Just as Zhen Hua was flushed with excitement over Tang Wulin jumping two levels to become a Level Eight Saint Craftsman, holding Mu Ye back as he endlessly praised the wonderful disciple he had taken in, someone suddenly knocked urgently on the office door.
"President! President!"
A gold-robed steward rushed in, his face full of anxiety and his forehead covered in sweat. "Something's happened in the hall! Someone's causing trouble!"
Zhen Hua frowned slightly, his joy over the breakthrough to level eight subsiding a little. "Trouble? Who would dare run wild at my Blacksmith Association headquarters?"
"They're no small fry." The steward swallowed. "It's an elderly man who appears to be a Level Eight Saint Craftsman himself. He isn't here to cause trouble, but to issue a challenge. However, he isn't competing himself. He brought a girl of fifteen or sixteen and said they were here to challenge our establishment."
"A challenge?" A trace of surprise flashed through Zhen Hua's eyes.
"Come on. Let's take a look."
Zhen Hua straightened his robes and turned to Tang Wulin and Gu Yue. "Wulin, Gu Yue, come with me."
Mu Ye, meanwhile, wore the expression of someone who never minded a spectacle getting out of hand. He grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from the table and leisurely followed behind.
When they reached the first-floor hall, they found the normally bustling Blacksmith Association utterly silent. Hundreds of blacksmiths had formed a huge circle, their gazes focused on the two people in its center.
One was old, the other young.
The old man had white hair and a white beard. He wore dark-gold blacksmith's robes with intricate runes embroidered on the cuffs, and his eyes were as sharp as an eagle's. The girl beside him was about fifteen or sixteen, with delicate, pretty