chapter 331

A Ripple Causes Another Ripple(3)

Clang! Clang!

A sharp hammering sound echoed through the workshop street

Although dusk had settled over the street, the lights in the workshops did not fade but rather brightened the night.

In each workshop, artisans were immersed in their work as if they had forgotten the very existence of night. The forges raged with fire, and the sweat of the craftsmen fell to the ground, soaking it.

At the far end of the workshop street, a shabby workshop forge was also blazing.

Inside, a muscular old man with disheveled gray hair was hammering away.

Clang! Clang!

With every strike, the glowing red iron deformed.

The old man hammered relentlessly.

Every time he swung the large hammer, the muscles all over his body flexed. Beads of sweat rolled down his bare torso.

Despite the intense heat, which would have made it impossible for a normal person to breathe, the old man continued hammering tirelessly.

Lee Gwak silently watched the old man.

That old man was Eun Gwang-ho.

After rescuing Han So Cheon and Lee Soo-ah, Lee Gwak had returned to Gaiyang, where Eun Gwang-ho’s workshop was located. He had rented a separate out building at an inn for his family to stay in.

The injuries Han So Cheon had sustained were severe, requiring proper treatment and a lengthy recovery.

Fortunately, there was a skilled physician nearby, so there were no issues with the treatment.

Lee Gwak took care of Han So Cheon and visited Eun Gwang-ho’s workshop whenever he had time.

The item that Eun Gwang-ho was painstakingly crafting was Lee Gwak’s blade.

He had been forging this blade ever since Lee Gwak left to rescue Han So-cheon. Had it been an ordinary blade, he would have finished it long ago. But he had poured his heart and soul into this work, and only now was it reaching its final form.

Eun Gwang-ho concentrated and struck with his hammer.

With each hit, the blade’s form slowly took shape.

Lee Gwak watched without blinking an eye.

As the blade neared completion, Lee Gwak felt a strange emotion.

It was like the nostalgia of meeting a long-lost friend. Since it was his first time feeling this way, Lee Gwak could not take his eyes off the blade.

Then it happened.

“Dad!”

A small voice called out from behind.

Without even turning around, Lee Gwak recognised the voice’s owner.

It was Lee Soo-ah.

Lee Cheong was with her.

Lee Gwak silently gestured, and Lee Soo-ah and Lee Cheong quietly approached and sat beside him like cats.

Lee Soo-ah whispered into Lee Gwak’s ear.

“Is it still not finished?”

“Not yet!”

“Really? It’s taking a long time. Grandpa must be tired.”

Lee Soo-ah looked at Eun Gwang-ho with pity.

Sweat poured from Eun Gwang-ho’s entire body, and his face was as red as a furnace.

Lee Cheong silently watched Eun Gwang-ho.

The sight of the artisan completely immersed in his craft moved Lee Cheong in a way that words could not describe.

Clang! Clang!

With each hammer strike by Eun Gwang-ho, Lee Cheong twitched his fingers.

There was a connection between the perfected motion of a master craftsman who had achieved the pinnacle of his art and the movement of a martial artist who had reached the highest realm. The usually serious Lee Cheong unknowingly felt and resonated with the artisan’s movement.

Noticing Lee Cheong’s fingers twitching, Lee Soo-ah looked puzzled, but Lee Gwak placed a finger to his lips, signaling for silence. Only then did she realize what state Lee Cheong was in, and she pressed her lips firmly together.

‘How did he get like that…?’

When they parted at Mount Qilian, Lee Cheong’s martial prowess was far behind Lee Soo-ah’s.

It was natural. Lee Soo-ah had begun training in martial arts much earlier, while Lee Cheong had been sick for a long time and had only recently begun to train.

In a way, the gap between them was to be expected. However, during the few months he spent travelling in Jianghu with Lee Gwak, Lee Cheong had quickly caught up with Lee Soo-ah.

Inspired by Lee Cheong’s rapid progress, Lee Soo-ah decided to train even harder. She clenched her little fists and turned her eyes back to Eun Gwang-ho.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Eun Gwang-ho’s hammering reached a climax.

The rhythm of Eun Gwang-ho’s hammering reached its peak. His eyes glinted with a fierce intensity that seemed almost frightening.

It was a pure madness born of an artisan’s obsession.

‘More, just a little more…’

His hammering speed increased.

Though it might have seemed random, his hammering had a certain rhythm to it.

Lee Gwak synchronized his breathing to match the timing of those strikes.

Although he was not hammering himself, his breathing synchronized with Eun Gwang-ho’s movements.

Clang, Clang, Clang.

Again and again, the hammer rose and fell. Whenever it cooled down, he would put it back into the forge to heat it up again.

Watching him, Lee Gwak felt his heart stir.

It moved him deeply that one of the greatest craftsmen in the land was devoting all his strength to create this blade just for him.

Then—

Clang!

Eun Gwang-ho struck with the hammer one last time, and a particularly loud clang filled the workshop.

“Ah!”

Both Lee Cheong and Lee Soo-ah exclaimed at the same time.

The sound of the metal was unusually crisp and refreshing.

After setting down his hammer, Eun Gwang-ho used tongs to lift the blade.

The red-hot blade was perfectly straight without any warp, the style Lee Gwak preferred.

Eun Gwang-ho placed the blade into the quenching liquid.

Hisss!

The moment the red-hot blade entered the fluid, steam billowed, quickly filling the workshop.

Eun Gwang-ho did not blink as he watched the blade in the quenching fluid.

This moment was crucial, deciding the success or failure of the blade.

Even a slight delay risked warping, while pulling it out too soon would leave the blade insufficiently hardened. This was where the trained eye and intuition of a master craftsman were essential.

“That’s enough.”

Using sight and touch to sense the perfect moment, Eun Gwang-ho withdrew the blade from the quenching fluid.

“Wow!”

“Ah!”

Lee Cheong and Lee Soo-ah both exclaimed at the sight of the flawlessly straight blade.

Lee Gwak also looked at it without blinking an eye.

At that moment, Eun Gwang-ho called Lee Gwak.

“Come here.”

Almost as if pulled by an unseen force, Lee Gwak stepped closer. Then, Eun Gwang-ho placed the newly forged blade in his hands.

“Hold it.”

“Yes, elder.”

Woo-oong!

Woo-oong!

Immediately, the blade in Lee Gwak’s grip let out a resonant hum.

It was as if the blade recognized Lee Gwak as its master.

Joy lit up in Eun Gwang-ho’s eyes.

Many factors contribute to the creation of a famous blade or sword.

The finest materials, a forge of immense heat, the hands of a master craftsman, sufficient time—and, some might say, even the favor of the heavens. If any of these elements are lacking, the birth of a true masterpiece is impossible.

Among them all, however, Eun Gwang-ho believed the most crucial element was the communion between the blade and its wielder.

Some might scoff at the idea of connecting emotionally with a piece of metal, but for someone who had walked the path of a master craftsman for so long, Eun Gwang-ho was convinced that even cold steel possessed its own spirit.

In particular, once it endured thousands—tens of thousands—of hammer strikes and was reborn as a new weapon, the blade’s very nature  shifted depending on whose hands it was placed in.

This was the reason Eun Gwang-ho handed the newly forged blade to Lee Gwak.

Seeing the blade cry in Lee Gwak’s hands filled Eun Gwang-ho with immense joy.

Lee Gwak stared blankly at the blade in his hand.

It felt as if an electric current was coursing through him from head to toe.

This sensation was entirely new to him, and so he remained transfixed, gazing at the blade in his grasp.

Eun Gwang-ho turned to Lee Gwak and asked,

“What would you call this blade?”

At that moment, Lee Gwak looked at the open workshop window. Beyond it stretched the deep night sky, black as spilled ink.

One particularly brilliant star stood out in Lee Gwak’s vision.

His lips parted.

“Star Soul”

“I’ll call it Star Soul.”

***

Star Soul was not yet complete.

The edge still needed sharpening; its name had to be engraved on the blade, and the hilt and scabbard both had to be newly crafted. That meant a bit more time was required to finish the series of tasks.

Feeling a tinge of regret, Lee Gwak returned Star Soul to Eun Gwang-ho.

As Eun Gwang-ho took it, he said,

“Come back at this time tomorrow. I’ll have it finished by then.”

“Thank you.”

“I feel good, as if I have created the masterpiece of my life. It was worth the effort.”

Eun Gwang-ho smiled satisfactorily.

Unbeknownst to Lee Gwak, Eun Gwang-ho had melted down all of the Kunlun black steel he had acquired with difficulty to make Star Soul.

Kunlun black steel, as its name suggests, could only be found deep in the mountains of Kunlun and was nearly impossible to obtain through human effort.

It could only be found occasionally when natural disasters like earthquakes or landslides ejected it from the depths, and it was so hard that only an artisan of Eun Gwang-ho’s caliber could refine it.

After briefly running his hand over Star Soul, Eun Gwang-ho squatted back down in front of the forge, intending to work through the night and finalize the blade.

Lee Gwak, holding hands with Lee Cheong and Lee Soo-ah, said, “Let’s go now.”

“Aren’t we going to watch more?”

“Staying longer will only disturb the elder. It’s better for us to leave; it will help him more.”

Lee Cheong and Lee Soo-ah nodded at Lee Gwak’s words.

The three left Eun Gwang-ho alone in the workshop and exited.

When they stepped outside, a deep darkness had descended on the workshop street. Most artisans had finished their day’s work.

Eun Gwang-ho’s workshop was the only one still lit.

Lee Gwak paused to look back at Eun Gwang-ho’s workshop before moving on.

In truth, he was the one who found it hardest to pull himself away. With heavy feet, he departed the street.

They had been walking toward the inn for a while when—

“Dad! Look at the sky,” Lee Soo-ah said, pointing upward.

A shooting star traced a long, luminous tail across the night sky, catching Lee Gwak’s eye.

Giggling, Lee Soo-ah pressed her hands together.

“Hee-hee! I have to make a wish. They say if you wish on a shooting star, it comes true.”

“Then I’ll wish, too…”

Lee Cheong joined in, clasping his hands and closing his eyes tightly.

Lee Gwak watched them silently.

They were so precious to him that it would not pain him to hold them in his eyes—these two were the reason he lived.

He wondered what they were wishing for as they stood there.

“All done.”

“Me too.”

Soon, they opened their eyes.

Lee Gwak asked,

“What did you wish for?”

“It’s a secret,” Lee Soo-ah replied.

“Really?”

“Sorry, Dad. But if I say it out loud, it won’t come true. So please understand, okay?”

At her lighthearted words, Lee Gwak found himself nodding without realizing it.

“Hee-hee! Let’s go; Mom’s waiting.”

Giggling, Lee Soo-ah took Lee Gwak’s hand once more.

He nodded, using his free hand to take Lee Cheong’s hand.

With Lee Gwak in the middle, the two children moved energetically.

At that moment, the round moon, hidden until then behind clouds, revealed itself. Under the moonlight shining upon the world, their shadows stretched long across the ground.

“Hee-hee!”

Lee Soo-ah suddenly jumped, and so did her shadow. Then Lee Cheong also hopped into the air.

Whether from excitement or joy, the children let out peals of laughter, hopping and skipping, swinging Lee Gwak’s arms back and forth.

Smiling, Lee Gwak kept walking.

Before long, the separate outbuilding of the inn came into view. As soon as they spotted it, the

children released Lee Gwak’s hands and dashed straight for the door.

“Mom!”

They flung the door open, almost smashing it in their haste. Inside the annex, Han So Cheon was waiting.

“Mom, I’m back!”

“Mom!”

Both children raced into Han So Cheon’s arms at once.

“You’re here,” she greeted them with a radiant smile.

Though her face was still pale because she had yet to fully recover from her injuries, there was no sign of pain. Holding the children tightly, she looked over at Lee Gwak.

“You’re back?”

“Yes. How are you feeling?”

“Much better now. The physician said as long as I don’t overdo it, I should be fine to move

around.”

“That’s a relief,” Lee Gwak said, and Han So Cheon nodded in agreement.

Still hugging the children, Han So Cheon held out her hand toward Lee Gwak.

He gladly took it.

A soft moonlight shone down on the reunited family, illuminating their shoulders.

There, in the warm glow of night, they chatted and laughed together.