Eternal Heavenly Emperor

Guo Zhan picked up a piece of Fine Iron and placed it into the melting furnace. After heating it until it was red-hot, he took it out. Meanwhile, his other hand started swinging the hammer, ding ding ding, he began hammering away.

He hammered one strike after another, his hands swirling like windmills, his expression maniacal, resembling a madman! No wonder they called it the Mad Demon Hammer Technique, it truly was no different from madness!

Chu Hao watched carefully. Each hammer strike seemed identical, yet each fell on different spots of the iron block, with slight changes in angles. Soon, the iron block was flattened into a thin, almost unbelievable disc.

Guo Zhan then plunged the iron disc into cold water. A hiss of steam arose, and after a while, he picked it out and stood it upright. From Chu Hao's angle, the disc appeared to have virtually no thickness at all.

After allowing Chu Hao to scrutinize it, Guo Zhen placed the iron disc back into the furnace. Once red hot again, he took it out and folded it into two layers, and then resumed hammering, repeating the initial steps.

Two layers turned into four, four to eight, eight to sixteen, sixteen to thirty-two!

"This is how you repeat the process!" Guo Zhen explained, "The best blacksmiths can fold up to a thousand layers, hence the concept of Thousand-layer Iron, but generally, sixteen layers are enough to forge an excellent weapon, thirty-two constitute a fine weapon, and sixty-four can be deemed a Divine Weapon! As for anything above sixty-four layers… I have never seen it!"

"My own limit is only thirty-two layers, quite far from sixty-four, let alone a thousand!" he sighed, appearing extremely dejected.

"Why is it so difficult?" Chu Hao asked, not grasping the complexity. Isn't it just about repeating the folding?

"Haha, it's not that simple!" Guo Zhen laughed, "It's not just about folding layers. You also have to consider the thickness, look, qualified Thousand-layer Iron should be this thick!" He showed the thickness between his two fingers, "And every layer must be hammered evenly thin.

No bulges or depressions, otherwise, when layered together, fatal flaws can arise, vulnerable to breaking upon slight impact with a real Divine Weapon!"

"The more layers, the harder it is to control!"

"The path of a blacksmith is enough for a lifetime of study!"

Guo Zhen said slowly, his face full of longing. By the look of him, one could guess he would willingly give up ten years of his life for a chance to forge up to sixty-four or one hundred twenty-eight layers.

"Watch again!" he instructed, holding up the iron piece, "Look carefully!"

Chu Hao widened his eyes and could distinctly see sixteen layers on the fractured face, but rather than referring to them as layers, they looked more like naturally occurring patterns.

"Qualified Thousand-layer Iron, from any angle of cut, should display neatly aligned patterns!" Guo Zhen said, "Now think about how challenging it is to forge a thousand layers?"

Indeed it was!

Chu Hao nodded. Maintaining such crisp and uniform patterns might be simple with two or four layers, but a hundred or a thousand layers later… that truly was immensely challenging! No wonder even an outstanding blacksmith like Guo Zhen could only achieve thirty-two layers.

"Mad Demon Hammer Technique comprises eighteen forms, yet although I've mastered them all, only about seven are useful in smithing!" Guo Zhen sighed, "This is why I can only reach sixty-four layers!"

"Mastering the Mad Demon Hammer Technique isn't difficult, but fluently applying it in smithing is the real challenge! Because the iron block continuously changes shape, deciding exactly where each hammer strike should land must be done in an instant, and no one can tell you how to do it!"

"Let me demonstrate it again, watch closely!"

Guo Zhen slowed down and executed the hammer technique once more.

Chu Hao's Derivation capabilities kicked in, capturing Guo Zhen's movements. He instantly preserved them in his mind, becoming incredibly slow-motion, with every detail crystal clear.

"Third round!" Guo Zhen finished the eighteen forms and was about to start the third round.

"No need, I've got it!" Chu Hao said.

"Really got it?" Guo Zhen was somewhat surprised, worried that Chu Hao was just boasting—a common trait among the young.

Chu Hao nodded and repeated, "Got it!"

"Very well!" Guo Zhen chose to believe in Chu Hao, acknowledging him as a genius. And indeed, a genius should not be measured by ordinary standards! "However, you've not yet cultivated Star Force, and this technique uses Star Force, so we'll speak more after you've cultivated it!"

"But before you practice the Mad Demon Hammer Technique, you need to train in a basic skill; otherwise, learning it will be in vain!"

"Follow me!"

Guo Zhen, carrying some tools, led Chu Hao to a small grove behind the courtyard. He took out the tools he had brought: a thin iron chain and an iron plate with a hole punched through it, roughly the size of a human head.

He tied the iron chain to a tree branch, its other end tied to the iron plate.

"Mad Demon Hammer Technique requires the use of Shocking Force!"

"What is Shocking Force?"

"Watch!"

Bang!

Guo Zhen threw a punch, and the iron plate started buzzing intensely, but astonishingly, the iron chain didn't shake at all!

"Shocking Force is about locking all the force into the object that is receiving the impact, maximizing the power of your strike!" Guo Zhen said, "This is not only a necessary skill for the Mad Demon Hammer Technique but also an extremely common and powerful technique in combat!"

"However, out of ten people, at most only one can master this technique!"

Chu Hao's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.

There are such striking techniques! How extraordinary!

Imagine, a punch lands on someone's body, the opponent naturally retreats to mitigate the force of the punch. But Shocking Force doesn't produce any counterforce that causes retreat, it spreads all inside the body!

A punch with the same force, the impact it creates is simply incomparable!

"You try it!" Seeing Chu Hao eager to try, Guo Zhen couldn't help but smile and stepped aside.

Chu Hao quickly stepped forward and emulated Guo Zhen, bang, and launched a punch.

Bang!

The iron plate made a loud noise, then immediately swung up like a swing, lifting high at one end, and then smashed back.

"The force is wrong!" Guo Zhen shouted, "Watch, it should be like this!" He punched, bang, the iron plate kept trembling, but it didn't sway at all.

"Watch again!"

"Look closely!"

Guo Zhen kept punching, but even he could only achieve Shocking Force in two to three out of ten punches, an extremely low efficiency, showing that mastering the technique doesn't guarantee success.

"I'm giving you one month. If you can't master Shocking Force by then, I'll be very disappointed!"

Having said that, he strode away.

But Chu Hao didn't know Guo Zhen's real thoughts—the one-month deadline was just to pressure Chu Hao. In reality, mastering Shocking Force within a month would absolutely mark someone as a genius among geniuses!

He absolutely believed in Chu Hao's perception, but he didn't want Chu Hao to become complacent, so with this pretext, if Chu Hao learned Shocking Force about a month later, it would achieve the purpose of motivating him without making him arrogant.

However, Chu Hao didn't know, and Guo Zhen also forgot one thing—that Shocking Force is generally only started by martial masters! Because compared to physical strength, Star Force is easier to control, thus easier to produce Shocking Force!

Like Guo Zhen managing to produce Shocking Force in two to three out of ten punches, if he were reduced to a Martial Disciple, he probably wouldn't produce any at all! And this was after over twenty years of arduous training!

Someone who can master Shocking Force as a Martial Disciple is indeed extremely rare!

Chu Hao started hammering the iron plate following the technique demonstrated by Guo Zhen.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The iron plate kept swinging like a swing, stubbornly refusing to behave.

Chu Hao went from anxious to calm, realizing this was clearly not achievable in a short time. He kept trying slowly, punch after punch, but when Guo Yushuang called him to eat dinner, he realized how much time had passed, and he hadn't progressed at all, his power simply wouldn't obey, just recklessly surging.

Calm, composed, take it slowly, hurrying won't help!

During dinner, his hand seemed to twitch involuntarily, even the chopsticks trembled, much to Guo Yushuang's amusement. As for Jiang Han and the others, they continued to curry favor with Guo Yushuang, diligently serving dishes, but the delicious, precious food all ended up in Chu Hao's bowl.

Not to mention Jiang Han and the others looking uncomfortable, even Guo Zhen internally felt bitter. His daughter, pampered and cherished, seemed to have no eyes for her father anymore.

He couldn't help but cough slightly, gently tapping his bowl with his chopsticks as if to remind her that her father, who raised her, was still here!

Guo Yushuang didn't pay much attention until Guo Zhen coughed several times. Then she finally turned to him and said, "Dad, what's wrong, does your throat hurt?"

This unfilial daughter!

Guo Zhen's nose was nearly crooked with anger. It was all for nothing, this daughter had indeed been raised in vain!

...

In the following days, Chu Hao dreamt of mastering Shocking Force, focusing on perfecting his force.

But without cultivating Star Force, such techniques were truly difficult to master. Despite his exceptional ability to derive, Chu Hao faced significant setbacks. Yet, his character grew stronger with setbacks, and encountering difficulties only fueled his will, making him appear spirited. Even a slight sense of understanding could excite him immensely.

One day, two days, three days, five days, Chu Hao stopped practicing and just stared at the iron plate all day, occasionally throwing a punch.

This apparent "laziness" naturally provoked discontent among Jiang Han and the others, but Guo Zhen spoiled him; having already suffered at Chu Hao's hands once, they didn't dare oppose him again, only feeling jealous internally.