Chapter 205: Practice of the Three Techniques

Three days had passed since Lin Feng upgraded the Wharf and completed the task.

On that day, Wu Xin had approached him about a job in Lin Xian Village. The matter was later handed over to Hu Xia, and in the end, Wu Xin was put in charge of security.

Afterward, the people who had been harassing her family heard the news and quickly came to her door to apologize.

In the past few days, the number of people wanting to apply for management positions in Lin Xian Village had started to increase, likely because they saw an opportunity.

At that moment, inside the Woodworking Workshop, he, Hu Zhiming, and Wu Jiaxing stood together, watching a demonstration by Sun Chuanxi, a master craftsman and designated inheritor of the art of mortise-and-tenon joinery.

Wu Jiaxing had invited him from Central Plains Province through his master’s connections.

Sun Chuanxi, in his sixties, sat before a workbench piled high with tools and wood. His bronze-colored face was etched with wrinkles, deep and shallow, left by the passage of time.

Crow’s feet fanned out from the corners of his eyes, yet his gaze was anything but cloudy as he focused intently on his carving knife and the piece of wood.

With a variety of simple tools in his hands, he worked as if performing magic, producing one small, intricate wooden component after another.

Hu Zhiming exclaimed in amazement, “Master Sun’s hands are so steady!”

Wu Jiaxing said, “It’s just like with us painters. It requires a massive amount of practice to ensure no mistakes are made during the creation process.”

Hu Zhiming felt it was a bit of a shame. The gap between this kind of craftsmanship and modern machinery was just too vast.

Especially for these kinds of wooden structural parts, using a machine tool to produce them would be a completely one-sided contest.

Fortunately, we’re in the age of live-streaming. As long as your skills are solid, you can make a living online.

The main reason an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage like Sun Chuanxi would come to Lin Xian Village was that his craft didn’t earn much money in this modern, mechanized era.

Furthermore, Lin Xian Village was a scenic area, and Lin Feng had promised to find him apprentices to pass his skills down to. That was why he agreed to come.

Sun Chuanxi finished the last component and looked at Lin Feng. “Boss, is my craftsmanship up to par?”

“Master Sun, didn’t I ask you to call me by my name, or Xiaolin? It’s more than up to par. Master Sun, your skill is incredible. Every single component looks like a work of art.”

Sun Chuanxi said with a sigh, “Actually, this used to be considered a basic skill, something that required arduous practice. Kids these days can’t endure hardship. No one is willing to learn anymore.”

Even his own grandson wasn’t allowed to learn by the family.

Hu Zhiming said, “Master Sun, if your trade is to be passed down, you have to transform the skill into an art form. Only when it becomes art can it make money—big money—in modern society and attract people.”

“You’re right, young man. A skill isn’t worth much. You have to turn it into art.”

Lin Feng smiled at this. ‘It’s true,’ he thought. ‘Just look at any art form; the training always starts with children.’

It’s like porcelain. If it were just an ordinary household item, there’s no way so many people would learn to make it.

But when porcelain became an art form, people’s attitudes toward the craft changed fundamentally.

Skills that become art flourish with the times. Skills that don’t get eliminated.

In the end, it all boiled down to one word—money!

Due to the special nature of the Mo Sect Mechanical Beast construction technique, Lin Feng couldn’t use machines for production even if he wanted to. It involved certain things he couldn’t yet comprehend.

Therefore, to develop this special Mechanical Beast technology, he needed to train Carpenters.

“Master Sun, here in the Woodworking Workshop, aside from leading people to create the wooden products we specify, you can use the rest of your time freely. Whatever you make can be placed in the shop outside and sold to the tourists who visit the village.”

“No problem.”

Lin Feng carried the newly made components out of the Woodworking Workshop and headed toward the Stone Workshop.

“Brother Lin, are you having these parts made to build a wooden model?”

“Mhm, just a little gadget.”

Lin Feng was very curious about the Mo Sect Mechanical Beasts, which was why he had arranged this assessment—mainly to have components for a Mechanical Beast made for himself.

“Then I’ll go find a Mecha blueprint online later and see if Master Sun can make it.”

The manager of the Stone Workshop, Huang Wenlong, was also a Master of Stone Carving. But he wasn’t much like Master Sun.

He was around the same age as Master Sun, but he looked like he was in his forties. You could say he had aged very well.

He was a bit chubby and had a very kind smile, and his long, slender fingers were especially nimble.

The stone carvings he made were generally sold as works of art. He only came to Lin Xian Village because he had heard it was a magical place.

Plus, he wasn’t young anymore, and his energy and stamina weren’t what they used to be, which was why he was willing to work in Lin Xian Village.

His goal was simple: to eat the Medicinal Cuisine, improve his health, and continue his carving and creative work.

The moment Lin Feng walked in, he asked eagerly, “Boss, where did you get this Stone Dragon Carving Skill?”

You couldn’t blame him for being surprised. The Stone Dragon Carving Skill was simply too unique. It demanded an extremely high level of technique, even more troublesome than jade carving.

He had just tried it and found that even with his skills, completing a Stone Dragon Carving would be very difficult.

Some of the techniques involved had to be practiced specifically to ensure no mistakes were made while carving the Stone Dragon.

“I came across it by chance. Master Huang, are you able to carve it?”

“Not right now. I’ll need a period of practice.”

“Then take your time practicing, Master Huang.”

Lin Feng himself had also looked at the Stone Dragon Carving Skill and even attempted it.

He discovered that the technique was extremely difficult and not something an ordinary person could master.

In other words, Stone Dragons were destined to be rare objects, and the larger they were, the harder they were to carve.

Huang Wenlong said, “Arrange some apprentices for me, and make them a bit younger. Older people might not be able to learn this Stone Dragon Carving Skill.”

In truth, he wanted to say it would be best to start practicing as a child, but considering the situation in Lin Xian Village, that was basically unrealistic.

“Okay, I’ll figure something out and find you some young apprentices.”

Lin Feng thought about contacting Mayor Ma to find kids from Mountain Ridge Town who had graduated from junior high but couldn’t get into high school to come and learn.

Kids like that, unable to get into high school, usually just waste time at a vocational school or stay in their hometown to farm.

When Hu Zhiming and Wu Jiaxing heard that Lin Feng was the one who provided the so-called Stone Dragon Carving Skill, they were both very curious. They both knew that nothing their boss produced was ever simple.

Unfortunately, they looked it over but didn’t understand carving, so they couldn’t see anything magical about it.

They figured they would wait until Master Huang could actually carve one and then come back to see the finished product.

Things were much more lively over at the Blacksmith’s Shop, where a group of burly men were stoking forges and hammering iron.

“CLANG, CLANG…”

“HEAVE-HO, HEAVE-HO…”

There were no grandmasters here, just a group of blacksmiths.

“Hey, the boss is here! Take a look at the dagger I forged,” someone shouted when they saw Lin Feng enter.

“Get that little dagger of yours out of here! Boss, check out my door-sized greatsword!”

‘Looking at the brawny man holding a greatsword thirty centimeters wide,’ Lin Feng thought, ‘that thing doesn’t even need an edge; you could just smash someone to death with it.’

Lin Feng said with a smile, “It’s certainly lively over here.”

“Haha, Boss, the work environment here is fantastic, especially since we have the freedom to be creative.”

“Before, we’d forge the same thing every single day. It was absolute torture. Working for you here is great, Boss.”

Hu Zhiming said, “Don’t get too carried away with your personal projects. Finish the decorative pieces for the Barracks first.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! We haven’t forgotten our work. It’s all over there.”

Following the direction he pointed, they saw that all the weapons and armor he had requested were already forged.

“Your work efficiency is quite good!”

“The pay is good and the work is light. If our efficiency were any lower, we’d be letting the boss down.”

Lin Feng asked curiously, “Have you guys tried that Forging Technique?”

Hearing him mention the Forging Technique, the group of brawny men all crowded around.

“Boss, that Forging Technique is too hard to practice! It’s also really awkward.”

“Yeah, the movements are demanding, and you need really good coordination. We can’t even complete a full sequence.”

“Boss, look. I’ll show you, and you’ll see what we mean.”

The man picked up a hammer and began to imitate the movements required by the Forging Technique.

Halfway through the motion, his legs started twitching as if they were cramping, and he nearly flung the hammer from his grasp.

“See, Boss? We really can’t do these movements.”

Hu Zhiming had also seen that Forging Technique. Since it was a Cultivation Technique that Lin Feng had provided, he had even tried it himself.

The result was about the same as with these men; the movements were too difficult, simply impossible to perform.

“You should still try to practice it. I’m telling you, mastering this set of movements will be good for your bodies.”

“Boss, we can tell. Using these movements to forge really does work out the whole body, but it’s just too hard.”

“Yeah, it’s not that we don’t want to learn. It’s that our bodies are already set in their ways, which makes it hard to learn.”

Lin Feng didn’t insist. He just wanted to see what kind of effect training with this Forging Technique would have.

‘If these blacksmiths don’t want to learn, I’ll just have some young apprentices learn it in the future.’

“If you want to learn it, learn it. If you don’t, you don’t have to. I won’t force you.”

After leaving the Blacksmith’s Shop, Hu Zhiming asked, “Brother Lin, can those movements really strengthen the body?”

“Of course they can. Just by analyzing the movements, you can tell they activate all the muscles in the body.”

It’s just that the movements aren’t very elegant. They’re a training method developed specifically for people who forge iron.

“By the way, this area can be opened to tourists now.”

“Got it. I’ll let them know in a bit to open this area to tourists tomorrow.”

Lin Feng carried the Mechanical Beast components back to his residence. He didn’t start assembling them, however. Instead, he made a call to Mayor Ma.

“Lin Feng, what can I do for you?”

“Uncle Ma, I need some kids, the kind who have just graduated from junior high, to come to Lin Xian Village and learn woodworking and stone carving techniques. Could you help me ask around and see if there are any kids in Mountain Ridge Town willing to be sent over to learn?”

“Yes, yes, definitely! How many people do you need?” Ma Dehua said eagerly.

“Hmm… let’s start with twenty.”

“Just wait a few days, and I’ll send them over to you.”

“Alright, I’m not in a hurry.”

Ma Dehua hadn’t expected such a great opportunity. Kids who had just graduated junior high were the most troublesome, so sending them to Lin Xian Village to learn a trade was an absolutely wonderful thing.

As long as they successfully completed their training in Lin Xian Village, they’d have a chance to work there directly.

Nowadays, securing a job in Lin Xian Village was no easy feat.

‘I need to plan this carefully,’ he thought. ‘I have to find kids who are actually willing to go and learn.’

‘Otherwise, if I send a bunch of lazy bums who don’t want to learn, they’ll just get kicked out before long.’

‘I can look for children from disadvantaged families, whose parents are unable to work.’

Children like that usually learn to be sensible at a young age, have resilient personalities, and can endure hardship.

There was no helping it; life forced them to. That’s where the saying “children from poor families mature early” comes from.

After settling that matter, Lin Feng emptied all the components from the bag.

He then picked out a few parts that weren’t needed.

That’s right. When he provided the blueprints for the Mechanical Beast components, he had mixed in some blueprints for unnecessary parts.

He didn’t want others to know about this kind of thing just yet, to prevent any accidents.

Within the Mo Sect Mechanical Beast construction technique, the most crucial technology was actually a series of patterns that required special processing.

Lin Feng looked at these patterns. ‘How come these feel just like the Arrays in Cultivation novels? Whatever, I’ll just assemble it first and see what happens.’