Chapter 569 - 271: A Plan Even Crazier Than the Eight Ozaki Challenges [Double Length] (Part 3)

Upon hearing Li Younan’s words, the few people who were still immersed in the previous sword forging process snapped back to reality and fished out a sharpening stone.

Li Younan seriously started to fine-tune the sharpening, then smeared the blade with fine charcoal powder from the brazier mixed with water, gently tapping the surface with a hammer to polish it.

This step allows the fine charcoal powder to absorb and remove the oxidation layer.

After Li Younan’s efforts, the blade finally exhibited a matte, rust-proof finish. Compared to before, the knife had changed in appearance and was no longer as wide.

Li Younan turned his head to ask Lian Feng, "What were you chopping with the knife to damage it?"

Lian Feng hesitated for a moment, "Um, chopping cow bones."

"Do you still have cow bones?"

"Uh, what are you going to do?"

"Bring it over."

Lian Feng suddenly felt uneasy, "It’ll break again."

Li Younan smiled slightly and gently tapped the blade on the steel plate. The blade rang out clear as a bell, indicating that its toughness was up to standard; the blade was sharp as a whistle, no doubt now strong yet not brittle, resonant yet not soft.

Li Younan said, "If we don’t test it, how do we know if it’s repaired?"

Lian Feng was still hesitating, but the friends nearby were far too curious to hold back. They quickly fetched the cow bone that had previously been left untreated from the car.

"Hurry up and try it, I can’t wait any longer!"

"Yeah, anyway, it’s Lian Feng’s knife..."

Lian Feng: "Huh?"

Before Lian Feng could object, Li Younan cut down on the cow bone.

With a "bang", both bone and flesh shattered into bits.

Li Younan, putting in all his strength, swung the knife again, and the cow bone was chopped into two segments.

Examining the blade again, it remained unchipped, smooth and gleaming as new.

This scene thoroughly shocked Lian Feng since it implied that, after Li Younan’s repairs, the knife’s strength was even better than before?

Li Younan blew on the knife edge with a hearty laugh and handed it back to Lian Feng.

Lian Feng only then snapped out of it, "This... this..."

"Don’t mess around burning knives in the future. The depth of water here is too deep for you to gauge."

"Uh, oh, okay."

By this point, Li Younan had already stood up, as this round of sword forging was merely a brief itching of his craft skills he couldn’t resist.

Now he was genuinely exhilarated.

After acquiring this skill, he hadn’t yet had a scene to apply it.

And this experience gave him even more confidence to forge those classic legendary weapons and swords for himself—absolutely excellent swords, Blood-drinker saber, Heaven-locking Moon-Slashing Sword...

Ahem.

Just as Li Younan was about to leave, Lian Feng asked, "By the way, brother, what’s your name? I haven’t asked yet."

"My name is Li Younan."

"Li Younan?" Suddenly, Lian Feng remembered something, "Did you ski in the northeast before?"

Li Younan looked at Lian Feng with some confusion.

To be honest, being recognized by others outside wasn’t something strange, but most people recognized him more for his Alone in the Wilderness experience or his identity as a traveler, and even his title of restoring Forbidden City relics often came up.

Yet someone remembered solely his skiing experience... that was somewhat unexpected.

Li Younan nodded, "Yeah, I’ve skied."

Lian Feng’s eyes immediately lit up, "I thought you looked familiar, turns out it’s from the ski video I once watched of you."

Li Younan blinked and remained silent.

Lian Feng continued, "We’re in the same trade."

Li Younan stroked his chin, "Are you a blacksmith too?"

"Uh..."

Realizing Li Younan was joking, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter, and after laughing, he earnestly introduced himself, "My name is Lian Feng."

"Hmm, I heard them say it earlier."

"I... I’m actually a mountaineering and skiing... enthusiast."

The young man’s companion beside immediately broke into a grin, "Lian Feng is being a bit modest with that. If he’s just an enthusiast, then most of the world’s people don’t even count as enthusiasts."

Another companion then said, "Lian Feng has once climbed mountains over 5000 meters in altitude, skiing down from the peak. This time our goal is for Lian Feng to climb Mount Everest and ski down from there."

Hearing these words, Li Younan also showed a hint of surprise.

In extreme sports, there is a challenge known as the Ozaki Eight, of which one is called the Consolidation of Ice, involving skiing quickly down the Alps Snow Mountain.

Comparatively, skiing down from Mount Everest was much more exaggerated, far exceeding the difficulty of the so-called Consolidation of Ice.

However, Lian Feng said, "We want to complete this challenge, not just for ourselves."

"The Polish mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel accomplished this feat not long ago."

"In 2018, he had already completed a full ascent of K2 without oxygen, and not long ago, having completed Everest without oxygen, we thought, the things foreigners can do, we can also achieve."

"Although he was the first to ski down Everest without oxygen, he used skis while we plan to use a snowboard, and also we intend to do it in a shorter time."

After hearing Lian Feng’s words, Li Younan was also a bit amazed.

He looked into Lian Feng’s eyes, which bore a very determined glow.

Lian Feng continued to smile, "Since I know you’re into skiing, I talked a bit more. Now, we’re going to set off again; if you have some time to come to the base camp at Everest, you can join us to witness this moment."

Li Younan couldn’t help but ask, "What’s the highest peak you’ve attempted before in mountaineering and skiing... what was the altitude?"