Chương 83: Little New Year

After Su Zhe finished speaking, the look he gave his uncle and aunt was full of teasing, knowing amusement. Su Yuan and Lin Xia immediately felt unbearably awkward. Lin Xia, a little embarrassed and angry with nowhere to vent it, reached out and grabbed Su Yuan by the ear, cursing as she twisted.

"It's all your fault… What kind of rotten idea was that? I told you we couldn't hide it from Little Zhe…"

"You made me lose face!" Su Zhe stood off to the side, chuckling. He had to admit, this fierce, domineering attitude—that was his aunt.

"Ow! I know, I know!"

"It was my fault, my fault… Don't get angry. Getting worked up is bad for your body… Watch your belly…" Su Yuan begged for mercy while still worrying about Lin Xia's health. The two of them bickered and tussled for a while before finally stopping. Su Yuan rubbed his reddened ear, then looked up and saw Su Zhe's ill-intentioned grin. His face immediately changed, and he snapped,"What are you laughing at?" Su Zhe rolled his eyes. Hey! Was this guy born in the Year of the Dog?

How could he turn on someone just like that?

"Ah, Little Zhe, don't blame your uncle for dragging trouble to your door. It's just that they're all neighbors from the same village, and the village chief brought a whole crowd of relatives to plead with us… We really couldn't bring ourselves to refuse…" Lin Xia spoke to Su Zhe with a touch of unease. Su Zhe smiled and gestured for his aunt to relax.

"Auntie, don't say any more. Don't worry. I understand."

"We're all from the same village. Back when I joined Tiejiang Bang (Blacksmith Gang), Uncle had to borrow money from the village to make it happen."

"Although that money has already been paid back, our roots are still there. If I had no ability, then fine. But now that I do, it's only right that I help the fishing village gain some face." Su Zhe completely understood what his uncle and aunt were thinking. In this life, ties of cause and effect were not things you could simply cut off just because you said so. True, the villagers had loose tongues, and Lin Xia had argued with them more times than anyone could count.

But back then, when Su Zhe entered Tiejiang Bang, every household had contributed in some way. That was simply how human relationships worked. In his previous life, Brother Dong had gone to university with the whole village's support. After he became wealthy, he, too, gave back to his hometown. It was also like Director Qi, who had grown up eating from a hundred families' bowls, gone to university with the village's help, and in the end, even the village dogs became police dogs.

Of course, harsh mountains and bad waters could produce wicked folk, people like Huang Mazi. But overall, farmers were kindhearted.

"You brat, you really have grown up!"

"Now you're even lecturing your aunt!" Su Yuan laughed and scolded him, but the corners of his mouth would not stop rising in pride. Ah, the old Su family's ancestral graves had not just started smoking—they had practically exploded. For the family to produce a proud dragon like Su Zhe, mere smoke rising from the graves was nowhere near enough! … Just like that, another dozen or so days passed. Su Zhe practiced martial arts every day.

He strove to break through to the Fourth Grade realm and open his sixth immortal aperture. During this time, Su Zhe also studied the blood refining method passed down by the old ancestor. Records of Strange Tales from Yunhuang—The Account of the Blood Refining Technique: In ancient times, there was a marvelous technique known as Blood Refining. It is said that long ago, there was a craftsman who loved weapons by nature and spent his entire life pursuing the creation of divine arms.

One day, he was attacked by a strange beast and trapped in a desperate situation. Gravely wounded, his blood splashed onto his weapon. Suddenly, light burst forth. The weapon sensed his blood and underwent a strange transformation, its power increasing greatly, allowing him to repel the beast. Yichen was astonished. Afterward, he devoted himself to studying this path and eventually created the Blood Refining method. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Su Zhe unfolded the cicada-wing-thin silk hidden inside the fine-gold lock. He carefully read through the Blood Refining method. The origins of this Blood Refining method could no longer be verified. In essence, during the forging of a weapon, one had to drip in a martial artist's heart blood. If the martial artist was of high quality and used precious blood—or even something above precious blood—the effect would be even better.

After that, one would use a specific hammering method and a way of driving internal force to repeatedly strike the weapon blank, fusing the blood into the blade. Weapons forged this way possessed far greater spirituality. If it was a treasure weapon, and its treasure patterns contained essence blood, then it would gain a trace of the power only spirit weapons possessed.

By the same logic, theoretically speaking, as long as the weaponsmith's skill was high enough and the quality of the essence blood was even greater, then even when forging a spirit weapon, it could gain a trace of power beyond ordinary spirit weapons.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

"Ancient forging arts are actually this profound. Ancient martial artists really let their imagination soar."

"What a shame that ancient martial arts have long since been lost, with no way to investigate them now. The Blacksmith Ancestor was originally an early disciple of Zhujian Shanzhuang (Sword-Forging Villa). Only figures from a thousand years ago could have passed down such a mysterious technique." Su Zhe had always been someone full of curiosity. Now that he had seen through the Blood Refining method, he could not help clicking his tongue in wonder. The feeling was incredibly profound.

It was much like hearing the Dao in the morning and being content to die that same evening. Or like, in his previous life, struggling over a math problem for ages, unable to solve it—only to look at the solution process and suddenly understand several different methods. In his heart, he cried out in shock— So it could be done like that! That kind of great freedom, great ease, and great joy surpassed the seven emotions and six desires of the mortal world.

"Heh. Getting married? How could that possibly compare to the taste of blacksmithing and martial arts?"

"Uncle and Auntie just don't understand. They don't understand at all." Su Zhe smiled and murmured to himself. The New Year was approaching. There were more and more people visiting from street to street and house to house. Su Zhe, this "prime catch," once again became the target of many eager eyes. Su Yuan and Lin Xia had looked at quite a few respectable young ladies from good families, and from time to time, they would nag Su Zhe about it. It made Su Zhe's head swell until one head felt like two.

Su Zhe came to Jiangxin Tang (Craftheart Hall), found an empty forging room, and started getting a feel for the work again. He used the Fire-Refining Furnace as his forge. He used the Five-Spirit Martial Fire as the flame, replacing ordinary fire. Then he took out some materials and began forging. Clang, clang, clang! The furnace flames blazed, illuminating Su Zhe's resolute face. He held the heavy hammer in his hand as though gripping a divine weapon.

The hammer rose and fell in a clear rhythm, as if some hidden cadence lay within each strike. Every blow was incomparably precise, like a thunderous strike that shook the heart. Sparks scattered in every direction, bursting like fireworks, dazzling and fierce. Su Zhe's hammer technique was forceful yet agile. At times, it was as heavy as Mount Tai pressing down; at others, as light as drifting willow fluff.

Under his hammer, the weapon blank gradually took shape, responding to Su Zhe's power as though it possessed life. Sweat poured from him like rain, but Su Zhe's gaze remained firm. His mind held no distractions. All he wanted was to forge that peerless divine weapon. Steel in the fire. Legend beneath the hammer. At this moment, Su Zhe's figure seemed to transcend time and slowly merge with the figure of the Blacksmith Ancestor.

"It's taken shape! Blood Refining!" Su Zhe raised his hand. From within the Creation Immortal Cauldron, drops of precious blood immediately surged out and landed on the weapon. What Su Zhe had used were only ordinary weapon materials. If he wanted to turn them into a treasure weapon, he would need more precious blood to make up for the materials' shortcomings. Under the Three-Spirit Unity Hammer method, the precious blood was hammered until it scattered everywhere.

From droplets, it turned into fine threads, then into a bloody mist that fused into the weapon. One artifact pattern after another gradually merged together. Boom! Treasure light shot into the sky. A single treasure pattern condensed. A Fourth Grade treasure weapon was complete!

"Ha! The number one craftsman of Lu County, Su Zhe, has forged a treasure weapon today! Success!"

"Congratulations to Su Zhe! Congratulations to Tiejiang Bang! Congratulations to Lu County!" Su Zhe was exhilarated and raised his arm, shouting in celebration. Of course, Su Zhe only dared say such things when no one was around. If Sun Tiexin heard him, he would probably swing a hammer and smash Su Zhe's legs apart. After that, Su Zhe took out some Third Grade ordinary weapon-forging materials. Including the forging hammer he had just made, he forged a total of four treasure-weapon forging hammers.

After spending some time nourishing them with precious blood, they became peak Fourth Grade treasure weapons. Then he merged them with the Star Forging Hammer, combining the weapons into a Fifth Grade treasure weapon, the Star Forging Hammer. The Five-Star Forging Hammer's various traits had now stepped into the Fifth Grade level. At the same time, its improvement to his aptitude and talent in the craft path became even greater.

"What a pity. I've almost emptied out Tiejiang Bang."

"The materials for peak Third Grade ordinary weapons are all used up."

"Otherwise, with the help of all my cheats, if I decked myself out in a full set of Fifth Grade treasure gear, then at Zhujian Shanzhuang's disciple recruitment ceremony, this Su would be something else entirely." Su Zhe shook his head and sighed. Even for these materials, Sun Tiexin had pointed at his nose and cursed him. Every other word was "prodigal brat" or "wasteful little punk." Su Zhe was rather depressed about it.

Fortunately, after he passed the Blood Refining method to Sun Tiexin, Sun Tiexin finally let the matter drop. However, Fourth Grade treasure-weapon materials were far too rare in Lu County. Sun Tiexin's dream was to forge a Fourth Grade treasure weapon, but in the short term, it would probably be extremely difficult to achieve. As for Su Zhe's cultivation, he had been very diligent over these dozen days. Yet he was still stuck at the peak of the Third Grade.

He always felt as if he was just one step away from entering the Fourth Grade realm. But that one step was like a heavy shackle, impossible to break through. Somewhere in the unseen, it seemed he was lacking a bit of karmic opportunity. … The fishing village. Little New Year. The twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month. Regarding Little New Year, Great Qian had a saying: "Officials on the twenty-third, commoners on the twenty-fourth, boatmen on the twenty-fifth."

That meant official households celebrated Little New Year on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month; ordinary families celebrated it on the twenty-fourth; and families who lived on the water celebrated it on the twenty-fifth. Along the banks of the Su River, lanterns and decorations hung everywhere. The place was packed with people. Drums and gongs thundered, and firecrackers cracked nonstop.

Under everyone's gaze, Su Zhe strode forward with the bearing of a dragon and the steps of a tiger, emerging from the crowd.

"Su Zhe's already this grown in the blink of an eye?"

"That boy's incredible… After the New Year, he'll only be seventeen by traditional count, but he's already become the number one expert in Lu County…"

"Isn't that right? So many martial lords in Lu County can't even compare to one boy."

"That Su family lad is the Martial Star descended from the heavens!" The Su River shimmered with faint ripples. In everyone's eyes, countless specks of light gathered entirely on Su Zhe…