BXBX NOVEL Chapter 430: What Are Friends For! (5)
Among all their known skills, the fact that the Tang Family were the best smiths was now being spread for the first time in several years, which excited them.
“What are we making?”
“Anything would be amazing!”
“But, can that Elder even hold a hammer? Isn’t it a widely known fact that he isn’t in a sane state of mind?”
“The Lord of the family has a plan.”
The eyes of the Tang Family turned to Tang Jo Pyung.
Meanwhile, the people in the forge were all busy moving around dusting the place while young men rushed in to inspect what was going on.
Tang Jo Pyung sat there, in front of the hearth, and watched it be fed coal.
“Good quality coal. The forge was well taken care of.”
Tang Gunak, who watched him, smiled,
“…Great Uncle, it has just not been used.”
“Is that so?”
“…”
Chung Myung, who watched this, bit his nails.
“Will this be fine? Is it okay to do this?”
Isn’t this like using all their cold steel in one go?
And Chung Myung, who was never nervous, was nervous now. This was because he had given this task to an old man, and he didn’t like this.
And despite Chung Myung’s anxiety, Tang Jo Pyung moved without hesitation. He jumped at the furnace–
“Get away!”
“Yes!”
Tang Zhan lifted a couple of things outside and carried them in, while Tang Jo Pyung filled those things into the furnace and while shouting,
“Lord!”
“Yes, Great Uncle!”
As if Tang Gunak was waiting, he came out with a small box. His face was tense.
Soon, the cap glided off, and a small red jewel appeared.
Tang Gunak carefully took out the gem and handed it to Tang Jo Pyung.
Baek Cheon tilted his head,
“What is that?”
Tang Pae answered,
“That gem is called the ‘White Flame Jade’. It is an object that emits heat as it is fed internal qi. You cannot start work without it.”
“Such a thing exists?”
“It is one of the famous items within the Tang Family. It is quite a valuable item.”
“Oh! A valuable item from the Tang Family.”
Just the word precious was…
“Expensive?”
“…”
Tang Pae pursued his lips at Chung Myung’s question.
He wasn’t sure how to answer him. In front of the world’s greediest Taoist, who poured out his greed shamelessly…
Fortunately, at that moment, Tang Jo Pyung got out and then lightly shook his hands as he shouted,
“Light the forge!”
Finally, the fire within the furnace began to shine!
“Lord!”
“Yes!”
“Use your qi! We need to increase the flames!”
“Yes! I understand!”
Tang Gunak and the elders of the Tang Family stood to the sides of the furnace. Perhaps the forge was designed to be heated this way, but everyone seemed to know where to stand.
As soon as they began to use their internal qi, the flame began to fiercely rise. Flames descended through the small hole in the bottom of the furnace and soon it became a waterfall of flames.
But Tang Jo Pyung wasn’t happy with this…
“More!”
Chung Myung, who was watching from the outside, asked Tang Pae.
“Is that a special brazier?”
Tang Pae nodded,
“Yes. It is a Tang Family brazier. A common Tang Family brazier is called a ‘Red Furnace’ and anyone within the Tang Family can use it. A furnace that can produce stronger flames is called a ‘Blue Furnace’ and can only be used by those the elders recognize.”
“Then that is a Blue Furnace?”
“No.”
“That is what is called a ‘White Furnace’. It is the one which only the head craftsman can use, and produces the strongest flames, at least within the Tang Family. Only this furnace can melt cold steel.”
“…”
Chung Myung looked at it.
Wheik!
The flames within were so huge that they almost seemed white.
“Wow! Hot!”
Everyone who saw this was thinking this. The heat was rising so much that the disciples from Mount Hua thought they would start to melt.
When it seemed like it was heated enough… Tang Jo Pyung waited another thirty minutes.
“Bring the metal!”
“Yes!”
The young Tang Family blacksmiths, who were waiting, immediately entered.
“Put it in!”
As soon as the order came, the cold steel was placed into the upper part of the furnace without delay.
“Coal!”
Heated coals were poured over the brazier once again… and, with that came larger white flames.
It was a horrible heat, enough to snatch the breath out of their lungs.
However, Tang Jo Pyung didn’t even blink his eyes despite standing right in front of the brazier. A flash of flames was burning in his eyes.
‘Is it not bad?’
Baek Cheon bit his tongue.
The feeble figure of the old man, going back and forth between thoughts, vanished. The person in front of Baek Cheon was someone who had devoted his entire life to metal and flames.
“…astonishing.”
Hearing Yoon Jong’s admiration, Baek Cheon nodded his head.
Reaching a certain level of mastery in any field caught people’s attention. The disciples of Mount Hua couldn’t take their eyes off what was happening within.
And just as they became mesmerized, in boomed the loud voice of the old man,
“More! More! Put in more and more flames! The quality of the metal will fall if the heat is irregular! It is not hot enough!”
Both the elders and Tang Gunak had sweat rolling down their foreheads.
“Switch!”
When Tang Jo Pyung shouted, the elders waiting in line came forward, and the ones working moved back.
Out of breath, the elders who fell back began to clean off their sweat.
“Uncle, is this right? The heat…”
“Shut up! Do as your told!”
His voice rang through like thunder. Tang Gunak couldn’t imagine that this was the same man who had been senile a second ago.
The heat curled up, and their lips and faces were all red, but Tang Jo Pyung’s eyes were solely focused on the flames.
“Not enough! How the hell did you guys train for you to be this weak? More! Do more now!”
The elders all had red faces as they infused qi. However, it wasn’t long before their legs began to shake.
“Switch!”
“Yes!”
The third line of elders, who had been waiting, moved in. But the moment they infused their qi, Tang Jo Pyung shouted.
“No!”
It was a strong voice full of anger, and his eyes moved from the furnace for the first time.
“Not! This will not do! Change now! Now! Not you! Bring in those with stronger qi!”
Then, Tang Pae, who was coordinating this, hurriedly said,
“B-But the first group hasn’t finished cultivating…”
“What?”
Tang Jo Pyung’s eyes shook violently,
“Are these the only elders here?”
Tang Pae didn’t answer and lowered his head. The other day, many elders had gone into seclusion after their conflict with Chung Myung.
Even if it was expanded to the members of the Tang Family who were members of the senate, there would be no shortage of people with internal qi… but the situation wasn’t that simple right now.
“You people! We need to start melting this right now! When the temperature drops, the steel will cool down along with the furnace, turning it all to scrap! Hurry up and call someone! Call those with internal qi, right now!”
“B-But the ones we selected are the best. Those with higher strength are not in Tang…”
“You stupid jerk!”
Tang Jo Pyung roared,
“Bring me Sword Saint Elder! Isn’t he supposed to have the best qi in the world!”
“…Uh?”
Everyone turned to Chung Myung.
“…”
Chung Myung looked at them with blank eyes and asked,
“… me?”
“…”
Baek Cheon calmly said,
“You fell to your own plan.”
Yoon Jong nodded,
“Even if the law of nature is clumsy, it will still punish wrong deeds.”
“Uh…”
When Chung Myung hesitated, Tang Jo Pyung asked,
“Sword Saint! We need your help now… huh? Who are you….?”
“…”
At that moment, when his mind began to falter, Chung Myung scratched his head and said,
“Who am I? You damned brat!”
Glancing back, he said,
“Follow me!”
“…us too?”
Instead of answering, Chung Myung looked at Tang Jo Pyung and asked,
“Does the type of internal qi matter, or do they simply need to withstand extended work?”
Tang Jo Pyung’s eyes glowed at the question,
“Type doesn’t matter. It can’t be Yin, and that is all. We need it to be pure!”
“Anything else is fine?”
“Yes!”
At that moment. The old man looked disappointed,
“You need to do it now! Where is the Sword Saint I know?! Come in now!”
“It is enough for half of us to go.”
“What?”
“N-No. All he needs is the right qi… huh?”
“…Um?”
Chung Myung smiled,
“Because I am here, you people with only a little qi.”
“…you are being rude.”
“Only a little qi?”
Mount Hua’s disciples grumbled, but Chung Myung was adamant,
“Shut it! You have to pay for the pills you took from me! Go quickly! You people, eating all I give and not paying me back!”
“I get it! Stop!”
Chung Myung, Baek Cheon, and Yu Yiseol all ran inside, and the elders were shocked.
Chung Myung pushed the elders out of the way.
“Get away, get away now, hurry!”
The elders gasped and shouted,
“D-Disciple! You cannot handle the heat! Do not do anything stupid here!”
“What force the forge has!”
Are you saying that these people eat all the good things and consider themselves gangsters?
“Move!”
“Get out of the way.”
“Wait!”
Chung Myung, Baek Cheon, and Yu Yiseol pushed away the elders who were clinging to the forge.
Taking a short breath, Chung Myung grabbed the handle which extended from the furnace. He wasn’t sure what the material was made from, but the handle wasn’t too hot compared to the heat around it.
“Into this!”
The three began to infuse their qi into their own handles.
“Oh?”
At the same time, Tang Jo Pyung’s face, which had been a bit disturbed, brightened.
The flame was now going from blue to white. That was all. And the white flames began to heat up again.
Tang Jo Pyung nodded as he confirmed the temperature of the cold steel was rising.
“Young ones have so much strength! Good! If we continue like this…”
“But…”
“Huk!”
Tang Jo Pyung gulped, looking at Chung Myung, who was staring right at him.
‘He can talk despite having to infuse his qi into this?’
He was agape.
“How long do we have to do this?… Elder?”
“…”
Tang Jo Pyung came to his senses and said,
“Four to three days.”
“Three days?”
Chung Myung frowned,
“Hmm, too long. If we increase the qi, then can the duration be shortened?”
“…it is possible with the right amount of qi. But can that…”
“Yes, I get it. Then…”
Chung Myung smiled…
“Be careful not to overdo it!”
At that moment, the clothes of Chung Myung moved like he was in the middle of a tornado, and the flames began to violently rise.
Tang Jo Pyung, who was initially stunned, became ecstatic,
“Nice! Let’s try it, start moving now!”
“Yes!”
From the open chimney of the workshop, white flames shot up like a dragon moving to the heavens.