Seeing that Yuan Ming didn't fall down directly, a hint of approval flashed in Fang Ge's eyes, but he quickly returned to normal and said, "First, watch me demonstrate carefully, and then try it yourself."

 

As he spoke, he skillfully ignited and added charcoal to the fire, and when the flames lit up, he grabbed a handful of yellow powder and sprinkled it into the fire pit.

 

"WHOOSH!"

 

The fire pit suddenly burst into a red and yellow flame, reflecting Fang Ge's square and angular face with a red glow, and the temperature around instantly doubled.

 

"This is an ignition powder made from a mixture of sulfur, saltpeter, and other substances. It can save a lot of time. Since you're only practicing forging today, start with the pre-smelted crude iron ingot." While speaking, Fang Ge picked up a palm-sized, brick-thick iron ingot from Yuan Ming's hand and put it into the fire pit to be roasted.

 

In no time, the iron ingot was burned red.

 

"Watch carefully, I'll only demonstrate it once." Fang Ge took the iron hammer from Yuan Ming's hand.

 

He took a horse stance, placed the iron ingot on the anvil, held a pair of tongs in one hand, and swung the iron hammer in the other hand, smashing it down on the red-hot iron ingot.

 

When his arm swung, his muscles bulged, and his whole arm seemed to draw circles in mid-air, exuding a mysterious sense of power and beauty.

 

"CLANG!"

 

The iron hammer landed with a clear and bright sound, and sparks flew.

 

Yuan Ming stared at every step of Fang Ge's movements, carefully observing his exertion of force, and pondering in his heart.

 

"CLANG!"

 

Another clear and bright sound of the hammer rang out, splashing sparks, with clean and swift movements, without any delay.

 

"The process is not complicated. It doesn't seem too difficult as long as you follow along." Yuan Ming silently thought in his heart.

 

After a dozen or so strikes, Fang Ge's movements began to speed up, and the speed of his arm swinging doubled. The sound of "clang clang" continuously echoed, and sparks splashed like fireworks.

 

As Yuan Ming watched, his eyes began to change.

 

His gaze became slightly unfocused, as if losing focus, but his ears involuntarily perked up, fully focused on using both his eyes and ears to observe the other party's movements more thoroughly.

 

Although there were not a hundred, but at least eighty people forging iron in the entire blacksmith shop, the sound was not chaotic. However, Fang Ge's pounding sound clearly fell into Yuan Ming's ears.

 

It was not because he was close, but because that sound was obviously clearer than others', and it carried a unique rhythm that couldn't be described in words.

 

Yuan Ming frowned, listening to the hammer strikes one after another, silently counting the number of strikes.

 

This was his unique habit. Just like when he first entered the Ten Thousand Mountains, he would silently mark the progress, sketching a mental map of the route. From the beginning, he had been observing and recording every detail.

 

After the eighteenth strike, Fang Ge began to speed up his pounding. By the three hundred and sixtieth strike, he increased the speed for the second time. Now it was the five hundred and thirty-first strike.

 

When Yuan Ming saw this, his mentality had completely changed compared to a while ago.

 

He had already realized that this forging and pounding iron method was not simple at all.

 

Just from one aspect, he could already see its extraordinary nature.

 

From the moment Fang Ge swung his arm and hammered, except for the initial heating of the iron ingot in the fire pit, he did not perform any reheating.

 

But that piece of iron ingot remained bright red and never cooled down.

 

"It's already eight hundred and fifty strikes, and he's accelerating again." Yuan Ming's gaze condensed, thinking to himself.

 

"CLANG CLANG…"

 

At this point, the pounding sound had become very dense. Under the continuous sound, it was as if small and large silver beads were falling on a jade plate, making a pleasant "ding ding dang dang" sound.

 

During the pounding process, Fang Ge also kept flipping and folding the iron ingot at an extremely fast speed, with extremely skilled and smooth movements.

 

"Such continuous pounding requires extraordinary strength and endurance. Senior Brother Fang Ge's cultivation must be high." Yuan Ming looked at Fang Ge's expressionless face and thought to himself.

 

When he counted to the one thousandth strike, the last spark splashed, and Fang Ge stopped pounding.

 

He placed the forging hammer on the black anvil, leaving only the palm-sized, still hot and red iron ingot, gradually cooling and changing color, revealing layers of finely patterned forging layers.

 

Yuan Ming's gaze condensed, and he saw that the pattern forged layer by layer was not only very fine, but the thickness of each layer of pattern was roughly the same, making it pleasing to the eye and quite impressive.

 

"Putting aside the materials used, ordinary refined iron used for refining tools would only be qualified for use after being hammered a thousand times like this. Come, you give it a try." Fang Ge said, extinguishing the flames in the fire pit and making room for Yuan Ming.

 

He was starting from the beginning, teaching Yuan Ming how to start a fire, which obviously took into account Yuan Ming's situation and was quite meticulous.

 

Yuan Ming nodded, walked forward, took off the animal skin and long sword from his waist, and placed them aside.

 

Then, he recalled Fang Ge's previous actions and began to light the firewood.

 

Yuan Ming strictly followed Fang Ge's method, doing it step by step, and soon a flame rose up.Fang Ge, who was standing by the side, watched quietly and nodded in approval. He had a particular fondness for disciples who were serious about learning.

 

"WHOOSH"

 

A handful of combustion powder was sprinkled, and the temperature in the furnace rose instantly.

 

Yuan Ming picked up a piece of iron billet with tongs and placed it in the furnace, timing the heating process.

 

When the iron billet was heated to a glowing red, he immediately took it out and placed it on the anvil. Picking up the forging hammer, he began to hammer it.

 

"CLANG"

 

Sparks flew, and Yuan Ming couldn't help but frown. The sound of his hammering was somewhat dull, far less crisp than Fang Ge's.

 

"Is it because the heating time was insufficient, or is my strength too weak?"

 

Yuan Ming suppressed the doubts in his heart and swung his arm in a full circle, continuing to hammer.

 

One hammer blow followed another, sparks splattered on the anvil, and the sound began to become a bit clearer.

 

After eighteen full blows, Yuan Ming's internal energy began to circulate secretly, the force of his hammering increased, and his speed also began to accelerate.

 

Seeing this, Fang Ge raised his eyebrows slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

 

The more Yuan Ming hammered, the more amazed he was. This seemingly simple mechanical hammering action consumed far more strength than he had imagined. After only a few dozen blows, his arm began to feel a sense of sour swelling.

 

After one hundred and fifty blows, the sour swelling sensation increased, and his speed began to slow down.

 

By the time he reached one hundred and eighty blows, his speed had returned to what it was at the beginning, and the iron billet on the anvil, its fiery red color, had begun to darken noticeably.

 

"That's enough, no need to continue hammering." Fang Ge stopped Yuan Ming's action.

 

A hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes. Yuan Ming's aptitude was not as good as he had hoped.

 

"Senior Brother, I can continue." Yuan Ming panted, saying.

 

"No need, even if you continue to hammer, this iron billet will not become a qualified product." Fang Ge said, his tone still unhurried.

 

"Why is that?" Yuan Ming put down the forging hammer, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked in confusion.

 

"The process we are doing now is called forging, also known as refining the billet. Essentially, it is to hammer out the impurities in the iron billet through continuous hammering. To ensure the best ductility and state of the iron billet, at least a thousand hammer blows are needed, and these thousand blows cannot be interrupted. Do you know why?" Fang Ge slowly explained, and after asking the last question, he looked at Yuan Ming.

 

Yuan Ming had already guessed the answer, saying, "Senior Brother, during your previous hammering process, you did not reheat the iron. It is necessary to maintain the temperature of the iron billet through continuous hammering, right?"

 

"Correct, and as the impurities in the iron billet become less and less, its temperature becomes more and more difficult to maintain, so you have to hammer faster and faster. Once the speed slows down in the middle, the iron billet will inevitably cool down and become brittle, and its ductility will be damaged." Fang Ge nodded and said.

 

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming was quite shocked. The seemingly simple forging was actually not easy.

 

"Senior Brother, how can I reach your level of continuous hammering?" Yuan Ming looked up and asked sincerely.

 

"First, tell me, after observing my refining process and trying it yourself, what do you feel?" Instead of answering, Fang Ge asked Yuan Ming.

 

"Earlier, I paid attention to Senior Brother's hammering movements, estimated the strength of Senior Brother's hammering, and also noticed the points at which Senior Brother accelerated each time. I even noticed that the sound of Senior Brother's hammering was different from others. But when I did it myself, the difference was too great." Yuan Ming thought for a moment and said.

 

"It's already quite impressive that you noticed these things. However, besides not being able to see the flow of my internal energy, you also didn't pay attention to my breathing." Fang Ge nodded and said.

 

"Breathing?" Yuan Ming frowned slightly.

 

"The rhythm of your breathing is the foundation of your refining rhythm. This is very important. Although you didn't pay attention, your rhythm was quite good when you were hammering earlier. It was naturally perfect, but you need to maintain it in the future." Fang Ge said.

 

"Senior Brother, what is my problem?" Yuan Ming asked, this was what he cared about the most.

 

"Minor problems don't need to be mentioned. Your biggest problems are lack of strength and lack of experience. These are not things that can be solved in a short time. They require months and years of cultivation to solve." Fang Ge waved his hand and said.

 

Yuan Ming thought for a moment and asked again, "Are there many brothers like Senior Brother who can hammer continuously without interruption?"

 

"You want to ask, how does your level compare to the other disciples, right?" Fang Ge asked back.

 

Yuan Ming felt a little embarrassed and nodded.

 

"Inferior." Fang Ge said bluntly.

 

Yuan Ming was stunned when he heard this. He never expected such an answer and became even more embarrassed.

 

Who would have thought that Fang Ge, seemingly oblivious, stroked his chin and continued to add insult to injury, "For a first attempt, being able to continuously hammer only one hundred and eighty-three times is… the worst record in years."