Blue Silver Grass Strategy

The shop owner, Wang Meng, is the fifth disciple of the blacksmith Master Jin. He has the martial spirit "Iron Rake" and is a level 19 first-ring soul master and a senior blacksmith.

Although Master Jin accepted Ling Yi as his disciple a few days ago, he did not have enough energy to teach Ling Yi. After all, he was only a Soul Master at the Soul Master level. He was seventy-two years old this year. His physical condition was better than that of ordinary people of the same age, but there was no qualitative change.

Furthermore, the rules of [Jin Geng]'s school cannot be broken. Ling Yi is only seven years old now. Even though he is extremely talented in forging and showed skills that are no less than those of an intermediate blacksmith on the day he joined the school, he is still an intermediate blacksmith, not a senior blacksmith.

Since he is not a senior blacksmith, he has not yet reached the level of becoming Mr. Jin's direct disciple.

Similarly, even if he is not a senior blacksmith, he can be taught by Wang Meng, the fifth disciple of Grandpa Jin. Wang Meng has been immersed in senior blacksmithing for many years and is only one step away from being a master blacksmith.

Generally speaking, in everyone's perception, Ling Yi, who is now seven years old, should not be able to empty the stock in Wang Meng's belly for at least the next five years.

Maybe, before Ling Yi is promoted to senior blacksmith, it is not impossible that Wang Meng will have a flash of inspiration one day and break through to the master blacksmith level~

Wang Meng, who has honed his skills to the limit and has been doing this for nearly ten years, still firmly believes in this!

When Ling Yi arrived at the door of [Yin Xin Blacksmith Shop], the door of the shop was already wide open. It was pitch black inside, with dark red light flickering faintly, and a faint feeling of heat drifting outward.

Just as Ling Yi was still looking around, a figure walked out of the dark shop.

The fifth senior brother, Wang Meng, is a tall and strong man with ordinary facial features. He is tall and has long arms. His right arm, which has been swinging the forging hammer for many years, is thicker than his left arm, which looks a bit weird.

Although he is not good-looking and his body shape may scare a child to tears at first glance, Ling Yi, who had a brief contact with him, felt at first glance that he had a good personality.

"Xiao Yi is here. Have you eaten?" Wang Meng looked at Ling Yi at the door, with a kind smile on his ordinary face, which made people feel good about him.

In response, Ling Yi immediately gave a sunny smile that also made people feel good, and replied shyly: "Not yet... not yet..."

Wang Meng smiled as he heard this, waved his hand and said, "It's just right, your sisters-in-law have baked bread and cooked porridge, let's eat together.

After we finish eating, we will start forging—"

He doesn't talk much, but every word he says is very simple and straightforward, without many twists and turns. In Ling Yi's opinion, he is a person he can trust.

Of course, being able to be helped by Mr. Jin and open his own blacksmith shop in the east of the city was not only because of his excellent skills, but also because of the recognition of him by the old man.

You know, it's true that "Muzhi City" is not ranked high in Douluo Continent, but after all, it is the capital of [Shuimu Principality], and it's no exaggeration to say that every inch of land is worth a lot of money.

Such a store plus the yard at the back for forging and home use is more than 500 square meters, which is not cheap.

Wang Meng had the skills of a high-level blacksmith, and many nobles were willing to invest in him, open blacksmith shops for him, or invite him to be a forger in their families, but none of these had the freedom of opening a shop and being the boss of one's own shop.

Ling Yi didn't refuse, but showed a few moments of hesitation on his face, then nodded awkwardly.

After having a hearty breakfast with his fifth senior brother, his two wives and six children, Ling Yi, under the envious gazes of the two little guys Wang Lei and Wang Ben, went to a forging table together with the four brothers Wang Xin, Wang Sen, Wang Yan and Wang Yao.

At this time, after burning for a period of time, the charcoal blocks in the stoves have begun to release heat.

Wang Xin, now 20 years old, brought his three younger brothers, who were two, four and seven years younger than him respectively. After grinning at Ling Yi, he picked up the tools on the stage and started working.

Except for Wang Yao who inherited the "Scissors" martial spirit from Wang Meng's first wife, the other four have awakened the "Iron Rake" martial spirit.

Unfortunately, none of the four brothers inherited Wang Meng’s qualifications, and no innate soul power was detected during the soul awakening ceremony.

I just don’t know whether the two little guys, Wang Lei and Wang Ben, will inherit their father’s “Iron Rake” martial spirit or their mother’s “Pearl” martial spirit in the future.

Of course, thanks to the fact that both Wang Meng and his second wife have soul power, and when combined, Wang Meng's soul power has already broken through level ten and become a first-ring soul master, the chances of these two brothers awakening their innate soul power at the soul awakening ceremony at the end of this year and the year after are quite high.

Therefore, the two little guys envied their four older brothers for learning forging from their father, but they didn’t know that their four older brothers were also envious of them for having a higher chance of becoming soul masters.

In front of the largest forging table in [Yinxin Blacksmith Shop], Wang Meng looked down at Ling Yi in front of him. The smile on his face faded, and he became much more serious. His voice also became solemn:

"Xiao Yi, when you were demonstrating your forging skills to your master that day, I only saw the second half, but I could still see that you were close to the level of a senior blacksmith in terms of your mastery of skills and control of details. It's just that your age and physical strength limit you—"

"but!"

As soon as Wang Meng finished his words of praise, a sudden turn of events struck him.

He frowned and said in a deep voice, "Xiao Yi, you have a lot of bad habits in the forging process!"

"Bad habits?" Ling Yi looked thoughtful when he heard that.

"Yes! Bad habits~" Wang Meng nodded and said again: "Based on the discussion between me, Master, and other senior brothers and junior brothers, this bad habit has two roots-"

Ling Yi had some vague guesses in his mind. He met Wang Meng's condescending gaze and waited quietly for the other party's next words.

Seeing Ling Yi so calm at such a young age, Wang Meng couldn't help but show a hint of admiration on his face, and he couldn't help but speed up his speech: "One is Jiang Kai, the one who taught you the basics of forging. In his daily forging, he inevitably brought a lot of personal habits. Those are some defects that he accumulated slowly without knowing it after being trapped as an intermediate blacksmith for many years..."

Hearing this, Ling Yi was not surprised. So far, he had only learned forging from Master Jiang. If he had bad habits, they were naturally developed in this process.

Moreover, because of his strong mental strength and sharp five senses, Ling Yi can carefully observe every movement of Master Jiang, and transform Master Jiang's forging techniques into ones that suit him based on his own height, body shape, arm length and other data.

Therefore, Ling Yi's learning method of copying and replicating is also a problem!

Sure enough, at this moment, Wang Meng’s next words confirmed this point.

"The second point~" Wang Meng said this, his expression turned complicated, with envy, joy, and a little amusement: "It's that your learning ability is too strong. No matter whether it's good, bad, right, or wrong, you learn it all at once, and you can still learn it..."

Emmm~ My stockpiled manuscripts were exhausted on the 12th. I have been updating twice a day these days, and it’s a bit tiring now. I will finish the next chapter before 1 p.m., I said!

Finally, I would like to thank [book friend 20210317235826218], [book friend 160502234340488], and book friend [Wangcheng] for their monthly votes. I would also like to thank everyone for their recommendations, follow-up reading, and comments. Thank you!!!

Chapter 39: In the Blacksmith Shop

Find problems, solve them, and avoid similar problems in the future.

Human beings grow slowly step by step until they become the most dazzling creature in nature.

Ling Yi's problem was not serious. It was just that he did not learn the skills well enough from Master Jiang, which led to the problem of the upper beam being crooked and the lower beam being crooked.

If an ordinary apprentice were to face such a problem, it might take some effort to correct the bad movement habits one by one.

After all, when it comes to forging, muscle memory plays a very important role.

According to some statements made by Ling Yi in his previous life, it takes twenty-one days to develop a habit and ninety days to consolidate it, but it may take longer to get rid of a bad habit.

And Ling Yi only needs it once.

Yes, not a month, a week or a day, just once!

When Fifth Senior Brother Wang Meng demonstrated to them the most standard forging movements that Grandpa Jin had taught them, which were summarized by generations of blacksmiths from the Metal Capital of Douluo Continent, Gengxin City, and the Blacksmith Association for thousands of years, Ling Yi imitated them awkwardly at first, and then...

Every movement he made after swinging the small forging hammer again was the most standard!

This scene can be called the soul master world's "Kakashi's Sharingan copied the Water Style: Waterfall Technique", "Zhang Wuji's Nine Yang Magic Skill + Qiankun Great Shift to learn the Dragon Claw Hand", "Wukong learned Kamehameha in an instant with one glance"...

Wang Meng was shocked at Ling Yi's learning speed. He took a deep breath and continued:

"Xiao Yi, what I just demonstrated to you is the standard movements that I reviewed with my master these past two days.

But because everyone's height, weight, arm span and arm length are different, you need to transform these standard movements one by one into the most comfortable form for you according to your own situation.

Jiang Kai, who taught you the basics of forging, also learned this way. We brothers and sisters do the same, but everyone’s situation is different. If you don’t understand the core principles of certain movements and make changes without authorization in a hurry, it will have the opposite effect..."

"Many of the master's students only learned how to forge, but they didn't have a systematic way of learning how to pass on the forging skills to their apprentices—"

"Even the twelve of us, after becoming senior blacksmiths, hit a bottleneck in improving our skills. The teacher asked us to learn how to teach apprentices. By teaching others, we can review what we have learned and learn new things, so as to gain new insights..."

Wang Meng showed Ling Yi the heritage of the Blacksmiths Association from the metal capital "Gengxin City" word by word, which gave Ling Yi a new understanding and feeling about the profession of blacksmith.

It has to be said that in the beginning, the blacksmith was just a tool in Ling Yi's eyes.

So what if you become a master craftsman?

In the original timeline, Lou Gao, one of the "Three Great Master Craftsmen", was the president of the [Headquarters of the Blacksmiths Association] and a Soul Sage himself, but he still often suffered setbacks in front of various forces.

And what about the other two master craftsmen?

One is the leader of the [Power Clan], Soul Douluo Titan; the other is the young master of the [Haotian Sect], the genius Tang Hao who is expected to inherit the name of 'Haotian Douluo'.

Of these two, which one is known throughout the world as the "master craftsman"?

Master craftsman is just a label that adds the icing on the cake among the many identities of these two people.

But now, with Wang Meng's introduction, Ling Yi suddenly discovered that the blacksmith's inheritance... to be precise, it was the blacksmith's inheritance from the metal capital 'Gengxin City'. It had a solid foundation that was eye-catching, and was not inferior to a martial arts sect with an orderly inheritance and clear levels.

"clang--!"

A low muffled sound was heard, and Wang Meng, holding his own large forging hammer, struck a black iron ingot as big as a human head, and explained:

"Xiao Yi, this is what you will practice next. Refine it to one-third of its current size..."

"One third?" Ling Yi heard this and nodded to Wang Meng to show that he understood.

"call--"

Ling Yi stepped on the lever pedal of the bellows at his feet, and a raging flame gushed upward, making the temperature in the furnace three points higher. Seeing that the bottom of the iron ingot was slightly red, he immediately grasped the long-handled tongs to clamp the iron ingot and turned it over so that it could be fully heated and softened.

At a certain moment, Ling Yi clamped the red-hot iron ingot onto the iron pier, raised the small forging hammer in his hand and began forging.

“Ding! Ding!” “Ding! Ding!” “Ding! Ding!”…

Inside the huge blacksmith shop, the sound of metal clashing rose and fell, spreading to the streets outside.

At this time, the sky was bright and there were more and more people walking on the street. Hearing the knocking sounds, some turned around curiously to look, while others were used to it. There were all kinds of people.

More than half an hour later, with a clanging sound with a slight noise, Ling Yi weakly put down the forging hammer in his hand. He was sweating all over and his breathing became slightly heavier.

After all, he is just a seven-year-old child. Even if he has soul power to nourish his body, the soul power of just over three levels is obviously not enough to take care of his entire body.

During the forging process, it is not just the arms that are used to exert force. Under the careful instruction of Master Jiang and fifth brother Wang Meng, Ling Yi's movements start from stepping on the ground with the soles of his feet, exerting force with his calves, to his waist, back muscles, and arms, and then releasing this force through the forging hammer in his hand.

At the same time, they also have to withstand the reaction force from the iron ingots being hammered, which is extremely physically demanding.

After half an hour of continuous hammering, not only Ling Yi was exhausted, but even the thirteen-year-old boy Wang Yao could not hold on any longer.

The two smiled at each other, glanced at Wang Xin's three brothers who were still working hard, and Wang Yao brought Ling Yi to the rest area in the corner. With trembling hands, he poured a cup of warm salt water for Ling Yi and himself.

"Sir, for the batch of fifty-forged long swords you need, I suggest you go to the Gao's blacksmith shop at the end of the street to order them..."

At this moment, Wang Meng's voice was heard, attracting the attention of Ling Yi and Wang Yao.

After hearing what Wang Meng said, a middle-aged man who looked somewhat wealthy and was sitting near the entrance of the blacksmith shop frowned and said in displeasure, "Master Wang, since I came here to order something, I trust your craftsmanship. How can anyone push away customers and business?"

“Customer~” Wang Meng showed a helpless look on his face, and explained in a gentle voice: “I am not pushing you away, it’s just that the orders of our store have been arranged until next month, and you just said that you need this batch of long swords urgently and need them by the end of the month…”

"I can pay more!" The wealthy middle-aged man waved his hand and interrupted.

Seeing this, Wang Meng's expression of helplessness became even more intense: "Guest, this is not about money, but it is unnecessary~"

Rich middle-aged man: "I..."

Without waiting for the middle-aged man to make another offer, Wang Meng continued, "Sir, the fifty-forged long sword you want is definitely more than enough for the craftsmanship of Gao Qiang, the boss of Gao's blacksmith shop!

Boss Gao Qiang also learned his craft from my master. He became an intermediate blacksmith seven or eight years ago. I met him last time and talked with him. He is now just a little bit away from becoming a senior blacksmith..."

"It's just a little bit short but it's still short!" The wealthy middle-aged man muttered with some dissatisfaction.

Wang Meng smiled, pointed at his eldest son and his two sons who were still swinging hammers in the sweat, and said, "Sir, to be honest, even if our shop accepts your order, the fifty-forged tools will be made by my sons..."

"They?" The wealthy middle-aged man frowned.

“Yes!” Wang Meng nodded, a look of pride in his eyes: “Except for the third brother who is still a little short of mastery, the eldest and second brother are already mid-level blacksmiths. Generally, orders with less than 80 forgings in the store are given to them…”

After watching the wealthy middle-aged man leave and head towards the end of the street, Wang Meng turned around to look at Ling Yi and his fourth son Wang Yao in the rest area. He walked over and said, "Xiao Yi, A Yao, during the forging process just now, did you feel any discomfort in any of the movements?"

No more naps at noon, continue typing, and promise to continue tomorrow

Chapter 40: Spirit Hall

After a morning of practice, Ling Yi, who was exhausted, rejected Wang Meng's family's invitation to stay and lunch. He picked up the school uniform he had folded before forging, returned to the academy, and went to the cafeteria to have a lunch with his classmates. The lunch was not rich, but the portion was definitely enough.

Afterwards, I took a shower in the water storage room on the third floor of Building No. 304, changed my underwear which was soaked with sweat in the morning, washed it, and hung it up to dry. Then I returned to Dormitory , chatted with the two classmates who were still there, and fell into a deep sleep in the fresh fragrance of the "Blue Silver Grass".

Take a one-hour lunch break and have a deep sleep to restore your mental and physical strength to their peak state.

At 1:30 in the afternoon, when Ling Yi arrived at the main road of "Muzhi City", he did not immediately go to "Yinxin Blacksmith Shop" to find Wang Meng to continue practicing forging, but walked towards the center of the city.

After more than ten days in "Muzhi City", it's time to go to the Wuhun Main Hall to visit "Uncle Lu" who I haven't seen for a long time.

Unlike the [Jingeng Blacksmith Shop] that came with letters before the start of school, the threshold of this Wuhun Main Hall is still quite high. Not everyone can easily meet the person they want to meet by just reporting the title of a low-level deacon in a township Wuhun branch hall.

Of course, even the current Ling Yi is just a student of the Green Leaf Junior Soul Master Academy, with the additional identity of an apprentice of the Jingeng Blacksmith Shop. In front of the capital-level Martial Soul Main Hall of the Muzhi City, he is still far from being good enough.

But no matter what, it is much better than the poor boy who came from the countryside to make connections.

This is not to say that the deacon Lu Yi that Ling Yi is going to visit will be very realistic. Although there are considerations in this regard, it is more likely that he will want to find someone, but be told that Lu Yi is busy and can come next time, but he doesn't know when the next time will be.

If a passerby goes to a large company to visit the person in charge of a department, the chance of meeting him/her in person is probably not as high as that of meeting an employee of another company in the same office building.

When going to and from get off work in the same place, they see each other every day. There is some familiarity between the employees of the two companies. They help to pass messages or something. Their subjective initiative is higher than that of treating strangers.