"What a fine saber!"
Zhou Shan couldn't help exclaiming. He couldn't forge a long saber of this caliber himself, but he had an eye for quality. He could tell this saber far surpassed the Ten Refinements level.
"Su Mu really did it. What a remarkable feat!"
Every smith in the forge stopped what they were doing, their faces alight with emotion.
"Quick, go get the shopkeeper to have a look!"
Someone shouted. An excited apprentice answered and dashed out of the forge. The smiths gathered around, and Zhou Shan, being closest, got the first chance to inspect it.
"Su Mu, may I take a look at your saber?"
"Of course, Master Zhou."
As Su Mu handed over the saber with both hands, the smiths cast envious looks at Zhou Shan. He had taken on such a fine apprentice—and now the student had surpassed the master!
Zhou Shan gently ran his fingers along the blade, his face entranced. The blacksmiths worked day after day in a forge like a furnace, and in the height of summer, their tempers were as fiery as the flames.
One impatient smith couldn't take it any longer. "Old Zhou, why are you dawdling? You've been fondling it for ages. Hurry up—we're dying to see it!"
Zhou Shan laughed heartily. After savoring it for a little longer, he reluctantly passed the saber to the other smiths. The blade made its way from hand to hand among more than a dozen men, and every smith who touched it wore an intoxicated expression.
Before long, Shopkeeper Li Tie hurried over after hearing the news.
The instant Li Tie saw the saber, his eyes lit up. At a glance, he could tell it had reached the Thirty Refinements Long Saber level—and might even surpass it.
Everyone gathered around Li Tie and Su Mu, holding their breath as the shopkeeper carefully ran his fingers over the blade.
"Shopkeeper, what do you think?"
A hot-tempered smith interrupted Li Tie's reverie. He came back to himself but didn't answer right away. Instead, he took a deep breath and turned to Su Mu with a question.
"Su Mu, did you really forge this saber?"
"Yes."
Li Tie had feared that everything before him was an illusion. Only after hearing Su Mu's answer did he let out a quiet breath. Then, beaming with excitement, he spoke.
"By my measure, there isn't a single flaw in this saber's workmanship. It's unquestionably a Thirty Refinements Weapon!"
His words set off a burst of cheers throughout the forge. Zhou Shan, standing beside Su Mu, looked even happier than Su Mu himself.
As everyone cheered, Li Tie continued to stroke the saber in his hands. There was one thing he kept to himself: limited by its materials, the saber might not even represent Su Mu's full potential!
But Su Mu had gone from apprentice to forging a genuine Thirty Refinements Weapon in just over a year. That alone was astonishing.
Li Tie worried that voicing the rest of his thoughts would make a boy Su Mu's age grow conceited and lose himself. That would do Su Mu's future no good.
Yet from the corner of his eye, Li Tie saw that aside from the brief delight and quiet breath Su Mu had shown when he heard the saber had reached the Thirty Refinements level, the youth displayed no trace of arrogance or self-satisfaction.
Su Mu's composure, far beyond that of others his age, impressed Li Tie all the more. He really hadn't misjudged him. Recommending him had been worth it!
With talent like Su Mu's, he was sure to become a Forging Master one day. Keeping him in this little iron shop would be a waste of that talent.
"It's time to tell Su Mu about the Weapon Forging Workshop..."
Just as Li Tie decided to tell him, a commotion suddenly erupted outside in the courtyard.
Bang, bang, bang!
The hurried sound of someone kicking the gate hard rang through the forge, followed by an angry shout.
"Where is everyone? Get your shopkeeper out here!"
The shout made everyone in the forge frown. Anger showed on every face. Zhou Shan spat. "Bastards! Is it those Black Tiger Gang thugs again?"
"Damn them, coming back for more? Everyone, grab a weapon!"
At someone's call, the smiths all snatched up forging hammers. Li Tie was furious too. He wanted to see what excuse the other side had this time.
Hss.
Amid a faint, dense hum, the long saber slid into its sheath, its sharpness concealed. Li Tie returned it to Su Mu. The sheath was utterly ordinary; once the newly forged Thirty Refinements Long Saber was inside, no one would have guessed it was anything special.
"Everyone, keep calm. Don't start anything yet. Let's go out and see what's happening."
Li Xiaohu glanced around the forge, then grabbed an iron shovel used for loading coal. "Su Mu, let's go see, too. We should've stood our ground last time!"
"If things turn into a fight, stay close to me. I'll do my best to protect you."
Su Mu paused. He watched the figures filing out of the forge, his gaze passing over Zhou Shan, Li Tie, Li Xiaohu, and the others. A quiet warmth stirred in his heart.
Su Mu was the last to leave the forge. The force within him began to flow slowly, and a glint of coldness flashed in his eyes as he looked toward the courtyard entrance.
Outside the forge, Wu Heng led around twenty men as they surged into the back courtyard of the iron shop like a rising tide. Every one of them carried a weapon, clearly spoiling for trouble. But the smiths stood their ground, hammers in hand, ready to fight at the slightest provocation.
"Hall Master Wu, what do you think you're doing?" Li Tie stepped forward and asked.
"Hmph!"
Wu Heng only gave a cold snort. He drew a long saber from his waist and flung it to the ground. With a sharp clang, it plunged into the earth. Everyone looked closer, their pupils tightening as they saw the obvious chip in the blade and the fine cracks running along it.
"Shopkeeper Li, this is the Ten Refinements Long Saber your iron shop forged? The Black Tiger Gang kindly supported your business, paying you good silver, and this is the shoddy junk you give our Hall Master Wu?"
"A few days ago, our Black Tiger Gang joined forces with the town authorities to wipe out the bandits at Little Crow Mountain. If our Hall Master Wu hadn't been a skilled fighter, your iron shop would've gotten him killed."
"This piece of trash wouldn't just be useless against bandits—it'd struggle to chop firewood! Who forged this saber? Step forward!"
"If you don't give our Hall Master Wu and the Black Tiger Gang a proper explanation today, don't blame us for smashing the sign of your Li Family Blacksmith Shop!"
A Black Tiger Gang member behind Wu Heng shouted furiously. At once, the gang members fanned out, surrounding everyone from the iron shop.
The shop's men exchanged uncertain looks. A few instinctively glanced at Su Mu. They all recognized the saber as his work.
But how could a saber forged by Su Mu, with his skill in crafting Thirty Refinements Weapons, turn out to be such a defective piece?
Could he have been so focused on forging quickly that he'd let something slip? Su Mu was still young, after all. Even they, seasoned smiths, had made mistakes like that in their youth.
Looking closely, they realized the cracks in the blade didn't look as though they'd come from fighting. They looked more like a mistake during quenching or tempering—cracks that had formed inside the blade itself.
Su Mu frowned. He had indeed forged the saber, but he was certain he hadn't made any mistakes.
Besides, weapons had always been exchanged for money on the spot. The buyer inspected them at the time of the transaction and only bought them after confirming they were sound.
"Hidden Force... Wu Heng must have caused this by using Hidden Force."
A month had passed, yet the person responsible for distributing the antidote was still nowhere to be found. Su Mu knew he had become an Abandoned Child. It was time to leave Qingshui Town.
His eyes narrowed slightly as they settled on Wu Heng. The hesitation he'd felt before vanished, replaced by a surge of killing intent. At that moment, Su Mu made up his mind.
Since that's the case, I'll do something more before I leave...
Before you continue