Improving The Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique

I was guided to Elder Min’s workroom. In the dirt-floored room were a workbench, alchemy furnaces, and the smithing tools used to make treasure tools. There was also a forge used for smithing, and on the wall were displayed treasured swords made by Elder Min, along with tools of unknown purpose.

I took the beaks out of my backpack and handed them to Elder Min.

“Kou, do you know why treasured swords made from Blue-Feather Crow beaks are expensive?”

“No, I don’t. I didn’t even know they were expensive.”

“Blue-Feather Crows are yōma that are difficult to hunt. That is why their beaks are rare and expensive. And yet you brought back the beaks of two birds in a single day…”

According to Elder Min, the success rate for hunting Blue-Feather Crows was low, and people said you were lucky if you could bring down one bird in a month. The reason was that Blue-Feather Crows were clever, and they fled when a hunter approached. I recalled the Blue-Feather Crow thrashing around upside down in the trap. That was clever… it didn’t seem that way to me.

Elder Min called over her two direct disciples and had them light the forge for smithing. And not only wind but also qi was sent into the furnace by those two direct disciples. It seemed this forge, too, was no ordinary one.

The temperature of the forge rose, and Elder Min placed the Blue-Feather Crow beak inside it. However, the beak took a long time to turn red.

“There isn’t enough qi. Kou, take over and pour qi into it.”

“Understood.”

I took the place of the direct disciple-shixiong and gripped something like a rope connected to the furnace. Since even this rope was connected to the superheated furnace and yet did not burn, it too was probably something special.

I poured qi into that rope. The flames in the furnace changed from red to blue.

“That’s it.”

The beak turned bright red, and Elder Min took it out and hammered it, shaping it into the blade of a short knife. I had seen swordsmiths making Japanese swords on television before, but it was strange for the shape to change this easily.

When Elder Min hammered it, that part writhed and shifted, transforming on its own into the blade of a short knife. Elder Min’s serious eyes were fixed on the blacksteel that had once been a beak.

After the blacksteel had been hammered several times, it had changed into the blade of a short knife. At first glance it looked easy, but it seemed Elder Min was processing the blacksteel through exquisite qi control. It was qi control so advanced that it was impossible for the current me.

After that, finishing work would be done on the short knife before it was completed. Since that would take about five days, I decided to return to Wallside Hall. When I stepped outside, the sun had set and the surroundings were dark.

“Haaah, I’m a little tired.”

When I returned to Wallside Hall, I filled a tub with water and sank the furs I had brought back into it. I planned to take them to a craftsman tomorrow or so and have them tanned. I was bothered by how dirty and sweat-soaked my body was, so I washed myself with water and changed clothes. It was still spring, so it was cold, but it felt good.

When I went to the dining hall, several of the outer disciples called out to me. It seemed word had spread that I had fought Chiyuen.

“Kou, I heard you fought an inner disciple from Goyou Cave?”

Zengu asked.

“Yeah, but I lost.”

“Well, your opponent was an inner disciple, so it can’t be helped.”

When I finished my late meal and was about to return to my room, all the outer disciples asked me to tell them about the mock battle. So after speaking only briefly about my own match with Chiyuen, I told them in detail about the mock battle between Kanru and Chiyuen.

“So Kanru-shixiong lost. That’s a shame.”

When Zengu said that, the other outer disciples seemed to feel the same way. I was tired, so I decided to return to my room and rest.

The agreement was that the inner disciple test would be in three months, so during that time I intended to raise my qi level by one stage. And I also thought about powering up the Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique.

What I considered was whether I could incorporate Heavy Yin Qi and Floating Yang Qi like Thunder Technique Fist and Heavy Resonance Sword did. The pathways through which qi flowed in immortal arts were complex. At Gyorei Cave, they were broadly divided into two, and those were called the “yang meridians” and the “yin meridians.”

Heavy Resonance Sword mainly used the yang meridians, and its principles seemed to be such that different effects were obtained depending on whether Heavy Yin Qi or Floating Yang Qi was sent through those yang meridians. Incidentally, the reason it used the yang meridians was because qi flowed through them more easily.

Thunder Technique Fist also used the yang meridians as its center, but only during Lightning Palm Strike did it send Heavy Yin Qi through the yin meridians, then release it from the palm together with the Floating Yang Qi flowing through the yang meridians.

After it got dark, I took an oil lantern and headed to the place I used as a practice ground. It was halfway up the mountain, but there was a flat area there, and I hung the oil lantern from a tree branch and began training.

“Now then, as for how to improve it, let’s try using Floating Yang Qi.”

After muttering that, I sent Floating Yang Qi through the yang meridians instead of ordinary qi, then applied pressure to it using the breathing method and essential principles of the Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique. When I applied pressure slowly, it became slightly compressed Floating Yang Qi.

“Oh, it’s Moment of Foam.”

I muttered that as I felt as though the passage of time had slowed. This technique was also written about in Dragon Qi Sword Art, though in the case of Dragon Qi Sword Art, the breathing method and essential principles were slightly different. I did consider trying the breathing method and essential principles of Dragon Qi Sword Art, but since this was a technique others believed I had not mastered, I decided not to.

One day after I had continued my night training for several days, I ran into Elder Min when I had finished my chores and was about to return to Wallside Hall.

“Kou, the blacksteel short knife is finished, so come and get it.”

“Yes, understood.”

I went with Elder Min to the Treasure Tool Workshop and received the completed short knife. The short knife, with a blade length of about thirty centimeters, was sheathed in a white scabbard. When I drew it, the blade made of blacksteel appeared. The blade looked so thick and sturdy that I wondered if it was actually a machete.

“I tested its sharpness, and it cuts well enough to be called a treasure tool.”

“…I see.”

Since I showed a complicated expression, Elder Min seemed suspicious.

“Are you not happy?”

“I am happy, but… I was thinking of using this when I go into the mountains to cut branches aside or when dismantling prey.”

Of course I would also use it as a spare weapon, but I had been thinking its main use would be in place of a mountain knife or an ordinary knife.

When she heard that, Elder Min showed an exasperated expression.

“I think it can be used that way too, but that is a rather luxurious way to use it.”

If I used it in place of a mountain knife or broadsword, I would need to swap the handle for a longer one, but I thought I would devise a way to make that easy to do.

Elder Min said it was a luxurious way to use it, but when I went hunting in the demon realm, I wanted to keep my baggage light. I did not want to carry several spare weapons. The reason was that I was still in the middle of growing, my body was small, and I did not have a build suited to carrying many weapons.

Now that I had also prepared a spare weapon, after that I decided to focus on training to power up the Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique.