Commanding Wind and Cloud

Chapter 290: Empty Heart

Translator: Udong Editor: EbonyFrost, Udong

A dozen timid Fire Foxes appeared in the bush. They looked at Qian Jin and then whined as they quickly went back into hiding.

Qian Jin smiled bitterly. If every demon beast reacted like these Fire Foxes, then he didn’t have to fight that much to get out of West Mountain.

"Finally! I’m back." Qian Jin breathed heavily as he walked into the village. He finally let loose and relaxed. In this village, even an ordinary woman had the strength of Demon Fighters. Demon beasts from West Mountains didn’t dare to come in here.

After getting through the quiet street, Qian Jin walked into the blacksmith shop. Old Blake was squatting by the corner and looked at the bag Qian Jin was carrying. Qian Jin opened it up and all kinds of metals and ores fell to the ground and made some crisp noises.

"Got any new understanding of Warrior Heart Awareness?"

Qian Jin’s hands that were still in the bag shook a little. He looked at Uncle Blake curiously. "Blake only taught me forging. Why is he concerned with my Warrior Heart Awareness recently?"

"Yeah." Qian Jin dropped the last piece of metal onto the ground and said, "I’m getting more and more used to it."

"Really?" Blake pointed at the forge with his pipe and said, "Go, forge using your Warrior Heart Awareness."

"Use Warrior Heart Awareness to forge?" Qian Jin stood in front of the forge with the hammer. He took a deep breath as he looked at the piece of hot red iron. His Warrior Heart Awareness suddenly moved and pulled some fire energy from other two forges. The Second Hammering Technique of Eighteen Blade Elevating Strikes was used, the hammer smashed onto the iron following a smooth trajectory. The piece of iron turned flat after just one trike. Numerous hot spark appeared in a firework.

Tink! The crisp metal-colliding noise sounded in the yard and Qian Jin closed his eyes to enjoy this almost perfect noise. As a Forge Grandmaster, he could tell how close to perfection every one of his strikes was.

This ear-piercing metal colliding noise was far more beautiful than those carefully arranged songs to Fei.

Perfect! A confident smile appeared on Qian Jin’s face. He won’t get tired of hearing this sound ever.

"This is the best you can do with Warrior Heart Awareness?"

Blake said with the pipe in his hand. The almost mocking tone got Qian Jin out of his proud mentality and Qian Jin felt like Blake had poured a bucket of cold water down his body.

"This is not good?" Qian Jin placed the hammer in Blake’s hands earnestly. He looked at this elder blacksmith who didn’t have the title but was acting as the Village Head and thought, "What did I do wrong? I pulled fire energy from the forges and fixed a lot of my shortcomings. It should be a perfect strike, but why is Blake not happy with it?"

"You still don’t understand Warrior Heart Awareness." Blake shook his head as he weighted the hammer in his hands. "You only received a complete Warrior Heart last time."

Qian Jin was silent. "Having a complete Warrior Heart is different from Warrior Heart Awareness?" He thought.

Blake quietly raised the hammer over his head. He looked at the piece of hot iron without pulling any fire energy using his Warrior Heart Awareness. Everything looked like as if it was very normal.

Qian Jin observed Blake with all of his concentration. "Uncle Blake never messes around. Since he talked, there must be something important." He thought. action

Blake held the hot iron with a pair of tongs, and he smashed the hammer onto the iron. The hammer looked like it was a star that was falling down from the sky, and it created a whooshing wind sound.

As soon as the hammer met the iron, no metal-colliding noise sounded. Instead, it was a booming explosion sound! It sounded like a thunder had suddenly appeared in the yard. The explosion sound surged through the air and resonated in the sky.

Buzz... buzz. Qian Jin picked his ears. This one strike created a loud thunder like booming noise, and his ears that weren’t protected by his warrior power were tingling non-stop. This strike...

The red iron shook as it met the hammer and the heat around the iron quickly gathered together. The hot energy turned so red that it looked like blood was about to gush out of this piece of iron.

In the next moment, hot sparks gushed out of the iron like blood gushing out of a man who got stabbed in the heart from all directions. These sparks somehow had a scent of bloodiness.

This... Qian Jin looked this scene as he lost his words. These sparks were at least ten times more heated than the ones that he created. When this strike landed, it squeezed all the heat energy that was about to gush out of the metal back into the body of the metal. After all the heat energy collided again, it purified the iron one more time. Finally, when the excessive heat energy couldn’t be squeezed back anymore, they fought to get out of the iron through a few venting channels. That was why the heat increased and the blood like sparks appeared.

Sparks had no bloody smell to them. The only thing was that these sparks were so bright and eye-piercing that it felt like the metal was bleeding.

Only one strike! Qian Jin stared at the piece of iron in Blake’s tongs and wondered. "No wonder Uncle Blake would say something like that. The difference is too big! Not only on the noises and sparks created, there are more to it."

Forge! When the hammer landed on the iron, Qian Jin’s confidence was also struck. If he had to create the noise, he was able to if he tried hard enough. But he couldn’t forge the metal into the state that Blake just did.

This level of power and force should change the appearance of the anvil as well as the ground under the anvil. Even if the ground was not soil and hard stones, they would be completely destroyed by it. There should be a ton of dust in the air, and the anvil should be bent or completely destroyed.

However, after Blake’s strike, only the iron changed shape. The anvil and the ground didn’t change at all. Except for some dust that got blown into the air by the wind this strike created, nothing else was moved.

All the power, all the forces were completely injected into the iron and gushed out with those blood like sparks.

"What level of control is this?" Qian Jin lightly shook his head. He wasn’t able to do it. He couldn’t understand how Blake used his Warrior Heart Awareness in this strike. Qian Jin felt like he wasn’t able to get it even if he watched Blake for another minute or more.

Blake didn’t stop forging. The thousand pound hammer turned into a butterfly in his hand, and those sparks were like flowers that the butterfly danced on.

Boom! It was another loud explosion, and it sounded like hundreds of claps of thunder appeared in the yard this time. It was at least ten times louder than the first strike.

Qian Jin stared at the sparks and realized that the sparks were no longer a blood red color. Instead, they were a strange mysterious blue color. Only when a fire gets hot enough would the blue flames gushed out of the metal.

"This... this is powered by Warrior Heart Awareness?" Qian Jin blinked. "If that strike is used in battle rather in forging, then..." Qian Jin moved his arms and fingers sub-consciously as he tried to mimic a fight scenario. However, he realized that it wasn’t easy to use it.

"What is Warrior Heat?" Blake put down the hammer in his hand and looked at Qian Jin. His cloudy eyes were like a sword with a sharp light shining in his eyes. Even Enlak who had a sharp presence couldn’t compare with Blake.

At that moment, Qian Jin felt like Blake’s spirit had entered his heart and brain through his eyes, and all of him was exposed.

"Heart, it is not only used for maintaining one’s life." Blake looked at the fire in the forge that was jumped around and said, "Heart, it also thinks on its own. When you are in a fight, has your heart thought?"

"Think? Think using my heart?" Qian Jin placed his hands on his chest and thought, "Using my Warrior Heart to think? How?"

"Your heart is empty." Blake pointed at where Qian Jin’s heart was and said, "If you want to know how to use your heart, then to go [Enlak’s Warrior Power House]."

[Enlak’s Warrior Power House]? Qian Jin scratched his head. "Since Uncle Blake knows about Warrior Heart, why doesn’t he tell me now? Why do I have to go to Enlak to learn about it?"

"Perspective..." Blake lit up the tobacco in his pipe using the fire from the forge and said, "Be open-minded. Don’t think that you can learn everything from one person."