The Mirror Comes into Being

Two days later, dawn was just breaking.

Zhou Ming had just returned from the mountains, where he had found limestone, his clothes soaked through.

Without stopping, he headed for West Riverbank.

Half an hour later, he looked at the quartz sand in his cloth bag, weighed it in his hand, and murmured, "There's about a pound. That should be enough."

Carrying the bag, he quickly made his way toward the county town.

Morning mist shrouded Xishan County, and the chill had yet to fade.

The occasional scattered rooster crow rang through the county. Street vendors gradually brought out their goods and set up tables and chairs.

Before long, cries of hawkers began to echo through the streets.

The hazy morning light fell from the horizon, slowly driving away the cold within the county town.

Thus, Xishan County awoke from its night of slumber.

Watching this faint trace of everyday life, Zhou Ming's slightly impatient heart eased somewhat.

Following the market street all the way, he returned to the escort agency's entrance.

Seeing the servant dozing against the gate, Zhou Ming slowly stepped forward and patted him awake.

The servant cracked open his eyes and shuddered. "Master Zhou, I..."

Before he could finish, Zhou Ming interrupted, "It's cold. You can't sleep out here. Catch a chill this season, and it'll be hard to recover."

The servant was somewhat at a loss and said blankly, "Thank you for your concern, Master Zhou. I practice martial arts too. I can withstand a little cold."

Zhou Ming smiled and instructed him to fetch some dry straw from the stables and bring it to his room.

As he entered the escort agency, he vaguely heard wave after wave of shouts coming from afar.

Following the corridor, he soon arrived at the training ground and saw a group of people practicing Stance Training.

He could not help thinking that if he had not possessed talent, perhaps he would have been one of them.

Yang Shu was leading the group on the training ground.

When Yang Shu spotted Zhou Ming, he told everyone to continue practicing on their own and walked over.

"Brother Zhou, what a rare sight. Are you planning to offer our brothers some guidance?" Yang Shu joked as he approached.

Zhou Ming waved a hand with a smile. "I don't have that strange habit of enjoying teaching others."

"So you're saying I have a strange habit?"

After chatting for a while, Yang Shu said, "Go on, what do you need?"

"No one knows me better than Brother Yang."

Zhou Ming then told him everything he needed and handed over a silver note.

Yang Shu accepted it and immediately said, "All right. I'll bring Daniu and Chen Li along to handle it in a moment."

In the courtyard, Zhou Ming looked at the soda water he had obtained after filtering it several times and murmured, "Next comes boiling it down."

Just as he was about to proceed, Yang Shu and the other two arrived with a group of servants carrying things into the courtyard.

After setting everything down, Yang Shu took out a few bits of loose silver and rewarded the servants. "There's nothing else for you to do here. You can leave now."

The servants accepted the silver happily. "Yes!"

Fan Daniu wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the furnace used by blacksmiths. "Brother Zhou Ming, what do you need this thing for? Don't tell me you're forging weapons yourself?"

Zhou Ming lifted the jar of purified alkaline water in his hand and handed it to Fan Daniu.

Daniu took the alkaline water and was about to drink it.

Zhou Ming immediately smacked him on the head and scolded, "It's not wine. It's not for drinking."

Daniu scratched his head and looked at the jar. "Then why'd you give it to me?"

Zhou Ming said irritably, "Go start a fire and boil this alkaline water in there."

Fan Daniu did not ask further and turned to work.

Zhou Ming then put the limestone he had found in the mountains into a medicine-grinding bowl he had borrowed from the clinic and crushed it into fine powder.

Seeing Yang Shu and Chen Li squatting in front of him with nothing to do, Zhou Ming removed the quartz sand hanging from his waist and handed it over.

"You two shouldn't stand around either. There are suitable tools among the things you brought. Grind this into powder."

Chen Li took the bag and opened it for a look.

Wasn't this just sand from West Riverbank?

But he did not ask anything and turned to look for the tools.

Yang Shu did not move. Looking at the limestone Zhou Ming was grinding, he asked curiously, "Brother Zhou, why waste so much effort? Why use tools? Wouldn't one slap turn it into powder?"

Zhou Ming shot him a glance. "One palm strike, and there won't be anything left."

A quarter of an hour later, Fan Daniu cried out, "Brother Zhou Ming, this water turned into salt chunks! That's amazing!"

Hearing this, Zhou Ming and Yang Shu walked over together. Looking at the white crystals in the iron pot, Zhou Ming slowly said, "This is called alkali, not salt."

Zhou Ming removed the soda ash from the pot, placed it in the medicine bowl, and began grinding it.

Meanwhile, Chen Li carried over an iron vessel and set it by Zhou Ming's feet. Inside was the quartz sand, now ground into powder.

Zhou Ming mixed the three powdered ingredients according to the ratio he remembered.

This ratio was the key to determining whether clear glass could be made.

"Daniu, make the fire as strong as it can get."

An ordinary furnace definitely could not reach the temperature needed to make glass, but Zhou Ming had studied the standardized blades used by the escort agency.

The smithing furnaces used by blacksmiths in this world would certainly do.

Because those standardized blades were all fine steel weapons.

If they could forge steel, making glass would naturally be possible.

Zhou Ming asked which vessel was most resistant to heat.

After taking the vessel Yang Shu handed him, Zhou Ming poured the mixed powder into it.

He then pushed it into the blazing flames.

Chen Li immediately stepped forward and worked the bellows attached to the furnace, rapidly raising the temperature.

After a long firing process, the mixed raw materials inside the vessel completely transformed into a viscous, transparent molten glass.

Looking at the molten glass, Zhou Ming carefully removed the vessel. While it was still hot, he slowly spread the glass out, then used a mold to press it into a flat sheet before turning and returning to his room.

Looking at the transparent glass left to settle and take shape, Yang Shu said in astonishment, "Is this flawless glazed crystal?"

Chen Li looked at the treasure before him and drew a deep breath. "It is undoubtedly glazed crystal. Glazed crystal on the market is worth a fortune. Brother Zhou's flawless glazed crystal could be worth ten thousand in gold."

Yang Shu and Chen Li exchanged a glance.

They both saw the same thought in the other's eyes.

Brother Zhou was truly an extraordinary man.

Fan Daniu looked at the glass in amazement. "Brother Zhou Ming, you can turn stone into gold."

Holding three jade bottles in his left hand, Zhou Ming walked out of the room with a smile. "Daniu, want me to give it to you? Sell it for silver and go home to marry a wife?"

Fan Daniu waved his hands. "My mother said that when I marry a wife, I have to earn the money myself. That's real ability."

"If you don't want it, forget it. Go bring out the table. Remember to bring the candles too."

Zhou Ming walked to the furnace, picked up the glass, raised it slightly before his eyes, and inspected it carefully.

Clear, smooth, without a single bubble.

At the table Daniu had brought out, he placed the three jade bottles on its surface. His breathing sank as Blood Qi circulated within him. Blood Qi Manifestation!

Three small blood-red rods of equal length appeared in his hands.

Zhou Ming moved his fingers slightly, propped the three rods into a bridge on the table, placed the candle beneath them, and gently set the glass on top.

Yang Shu and the other two stood across from Zhou Ming and watched curiously.

Zhou Ming looked at the three jade bottles on the table.

They contained silver nitrate solution, ammonia water, and glucose.

It had taken him two days to obtain them. The hardships involved were beyond the understanding of outsiders.

He slowly poured the three solutions onto the glass in sequence.

Then he lit the wax beneath it.

In mere moments, the Vast Sea Continent's very first brand-new glass mirror took shape.