102: Chapter 102 This sword... why does it smell like that?

Tang Yao: "Hmm?"

Looking at Hu Gualing's reaction, it seemed like he thought very highly of this sword?

Could it be that this sword wasn't just good-looking? Aside from being pretty, did it also have some practicality?

Tang Yao's curiosity was piqued. With a flick of her wrist, she immediately performed a sword flourish, leaving a graceful arc of reddish-white light in the dark night.

Hu Gualing: "!!!"

That move by Tang Yao certainly gave Hu Gualing quite a surprise!

Perhaps it wasn't a very sophisticated technique, but it at least showed some understanding of swordsmanship. In any case, if it were up to Hu Gualing, he would never be able to pull off such a dashing sword flourish.

No wonder Tang Yao had specifically asked for a longsword back then; it turned out she didn't just want it for looks—she actually knew how to use one.

The [scorching sharp longsword] had a slender and thin blade, so it wasn't very heavy. It could be wielded with one hand and didn't require much effort to swing. Tang Yao swung it a few times as she pleased, feeling that it was neither too light nor too heavy, giving her a sense of effortless control.

It seemed Hu Gualing had a very good grasp of the weight of the Materials.

However, just because a weapon felt comfortable in hand didn't mean it was effective.

After finishing her swings, Tang Yao held the longsword in a reverse grip and pulled it downward.

This movement was actually a motion to sheath the sword. Of course, the sword Hu Gualing gave her didn't have a scabbard, so her "sheathing" was just stabbing the sword diagonally into the ground.

With a soft "thud" from the tip of the sword, it pierced into the soil.

Hmm?

Tang Yao was slightly puzzled.

She was standing by the side of the unfinished pond, which was essentially a dirt pit, so when she stabbed the longsword diagonally downward, it landed on the wall of the pit.

At this moment, she looked down and saw that a good portion of the sword tip had already sunk into the pit wall.

But one had to realize, this pit wall wasn't ordinary soil. It was the ground that the villagers had specifically compacted and flattened when helping to build the courtyard. It was packed tight with a mix of mud, sand, stones, rubble, and various other things, making it very difficult to dig through.

At first, Tang Yao had found it very strenuous to dig with a shovel, and it was only after fetching water to soak the soil that she was able to dig into it.

It was precisely because of this that she had gotten so much yellow mud on her. Since the outfit she was wearing had a non-wearing property, her white clothes, skirt, and shoes remained clean and brand new. However, she hadn't had time to wash the yellow mud off her face and hands, which was why when Hu Gualing and Xiao Niao arrived earlier, they saw a white figure covered in yellow mud and thought she had just crawled out of some grave—it was no wonder they were so scared...

And since the pit in front of her was meant to be filled with water to become a pond, Tang Yao had used a shovel to thoroughly compact the pit walls to prevent too much water from seeping into the soil.

Thus, the pit wall was now extremely compact. To what extent? Well, let's put it this way: Hu Gualing, a seven-foot-tall sturdy man, could step on the edge of the pit wall without the soil beneath his feet shifting at all, and not a single clod of dirt would roll down from the ninety-degree vertical pit wall.

Yet, this pit wall that she had personally compacted, which was so hard, had actually been pierced so easily by the longsword?

Tang Yao was a bit uncertain. She tried pulling the longsword out, which it did quite easily. Then, she gently stabbed it diagonally downward again, and it pierced into the pit wall once more.

Hmm? It really was very easy!

Tang Yao held the sword, applied a little force, and pulled it out from the pit wall with great ease.

Pull, stab, pull, stab...

After some experimentation, Tang Yao pulled the sword back, brought it before her eyes, and examined it carefully with astonishment.

She could already tell that this sword wasn't just good in appearance; in actual use, its Sharpness was top-tier. If used to stab someone, it would definitely make a hole with every strike!

Hu Gualing took in Tang Yao's reaction and shift in mood, and couldn't help but say proudly: "How about it? This sword is pretty good, right!"

"Not bad, not bad, very good."

"It seems, Gualing, you really do have some special blacksmithing techniques!"

Tang Yao now understood the caliber of this blue-tier item. While sparing no praise, she began to carefully and affectionately wipe down the longsword's blade.

Hu Gualing: "Hahaha, that goes without saying!"

After Tang Yao finished wiping the sword, her expression became a bit strange as she said: "However..."

Hu Gualing: "Hmm? However what?"

Knowing that the sword was quite sharp, Tang Yao was very careful while wiping it. She didn't dare to let her fingers touch the blade, instead pinching her sleeve and using that to wipe it.

Anyway, this outfit had a non-wearing property, so she didn't have to worry about the blade cutting through it, nor did she have to worry about getting it dirty. Using it for this purpose was truly perfect.

Tang Yao quickly wiped the blade clean. While she was feeling pleased looking at her clean sleeve and the clean longsword, she suddenly felt like something was off.

She lifted her sleeve to her nose and sniffed it, knitting her brows. Then she sniffed the longsword and couldn't help but say with a strange expression: "This sword is good, it looks good and works well, but why... does it have a strange smell?"

Hu Gualing: "A strange smell? That can't be right, how could it?"

He sniffed with his nose: "Why don't I smell anything? Could it be the smell of damp earth? You were stabbing the sword in and out of the soil for quite a while just now."

Tang Yao: "..."

Tang Yao: "Sniff it carefully again. Isn't there a salty, stinky, strange smell?"

Hu Gualing: "Uh..."

Now it was Hu Gualing's turn to be speechless.

After hearing Tang Yao's description, he didn't even need to smell it again; he knew exactly what the strange smell Tang Yao was talking about was.

Salty and stinky—wasn't that just the smell of soybean paste?

Before Forging the sword blank, he had used grass paper dipped in soybean paste to wrap the entire iron bar, and then, through continuous hammering, completed the initial Carburizing process.

Just from this step alone, the soybean paste had been hammered in and absorbed.

Added to the subsequent processes of molten iron casting and Forging, the smell of soybean paste had long since seeped into the very Soul of this sword...

The reason Hu Gualing hadn't smelled it was likely because he had been in the casting room for so long, in constant, direct contact with the soybean paste, that he had become accustomed to the smell.

But for Tang Yao, calling this salty and stinky odor a "strange smell" was already being very polite.

Hu Gualing felt a bit awkward for a moment and thought up an excuse in his heart: "This, this is normal. Weapons that have just come out of the forge are all like this."

As he said this, Hu Gualing took the [tough steel knuckle duster] out of his backpack and held it out before Tang Yao: "Look at this, the brass knuckles I forged for myself have the same smell. I estimate that after using them for a while and letting them air out, it should be fine."

He didn't even sniff the brass knuckles when he took them out of his backpack, but since the brass knuckles and the sword were made from the same piece of steel, he knew without needing to smell them that they must have also been pickled with the smell of soybean paste.