When Li Ye, dressed in coarse linen clothes, knocked on the door and stood in front of Ouyang Dongli, he was still a little surprised even though he had been prepared before.

Looking at Li Ye who looked sincere, he asked calmly: "Are you sure you want to learn how to make a blacksmith from my master? You are not afraid of the high temperature of the fire and the dirty and unattractive work that is full of smelly sweat?"

Li Ye looked at him and said with a smile: "To tell you what the master is saying, this disciple is already mentally prepared and will not be afraid of hardship."

Ouyang Dongli nodded, looked at him and said with a smile: "This is no better than your practice in Prajna Temple. It is much harder and more tiring than there."

Li Ye nodded and said: "Disciple will remember the master's words, practice the forging skills seriously, and strive to forge his own heavy sword as soon as possible..."

Ouyang Dongli poured him a cup of hot tea and motioned for him to sit down.

He continued: "Can you let go of the practice in the temple? I heard your husband said that the practice in Prajna Temple is very important to you. From now on, you will spend ten days every month learning blacksmithing from me. Will it affect you?"

Li Ye shook his head, pursed his lips and took a sip of tea.

He whispered back: "My disciple is practicing in the temple and encounters some confusion. I hope to solve these problems through the practice of blacksmithing with the master."

Ouyang Dongli looked at his expression and knew what he was thinking, so he stopped trying to dissuade him.

He said with a smile: "You have almost tempered your physical skills. Next, you should temper your state of mind. You must know that forging a sword is also a process of forging your own state of mind."

"Disciple understands, my husband told me the same thing." Li Ye looked at him and replied seriously, without any sign of carelessness.

"If you can polish your state of mind as cold as cold iron in ten years, when you go down the mountain and walk in the world, you will not be easily disturbed by external things and mess up your state of mind."

Ouyang Gongli looked at him and said quietly, as if he was telling him a story that had happened before.

"My teacher said back on Tianshan Mountain that you must first cultivate your mind in practice. If your state of mind is not there, you will be unable to break through it after reaching a certain level. If you understand this truth, you will be able to practice seriously with your master."

Li Ye looked at Ouyang Dongli in front of him, but his mind returned to the Tianshan Mountains. He had practiced training in mountain torrents and tempered his body in cold pools, which were not arduous tasks.

"We will discuss these principles later. Today you first learn to burn fire and cast a piece. Start by burning fire. If you want to forge a spiritual sword, you must start from the simplest practice of burning fire."

"Make a fire? Isn't it the same as making tea for a disciple?" Li Ye looked at him and asked softly.

"This sounds simple to say, but it is very troublesome to do." Ouyang Dongli tapped the table gently, as if he were tapping iron on a sword-making platform.

After hearing the master's instructions, Li Ye couldn't help but be startled and asked: "Learn to make a fire first? Are you in such a hurry?"

Master Ouyang was silent for a moment, his face showed the joy of finding his successor, but also some indescribable melancholy.

He glanced at Li Ye and said slowly: "I don't have much time here. If I hadn't met you, I might have left earlier."

Li Ye was startled and immediately bowed his head and said: "This disciple has caused trouble for the master."

Ouyang Dongli waved his hand and said: "This can only be said to be fate. Not to mention that it is not troublesome. It is naturally a joyful thing to find a suitable person to inherit my legacy before leaving this world."

After hearing these words, Li Ye paused and nodded slightly.

He could hear the reluctance and anxiety in Master Ouyang's heart, and for some reason he felt a little melancholy in his heart.

I thought to myself, I just need to learn how to make fire. I can be a master in two days.

However, at this moment, Ouyang Dongli, who was sitting opposite him, seemed to see through his mind.

He smiled and said, "Don't be careless. Some sword-smiths spend their whole lives exploring the quenching method of casting."

Li Ye cupped his hands to express his agreement.

The master and apprentice drank two cups of tea, and Ouyang Dongli stood up.

Looked at him and said: "I know you have doubts in your heart, come with me, you will be a real swordsmith apprentice from now on."

After saying that, he opened the door and walked out.

Li Ye quickly got up and followed, saying as he walked: "Master, wait for me."

As cute as a little monk Wuyou.

The two of them walked around the wooden house, passed through a thick fog, and came to a cliff.

There is a cliff at the foot of the mountain. There is a natural stone cave behind the mountain, with a spring flowing out of the cave entrance, and a simple wooden scaffolding outside the cave.

There was a stove set up in the shed, and there were two stone troughs for quenching outside the spring. There were piles of unquenched iron on the ground.

Several hammers were leaning against the blacksmithing table. In front of Li Ye, who was standing outside the shed, the scene seemed to appear when Ouyang Dongli was sweating profusely and hammering down ordinary iron.

Thinking that this scene would soon be replaced by his own, I couldn't help but feel a little hot in my heart.

After staying for a long time, Ouyang Dongli pointed to various objects in the shed and the steaming cave, and smiled.

He said calmly: "From now on, this will be your place of practice. For me, the place of practice and the place of rest must be absolutely separated. It is the same as what the Buddhists say when you eat, eat when you eat, and sleep when you sleep."

"

After a pause, he continued: "But you are different. There is a natural hot spring in this cave. You can use it to temper your body. You can live here in the future."

"You can also go back to the cabin with me... The thick fog you passed through just now is a natural magic circle. I will teach you the footwork later, and you will be able to freely enter and leave here in the future.

"

"It turns out that there is a natural magic circle blocking this place. No wonder the last time I came with my husband, I didn't see the place where the master blacksmiths and practices."

Li Ye nodded, looking like he suddenly realized something.

Ouyang Dongli walked into the wooden shed and lay down on it next to a bamboo chair.

Pointing to a stool next to him, he said, "Sit down and let me tell you some common sense about casting."

After Li Ye sat down next to him, he continued: "To cast a stone, you must first select good ore, refined iron, ordinary iron, etc., and then have a furnace with a temperature suitable for you. If you are lucky,

Get some good fire stones."

"If you add it when the embryo is being tempered, even if you have a piece of the same iron in your hand, it can be tempered into steel under constant tempering at high temperatures."

"Then it's time to continuously refine the fused utensil embryo. The so-called repeated tempering is just to remove the impurities in the utensil embryo, leaving only the fine iron... Let's not light the fire today. You can familiarize yourself with the environment here.

Take a look at this book, there is a set of living utensils in the cave..."

After speaking, he handed Li Ye a yellowed manuscript.

"Look slowly and ask me if you don't understand anything. I want to sleep here..."

Seeing Li Ye holding his manuscript like a treasure, Ouyang Dongli smiled with satisfaction, leaned back on the recliner and closed his eyes.

Li Ye held the master's handwritten manuscript, opened the pages of the animal skin book, and studied it carefully...

I am a craftsman of forging, the smelting of iron is the second, and the refining of the heart is the most important... If you have ordinary iron, you can use charcoal fire to refine it, supplemented by the power of tempering the skin and flesh, and it can be made into ordinary tools, such as knives, scissors, furniture, etc.

Anything made from fine iron, blended with the true energy of the caster, supplemented by the refinement of sinews and bones, refined with fire, and tempered thousands of times, is a superior weapon.

Any ore such as black iron, mica, etc. is melted with the essence and blood of the caster, supplemented by Qi and blood refinement, painstaking efforts, and refined with fire from the sky. Some even die with the sword... It eventually became a spiritual weapon and became a divine weapon passed down through the ages...

Ordinary fire, fire of fine stones, fire from the sky... Li Ye murmured, as if he saw a bright light in the dark night.

Isn't the heavy sword I want to forge just black iron plus the extraterrestrial iron sent by my master?

But where should I find this extraterrestrial fire? Just like the formless Dharmakaya that I cultivate, the beast soul that I need is also something in legend.

No wonder Mr. Xiang repeatedly emphasized that sword-making is also a kind of spiritual practice, which is no worse than his own practice at Prajna Temple.

Now it seems that maybe once I learn the art of forging swords, it may also be of great help to the cultivation of the Formless Dharmakaya.

...If you find a volcano and can temper the refined iron there, you can get twice the result with half the effort...If you use the essence of the volcano to retemper the weapons that have been produced, you can even increase the level and quality of the weapons. Spirituality.

There is a chance to upgrade the weapon in your hand from an elite soldier to a spiritual weapon... The art of casting is ever-changing, but it is inseparable from it, and fire is the most critical...

Looking through Ouyang Dongli's casting experience, Li Ye realized that he really didn't understand fire.

I used to think that lighting the charcoal in the furnace was enough to make a fire, but from the perspective of making swords, such fire can only be used to make some ordinary kitchen knives and agricultural tools, not even ordinary soldiers.

Not to mention having to melt down the black iron armor he once wore and add the master's extraterrestrial iron to it.

...

After receiving Master Ouyang's manuscript in the afternoon, Li Ye saw that the time of Shen Shen was about to end.

When he looked up, he saw that the lounge chair was empty. Ouyang Dongli had left at some point, and only Li Ye was left in the wooden shed studying hard.

He put the manuscript on the table, clapped his hands, and said gratefully: "Fortunately, I have a gentleman to lead the way."

Li Ye smiled and looked up at the vast cliff at the bottom of the cliff. The mountain breeze blew, and there was a faint smell of grass mixed with the fragrance of some flowers.

I thought to myself that everyone said that spring is a wonderful time, but I was buried in books without getting tired.

If I hadn't met Master Ouyang, I really wouldn't know where to cast this heavy sword.

The fate of life is really wonderful. If I had not taken my husband as my teacher, the story of Tianshan Mountain would not have happened.

If he had not picked up Mu Mu on Tianshan Mountain, then his husband would not have accompanied Bai Susu to overcome the tribulation, Mu Mu would not have gone down the mountain with Li Hongxiu, and he would not have met Xiao Bai and Lao Yuan Lao Lang, let alone get Po Xu Monk’s legacy.

So at this time, my realm should still be wandering around the golden elixir, and I would not be regarded as a junior by Master Minghui after coming to Prajna Temple... Is this the cause and effect mentioned by the old monk of the Great Buddha Temple?

Li Ye didn't dwell on this. Thinking about Master Ouyang's words, he turned around and entered the cave.

He murmured to himself: "To live, I have to cook a pot of porridge first, and I have to bring the mushrooms myself."

Sure enough, the cave was fully equipped with daily necessities. Li Ye carried the iron pot and filled it with rice. He walked to the stove outside the cave and lit a fire. He went to the spring to get rice, washed the mushrooms, and carefully placed the iron pot on the fire.

superior.

I thought that if I had enough food tonight, I would still have the energy to learn how to make fire and forge with the master tomorrow.

Although I can't make a sword at the moment, it seems like a good thing to learn to make a kitchen knife first.
To be continued...