The difficulty of forging Mo Jin was something Li Qing had deeply experienced before he even stepped into the External Strength realm. Now, as Qian Hong sought to refine an entire long sword from pure Mo Jin, the challenge was even more exaggerated. Even with his current robust strength, Li Qing would still find it somewhat strenuous.
"The style of the long sword should be similar to my current Qinghong Sword, and the length should not deviate too much," Qian Hong said, drawing a sword from her waist and handing it to Li Qing.
After receiving the Qinghong Sword and feeling it for a moment, Li Qing had a rough idea in his mind. The forging craftsmanship of this sword was already quite good; the blade was sharp and the grip comfortable, definitely a fine sword. However, compared to the unparalleled divine weapons in the martial world, there was still a considerable gap.
"Understood. Due to the special nature of the ore, the forging time may be a bit longer this time," Li Qing replied honestly.
"No problem, I'll leave the Qinghong Sword with you during this time!" Qian Hong said decisively, clasping her fists in farewell without a hint of reluctance.
Li Qing didn’t even have time to say goodbye before watching Qian Hong's figure disappear from the blacksmith shop.
"To acquire so much Mo Jin, the power behind Commander Qian is not simple," Li Qing remarked, picking up a heavy piece of Mo Jin. It was only natural; as a woman, she had risen to the position of a Thousand-Man Commander in the Wuli Army, and after the establishment of the Fengwei Gate, she transformed into a commander. Achieving such a rapid transformation required not only formidable personal strength but also considerable backing.
Having someone like her owe him a favor was undoubtedly a beneficial arrangement. With this thought, Li Qing nodded in satisfaction, igniting his passion for forging.
"Open the furnace, forge the sword!"
For Li Qing, forging a weapon entirely from Mo Jin was a significant challenge. He had already experienced the properties of Mo Jin when refining the Wushuang Hammer; it was incredibly difficult to handle, requiring immense pressure and high temperatures to induce even slight deformation.
As for melting it into liquid form, that was out of the question. Such materials were not like ordinary iron; the flames of a typical forge could not melt them. Li Qing suspected that to refine such extraordinary metals, one would truly need certain Daoist techniques or divine powers, such as the Samadhi True Fire or the flames of Heaven and Earth.
Quickly shaking his head, he cast these distracting thoughts aside.
Boom!
The forge ignited, and the temperature in the blacksmith shop rapidly began to rise, the red flames illuminating Li Qing's face. At that moment, his expression grew incredibly serious, fully immersing himself in the blazing furnace.
Having successfully forged the Wushuang Hammer, Li Qing already had some experience in handling Mo Jin. One piece after another, he tossed the jagged Mo Jin into the furnace.
The high temperature began to scorch them. He picked up a pair of iron tongs and, like stirring sweet potatoes in the fire, manipulated the Mo Jin within.
After a long while, Li Qing finally pulled out a piece of Mo Jin that had been roasted for quite some time, then began to hammer it with the Wushuang Hammer.
Using the most basic stance of the Ancient Hammer Technique, he drew strength from the earth with his feet, unleashing both his External Strength and Internal Power as he slammed the heavy hammer down onto the Mo Jin.
Bang!
A loud explosion echoed throughout the blacksmith shop, shaking the ground as if it trembled thrice, demonstrating the immense force behind Li Qing's strike.
With repeated heavy blows, Li Qing panted slightly, returning the piece he had been hammering for half a day back into the furnace. He then pulled out another piece of Mo Jin and continued the process.
Hammering, returning to the furnace, hammering, returning to the furnace.
He kept repeating this process, becoming almost like an unyielding machine.
By the time night fell, Li Qing’s entire body felt somewhat numb, prompting him to finally stop his work.
After such a long time, he had only managed to hammer through half of the Mo Jin in the furnace.
He did not plan to forge through the night; after all, a human body still needed rest, even an External Strength cultivator.
Forging a long sword made entirely of Mo Jin was destined to consume a lot of time. He needed to rest and recover his strength; otherwise, his body would break down.
Thus, Li Qing added enough fuel to the furnace to keep it burning until dawn, then returned to his room and collapsed into sleep.
The next morning, a dull, massive sound once again echoed in the blacksmith shop.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The noise was so loud that it had never been heard before during the forging of other weapons.
After nearly a whole day, Li Qing finally completed the first round of high-temperature forging and hammering on all the Mo Jin.
During this time, he drank water when thirsty and devoured meat when hungry. Fortunately, the food supplies in the blacksmith shop were absolutely sufficient; he never hesitated to spend silver on this.
After such pounding, the Mo Jin had begun to show some changes, its texture becoming somewhat softer.
However, this was still not enough. He was too familiar with Mo Jin; at least two to three more repetitions of this process were needed for the texture to become relatively malleable.
In the blink of an eye, five days had passed.
Throughout these days, the sounds from Li Qing's blacksmith shop had not ceased, with continuous dull thuds emanating from within.
Big Boss Fang from Chiming Street naturally knew that Li Qing was forging a divine weapon for Commander Qian Hong of the Fengwei Gate.
"Five whole days, this Master Li is impressive. Not only is his forging skill astonishing, but his martial arts strength must also be remarkable," Big Boss Fang sighed.
And with five days still not completed, he couldn’t even imagine what kind of divine weapon would emerge!
It truly might rival the Demon Blade of the Jiulian Sect and that Xuanwu Spear!
Yes, after five days of hammering, Li Qing finally brought out the malleability of all the Mo Jin.
With the continuous high-temperature roasting, these pieces of Mo Jin could now be initially forged into a whole.
Of course, the contribution of the Wushuang Hammer was significant; the hammer face, also made of Mo Jin, saved Li Qing a considerable amount of effort.
Otherwise, hammering so much Mo Jin would have required several hammers.
Only a divine weapon like the Wushuang Hammer could barely withstand such powerful strikes.
"Unexpected joy, it turns out I can still keep two fist-sized pieces of Mo Jin!"
After just forging the initial shape of the sword body, Li Qing was pleasantly surprised to find that there were still two extra pieces of Mo Jin material.
Naturally, he chose to keep these two surplus pieces for himself.
Now, on the forging table, a complete initial shape of the sword body made from Mo Jin had emerged, uneven and marked with various hammering traces, still glistening with an oily sheen.
Thank you to the readers for your support! Thank you very much!
(End of Chapter)