The Bull-Slaying Hammer Weighing 1,999 Jin

The 1,999-Jin Cattle-Slaughtering Hammer

After hearing Li Ruolan’s words, Wu Hong was once again shocked, but also felt a sense of helplessness. The radiant phenomenon released by his Great Sun Tathagata True Understanding was invisible to others, but to onlookers, some of his actions must seem utterly mad.

“Ruolan, I don’t think it’s safe here!” Wu Hong knew that Madam Zhao would not let him off so easily; she would surely send more experts to capture him.

“Why don’t you, Young Master Wu, stoop to be a bandit on the mountain for a few days? Haha.” Li Ruolan felt a trace of sweetness in her heart when she heard Wu Hong call her ‘Ruolan’ so affectionately.

“No, the forces hunting me are too powerful. Even if I become a bandit in the mountains, next time it might be the imperial army that comes after me!”

Wu Hong spoke the plain truth. The Prince of Martial Might had been the Grand Marshal of the Great Qian Dynasty. After rumors spread that Wu Hong had assassinated the Prince, all his authority was transferred to the Zhao family, and the Prince’s armies were now commanded by Madam Zhao’s younger brother, Zhao Hu.

Moreover, Madam Zhao’s power did not end there. The Emperor’s favorite concubine was also her own younger sister!

Now that Wu Hong had caught Madam Zhao’s attention, he had become a public enemy of the entire dynasty. Nowhere was safe for him. Perhaps if he had remained a nameless beggar and died in obscurity, the matter might have ended there. But now that his identity was exposed, there was nowhere to hide—unless the truth came to light for all to see.

Burdened with the monstrous crime of patricide, Wu Hong would never know peace until his name was cleared.

Li Ruolan clearly understood this as well and did not attempt to persuade him further.

With a swish, Wu Hong drew out his cattle-slaughtering knife in one hand and hefted his hammer in the other, savoring their weight. The two weapons seemed unchanged, but he knew they must transform as his own body changed. Back at the Huang estate, he had noticed that as his cultivation increased, the weapons grew heavier.

“Benefactor, are these your weapons?” Li Ruolan’s heart was shaken as she beheld the cold glint of the knife in Wu Hong’s hand.

“These two were just my tools for slaughtering cattle when I worked in the Huang household,” Wu Hong answered honestly.

“Haha! Boss, this little benefactor actually uses cattle-slaughtering tools as weapons to face his enemies. Surely it must be terribly inconvenient for him!” One of Li Ruolan’s men couldn’t help but roar with laughter.

Li Ruolan didn’t blame the man—he was one of her trusted lieutenants, an expert of the Blood Refining Realm, so his words carried weight. She recalled how, when Wu Hong had saved her, he had used this very hammer to smash an enemy’s skull.

“Benefactor, Liu is right. You may be handy with these weapons, but in a real fight, you’ll be at a disadvantage. The knife is too short, the hammer too small—neither can really threaten an opponent!”

Wu Hong just chuckled. “It’s fine, so long as they feel right in my hands! Do you have a scale here? I’d like to weigh these two weapons.”

“Heh! Kid, those are just ordinary cattle tools. The boss is looking out for you, but you don’t seem to appreciate it. Let me see what’s so special about your beloved weapons.” Liu strode over and tried to snatch Wu Hong’s hammer from his hand, but after tugging a couple of times, he couldn’t budge it.

“Hey now, you’re a strong one!” Liu was stunned. He was a Blood Refining expert, yet he couldn’t move this youngster’s arm at all.

“Master Liu, careful—my hammer is quite heavy. I’ll let go now, be cautious,” Wu Hong said, seeing Liu’s face flush red with effort and not wanting to embarrass him further.

Liu thought to himself, This kid is arrogant! Just because he has a bit of strength, he dares act so cocky with me? He’s only at the Tendon Refining level—how heavy could his weapon possibly be?

“Go ahead, kid, let go. No matter how heavy it is, I can lift it.” With Li Ruolan watching, Liu dared not snatch the weapon outright.

Wu Hong, knowing Liu was a Blood Refining expert and possessed immense strength, heard his words and let go of the hammer at once.

With a thunderous crash, the instant Wu Hong let go, Liu felt a tremendous downward force wrenching at his hands, scraping his palms raw. He was so shocked he barely noticed his bleeding hands.

“What the—why is this hammer so heavy?” Liu looked as if he’d seen a ghost and yelled out in surprise.

“No way! Did you see that? The moment Liu picked up the hammer, it tore open his palms!” At the sound of the heavy hammer crashing to the ground, everyone was stunned. A fellow muttered in disbelief.

At that moment, Wu Hong’s short-handled hammer struck the stone floor with a thud, the head sinking deep into the rock, leaving only a small portion of the steel handle exposed.

While Liu was shocked and embarrassed, he knew Wu Hong had warned him beforehand and could not blame him for making a fool of him.

Stooping, Liu gripped the exposed handle with both hands, grunted, and pulled with all his might—yet the hammer refused to budge.

Now Liu’s face changed. Blood Refining experts might possess ten-thousand-jin strength, but without channeling all their energy, their raw physical power could only produce about a thousand-jin of force. Even using both arms, he couldn’t lift the hammer.

Wu Hong was equally astonished. He remembered weighing the hammer back at the Huang estate—it was about two hundred jin then, but he’d never weighed it since his cultivation had advanced.

Now Liu wrapped himself in yellow energy, gripped the handle again, and with a great heave finally wrenched the hammer free from the rock.

“What in the world is this hammer made of?” Liu had to use his Blood Refining power just to lift it, and even then, he realized that wielding the hammer in combat was another matter entirely.

He tried to swing it one-handed, but the massive inertia sent him stumbling.

A warrior with a thousand-jin strength would never use a weapon heavier than fifty jin; only those with five thousand jin or more—like the legendary Martial Saints—could wield a hundred-jin weapon with ease.

“Erzi, fetch the iron scale from the house!” Erzi, seeing Liu forced to use his full strength just to lift the hammer, rushed into the shed with some others and brought out the scale they used for weighing cattle.

Li Ruolan, though ignorant of martial arts, was wide-eyed with astonishment at Liu’s struggle.

Before long, four helpers, straining with effort, dragged out a huge scale to Liu’s side.

Liu carefully set the hammer on the massive scale—its surface measured four or five square meters—moving with the utmost caution.

Clang! As soon as the hammer touched the scale, a harsh metallic screech filled the air, and the scale’s pan visibly sagged.

“Is that even a weapon? Who could possibly use something like that?” The helpers gaped, their jaws dropping as they looked from the tiny hammer to Wu Hong’s calm face.

Liu, having seen the hammer’s weight, did not gape like the others, but quickly swapped out the counterweights for the largest ones. When he saw the number displayed, he couldn’t help but click his tongue. “Is this really a weapon meant for a man?”

“My god—1,999 jin! What am I seeing? That little hammer weighs 1,999 jin! The scale must be broken!” Everyone’s face went pale. Even Wu Hong, despite his composure, couldn’t help but change expression.

“Whoa! Boss, please teach me!” Erzi, nimble and short, darted over to Wu Hong and hugged his leg.

“I—I only know the art of slaughtering cattle, not martial arts!” In truth, Erzi was simply too excited and hadn’t thought about what Wu Hong could actually teach him. When he heard Wu Hong mention his skill, his eyes lit up.

“Big brother, you’re my second father! Just teach me how to slaughter cattle—anything!” Erzi kept hugging Wu Hong’s leg.

“Erzi, don’t make trouble. What could our benefactor possibly teach you?” Li Ruolan intervened, and Erzi finally let go.

Wu Hong thought to himself, These men may be bandits, but they’re loyal and true. He didn’t know how Li Ruolan had come to lead them, but he didn’t want to owe them too much.

He picked up the hammer from the scale with ease, then placed the knife on it. The number read 199 jin—exactly one-tenth of the hammer’s weight.

No wonder the knife felt like a feather in his hand, Wu Hong thought, but even 199 jin was enough to shock the rest—after all, the blade was so thin. A normal knife would never weigh more than five jin.

“Tsk tsk, now I finally understand how the Silver Armored General got that wound in his chest last night. I was puzzled at the time!” Liu stared at Wu Hong’s easy grip on the hammer, muttering in awe.

That was a Marrow Refining expert, and while he was up against the boss’s overwhelming power, no one had truly been confident of overcoming him.

“Ruolan, this is my body-strengthening cultivation technique. Watch closely, all of you! It’s my way of repaying the favor of saving my life—even if it’s not enough, I will always come when called!” With that, Wu Hong began to slowly perform the nineteen postures of the Great Sun Tathagata Body-Refining Art. He moved very slowly so everyone could observe.

The helpers were all startled. Li Ruolan wanted to stop him but, thinking better of it, realized that Wu Hong was a man who repaid kindness—if she stopped him, it would only trouble his conscience.

Wu Hong practiced each move deliberately. Most of Li Ruolan’s men were martial artists themselves, each with their own body-refining methods. At first, seeing Wu Hong’s strange postures, some dismissed them as odd.

But when some tried to follow along and found their bodies out of sync, jealousy arose—they thought, These moves may look strange, but surely not enough to throw one’s balance off!

Soon, everyone was trying to learn the nineteen postures, but none could make the difficult, bone-wrenching moves appear as natural as Wu Hong did.

They quickly realized this was no ordinary body-refining art but something profound. They grew more focused, feeling their blood surge as if fire coursed through their veins.

As Liu practiced, the true energy wrapping his body boiled and surged uncontrollably.