In Yuan Dazhui's blacksmith shop, Ren Pingsheng just followed his senior brother and master every day, hammering and stacking steel to beat embryos. Many times, it was the two brothers who jingled in front of the anvil, and the master sat far away, drinking slowly with a plate of peanuts.

After the embryo is laid, it is the master's turn to make the code. Fine work such as forming, shoveling, filing, grinding, quenching and burning blades is not Ren Pingsheng's turn to intervene, so he can only watch from the sidelines.

When it comes to grinding, he looks especially carefully. That iron sword is still rusty, and it is worthy of the heroic image of me Ren Pingsheng who single-handedly fights the first swordsman and kills the Taoist master of Langshang.

has been picking up the sledgehammer for almost three months, and it has entered winter in a blink of an eye, and the teenager will also enter the twelfth year of his life. But in the blacksmith's shop, he still didn't learn anything. Father's imitation sword has not yet had the slightest hint of construction.

After watching it for a long time, Ren Pingsheng planned to start sharpening his iron sword. When the master was grinding, he also moved a sharpening stone with a coarse sand surface and sharpened it on the side. As a result, Leng Buding took a chestnut from the master, and his head hurt for a long time.

"The road is not stable yet, I want to learn to run. Yuan Dazhui muttered.

Since he couldn't do it, he had to honestly squat to the side and watch. After all, the heart of a teenager can't be dull for too long.

"Master, you said that this is just sharpening the sword, I estimate that in the past few months, at least twelve grinding, can I deal with it, why can't I sharpen this old iron sword?"

Chief Chen Mu hurriedly stroked his skull and quietly walked away. Senior brother will definitely have a chestnut slap this time, and I feel pain for him.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Da Hammer didn't make a move for the first time, and stopped the work in his hand, "Twelve Dao, even if it is twenty grinding, what is it; There are three kinds of swords, sharp weapons, treasure weapons, and artifacts. ”

"Step by step, slow work, can sharpen sharp weapons; the sword of the martial arts warriors in the rivers and lakes, you can sharpen it like this; diligently, diligently, faint, give inspiration to the mind, can refine treasures; sword cultivation on the mountain, the sword of the kendo master, it is nothing more than that; it contains the qi of heaven and earth, carries the power of heaven and earth, and refines the soul of heaven and earth, this is an artifact. ”

Ren Pingsheng's eyes widened, "Master, what kind of iron sword can I refine into this iron sword?"

Yuan Dazhui lowered his head and continued to work, "Let it be, it depends on your future temperament." The product flows in shape, and each is life. Everything is made into work, and each has its own nature. Since you have learned to strike iron from me, then when you hammer it on iron, you must carefully perceive the physical properties of that iron. ”

"Only by knowing the nature of things can we make the best use of them. Actually, this is only very rudimentary. In addition to sexuality, there is also life, or in other words, in terms of things, there is also spirit. This spirit is not brought by a piece of dead iron itself, but as a person who strikes iron, between the hammers and anvils, when the shape is fixed, there is also a shovel and a file, and when you grind and grind, you can carefully perceive the subtlety of heaven and earth, the aura of mountains and rivers, and the mental power of the human heart......

Ren Pingsheng listened leisurely and silently remembered to meditate. Senior brother Chen Muchief, covering his swollen head, wanted to walk away, but didn't dare to go away.

In Chief Chen Mu's memory, the master taught ironsmithing, and he never said such words that fooled people and couldn't understand. He was even more convinced that the little junior brother had been cheated to his grandmother's house, if it weren't for the master's own heart, how could he have hollowed out his mind to come up with so many nonsense.

"Master, my father's imitation sword, when will we start construction?" As soon as Yuan Dazhui stopped, Ren Pingsheng began to ask again.

"Winter solstice. ”

"Oh, why wait for the winter solstice? By the time of the winter solstice, I will be twelve years old. ”

"Because the winter solstice is the day of the year when the sun is extremely cloudy, and it is also the time when a yang is born, and all things are withered and prosperous, and so far they are reincarnated, and at this time the vitality is obscured, and it is the most suitable time to take the material of your sword. ”

"Take the material of this sword, why should you live when you are ignorant?"

"Because, the iron that refines this sword is formed when the heavens and the earth are not opened, and the yin and yang are not separated; The so-called imitation sword, although it cannot be perfect, at least it must have some resemblance. ”

Ren Pingsheng felt unbelievable, a broken sword, why are you all talking so mysteriously, bullying my child and being ignorant.

"Master......"

"What's going on again?"

“...... You didn't cheat my dad, did you?"

As a result, there was another heavy chestnut hit on the skull. It's just that this time, Yuan Dazhui glanced at him twice, and his eyes were full of suspicion: this kid, what kind of sword he is holding, he is still in the dark.

"Master, you are busy first, or I and my junior brother will go shopping for vegetables. Save him from being ignorant and always hindering you from doing things. Chief Chen Mu really couldn't stand it, and felt that he needed to save his little junior brother from the dire situation.

"Get out, you go yourself. Here he watched me sharpen my sword, and glanced at a chestnut. ”

Chief Chen Mu had no choice but to walk away silently, and glanced at the stupid junior brother, his face full of pity.

It is no wonder that during this period of time, first the hero hunter over there in Si'an Village settled in the Xingzhi School to teach swords, and then there was Jiujing Villa, which was changed to a martial arts hall, and the owner of the hall was the hunter's nemesis Jia Bancong.

The Zhu family is in the same lineage, and only the little young master Zhu Tianjiao, his mother Xin's family, Steward Hu, the elder Wang Tou and Yao San's family of three. There were few people, and the family moved to an old house of the Zhu family on Si'anzhai Street.

Zhu Wuyong's other seventeen wives and concubines before his death were all divided into more or less fields and houses, and went to set up their own doors.

The old mansion here, although it is still the residence of the ordinary rich and noble, is nothing compared with the Jiujing Villa where the city was moved.

Therefore, Zhu Tianjiao worshiped Jia Bancong as his teacher, so he gave up Jiujing Villa and opened a martial arts hall for his master. The name of the martial arts hall is called "Powerful Martial Arts Hall".

Regarding the naming of the martial arts hall, although Zhu Tianjiao has limited Chinese ink in his chest, he can't help but give some advice to his master. But in the end, he held back, forget it, the martial arts temperament, maybe a little more honest, is not a bad thing.

Neighboring towns, there are constantly portals with solid family backgrounds, or send their own teenagers to the powerful martial arts hall to practice martial arts, or send them to the Si'an Zhai Xingzhi School;

The limelight of the academy and the martial arts hall are good at winning for a while, and they are on par. Although the battle between the martial artist and the swordsman, it was the martial artist who fought with the swordsman. But no one is blind, the martial artist is a martial artist in his sixties, and he has already reached the top of the martial arts, while the swordsman, who is only an eleven or twelve-year-old young swordsman, can almost pick the entire Xiangxing Hall with a broken sword.

At that time, his father was just helping to fill in the gaps. The hunter can teach such a son, and the way of the sword he cultivates is certainly not trivial.

In this way, the powerful martial arts hall is just that, the courtyard is already vast, and there is no problem in recruiting disciples. However, the scale of Xingzhi School is far inferior, and when there are many students, the place will be stretched.

The daily sword teaching has been moved from the practice ground of the school to the widest open space in Si'an Village.

The order for swords in the blacksmith shop was a full three-year construction period. To practice swords and learn martial arts, you need swords.

Chen Muzhu has followed the master for more than ten years, and he has never seen such a rich source of money in the shop, and his temperament when he goes out to buy vegetables every day has improved a lot.

It's just that the master doesn't seem to feel anything about it, and even gets angry with the apprentice whenever he is busy.

Since there is no Xiangxingtang in it, the entire Shanghezhai Market has been a mess in the past few months. It is not uncommon for the villagers of Lou Yi to carry the burden of hawkers and fight for turf everywhere, and fight for street stalls, which then turn into a negative fight between villages.

The situation is chaotic, and the aborigines of the river village, especially the owners of the shops on the street, are uneasy and difficult to do business.

In the end, the owners of the houses on the street spontaneously gathered and prepared to discuss the establishment of the township yamen and the rebuilding of the commercial order of Shanghezhai. Since it is a public discussion of the house owner, the participation of the Zhu family is indispensable. Although the Zhu family is now in decline, it is still the largest merchant in the village with thirteen shops on the street.

The small merchants in Shanghezhai all want to change the current chaotic situation, but they don't want the Zhu family to sit big and control the market.

But in any case, the public meeting was held as scheduled, in addition to inviting the Zhu family and the powerful martial arts hall to attend together, the small merchants also kept an eye on it and invited Ren Pingsheng to attend as a guest. Even if it can't restrain the powerful Zhu family, at least it can have more power to check and balance.

Let a half-grown teenager as a guest attend such a formal gathering, which is unprecedented on the Mountain of No Return.

Surprisingly, at the party that night, not only Ren Pingsheng came, but his master Yuan Dazhui also came to the venue for the first time.

Everyone knows that even during the Xiangxingtang period, the blacksmith shop never paid the peace tax. Xiangxingtang, no one has ever provoked Yuan Dazhu. Under the rule of the Langshang Daoist, Yuan Da Hammer was the only outlier in the entire Mountain of No Return.

The venue is located in Jiujing Villa, and that is the only place that can accommodate so many people. The surname Yao is the first surname in Shanghe Village, so this gathering was presided over by Yao Shuqing, the old man of the Yao clan.

In Shanghe Village, there are more than 100 merchants, each with its own interests and demands, and in the matter of setting up and maintaining business order, they all have surprisingly tacit cooperation.

From beginning to end, not only did the Zhu family not make any unusual sound, but even Yuan Dazhui also expressed his stance on the spot: as long as the township yamen acted according to the rules, the taxes paid did not enter the private treasury of each household, and the blacksmith shop would not pay a single copper coin.

Then it was to elect the first Xiangmasa-sama on the spot. It's just that this section has different opinions and is always difficult to decide. In fact, in everyone's mind, there is the same candidate, that is, Yuan Da Hammer of the blacksmith shop. It's a pity that Yuan Dazhui refused, and in the end, everyone retreated to the next best thing and elected Chief Chen Mu as the candidate for the township.

There is a backer behind him, and no one dares to bully no matter how bad it is.

caused Ren Pingsheng to run all the way, went back to the blacksmith shop and dragged the senior brother in the clouds to the venue. As soon as he heard that he was going to choose himself as the biggest official on the entire mountain of no return, Chief Chen Mu smiled from ear to ear, and looked extremely unbeaten.

I, Chief Chen Mu, am not a thing in the pool after all!

With Xiangzheng, it is natural to choose the poor, but that is what Xiangzheng himself should worry about. Mrs. Xin, the current big boss of the Zhu family, is very arrogant, and directly donated an idle second-entry old mansion as the mansion of the Xiangzheng Yamen.

The old mansion has a solid door wall, a wide hall, 16 main rooms and 12 wings, and the scale is not big or small, so it is very suitable as a township yamen.

The tax levied by the Xiangzheng Yamen has also been changed from two percent of the value of the goods set by Xiangxingtang to half of the value of the goods. Even so, in addition to maintaining daily operations and paying official salaries, there is still a large amount of income left over from the yamen.

For this reason, Chief Chen Mu, who took office as a new official, proposed to set up a public school so that poor children in Shanghe Village could attend school for free.

In fact, once the school is set up, Chen Mutou himself, who has only learned literacy from the master for a few years in his spare time, will become the first student.

In addition to the school, the township yamen is also responsible for street cleaning, village cleaning and other chores.

After January, the folk scenery of Shanghezhai and the trade market are prosperous and fresh.