Looking Back on the Past
The following day, before noon, Ling Yi and his three companions each led their horses and followed the flow of people into the west gate of "Wood Plant City".
The headquarters of the Blacksmith Association, Water Wood Duchy Branch, stands in front of a three-story building that is fifteen meters tall.
Ling Yi stopped and said to Zhang Mufeng, "Ah Feng, you should go back first. It's been so long since we last met, I'm sure your senior brothers miss you too—"
"Hmm~" Zhang Mufeng didn't refuse. They had agreed on the way here, so he nodded and said, "Well then, Brother Yi, I'll go home first and come back to the association to find you later—"
"Hehe~" Long Yin stepped forward and patted Zhang Mufeng's shoulders, which were now as broad as his own, teasingly saying, "Don't let it slip when you get back. At home, you still have to call Brother Yi 'Uncle-Master,' don't forget—!"
"Exactly!" Qingqiu Xin also seized the opportunity to add insult to injury, "If your father finds out that you call his junior brother ' Brother Yi,' indirectly becoming his sworn brother, I reckon you might want to prepare some medicine in advance—"
Rolling his eyes at the gloating duo, Zhang Mufeng said irritably, "I remember your fathers were also on friendly terms with Brother Yi, so shouldn't you call him 'uncle' first?"
Having said that, without waiting for the two to say anything more, he mounted his horse, nodded to Ling Yi, and said, "Brother Yi, I'm leaving now—"
Ling Yi waved and reminded him, "Drive carefully and watch out for pedestrians."
Zhang Mufeng nodded and replied, "Hey! Don't worry, Brother Yi, I will—"
Then, with a thud to its belly, it trotted away into the distance amidst the crisp sound of its hooves.
In an office on the third floor of the headquarters of the Blacksmith Association, Water Wood Duchy, facing south.
Ling Yi sat in the chair in front of his desk, looking down at the ledgers and documents.
Behind the desk opposite, Old Master Jin was fiddling with a brand-new tea set, occasionally glancing at the focused Ling Yi, a look of satisfaction and contentment on his old face.
Compared to two years ago, Old Master Jin's hair and beard are whiter, and he looks older than ever. But looking at his ruddy complexion, you can tell that he is even more energetic than before.
It makes sense. The original Old Master Jin, although one of the three great craftsmen of the duchy and a guest of the Grand Duke Mu Feng and several marquises, was ultimately just a lousy old man who wielded a hammer.
His Soul Elder level strength was gradually declining as his body aged.
What does it feel like to watch a once strong and powerful body gradually become old and weak?
Even though his disciples and grand-disciples are spread throughout the entire [Water Wood Duchy], this empty reputation cannot bring any substantial benefits to Old Master Jin or his descendants.
Blacksmiths are just the most outstanding among ordinary people; in the Douluo Continent, where Soul Master are the main focus, they are not considered important.
On the contrary, the Old Master Jin, who had many children and grandchildren, sometimes worried whether the Jin Clan could continue to stand in the capital city of "Wood Plant City" if a new and influential successor could not be born after he closed his eyes.
Although Jiang Yuan calls Old Master Jin "Second Uncle," he is ultimately not a member of the Jin family; his surname is Jiang!
Even though Jiang Yuan's Martial Soul is the Jin family's "Iron Refining Gauntlet".
Fortunately, the Jin family and Jin Gang were fortunate to have received Ling Yi, a disciple who could be described as an "extraordinary" figure, in his twilight years!
Before taking Ling Yi as his apprentice, Old Master Jin's greatest wish was that one of his twelve personal disciples would be able to break through to the level of Blacksmith and inherit the position of one of the three great blacksmiths of his duchy.
Over the decades, he had carefully selected these twelve disciples, choosing them based on their character, talent, and family background. He believed that after they inherited his position, they would continue to support and help each other within the Jin Clan, helping them to take root in the "Wood Plant City".
When Ling Yi became an apprentice, Old Master Jin thought that although the boy's Martial Soul aptitude was not good, he was at least a high-level blacksmith, and would be a good force among the many disciples in the future.
If the thirteen senior blacksmith disciples were to work together to help the Jin Clan, the fourteen families would not have a bad life in the future.
However, when Ling Yi unexpectedly reached level ten and successfully obtained a First Soul Ring of the hundred-year level, and then asked to use Fu Shan's connections to enter the Duchy's military, Old Master Jin suddenly realized that this young disciple seemed to have always been a very opinionated person.
Looking back on the time this little guy entered ' Wood Plant City ', whether it was enrolling in the Soul Master Academy or learning forging under a master, he truly made steady progress step by step.
Of course, this is not a bad thing.
On the contrary, Ling Yi was not the kind of "foolish person" who only knew how to bury himself in cultivating Soul Power and only cared about forging. Old Master Jin's expectations for him became even more fervent.
Having spent several years with Ling Yi, watching him grow from a seven-year-old to a young man in his early teens, Old Master Jin felt he knew Ling Yi quite well.
Ling Yi is a very pure person.
Watching him unite with his classmates, respect his teachers, study hard, and generously share his achievements with them at school; watching him humbly learn from his senior blacksmiths, diligently honing his tedious forging skills, always kind and gentle to everyone, intelligent, patient, modest, and friendly...
Almost every word of praise that Old Master Jin could think of could be used to describe this young disciple.
Therefore, Old Master Jin specially wrote that letter to his junior brother, Tie Futu, whom he had not contacted for decades and who had already achieved great success and become the Weiyi Divine Craftsman in the Douluo Continent. He asked Tie Futu to agree to teach Ling Yi complete "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" so as not to bury such a gem.
According to Old Master Jin's plan, when Ling Yi's strength increases and he hits a bottleneck among advanced blacksmiths, he should be recommended to go to Gengxin City in the Star Luo Empire to learn the complete version of the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" from Tie Futu, and to learn more advanced forging skills...
Who would have thought that, more than two years later, a fat man who claimed to be a disciple of the Tie Futu suddenly came to visit him, his senior master.
A junior disciple at the Soul King Rank, and also a Grandmaster Blacksmith!
Heaven knows, Jin Gang is almost eighty years old, yet such a person still comes to visit him?!
In a daze, Jin Gang received his junior disciple named Lou Gao and watched him leave for the northern part of the duchy to find his youngest disciple, Ling Yi. Jin Gang's emotions were running high at that moment.
Sure enough, in just over half a year, when his junior disciple Ling Yi returned to ' Wood Plant City ', he became the fourth Blacksmith in the [Water Wood Duchy], following himself, Fu Shan, and Li Qiang!
But that wasn't the biggest surprise.
To this day, Jin Gang still clearly remembers that day when the young apprentice, who had become Blacksmith, stood in front of him and told him that he wanted to gather all the senior blacksmiths in the entire [Water Wood Duchy] to establish an organization like the [Blacksmith Association] in [Gengxin City] City of Metal of the [Star Luo Empire].
He wanted all the blacksmiths within the [Water Wood Duchy] to join this organization.
He wanted to improve the status of all blacksmiths, both in the eyes of the world and in their actual income!
He wants to make...
More than a year, almost two years have passed, and all these goals have been achieved.
Today, everyone in the Jin Clan, except for women and children, is in this association, as are all of his disciples and Jin Gang -disciples.
Only then did Old Master Jin realize that all the blacksmiths gathered together actually formed such an unexpectedly enormous behemoth!
Thank you book friend [call me T Worry, Long Medical Journey, Black Iron Tips, Heavenly Messenger, Si Kexin, Fa Xunjia, Li Zhishu, Maple Leaf 2233, Nuohe, Book Friends 20191230111420387, Small and Casual, Heart Has a Home, Black Iron Tips, Shiraishi Red Leaves] For the monthly vote, I would like to thank the book friends [Hao De Shang Xian, Book Friends 20190721191456270, Book Friends 20181008042148486, A Sea of Blue Clouds] for their rewards, thank you all for your recommendation votes and follow-up reading, thank you all! (*^▽^*)
Well, the author received an inquiry from the editor on the morning of July 19th, asking if I wanted to publish it. The current number of readers is 1809.
We don't know if this number is high or low, but thinking about the last book, which started publication on June 3rd, was signed on July 5th, and went on sale on August 1st, it seems pretty good that this one can be released earlier, so we immediately replied, "Let's put it on sale."
Because of time constraints, I can only manage one more chapter on top of the two daily updates. Please bear with me!
I can't say much more than that, but I should be able to update twice a day without any problem.
Well, that's all for now. It's almost 1 a. m., and I, the author, should go to sleep. I have to get up early for work tomorrow morning.