The Nine Cauldrons

The spear is done!

Before leaving for Great Yan Mountain, Teng Qingshan had purchased a set of clothes to replace his cotton gown and hid his saber in a cloth bag while still in the city. This was just like his usual attire and he walked towards his village with the bag on his shoulder.

“Qingshan came back!” The gatekeepers of Teng Jia Village greeted him with a smile and Teng Qingshan replied with a warm greeting. After only leaving the village for one day, there were no changes in Teng Jia Village. With more than 2000 people inside this village, who would pay attention to where Teng Qingshan was going or staying?

After all, even inside Teng Jia Village, Teng Qingshan would practice his spear arts and Xing Yi Martial Arts at home and the clansmen would normally rarely see him.

“Brother!” A pretty girl delightedly shouted from the training field.

“Qingyu.” Teng Qingshan cared very much for his younger sister. At thirteen years old, Qingyu had become extraordinary beautiful. Once a girl turned 14, she would count as an adult and could get married. Already, many people had come to propose a marriage with Teng Qingyu. Whether it was people outside the village or people from their own village, many suitors came.

The Teng clan was a dynasty that had a millennium long history. Within their history, there had been many dangerous and difficult days during migrations. In order to protect the clan’s heritage, there was no marriage allowed between cousins or even cousins twice removed.

However now that the situation of the Teng clan had stabilized, as so long as it was not within three degrees of kinship, they could get married.

“Qingyu, where is father right now?” Teng Qingshan asked.

“He is inside the weapon warehouse,” Teng Qingyu replied.

“Go ask Father to come home.” Teng Qingshan entrusted her with this task. “Mh, okay.” Teng Qingyu immediately ran towards the weapon warehouse, while Teng Qingshan held his bag and continued to walk towards home.

Shortly, inside Teng Qingshan’s living room.

Teng Yongfan, Teng Qingshan, and Teng Yunlong were all gathered here and Teng Yongfan immediately locked up the front door.

“Qingshan, what did you trade that 7 Jin 2 Taels Purple Radiant Coldsteel with?” Teng Yunlong was somewhat excited.

Teng Qingshan looked at his grandfather full of surprise, before hearing his father Teng Yongfan nearby laughing, “Qingshan, after you went to Yi City to trade, I went to your grandfather to discuss this matter and he was extremely happy. His grandson was so amazing that he could fight a Flood Dragon, haha. Seeing a youngster like you being so reckless made your grandfather very upset. However, fortunately your grandfather promised to help me build this weapon for you.”

“Thank you, Grandfather,” Teng Qingshan immediately said.

“Haha, I have been blacksmith for my whole lifetime. Being able to build a godly weapon, I can die with no regrets.” Teng Yunlong issued a hearty laugh.

“Grandfather, look.”

While taking, Teng Qingshan opened the two nearby cloth bags. Inside the first one, there were blocks of Star Pattern Steel and the other one was filled with dazzling lights. Once opened, the shiny gold bars inside caught everyone’s eyes.

Both Teng Yunlong and Teng Yongfan held their breaths while their eyes widened into perfect circles.

“There are 110 Jin of Star Pattern Steel and 60 Jin of gold!” Teng Qingshan said.

“60 Jin of gold!” Teng Yunlong was startled the moment, before immediately start laughing and looking at Teng Yongfan beside him, “Yongfan, in my whole life, I have never seen so much gold! Ah, 60 Jin is 620 taels of gold! With this gold, my Teng Jia Village wouldn’t be afraid to run out of money for at least a hundred years.”

The bars varied in weight, some weighed 1 tael per bar while some large bars weighed 1 Jin each.

Seeing such a big pile of gold bars, it could indeed shake a human’s eyes and move a person’s heart.

“7 Jin 2 Tael of Purple Radiant Coldsteel could be traded for so much Star Pattern Steel and gold!” Teng Yongfan also burst out laughing.

“Building a Godly Weapon with the Star Pattern Steel and Purple Radiant Coldsteel, I couldn’t even dare to dream of it before!” Teng Yunlong the eyes lit up, “A spear shaft of the best material, Star Pattern Steel and a spearhead of the toughest material, Purple Radiant Coldsteel. Within the Nine Prefectures, a weapon that surpassed this long spear would be hard to find.”

“Yongfan, if you ask me, we should rest well today and start the furnace early tomorrow morning!” Teng Yunlong said.

“Alright master. All the tools to build this weapon are already prepared and we only need to start the furnace.” Teng Yongfan said with a smile.

……

The next morning.

The courtyard gates in front and behind the weapon warehouse were both locked. There were only three people inside the weapon warehouse, Teng Yunlong, Teng Yongfan, and Teng Qingshan. Teng Yongfan acted as the main blacksmith and Teng Yunlong as the secondary blacksmith. As for Teng Qingshan, he would be responsible for all the odd jobs. No matter what his father and grandfather asked of him, he must immediately do it.

Teng Qingshan finished these various chores very quickly.

In a blink of an eye, darkness fell upon them.

Teng Qingshan stood at the entrance of the back door.

“Qingshan, takes this food inside with you.” Yuan Lan came up carrying a bamboo basket containing food and handed it to Teng Qingshan.

“Okay.” Teng Qingshan took it from her with a smile, “Mother, Father and I won’t come home tonight. You should lock the door and go sleep earlier. Don’t wait for us.”

“Your father and your grandfather both went crazy. In order to build a single weapon, they don’t even sleep anymore.” Yuan Lan helplessly shook her head. She knew that her man and adoptive father were building a weapon for Teng Qingshan. However, she actually didn’t know ……how amazingly valuable Teng Qingshan’s weapon was.

“Mother, father and grandfather are doing it for me. Alright, I am going back.” Teng Qingshan smiled after talking to his mother, before entering back into the weapon warehouse and locking the door.

“Clang!” “Clang!” “Clang!”……

Rhythmic hammering noises could be heard continuously.

Teng Qingshan looked from afar at how his father swung his iron hammer inside the weapon warehouse. Normally it would be quick to build a weapon, however Teng Qingshan’s spear was different. Making the shaft was not hard, but making the spearhead was incredibly difficult! After all, the Star Pattern Steel was easy to soften under high temperature.

However, the Ten Millennia Coldsteel was much more difficult to work with.

This Ten Millennia Coldsteel was indestructible and even under extremely the high temperature, it didn’t deform or melt. To shape the Ten Millennia Coldsteel was extremely difficult and even in Yi City it was hard to find a weapon blacksmith master that could manipulate it.

However, Teng Jia Village had continuously produced weapons for a millennium and accumulated unique experience. Although their fame was not big, their craftsmanship was indeed very high. Teng Yongfan and Teng Yunlong only dared to work on this spear because they had the confidence to make it. Teng Qingshan noticed that his grandfather Teng Yunlong frequently scattered some powder on the Ten Millennia Coldsteel.

Chi, Chi

Each time the powder dropped on to the metal, the temperature rose while making the Ten Millennia Coldsteel slightly softer.

“Becoming a good weapon blacksmith master is not easy.” Teng Qingshan didn’t understand what his father and grandfather were doing.

The dark night passed by and morning dawn arrived.

Both Teng Yongfan and Teng Yunlong hadn’t had a moment of rest and completely focused their energy on the weapon.

Another day passed.

Darkness felt upon them again.

“Ha ……it’s done.” Teng Yongfan laughed and left the weapon warehouse while holding the long spear. The nearby Teng Yunlong looked tired, but his eyes were filled with excitement as he also entered the courtyard.

“Qingshan, have a look at the godly weapon that your grandfather and I made.” Teng Yongfan’s face was full of confidence as he handed over the spear to Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan’s heart couldn’t help but feel somewhat excited after receiving this long spear. The spear shaft was icy cold and gave people a calm heart. This long spear’s shaft was completely silver with a black spearhead coupled with a red tassel. At first glance, it looked very ordinary. This spearhead appeared the same as a common Damascus Steel Spear. There was even a thin, high ridge blade tip and a blood slit on the back.

Although the spearhead was black, it was very shiny and could reflect the furnace fire from the weapon warehouse.

“Qingshan, this spear has used one hundred Jin of Star Pattern Steel as well as 8 Jin 2 Taels of Ten Millennia Coldsteel and weights in total 108 Jin! The length of the spear is 9 Chi 6 Cun!” Teng Yunlong laughed, “This Purple Radiant Coldsteel was really damn hard to refine. It took almost 36 hours to create this spear.”

Only after spending 36 hours, they managed to produce this godly spear.

“Huh, Father, Grandfather, why is this spear shaft silver, it doesn’t look like Star Pattern Steel?” Teng Qingshan asked with some doubts.

Star Pattern Steel was by itself bright silver, instead of this simple silver.

“This is only an easy technique,” Teng Yongfan burst out laughing, “Would you rather people recognized that this spear was made of Star Pattern Steel?”

“Oh.” Teng Qingshan nodded his head.

Without doing this, under this heaven where battles occurred frequently, once people recognize that this spear was made of Star Pattern Steel, it would surely cause others to desire it. It was better that no one could notice it.

Moreover, the Purple Radiant Coldsteel would only reveal its true form in the darkness. Otherwise, it was almost impossible to find out that this spearhead was made of Ten Millennia Coldsteel.

“The material to make this long spear was obtained by you inside the Frost Jade Pool through a narrow escape from a life and death battle.” Teng Yunlong said emotionally, “Forging it using my Teng clan’s blacksmithing experience that we inherited over a millennium, this godly weapon is born.”

“This is my Teng clan’s first godly weapon in a millennium!” Teng Yunlong was somewhat excited and looked at Teng Qingshan, “Qingshan, this godly spear, how will you name it?”