When the bows and arrows were first made, Qiao Yu required all children over eight to practice archery. Xiaoquan was the most diligent of the group, practicing whenever he had free time. He was quick to learn, and Qiao Yu would occasionally give him pointers when he had free time. As a result, he made rapid progress. While not a perfect shooter, he could still hit seven or eight out of ten arrows.

Such accuracy is ranked among the best in the entire tribe.

This is also the reason why Qiao Yu and Shan agreed to let him join the hunting team.

If he were not so young and lacked arm strength, he would probably play a greater role in the hunting team.

Qiao Yu asked about the recent situation in the tribe, and the two of them had already walked to the stone grinding workshop.

Jian had already gone to the fire hall to get the fire back, and also took some charcoal prepared from the stone grinding workshop and started the fire.

There was no bellows at the time, so Qiao Yu made do with what she had and asked Jian and another young man to fan the fire. She put two pieces of iron ore slightly larger than a palm into the fire.

"Shi, I want a hard stone slab and two stone hammers." Before the stone burned, Qiao Yu asked Shi to prepare what she wanted.

She turned around and told another person, "Fill the stone basin with some water. I need some."

In reality, the Dragon Tribe's pottery was more than sufficient for their own use. However, pottery was quite valuable at that time, and even if Qiao Yu was willing to let everyone use it, no one would be willing to do so. The people in the stoneware grinding workshop would rather polish their own stone basins than use pottery basins.

After all, ceramic basins are precious and easily damaged, so people have to be careful when using them. Stone basins are extremely durable. Although they require a lot of effort to polish and are heavy and clumsy to use, they can be used for ten or twenty years without any problems.

Therefore, many families in the tribe would bring dried meat to the stone grinding workshop in exchange for a stone basin to hold water.

When he saw the stone basin, Qiao Yu was reminded of the tribe’s water system.

After building the house that winter, she organized everyone to dig a canal to bring water from the mountainside waterfall to the residential area. However, the water from this small canal could only flow around the foot of the mountain. People living on the upper slopes had to go to the foot of the mountain to fetch water, which was very inconvenient.

Furthermore, although she repeatedly urged everyone to boil water before drinking it, it would be difficult for primitive people who were used to drinking raw water to change this habit in a short period of time. Moreover, the people who merged with the Shanyin tribe did not have pottery pots to boil water at the moment, let alone drink boiled water.

But the water in that small ditch has to flow through a dug ditch, and is far less clean than the mountain spring water of the valley tribe in the past.

She asked Shan, "Has anyone found any bamboo around here?"

The valley tribe didn't have much bamboo, and they had to send people back to cut and transport it, which was a time-consuming process. The men still had to go up the mountain every day to hunt to sustain themselves, so Qiao Yu's plan to build a bamboo water system hadn't materialized yet.

Shan shook his head and said, "You were not in the tribe during this period. I was afraid something might happen, so I told Man not to let everyone go far away and only hunt in the nearby hills. No bamboo was found."

Qiao Yu nodded: "You're right. It's best for the tribe to maintain stability right now."

The two stones in the fire were not large, but they had already turned red hot as he spoke, turning into two fiery red stones. To ensure that they burned through to the core, Qiao Yu let them continue to burn in the fire for a while.

Shi had already prepared the stone slab and stone hammer that Qiao Yu wanted.

Estimating it was almost done, Qiao Yu quickly used a branch to pick up the smaller piece of iron ore from the fire, placed it on the stone slab, and began to pound it. With her keen observation, she could see that as she pounded, some impurities fell out of the iron ore.

No one understood what she was doing. But given Qiao Yu's intelligence, everyone knew this must be a matter of great importance, one that would have a significant impact on the tribe. Otherwise, Qiao Yu wouldn't have spent a month and taken such a huge risk traveling to the larger tribe to find this stone.

The craftsmen who were polishing stone tools nearby ignored their work and came over to watch. However, they stood far away, not daring to get too close, fearing that it might disturb Qiao Yu.

After hammering it for a while, Qiao Yu put the iron ore into water to quench it. After it cooled, he put it into the fire and ordered, "Keep fanning it."

She picked up another piece and put it on the stone slab to beat it.

Repeat this process.

At first, no one could tell the difference.

But as Qiao Yu hammered more and more, everyone noticed that the two stones had changed. First, they gradually became smaller in size; second, their shape also changed, becoming flatter. The hard, round iron ore had finally flattened after being repeatedly hammered.

After the small piece was heated again, Qiao Yu pressed the flat iron ore hard on the stone slab, and the iron ore bent. She hammered the upper part a few times, and the iron ore was folded up and turned into a semi-oval.

Next, the iron ore became soft. Qiao Yu tried his best to control its shape. Finally, he beat the large piece into a long blade shape that was not very large, thick on one side and thin on the other side, and the small piece into a spike shape.

She placed it in a stone basin of water to cool it down, and her first blacksmithing experience ended there.

Everyone was amazed to see the stone soften and change shape. Then, Qiao Yu put down the hammer, and the two objects she had placed in the water also turned back to black. Everyone was eager to know what they were.

However, Shi usually had strict management in the stone grinding workshop, so the onlookers did not dare to get close. They just watched from afar, waiting for Shan and Shi to see the results and tell them.

Not only them, but even Shi, out of his admiration for Qiao Yu, did not dare to get too close, but asked Qiao Yu: "Yu, is this thing done?"

"Well, it should be done." Qiao Yu said, using a branch to soak the ironware in water, and tested the temperature with his hand. He found that it was not so hot anymore, so he put it in front of his eyes and looked at it, and then touched it with his hand.

It is definitely iron.

A huge grin spread across her face.

"Take a look at these." Qiao Yu handed the two iron tools to Shan and Shi respectively. "This is iron, hard and durable. It's just a prototype at the moment and needs further polishing. Once the edge is sharpened, it can be used to cut things. It will be several times sharper and harder than a bone knife."

Shi held the spike-shaped iron tool in his hand. Without Qiao Yu's explanation, he could feel the hard texture just by touching it.

Having spent half his life sharpening stone tools, no one knew the benefits of this thing in his hand better than him. Apart from anything else, the fact that it could burn in fire and still withstand the blows of a stone hammer meant it was definitely a powerful tool.

"Will it not break?" He still wanted to confirm.