After one night, Du Chengfeng felt that he had grown a lot.
Previously, due to the experience at the Yang family shrine, he had been very concerned about the matter of "sharpening", so when he was preparing to handle those Bone Flower Warhammers, he habitually wanted to use a Grinding Stone—of course, this was impossible, as the hammerhead could not be sharpened.
But now, he has understood this.
Rather than calling it "sharpening", it would be more precise to say "weapon maintenance". Swords have their ways to be maintained, and axes have theirs, whereas the maintenance methods for whips, maces, and hammers are even more different.
But at its core, the essence of so-called sharpening is understanding the state of the weapon, repairing hidden damage, exploring every mark on the weapon.
However, this process is somewhat dangerous for most people.
"Whew..."
After wiping the last Bone Flower Warhammer, Du Chengfeng let out a long breath.
To his surprise, the energy consumed in polishing these dozens of Bone Flower Warhammers was more than that of the sabers—because the original holders of these Bone Flower Warhammers were generally stronger than the holders of those sabers, and they had killed more.
This surprised Du Chengfeng because he had originally thought that those who used sabers, the Hu people, would slaughter more, while Bone Flower Warhammer, which appeared extremely simple, would be used by weaker soldiers.
But who would have thought that the arithmetic on the Northern Desert Grassland was completely different? Those with some wealth would prepare a saber before going to battle, but that saber might not see much blood, while the grassland warriors too poor to afford a saber were more willing to wave their Bone Flower Warhammers frantically, smashing one opponent's head after another.
"Don't judge people by their looks... the same goes for weapons."
Du Chengfeng sighed.
However, compared to the weapons themselves, he was more concerned about the things he had just seen from the weapons.
Whenever he finished polishing a saber, he could hear He Xiqing's speech; whenever he wiped off a warhammer, he could feel the enthusiasm of a grassland warrior—these Hu people were not just brainless looting scattered troops, their loyalty to He Xiqing was even called madness. Any grassland warrior with some ambition considered serving He Xiqing as an honor, and under He Xiqing's command, they were even willing to die.
This gave Du Chengfeng a deeper understanding of the enemies he was about to face.
He was not just a Demon God-like monstrous figure but also a highly charismatic leader.
"Why does it seem to become harder?"
Just thinking about those grassland warriors shouting angrily in the camp made Du Chengfeng's heart sink.
It's definitely not an easy thing to fight such a monster alone, not to mention the news from Yang Fortress won't be blocked for long. With He Xiqing's keen senses, he will likely soon notice that his brothers have gone out for training and haven't returned.
Not enough, the power is still not enough.
Even if he has already mastered the way of honing the body as a weapon and has a method to fundamentally enhance combat power, the speed of effectiveness is still too slow.
Faster, faster, he needs some quicker way.
And now, a shortcut is right in front of him.
Just pick up the large axe with ancient patterns at hand and chop a little more...
"Be honest."
The saber knocked on the axe blade, and Du Chengfeng's urge to kill and see blood immediately vanished.
However, this time, although the axe did indeed calm down, Du Chengfeng's mind was not entirely quiet.
He Xiqing's fierce image was like a mountain pressing on his heart, facing such a powerful enemy with almost no visible weaknesses, no one could truly remain calm.
Could it be that He Xiqing is just like his younger brother said, an all-rounder?
"It shouldn't be, there must be a solution."
Taking a deep breath, Du Chengfeng decided to not pressure himself but to think of something lighthearted to enjoy.
For example, count the gains from this polishing.
Maybe because he threw away the Unlucky Curved Saber out the door, his harvest this time was much better than before. These Bone Flower Warhammers not only brought him quite a wealth of blunt weapon techniques but also contained several unique methods for body conditioning from the Northern men.
It seems obvious, to hurt someone with a Bone Flower Warhammer, which has no sharp tip, one naturally needs a lot of power.
If any problem must be mentioned, it's that these methods of body conditioning are overly severe.
Some carry logs while running in ice and snow, some in cold winds hit trees with their bodies, some shepherd warriors of the grassland carry lambs weighing dozens of pounds as exercise equipment, and other grassland warriors swing large sticks, from wooden sticks weighing about ten pounds to heavy iron sticks weighing hundreds of pounds.
Of course, the heavy iron sticks weighing hundreds of pounds are not suitable for battles, but once the body gets used to such heavy weights, when switching back to Bone Flower Warhammers during battles, they become extremely lightweight, swinging swiftly like the wind, even faster than swords and blades.
It is after such rigorous training that those Northern Desert warriors could harden themselves like iron.
However, for Du Chengfeng, these are still fine; relative to the extreme method of "Three Thousand Swords Swung in a Day" learned before, the training methods of these grassland warriors seem more reliable and feasible.
To confront iron with iron, one must refine oneself into solid steel.
At this moment, Du Chengfeng decided to try all these training methods.
He wanted to see where the limit of his will lies.
"Come on! Continue"
Yet, just as Du Chengfeng was about to train his muscles and bones again before resting, someone pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in.
Knowing it is alright to enter the small courtyard without knocking means it's not a stranger, but what surprised Du Chengfeng was that instead of the more familiar carpenter Li, it was the old man Yang Xuan, who was not that familiar to him.
"Warrior! Good news! Good news!"
This time, Yang Xuan didn't even bring anyone, running all the way over.
"The warrior previously entrusted me with the Yang family to help gather weapons, and now a good one has been collected!"
"...Oh?"
At this moment, Du Chengfeng noticed that Yang Xuan was holding a long knife with a sheath in his arms.
The old long knife had not been unsheathed, looking rather ordinary.
"You mean this?"
"Warrior, this knife may look plain."
Seeing Du Chengfeng's lack of interest, Yang Xuan hurriedly handed the knife over.
"This knife is indeed cheap, but it was the personal knife of Liu Qingyun, the fast knife expert. If Liu Qingyun hadn't been found by Cui Yuan and then killed in a duel, no price would have obtained it..."
"Wait a moment?"
Du Chengfeng couldn't help but feel stunned.
"Did you just say, who killed whom?"