Several calm months had passed away, and Feng Jian hadn't been happier;well happier in this world that is. He slowly woke up, ate his breakfast, did some exercises to kep his body healthy, and then learned to forge different things under the tutelage of his sister. She was strict even though he was her brother, but because of this Jian had learned much, from perfectly tending to the forge, to making a couple of perfect tools, albeit all common ones.
*ting ting...tangg...
Sweat trickled down Jian's brow as he tried to be fast enough in hitting the red piece of metal, but accurate enough to shape it correctly. It was a struggle to say the least, but after heating the metal a couple of times , and then giving it shape with his hammer the object was carefully put in a bucket of water. The water hissed and steam rose up as the metal cooled rapidly, taking its final form.
"Huuu...that was a good workout." Jian smiled as he took the finished hoe from the bucket. It was a normal hoe, maybe a little bit rough on the edges and a little simpler in design, but a hoe nonetheless. If someone had to learn blacksmithing from scratch, beeing able to do such a thing so qickly would make him a talent, or so his sister said.
' It turned out pretty good if I say so myself, but I maybe able to do it even faster. I have some time to spare after all.' Jian first rested, washed his hands , face and his almost shaven head. He at first wasn't used to having short hair, but now that he had also taken up blacksmithing, it was even more natural. He took deap breaths as he pumped the billows, and then willed his smartphone into existence. Several months had passed, and the phone had several upgrades, but nothing looked different on the outside.
" I hope she doesn't come home early. I really don't know how to explain the multiple voices chanting mantras..." Jian smiled as he hoped he didn't jinx himself. He first put the metal iron ingot into the hot coal, and slowly but steadily began to pump the billows harder and harder. The heat made him squint hie eyes and begin to sweat again, but he endured it. After a while the iron was red hot and ready to be worked on, but first Jian decided to play three recordings.
He hastily opened the recordings app and one after the other played three different mantras in a loop. Besides the heat, the place was now filled with the low chanting voice of someone.
"Om Muni Muni Mahamuni Shakyamuniye Svaha Om
Om Muni Muni Mahamuni Shakyamuniye Svaha Om"
"Om Ami Dewa Hrih
Om Ami Dewa Hrih"
"Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo
Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo"
Thre mantras were simultaneously heard in the background instead of the usual two as he had once again upgraded the Recordings app making it able to play back three recordings in a row, but that didn't matter to Jian as the hot metal was the only thing in his mind. He slowly began with some probing hits and not ten seconds later he had changed to full power swings. Hit after hit the metal begun to take shape, slowly beeing forced into something else, being shaped into something of use.
'This is it....yeah...I finally get it now. If I hit the metal in this angle then it'll be easier later. Why didn't I think about it before?' Jian was fully entranced in making the hoe that he didn't notice the golden motes of light swirling around him , even entering his body, but it wasn't his fault as they were barely distinguishable from the embers coming from the metal as it was being forged. Several minutes had passed and the metal was heated for the second time when Jian felt something starting to burn within him. It was subtle at first, but as he continued to do so , the heat spread all around his body. Surprisingly this internal heat didn't make him uncomfortable at all, on the contrary, it make the heat from the forge more bearable.
And so, in about half an hour Jian put the finished hoe into the bucket once again, and then took a deep breath. Hot air filled his lungs suddenly making him cough, and he subconsciously spit some phlegm on the ground. The phlegm was sticky and black, something Jian would definitely have noticed and even be considered about , but he was fully focused on the new hoe.
"This, is interesting.....how did these lines make it to the finished product? Did I do something different?" Jian was surprised as he brought the hoe closer to him and immediately noticed the vague lines in the outside of the metal. He was worried about cracks or something like that, but as he observed the hoe more closely, he noticed that the lines were more like etched into the metal. It vexed him as he didn't know what he did to make the lines or if they were supposed to be there ,but one thing was for sure....he had forged the hoe faster and better than before.
'Damn, these sutra's are like coke, if this was in my old world, the monastery would be the cartel, and the monks the distributors.' said Jian to himself, but it was more funny than he thought it would be as he burst out laughing.
" Haah....hahahahahah....that was funny!? If I ever go back to my world, I definitely should use this."
Jian grinned as he proudly looked at the hoe he had made, and couldn't help but feel proud. It was a pretty good hoe. Though if a cultivator had seen his hoe, he would definitely have cursed the heavens so hard a tribulation would immediately befall upon him, and he would still be in the right. Unconsciously Jian had forged a ghost\demon repelling weapon as the lines he saw in the weapon in fact formed a small natural formation.