How Can I Bear This!

Lin Xia listened quietly, already clear on both the situation and Lou Gao's stance.

Looking at Lou Gao's weary, furious face, the outline of a clear plan finally took complete shape in Lin Xia's mind.

Lin Xia did not immediately voice his thoughts. He merely refilled his teacher's cup with hot tea and said softly:

"Teacher, you've worked hard. Have some tea first and catch your breath. Sooner or later, we'll vent this anger!"

"But we need to be strategic about it!"

"Teacher."

Lin Xia's voice was calm and clear, breaking the brief silence with a composure far beyond his years.

"This disciple dares to ask you a question."

Lou Gao's hand paused as he lifted the teacup. He looked up at Lin Xia, seemingly surprised by how calm and organized he was at such a moment.

He set down the cup and gestured for Lin Xia to continue.

"What... exactly do you think of Spirit Hall?"

"Setting aside that scum Miles, have you ever considered... some form of... cooperation with Spirit Hall itself?"

Lou Gao abruptly turned his head. His battle-worn eyes, blazing like a furnace, widened instantly as he stared fixedly at Lin Xia, filled with incredulous shock and deep confusion. His gaze seemed to say:

'Kid, are you insane?! You're bringing this up now?!'

Meeting Lou Gao's shocked gaze, Lin Xia showed no trace of avoidance or panic. Instead, he spoke even more seriously:

"Teacher, this can't go on. People like Miles are greedy by nature and utterly without limits. He treats the Blacksmith Association as his Back Garden, as a cash machine."

"Today, he can extort the Purple Lightning Iron mine. Tomorrow, he can invent excuses to plunder even more! If we confront him head-on, perhaps we can hold out for a while—but can we withstand it ten times? A hundred times? Once he is driven into desperation, or we make even the slightest mistake, the price may be the destruction of the entire Association!"

Lin Xia spoke faster, his words carrying the sharpness and insight unique to youth.

"And what is the foundation of Spirit Hall, this colossal force? Faith in the Angel God! Their creed of 'protecting order and blessing all living beings'! At least, that is what they claim publicly!"

"Does a scoundrel like Miles, running wild in Gengjin City and preying upon the people, truly align with Spirit Hall's will? Does it align with the doctrine they preach?"

"I don't believe it! Perhaps we can... take the initiative to contact Spirit Hall's higher ranks and seek cooperation—or even... join Spirit Hall's system!"

"We can use our true value in exchange for the Pope's support and protection! That way, we can not only completely remove the cancer that is Miles, but also secure a more stable, more guaranteed future for the Association and for all the craftsmen who depend on it for their livelihoods!"

The shock on Lou Gao's face gradually faded, replaced by an unprecedented gravity.

Lou Gao scrutinized the disciple before him seriously, as though he were truly seeing him for the first time.

Lin Xia's words were by no means reckless nonsense spoken on impulse, but an analysis born of careful consideration.

That calmness beyond his years and his insight into the broader situation alarmed Lou Gao, forcing him to take the proposal seriously.

Lou Gao remained silent for a long time. His brows drew into a deep furrow, and his expression shifted constantly between anger, hesitation, and calculation.

At last, he slowly shook his head, his voice heavy with helplessness.

"Xiao Xia... I understand your intentions. This idea... is bold, and novel. But it won't work."

Lou Gao let out a long sigh.

"To Spirit Hall, our Blacksmith Association will always be outsiders! Craftsmen outside their system! No matter how vile Miles may be, as long as he wears that red robe, he is Spirit Hall's representative in Gengjin City!"

"No matter how atrocious his actions are, Spirit Hall's upper ranks may simply see them as minor misconduct by a local official. They may even regard them as a means of controlling local resources!"

"If we go to lodge a complaint? If we seek cooperation? In their eyes, that would mean outsiders attempting to interfere in their internal affairs—a provocation! What right do we have to make them trust us, abandon a capable bishop, and support craftsmen like us instead?"

Worldly weariness and insight filled Lou Gao's eyes.

"Child, you are still young. Your ideas are good, but... don't think of people and worldly affairs as being so simple, so idealistic. Spirit Hall is full of factions, its interests tangled beyond measure. If we rashly attach ourselves to them, let alone seek protection, I'm afraid not even our bones will remain! And besides..."

Lou Gao paused, deep difficulty and pain appearing on his face.

"Besides, how am I, Lou Gao... supposed to face my old friend Titan? The enmity between the Strength Clan and Spirit Hall... is an ocean of blood!"

"If I lead the Association into Spirit Hall's ranks, wouldn't that... wouldn't that be stabbing my old brother in the back? How could I... live with myself?"

Lin Xia was not surprised by Lou Gao's refusal or his pain.

He understood his teacher's loyalty and devotion, and he also understood his deep-rooted wariness toward Spirit Hall.

Still, he drew a deep breath and threw out the question that struck at the heart of the matter, one Lou Gao could not avoid.

Lin Xia's voice was not loud, yet it was like a Heavy Hammer striking the most fragile strings of Lou Gao's heart.

"Teacher!"

Lin Xia's gaze was sharp as a blade, piercing straight into Lou Gao's Inner Heart.

"Then tell me, are the lives and livelihoods of the ordinary craftsmen in the Blacksmith Association—the people who rely on you and the Association to feed their families and live with dignity—important?"

"You took me to that abandoned Ore Cave... You personally gathered the Skeletal Remains of those victims. Teacher, tell me: were the lives of those miner brothers who died in the Ore Cave important? Their families lost their pillars of support—were their livelihoods important?"

"Today, Miles dares to come to our door and extort us. Tomorrow, he will dare to go even further! Today, he can injure our guards. Tomorrow, the Deacons under him will dare to oppress our craftsmen and steal their hard-earned money!"

"If this continues, the Association will be consumed by fear, the craftsmen will have no means of living, and their wives, children, and elders will go hungry and cold... Teacher, is this the situation you want to see?"

"You protect your loyalty to Senior Titan, but does that mean you can stand by and watch more brothers and more families in the Association fall into hardship—even despair?"

Lin Xia's words, every sentence and every syllable, were like icy steel needles, piercing precisely into the softest and most painful place in Lou Gao's heart.

Those stark-white skeletal remains in the Ore Caves, Miles's arrogant face, the humiliation on the Association guards' faces, the worried looks in the ordinary blacksmiths' eyes... countless images violently collided in his mind.

Lou Gao's towering body swayed violently, as if he had been struck by an invisible heavy punch.

Lou Gao closed his eyes. The muscles in his face twitched painfully, the knuckles of his clenched fists turning white as his nails dug deeply into his palms.

The icy sensation of those miners' remains seemed to travel through his fingertips once more.

The face of his old friend Titan intertwined and overlapped with the honest faces of countless Association craftsmen...

The Backyard fell into deathly silence. Only the faint crackle of electricity from the turbulent energy within Larvitar sounded unusually clear in the frozen air.