Chapter 21: Forging Armor

As dawn broke, Gao Yiye got out of bed.

In the past, she didn’t even need to think when waking each day; she directly picked up her bamboo basket, went out to search for wild vegetables, tree bark, and grass roots, and was busy to death from morning till night. But now, with the food bestowed by the Great deity, her first task each day had become considering what she should do today.

Since the village no longer lacked water, she decided to wash her face.

She was a natural beauty; previously, her appearance was masked by her dirtiness, malnutrition, sallow skin, and thinness, which hid her true elegance. But after eating well, with meat, for several consecutive days, she became more vigorous; upon washing her clean face, one could see her face had become fuller, with a rosy blush, giving her an instantly different impression from before.

The only flaw now was that her clothes were somewhat old and tattered; even if washed cleanest possible, they still dragged her down a bit.

After washing her face, she didn’t know what to do.

She slowly pushed open her door and walked out…

Having walked only a couple of steps, a huge hand pierced through the clouds, slowly descending toward her.

Gao Yiye knew, the Great deity was about to start giving out food for the day.

What would he give to the villagers today? Rice? Flour? Vegetables? Meat? Salt?

It was none of these; the Great deity placed before her a giant piece of iron.

Li Daoxuan had stripped off a worn iron sheet that wrapped a wooden coat rack, resulting in a small rectangular iron piece measuring 10 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 0.3 mm thick; yet this small “iron piece,” when placed before Gao Yiye, transformed into a massive iron plate over seven zhang long (20 meters), over three zhang wide (10 meters), and six cun thick (6 cm).

Gao Yiye felt confused: “Great deity, are you giving us this iron plate to eat today? I probably can’t bite through it…”

Li Daoxuan found it amusing yet exasperated: your first thought was to eat it? He laughed while scolding: “Always thinking about eating, this piece of iron is for you to make armor.”

Gao Yiye became curious: “Huh? Make armor?”

Li Daoxuan said: “Gather the villagers and examine this piece of iron; I recall there is a blacksmith in the village, I think his name is…”

Gao Yiye hurriedly answered: “Gao Yiyi.”

Li Daoxuan said: “Oh, yes, Gao Yiyi; have the villagers, under Gao Yiyi’s command, tailor a set of simple iron armor for every able-bodied young man in the village.”

Gao Yiye agreed and quickly called out for everyone.

Before long, all the villagers gathered around.

Looking at the huge iron plate on the ground, Gao Chuwu was the first to speak up: “Such a thick iron plate. Is the Great deity making us eat this?”

He grinned, revealing a row of slightly yellowish teeth: “I probably can’t bite through it.”

Gao Yiye imitated Li Daoxuan’s tone and laughed while scolding: “Always thinking about eating, this iron plate is for us to make armor, given by the Great deity.”

Gao Chuwu said: “Huh? Armor?”

From the crowd squeezed a middle-aged man, the blacksmith Gao Yiyi; he was fine making things like kitchen knives for villagers normally, but something as complicated as iron armor—he genuinely hadn’t made before. He circled the huge iron plate twice, gesturing with his hands: “Such a large piece of iron could be worth a lot of money; it needs to be melted before forging into anything else, but it’s too immense—I don’t have a furnace large enough to melt it.”

Li Daoxuan’s hands immediately reached into the scenic box; the 0.3 mm thin iron sheet, which he could easily crumple in his grip; he twisted left, twisted right, exerted force—crack!—it broke; he broke it repeatedly—crack, crack, crack, crack—until the iron sheet shattered into dozens of small fragments.

The villagers watched helplessly as the huge iron plate was lifted by an invisible massive hand, twisted and deformed in mid-air, then “crack” broken apart; it continued twisting, deforming, breaking multiple times repeatedly; the once enormous iron plate became dozens of scattered iron pieces.

In their eyes, that iron plate was as thick as two cun (6 cm); seeing it twist and snap right before them was truly startling and overflowing with divine power.

The villagers began kneeling to the ground once more.

Gao Yiye immediately shouted loudly: “The Great deity tells you not to waste time kneeling; get up and work!”

The villagers cried “Ah!” and rushed to stand up.

“Working, working!”

“Carry these iron pieces to Gao Yiyi’s home and pile them beside the furnace.”

“We need to gather more firewood and charcoal for him.”

“Say, why did Great Deity suddenly command us to make iron armor?”

The villagers quietly chatted while hauling the iron. Li Daoxuan noticed they discussed carrying the metal, debated crafting techniques, and speculated on its purpose, yet not one mentioned “hoarding armor is a capital crime of rebellion.” These villagers evidently knew nothing of the world beyond their village, absolute legal illiterates.

He said solemnly: “Gao Yiye, tell everyone this armor is for self-protection. Remember when the bandits slaughtered their way into our village last time?”

That event, Gao Yiye could certainly never forget.

The memory of her mother, brutally murdered by bandit blades, darkened her expression.

Li Daoxuan continued: “The days ahead will only grow more perilous. Food alone won’t keep you alive. You need weapons.”

Gao Yiye faithfully relayed his words to all the assembled villagers.

Village Chief was the first to grasp it: “Great Deity means bandits will attack our village again.”

The village women grew anxious: “What should we do then?”

But the men understood immediately: “Didn’t Great Deity tell us? Forge armor! Every able-bodied man in our village makes a set! We have those blades captured from the bandits too. Swords in hand, clad in iron, and fed enough to be strong – why fear any bandit?”

“So that’s what he meant!” The women understood.

Thus, everyone had work again today. Gathering firewood was the order; all who could labor hurried out to collect it. They piled the wood inside Gao Yiyi’s house. Others brought homemade charcoal, adding it all at once to the growing heap inside.

Gao Yiyi’s humble little furnace soon glowed red and vigorous. Several young men helped lift the large chunks of iron into the furnace until they melted. Then they watched Gao Yiyi, wielding his hammer with clumsy skill, start pounding with noisy clangs.

“Uncle Yiyi, how do you actually forge armor?”

“Complex stuff I can’t do. But two-panel armor? That I know.”

“Two-panel armor?”

“One iron plate for the chest, another for the back. Thread them together with rope and hang it on your body. It blocks both front and back attacks. That’s two-panel armor.”

“Why not forge an iron bucket to wear?”

“An iron bucket? How would you swing a sword?”

Around the furnace, the group debated animatedly.

Li Daoxuan, listening to their discussion, couldn’t help but frown: The technical expertise of Gaojia Village is still far too lacking. Even with materials, they can’t make proper armor. I must devise a way to improve their skills.

No—improving their skills takes time. Distant water can’t quench immediate thirst. Better to bring in skilled people from outside the village.

This thought led him to recall that fussy, pompously speaking Advisor—Thirty-Two. This Thirty-Two fellow… might prove useful after all.