Chapter 143: Chapter 142: Black Crow Stone? Black Gold!
"It\'s enough. Please continue to heat it, teacher," Tang San said as he picked up the tongs beside him and clamped the piece of Black Crow Stone that had undergone the greatest color change due to Zhang Haoxuan\'s direct flame tempering.
This piece of Black Crow Stone had been scorched red, radiating intense heat the moment it was clamped.
Tang San placed it on the anvil, stabilized it with the tongs in his left hand, and his forging hammer in his right hand began to swing.
Mysterious Heaven Method had been cultivated to the sixth level. Under the operation of the Mysterious Heaven Method, the hammer felt as light as nothing, and with a "clang," the first strike smashed heavily onto the Black Crow Stone.
Zhang Haoxuan clearly saw that the usually extremely hard Black Crow Stone was actually flattened. He immediately showed an expression of surprise. Under his high-temperature tempering, the hardness of the Black Crow Stone had indeed decreased!
Tang San\'s movements did not stop. The forging hammer in his hand followed each half-turn of his body, striking again and again. Even while controlling the tongs with his left hand, his right hand\'s forging hammer was still able to leverage the power from the twist of his body, making each strike stronger than the last.
Although this was not the complete Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer technique, it was already very astonishing.
With each heavy strike, the Black Crow Stone continually deformed, and as it changed shape, black powder scattered in all directions.
Zhang Haoxuan watched Tang San forge and noted with amazement that when Tang San held that forging hammer, his entire demeanor seemed to change; it was as if the hammer was a natural extension of his body, almost giving the impression of perfect harmony between man and hammer.
Tang San himself felt the same. The hammer—back in his previous life, his second Martial Soul was a hammer! Known as the strongest existence in terms of power, it was always the final trump card and the most powerful lethal weapon when facing formidable enemies.
Unfortunately, in this life, he hadn\'t brought any of that with him. But the feeling of wielding a hammer was still there.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
"Clang, clang, clang!"
The forging hammer struck down repeatedly, and that piece of Black Crow Stone was rapidly shrinking, yet it began to exhibit some bizarre changes.
The initially pitch-black stone started to emit a metallic luster as it shrank in volume. The somewhat dark gold color also grew richer with each of Tang San\'s strikes. Every heavy blow seemed to brighten its color, slowly acquiring the taste of metal.
"Is this..." Zhang Haoxuan\'s pupils contracted—metal? The Black Crow Stone could actually be forged into metal like other metal ores? There had been attempts in the past, right, but none had succeeded. Was it because the tempering temperature was not high enough? Or was it that forging required a sufficiently powerful force?
While he was filled with doubts, all of a sudden, the Black Crow Stone under Tang San\'s hammer erupted into a dazzling light, a ray that shot up nearly ten feet high. The light continued to flash for several seconds before it disappeared without a trace. The Black Crow Stone had also become a piece of dark gold metal, with a volume of less than one-fifth of its initial size.
Tang San squatted down to closely examine the metal. The original hardness of the Black Crow Stone was still there and had become even stronger. When the Black Crow Stone turned into the Black Gold before him, its toughness had increased by an unknown multiple.
Black Gold, in his previous life, was definitely a rare metal as scarce as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Its greatest characteristic is its inertness, not reacting strongly to any attribute. The extremely tough Black Gold, under its own inertia, could nearly resist the invasion of most attributes. Whether used as a weapon or as armor, it was an excellent choice.
When Tang San first saw those pieces of Black Crow Stone, he wasn\'t sure if they were Black Gold Ore. Not until his second look, leveraging the improved Spirit Rhinoceros Eye, did he make a more accurate judgment, basically confirming that the Black Crow Stone was indeed Black Gold Ore.
Now that the forging was complete, not only had he confirmed the Black Gold Ore, but its purity was also quite high.
Although Black Gold was not a particularly precious rare metal, it was the most suitable for making forging hammers, with an incredibly strong bearing capacity. Moreover, it was great for creating hidden weapons, capable of easily piercing through the various attribute defenses of enemies.
This was also why Tang San had nearly bought out all the Black Crow Stone. It could be used to make hidden weapons. At the moment, he was actually lacking effective means of attack, but with hidden weapons, that would be a different story.
"What is this?" Zhang Haoxuan asked, looking at Tang San with a surprised face.
Tang San shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don\'t know either. I just wanted to forge some metals and then try to create some hidden weapons recorded in the Mystic Sky Records. Teacher, this metal seems quite tough."
Zhang Haoxuan raised his hand to draw the successfully forged Black Gold into his palm and silently felt it, squeezing it hard with his hand. Just as Tang San had said, the quality of this Black Gold was exceptionally high, very tough. At least, it was one of the hardest metals he had ever seen.
Is this also possible?
Is this turning waste into treasure?
"Teacher, let\'s continue. Let\'s strive to refine all of these Black Crow Stones this afternoon," Tang San said.
Zhang Haoxuan could not help but ask, "What was that light emitted just now?"
Tang San looked innocent and said, "I don\'t know either!"
He couldn\'t possibly tell his teacher that it was called Thousand Refining, a reaction of rare metals when forging reached a certain level, could he? Thousand-refine spirit, Thousand Refining. Although his cultivation base was far from what it had been in his previous life, forging to this top-level effect was still very easy for him. Without Zhang Haoxuan present, he could have even further refined the metal. However, for now, there was no need; he would simply refine these Black Crow Stones. The biggest problem with Black Gold Ore was that it required extremely high temperatures for forging. Once it became Black Gold, it no longer needed such high temperatures. The temperature of the forging furnace was enough for the necessary tempering. Thus, the only thing that really restrained Black Gold was actually fire, especially high-temperature fire attributes. Under high temperatures, Black Gold would soften. Apart from that, it was nearly fearless against any other attributes. As for not being resistant to high temperatures, Tang San would think of other ways, such as pairing it with another metal for alloy forging.
But for now, there was no need to think so extremly, as pure Black Gold was already an excellent material for creating hidden weapons.
Zhang Haoxuan continued to temper, and Tang San continued to forge. Zhang Haoxuan quickly noticed that at first Tang San seemed somewhat unskillful, but gradually, he swung the forging hammer more and more proficiently. The hammer whirled through the air with a vigorous wind, and now and then, it would send out bursts of light. The rhythmic beating, as if carrying a special melody, echoed continuously within the blacksmith shop.
After years of observation, Tang San had long realized that the forging level of this world was actually quite average, which might also be related to the world\'s overly abundant resources and the Monster Clan and Spirit Clan\'s own strengths being too powerful. Of course, he couldn\'t reveal forging techniques that were much higher than the level of this world, but he could still display some basic forging.
As Tang San molded each piece of Black Gold, he didn\'t rush to shape them, but instead focused on refining all the Black Crow Stone into Black Gold first, which was the most important. This required Zhang Haoxuan\'s bloodline flame, and once the Black Gold was achieved, it could be forged using just the blacksmith shop, which he could manage on his own.