Steel arrowheads, and the task progress had reached 104/500.
Room Master Zhang was still forging his Hundredfold Steel saber.
A single Hundredfold Steel saber required the material of three Hundredfold Steel ingots. It needed more than three hundred hammer strikes back and forth, took a very long time to forge, and during the forging process, each fold generally required two reheats. The time needed to heat the metal until red-hot was long, and often there was a lot of waiting involved.
Heating took time.
Reheating also took time.
If something went slightly wrong, a third time was needed…
No wonder it still was not finished despite forging from yesterday until today.
Even Su Wangchuan felt it was a tremendous waste of time.
But he had no intention of pointing anything out to Room Master Zhang. After lunch, he logged off to fill his stomach, rested briefly, then logged back in and got to work again.
One afternoon plus one night.
He worked so relentlessly that everyone else was driven back to rest.
The progress of the Hundredfold Steel arrowheads reached an astonishing 200/500.
This meant that in a single day, he had forged 152 Hundredfold Steel arrowheads.
In just two more days, the armor-piercing arrow task would be completed.
To prevent Room Master Zhang from pulling any tricks, every night after dark he would instruct Chen Ergou to move all the completed Hundredfold Steel arrowheads back to his own room for personal safekeeping.
On the third day.
Dali and Tiedan began assembling arrow shafts for the Hundredfold Steel arrowheads and sharpening the edges.
By the night of the fourth day, all the armor-piercing arrows were fully assembled.
Five hundred armor-piercing arrows—completed.
On Room Master Zhang’s side, the five thousand ordinary arrows had also been finished.
Hall Master He personally came to inspect and accept them.
“Not bad. Not bad.”
“The quality of the items is quite good.”
“Since Wangchuan joined the weapon room, this place has become much livelier. The speed of producing finished weapons has clearly increased by a great deal.”
Hall Master He took out a money pouch containing the reward of twenty-five taels of silver.
“It’s perfect timing. We’re preparing to make a move against the Nu Tao Gang together with the county office, and this batch of armor-piercing arrows has arrived just in time.”
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