A genius girl with her own space

Chapter 248 Sword Forging

The two of them found a large rock and sat down. Qiqi also took out a lot of food and drinks from her space. They ate while admiring the surrounding scenery. They seemed to be here for sightseeing.

After they finished eating, they headed up the mountain. They came across a dojo and heard the clanging of ironwork. Curious, they walked in and saw two men forging swords. As they worked, they heated the iron and hammered it again, over and over again. Sometimes they added other things, which Qiqi didn't recognize.

When they came in, they had actually already seen the two of them, but they couldn't stop forging the swords, so they ignored them.

Qiqi saw that the hammers they used were not enough, and if they hammered two more times, the sword might be better.

"Excuse me, but if you hammer twice more each time, the sword you forge will be better."

"Who are you and how dare you trespass into my gym?" asked the swordsmith master.

"I just passed by here and saw you forging swords, so I said a few words. You can listen or not, it's all your business." Qiqi said.

"Master, I also feel that it would be better if I hit it a few more times. Master, I will hit it a few more times first." said the sword-making master's apprentice.

The swordsmith remained silent, a gesture of tacit agreement. He and his apprentice hammered the sword twice more each time. A quarter of an hour later, the sword was ready.

The master also laughed. The sword he forged was very successful and very sharp.

"Congratulations, Master, the sword was forged successfully." Qiqi said.

"Congratulations, Master, for forging a sharp and fine sword."

"Thank you for your reminder. My sword was forged successfully. Come on, sit down and have a cup of tea." said the sword-making master.

Qiqi and Zhou Jingze sat down to drink tea. "I'm the abbot of this Taoist temple, and this is my apprentice. We've tried to forge this sword hundreds of times, but it hasn't worked. Thank you for your words that enlightened me. You've helped me forge a fine sword. Please have some tea. This is the cloud tea I picked climbing the cliff. Only two taels of fine tea are available every year. Please enjoy it."

"Thank you, Master. It is our honor to meet a sword-making master like you," said Zhou Jingze.

"Master, was this sword forged for you yourself?" Qiqi asked.

"To be honest, Madam, I cast it for the old emperor of Yongning Kingdom. He said it was a birthday present for his son. Alas, I am stupid. It took me so long to cast it successfully. Thanks to your reminder." said the master of the temple.

"Master, this is Shuncheng of Shunqing Kingdom. How did the old emperor of Yongning Kingdom find you to forge the sword so far away?"

"Madam, I traveled around a few years ago and was once in Yongning Country. I was hunted by martial artists. They asked me to forge swords for them, took us to their mountain, and specifically asked me to forge swords for their sect. They didn't even provide me with enough food. They didn't even give me money. Instead, they imprisoned me and my disciples, forced me to work for them for free, and beat us up if I couldn't forge the swords well.

We made a dagger out of scraps and hid it. When they brought us food, we stabbed the person who delivered the food, tied him up and gagged him. Then we two pretended to be the person who delivered the food and ran away.

When the people in the sect found out, they sent people everywhere to hunt us down. Unfortunately, we were caught. Then some soldiers and guards came over, and we screamed for help. The officials inside sent their men to rescue us.

Later we learned that it was the Emperor of Yongning. He was overjoyed to hear that his daughter had given birth to two nephews. Unable to travel to the Great Zhou, he came to the temple to burn incense for his daughter, praying for the safety of her and her two nephews. That's how he saved us on the way.

We had nowhere to go, so we followed the old emperor back to the imperial city. He placed us in the Prince's residence. The servants there treated us very well. The prince was away visiting his sister at the time. Whenever the old emperor missed his daughter, nephew, and son, he would visit the Prince's residence to relax.

He knew we could forge swords, so he asked us to forge a good sword for his son.

We forged swords dozens of times in the Prince's Mansion, but none of them succeeded. Some of them succeeded, but they just didn't look right, so we fired and reforged them.

I don't know if it's because my forging skills have declined, or what, but I just can't forge a good sword.

"We, master and disciple, had no face to stay in the Prince's residence any longer, so we left a letter for the old emperor. We took a detour back to our Taoist temple to forge a sword for the Prince. We tried and failed repeatedly. Only now, after meeting you, have we succeeded," said the temple master.

"Master, when are we going to deliver the swords to them? We are also going to Yongning Kingdom, and you can go with us. We can protect you and your master." Zhou Jingze said.

"You are also going to Yongning Country. Well, then we, the master and the disciple, will go with you." said the master of the temple.

Qiqi smiled. "Let's deal with the monster in the lake first, and then we'll go to Yongning Kingdom with you. The thing in the lake has hurt several people. I don't want to see many martial artists killed or injured." Qiqi said.

"You said that there is a monster in the lake that eats people. Could it be that your disciple is the thing you raised? If you go swimming in the lake often, you might hurt people if you get frightened." said the master of the temple.

"Master, when we were traveling, I saw it had four legs and thought it was pitiful and cute, so I bought it from a foreign businessman. I didn't know it would grow so big and that it could crawl on land. I also didn't know it was so ferocious now. I haven't seen it hurt anyone. Master, it can't be its. Let me go to the backyard to see if it's there?" said the master's apprentice.

The master's disciple went to the backyard after he finished speaking, and we followed him to take a look. He opened the door and saw a four-legged animal lying there with blood on its mouth.

"Xiaoguai, where have you been? Why is there blood on your mouth?"

Qiqi and Zhou Jingze looked at it and realized it was a crocodile. Just as they had said, this crocodile was the one that injured people in the lake.

"You have released it into the lake several times. It has hurt people in the lake. Do you know what it is? What is its name? It will eat people. Do you know? If it is hungry, it will hurt you without any regard for its relatives." Qiqi said to the master's apprentice.

"I don't know its name. I bought it from someone else. I took it to the lake to swim a few times. It didn't hurt anyone. It often crawled out of the dog hole to swim in the lake. I had something to do and couldn't follow it every day. I raised it, and it doesn't bite anyone." said the disciple of the master of the temple.

"You said it wouldn't bite. Look at the blood on its mouth. Where did that come from? Someone died in the lake this afternoon. Don't you know the Emperor of Shunqing is offering a reward of 10,000 taels for the capture of the lake monster? The lake monster has injured many people. If you don't believe me, go listen to the people on the street. They're all talking about this."

The temple master was also stunned. Xiaoguai had hurt someone. The master and apprentice had been forging swords these past few days and had no idea what had happened. They were also too busy to feed Xiaoguai. Xiaoguai had never attacked anyone. Did someone attack it, or perhaps something enraged it, causing it to attack humans? It not only hurt people, but also ate them?