Once upon a time, Du Chengfeng loved reading fantasy novels.
In those wild fantasies, he could see the protagonist turning into a dragon, a cat, a panda, or all kinds of weird things. This feeling of seeing the world from another perspective once fascinated Du Chengfeng.
So, what is it like to become a knife?
Du Chengfeng had never thought about this problem, but now he had no energy left to think about it.
The first thing to bear the brunt was the round after round of forging. The heavy sledgehammer hit his body again and again, breaking his outer shell and peeling off layers of dregs. The huge force tore his muscles and twisted his bones, and then roughly beat these things together, condensing them into something stronger and harder.
The severe pain penetrated deep into the bone marrow and penetrated into the soul, making Du Chengfeng unable to breathe.
A knife can breathe?
Indeed, he would, just because he had just been forged and was thrown into the furnace again.
The burning fire was even more painful than thousands of blows. Du Chengfeng felt that his entire body was melting and deforming. But just when he thought everything was going to end here, he was taken out of the stove and thrown into cold water.
The icy cold water soothed Du Chengfeng's nerves, but the stinging pain never stopped. In just a moment, his body became harder, like stone.
Then, it was polished over and over again.
At this time, Du Chengfeng was already numb, and he allowed pieces of flesh and blood to fall from his body. Under the friction of the stone, his lips began to become smooth, and sharp edges were already revealed on his face.
At this point, he has truly become a knife, a knife that can cut things.
The blade is two feet and three inches long, and the handle is also one foot and eight inches long. The blade is thick and thick, and the edge is sharp. Anyone who sees it will say that this is a fierce two-handed sword - if there are any shortcomings, If so, then the knife is too heavy and the center of gravity is too far forward.
However, Du Chengfeng, who has transformed into a sword, will definitely not admit that this is a shortcoming. If he cannot use it, it only means that the person who uses the sword is not good, and it has absolutely nothing to do with him.
So, in this age of low productivity, a two-handed sword like his must be valuable, right?
"Two hundred dollars, here you go."
"Okay, take the knife away."
Until the fat man took it all the way home, Du Chengfeng couldn't believe that such a fierce two-handed sword was only worth two hundred dollars.
What a joke, the small courtyard in Yangjiabao cost him five hundred dollars. This was because Carpenter Li was kind-hearted and willing to help him, a refugee from outside. And now, a knife as good as his that has been tempered for thousands of times is only sold for two hundred dollars?
"Iron material is not good, it is just a temporary product after all...but it is enough."
The fat man made such comments about the knife, which made Du Chengfeng want to stab this idiot.
However, this fat man named Yang is not a fool, but a smart person. As a butcher in the town, he has been doing the job of killing pigs. However, although Fatty Yang, a migrant, has good skills, he is not like the local butchers who have channels to purchase pigs and can kill them at the same time. The pig opened a butcher shop. Fatty Yang, who had just arrived, didn't have much to do, so he could only wait for someone in a nearby village to kill a pig, and he would go over to help and make some hard-earned money.
As the old saying goes, the smell of wine is also afraid of deep alleys. Fatty Yang knew that he was good at his craftsmanship, but when it came to killing pigs, everyone tied the pigs up, then stabbed them through the neck and stabbed them into the heart. If a skilled butcher can do this, why should anyone hire him?
So after thinking about it, the fat man spent two hundred dollars to find a blacksmith to make a cheap sword with an exaggerated shape.
Since then, the fat man's public opinion has changed, and he has become the descendant of a certain famous cook. As for what this famous cook is famous for, of course, others kill pigs by tying them and bleeding them, while he kills pigs and beheads them directly.
At the beginning, people regarded Fatty Yang's statement as a joke. After all, anyone who has eaten pork knows that to kill a pig, you have to bleed it and chop off the pig's head with a big knife. This is a bit sensational. But apart from making fun of him, there were also some people who thought Fatty Yang's statement was interesting and invited him over just to watch the fun.
This is what Fatty Yang wants.
He raised the knife and lowered it, and the big pig's head was chopped off with one blow. This was so clean and crisp that even Du Chengfeng, who was a big swordsman, was shocked by it.
The people who came to watch the pig killing had never seen this scene before, so the character Fatty Yang was remembered by people immediately. Soon, the whole Ji Town knew that there was a successor of Chef Ding in the town, who had his own way. There are even rumors that the pigs killed by Fatty Yang are different from other pigs. Not only the meat is fattier, but also it can give you more strength after eating it.
After gaining this fame, more and more people came to see Fatty Yang to kill pigs. Soon Fatty Yang had a lot of savings, and even started his own pig farm and butcher shop. The days seemed to have passed. The better.
This also made Du Chengfeng couldn't help but secretly admire him. After all, his situation was somewhat similar to that of Fatty Yang. Everyone started out as wandering refugees, but Fatty Yang managed to turn the whole situation around with only two hundred dollars. To be fair, if it were him, he might not be as alert as Fatty Yang, let alone have such a flexible mind.
In addition to admiration, Du Chengfeng has experienced most pig killing, and this is another place where Du Chengfeng thinks Fatty Yang is awesome.
As a knife in the palm of his hand, Du Chengfeng can be said to have personally experienced every pig-killing process of Fatty Yang. Although Fatty Yang's gesture of wielding the sword was quite exaggerated, Du Chengfeng, who was a big swordsman, could feel that Fatty Yang was killing pigs without any rules.
Every time a pig is killed, the blade will easily cut through the pig's neck. The sharp blade will slide in along the gaps in the bones, and then the thick blade will squeeze open the wound to expand the wound, allowing the pig's head to fall off. Even if there were times when Fatty Yang was not in good condition and the bone seams were not straightened out, this large knife with a forward center of gravity could still open the pig neck bones with its heavy weight, allowing Fatty Yang to complete his performance.
In a sense, Fatty Yang really wasn't bragging. At least when it came to killing pigs, Fatty Yang really had his own methods.
As the sword in his palm, Du Chengfeng naturally learned this sword technique from the constant ups and downs of the blade.
It is said that in ancient times, there was a cook who slaughtered cows, and practice makes perfect. Du Chengfeng simply named this knife technique as cook Ding butchering pigs, which was in line with the identity that Fatty Yang had blown out.
However, after becoming a well-known butcher, Fatty Yang killed pigs with his own hands less and less often. More often than not, Fatty Yang would ask his hired butchers to kill pigs. Except for some occasions where he had to show off his skills, Fatty Yang preferred to stay at home with his wife and children.
Obviously, like Du Chengfeng, Fatty Yang is not the kind of person who has any big ambitions. As long as he has enough to eat and drink, a place to stay, and his family to accompany him, this is already a great life for Fatty Yang.
However, the good times did not last long, and something happened to Fatty Yang after all.
I don't know who spread the gossip, but the governor of Jizhou knew about Fatty Yang's good skills. The governor of Jizhou was a good man, so he sent someone to find Fatty Yang and asked him to kill a pig for a look. Although Fatty Yang rarely kills pigs, he couldn't refuse the invitation from the governor of Jizhou, so he had to go there with a knife, prepare to kill the pigs, and come back with a few polite words.
But who would have thought, only this time, his knife failed to kill the pig.
Du Chengfeng, who was a big swordsman, felt it most clearly. Although Fatty Yang raised and lowered the knife as usual, the big knife did not cut into the bone seam, but got stuck on the hard pig neck bone - this was not because of Fatty Yang's skill. The difference is that the position of the neck bone of this pig is different from other pigs from the beginning. In other words, there is something wrong with this pig.
Fatty Yang, who was holding the knife, obviously realized this, but it was too late to say anything at this time. The painful pig had already broken free from the rope and ran wild. The entire governor's mansion was in chaos, and the Jizhou governor himself was even more confused. The pig made a somersault.
So that night, Fatty Yang was imprisoned on the charge of "intent to assassinate". All the wealth he had accumulated through years of hard work was divided up. His wife and children were all forced to death, and Du Chengfeng, a big swordsman, also acted as The physical evidence was sealed in the warehouse.
Obviously, this invitation was a trap, but apart from Fatty Yang himself, only Du Chengfeng, a swordsman, could realize this.
What is it like to be a knife?
If it was when he was just forged, Du Chengfeng might have answered that it was painful, but after the days of killing pigs, he felt more of sharpness, but now, after he was sealed in the warehouse, Only then did he realize that as a knife, he felt more, perhaps loneliness.
There was no one to clean the old warehouse, and Du Chengfeng, a big swordsman, couldn't grow arms and legs. He could only lie on the shelf and watch the cold moon and warm sun fall alternately on his body. Occasionally, sparrows will fall on the window lattice, which may be the happiest time. Even the noisy birdsong will make Du Chengfeng much more relaxed, but more often, the warehouse is still silent, no one will come, and no one will come. Who would even look at him.
Being bored, Du Chengfeng could only think about Fatty Yang's trick of killing pigs as a cook. Although he had no hands or feet at the moment, he could still keep thinking in his mind and keep simulating the knife.
Fortunately, such a day did not last long. Just when Du Chengfeng was working day and night and had killed tens of thousands of pigs in his mind, the door of the warehouse opened.
To Du Chengfeng's surprise, it was Fatty Yang who opened the door and walked in. However, at this time, Fatty Yang no longer looked as kind as before, and his sinister attitude was as if an evil ghost had come to the world.
"Knife, my knife..."
While muttering to himself, Fatty Yang held the handle of the knife.
This time, the big sword killed not pigs, but people. The entire governor's mansion was killed one by one by the crazy Fatty Yang.
In a sense, this is also Du Chengfeng's first murder.
If he was still a human being, he might still have some mentality of hurting others, and he would be a little bit intolerant, but now he is a knife, a sharp knife. He suddenly realized that he was instinctively longing for blood. In other words, the feeling of moving through flesh and blood is the greatest function of a knife, and it is also the most glorious moment of a knife. At the moment when it penetrates flesh and blood, Du Chengfeng has never felt like this before. carefree.
Fatty Yang longed for killing, and so did he. At this moment, the two of them almost became one, almost killing everything in sight.
Until a big hand grasped the blade.
Even though he was just using his bare hands, his hand was not injured at all by the sharp blade.
"Yang Huchi! Do you want to kill me too?"
The man who shouted these words had an unusually tall body. He was the tallest man Du Chengfeng had ever seen in his two lifetimes. His huge body, which was more than a foot long, held the sun on his back, casting a large shadow. , even Fatty Yang’s thick figure was completely wrapped in shadow at this moment.
Immediately afterwards, Du Chengfeng vaguely felt something dissipate from his body, or rather from the blade.
It was at this time that Du Chengfeng realized how outrageous his thinking just now was. As a Taiping man, he had always been indifferent to the world and just wanted to live his life well. But just now, he But he became more vicious and vicious than any murderous maniac.
"The evil spirit has entered your body. You have killed too many people."
The extremely tall man pushed the blade away casually.
Fatty Yang, who had regained his senses, also softened his knees and knelt on the ground.
"Thank you, Lord, for helping me sharpen the knife and saving my life!"
...sharpening a knife?
Du Chengfeng suddenly felt that something was not right. If he remembered correctly, someone should have asked him to sharpen a knife a long time ago, or before he met Fatty Yang. At that time, he thought it was a job It's a good job without any risk, but looking at it now... there are a lot of opinions about it?
Du Chengfeng later found out that there were indeed many theories about this. As the saying goes, armed with a sharp blade, a murderous intention arises. The more the weapon kills many people, the more incredible power it has when used. Just like Fatty Yang had just killed the entire governor's office with one person, relying on this ferocious aura that became more and more courageous with each battle.
But the knife can hurt others, and it can also hurt yourself. Using this power naturally has its price. In mild cases, the evil spirit will enter the brain and go crazy on the spot, which is no different from death. In severe cases, like Fatty Yang just now, the evil spirit will enter the body and lose sanity, and completely become a murderous maniac who only knows how to kill living things and see blood.
Only a few people with great will and courage can avoid being disturbed by evil spirits, and can even sharpen the blade of the sword to dissipate the evil spirits.
And the master that Fatty Yang talked about was exactly such a person.
As the saber was carried by Fatty Yang, Du Chengfeng also gradually learned that that man was now the leader of the strongest rebel army in the world. He was also the emperor Taizu Gao who personally ended the previous Yu Dynasty and created the Chen Dynasty. While following the opponent in the battle, Fatty Yang also wielded the big knife in his hand and killed countless people - of course, all of them were pigs. After the massacre at the Governor's Mansion, Fatty Yang was still frightened by his revenge, and stopped killing people. Instead, he started his own business and began to be responsible for the logistics and food for the rebel army.
After the founder of the Chen Dynasty, Fatty Yang, who had no ambitions, wisely chose to retreat bravely. He simply withdrew from the undercurrent of the court and returned to Jizhen with Xu Xian and his newborn son. An Xin can be a rich man and continue the Yang family along the way.
Of course, during the continuation of the Yang family, Du Chengfeng, a broadsword, was not unused. It's just that this time the one who uses him is not Fatty Yang, who has died of old age, but Fatty Yang's descendants. Some of them want to feel the glory of their ancestors, and some want to protect their relatives. Fortunately, these descendants also know the power of evil spirits entering the body, so the evil spirits entangled in Du Chengfeng's body will affect his sanity every time. Every time, a grinder will clean it.
After being polished many times, Du Chengfeng also learned some of the techniques of the polishing craftsmen, but he was more curious about how those polishing craftsmen managed to protect themselves from evil spirits. It was obvious that these polishing craftsmen were In his opinion, they were far behind the so-called great will and great courage, but they were still able to sharpen their knives neatly, and even the evil spirits were completely washed away.
Maybe he should find an opportunity to understand this. After all, he now knows that if he wants to live a normal life and live and work in peace and contentment, he must have the power to protect it. And the unimaginable power of swords and weapons is obviously something that must be taken into consideration...
Wait, he is obviously a knife, why does he say that he can live in peace and contentment?
"Who am I?"
Du Chengfeng suddenly felt a little confused. He should obviously be a sword. From the moment it was released, to the time it fell into the hands of Fatty Yang, and then it was passed down among the Yang family... Wait, is he really a sword? Or, if it was really a knife, why was he conscious?
"Am I a human? Or a knife?"
As time went by, the tearing in Du Chengfeng's mind became more and more intense. He clearly remembered that he should be a knife. He didn't know how long he had been a knife, but he always felt that he should be a human. After all, a knife cannot have human consciousness, let alone have its own thoughts and intentions like a human being.
But as he was used again and again, it became increasingly difficult for Du Chengfeng to distinguish what he was and what he was.
Until he was lifted up again.
He was a strong young man from the Yang family, with a generous figure and a look that was quite reminiscent of Fatty Yang. Facing the Hu Qingqi riding on horseback and carrying a sword, this young version of Fatty Yang was not afraid at all. He slashed his head with the big knife in his hand, knocking the Hu Qing to the ground one by one, even taking the horse's head with him. Chop it!
It was a pleasure to kill the Yang family's disciples, but Du Chengfeng suffered a lot. His consciousness had been torn into chaos, and he was contaminated with the vicious evil spirit that killed nearly a hundred Hu Qi in a row. The thought of blood returned to his heart again. At this moment, he had completely regarded himself as a bloodthirsty knife!
"kill!"
At this moment, Du Chengfeng only had killing in his heart, and only more blood and corpses could satisfy him. He was extremely eager to tear apart those fragile bodies. After all, this was the mission of a knife.
But just when he was about to wield himself and kill everyone, a stronger will surged out of his mind.
"Do I really want this? Is this really me? Or, is this the only thing I want?"
When he was in a trance, he even vaguely saw Fatty Yang's figure.
Although he once resented this idiot because he only thought he was worth two hundred dollars, at least at this moment, when he thought of that figure, he vaguely saw his own in that figure. shadow.
That had always been his wish, and it was also what he felt was the most important.
"All I want is to live and work in peace and contentment and live an ordinary life."
Clenching his fists, Du Chengfeng finally opened his eyes.
At the moment when his consciousness was about to be completely destroyed, he finally found his true self.
He is not a knife, he is a human being.
