Chapter 407 (1/2)

Armour

Gongjia Heng lived on a hill not far from the river. The hill was visible from the riverbank since there were not many hills around.

Shao Xuan probed and asked a few questions along the way, Gongjia Heng answered his questions- unless they were about Xia secrets. Gongjia Heng didn’t mind the questions and especially loved talking about wares he had cast and forged before like large ceremonial cauldrons, spears, swords. He spoke with confidence and pride.

To the Xia people, they called themselves the second-best in casting and forging. No one in this world dared call themselves the best, and if anyone could be called the best, it would be one of the Xia people.

Just as Gongjia Heng was praising himself, he was still alert for his surroundings. Although his expressions and speech looked like he was relaxed, he was still able to react immediately when there was a slight movement near them.

A gigantic worm with many legs shot out of the grass, taller than the both of them even though it wasn’t standing. On its head were two antennae and two pincers gnashing at Shao Xuan and Gongjia Heng. There was a huge, half-rotten tree laying horizontally before it but it would not be able to stop this worm.

Before Shao Xuan moved, Gongjia Heng, who was still showing off some wares he had once made with a grin, suddenly leapt up. He brought down his arms like the wind, a powerful surge of power travelled from his arms into the bronze hammer and crashed down unto the worm’s head. There was a gust of wind from the impact.

The worm, still waving its pincers, suddenly had a dent about half a meter deep in its head. The exoskeleton wrapping its head was now cracked and an olive green liquid sprayed out.

Such a powerful strike was still not a fatal blow to the giant worm. It merely got more agitated and thrashed about but the hammer flashed by and like the wind, it was smashed down again. It sounded like the skies would shake.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The cracked outer shell, under a rain of hits from the hammer, finally burst open with green liquid. In just a few blinks, the terrifyingly aggressive worm was suddenly motionless. Its head was just crumbs and pulp now.

When the hammer left its head, it was now dancing and swaying between Gongjia Heng’s hands. A bronze hammer of five hundred kilogrammes looked so light in his hands as if it was nothing.

Some people looked terrifying with their muscles but in reality lacked actual strength. However, Gongjia Heng, as a Xia person, had muscles filled with true power as his skin was etched with totemic cloud patterns.

He was a blacksmith!

Gongjia Heng shook off crumbs from the worm’s exoskeleton and the green liquid off his hammer then turned to walk with Shao Xuan.

“Where was I? Oh, right, a slave master with the surname Chao requested for me to make him a sword…”

Shao Xuan carried the ten-metre long crocodile easily to where he lived. There was a cave at the foot of the hill where he stored goods like food, random tools, stoneware, bone ware, metalwares etc.

However, Gongjia Heng did not live inside. He built a stone house outside a cave for himself. There was not much room to sleep inside though, about two-thirds of the house was used for forging.

Along the way, Shao Xuan noticed Gongjia Heng had set many traps around this area to protect himself from fearsome beasts within the forest. Even if they couldn’t protect him, they served as alarms.

“I live here,” Gongjia Heng said, pointing at the cave and the stone house.

Shao Xuan put down the crocodile and looked around as Gongjia Heng gave him a tour. Gongjia Heng was very passionate about it, probably because he rarely had visitors over. After looking at the food he had, he felt somewhat embarrassed to serve his guest with it. They were alright as food for himself but as a person who loved his face, after praising himself so much along the way, serving Shao Xuan such food seemed very underwhelming. The entire place was also very simple so he could only impress Shao Xuan with food. That was why he planned to slaughter the crocodile today and cook it.

As Gongjia Heng slaughtered the crocodile, Shao Xuan looked around at the things he had in the cave. Gongjia Heng did not try to hide them either, however the things in his stone house were still kept private- it was where he did his forging, he could not show his equipment to outsiders. Shao Xuan did not mind.

The cave was a little dark and deeper than he expected. Shao Xuan lighted a torch as he ventured deeper. He looked around. There were all kinds of tools, plants and fruits here. From the way these objects were strewn around, Gongjia Heng had been living here for a long time. He had mentioned he’d been living here for about twenty years.