In the Blade

"Hey, you've killed a lot of people with this knife."

While chewing the meat bun that was still a little warm, the middle-aged man pulled out his long knife to cut the horse and observed carefully.

"This...you killed all the grassland people? From Jibei?"

"How did you know?"

Du Chengfeng couldn't help but get curious.

Although he could feel that the middle-aged man deduced it by looking at the marks on the knife, it was really a bit too outrageous to judge who was killed by this knife just by looking.

You know, even if he wanted to know something else, he still had to sharpen the knife.

How did this strange middle-aged man in front of him know?

"Traces."

The middle-aged man pointed to some scratches on the blade.

"There is a shortage of craftsmen in the grasslands, and armor is expensive, so most soldiers prefer to wear cheaper hard leather armor or thick leather coats to resist damage... If it is iron armor, the scratches left will be metal, which is easy to be confused with the marks of collision with the blade, but for leather armor, because most of them are thicker, the marks left by rubbing will be wider."

"...Good eyesight."

Du Chengfeng couldn't help but arch his hands.

Master, this is a master. Unlike his way of directly connecting with the evil spirit of the sword and sensing the past of the weapon, this man can actually do so much with just naked eye observation.

Different from the way he knew before, such as using writing to sharpen the knife, or using private wine to sharpen the knife, the middle-aged man in front of him may be the most reliable grinding craftsman he has ever seen.

"So, do you really know how to repair this knife?"

At this moment, Du Chengfeng suddenly felt that if it was this man, he might really be able to do it.

Then the bun he just gave out was worth it?

"I know, but I need to know first what stage your process has reached."

After eating half a bun, the middle-aged man raised his head.

"Since you are a student here, you should have shown this knife to the headmaster here, right? What did he say?"

"This..."

Du Chengfeng scratched his head and roughly told the story that Ruan Shantao had told.

This is not something that needs to be kept secret. After all, judging from the appearance of the old man Ruan, although this story is not a household name, many people know it - of course, there are also people like Liu Bolun and Du Chengfeng who don't know it. In the eyes of the old man Ruan, this is a symbol of ignorance.

"So, if you want to revive this knife, you have to sacrifice a friend... but I don't want to do that."

"You are right. Being brave and resourceful, having feelings and righteousness, this is the true nature of a man."

The middle-aged man nodded repeatedly.

"What a good talent...boy, do you want to learn from me?"

"...learn from you?"

Du Chengfeng frowned slightly.

Although he admitted that this middle-aged man might have some skills, he just said he wanted to learn from him...what can he learn?

"Yes, learn from me."

The middle-aged man smiled.

"Here, you can indeed learn a lot, but the teaching here is still a bit...superficial. Just like what you said just now, the story that the headmaster told you, haven't you ever wondered how the young man who wanted revenge met the King of Chu?"

"...Huh?"

Du Chengfeng was stunned.

This, isn't it just charging into the palace? Is there any other version of this?

Yes.

There really is another version of this.

Under the middle-aged man's narration, Du Chengfeng gradually understood another aspect of the story.

The initial process was similar. After the brutal King of Chu got the sword, he killed the skilled swordsmith. The orphan and his widowed mother could only hide in the mountains for refuge. More than ten years later, the orphan's mother threw herself into the furnace to sacrifice the sword, and the orphan went to Yingdu of Chu to avenge his parents.

And the story diverged here.

Unlike what Old Man Ruan said, the orphan directly fought against the King of Chu. In the mouth of this middle-aged man, the orphan could not even see the King of Chu - this was the capital of Chu, the most heavily guarded place in the entire Chu land. Not only were there many soldiers and armors, and there were groups of sharp soldiers, but there were also nine battle-hardened generals who took turns to guard, leaving no loopholes.

An orphan with a sword might not even be able to get close to the city wall, and would be shot into a sieve by the spears and arrows of the sharp soldiers.

Even if he was good at martial arts and could face the challenge, he would be beheaded by the battle-hardened generals who came after hearing the inquiry.

Again, how could the King of Chu be a fool if he could hold a rare sharp blade and fight for more than ten years?

"It was at this time that a man in black came to the orphan."

The middle-aged man took the wine gourd handed over by Du Chengfeng, took a sip to moisten his throat, and continued to speak.

The man in black came to the orphan and claimed that he could help him get revenge, so the orphan followed the arrangement of the man in black with hatred - the orphan used the sword made by his mother to cut off his head with his own hands, and then handed the sword and head to the man in black.

Even if the head was lost, the headless body was still carrying out the revenge process, which was the manifestation of the extreme hatred.

And the head itself, naturally, became a terrifying monster under this extreme ferocity.

The man in black nailed the orphan's sword to the monster's head, and took the monster to the Palace of Chu. He declared to King Chu that he had found the remnant of the past, but the other party would rather be turned into a monster by the evil spirit to avenge the blood. . Although the monster has been restrained by him now, if he wants to completely destroy the monster, he must find a big cauldron and cook the monster completely.

King Chu didn't believe it just because he said this, but when he saw the sword nailed to the monster's head, King Chu was shaken again.

As for the reason, it was naturally because the once majestic Chu King Sword was now no longer useful.

Just like people, swords also have a lifespan. Although as long as they are well maintained, the lifespan of a weapon can far exceed that of a human body. However, no matter how high the level of maintenance is, no matter how good the sword is, it cannot withstand more than ten years of uninterrupted use. Conquer the east and conquer the west.

Even speaking, the fact that the Chu King's sword could last for more than ten years under such violent use by the King of Chu is enough to show how skilled the swordsmith was.

So after seeing this other sword, the King of Chu naturally would not let it go. He would continue to fight, and he would plant the Phoenix flag of Chu all over the world.

So, even though he had doubts, King Chu still sent people to build a big cauldron and threw the monster's head with the sharp blade on its head into it.

He put a fire under the cauldron and cooked it for three days and three nights. Seeing that there was no movement in the cauldron, King Chu became a little anxious no matter how patient he was.

At this time, the man in black spoke again.

"Your Majesty, the cauldron should be almost ready. Why don't you take a look for yourself?"

After three days and three nights of not having a good rest, King Chu's spirit and physical strength had been exhausted. At this moment, the man in black spoke, but King Chu did not doubt that he was there. He walked directly to the cauldron and lowered his head to take a look.

Then King Chu's head also fell into the cauldron.

It turned out that when King Chu looked towards the cauldron, the man in black pulled out King Chu's sword, raised the sword and cut off King Chu's head.

"Wait a minute."

Du Chengfeng suddenly felt confused after hearing this.

"Then King Chu's sword must have killed many people, right? With this sword..."

"That's right, King Chu himself became a monster."

The middle-aged man laughed.

But it was said that although the two heads had lost their bodies, they were still biting each other desperately under the evil spirit. At this time, the man in black threw the body of King Chu into the cauldron. , with the help of the headless corpse, the head of the King of Chu was like a tiger with wings. After a while, the orphan was defeated and even torn into pieces.

However, at the moment when King Chu, who had turned into a monster, finally won, a sharp blade penetrated its head. .

That was the already dilapidated King Chu Sword.

After nailing King Chu to the cauldron, the man in black also closed the lid of the cauldron and continued to increase the firepower.

After the fierce fire burned for seventy-seven forty-nine days, the man in black opened the lid of the cauldron and pulled out a vicious halberd that looked like a twisted spine.

Then, the newly appointed King of Chu, holding this terrifying divination halberd made of two sharp blades, charged into the battle and was invincible.

After that, it was passed down by three generations of Chu kings. This terrifying Divination Halberd finally led the former Chu Kingdom to conquer the world and became the Great Chu Dynasty.

"...Would you wait a moment?"

After hearing this, Du Chengfeng came back to his senses.

"The man in black is actually the prince of Chu? Did he just push his own father into the blame?"

"There is nothing we can do about this. After all, the King of Chu at that time was indeed too cruel. He mobilized troops for more than ten years in a row and did not give the Chu people a chance to recuperate. What's more, there is no prince in the world for forty years..."

Having said this, the middle-aged man couldn't help but shook his head.

"Well, this statement is indeed a bit unpleasant, so it is generally not spread outside."

"this……"

Du Chengfeng was speechless.

It’s different, it’s so different. If the story told by Old Man Ruan might have made him feel a little bit excited, then the other version told by the middle-aged man in front of him only made him feel cold all over. of.

Originally, he thought that using people to sacrifice weapons was outrageous enough, but it would be better to turn people into monsters first, and then use monsters to forge weapons... Thinking about it carefully, this is indeed a feasible way. ?

"In other words, as long as I find the monster and take out its spine, I can resurrect this knife?"

"Huh? You don't reject this method?"

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, but the smile on his face became even wider.

"But things are not as simple as you said. After all, your knife is dead. If you want to make the dead weapon come alive, enough evil spirit is essential. Fortunately, in terms of materials, your knife It's just a mortal, it's enough to kill a few hundred people casually. At this time, you find a person with evil spirit in his body. When he turns into a monster, nail him to death with a knife, and then throw the body and the knife into the furnace. …”

The middle-aged man spoke seriously, and Du Chengfeng listened attentively. He was teaching and learning at the same time, and it was like preaching and imparting knowledge.

However, the good times did not last long.

"Don't teach my students your misleading things."

Under the heavy pressure, even the breeze blowing the grass and trees stopped.

"It's not your turn to take care of my students."

"Brother Ruan, after all, he is also a former classmate. There is no need to be so harsh, right?"

Returning the Broken Horse Sword to Du Chengfeng, the middle-aged man stood up and smiled warmly at the burly old man who was walking towards him.

"You and I both graduated from the Imperial College. What difference does it make whether you teach or I teach?"

After hearing this, Du Chengfeng realized why he and the middle-aged man always gave him a subtle sense of familiarity even though he had never met before.

It turned out that this man was the former best friend of the soft old man Ruan Shantao in the memory of Fang Zheng Zhijian.

The Imperial College student named Xiang Rong.

The first update is here. I will try to update the second update before 2 o'clock.

This article still uses Mr. Lu Xun's "Mei Jian Chi" and Liu Xiang's "Li Shi Zhuan".

In addition: Thank you for your recommendation votes and monthly tickets, thank you for your encouragement and support.

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I will continue to write, please wait.