That day, Zhou Shan explained Su Mu's situation to the shop owner, Li Tie. Li Tie was surprised, but agreed without hesitation. It would undoubtedly be a good thing for the shop if it could turn out another master blacksmith capable of forging blades and weapons.
Especially since Su Mu was still so young. He was certain to become a pillar of the Iron Shop one day!
Li Tie took the matter quite seriously and soon ordered someone to deliver enough materials to forge two weapons.
The ones carrying them were none other than Li Xiaohu and Sun Li.
Li Xiaohu had just set down a small basket of iron ore with a grunt when his face lit up. "Su Mu, you've done great! Congratulations. Father said our smithy has a promising new talent, and told me to learn from you."
"I'm so envious. I want to forge weapons on my own, too. Isn't that a lot more interesting than making farm tools?"
"Brother Li, Sun Li, thanks for your help." Su Mu paused, then added, "I was just lucky, that's all."
After finishing the delivery, Sun Li offered a perfunctory congratulations as well. But when he turned away, a flash of spite flickered in his eyes.
Clang, clang, clang!
Metal rang against metal, sparks flew, and the day slipped away.
Three months earlier, Su Mu had become a probationary blacksmith at the shop, earning three hundred wen a month. He budgeted carefully, using the money to buy meat, eggs, rice, and flour to supplement his diet.
After more than half a year of practicing the Five Animal Frolics, Su Mu felt that his body had surpassed the limits of an ordinary person. His steps were light; he could easily cover the ten-odd li between the town and his village in less than half an hour.
That day, after leaving the shop, Su Mu didn't hurry back to the village. First, he stopped at an old-established bun shop in town and bought several large meat buns. While buying them, he casually asked about the shops in the surrounding area.
He still got nowhere. The black-clothed man seemed truly not to be connected to Scholar Street. At least, over the past few months, no shopkeepers or workers in the area had left.
"Your five meat buns are ready, kid."
"Thanks!"
Afterward, Su Mu carried the buns to a home on the eastern side of the village, where a banner bearing the character for "medicine" hung outside.
Several plots of medicinal herbs had been laid out beside the small courtyard. Many kinds of herbs grew in the fields. It was spring, and tender shoots poked up through the soil, their fresh green touched with yellow. A rich fragrance wafted through the air.
This was the home of Physician Xiao, the only physician in Dongbian Village.
"Is Physician Xiao in?"
"Ah, it's you, kid. You're back from town early today. Come on in."
Creak—
The wooden door swung open, and a kindly old man in a plain white physician's robe, with a long beard and an age somewhere around fifty, beckoned Su Mu inside.
The physician turned around. After checking once more that no one was behind him, Su Mu entered the house.
"Su, I examined the pill you gave me yesterday. The person who made it is far more skilled than I am. I could never have refined a pill like this."
Physician Xiao returned a white pill about the size of a thumb. It was translucent all over, but a small piece was missing.
Su Mu showed no disappointment. Whoever had saved him from the execution grounds in Qingzhou Prefecture and dared to cultivate death warriors could hardly be a nobody. Those people clearly had powerful connections.
The poison used to control the death warriors wouldn't be simple, either.
He'd been afraid he was being watched, so he hadn't dared show the pill to a physician before. Only after the person in charge had left did Su Mu find an opportunity to bring it to Physician Xiao.
"Can you tell what ingredients are in it, Old Physician?" Noticing the small nick in the pill, Su Mu asked another question.
"The physician who refined this pill was highly skilled. I can only identify a few of the ingredients." A flicker of hesitation crossed Physician Xiao's cloudy old eyes.
"It contains blood ginseng, angelica, White Peony Root, Astragalus Root... and they're not young. They must be at least twenty or thirty years old. As the saying goes, wild ginseng under a hundred years old costs a tael of silver for every year. That's no exaggeration. A single piece of blood ginseng this old would fetch at least twenty taels of silver on the market."
As he explained, a trace of puzzlement crossed Physician Xiao's eyes. Su Mu had returned to the village only half a year ago, arriving in a carriage.
They'd said he was the son of Su Daniu, who had enlisted from the eastern village. Su Daniu had died on the battlefield, so the army had sent someone to return his only child to the village, preserving the Su family line.
But most of the compensation for Su Mu's father's death in battle had probably been swallowed by those officials. When the boy arrived in the village, he'd been so thin he looked like a monkey, his face pale as wax.
Fortunately, those officials hadn't been completely heartless. They'd found him an apprenticeship at a blacksmith's shop in town, where he'd get food and shelter. That was the only reason he hadn't died the previous winter.
Where had a destitute boy with no one to rely on gotten a precious pill like this?
"This pill appeared after a carriage pulled by a tall, red-brown horse passed through town. I picked it up, thinking I could trade it for some silver, but I was afraid it might be poison. So I wanted to ask you to check it, Old Physician."
Su Mu made up a casual excuse, but it was entirely plausible. Qingshui Town was the hub of the surrounding villages, close to a mountain rich in medicinal herbs and connected by the main road to Qingyun County. Plenty of medicinal herb merchants came and went.
Sure enough, when Physician Xiao heard this, some of the wrinkles in his face relaxed. "I've examined the pill. It's most likely not poisonous, but pills of unknown origin are generally hard to sell. Take care of yourself."
"Thank you for clearing things up for me, Old Physician. Please, take these meat buns."
Su Mu thanked him and left the meat buns he'd bought. The old physician sighed inwardly. The boy was clever beyond his years and far more mature than other children his age, but he'd had a hard life.
"I'm not very hungry today. Leave one for me and take the rest home with you."
Back in the courtyard, Su Mu sighed to himself. Things really weren't going to be that simple. From the respect in the old physician's voice when he spoke of the person who'd made the pill, it was clear that it wasn't easy to refine.
The antidote would be difficult to replicate, and he couldn't uncover the black-clothed man's identity. He was at a dead end.
"According to the old physician, the pill is made from precious ingredients, including blood ginseng at least twenty years old..."
Su Mu studied the pill in his palm, perplexed. It had been refined from such potent tonics, so why hadn't he felt much effect from taking it over the past six months?
At the manor, someone had examined his bones. Was it really necessary to spend such resources on a Rank-D Death Warrior with such poor innate aptitude?
If something seemed off, there was bound to be a reason.
Su Mu had a vague feeling that the poison in his body wasn't simple. Those people must have had some purpose, but he knew too little and had too little information. There was no point in overthinking it.
"I'll train first."
Come rain or shine, Su Mu practiced the Five Animal Frolics in the courtyard. Only after sweat beaded across his body and soaked his clothes did he slowly finish. Then he ate the meat buns with gusto.
"Mmm, cabbage and pork filling, thin skin, lots of meat, and so juicy. These old-fashioned meat buns are delicious... It's just that five wen apiece isn't cheap. I can only afford sixty a month now, which works out to just two a day."
"But it's still much better than when I couldn't afford meat at all. I'll take it one step at a time."
The boy ate heartily, a trace of contentment on his face.
The next day, around noon, while eating lunch, Su Mu felt as if something was missing. After a moment's thought, he realized he hadn't seen Sun Li all day.
"That guy Sun Li took the day off to visit his family."
"Oh."
Su Mu learned this from Li Xiaohu during the meal. He took a bite of a steamed bun that wasn't quite white and gave a brief reply.
Ever since he'd become a probationary blacksmith, his lunch had changed from sweet potatoes to steamed buns: three white buns, each slightly bigger than a fist, and a bowl of rice porridge.
That was the difference between an apprentice and a probationary blacksmith.
The setting sun spilled its afterglow over the world. At some point, Zhou Shan called out, "That's enough for today, Su. Bank the furnace."
"Yes, Master Zhou!"
"Go home and get some rest."
Zhou Shan spoke gently.
Unfortunately, the heavens didn't cooperate. As Su Mu headed home, the weather changed abruptly, and a fine rain began to fall under the night sky. Fortunately, it was spring, and Su Mu carried a rain cape and bamboo hat every day.
After putting on his rain cape and bamboo hat, Su Mu quickened his pace. The rain had triggered the poison in his body. He felt as though insects were crawling and gnawing inside him, leaving him unbearably itchy. His hands and feet were growing cold and weak, too.
Plop.
His foot landed in a puddle. Reflected in the water were Su Mu's sharply contracted pupils and wary expression.
Beneath the steady drizzle, beside a tree not far away, stood a man with a long saber at his waist and a fierce scar across his face. His gaze fell on Su Mu. The man was standing squarely on the only path home.
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