If he could choose, Zhou Shu didn't want to stand out in front of others.
But there was no other way. Xiao Zongshui had pushed him out. This was an open conspiracy.
Unless he fell out with Xiao Zongshui, he would have to complete the mission given by Xiao Zongshui.
Fall out?
He didn't seem to have the ability to do so yet.
Therefore, completing the mission was his only choice.
He wouldn't be able to complete and hand over 3,000 Huben Sabers in three months if he forged alone. Even if he could, he couldn't do it.
Which ordinary Forging Apprentice could forge 3,000 Huben Sabers in three months? Wouldn't that be telling others that he had a problem?
Since he couldn't do it alone, he would have to rely on the others.
Xiao Zongshi had sent around 40 people over. He couldn't just leave them idle, right?
Zhou Shu didn't take the revelation of the secret forging formula of the Huben Saber to heart.
Xiao Zongshui had already taken away the Huben Saber's secret forging formula. The loss wouldn't be much greater for Zhou Shu even if more people knew it.
Moreover, Zhou Shu didn't take the Huben Saber's secret forging formula seriously.
After all, the Huben Saber was just a sharp standard long blade.
The secret forging formula of a standard weapon had limited value.
If it was the secret forging formula of a ranked weapon, Zhou Shu would definitely not have such an attitude.
Zhou Shu took the hammer from Zhang Yibei's hands and tested its weight. Then he took out a piece of iron and placed it in the furnace.
His movements were neither fast nor slow. Every step he took was in line with convention. He didn't play any tricks.
He even deliberately slowed down so that everyone could see clearly.
Otherwise, with his proficiency due to forging Huben Sabers every day, he would be able to forge it in two hours!
Zhang Yibei watched Zhou Shu's actions without blinking.
He was confident that he hadn't made a mistake in his forging process. He had strictly followed the heat control procedures recorded in the secret forging formula, so why did it not work?
He wanted to see how Zhou Shu would forge this Huben Saber.
Ding Dang Dang! Zhou Shu finally began to forge the iron.
Monotonous pounding sounds fell on everyone's ears. They didn't know if it was an illusion or not, but everyone felt that Zhou Shu's pounding sounds had a certain rhythm to them. It sounded as pleasant as music.
Time slowly passed, and the long saber gradually took shape under Zhou Shu's hammer.
Pfft! A wave of white steam spread out. Zhou Shu pretended to wipe his sweat and threw the saber onto the forging table. "It's done! Did everyone see clearly?"
There was silence. No one answered. Everyone's expression was the same—stunned.
Although Zhou Shu's forging movements looked quite comfortable, to be honest, they hadn't seen anything special about it.
"Don't tell me you forged a standard long saber to fool us?" Zhang Yibei frowned.
"Brother Zhang, you're an expert. You're going overboard with your words," Zhou Shu said expressionlessly.
He grabbed the handle of the saber and swung it. Without much effort, the wooden stake under the anvil was cut in half.
"If it's a standard long saber, it can only break through one layer of armor. A Huben Saber can break through three layers. Brother Zhang, if you don't believe me, you can go to the testing ground to test the saber," Zhou Shu said calmly.
Zhang Yibei was at a loss for words. He wasn't blind. This saber was much sharper than ordinary standard long sabers. How could he not see it?
He had only blurted out those words subconsciously.
He was a little unwilling to accept that a brat who was not even fully grown was more skilled than him in terms of forging.
Most importantly, he had watched Zhou Shu forge this weapon from the side, but he had failed to notice anything special!
Upon seeing everyone's expressions, Zhou Shu understood. He sighed inwardly.
No wonder these people are only Forging Apprentices. Their aptitudes are really hard to explain with just a few words.
I already demonstrated in slow motion, but they didn't understand anything.
But on second thought, if there was a talented person, he would have become a Forging Master long ago. Why would he stay in the 97th Workshop?
These people had spent most of their lives as Forging Apprentices in the Forging Division. He really shouldn't have placed too much hope on their talents.
Zhou Shu now vaguely understood why Xiao Zongshui had made an unnecessary move to make him take charge of this mission. Could he have known that other Forging Apprentices couldn't forge the Huben Saber?
"Zhou…" Among the crowd, a Forging Apprentice spoke. He didn't know how to address Zhou Shu. Calling him by his name seemed a bit disrespectful, yet he didn't have Zhang Yibei's qualifications to call him 'Brother'.
He decided not to address Zhou Shu and continued, "I don't understand why Big Brother Zhang forged in the same way as you and didn't succeed, but you did."
"It just appears the same." Zhou Shu shook his head. "The secret forging formula clearly states that the forging process requires attentiveness to strength…"
"Of course I know that," Zhang Yibei said. "How can I not know when strength should be exerted and when it should not be?"
"The problem is that you don't exert enough strength when you need to, and you don't restrain enough strength at other times." Zhou Shu shook his head. "Most importantly, your rhythm isn't right.
"Rhythm is very important in forging a Huben Saber. Just like in this step, the hammer needs to strike heavily thirty-six times in a row without any pause. And here, strike twelve times. Every time you strike the middle, you have to pause," Zhou Shu slowly explained the process of forging a Huben Saber to everyone.
The entire process required hammering 3768 times. Every strike had strict rules.
These Forging Apprentices used to forge standard weapons and only needed to use force to forge them. Since when did they need to pay attention to so much?
Even if there were some specific rules, they were incomparable to those of the Huben Saber.
Even Zhang Yibei had a headache from listening to it. It was already impossible to memorize over 3,000 different methods of hammering metals.
How could he ensure that nothing went wrong during the forging process?
Was this something a human could do?
Everyone looked at Zhou Shu as if they were looking at a monster. They couldn't understand how he had managed to hammer over 3,000 times without making any mistakes.
It had to be known that there wasn't much time for consideration during the forging process. Otherwise, he could have failed at any moment.
Zhou Shu hadn't thought about it in detail before, but now that he broke the formula down with these people, he realized that it was indeed a little difficult to forge a Huben Saber.
The order, strength, and rhythm of more than 3,000 hammer strikes had to be correct in order to successfully forge a Huben Saber.
This required the forgers to remember everything in their hearts, and they had to be able to use the methods without thinking. The difficulty was extraordinary.
"Give me two years, and I will master the forging method of this Huben Saber!" Zhang Yibei said in a low voice.
With that said, his expression turned somewhat ugly.
Zhou Shu's expression became even uglier. Two years?
We don't even have two months, much less two years!
Xiao Zongshui needed 3,000 Huben Sabers in three months. Although they had 40 people, the workload wasn't small. To complete the mission, they had to start forging immediately!
By the time they mastered the forging method after two years, the grass on their graves would be three feet tall!
Everyone knew the outcome of not being able to complete the mission. Their expressions all turned very ugly.
Zhang Yibei needed two years to master the forging method of the Huben Saber. Their forging ability was inferior to his, so they would need even more time.
Almost subconsciously, everyone turned to look at Zhou Shu.
Zhou Shu had forged a Huben Saber. Unknowingly, everyone treated him as their true leader.
Even Zhang Yibei lost all of his previous arrogance as he cupped his hands toward Zhou Shu. "Brother Zhou, you are very skilled. Do you have any way to teach us?"
"That's right. Brother Zhou, please think of a way. This is truly too difficult."
The other apprentices also spoke.
"If we can't complete the mission, the superintendent won't let us off. He won't listen to our explanation."
"Brother Zhou, how did you do it? Do you have any tricks to teach us? At most, we'll give you half of the reward."
Everyone spoke one after another, asking Zhou Shu to think of a solution.
Zhou Shu rolled his eyes when he heard that. What can I do? I'm also very desperate! I've already taught you all the methods. I've explained every step in detail. If you can't do it, what can I do?
Although the forging method of the Huben Saber was complicated, Zhou Shu didn't think it was so difficult that he couldn't learn it. Even without the Legendary Armament Canon, he felt that he could master it in a few days.
Is this the difference between a genius and a poor student? Zhou Shu thought, seeking joy amid sorrow.
"Don't worry. Let me think about it." Zhou Shu sighed. He didn't want to care about these people, but he couldn't ignore them.
Without their help, even if he revealed all his strength, he wouldn't be able to forge 3,000 Huben Sabers in three months.
The only way was for these people to learn how to forge the Huben Saber.
But it was really difficult to teach a bunch of poor students.
Zhou Shu speechlessly looked up at the sky. What can I do to enlighten these people?
If he had enough time, he might be able to use the methods from his previous life to train Zhang Yibei and the others.
Unfortunately, what he lacked the most now was time.
If he had the time, he would be able to forge 3,000 Huben Sabers without Zhang Yibei and the rest!
"Brother Zhou, if you have any ideas, then please be generous and enlighten us." Zhang Yibei cupped his hands and spoke in a genteel manner. "We'll do as you say, and we absolutely won't disobey you in the slightest!"
"If we can complete this mission, you will be our benefactor, Brother Zhou!" Zhang Yibei and the others were also anxious. In the Forging Division, the consequences of failing to complete a mission were extremely severe. Since they had already been summoned by Xiao Zongshui, there was no room for them to refuse.
To them, completing the mission was their only choice.
To complete the mission, Zhou Shu was their only hope.
"Brother Zhou, please save us!" Under Zhang Yibei's lead, everyone spoke in unison.