Chapter 234: Teacher, Hammer Me! (2)
After about 10 minutes, the two arrived at the hall Su Yu had visited previously. The room was messy, with numerous materials thrown all over the place.
Zhao Li did not even spare the materials a glance as he said, "Take your weapon out."
Su Yu released his cultural weapon. The weapon hovered in the air.
With a look at the weapon, Zhao Li nodded, "Not bad. Like I said, your filter room is very good at nurturing cultural weapons. This weapon mold won't need long to advance into the profound-grade soon. But you don't need a profound-grade weapon yet. You might not even be able to control it properly. Therefore, we won't be advancing it. At most, we'll push it into a pseudo-profound weapon."
He turned solemn and said, "Project your characters to the weapon. Use all your strength and activate their abilities."
Immediately after, the world before Zhao Li's eyes changed.
Illusion!
Zhao Li was surprised. He did not break out of the illusion. Instead, he started observing his surroundings. He was quite surprised at what he saw. This was a very powerful illusion. Even a seventh-stage Cloudbreach like him was slightly affected by it. This character seemed much stronger than normal first tier characters.
Next, lightning sprung up everywhere in the illusion.
Killing intent erupted.
Battle!
Kill!
"They're all very strong..."
Zhao Li was astonished. All four of this kid's characters were very strong. Generally, human characters would be weaker. But the characters of this kid were not weak at all. That was especially true for the illusion. It didn't feel like a mere first tier character.
"Keep going." Zhao Li said, "Fully unleash the strength of your abilities. I'll strengthen your weapon accordingly."
A ball of flame appeared in his hand. A black metallic ore was melted by him as he said, "This material is used to stabilize cultural weapons. Since you're an offensive character master, your weapon needs to be tough and durable. This material is called the profound yellow iron. Remember it."
While melting the material, Zhao Li started hammering the saber. After a series of hammering, a thin layer of film appeared around the black saber.
"Ah!"
Su Yu cried out as a sharp pain was assaulting him.
"Continue projecting your characters. This material is adapting to the weapon and your characters. It's normal to feel pain during this process. But this way, the final product will have higher compatibility with you. If you buy a weapon and let a different weaponsmith work on it for you, the compatibility definitely won't be as high."
"Thank you, Teacher..."
Su Yu felt like his head was going to burst apart.
The pain was rather extreme.
Zhao Li ignored Su Yu's painful expression. He wanted to see how long this kid could last.
With 55 percent willpower, he needed to keep four Divine Characters active while having his cultural weapon forged, damaging his willpower in the process. It would be impressive if he could even last five minutes.
"But this kid is very tenacious. I reckon he can last 10 minutes. I'll wait for you to cry for your mother after 10 minutes."
...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sounds of banging resounded, accompanied by Zhao Li's voice as he explained the process.
"This is the dazzling light stone. It is able to strengthen your illusions."
Yet another liquid fused with the weapon, bringing more pain to Su Yu's willpower.
The massive hammer continued banging on the weapon. The weapon was completely fine, but Su Yu felt like the strikes were hitting his head instead of the weapon.
Five minutes...eight minutes...ten minutes...
Su Yu was sweating heavily, his face pale.
Zhao Li asked, "Can you still hold on? If the pain is too much, you can also consider withdrawing your characters. The compatibility will drop and the weapon won't feel as smooth to use, but it will still be usable."
"Teacher...I'm fine!"
Su Yu replied while gasping for breath. His clothes were already drenched with sweat. A small puddle of sweat had formed on the ground under him. Beads of sweat were falling off his body like raindrops.
"In that case, we'll continue. Let me know when you reach your limit."
Zhao Li resumed the forging process, and the regret in his heart rose. What a pity. Truly a pity. Why hadn't this kid picked the Weaponsmithing Faculty?
But from all the offensive Divine Characters Su Yu had, Zhao Li also knew that this kid was more suited for the path of offense. However, he was still not reconciled to this. After all, this kid had caught his eyes even before entering the academy.
The two remained silent as the forging continued.
Zhao Li silently hammering Su Yu while Su Yu was clenching his teeth and endured strike after strike while his body trembled. Slowly, his head started feeling light.
He had not noticed that the hammer had switched from hammering the weapon to hammering the air not long ago. Or to be accurate, the hammer was hammering his willpower.
Zhao Li did not say anything. The massive hammer danced in the air and struck his willpower noiselessly. He was forging Su Yu's willpower. He was expanding Su Yu's willpower.
Without countless tempering, how could one's willpower grow strong?
Without countless tempering, how could one's willpower grow durable?
In front of Zhao Li, willpower was just another material he could forge. Only by forging it numerous times would a willpower more powerful than those in the same cultivation level could be formed. Only then would the strongest sea of willpower take form.
"Forging the weapon...and the man!" Inwardly, Zhao Li wondered, "How many of my hammers can you withstand?"
He had accepted many students before. Like he told Su Yu before, one of his students had even reached the Cloudbreach Realm.
He was 120 years old. Over the years, he had accepted 14 students. But after his previous student graduated, he had stopped accepting students. He had taught all 14 of his students sincerely.
Each of those students had been given one chance. A chance to have their weapons forged by him. If they could last five minutes, they would receive this opportunity: having their willpower forged.
Of the 14 students, 12 of them were able to last 5 minutes. That was proof that Zhao Li had an eye for talent. And among those 12, 3 fainted from pain after a single strike. Of the remaining 9, 6 couldn't last more than 3 strikes. Of the final 3, the best of them lasted 9 strikes. And that was the strongest student of Zhao Li, the individual who had eventually entered the Cloudbreach Realm.
Thus, this was also a way to measure one's potential. The longer one could endure, the more potential one would have. Of course, Zhao Li wasn't sure if that was really true, but from the performance of his students, that seemed to be the case.
The third strike landed.
Boom!
Su Yu felt like he was going deaf. His vision swam.
The fourth strike landed.
Even more beads of sweat fell off Su Yu's body.
Fifth strike. Sixth strike...
Again and again, the massive hammer dropped. The rumbling sound echoed in Su Yu's head. His sea of willpower was as firm as a mountain while his willpower was being struck again and again, causing it to go through an endless cycle of obliteration and rebirth.
Pain!
Su Yu couldn't understand why he was feeling so much pain. Was this how it felt like to forge weapons? Was this the only way to forge the strongest cultural weapon?
"T-teacher..."
Zhao Li was shocked. Dang it! The kid could still speak? What in the world?
"Teacher..." Su Yu muttered weakly, "Will...this weapon...be comparable to high-tier profound-grade weapons after the forging?"
"More or less."
"Then...does that mean that the weapon would be even more expensive?"
"..."
Zhao Li cursed inwardly before answering, "Of course. Even a low-tier profound-grade cultural weapon is worth thousands of merit points. Your current weapon is only a top-tier yellow-grade weapon. If you can last long enough, it will be comparable to profound weapons. Its value will jump from 100 merit points to 1,000 merit points..."
"A-an increase o-of 900 merit points?"
Su Yu was so shocked even his willpower started wavering.
"You need to last longer! This is not enough. You need to last at least...30 strikes!"
Zhao Li cursed inwardly. This little bastard loved money more than his life!
"Then...then it means a single strike...is worth 30 merit points?"
Su Yu was stunned. Immediately after, his fighting spirit soared as he roared, "Teacher, hammer me!"
His battle character shone brightly. An intense fighting spirit erupted from him. How could he not be excited? A single strike was worth 30 merit points.
Holy shit! What was this old man waiting for? Hammer him! Come on, stop staring!
"..."
Zhao Li was stunned.
Damn it! He was here to teach weaponsmithing, not accounting! This kid was too good at calculating.
"Yes. Hang on. A single strike is worth 30 merit points."
Zhao Li resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Whatever. Just look at that kid. After hearing about money, his battle intent had soared so much his Divine Character was shining like a sun. What else could Zhao Li say?
Boom!
Yet another strike landed.
"210 points!"
Su Yu roared.
He remembered that he had been hammered seven times so far. Of course, there were even more strikes earlier, but those strikes felt different. He could feel that the later strikes were the crux.
Zhao Li had the urge to give someone a beating, but now was not the time for it.
Rumble!
"240 points!"
Boom!
Again and again, the strikes landed. Su Yu roared until his throat was hoarse. This was his motivation to keep enduring the strikes. He kept telling himself how poor he was. He kept telling himself he couldn't even afford a proper cultural weapon.
If he could forge a cultural weapon comparable to a profound weapon, he would be able to keep using it until the Skysoar Realm. Compared to all that, what was a little bit of pain?
"390 points!"
Su Yu continued roaring with his hoarse voice. He was shouting so hard his face flushed red and the veins on his neck became visible.
At this point, the look in Zhao Li's eyes finally changed.
13th strike.
He wasn't serious when he said 30 strikes earlier. He wondered if Su Yu's sea of willpower had collapsed from all that hammering.
"Is your sea of willpower still fine?"
Zhao Li asked loudly.
"I...I'm fine...Teacher...hammer me!"
Zhao Li was shocked. The kid was still fine?
He was actually asking for more?
Boom!
Yet another strike landed. Su Yu's sea of willpower trembled as a powerful external force invaded, causing the golden book to pulse slightly. Su Yu was completely dazed, so he didn't notice what was happening.
After the slight pulse of the book, Su Yu's sea of willpower seemed to have expanded slightly. Even Zhao Li's body shook when he felt the counterforce from his strike.
"Hmm?"
Zhao Li was stunned. Willpower rampart? Had he only reached the kid's willpower border now? He had thought that he had long reached the willpower border.
Everyone's sea of willpower had different strength and size. Of course, the sea of willpower was a metaphysical existence instead of a real physical existence. Since Su Yu's sea of willpower was finally shaking, it meant that his hammer strikes had finally reached Su Yu's willpower border.
"I'm only reaching it now..."
Zhao Li blanked out. In that case, this was the first time the kid's willpower had grown since the hammering?
The growth in this case did not refer to the willpower percentage. Rather, it referred to the breadth of the willpower. The endurance of willpower. Basically, the sea of willpower was akin to a bottle of willpower. And now, Zhao Li was enlarging that bottle.
"In that case, I'll stop holding back."
Zhao Li was already sweating profusely. With a roar, he held onto the hammer with his own hand before bringing it down.
Boom!
"450 points!"
Boom!
"480 points!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Teacher...sl-slower..."
Su Yu was finding it hard keeping up as his mind was too heavy to be doing all those calculations.
"Slow my ass. Continue!"
Zhao Li was starting to turn pale. Using the Soul Expanding Art in this manner was exhausting a lot of his own willpower.
He landed one strike after another. At the final strike, Su Yu collapsed onto the ground. He had fainted.
Zhao Li also crumpled on the floor while gasping for breath. He looked at Su Yu with an odd gaze. Damn it. What kind of monster had he encountered? Was this kid still a human?
"How many strikes did he take? 28?" Zhao Li muttered to himself.
But his words seemed to have triggered the unconscious Su Yu who mumbled, "870 points...29...Teacher...one more strike..."
Pa!
Zhao Li slapped Su Yu unconscious. Just go to sleep! Damn it! Why was he still counting money in that daze? The kid must have gone crazy from his poverty. If they continued, the kid's sea of willpower would probably collapse.
"28...no, 29 strikes in total."
Zhao Li was in total disbelief. The student who had withstood 9 strikes back then had reached the Cloudbreach Realm. And that student wasn't even 50 yet. In that case, how far could Su Yu, who had withstood 29 strikes, go? Sure, this wasn't the absolute measure of one's potential. But it still meant something...
Zhao Li massaged his head. He could feel a headache coming. Was the kid going to reach the Mountainsea Realm? The Sunmoon Realm? Or the fabled Eternal Realm?
"My hammer strikes must be weaker today due to my lack of sleep. Yeah. I would have hammered him to death with three strikes otherwise!"
Zhao Li said to himself. He refused to believe this! Then again, this kid was truly scary. He had terrifying tenacity and potential.
Also, Zhao Li couldn't help but be impressed by Su Yu who could even continue counting money in such a condition. Thinking about that, Zhao Li didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. Was that because of the kid’s potential, or was that because the kid loved money too much?
"With such a weak level of willpower, he lasted this long. How terrifying. He is capable of forging ahead in spite of all challenges. He is able to endure all sorts of hardships."
If the willpower of others was akin to steel that had been tempered once, then Su Yu's willpower was basically equal to steel that had been tempered a hundred times.
"This isn't right. How is he so tenacious? It almost feels like...his willpower has been ravaged countless times before."
Zhao Li scratched his head in confusion, to the point he nearly pulled some of his hair off. Just how old was Su Yu? For Zhao Li, Su Yu was basically still a baby. Why did it feel like this baby had been tempered countless times before?