Wang Chong was truly surprised by this.
Chapter 139: The Pinnacle Technology, Tempering!
“We aren’t that incredible!”
Upon hearing the name ‘Origin Energy Pill’, Six-fingered Zhang was taken aback. This wasn’t the name of this pill inside the box. However, he soon understood what was going on.
“This is the Posterior Energy Pill! This is a newly-developed pill formula that an alchemist in the royal palace came up with recently. This thing is extremely hard to forge, and more often than not, the forging ends in an explosion. At the current moment, all of those forged are subpar products. As it hasn’t been perfected yet, we dare not present it to the Sage Emperor or the princes in the royal palace. After all, if something happens, our heads will roll.”
“Thus, in the end, they chose to bring it here. I have no choice as well. Every month, this kind of expensive but ineffective pills would always end up in circulation in the organization!”
Eventually, Six-fingered Zhang shrugged sheepishly.
“A subpar product, is it?”
Wang Chong looked Six-fingered Zhang doubtfully before turning his gaze back to the pill. Indeed, the energy emanating from the pill wasn’t pure Origin Energy. He could feel some impurities mixed within it.
Overwhelmed by his astonishment before, he failed to notice it previously.
“This… What you’re seeing is actually the outer layer of wax. This helps to conceal the impurities on the surface of the pill.”
Six-fingered Zhang said with slight embarrassment.
This was a nifty trick among alchemists. As an alchemist himself, he was well aware with such tricks.
Light shone in Wang Chong’s eyes as he stared at the pill silently. Then, he abruptly grabbed the Posterior Energy Pill and placed it into his mouth. Lightly biting down on it, the coating of the pill cracked and a slightly bizarre taste spread across his entire mouth.
“It’s the taste of medicinal herbs. Furthermore, it seems to be the extremely potent spirit herbs!”
Wang Chong suddenly understood what the alchemist was intending to do. He was probably trying to refine the spiritual energy within the medicinal herbs before using a special method to forge it into something similar to the Origin Energy Pill.
However, clearly, the matter wasn’t as easy as that alchemist thought it out to be.
Gulong!
As the thought flashed across his head, Wang Chong swallowed the entire pill. Warm energy immediately burst forth from within his body, and it soon permeated his flesh and bones.
Wang Chong felt a warm sensation embracing his body.
Under the nourishment of the energy in the pill, Wang Chong felt his strength being raised by another significant amount. The Origin Energy inside his body also increased by a bit.
A moment later, when the medicinal energy from the pill was finally fully absorbed, Wang Chong calmed down once more.
Six-fingered Zhang was right, this wasn’t the Origin Energy Pill. Origin Energy only constituted a small portion of the pill, unlike what Wang Chong thought before.
From the perspective of an alchemist, a subpar product was worthless, so Six-fingered Zhang didn’t think much of the it. However, it was different for Wang Chong.
“To think that I could buy something similar to the Origin Energy Pill with money!”
Wang Chong’s heart beat wildly, unable to be calmed.
Nothing was more valuable to a martial artist than ‘Origin Energy’. Wang Chong was honestly surprised to see that someone was capable of forging something similar to the Origin Energy Pill in the royal palace.
Wang Chong finally understood why despite the secretive nature of the organization and the expensive price of the pills, so many powers were still interested in working with them.
The objects circulating around the organization were truly treasures that couldn’t be procured outside even if one had the money.
“How much does a Posterior Energy Pill cost?”
Wang Chong asked.
“Six thousand taels!”
Six-fingered Zhang replied. By taels, he meant gold. The alchemist in the royal palace would never forge pills that could be valued using silver.
“How many pills can that person produce in a month?”
“Three!”
Six-fingered Zhang replied.
“I want them all, bring them to me!”
Wang Chong said.
“Ah!”
Six-fingered Zhang was taken aback. “But those are elementary subpar products!”
“I understand.”
Wang Chong smiled and he spoke authoritatively.
As for the final pill, it was a pill for treating one’s wounds. It looked ordinary, but how could a treatment pill forged by the alchemists of the royal palace compare to those out in the market?
Carrying the two pills with him, Wang Chong left the Falling Jade Pavilion.
…
Having solved all of his problems in a single go, Wang Chong turned his attention to his seven chi long slender-blade thick-blunt saber. This was the second weapon Wang Chong was bringing out to public view, and it meant a lot to him,
On top of that, it is only when one starts spending does he knows that expenses added up. Back then, when Wang Chong received the six hundred thousand gold taels, he thought that he would never finish spending it all.
But when he started utilizing it, money seemed to flow out endlessly. He realized that there were too many things that he needed to spend money on, and all in all, he only had slightly more than a hundred thousand gold taels left on him.
Given his current expenditure, it wouldn’t be long before he reached bankruptcy once more.
“It’s about time for me to take out my good!”
Wang Chong thought.
Sitting on the carriage, Wang Chong carefully scanned his surroundings, and only after confirming that no one was following him did he enter the Wei Clan’s forge cavern.
The entire forge was silent; Wei Hao had already emptied this place out for Wang Chong. It was ready to become Wang Chong’s private forge whenever Wang Chong needed it.
The Wei Clan had a hand in many businesses, and smithing was only a small part of it. As long as Wei Hao made up for the loss from this forge, even Duke of Wei wouldn’t notice that Wei Hao had laid his hands on it.
“Help me stand guard outside, don’t allow anyone to approach!”
Wang Chong instructed Li Zhuxin before walking into the cavern.
Wang Chong was already proficient in quenching weapons. Even though quenching was a very important process for a weapon to make a huge breakthrough in its quality, as though a phoenix rising from the ashes, it wasn’t that difficult to carry out.
The main crux to it was to pay attention to the minor changes in the sword, and the fluid used for the process.
The ‘quenching’ technology that Wang Chong wielded far surpassed that of this era.
Walking into the cavern, Wang Chong poured the ‘quenching fluid’ which was made of sesame oil, lanolin, butter, and liquid asphalt, which he procured from the traders of the Western Regions, into a steel trough.
Also, he collected a few pine branches, stacked them on the floor, and ignited them.
The temperature at which the Wootz steel was being quenched at was exceptionally important. Otherwise, even if one were to use the correct quenching fluid, the final product would still be an inferior or even a failed good.
From night to dawn, Wang Chong had been busy with all sorts of stuff. When the morning sun finally rose, some black smoke puffed up from the metal trough.
A moment later, using a pair of metal tong, Wang Chong fished the slender-blade thick-blunt saber out. Jerking the oily fluid off, a beautifully-patterned long saber appeared before Wang Chong.
This was the first slender-blade thick-blunt saber in this world. The rays of the morning sun crept in from outside the cavern and radiated the sword, causing a blinding cold gleam to
be reflected off the blade.
With just a glance, Wang Chong could feel the sharpness and resilience of the katana.
Klang!
With a gleam of cold light, the steel trough that was filled with the quenching fluid was split into two as easily as cutting through tofu.
“Good saber!”
Looking at the saber, Wang Chong smiled. Wang Chong could sense that this saber was even sharper than the Wootz steel swords he forged previously.
The smithing techniques of the true number one blacksmith in the world and technology surpassing that of this era were infused into this saber. In terms of quality, this saber truly stood at the pinnacle of this world.
Furthermore, its unique curve and heavy blade would make it the love of saber experts!
“It’s the pity that I only use swords!”
Wang Chong lamented.
His ‘Single Character Consecutive Slash’ was created to use with a sword, and this katana wasn’t fitting for him. But even a sword wielder like Wang Chong couldn’t help but feel extremely fond of this saber, to the point that he didn’t even feel like letting it go, lest needed to be said about true saber experts.
This saber wasn’t just sharp, it was designed specially for hacking, slashing, and cutting!
“All that is left is tempering!”
Wang Chong thought.
Most would regard this saber as a complete product already, and even if Wang Chong were to take it out now, many experts would surely fight over it. However, Wang Chong didn’t think that this saber was good enough yet.
It might be sharp and comfortable to use, but the tougher a blade was, the easier it would break.
If Wang Chong didn’t solve this problem, there was a high risk that this saber might break abruptly while its wielder was facing an enemy in the future.
Even though there weren’t many blacksmiths in this world, there were many weapon fanatics among the population. At the very least, most people knew the logic that a stiff sword would break easily.
Those top-notch experts could exert all of their strength to strike the middle portion of the blade or near the hilt, and there was a great chance that they could forcefully break this kind of long saber with their fearsome strength.
If such a situation were to happen, the name of Wootz steel in this world would be ruined. The reputation that Wang Chong had built up with much difficulty would vanish into nothingness.
It would become extremely difficult for him to profit off the Hyderabad mine in the future then.
How could he destroy his own signboard through negligence?
Wang Chong would never do such a thing!
Thus, he knew that he had to conduct a final round of tempering!
It was a common conception that a weapon was completed after quenching. Most weren’t aware that there was a final step after quenching known as tempering.
This was the final procedure of the entire swordsmithing process, as well as the most important one!
In this world, most hadn’t grasped and deciphered ‘quenching’ yet, needless to say, a futuristic technology like ‘tempering’.
This was the technology that only Wang Chong possessed, as well as the greatest and ultimate secret he had over the others in swordsmithing.
Without the final tempering, it would be impossible to perfect this seven chi slender-blade thick-blunt saber. It would just be a white elephant and a joke of the martial artists.
Tempering could heal all of the small cracks and damage that the hammering of the weapon had caused to the sword before the ‘quenching’, as well as prevent it from deforming.
And this was only one of its benefits!
On top of that, tempering could also improve the various functionalities of the weapon, such as its sharpness, toughness, durability, and the most important of all, flexibility!
Flexibility sounded like nothing much, but thinking about it, it was almost like a paradox to infuse flexibility within an extremely stiff weapon.
It was no different from an ice maintaining its shape despite being thrown into a sea of flames.
Once this seven chi long slender-blade thick-blunt saber gained flexibility, even if just a little, its functionality would be boosted exponentially!
Flexibility would make up for this sword’s greatest flaw and make it a true pinnacle weapon. One wouldn’t have worried of it being destroyed in the midst of a battle against top-notch experts!
The ability to instill flexibility into a weapon would make tempering a revolutionary technology! And in this world, only Wang Chong wielded this technology!
Chapter 140: Uncle Grooming Log!
In the cavern, Wang Chong piled up another bunch of pine trees and started another flame.
Different from the one he made for quenching, the flame he created was significantly smaller this time around.
The temperature required for tempering was much lower than quenching, at around 150 degree Celsius. As such, a small flame would suffice.
“Alright, about time!”
Placing his hand above the flame and feeling that it had reached the ideal temperature, Wang Chong placed the quenched saber on top of the flame.
150 degree Celsius was an extremely low temperature, far insufficient to melt Wootz steel. All it was capable of doing was to turn it slightly red.
On top of that, the saber had been quenched, granting it astonishing resilience. Thus, the tempering process was destined to be a lengthy and tiresome one.
If it was in the past, Wang Chong would find it hard to complete the entire tempering process.
However, after reaching Origin Energy Tier 7 and having cultivated Might of the Barbaric God, Wang Chong strength had been boosted tremendously, granting him the power and endurance to finish his work himself.
Boom!
It sounded as though a bolt of lightning had struck the cavern. Swinging a metal hammer, Wang Chong struck heavily on the surface of the blade. The heavy platform trembled beneath Wang Chong’s massive strength, and some dust and debris fell from the ceiling.
Boom!
Once!
Twice!
Thrice!
…
With massive strength, the hammer in Wang Chong’s hands fell again and again. His full might was harnessed for every single strike of the hammer. He paid careful attention to every single movement he made, and he bore great expectations for the product.
The sound of Wang Chong’s hammering sounded ceaselessly in the cavern.
The process of tempering was much longer than quenching, and the tough property of the Wootz steel sword did little to help.
It took an entire day, from sunrise to noon, then on to sunset, until all of the pine trees that he had cut and collected had burned out, for Wang Chong to complete the tempering process.
Standing by the metal platform, sweat flowed down Wang Chong’s body profusely. By now, Wang Chong’s clothes were already completely soaked. In fact, even the ground in a three zhang radius around him was wet. For this saber, Wang Chong had truly put in all of his soul.
(10 meters)
However, Wang Chong felt satisfied and gladdened when he saw the newborn slender-blade thick-blunt saber in his hands.
“Even though I had to spend an entire day on it, it’s worth the effort!”
Wang Chong lifted the saber to take a closer look at it. This saber was elegant and beautiful, and there was an alluring pattern reminiscent of flowing water and floating clouds on it. At the same time, it emanated a cold and merciless aura!
This was a weapon crafted for murder!
However, under Wang Chong’s hands, it became a marvelous art piece as well!
Shua!
Lightly shaking the saber in his hands, the air in the cavern immediately shook, as though it had been cut into countless pieces.
From the lingering illumination from the pine branches, one could see that the sharpness of the slender-blade thick-blunt saber had been brought up to an even more
fearsome level!
“This is truly a good saber! A good saber should have its own name. Have you given it some thoughts yet?”
Footsteps sounded from behind. Flinging his robe, Li Zhuxin walked into the cavern. Upon seeing the slender-blade thick-blunt saber in Wang Chong’s hands, ripples appeared in his calm eyes.
“Hehe, I’ve already decided on it. It shall be called Death’s Abyss!”
Wang Chong smiled.
“Death’s Abyss? That’s a good name! If only I knew that you were capable of forging such incredible weapons, I would have used my employment term to trade for this saber!”
Li Zhuxin couldn’t tear his eyes away from the Death’s Abyss in Wang Chong’s hands.
Even though he wasn’t a saber user, he couldn’t help but feel fond of it, and a desire to possess it welled up within him.
“Hehe, even if you want it, I won’t agree to it!”
Wang Chong chuckled lightly.
This Death’s Abyss had taken two jun of Hyderabad ore to forge. If it was just an ordinary Wootz steel weapon, it would already be worth at least eighty thousand gold taels. On top of that, this weapon was much stronger than the previous few blades that Wang Chong had forged, having being tempered by the technology that Wang Chong possessed exclusively.
(Two jun ~ 26kg)
Wang Chong estimated its price to be above that of a hundred thousand gold taels!
This was far beyond the hiring price of Li Zhuxin. It was the epitome of the highest level of saber in the world, a priceless treasure in the truest sense.
Leaving the cavern along with Li Zhuxin, Wang Chong rushed back to the capital and passed the newly-forged Death’s Abyss into Uncle Li Lin’s hands. Upon seeing the newly-forged Death’s Abyss, Li Lin was overjoyed.
In the month that Wang Chong was gone, every day felt like an eternity to Li Lin. His doorsill was almost destroyed by the Imperial Army commanders who came to his residence daily to urge him on the matter of the Wootz steel weapon.
On top of that, most of them were Li Lin’s superiors, and there were a few figures whom even Zhao Fengchen dared not to offend. The pressure Li Lin was placed under was truly immense.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 76
