The woodshed was stiflingly hot.
Su Li propped the fourth-tier greatsword upright against the side of the anvil and pulled out a piece of cloth to wipe his hands. As he drew the ether from his palms back into his body, an exceedingly faint swelling sensation came from within his meridians.
It did not hurt, but it was unmistakable.
Like a cup nearly full—pour in any more, and it would overflow.
He flexed his fingers, feeling that swelling spread evenly along the inner walls of his meridians.
The limit of the fourth tier was drawing near. The speed at which ether circulated through his body had already approached the barrier. Pushing further was no longer a matter of quantity, but of qualitative change.
That threshold where liquid became solid.
In his previous life, others had beaten him across it—he had traded his life for it. This life, he would not gamble. He would take it slow.
Su Li drew the short blade from his waist and touched its tip to the spine of the greatsword.
The forging patterns on both weapons lit up at once, their frequencies perfectly aligned. The resonance was stable, another layer clearer than yesterday.
A good omen.
He sheathed the short blade, picked up the oilcloth beside him, and began wiping down the greatsword's blade.
Dark-gold circuits pulsed beneath the oilcloth like a beating heart.
Tempering a sword could not be rushed. The fourth-tier greatsword's ether capacity was still slowly rising; it needed enough time to adapt.
"Su Li! Food's ready!"
Saina's booming voice dragged him out of the woodshed.
The stone table in the courtyard had already been set. Garlic ribs, a bowl of smashed cucumbers, half a pot of bone soup, and a small dish of salted beans that Elena had somehow learned to