Comprehension

This is one of the main industries of Fenglinfang, and also one of the main industries of the Wang family.

Every year, many monks die in these mines and workshops, but they receive no compensation whatsoever.

These people have average cultivation levels and no particular expertise. They even gave up on the simplest thing, planting spiritual fields, because they lacked start-up capital. They had no other choice but to sell their labor.

If anyone causes trouble, the Wang family and the law enforcement agency will immediately quell it to ensure uninterrupted production. After all, their strength is weak, and dealing with such situations is very easy.

Chen Lu held his breath and walked towards the best-ventilated part of the workshop.

According to a junior manager at the workshop, that's where the most skilled craftsmen usually stay. They're only responsible for patrolling the workshop, and they only start working themselves when they're particularly busy.

If you're going to observe the hammering and forging of ore, you should look at the most skilled iron smelters.

Asking them to do it would just cost more spirit stones; we've already used so many for alchemy, so a little more won't make a difference.

After walking over, I saw several middle-aged men, shirtless, with dark red skin and somewhat thin builds, sitting on deck chairs, chatting leisurely about everyday matters.

He glanced around and quickly identified the best craftsman.

It's easy to tell them apart. For these craftsmen who make a living by their skills, those artisans who are more skilled than themselves are worthy of respect, and they will speak to them with a touch of humility.

“Master, I am Chen Lu, a member of the Wang family from outside the family.”

I've heard you're the most skilled craftsman here, so I'd like to observe your iron-making process.

The middle-aged craftsman glanced at Chen Lu, and seeing that he was from the Wang family, he sat up, a smile appearing on his face, and his speech became less vulgar than before:

"I wouldn't dare claim to have the best skills; I can only say I have some experience."

Just...observing iron smelting? What's so interesting about that? There are so many people here, whoever does the fighting—"

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Lu handed over a spirit ticket worth ten lower spirits.

The middle-aged craftsman was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and accepted it, changing the subject:

"Everyone plays differently! There's a saying, 'The best players play with more purity!'"

At the same time, to prevent the other craftsmen from being dissatisfied, he also gave each of them a jar of five bottles of fine wine, including the one made by the best craftsman.

"I apologize for disturbing you all. This is just a small gift to apologize for your trouble. Please don't mind it."

The blacksmiths around him, who hadn't really wanted to deal with him, all lit up the moment they saw the spirit wine. They hadn't expected to get a share, and they all sat up and accepted the spirit wine with smiles.

With a monthly salary of only fifty spirit stones, after deducting household expenses and the cultivation of their descendants, there was almost nothing left. They could only buy a jar of this fine wine to drink during festivals.

After accepting the spirit wine, everyone stood up and began working on the iron smelting.

"Old Li! Get the spirit charcoal over here. Old Zhao! Tidy up the furnace, I'm going to get some ore!"

They didn't understand what was so interesting about iron smelting, but since some sucker wanted to see it, they decided to let him.

The bellows pounded, turning the charcoal red-hot and the air increasingly scorching.

"This is the ore from Qingyun Steel. It was dug out of the mine. The miners don't care about the quality; as long as it's hard, they dig it all out. Look."

The middle-aged craftsman selected several pieces of ore and placed them in front of Chen Lu.

"Some of these are scrap materials, and some are good materials. If you're not in this line of work, you can hardly tell the difference."

Before leaving the mine, obvious waste materials are discarded. Once at the workshop, they are sorted again; these are the materials that the workshop has not yet selected.

Those that were thrown away can also be refined, but the cost is too high, and the quality is not stable.

To ensure the quality of the final billet, this step requires humility; discard what needs to be discarded, and only the best pieces are used. A moment of weakness could ruin the entire billet.

Chen Lu nodded thoughtfully; these principles also apply to sword intent.

At first, sword cultivators did not know which sword intents were suitable for them and which were not.

Blindly searching for what you want is like looking for a needle in a haystack, a waste of effort.

Therefore, don't rush to choose. You should first gradually eliminate those that are not conducive to you. Then, use your willpower to refine and purify the remaining indistinguishable ones, and finally obtain what you need.

If he were to cultivate, he should not directly pursue sharpness, but should start with similarity.

If you perceive their commonalities in your heart and then refine them, the useless things will fall off on their own, like ore slag.

The iron-making master explained things very carefully, making sure to explain the intricacies of each step clearly.

He also showed himself the difference between rough blanks made from waste materials and those made from refined materials.

Upon seeing the difference between the two, Chen Lu suddenly felt a thought, as if he had realized something, but then it vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Also, in iron smelting, you have to concentrate all your strength into one point, and finally use your wrist to lead your hand, and your hand to lead the hammer, and the hammer falls on the rough blank."

Those young men often end up with aches and pains because they only know how to use brute force.

If you use the right method, it's effortless; the reason it's difficult is because you're using the wrong method.

Chen Lu didn't speak, but just watched silently.

"The rest is simple: repeat the heating and forging process."

When it stops cracking and its sound becomes crisp, then you can say you've mastered the craft.

However... this step is a bit time-consuming. The rule is to keep the equipment running even when people are resting, so several craftsmen take turns. This part is particularly small, so the process will be very fast. It should be completed in about a week.

The middle-aged craftsman's hint was quite subtle, implying that to view the full content, one must continue to pay to unlock it.

Chen Lu naturally knew the ins and outs. He gave each master ten lower-level spirit coins and proposed that whoever was at the forging furnace would receive an additional five lower-level spirit coins.

Of course, the most skilled craftsman is still the most popular, since he is needed to ensure that the process goes smoothly without any problems.

All these investments are worthwhile in order to successfully comprehend the sword intent; all of this combined is no more than a bodyguard's monthly salary.

For a whole week, Chen Lu did not rest for a moment, and his recovery was entirely due to the pills given to him by Master Li Dan.

Within a week, he made considerable progress, and even had a vague feeling that he was just one step away from comprehending the essence of swordsmanship.

But Chu Liutang still needed to help with the final step.

After resting for a day at his residence, he borrowed a fine horse from his family and chose the main road to Chizhu Immortal City.

After traveling and stopping frequently, we arrived at the Red Bamboo Immortal City seven days later.

Our first stop wasn't Li Danshi's residence, but we changed direction and went to Wangyue Tower, a place bustling with people and where all sorts of information might be circulating.

Ask Miss Tao about the weapon-refining workshop in Red Bamboo Immortal City.

I was somewhat prepared when I asked Chu Liutang for help.