Three Years of Blacksmithing, Achieving Divine Martial Arts - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 17. The Third Seon Gyu
After locking the door, So Cheol

reached his hand toward the O Sip.
The Bronze Cauldron responded as if it had been waiting.
Five-colored light swept across the hammer’s head.
An Eight-Pound Hammer that Son Cheol Shim had once used.
A Grade-Two Durable Weapon.
Forged primarily from black iron, it had absorbed a warrior’s Gi Hyeol through long years of tempering and training.
The equipping condition was mastery of Yeol Seok Chu Law.
The condition was already met.
Upon equipping, bone strength and forging sense would both be corrected together, and a grip strength greater than the Jik Jeon Pae would be added.
Two particular memories remained etched within it.
The forging transmission of Durable Weapons.
And the Jeol Cho of Jin San Gong.
So Cheol’s eyes shifted.
Son Cheol Shim had said he would teach the Jeol Cho directly a few days hence.
Yet the hammer itself still held a memory of the Jeol Cho that Son Cheol Shim had once wielded.

‘Should I look first?’

The deliberation was brief.
There was an unease to it—like stealing the answer before receiving the lesson.
Yet there was no reason to deliberately abandon the Bronze Cauldron’s strength.
What mattered was that when he truly learned it, he would not take Son Cheol Shim’s teaching lightly.
So Cheol withdrew his hand from the hammer.
He did not equip it immediately.
He looked first at the metals stacked on the floor.
Two maces of refined gold.
Twenty pounds of black iron.
Two taels of refined silver.
Thirty pounds of refined bronze.
Forty pounds of refined stone.
The conditions to open the third Seon Gyu.

“First, let’s make the place.”

So Cheol focused his will into the Bronze Cauldron.
* * *
The refined gold rose first in his mind.
The metal on his palm shrank into a small sphere of light, then was drawn into the Bronze Cauldron.
The black iron followed.
Refined silver.
Refined bronze.
Refined stone.
Each metal—varied in weight and size—vanished one by one.
The moment the last refined stone entered, the third empty chamber of the Bronze Cauldron blazed with light.

A deep hum—

The low resonance shook his entire mind.
So Cheol gripped the edge of the bed.
When he had opened the second Seon Gyu, his body had changed then too.
This time was clearer.
A scorching force descended from his head to his toes in one wave.
His joints sang out softly.
Crack-crack.
He felt old exhaustion being pressed out from beneath his skin.
Sweat poured down all at once.
The smell was foul.
So Cheol gritted his teeth and endured.
The time was not long.
When he exhaled, his body felt considerably lighter than before.

‘It’s changed again.’

His current state was displayed above the Bronze Cauldron.
His Geun Gol without any equipment was at the Eul Sang Wi level.
It had risen two stages from the Eul Ha Wi assessment he’d received at the forges initially.
With the Jik Jeon Pae, the Su Ryong Yu Yeong Law Silk, and now the O Sip equipped, he could reach Gab Jung Wi.
So Cheol stared at that part for a long while.
Gab.
It was the Geun Gol level that had caused a stir throughout the Nae Mu Dang when it first appeared from Yeo Ui at the Test Ground.
He could only reach that tier by receiving all the equipment bonuses from the Bronze Cauldron.
Yet it was incomparable to the beginning.
What mattered more was that his natural body had risen to Eul Sang Wi.

‘The more I expand Seon Gyu, the more my body responds?’

He didn’t know the precise mechanism.
The Bronze Cauldron had provided no manual.
He could only verify the effects one by one.
For the third Seon Gyu, he had inserted the O Sip.
The Jik Jeon Pae.
The Su Ryong Yu Yeong Law Silk.
The O Sip.
All three slots were now filled.

Thump.

Though he held no actual hammer, his shoulders felt heavy and dense.
Soon his striking power surged dramatically.
So Cheol clenched his fist.
The air inside his palm seemed to compress.
The change was far greater than when he’d first equipped the Jik Jeon Pae.

‘If I swing the hammer with this strength…….’

The mere thought was slightly frightening.
Then a new memory flooded in.
* * *
Son Cheol Shim stood before the forge.
He appeared slightly younger than now.
The hammer in his hand was the O Sip itself.
The first memory was of forging.
Melting black iron, mixing pure copper and refined gold, adjusting the hammer’s angle to match the temperature.
There was the Cheon Dan Law as well.
As each inscription was carved, scenes far deeper than what he was learning now at Jang Sim Dang flickered past—where to place the force when creating each character, how to lay the hammer down when the material threatened to crack.
So Cheol watched without drawing a single breath.
Then the atmosphere shifted.
The forge vanished.
Son Cheol Shim now stood in a vast training ground.
The O Sip rose above his shoulder.
The first Jeol Cho.
The hammer head bored into a single point like an ox horn.
He did not scatter his strength broadly.
The force drawn up from his legs, waist, and shoulders was concentrated entirely at one end of the hammer.
The boulder shattered from its center.
The second strike was different in form.
The moment his feet stamped the ground, his body sank downward, then sprang back up.
It was as if he pushed off the earth and borrowed its rebound.
In that final memory, Son Cheol Shim had not been holding the hammer.
He drew a deep breath.
His Gi Hyeol spread beneath his skin.
His muscles and skin tightened all at once, and a rough current of energy coiled around his body.
Jin San Hwa Shin.
In that moment, Son Cheol Shim’s body itself looked like a weapon.
The memory ended.
So Cheol opened his eyes on the bed.
For a while, he could not move his hands.

“So this is Jeol Cho…….”

The Yeol Seok Chu Law that Son Cheol Shim had shown at the Test Ground was already powerful.
What he had just witnessed was a step more dangerous than that.
It was not simply wielding the hammer well.
It was a killing technique that emerged when the entire Jin San Gong was pushed to its absolute limit.
The final Jin San Hwa Shin could not be attempted immediately.
He could only understand it from the memory.
With bones and body that had barely entered the Second Rank, forcing it would carry a great risk of injury first.
The first Jeol Cho was different.
He had strength and mastery of the Yeol Seok Chu Law.
He could attempt the technique.
As So Cheol tried to stand, the Bronze Cauldron rang again.
New characters emerged.
Yeon Bo So Che.

It was a function that appeared when the third Seon Gyu opened.
Treasures equipped could be permanently melted into the Bronze Cauldron, leaving part of their properties within the body.
In return, the effect was greatly reduced compared to when originally equipped.
And it was not free.
Metal was required depending on the grade of the treasure.
So Cheol retrieved the old Eight-Pound Hammer that he kept stored inside the Bronze Cauldron.
His first treasure.
Everything had started here.
Now it had become an object he no longer needed to place in the Seon Gyu.
The Bronze Cauldron demanded one tael of gold to permanently melt this hammer.
So Cheol hesitated for a moment.
There was some reluctance.
It was a hammer that Master Jin had given him, and he had used it when catching the strong crocodile.
But when he thought of it as not disappearing but remaining in his body, the meaning was different.

“Let’s do it.”

He placed one tael of gold and the Eight-Pound Hammer into the Bronze Cauldron.
A five-colored light rose.
The hammer slowly grew hazy as if melting.
A five-colored liquid mixed with gold light overflowed from the Bronze Cauldron.
That energy spread through So Cheol’s limbs.
The change was subtle.
It was not like when he equipped the Jik Jeon Pae or the O Sip — his strength did not surge dramatically.
Yet there was a subtle sense that the foundation of his body had become more solid.
So Cheol smiled.
For now, it was just one old hammer.
Later, he would have more treasures.
Even when the Seon Gyu ran out, he now had a way to leave treasures in his body rather than discard them.
It was as if a door to possibility had opened.
With joy in his heart, he was about to place another item when reality caught up.
The Su Ryong Yu Yeong Law Silk.
O Sip.
Jik Jeon Pae.
The Bronze Cauldron demanded far more metal than the old Eight-Pound Hammer—all three of them did. Like genuine gold, expensive materials had gone into the Nae Mu Dang’s construction. It was not the sort of thing one could simply melt down on a whim.

“Nothing’s ever free.”

So Cheol let out a quiet laugh.
Opening a Seon Gyu cost money. The Yeon Bo So Che was no different. The Bronze Cauldron offered opportunity, but the materials needed to turn that opportunity into reality—those he would have to earn himself.
Still, it was enough to have a direction.
So Cheol reviewed the three Seon Gyu again.
First, Jik Jeon Pae.
Second, Su Ryong Yu Yeong Law Silk.
Third, O Sip.
His current realm was second-grade early. His original Geun Gol was Eul Sang Wi. With all equipment equipped, it had risen to Gab Jung Wi.
He recalled the strange sense of distance he’d felt for a moment when he saw Yeo Ui’s Gab Geun Gol at the Test Ground.
Back then, he’d only known he was Eul Ha Wi.
Just a few days had passed, yet his body itself had transformed, and with equipment equipped, he’d risen even higher within that Gab tier.
The change filled him with joy, yet a chill ran down his spine.
What would happen if others learned of the Bronze Cauldron?
Even a single protective art made third-grade peak experts like Son Cheol Shim hunger for it. A Bronze Cauldron that could continuously change one’s Geun Gol, extract memories from objects, and fuse treasures into one’s body—it would be incomparable.

‘It must never be discovered.’

That principle had only grown clearer with each new Seon Gyu.
So Cheol tidied the room. He placed the leftover metal inside the Bronze Cauldron and wiped both the floor and table so no trace remained.
Only then did he pick up the O Sip.
It was time to test his new strength outside.
* * *
That night, So Cheol ventured out to the Empty Ground again.
He drew the O Sip into his hand.
Actual weight alone: fifty pounds.
With the mounting effect of the third Seon Gyu added, the sensation in his grip felt remarkably stable.
So Cheol recalled the first Jeol Cho from memory.
Don’t swing the hammer wide.
Concentrate it on a single point.
His feet planted into the earth.
His waist twisted.

Whoosh—!

The hammer arced toward the boulder ahead.

Crack!

The impact tore through the night air.
The boulder, waist-high to a man, split cleanly down the middle.
It wasn’t merely cracked.
The front half shattered, spilling across the earth.
So Cheol stood frozen, hammer still in hand.

“……This is too much.”

And he hadn’t even used the full force of his mounted power.
The So Cheol who’d fought Hwang Tae Gon and the So Cheol he was now—they weren’t even the same second-grade any longer.
Then a sound came from behind.
So Cheol spun, hammer at the ready.

“Who’s there?”

A hand rose from the darkness.

“So, brother. My turn.”

It was Yeo Ui.
He stood gazing at the split boulder, a new blade fastened at his waist.
His expression was curious.

“I’m not sure anymore whether I came here to train or just to watch.”

So Cheol lowered the hammer.

“Did you also come out to train, brother?”
“I did.”

Yeo Ui’s gaze brushed once across the O Sip.

“Your hammer technique seems to have changed again.”
“My master has taught me a great deal.”

It wasn’t a false statement.
Yeo Ui pressed his lips together.

“Have you reached completion?”

So Cheol hesitated a moment, then nodded.

“I’ve reached completion in the Yeol Seok Chu Law.”

Yeo Ui’s eyes trembled faintly.
At the Test Ground, he had acted as though he were seeing the Yeol Seok Chu Law for the first time. He had climbed to the Great Success then, and now he was at completion. The speed was nonsensical from an outside perspective.
Fortunately, there was Son Cheol Shim’s explanation about the Cheon Dan Law to account for it.

“My master taught me how to temper the hammer using the Cheon Dan Law.”
“Completion in just days.”

Yeo Ui murmured quietly.
So Cheol asked in return.

“What about you, brother?”

At those words, Yeo Ui’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

“I’ve learned something new as well.”

The wavering light in his eyes sharpened again.

“I’m studying the Do Law under Master Wang. It’s grown far deeper than before, and he says completion isn’t far off now.”

So Cheol was genuinely impressed.

“You’re making remarkable progress.”

Yeo Ui looked at So Cheol.

“When you say that, it sounds like you’re mocking me.”
“I’m serious.”
“You, training through the entire night?”
“I couldn’t sleep that night.”
“You lie with such composure.”

A faint smile played at the corner of Yeo Ui’s mouth.
The atmosphere was less sharp than it had been that first day at the Test Ground, when they’d stood facing each other with hammers in hand.
Yet the competitive edge had not vanished.
Yeo Ui glanced once at the cracked boulder, then drew his blade.

“There’s no point talking about it.”
“Will you show me?”
“That’s why I’m here.”

Yeo Ui unsheathed his blade as if he’d been waiting for this very moment.

Steel sang—a clean, ringing note.

Moonlight flowed along the edge of the blade.
It was the instant he settled into his opening stance.
So Cheol’s eyes narrowed.
He’d seen that posture before.
The width of the feet.
The angle at which the blade was held low.
The way the shoulder was hidden on the first step.
So Cheol’s mind raced, searching through memory.
The moment on the stairs came back to him—when Hwang Tae Gon had tried to cut him down. Then too, the first blade had come in low before immediately aiming for the throat.
There were too many similarities to dismiss as coincidence.
Yeo Ui hadn’t even swung yet.
But So Cheol was already seeing the cool steel of that night blade again.

‘The same technique.’

Even without knowing its name, he could be certain of that much.
And the person who had taught that technique to Yeo Ui was Wang San.
The suspicion deepened.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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