Minutes passed, with each sentence turning into an explanation that further explained the exact process that Sheng Wang was asking Sheng Hao to follow in a specific rhythm.
By the time Sheng Wang took Sheng Hao through an entire rotation cycle, he was surprised to see that his three-year-old grandson had memorized the exact rhythm after completing the sixty-six rotations.
"Interesting…" thought Sheng Wang as he couldn't but stop giving instruction on how to use the fan.
"Remember this cycle! Hold the same tempo for three more cycles. Then, the iron will be ready when the ore goes through the final cycle."
Following that sentence, the more than ninety-year-old spiritualist grabbed a large hammer that had quietly been sitting on the side. Another movement liberated his shriveled but still muscular upper body from his clothes as he prepared himself mentally for the task he was going to execute.
His strong right arm shivered slightly, transferring the vibration to his fist and to the hammer he was holding inside the palm of his dominant hand. His feet taking root on the grass of the quiet courtyard, with every few second his arm vibrating and following the motion of the wind ruffling in the courtyard.
The quiet grandfather's figure turned into a solid tree, solid and unshakable. Sheng Hao's head couldn't help but turn to the left the moment he heard the strange metallic hum that escaped Sheng Wang's hammer. His eyes shone brightly with his eyebrows curving in surprise, he almost blurted out loud his thought but his trembling arms reminded him of the task he needed to complete.
"This sound!?" the percussive hum that left the hammer hit a strange note that couldn't help but put Sheng Hao in a strange trance. Thankfully, his mind was still able to keep part of his focus for his current task. Although his current body bolstered weak physical strength, it still seemed to be somewhat gifted when it came to endurance.
He didn't know if his soul played a role in the fact that his body recovered strength quickly, but he felt that he could still maintain the same rhythm for more than dozens of minutes before grasping loudly to stay conscious
Lighting up the charcoal made him feel as though he was going to faint, thankfully the current task only needed him to blow the fan once every few breaths. The strange pattern might be difficult to grasp. But to the reincarnated drunkard that had spent far too many hours accompanied by a metronome's tics, the task came up naturally for his body.
The hammer's low melody accompanied the fan's whistling, and before long Sheng Wang's warm-up came to an end. In the end of his pre-hammering routine, the humming hammer turned into a constant and inaudible low vibration that shook the air surrounding the old man. He moved and arrived next to the furnace in two confident steps before grabbing the rough iron ore that had turned reddish with his bare hands, his thick skin was coated with a thin layer of colorless spiritual energy.
"Get in a safe place near the house." The old man ordered without ever stopping in his movement.
Sheng Hao's face took a disappointed mask but he still started walking toward the trees that sat near the house, his round face was flushed red with pearly drops of sweat constantly falling on the leaves that floored the garden.
His grandfather's movements were excessively fast but impeccably precise. He placed the burning material on top of a square-shaped anvil and lifted the humming hammer before his body froze in that same posture.
Sheng Hao didn't know if his grandfather had been waiting for a specific moment or if he was waiting for him to be far from the anvil. But the moment he arrived to the tree, the humming hammer smashed straight on top of the flaming red ore that was releasing steam.
The chubby toddler's heart skipped a beat the moment Sheng Wang's hammer connected with the iron ore. A powerful explosion of sound reverberated through the small courtyard and traveled to the rest of the village. Soon after the first strike, another followed and awoke Sheng Hao from his stupor. He felt prickles on his skin and sensed the air surrounding the courtyard slapping his skin as though he was standing in front of a stack of large-sized amps.
By the time his thought resumed, Sheng Wang's hammer descended once again. This time, the powerful hum was produced dozens of times in a row as the old man smashed the red ore with a constant velocity.
"What a peculiar rhythm…" mumbled a Sheng Hao that couldn't help but direct his entire focus on the square anvil. Although it seemed Sheng Wang was savagely smashing the iron ore, without any care for precision or logic. The strength he delivered to the flaming red iron was different with every single strike that left the arm holding the hammer.
"Every single one of his strike is producing a different noise…" mumbled the reincarnated man that couldn't help but be impressed by the percussive nature of the smelting session.
"I don't know if he intended to give his hammer such a musical tone." He somewhat sighed as his eyes never lost focus from the arm that grabbed the hammer.
In his mind appeared a vision of his right arm holding the hammer as he couldn't help but try to execute one of the movements, he was seeing inside of his imagination. His chubby face moved left and right as he sighed with his attempt coming to a stop.
Sheng Wang stroke the iron ore thirty-three times before stopping, the reddish ore had already shrunk a little after the rapid hammering. The breath that left the old man's mouth resembled the white smoke tobacco would release and after a few breaths, his surroundings had turned completely cloudy.
"After striking the iron, we bath it in this cold liquid preparation made out of dozens of normal plants and spiritual herb that have ice properties. The reaction between the steaming hot smelted metal and the cold liquid will further enhance the density of the smelted ore."
"You can smelt the same ore several times with this technique but at some point you will end up wasting material, furthermore smelting a metal more than once will raise the difficulty of the smelting process by a large margin."
"You don't have to remember everything that I am showing you right now, but try your best to understand as much as you can." The serious expression marking the old man's face housed a kind smile that befitted his grandfather's statue and seniority. "In the end, you are still young and can't be expected to hold a heavy hammer. But I hope you are enjoying working together with your sick grandfather!"
Sheng Hao nodded several times in a row, he stopped himself from blurting out that he remembered the majority of what his grandfather just showed. Although he remembered it, it didn't mean that he would be able to reproduce it even if he was suddenly in control of his grandfather's body. To be more precise, what the reincarnated man had memorized was the strange rhythmic hum the hammer released throughout the smelting session. Every single nuance of each hammer hum had been registered inside of Sheng Hao's mind as if he learned a melody by ear.
Although he was a bona fide novice when it came to forgery. Back on Earth, before losing focus on music and everything else, he had been the kind of individual that genuinely enjoyed delving in different crafts and domains. He particularly enjoyed everything that was demanding on his focus and dexterity, wanting more every time he managed to further challenge himself.
Throughout these different challenges, he had ended up building himself a mental and muscular memory that couldn't be underestimated.
"Although I can't reproduce it now, I can one hundred percent execute what I just saw if I practice hard enough." The confidence in that thought was somewhat scary and even seemed obsessive in nature.
"I'd love to help you every time you are going to work." He finally blurted in a shy tone. He couldn't help but fear that his grandfather wouldn't agree to this demand as he could understand that experts would sometimes be reluctant to fully reveal their skills.
"Of course little Hao! That will always be my pleasure if you accompany me." The short answer was humble and showed a strange emotion when he agreed to his grandson's demand. Sheng Wang couldn't help but feel tired after the short session, his hands massaged his shoulder and circulated his energy to heal his sore muscles.
After that, Sheng Wang's eyes looked at the fiery pit before turning back to Sheng Hao who immediately understood the meaning intended behind that gaze. The young boy nearly ran into a small dart toward the furnace, grabbed the strange fan and started blowing air into the charcoals that had lost part of their red hue.
His mind once again focused entirely on raising the temperature of the furnace. A few minutes passed, small beads of sweat pearled out of his chubby body and turned into a small puddle near his feet. But the young boy only gritted his teeth and pushed through with a slightly mad expression flashing in the iris of his childish eyes.
His vision blurred but his entire focus never stopped sensing the air that escaped from the furnace's fiery mouth. His determination maintained his consciousness as a bitter metallic filled the back of his throat, he knew that he was approaching the end of his body's current capacities and would soon faint.
That knowledge didn't stop his movement and it even seemed like it further enhanced his senses, turning them sharp to the point where the burning hot air current that left the furnace felt like small sparkles on his skin.
"This is weird, I have never attained this level of focus back on Earth…" he wondered silently as he suddenly came to a stop. His small body steadily approached the pouch that contained the rough iron ores, he grabbed one with difficulty before placing it in the pit.
His actions were done with such confidence that Sheng Wang had difficulty stopping the small child. He found himself somewhat ashamed when he saw Sheng Hao's trembling body but also felt proud when he saw the expression that was plastered on the face of the small child.
The physical exertion the small child was going through was forcing his face into a reddish hue, his breath were heavy and it even seemed that he was going to faint at any moment. The serious expression showed on the reddish face didn't contain any hint of pain and wasn't something that should appear on a child of his age.
That thought didn't escape Sheng Wang's mind, he sighed as he couldn't help but thank heaven for the strangely talented new offspring of the Sheng Clan. Even if they faced misfortune, their clan's luck seemed to have taken a different turn with their last offspring showing great signs of development.
He approached a working Sheng Hao with calm steps, his hammer still in hand as he nodded silently when judging the quality of Hao's fire control. A few minute passed accompanied by Sheng Wang's humming hammer routinely singing before arriving to the same inaudible low hum that he released when he was ready to hammer the ore.
Once the iron ore's temperature rose to the precise degree he wanted. He grabbed the reddish ore and place it on the table before nodding to Sheng Hao, who unwillingly stepped back to a position far from the anvil, with eyes never leaving Sheng Wang's wide back.
The moment Sheng Wang sensed that his surroundings were clear, he once again swung his hammer with the same astounding velocity. If any spiritualist was present, they would notice that the old man was barely using his own spiritual energy and was fully relying on his body's physical strength to smelt the iron.
Although the act of smelting iron ore chunks of bad quality into good iron ingots wasn't anything surprising, Sheng Wang's technique was one that helped the metal develop hints of spirituality and raised their quality an entire step above normal metal ingots.
"This technique of mine was developed after studying several hammer techniques. It relies solely on the user's physique and uses hundreds of martial principles from the Jianshen Empire. In all fairness, this wasn't anything easy to create and even less to fully master."
"However, I can always teach you the arts I used to develop it. Just any basic grasp in one of them can already help you develop some mastery when it comes to forgery."
"The Singing Hammer is kind of my own blacksmithing legacy, as you are my own blood I have nothing to hide and am ready to teach you everything." The tone in the sentence showed that he would never hesitate when it came to helping his grandson. If the young boy had talent, he would do his best in sharing everything with him.
"However, you must brace yourself with patience! You are currently far too young to learn anything as even the easiest exercise can potentially injure your developing body and ruin your future progress."
"Be patient, Hao!"
The speed of the singing hammer accelerated, its hum accompanied the deep and acute sound it released when the large hammer connected with the metal. The last strike ended the smelting, with Sheng Hao's intense focus on the session coming to an end. The child's breath was harsh and gave the impression that he was the one that had just gone through the smelting process.