HNYWEF -Chapter 79 A Forging Method Never Seen Before

Second year of Zhenguan, Fourth Day of the Tenth Month.

The sky had only just begun to brighten when Zhou Yi got up.

Not because he wanted to.

He simply couldn’t sleep.

That broken blade was still sitting on the top rack—split cleanly into two pieces, the fracture pale and glaring.

After lying down last night, he had tossed and turned for half the night. The more he thought about it, the stupider his quenching mistake felt.

When he got up in the morning, his father was already in the shop.

The forge fire burned fiercely, flames leaping high. Zhou Xiong stood before the long workbench, holding two pieces of iron up to the light.

Zhou Yi walked over.

One piece was darker, dull black.

The other was lighter, brighter in color.

He looked at them twice without thinking much of it.

His father worked with all kinds of metal normally. Different colors weren’t strange.

Zhou Xiong set the two pieces down.

Then he pointed at the water trough by the door.

“Dump the water.”

Zhou Yi froze for a moment.

The trough was for quenching. The water inside had only been changed yesterday and was perfectly clear.

He didn’t ask why. He walked over, lifted the trough, and poured the water into the drainage ditch outside.

After emptying it, he carried the trough back and set it down.

Zhou Xiong pointed toward the wooden barrel in the corner.

“That one. Pour it in.”

Zhou Yi followed his finger.

He had seen that barrel many times before. He had always assumed it held miscellaneous junk and had never opened it.

He walked over and lifted the lid.

A smell drifted out.

Not a strange smell, but—

Oil.

Rapeseed oil.

The barrel was filled to the brim, smooth enough to reflect a person’s face.

Zhou Yi stood there blankly.

He looked at the oil, then turned back toward his father.

Zhou Xiong had already put the two pieces of iron into the forge.

Zhou Yi opened his mouth.

“Dad, this is…”

Without turning around, Zhou Xiong said:

“For quenching.”

Zhou Yi stood there for a long time without moving.

Everyone knew quenching used water.

From ancient times until now, which blacksmith didn’t use water for quenching?

Oil?

He had never even heard of it.

He stared at the barrel again, then at his father.

Zhou Xiong crouched beside the forge, watching the heat. His face showed no expression.

Zhou Yi finally couldn’t hold back.

“Dad… can quenching with oil really work?”

Zhou Xiong said nothing.

Zhou Yi waited a while. Seeing no response, he asked again:

“Where did this oil come from?”

Only then did Zhou Xiong answer.

“Bought it.”

Zhou Yi blinked.

“When did you buy it?”

Zhou Xiong said, “Been here a long time.”

Zhou Yi tried to remember. His father had indeed gone out several times before, but those trips were supposedly to deliver finished tools. When had he bought back a whole barrel of oil?

He wanted to ask more, but seeing his father’s expression, he swallowed the words.

The forge crackled.

One of the iron pieces slowly turned orange-red in the flames.

Zhou Xiong pulled them out and placed them on the anvil.

The two pieces lay side by side.

Zhou Yi watched from nearby.

He thought his father was about to start forging.

Instead, Zhou Xiong placed the glowing iron on the edge of the anvil and hammered it into a curved shape.

Zhou Yi froze.

What was this for?

The more he watched, the more confused he became.

His father was different today.

Everything he was doing looked like a magic trick. Zhou Yi couldn’t understand any of it.

He finally blurted out:

“Dad, what are you making?”

Without turning around, Zhou Xiong answered:

“A blade.”

Zhou Yi paused.

A blade?

The new blade?

He looked at the curved piece of iron, then at the barrel of oil in the corner.

Suddenly, he remembered yesterday’s broken blade.

Remembered his father saying he “wasn’t focused while quenching.”

He felt like he understood a little now.

His father was trying to prevent another break.

Oil quenching was different from water quenching.

But exactly how it was different, he didn’t know.

Zhou Xiong picked up the unheated piece of iron.

Clang.

Now the real forging began.

He hammered the second piece into the curved section, then shoved them back into the forge together.

Zhou Yi stood beside him, watching.

He had seen his father forge blades before.

But never like this.

Normally, forging a blade meant taking one piece of iron, heating it red-hot, hammering it into shape, quenching it, and finishing the job.

But today—

Two pieces of iron?

He blinked.

Zhou Xiong pulled out the now glowing layered iron and continued hammering.

Clang.

Clang.

Each strike was steady and controlled.

After watching for a long time, Zhou Yi finally couldn’t keep it in anymore.

“Dad, why are you using two pieces of iron?”

Zhou Xiong’s hands never stopped moving.

“Hard steel for the edge. Soft steel for the body.”

Zhou Yi froze.

Hard steel? Soft steel?

He looked at the leftover scraps on the table—the dark piece and the lighter piece.

The dark one was hard. The light one was soft.

Zhou Xiong kept hammering.

Clang.

Clang.

Zhou Yi stood there, watching the two pieces of iron slowly take the rough form of a blade.

Then he suddenly asked:

“Dad… if you forge it like this, it won’t break anymore, right?”

Zhou Xiong’s hands paused.

Only for a moment.

Then he continued hammering.

“Mm.”

Zhou Yi froze again.

His father said “mm”?

Which meant… his father could have used this method from the beginning?

Then why hadn’t he?

Zhou Yi stood there thinking for a long while.

That broken blade had been forged by him.

Quenched by him.

Even if his father had used laminated steel, if Zhou Yi’s quenching technique had still been wrong, the blade could have broken anyway.

Zhou Yi lowered his head and looked at his hands.

Those hands had produced a broken blade.

Today, his father stood beside him forging a new one, strike after strike.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi felt his eyes sting a little.

He couldn’t explain why.

They just stung.

As Zhou Xiong forged, he suddenly spoke.

“What are you standing there dazed for?”

Zhou Yi looked up.

Zhou Xiong didn’t look at him.

“Go move the oil trough over. We’ll use it for quenching later.”

Zhou Yi snapped back to himself and hurried over, carrying the trough of oil closer.

The oil sloshed gently inside.

Holding the trough beside his father, he watched the blade slowly take shape in Zhou Xiong’s hands.

The forge crackled softly.