"Clang!"
The heavy hammer struck the anvil, sending sparks flying from the metal sheet clamped between them. A surging tongue of flame was blown away by the shockwave, and the entire room flashed with chaotic light.
This was Lu De's smithy. Located on an open mountaintop within the mountain gate, the room used array runes to gather and channel the True Sun Fire, creating a high temperature capable of melting gold and iron for the purpose of weapon forging.
Lu De had said he would give him an answer, yet had brought him here instead. Moreover, he casually picked up an unfinished piece of work and began laboring on it. He was even using this most primitive method, the clanging sounds of hammering ringing out endlessly. Even knowing that Lu De meant what he said and never spoke idly, Yu Ci could not help feeling somewhat restless.
At last, during a brief pause in his hammering, Lu De spoke a single sentence: "I just heard you call him Master..."
He was referring to the term of address Yu Ci had used for Yu Zhou when extracting words from Baoguang.
Yu Ci frowned and gave no response, because this was not what he wanted to hear.
"Actually, I advised him long ago that having a young man like you as a disciple would really be quite nice. It's a pity his side never followed through—I don't know if he was too embarrassed or had other plans."
"Titles don't matter," Yu Ci said briefly.
"Indeed, they don't matter. To Yu Zhou, they truly have no meaning..."
With another loud "clang," Lu De's hair and beard bristled as he hammered fiercely onto the half-formed sword piece. A surging spiritual pressure swept through the entire smithy, making Yu Ci's breath catch for a moment.