It was a sweltering summer night.
Pinpricks of fire dotted the foot of Iron Buddha Ridge. A hundred blast furnaces stood in the town outside the ridge, and laborers pushed loads of ore in and out from time to time.
Cheng Shilu, as powerfully built as an ox, made his way unhurriedly up the mountain's stone path, leaning on his long-handled bronze hammer. He had already changed into an undamaged brocade robe, but the weather was so hot that he had loosened his collar, exposing chest hair like a brown bear's.
The manor at the end of the stone path was the Cheng family's private estate. As soon as he reached its entrance, a young man hurried up to him:
"Father, you're back. How did things go with Second Uncle?"
"Can't you see what a sorry state I'm in? How do you think they went?"
"Uh..."
The young man's expression stiffened. He dared not ask further, merely following beside him with an ingratiating smile:
"As long as you're all right, Father. A gentleman can wait ten years for revenge. Oh, on the afternoon you left, a man from the martial world came by and approached me privately. He said he wanted to buy Stone-Dissolving Oil to open a large tomb from the Former Dynasty..."
Cheng Shilu raised his hand and slapped the back of his son's head, his tiger-like eyes widening:
"You fucking dare sell that stuff to just anyone?"
Stone-Dissolving Oil was a prohibited substance designated by the Imperial Court. Poured onto stone, it could dissolve most types of rock, making them brittle and easy to cut.
For fear of criminals using it to damage city walls, break into prisons, rob tombs, and the like, the formula for Stone-Dissolving Oil was an absolute secret of the Imperial Court. Commoners