Li Yue's Mother's Dissatisfaction

After sunset, night fell.

At the doorstep, Li Yue said goodbye to Tang San.

By then, Li Yue's mother had long been waiting outside the house.

This was Li Yue's first time going out alone, and his mother had been terribly worried. She had agreed after Li Yue pleaded with her, but the longer she stayed at home, the more frightened she became.

His father had died at the hands of a soul beast. She was afraid Li Yue would be lost the same way.

When she finally saw Li Yue return, a loving smile appeared on his mother's face, and she let out a breath of relief.

"Yue'er, you're back." Li Yue's mother spoke gently, her gaze falling on Tang San's departing figure. "That was the blacksmith's girl, wasn't it? She looked rather quiet."

Li Yue smiled and nodded. "Yes. His name is Tang San. He's my good friend."

Li Yue's mother sighed softly. This did not look like mere friendship.

He had only just met him, yet he was already staying away from home. If this went on for a while longer, he might not even recognize her as his mother.

Li Yue's mother took an instant dislike to Tang San for whisking away her precious son. Perhaps this was what they called the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

After closing the door, Li Yue's mother earnestly said to him, "Yue'er, it isn't that Mother wants to lecture you, but you should play less with that poor girl from the Blacksmith Shop. She looks quiet enough, but Mother thinks she's rather calculating. If you truly like her in the future, taking her as a concubine would be fine, but she absolutely cannot be your principal wife."

Li Yue was immediately covered in black lines. What kind of nonsense was his mother talking about?

He immediately refuted her. "Mother, what are you talking about? I only see Tang San as a friend, as a good brother. Besides, all that is far too early for me."

Tang San heard every word of the mother and son's conversation from outside the door. After cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill, keen hearing and sharp eyesight were merely the basics.

Besides, there was only a wall between them. Even ordinary people could hear through it—otherwise, why would they say walls had ears?

Li Yue's mother had probably said it on purpose for him to hear.

Tang San felt a surge of emotion. Although Li Yue's mother looked down on him, dismissing him as nothing but a lowly poor boy from a blacksmith's family—

Senior Brother Li Yue treated him as a brother, and that made him incomparably happy.

Senior Brother Li Yue was still the same as before. He had not changed.

Back then, he had been the same. He had not looked down on Tang San for being from the Tang Sect's Outer Sect, had promoted him to Outer Sect Supervisor, and taught him the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, which only Inner Sect disciples could cultivate.

Tang San silently made up his mind. In this life, he would definitely protect Senior Brother Li Yue well. He absolutely would not let Senior Brother Li Yue die before him and allow the events of their past life to happen again.

After returning home, Tang San lay on his bed. Other than the crude bed, a thin quilt that barely offered any warmth, and walls made from packed earth, there was almost no furniture or decoration. The house was truly bare to the walls.

Even in such impoverished surroundings, Tang San's heart was filled with an unexpected sense of contentment.

Looking at the moonlight streaming into the room through the window, his thoughts seemed to return to the past—to the days he had spent with Senior Brother Li Yue in the Tang Sect.

The corners of his lips lifted unconsciously.

Wrapping himself in the quilt, Tang San sat cross-legged on the bed and began cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

He needed to cultivate diligently and become stronger so that he could better protect Senior Brother Li Yue.

A few days later, Li Yue brought several sturdy women to the Blacksmith Shop.

Tang San received a large chunk of iron containing Iron Mother. Li Yue had given it to him.

Tang San was delighted when he received it. Now that he had materials, he could forge Hidden Weapons.

He decided to refine the Iron Mother within it and forge Sleeve Arrows for Li Yue and himself. They were still too weak and needed weapons to protect themselves.

"Dad." Tang San called out to Tang Hao, who was focused on forging ironware.

Tang Hao stopped what he was doing, turned to look at Tang San, and frowned.

He was somewhat displeased that his son had interrupted him.

Tang San dragged the large chunk of iron Li Yue had given him into the Blacksmith Shop. "Can I use these forging tools?"

"It actually contains Iron Essence. Did that boy give this to you?" Tang Hao's gaze sharpened as he saw the extraordinary nature of the scrap iron. Staring directly into Tang San's eyes, he asked, "Do you want to become a blacksmith?"

"I want to forge a weapon for Brother Yue." Tang San did not answer whether he wanted to become a blacksmith.

He had no intention of inheriting Tang Hao's craft. In his eyes, Tang Hao was merely a blacksmith from a small village. Right now, he only wanted to forge Hidden Weapons for Li Yue and himself.

"Do you know how to forge weapons?" Tang Hao was a little distracted. He had not expected his son to have someone he liked at such a young age, though honestly, he did not care much about it.

It was simply that the boy named Li Yue had caught Tang Hao's attention.

That boy had delicate features. At first glance, one might mistake him for a girl, yet he lacked any feminine softness. Instead, there was a sense of resilience about him.

Thus, he would not truly be mistaken for a girl. His appearance and temperament made it clear he was a boy—just a particularly good-looking one.

But that was not why Tang Hao cared.

More importantly, when he looked at him, Tang Hao seemed to see Ah Yin.

"I've watched Dad forge weapons," Tang San answered.

In his previous life, as Outer Sect Supervisor, he had managed the Tang Sect's Hidden Weapons. However, he had mostly served as a leader, focusing on core matters such as metal ratios and Hidden Weapon designs.

He could leave the actual forging to his subordinates. Still, Senior Brother Li Yue had also asked him to personally forge certain weapons, so forging was not unfamiliar to him.

"Watching doesn't mean you've learned it." Tang Hao found this amusing.

But he had no reason to stop him. How could a member of the Tang Family of the Clear Sky Sect not know how to forge?

Once his son failed to forge a weapon and realized that while his mind knew how, his hands did not—

it would not be too late for him to teach him forging techniques.

"Then give it a try."

"Okay, Dad." Tang San brought over a small stool. The forging table was too high for him to reach.

After Tang Hao agreed, Tang San began trying out the forging tools. Tools that fit an adult perfectly were somewhat too large for him, making them difficult to wield.

Fortunately, he cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Skill and had trained in Mysterious Jade Hand and Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon. His hands were tough, and he could use minimal force to move great weight.

Tang Hao watched helplessly as his son used his forging tools to create a small object.

The shock was roughly equivalent to seeing the family dog stand up and cook you four dishes and a soup.

It was not quite that extreme, but Tang Hao's feeling was similar.

His four-year-old son, still too short to reach the forging table, stood on a little stool and used adult forging tools to forge an exquisite object just like that.

Even Tang Hao, who had been mired in despair since his wife's death, was somewhat stunned.

But who was Tang Hao? He was the sort of man who had failed to notice anything unusual when his own child ran out every day before dawn.

Once he learned that his four-year-old son could forge weapons, he accepted it immediately.

He was immediately delighted that his son was a genius, noticed nothing strange at all, and decided that after his son awakened his martial soul, he would teach him the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer.