Chapter 26 Who in the world doesn't look like a dog
Chu Qingxiao held a hammer in his hand and was sweating profusely in the room.
A full hour passed, and before the swing of the hammer was over, his forehead was still dripping with sweat, and his clothes were soaked with sweat.
He was a little exhausted - of course not only because of this hour of blacksmithing, but also because of the Zhuyin Divine Blood in his body.
Yesterday, after absorbing seven or eight Crow Slave Marks, his divine blood became stronger. Thanks to this, he also entered the Tongmai Realm.
But as the divine blood grows stronger, disadvantages emerge.
Today's Zhuyin Divine Blood requires more than double the energy and blood power.
Chu Qingxiao felt that the energy and blood in his body were exhausted, so he had to take out two red blood worms from his arms and swallow them.
As the red blood worms ate down his belly, his condition of exhaustion immediately improved.
But I feel a little uneasy in my heart - if this continues, I am afraid that the twenty or so red blood worms donated by the witch a few days ago will also be used up.
Although it seems that Goshawk Village is still willing to provide supplies at present, let alone the red blood worms are not deliberately cultivated by the witch.
Even if Goshawk is friendly enough, Chu Qingxiao cannot stay here forever. After leaving this place, if the divine blood in his body wants to devour the power of blood energy, the money spent on daily consumption of blood coagulation pills will be enough to give Chu Qingxiao a headache.
big.
"What are you doing standing still?"
Thinking about it, Chu Qingxiao's swing of the hammer slowed down a little.
From behind came Mr. Xu's dissatisfied urging.
Chu Qingxiao smiled bitterly and did not dare to delay. He quickly raised the hammer in his hand again and swung it down hard.
Another half an hour passed, and after following the old man's instructions and beating the sword in his hand sixty times, Chu Qingxiao finally let out a long sigh of relief.
He looked back and stretched out his hand, but before asking, the old man's voice sounded again: "Put it in the pool."
"Oh." Chu Qingxiao didn't dare to hesitate, and quickly took the reddish sword embryo with pliers and put it into the pool nearby.
Sizzle.
A burst of water mist rose up and filled the room, and about ten breaths of time passed.
"Take it and beat it fifty times according to the method just now." The old man said again.
"Ah?" Chu Qingxiao's face turned bitter when he heard this.
But when he looked back at the other party, he saw the old man sitting on a wicker chair, drinking tea slowly.
"This Pang Pang Zhuang!!!" Chu Qingxiao cursed Pang Pang Zhuang in his heart for leaving this job to him. He helplessly raised the hammer on the side again and started hammering hard.
This was repeated twice more. A full three hours passed before Chu Qingxiao put the sword embryo into the pool again. The old man who was sitting aside and taking a nap finally stood up. He walked to Chu Qingxiao's side and stretched out his hand.
Take the pliers and take out the prepared sword embryo from the pool.
He stretched out his hand to fumble with the blade of the sword, moving gently, as if caressing a child's cheek, without any of the bossy attitude he had towards Chu Qingxiao just now.
Chu Qingxiao stepped aside knowingly and rubbed his sore arms.
The old man first stroked the blade of the sword, and then flicked it with his finger.
Zheng!
The sword suddenly let out a soft sound.
The old man listened with a serious expression.
"What do you think, Mr. Xu?" Chu Qingxiao asked in a low voice.
After all, this was his first time making a sword. Although his original intention was to be deceived, after working hard for a long time, he still hoped to be recognized by the old man.
The old man listened to the sound of the sword and ignored Chu Qingxiao. He just frowned and thought for a while, then threw the sword embryo in his hand into the furnace nearby.
"Mr. Xu!" Chu Qingxiao was shocked when he saw this, but the sword embryo had already been put into the furnace.
He suddenly felt a little pity, turned his head to look at the blind old man and asked, "What does Mr. Xu mean by this?"
"If the sword is broken, why don't you re-make it and keep it for the New Year?" the old man asked.
"But I made the whole process according to Mr. Xu's wishes, how could there be any mistakes?" Chu Qingxiao asked in confusion.
"What?" The blind old man turned his head and faced Chu Qingxiao: "You think the old man is making things difficult for you and ruining the sword you have worked so hard to polish all day?"
When Chu Qingxiao heard this, he quickly waved his hands and said, "No. Mr. Xu misunderstood."
"Although it is true that I was tricked into coming here, I feel at ease now that I have come."
"Since I agreed to help my senior with swordsmanship, I naturally have to do my best."
"I just don't understand what went wrong and invalidated this excellent sword embryo. If I don't know why, I'm afraid I'll make another mistake next time. Wouldn't this be a waste of Mr. Xu's time?"
"Huh." The old man who heard this snorted coldly: "That's a beautiful thing to say."
"Speaking from the bottom of my heart, Mr. Xu knows it well." Chu Qingxiao hurriedly spoke again.
The old man did not answer the question, but turned around and groped for the wooden table aside. Seeing this, Chu Qingxiao knew that he wanted to retrieve the teapot that was placed aside, so he quickly reached out and handed the teapot over.
The old man who took the teapot seemed to have lost some of his anger. Of course, Chu Qingxiao didn't quite understand where his anger came from.
He had long heard that this old man Xu had a weird temper, and today he felt it deeply.
"I heard from Huang Quxiang that you also use a sword, right?" The old man held the teapot, took a sip at the spout, and asked immediately.
Chu Qingxiao's heart skipped a beat.
He had never used a sword in front of everyone. Although he mentioned it to Yue Jian, what Mr. Xu said came from Huang Quxiang. Chu Qingxiao was not sure whether the old man was implying something.
"Well, I do know some swordsmanship." Chu Qingxiao responded calmly.
"What do you think is most important for a sword?" The old man seemed not to notice Chu Qingxiao's strange behavior and asked at that time.
Chu Qingxiao frowned: "Of course it depends on whether the blade is sharp or not..."
"That's just an appearance." The old man interrupted him.
"Only the inferior swordsman who treats the sword as a weapon cares about whether the blade is sharp."
Chu Qingxiao was puzzled: "The sword is a weapon. If you don't treat the sword as a weapon, wouldn't it be putting the cart before the horse? Just like Tianxuan Mountain's sword-watching and cultivating one's mind, the sword is the master and people are the swordsmen..."
When these words came out, Mr. Xu's expression changed obviously.
Chu Qingxiao secretly thought that he had said something wrong, and then said: "I heard these things from a senior, so they may not necessarily be right."
"Your old friend agrees with my old friend's opinion." But who would have thought that the old man would say this when he heard this.
"That's the case with that girl in your family. I don't know why she would give up years of hard training and choose a rusty sword."
"But if you choose your sword, why should you feel resentful? The sword is important, but the man is the master of the sword."
Chu Qingxiao knew something about the situation in Chu Zhaozhao's family. He said: "Zhaozhao also has her own difficulties..."
"It has nothing to do with the difficulty. It's just that the girl can't get over the hurdle in her heart."
"When people walk in the world, only those who have nothing on their backs and have thoughts in their hearts have the strength to live."
"But don't be trapped by it all day long, otherwise you will fall into the inferior category."
"Since she had the choice to waste years of hard training and hold a rusty sword, what was in her heart at the moment she held the sword was the path she wanted."
"A swordsman can go a long way if he holds a sword in his hand and holds the Tao in his heart." The old man explained the mystery with one sentence.
After hearing this, Chu Qingxiao was stunned and seemed to understand something. He quickly raised his hands and saluted the old man and said, "Thank you, sir, for clearing up the confusion. I will definitely go back and tell Zhao Zhao about this."
"Haha." The old man smiled, "It's just nonsense from a wild man, don't take it seriously."
Naturally, Chu Qingxiao would not take this self-effacing statement seriously. He frowned again and immediately asked: "But Mr. just now said that swords should not be used as weapons, which seems to be contrary to what he said before."
"If the sword is not a weapon, how can it be used as a master?" the old man asked rhetorically.
"In the world of swords, do people and things have to be divided into masters and servants?"
These words made Chu Qingxiao stunned again.
"It is true that the sword of a swordsman is a tool for his survival, but the sword can channel spirits. For a swordsman, the sword in his hand is his lifelong confidant."
"When the sword in your hand is connected with your mind, the sword becomes an extension of your body."
"When I think of it, I kill the dragon with my sword."
"One thought is silent, and the sword returns to its sheath."
"Therefore, for swords, intention is the most important."
As he spoke, the old man turned back to the sword embryo that was slowly melting in the furnace, and added: "I have made many swords in my life."
"But never forge a masterless sword."
"And the sword embryo before it is forged needs the first hammer blow from its subsequent owner."
"Just like a newborn child, his parents are the most important to what he can become in the future, and the same goes for the sword."
"With this first strike, I want the sword wielder to pour his or her own thoughts into the sword embryo. Only in this way can the sword struck out be connected with the sword wielder's mind."
"But you just struck thousands of hammers, but every hammer fell for me, and your intention was not poured into it. Therefore, no matter how finely you hammer this sword, the final one you make is still not a qualified sword.
sword."
This was the first time Chu Qingxiao heard such a statement. He secretly felt that it was quite reasonable, and he listened attentively. But at the end of the hearing, he suddenly froze and looked at the old man with his eyes wide open, as if he was thinking
I wonder if I heard something wrong.
"You heard me right, I want to make a sword for you." The old man's voice sounded at this moment, solving the confusion in the young man's mind.
But Chu Qingxiao was still a little puzzled by such a good thing that suddenly came to his door.
"What? You don't want it?" The old man seemed a little dissatisfied with Chu Qingxiao's silence.
Chu Qingxiao hurriedly said: "Sir, if you are willing to forge a sword for me, I would naturally appreciate it, but I don't understand why..."
"Why so sudden?" Although the old man was blind, his mind was clear and he answered Chu Qingxiao's hesitation.
Chu Qingxiao smiled bitterly and nodded. Then he remembered that the old man's eyes were unable to see, so he quickly responded: "It is indeed a bit sudden."
"There's no particular reason."
"It's just because you did what I wanted to do yesterday but couldn't do it, so you are worthy of my sword." The old man said in a low voice.
Hearing this, Chu Qingxiao also understood that Huang Quxiang had obviously informed the old man about yesterday's incident.
"But it's not all because of this." The old man said again.
"Um?"
"Everyone in this world has his or her own vision."
"Literati hope that their articles will be remembered forever, cooks hope that the dishes they cook will be praised by people, and tailors hope that their clothes will be worn by the most beautiful girls."
"As a blacksmith, I naturally hope that the sword I made can be held in the hands of someone worthy of it."
Such praise was not low, and Chu Qingxiao couldn't help but feel a little happy. He blinked, stared at the old man and asked: "So sir, do you think I can become an upright swordsman in the future?"
But the old man shook his head.
"That's not true."
"It's just that among the short ones, there is a tall one, and among the thin ones, there is a fat one."
"I live in Gosying Village, but I can't find any young talents."
"Use my sword, at least you are stronger than Pang and those crooked melons and cracked jujubes..."
Chu Qingxiao blinked and took over the conversation: "Sir, do you think I have more potential than them?"
But the old man turned to face him. His eyes were blind and he could not express his thoughts clearly.
But at that moment, Chu Qingxiao could feel from the changes in the old man's other facial features that if the old man's eyes were not blind, he would have wanted to roll his eyes when he looked at him.