Su Mu's eyes narrowed slightly. For a moment, it seemed he could hear the funeral bells tolling for him.
Putting himself in someone else's shoes, if Su Mu needed to go on a long trip that would take around five months, he would usually tell people he'd be gone for half a year, just to leave himself some leeway.
Before leaving, the person in charge of giving him the antidote had given Su Mu six doses. Now seven months had passed, and that person still hadn't returned. There was clearly something wrong.
What should he do now?
With a comprehension of ten points, Su Mu had already become an Excellent Talent, Raw Jade. He forced down his panic and quickly sorted through the tangled thoughts in his mind.
"I'll wait and see for a month... then make plans from there."
Although the hope was slim, he couldn't yet rule out the possibility that the person in charge had been delayed on the way back.
Suppose that person was on his way back right now. Then a month from now would be the final deadline. Under normal circumstances, if Su Mu didn't get the antidote by then, the poison would flare up and kill him.
So he had to wait out this month. If he lost his nerve and fled the area in a panic, blindly seeking medical help to have the poison removed, then if things weren't actually bad enough for him to have been abandoned, he would be bringing about his own death.
Su Mu had long ago considered removing the poison in his body and breaking free of the shackles of being a death warrior.
He wanted to take back control of his own life and fate!
But Su Mu also knew all too well that the poison in his body was powerful. Removing it completely wouldn't be easy, so he had been lying low and growing stronger in silence, waiting for the right time to make his move.
Until he was confident he could remove the poison completely and had built up a certain level of strength, Su Mu didn't want to act too soon.
Yet things hadn't gone as planned. The plan couldn't keep up with change. He would stay at the Iron Shop for the month while he waited and watched, but he also had to start making preparations ahead of time.
"Su Mu, Su Mu, what's wrong?"
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling him. Li Xiaohu waved his hand vigorously in front of Su Mu's eyes.
"Ah... I'm fine."
Su Mu took a big bite of the steamed bun in his hand. His mind was so tangled that he couldn't taste it at all. It was like chewing on wax.
That very afternoon, Li Tie, who had been waiting at the Iron Shop for a reply, finally received a letter from Qingyun County. He eagerly took it out and read it.
"My senior brother wants to test Su Mu... He wants Su Mu to forge a Thirty Refinements Weapon as a test..."
After reading the letter, Li Tie's expression darkened. He had described Su Mu's forging experience in detail and given a fair assessment, but it was clear his senior brother didn't quite believe him.
Asking a newcomer who had only been forging for barely a year to forge a Thirty Refinements Weapon was asking far too much of him.
At the moment, no one at the Iron Shop could forge a Thirty Refinements Weapon.
Li Tie and another veteran blacksmith, who had spent more than twenty years immersed in the craft, both knew how to forge one. But the tools at the shop and the ordinary iron ore they had on hand couldn't meet the requirements.
As a result, even if Li Tie himself forged it, he would have almost no chance of producing a Thirty Refinements Weapon.
"But let's still have that kid give it a try... My senior brother isn't that unreasonable. As long as Su Mu can get into the Weapon Forging Workshop, everything else can be worked out."
"If I can see what makes him special, then my senior brother, who's even more discerning than me, will surely see it too..."
After taking a moment to settle his emotions, Li Tie went to the forging room and called Su Mu out.
"Su Mu, the weapons you've forged lately have been excellent quality and earned a good reputation... The shop has received a special order. A customer specifically requested you to forge a weapon."
Li Tie paused, studying Su Mu's expression.
Su Mu was curious. What sort of special order would make the shop owner call him out just to tell him about it?
"The special part is that the customer wants you to forge a weapon with more than thirty refinements. Would you like to give it a try?"
A Thirty Refinements Weapon?!
Su Mu's eyes lit up. To be honest, he was already thinking of leaving. Su Mu wasn't the sort to sit around waiting to die.
His forging skills had been progressing slowly for a while now. There were several reasons for this, but Su Mu believed a major one was that Ten Refinements Weapons no longer challenged him.
Imagine asking a mathematician to repeat simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division every day. There was no way they could improve themselves, no matter what.
The same was true of Su Mu. For example, his alchemy skill still hadn't reached minor mastery because all he ever did was process the same few herbs and boil them. He never delved into the subject, so it was difficult to make further progress.
He still had a month. Before leaving, it might be a good idea to challenge the limits of his forging ability.
Su Mu agreed at once.
"Shopkeeper, I'll take the order."
"This is a special order. You don't have to complete it; just do your best." Seeing Su Mu accept so readily, Li Tie was relieved. He spoke earnestly.
He didn't want the matter to put too much pressure on Su Mu or discourage him.
The sun sank toward the west. At dusk, Su Mu closed the forge and left the Iron Shop. He went to a Medicine Shop in town. The physician there greeted him with a cheerful smile. Over the past few months, Su Mu had become a regular customer, spending several taels of silver every time he came by.
"Friend, how many sets of herbs would you like today?"
"Ten." After answering, Su Mu changed the subject. "I also wanted to ask you to examine me today, Old Physician."
"Of course, of course."
The Old Physician smiled broadly. First, he called over the Pharmacy Apprentice to fetch the herbs. Then he asked Su Mu to extend his hand and took his pulse, pressing his fingers against the veins in Su Mu's wrist.
After feeling his pulse for a while, the Old Physician looked surprised. "Your pulse is steady and long, and the qi and blood in your body are far more vigorous than an ordinary person's. From your pulse, I can't find anything unusual."
Su Mu replied without betraying his feelings. "Old Physician, whenever it rains lately, I itch unbearably. It feels as if bugs are crawling around inside me."
"Hm?! What a strange affliction."
The Old Physician looked at Su Mu in disbelief. Seeing that Su Mu wasn't joking, he asked him to follow him into the back room. Su Mu lay down on a bamboo bed, and the Old Physician pressed his ear against Su Mu's chest and abdomen. After a careful examination, he looked perplexed.
The examination had only shown that Su Mu was powerfully built and that his internal organs were stronger than those of an ordinary person. There was nothing unusual about his organs; everything seemed perfectly normal.
"Friend, you said that whenever it rains, your whole body itches, and it feels as though bugs are crawling around inside you... How about this? I'll prescribe a few doses of medicine to dispel dampness and drive out parasites. Would you like to try them?"
"All right. Sorry for the trouble, Old Physician."
Su Mu sighed to himself. As expected, the poison in his body wasn't going to be easy to deal with. Still, he could try the medicine and see if it helped. He rose from the bamboo bed and was about to leave.
The Old Physician called after him. Su Mu had bought quite a few herbs from the Medicine Shop, and since the symptoms he'd described didn't seem false, the Old Physician decided to offer him a bit of advice.
"Friend, if these doses don't help much... you could try visiting Pharmacist Lin at Cloud Crane Medical Hall in Qingyun County. Pharmacist Lin is highly skilled in medicine and renowned throughout Qingyun County and the surrounding counties. He can surely cure your illness with a single dose."
Qingyun County, Cloud Crane Medical Hall, Pharmacist Lin!
Su Mu committed the name to memory and thanked him. "Thank you for telling me, Old Physician."
After leaving the Medicine Shop, Su Mu tried several other medicine shops in town. Not one physician could detect the poison in his body; they couldn't even find the slightest trace of it. They all shook their heads, looking puzzled.
Their final recommendations were much the same: they could prescribe a few doses of medicine to drive out parasites and dispel dampness for him to try.
Su Mu wasn't too disappointed by the result. He'd expected as much.
"Actually, I did learn something... I can go to Qingyun County another day."
Before you continue