Chapter 29
On the first night after encountering the wolf pack, the iron arrowheads stockpiled in the village were almost completely used up.
The blacksmith shop went all out forging iron arrowheads.
With funds flowing back into the blacksmith shop, Su Wangchuan naturally returned to a period of surging income. On the first day, he earned only 1,800 Copper Coins.
On the second day, it skyrocketed to 3,600 Copper Coins. The growth was fierce—just two days of income were enough to cover a full month’s basic needs.
After three consecutive days, more than ten thousand iron arrows had been produced, and the blacksmith shop’s furnace finally went cold.
Su Wangchuan returned to his original routine.
Blackstone Village’s arrow supply once again reached saturation.
Su Wangchuan was not discouraged.
In fact, with a base of 200,000 RMB in his account, and with this month’s salary and bonuses guaranteed to be no less than 30,000, he was remarkably calm.
He put down the hammer and immediately went to report to Captain Zhao Heiniu, joining everyone to stand in formation with spears and learn entry-level spear techniques. Zhao Heiniu emphasized the requirements to him once again.
Standing in formation with a spear required stable footing, a lowered center of gravity, a proper horse stance, and absolute precision.
Once one could maintain the stance for a full hour without moving or shaking, the first trial was considered passed.
Learning spear techniques involved three more trials.
The second trial was stabbing practice.
Ten thousand thrusts.
The third trial required holding the spear with one hand, with a steel ingot hanging from the spearhead, maintaining complete stillness for the duration of one incense stick.
The final trial was single-handed stabbing.
Ten thousand times.
At present, many people were still stuck at the first trial.
Standing still for an hour was actually not difficult.
This kind of skill, which placed extremely strict demands on arm strength and mental focus, was relatively easy for miners with generally decent physical conditioning.
However, many players clearly did not take Zhao Heiniu’s words to heart and failed to carry them out meticulously.
Just like Chen Feng and Heitan back then—because they did not strictly follow Blacksmith Sun’s requirements when forging Hundredfold Steel, they failed to switch professions to Blacksmith and never mastered the Hundredfold Steel Forging Technique.
These players were the same.
Most of them came purely to make money.
The companies behind them also did not want them to come into contact with combat skills, which might trigger unnecessary mainline tasks, so no guidance was provided in this regard.
After joining the formation, Su Wangchuan followed Zhao Heiniu’s requirements and steadily planted his horse stance, standing for an entire day.
With his physical conditioning and core strength, he actually met the requirements very quickly—an hour without moving or shaking—and could have directly entered the second phase of training.
But Su Wangchuan knew that behind these four trials lay something more important: muscle memory.
Only by forging muscle memory and leaving an imprint in the body could one achieve true coordination of eye and hand in combat, unleashing real fighting power.
They stood in formation for two consecutive days.
Everyone felt it was extremely boring.
By six in the evening, they collectively vanished and logged off to rest.
Only Su Wangchuan ate two pieces of wolf meat jerky and continued additional training.
At nine in the evening, Zhao Heiniu walked over with a smile.
“Wangchuan.”
“That’s enough.”
“With your physical conditioning, the horse stance with spear is already complete. Follow me and start practicing stabbing.”
Zhao Heiniu was very appreciative and satisfied with Su Wangchuan and continued,
“From today onward, you will practice stabbing at night. During the day, continue standing in formation. That way, the others won’t feel you are a special case and develop unnecessary resentment.”
Zhao Heiniu had thought things through very carefully for him.
Su Wangchuan agreed gladly.
“I’ll follow your instructions, Captain.”
Under Zhao Heiniu’s guidance, he quickly grasped the essentials of spear thrusting.
“The spear’s primary attack is the thrust. Both hands twist into a single line, the legs are firmly planted, the body like a drawn bow, and the spear like an arrow. Open your stance, gather momentum, unite waist and stance, concentrate the strength of your entire body at the spear tip, and in a sudden burst, even ordinary living creatures cannot escape being pierced!”
“Try it!”
Su Wangchuan’s eyes lit up as he stepped before the straw dummy stake.
Following Captain Zhao Heiniu’s instructions, he staggered his legs and leveled the spear.
His legs opened and closed, forming a bow-like stance against the ground.
Sink the Qi to the dantian.
Both hands gripped the spear tightly, twisting into a single line.
With core strength gathered at the waist and stance, he could indeed feel that once released, the explosive force would be astonishing.
Thump!
But at the moment of actual attack, the power seemed to disperse instead of exploding as imagined. The spear stabbed lightly into the straw dummy’s body.
Again!
Su Wangchuan adjusted his footing and thrust again.
Thump!
After several consecutive thrusts, he still could not find the right feeling.
He could sense that his attacks were far inferior to the lethal thrusts delivered by the militiamen atop the earthen wall.
If it were him, he might not even be able to pierce a wolf’s body.
Calming his mind, he began recalling the scenes from that night when the militiamen thrust their spears into the wolves.
Each of their movements replayed before his eyes like a film.
As he recalled, he imitated.
Thump!
Thump!
He continued thrusting repeatedly.
Still, he could not find the feeling.
“Captain.”
“I can’t find it. Could you demonstrate it for me?”
Su Wangchuan asked.
“Of course.”
Zhao Heiniu did not refuse. He stepped forward, took the spear, positioned himself where Su Wangchuan stood, drew one step back—and immediately, a faint yet sharp aura emerged from the spear.
Su Wangchuan’s full attention was fixed on Zhao Heiniu.
Zhao Heiniu’s movements looked ordinary.
They even seemed casual.
But the moment he opened his stance, Su Wangchuan’s pupils trembled.
Like a handgun pulling its trigger, the spear let out a short, violent tearing sound through the air, striking the straw dummy and piercing straight through its chest and back.
“Did you understand?”
Zhao Heiniu retrieved the spear and smiled at Su Wangchuan.
“Compared to spear techniques, I’m actually better at archery. The way force is applied in spear techniques is hard to put into words, and my explanation isn’t very precise either. You’ll need to comprehend it yourself and practice more.”
“Thank you, Captain. I’ll keep practicing.”
That strike just now had indeed allowed him to grasp something.
Following Zhao Heiniu’s posture, he fully immersed himself in it—every step, the stride length, the placement of both hands—replicating it exactly.
Casual movements.
Focused eyes.
The spear tip aligned perfectly with the target.
Su Wangchuan felt a slight stirring. In that instant, it seemed he had found the feeling.
The spear shot forward!
A faint tearing sound cut through the air.
Zhao Heiniu, who had not yet left, showed a look of surprise.
There was some feeling now.
Su Wangchuan’s eyes burned with heat as he continued thrusting according to that sensation.
Another tearing sound followed.
This strike carried heavy force.
Zhao Heiniu smiled and nodded slowly.
This Su Wangchuan had quite high comprehension.
Watching as Su Wangchuan repeated the movement again and again, meticulously adjusting and imitating his thrusts, already resembling the real thing, Zhao Heiniu’s smile grew broader.
After watching for a while, Zhao Heiniu left.
Su Wangchuan remained before the straw dummy stake, continuing to practice thrusting.
Once.
Twice.
Many times.
His clothes gradually became soaked with sweat.
Only when the bell rang at exactly midnight did he finally set the spear down, clear his Hunger, and log off to rest.