Chapter 46

Uh…

All for nothing!

Su Wangchuan’s first reaction was that the past hour or so had been completely wasted.

Then he felt as if the sky itself was about to collapse.

If Hundredfold Steel Arrowheads could no longer provide experience, how was he supposed to push toward the higher “Integration” realm in the future?

One had to know that a finished Hundredfold Steel Arrowhead was tiny—essentially the smallest type of Hundredfold Steel weapon. Its volume was only one-tenth that of a Hundredfold Steel Ingot.

If he switched to forging Hundredfold Steel longswords or sabers, each piece would require at least three to five Hundredfold Steel Ingots to make. The time and effort required for forging would multiply several times over.

How long would it take to forge a thousand Hundredfold Steel weapons?

A year? Or several years?

Su Wangchuan truly felt as if the sky had fallen.

Could he really grind for four years just for those four attribute points?!

“Wangchuan, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t scare your master…”

Seeing that Su Wangchuan had been spirited just a moment ago, only to suddenly turn hollow-eyed, Blacksmith Sun grew anxious.

With a bitter expression, Su Wangchuan said, “Master.”

“How long does it take to forge other finished Hundredfold Steel weapons?”

Blacksmith Sun immediately understood and quickly explained, “You mean that? That’s easy. We start with the simpler ones. Above Hundredfold Steel Arrowheads are Hundredfold Steel daggers. Forging them is a bit harder than arrowheads and takes more time, but with your One-Breath Quadruple Strike technique, it should take just a little over one hour.”

Hm?

Daggers?

A bit over two hours?

That still seemed acceptable.

Wait—no!

What his master meant was that forging a single Hundredfold Steel dagger took more than two hours…

Su Wangchuan’s expression darkened.

He quickly calculated in his head. Even if he forged six daggers a day at full capacity, making a thousand finished daggers would take about half a year.

No, no!

Who would he even sell that many Hundredfold Steel daggers to?

Su Wangchuan suddenly realized the real problem.

Hundredfold Steel Arrowheads were consumables, but Hundredfold Steel daggers were not.

Who would buy them?

If the village bought them, that would be a miracle.

He would forge them only to find no buyers.

It was over. The sky—after all—really was falling.

Su Wangchuan finally understood why, after reaching Entry-Level Mastery, Lin Xun had started seeking to cultivate other techniques.

The higher one went, the harsher and more demanding the conditions and thresholds became.

This was simply not something a normal person could endure.

Seeing Su Wangchuan’s expression constantly shifting between gloom and shock, Zhao Heiniu and Blacksmith Sun exchanged looks.

“All right.”

“Wangchuan, let me tell you something serious.”

Zhao Heiniu spoke up, pulling Su Wangchuan out of his spiral of mental exhaustion.

Zhao Heiniu said, “The Blackwind Stronghold crisis is temporarily resolved, but the reason the prefectural government sent a Six Gates constable captain to Huishui County is because something major has happened.”

Su Wangchuan looked up, listening intently. “What major thing?”

“How would I know?” Captain Zhao shot him an annoyed look. “Do you think court secrets are something a rural militia captain like me could investigate?”

Su Wangchuan was left speechless.

You were the one bringing it up!

He thought you knew.

Zhao Heiniu showed not the slightest embarrassment and eagerly shared his own speculation.

“A Third-Rank Martial Artist from the Six Gates, with the title of constable captain, never handles ordinary cases. And this time, it clearly wasn’t aimed at Blackwind Stronghold or the Nu Tao Gang either. Their action seemed more like a show of force—to intimidate petty villains and make them quiet for a while, so they wouldn’t interfere with the investigation.”

“…”

Su Wangchuan did not interrupt.

Satisfied, Zhao Heiniu nodded and continued, “I suspect that somewhere near Huishui County, either a far more serious cult incident has occurred, or a treasure has surfaced. That’s the only reason a constable captain would personally lead a team.”

“But what does that have to do with Blackstone Village?” Blacksmith Sun asked, puzzled.

Zhao Heiniu explained, “No matter what, once a Six Gates constable captain appears, it means greater turmoil is brewing around Huishui County. Blackstone Village absolutely must not get involved or be swept into it. Otherwise, we’ll end up just like Tianshui Village—village destroyed, people dead!”

At the mention of Tianshui Village, everyone’s expression changed.

Blacksmith Sun fell silent.

Zhao Heiniu declared firmly, “So I’ve decided that until spring arrives, Blackstone Village must remain on high alert. Unless absolutely necessary, no one is to enter or leave. We must avoid being dragged into this storm.”

“That makes sense,” Blacksmith Sun immediately voiced his support.

Zhao Heiniu continued, “At the same time, I need to intensify the training of our miners and cultivate more capable people. The more villagers who grasp 《Basic Spear Technique》 and 《Archery》, the more our village’s combat strength improves. If we encounter bandits again in the future, we can at least minimize losses.”

“Good!” Blacksmith Sun naturally supported the idea.

After all, he was not the one responsible for teaching 《Basic Spear Technique》 or 《Archery》.

If Zhao Heiniu wanted to find work for himself, why should he object?

Of course, Zhao Heiniu was not only increasing his own workload. He turned to Su Wangchuan.

“Wangchuan, you’ve already mastered 《Basic Spear Technique》. But spear techniques are difficult to cultivate. I’ll teach you a method to rapidly improve 《Basic Spear Technique》. It should help raise your close-combat ability.”

“Wait!”

Blacksmith Sun objected immediately and called out.

He stared at Zhao Heiniu with displeasure. “Captain Zhao, what do you mean by this? Wangchuan is my disciple and will inherit my craft. Teaching him 《Archery》 for self-defense is one thing, but teaching him spear techniques? Are our blacksmiths supposed to charge into melee combat now?”

“That’s not what I meant…” Zhao Heiniu said, clearly at a disadvantage.

He also realized that what he was doing lacked justification.

After all, with Wangchuan’s talent so evident, he was clearly Blacksmith Sun’s precious disciple. Letting him shoot arrows from the back lines was fine, but pushing him to the front lines would indeed be excessive.

“Master, let me learn from Captain Zhao.”

Su Wangchuan suddenly spoke up.

“Anyway, more skills never hurt.”

He continued, “Our blacksmith shop can’t forge that many Hundredfold Steel weapons anyway. There’s no market, and we can’t privately sell weapons either…”

After hearing this, Blacksmith Sun was left speechless.

Back then, they had forged too many Armor-Piercing Arrows. Because of excessive stockpiling, the blacksmith shop had run short on funds, forcing them to send Su Wangchuan to learn 《Archery》 from Zhao Heiniu.

Forging higher-grade Hundredfold Steel weapons truly couldn’t be done in large quantities either.

Zhao Heiniu broke into a smile again, brimming with energy. “Good!”

“Then it’s settled. Wangchuan, come with me. Since we have time now, I’ll teach you the cultivation method first. When you’re free later, you can practice on your own.”

Su Wangchuan bowed to his master, Blacksmith Sun, then followed Zhao Heiniu to another courtyard.

This courtyard was Zhao Heiniu’s residence. In the back yard stood rows of wooden stakes wrapped in iron plating, looking exceptionally thick and sturdy.

The stakes were riddled with sharp holes.

Beside them was a row of weapon racks, all holding long spears.

Among them, one spear stood out. Its spearhead gleamed silver, exceptionally sharp—clearly forged from Hundredfold Steel.

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