While Xu Yi sat among the fine bamboo, gazing out at the sea of clouds and leisurely reading, Qi Xiongbei paced in circles for nearly half an hour in the spacious courtyard of his mansion in the north of the city.
At last, a figure flashed in. It was none other than the blue-robed Daoist priest, Fang Zheng.
Qi Xiongbei finally stopped milling about like a headless fly. His thick eyebrows shot up. "Old Fang, why are you alone? Where's Master Wu? Why didn't he come? Is this something you and I can figure out together?"
Fang Zheng said, "Master Wu said that Mr. Xu is too sharp-edged for him to get a proper read on. He thinks Mr. Xu really may be some hidden master from beyond the world, so he should let Mr. Xu have the limelight."
Qi Xiongbei grew frantic. "What kind of talk is that? I've seen Master Wu's ability with my own eyes. Even the Alliance Leader said he'd never seen anyone as skilled at refining artifacts as Master Wu. What does some nobody from the wilderness amount to, even if he's had a few lucky successes? Whatever happens, Master Wu shouldn't lose heart. There's always a way if people put their heads together."
Qi Xiongbei attached tremendous importance to this contest among the Furnace Masters. It determined whether he could get the better of Yan Jingming in the Righteous Alliance and become the foremost figure among its thirteen halls.
After all, Master Wu was the one he had brought into the Righteous Alliance. Back then, Alliance Leader Guo Donglin had personally tested Master Wu, and Qi Xiongbei had earned great credit for it.
Now that the Spring City Council was selecting Furnace Masters, every major merchant alliance in the city was racking its brains