Tie Zhong

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Tie Zhong (铁钟)
Gender	Male 35
Affiliation	Iron Bell Blacksmith Shop, Star City 43
Occupation/Role	Shop owner, blacksmith, and Tang Shan’s forging instructor 35
Cultivation Status	Not a Soul Master 43
First Appearance	Chapter 35 35

Power Progression

Tie Zhong’s documented advancement concerns forging rather than Soul Power cultivation 43.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Hundred Refinement standard, as assessed by Tang Shan	36	His established technique purifies iron through several hundred hammer blows before shaping or fold forging. Tang Shan compares the result to the Hundred Refinement standard of a later era.
Improved purification within Hundred Refinement	43	Several days of experimentation produce a breakthrough in metal purification. Tang Shan praises his potential to become a Divine Craftsman, but neither Thousand Refinement nor Divine Craftsman status is attained.

Background / History

Iron Bell Blacksmith Shop

Tie Zhong and his senior brother, Iron Dragon, arranged a false commercial rivalry to increase their earnings from wealthy nobles without raising prices on furniture and farming tools. Iron Dragon charged inflated prices while Tie Zhong offered lower ones, allowing them to gradually raise the actual selling price 44.

The scheme unexpectedly attracted powerful factions to support the Iron Bell Blacksmith Shop against its supposed competitor. Iron Dragon’s eventual price reductions satisfied those buyers’ concern for prestige, while his Soul King strength made retaliation less attractive than a negotiated settlement 44.

Teaching Tang Shan

Tang Shan approached Tie Zhong to learn blacksmithing during his stay in Star City. Tie Zhong initially offered an unpaid apprenticeship with food and lodging, explaining that learning the bellows, quenching, forging, and shaping would normally take about a year. After Tang Shan explained his limited time and offered tuition, Tie Zhong accepted ten Gold Soul Coins for ten days of intensive instruction 35.

Tang Shan mastered the bellows and quenching in three days and then impressed Tie Zhong with his iron forging. Their lessons developed into a discussion of blacksmiths’ low standing. Tang Shan proposed improving metal purification before fold forging rather than treating shaping as the craft’s ultimate goal 35.

Purification Research

At Tang Shan’s encouragement, Tie Zhong hammered a billet beyond his usual stopping point. The iron cracked and shattered, but he studied the failure and began again rather than abandoning the experiment 36.

Within days, he achieved a measurable improvement in purification. Before Tang Shan’s departure, Tie Zhong requested permission to share the approach with Iron Dragon and offered payment. Tang Shan declined the fee, credited Tie Zhong with developing the method, and asked only to receive any future insights. Tie Zhong readily agreed 43.

After a final exchange about forging, Tie Zhong watched Tang Shan leave and privately hoped that he would continue pursuing the craft 44.

Appearance

• Build: A burly, imposing middle-aged man with thick arms; he resembles Tie Qian but is considerably more powerfully built 35.
• Voice: Deep and steady, compared to the ringing of a great bell in keeping with his name 35.

Personality

Tie Zhong sincerely loves refining and shaping metal, but feels discouraged by blacksmiths’ low status beside Soul Masters. Despite welcoming Tang Shan’s apparent enthusiasm, he warns him not to neglect Soul Power cultivation for forging 35.

He takes instruction seriously and initially objects to accelerating the apprenticeship because weak fundamentals would prevent mastery of later techniques. His willingness to revisit abandoned experiments shows that this insistence on foundations does not make him unwilling to change 35 36.

His straightforward manner conceals considerable commercial shrewdness. He understands the importance powerful customers place on public respect and helps engineer the staged rivalry between the two shops. He is also careful to seek Tang Shan’s consent before sharing their research, even though Tang Shan regards the resulting method as Tie Zhong’s own achievement 43 44.

Abilities & Skills

Blacksmithing

An experienced smith capable of teaching the complete basic forging process 35.

• Uses the hammer’s rebound to lift it efficiently for the next strike 36.
• Reduces a washbasin-sized piece of iron to approximately soccer-ball size in less than fifteen minutes through repeated hammering and impurity removal 36.
• Traditionally proceeds to shaping or fold forging once further direct hammering threatens to ruin the metal 36.

Experimental Metal Purification

Develops improved purification techniques by testing Tang Shan’s proposed research direction 35 36 43.

• Examines failed billets and repeats experiments rather than treating material loss as a reason to stop 36.
• Makes progress through accumulated experience and several days of focused research; the improvement remains within Hundred Refinement 43.

Equipment / Tools

• Forging hammer — Has a head roughly the size of two human heads 36.
• Large tongs — Hold heated iron steady during hammering 36.
• Forge and anvil — Used for practical instruction and purification experiments; Tang Shan assists at the bellows 35 36.

Relationships

• Tang Shan — Apprentice and research collaborator. Tang Shan supplies the idea of deeper purification, while Tie Zhong performs the experiments and develops the improved technique 35 36 43.
• Iron Dragon — Senior brother and distant cousin; owner of the Iron Dragon Blacksmith Shop and a Soul King. Their public rivalry conceals business cooperation, and Tie Zhong hopes to involve him in purification research 43 44.
• Tie Qian — Manager of Tie Zhong’s shop. Their resemblance is described as indicating close kinship, but the precise relationship is not specified 34 35.

Notable Quotes

“I love forging. I love the whole process of refining and shaping metal. But no matter how good I become, my craft means nothing before a true Soul Master.” 35