Forging

She knew, of course, that there were ninjas in the world who wielded immense power, and Souya was clearly one such individual with extraordinary means.

As an ordinary person, the middle-aged beauty possessed considerable mental fortitude. Even in the face of Souya's aura, she managed to remain calm.

However, beads of sweat had begun to seep through the gaps in her hairline, and she was quite terrified at that moment.

Judging by the aura emanating from the young Souya, a feeling like falling into an ice cellar, he was definitely not a soft-hearted person.

And looking at the dirty little creature beside him, it was clear that this little one must have some connection to Ri Sa.

The middle-aged beauty secretly regretted her momentary greed, which had led her to promise Ri Sa away, thus attracting this calamity in the form of Souya.

But it was too late to regret it now. All she could do was hope to continue placating Souya and get past this matter.

"Sigh! There's no other way..." Souya sighed deeply.

"You... don't do anything rash. Do you know who backs this shop..." Seeing Souya stand up, his aura unleashed without reservation, whipping up gusts of wind in the room, the middle-aged beauty hurriedly said.

The other two maids met the same fate.

Then, Souya placed his hands on Mori Kazuhiro's shoulders and said, "Sense carefully and tell me the location once you find your sister."

Souya had dabbled in Perception Ninjutsu as well. Although his mastery wasn't deep, it was sufficient to search such a small area.

Soon, Mori Kazuhiro's body trembled. He felt as if his body had instantly lost its weight, and he floated lightly out of the house.

Then, to his surprise, he found that the wooden planks between the houses could no longer obstruct him. He could directly "see" the scenes inside each house.

Some houses were empty, while in others, courtesans were seductively demonstrating their sensuality and allure. In yet other houses, the protagonists could no longer suppress their artistic desires and were directly performing "Errenzhuan."

"Lord, I found her!" Mori Kazuhiro exclaimed in surprise, and then his body trembled.

"Sister!" Mori Kazuhiro's eyes snapped open, his emotions exploding like a barrel of oil catching fire.

"Lord! My sister, she..." Tears streamed from his eyes.

"Tell me the location!" Souya's expression was calm as he gently patted Mori Kazuhiro, helping him to calm down.

Not long after, a piercing scream echoed from Hashiya Town, and then a cluster of golden clouds rose into the sky and departed.

This incident naturally caused a huge stir, and undercurrents began to surge from all directions.

After all, the Five Great Nations were currently in a tense state of war, with constant skirmishes between countries.

As a result, the Land of Artisans had profited handsomely. The highly skilled artisans there produced various Ninja Tools that were very popular.

This allowed the powerful clans controlling the Land of Artisans to make a fortune, which was one of the reasons for the unprecedented prosperity of the West City.

The high-ranking officials of some factions began to analyze the cause of this incident.

Some even suspected that it might be a probe by the Land of Wind intending to annex the Land of Artisans.

As for the idea that it was purely to save a courtesan, the higher-ups scoffed at such a notion.

Immersed in their lives of pleasure and indulgence, they had never seen the suffering of commoners forced to sell their children due to poverty behind the prosperity. To them, commoners were merely tools to be exploited.

If public outrage reached a certain level, they could redirect attention, shift the blame, and bestow some minor favors. After all, over the years, under their "diligent governance," the commoners' fate was mostly to become impoverished.

The coastal area southeast of the Land of Artisans was very special. Because of a small active volcano, the terrain here was a barren plain.

The heat rising from the ground seemed to cook people alive, making it impossible for ordinary creatures to survive here.

However, a genius who had emerged from the Land of Artisans had conceived the idea of using this volcanic area for smelting.

With the efforts of this genius and a large group of artisans, this crazy idea was actually realized.

After mapping out the volcano's veins, they excavated smelting chambers along the island's edge.

The chamber walls were constructed from heat-resistant Black Steel Stone, capable of withstanding the terrifying temperatures constantly emitted by the volcanic magma.

They had also found a Barrier Master to set up a barrier, confining the magma's heat within the smelting furnaces, thus raising the temperature inside the furnaces by another level.

On the other side of the smelting chamber, there was a switch that could draw in distilled seawater to cool the tools. The nearly infinite supply of seawater greatly increased the smelting rate.

Sasori was currently standing in one of these smelting chambers. Although he was only a Puppeteer, he was still awestruck by the imaginative ideas and boldness of the creators of these stone chambers.

The dark green stone chamber reflected a crimson glow. In front of it, three burly men, shirtless and wearing only sweatpants, wielded various smelting tools.

In the recessed area in front of them was what appeared to be a pit leading to the depths of the earth. However, looking further, no one would have the desire to go down there.

This was because what flowed within the cave was clearly bright red magma, with some parts of the slowly flowing magma already showing a golden hue.

The three expressionless burly men twisted an arc-shaped switch next to the cave entrance. A cluster of white-blue flames suddenly erupted from the opening. The moment the flames appeared, it was as if the very space could not withstand the scorching heat and began to distort.

A spark seemed to ignite in Sasori's eyes as well. He placed several scrolls behind him on the ground, and with a few puffs of white smoke, they appeared.

Two corpses, three knives, and two humanoid skeletons materialized on the ground.

These two skeletons were quite peculiar, as they were not bone white but rather a beautiful purple. One skeleton's color was deeper, while the other was lighter.

Among the blades, one was covered entirely in dark blue thorns. Its surface was wrapped by circles of black patterns, rendering it immobile.

"I didn't expect the metal here to be so complete. It saves me a lot of trouble..." Sasori's gaze drifted towards the pile of ores in the corner.

"If it's forged according to this blueprint, perhaps the Ninja Tools will really have the function to store and absorb Chakra..." Sasori spread his palm, looking at several blueprints again.

After an unknown amount of time, Sasori heard movement. Without turning around, he said indifferently, "You're here? Let's begin!"

"This forging will still require your Sealing Technique..."

Souya, who had just entered, was looking around with curiosity. He responded absentmindedly.

Immediately after, Sasori put away the blueprints. Then, with a slight movement of his finger, the three large men standing in front of him sprang into action. It turned out these three blacksmiths had long been manipulated by Sasori.

"It's starting!" Sasori stared intently at the cave entrance.