C8 [forging with the Faces]

The next day, Zhang Ping went to the library of the school.

He first searched for information about Pearl City's history, but he didn't find any information about the word 'training martial arts' or 'Nan Yue'. This meant that these two words weren't old names.

Since they weren't old names, then what could they be?

Zhang Ping returned to his dormitory and filled out his graduation application while thinking about it in his heart.

"Could it be that the two words are reversed?"

In the afternoon, Zhang Ping put down his pen and suddenly had a new idea.

Although he felt that it was unlikely, he still wrote the two words in reverse on the paper.

Nan Yue.

Training martial arts.

Zhang Ping's eyes widened when he saw the words in reverse.

It turned out that this question wasn't that difficult.

However, not many people knew about it, and the other party knew him very well!

No.

It should be said that the other party knew the original owner very well.

Not far from the orphanage in Pearl City, there was a beef noodle restaurant.

Because the word 'bull' was split in half, it looked like the word 'Nan Yue'.

The back of the beef noodle restaurant was a small park, which was the paradise in the hearts of the orphans.

Before Zhang Ping entered the Pearl Ability Academy, he often practiced martial arts alone in the park, and he would blindly punch the bull.

However, with the passage of time, the beef noodle restaurant had already closed down four years ago. Now, it had become an armory. Therefore, the probability of the Sky Fox knowing this information was extremely low, and the number of people who knew that he had practiced martial arts in the small park was definitely less than a handful.

From this, he could infer that the person who appeared behind him last night definitely knew the original owner!

Zhang Ping tore the words on the paper and threw them into the toilet. Then, he picked up his graduation application and walked out.

After knowing the answer, he felt a lot more relaxed.

From the meaning of the words, the other party should be asking him to meet up in the small park behind the beef noodles restaurant on the 23rd.

The reason why the number didn't need to be interpreted in reverse was that there were no 32 days in a month, so it must be the 23rd day.

The graduation application went smoothly.

After all, he was just a useless Awakened who had awakened the useless level. He was not valued.

In the evening.

Zhang Ping packed his luggage and left the school.

When he arrived at the Iron Soul, the Cocky Qiang who was taking care of Uncle Liu in the shop immediately revealed a smile. When he saw Zhang Ping carrying his luggage, he already knew Zhang Ping's answer.

"Little brother, you came at the right time. I have to go out for a mission tomorrow. It will probably take me five days to come back. I was worried that no one would be able to take care of Uncle Liu. Come, come, come. I'll take you upstairs to take a look first." Cocky Qiang pulled Zhang Ping's hand and said happily.

This shop had a total of three floors. The first floor was the shop, the second floor was the living room, and the third floor was the studio.

The second floor was very big and had many rooms. Zhang Ping chose a room and went downstairs with Cocky Qiang after putting his luggage away. When he went downstairs, he knew that Cocky Qiang's real name was Chiu Qiang. However, because he was called Cocky Qiang by his neighbors, he didn't mind.

Uncle Liu's name was Liu Tiefeng, and he was already 79 years old. He had a son called Liu Dashan, but he had gone missing a while ago.

He probably had a bad feeling about this.

Liu Tiefeng's mental state had been worsening recently. Not only was his reaction getting slower and slower, but he was also a little muddle-headed. That was why Chiu Qiang wanted to find someone reliable to take care of Liu Tiefeng.

The reason why he chose Zhang Ping was because Zhang Ping was a student and an orphan. He was not like the people who came out to make a living, who had complicated thoughts and complicated relationships.

Furthermore, Chiu Qiang would often come over to take care of Liu Tiefeng, so he was not afraid that Zhang Ping would have any other thoughts.

Of course, Chiu Qiang did not say the latter half of the sentence. It was Zhang Ping who guessed it himself.

A student who wanted to be an adventurer.

There was no need to guess.

He was definitely an orphan.

This was too easy to judge in Pearl City.

At night, Chiu Qiang decided to teach Zhang Ping some basic skills of blacksmithing when he had time.

When he went out on missions, Zhang Ping could look after Liu Tiefeng in the shop and also practice his basic skills. He would not have nothing to do.

The blacksmith in this world was different from the blacksmith Zhang Ping had imagined.

Before learning, Zhang Ping thought that forging weapons was just holding a hammer and smashing it against a piece of red-hot iron. Then, he would quench it, sharpen it, and remove the edges.

However, the blacksmithing skills in this world were not that simple.

"Little Zhang, let me demonstrate it once. Watch carefully." Chiu Qiang put on his fireproof gloves and said to Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping nodded and focused his mind, carefully watching the movements of Chiu Qiang's hands.

Chiu Qiang picked up a few iron ingots and placed them on a wooden plate. He said, "These are all refined iron ingots. You can buy them from the iron ore wholesale shop. A piece weighing 10 catties is around 6,000 yuan."

"So expensive!" Zhang Ping said in surprise.

Chiu Qiang placed a few scales on the wooden plate and said with a faint smile, "You have to know that the iron mines in Pearl City are all excavated in the wilderness, and going outside the city is equivalent to gambling with your life. Every piece of refined iron may be stained with the blood of miners and adventurers. Is 6,000 yuan expensive?"

"…"

Zhang Ping had nothing to say.

Following that, Chiu Qiang finished preparing the materials and said, "This kind of scale is called Red Snake Scale. It comes from the Red Snake Catabolic Beast. Under high temperature, this scale will gradually melt and emit extremely high temperature. At the same time, there is a substance called 'Red Ash' that can be fused into the refined iron. Not only can it strengthen the hardness and tenacity of the refined iron, it can also make the refined iron have self-recovery ability."

"Therefore, once you add the Red Snake Scale, you must forge the weapon properly at once. Otherwise, once it cools down, the shape of the iron ingot will be the same no matter what. It will be very difficult to forge it again."

As he spoke, Chiu Qiang put the iron ingots and materials into the furnace along with the wooden plate. At the same time, he reached out his hand and quickly stirred the fire. It didn't look like he was forging a weapon, but more like he was kneading the dough.

"There are a lot of materials that require us to personally mix them together. Therefore, this kind of forging method is also known as the Forging Technique of Dough." Chiu Qiang did not care about the high temperature at all. His eyes were focused on the flames, and his hands were constantly stirring.

Zhang Ping swallowed his saliva. Although Chiu Qiang was wearing a fireproof glove, the flames had already reached his arms. However, Chiu Qiang did not care at all, and not even a single hair was burned off.

"Look carefully, this step is very important." Chiu Qiang said at this time.

He took out a ball of red 'meaty' from the fire and immediately put it into a black rectangular mold beside him. Then, he picked up a huge iron hammer and crazily hammered the protrusions on the mold. The protrusions gradually became flat.

"Help me get the red oil over there!" He gasped for breath and then said to Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping immediately picked up a one-meter-tall barrel of oil from the counter and carried it to Chiu Qiang with great difficulty.

"Not bad. You can carry the fire oil, which means that your physical fitness is not bad." Chiu Qiang said with a smile. He was actually just trying Zhang Ping's strength.

Although the requirements for strength in the Forging Technique of Dough were not very high, he could not be weak.

Chiu Qiang opened the lid of the fire oil and poured a small amount of fire oil onto the mold. With a loud bang, a large amount of steam came out of the mold. Then, Chiu Qiang pressed down on the switch beside the mold and pulled it. The mold slowly opened, and a black knife with red patterns appeared in front of the two of them.

"This is the most basic step in forging weapons. The name of this knife is Pearl Blade, and it can be considered as a standard weapon in Pearl City. All the weapons that the blacksmith apprentices learn to forge are made from this knife. After they familiarize themselves with the changes in the materials, they will be able to forge all kinds of weapons according to their own wishes without using a mold." Chiu Qiang picked up the knife from the mold and walked towards the test bench. Then, he said to Zhang Ping.

In the next moment, he raised his knife and slashed at the stone on the test bench. With a flash of the knife, the stone was cut in half, and the cut was smooth and flat.

"This is the most ordinary knife in Pearl City!"

At this moment, Zhang Ping felt as if he had opened his eyes wide. This was something that he couldn't learn in Pearl Ability Academy, but it also gave him a basic understanding of the weapons in Pearl City.

However, he quickly woke up. The Pearl City that possessed such a weapon was still infiltrated by the Sky Fox.

Without a doubt.

The Sky Fox was even more terrifying and dangerous.

"Can this standard weapon harm an intermediate catabolic beast?" Zhang Ping thought for a moment and asked.

Chiu Qiang put the knife aside and heard Zhang Ping's question. He immediately smiled and said, "This depends on what kind of catabolic beast it is. Some of them have strong defenses, some of them are extremely agile, and some of them are good at attacking. Therefore, there is no absolute answer.

"However, the Pearl Saber is usually used to deal with the catabolic beasts of the elementary level. Even if they are of the elementary level, some of them with strong defense can still block the attack of the Pearl Saber."

Most of the catabolic beasts were stronger than humans, and the higher their level, the stronger they were.

Even if the catabolic beasts did not have the ability to strengthen their physical bodies, their physical bodies would not be inferior to the Awakened who had the ability to strengthen their physical bodies.

This was one of the disadvantages that humans faced when facing catabolic beasts.

"Alright, now you can try it out. Don't be nervous for the first time. You will have a lot of time to slowly practice the basics later." Seeing that Zhang Ping seemed to be deep in thought, Chiu Qiang took off the fireproof gloves on his hand and patted Zhang Ping's shoulder. Then, he said.

Zhang Ping nodded and took the fireproof gloves from Chiu Qiang. After putting on the fireproof gloves, he walked to the stove.

He had already memorized Chiu Qiang's method. Now, he only needed to follow the steps that Chiu Qiang had used to forge the pearl knife.

The first step was to prepare all the materials needed.

The second step was to put the materials into the stove and let the fire burn.

Zhang Ping carried the wooden tray into the stove. When he put it in, his arm, which was not protected by the fireproof gloves, already felt a wave of heat. Moreover, when the materials were burning in the flames, they would also release heat. This heat would surge out of the stove, and his eyebrows would curl up. He could faintly smell a scent of burning hair.

"Don't back off. Carefully feel the changes in the materials. Don't let go, or else the materials will be burned by the fire." Chiu Qiang reminded.

Zhang Ping originally wanted to retreat, but when he heard this, he could only grit his teeth and persist. As the wooden plate burned, he immediately felt that there was an unknown object in his hand. Obviously, this was the material that had been burned and mixed together.

"It's about time. The distribution of the materials in your hands is not uniform. Slowly rub it and feel its weight." Chiu Qiang said.

Zhang Ping nodded and slowly rubbed it with both hands.

Although he was wearing a fireproof glove, he could feel that this ball of material that was similar to flour but harder than flour was different in different areas.

At first, he really thought that it was no different from kneading dough, but after experiencing it himself, he realized that the strength required to rub it was much greater than kneading dough. It was not something that an ordinary person could do.

It was very difficult.

However, he still gritted his teeth and continued to stir and rub.

"This step is very important. I can't be too slow. If I'm too slow, some of the materials will be completely burned." Chiu Qiang saw that Zhang Ping was gradually sweating and said with a smile.

Zhang Ping gritted his teeth and persisted. Gradually, he felt that the dough in his hand had fused into one. He looked at Chiu Qiang, but Chiu Qiang did not express whether he could do it or not. Instead, he said that he would judge for himself.

"It's about time!"

Zhang Ping thought for a moment and immediately took out the red dough from the stove. Then, he quickly placed it into the mold and closed the mold.

He bent down and wanted to pick up the hammer, but he realized that the hammer was heavier than he had expected. He couldn't even lift it with one hand.

With great difficulty, he picked up the hammer with both hands and hurriedly used it to hammer the mold.

With the sound of the hammer hitting the mold, the protruding parts of the mold were gradually flattened.

After confirming that he had done the best he could, he poured the oil on the mold.

Boom!

With a loud sound, a large amount of steam spurted out from the gaps in the mold.

Zhang Ping put down the oil and did not hurry to check the tools he had forged. Instead, he sat on the ground, completely exhausted.