The nineteenth day of the first lunar month, near the end of the hour of the Goat.
A blue-canopied carriage drawn by two horses rolled over Ink City's damp bluestone streets and stopped before the imposing rear entrance of the Heavenly Craft Workshop.
The carriage curtain lifted, and Zhao Xuan stooped to step down. He still wore the same dark blue satin robe, though its hem had picked up some dust along the road. His face held a trace of fatigue from the long journey, but a measure of irrepressible excitement still lingered in his eyes, along with... resentment.
His return to the sect to report the year's revenues had proved more complicated than he had expected.
Thanks to the efficiency of its Divine Forging Furnace and its low-price strategy, the Heavenly Craft Workshop's Ink City branch had ranked eighth in profits submitted last year among the sect's dozens of businesses spread across the various prefectures. That was not a top ranking, but it was certainly not poor. The key was that the gap between him and the second-place Ruyang Branch was not particularly large. With another push at the year-end accounting, he might well have been able to contend for that position. But the first-place Jiangling Branch possessed two Divine Forging Furnaces, putting its output and profits far ahead. Its position would be difficult to shake in the short term.
What had made his heart tighten most was his sworn rival in Green Yu City, Fatty Li. Fatty Li's Green Yu Branch had only ranked tenth last year, but during this visit to the sect, Zhao Xuan had personally watched him receive approval for a new Divine Forging Furnace core component-meaning his second furnace was already nailed firmly to the board. At the next accounting, there was almost no doubt that the Green Yu Branch would charge into the top three. The smile piled across Fatty Li's plump face had stabbed Zhao Xuan's eyes painfully.
Still, there had at least been some consolation. The sect steward had handed out Spirit Awakening Pills to the top three shopkeepers on the spot. Shopkeeper Liu of the third-place Pingyang Branch had brought along his grandson, who had just turned twelve. Before everyone's eyes, after the child took the pill, faint but unmistakable fluctuations of Spiritual Qi had actually appeared around him. Although it was a pseudo spirit root, leaving him no hope of Foundation Establishment in this lifetime and limiting him to early Qi Refining at most, he had truly stepped through the gates of immortality! An outer hall deacon had taken him away immediately, entered his name in the register, and imparted a basic cultivation method.
That scene had seared Zhao Xuan's heart like a red-hot branding iron, and the hearts of every "outer disciple" present who, like him, had been assigned to manage mundane affairs because of inferior spirit roots. An immortal opportunity! Even the most insignificant opportunity granted by a pseudo spirit root marked the beginning of shedding one's mortal flesh, extending one's life, and commanding extraordinary power! It was the key to whether his Zhao family could transform its standing!
He could almost picture himself obtaining a Spirit Awakening Pill and his son Zhao Ming awakening a spirit root. Even at only the Qi Refining First Layer, his son's status in Ink City would be entirely different. Perhaps even... his own cultivation, stalled at the Qi Refining Third Layer for years, might gain a little more attention from the sect through his offspring's progress, earning him a faint chance at a breakthrough?
Thus, he was determined to secure this shop in Ink City, swallow up the Qin Household Blacksmith Shop to join the plots, and apply for a second furnace. Before leaving the city, he had considered his arrangements comprehensive: apply pressure through the law, pull the firewood from beneath the cauldron by cutting off the boy's livelihood, squeeze him through public opinion, then finally have his son step forward to "take over." A sixteen-year-old orphan, without money or influence, exhausted in body and mind-what could he do but bow his head?
He had even deliberately kept all word of it from the sect. The tree that rose above the forest would be battered by the wind. Until everything was settled and his application for a second furnace approved, he did not want to attract the attention of his competitors, especially the likes of Fatty Li.
When the carriage entered Ink City, he had initially felt relaxed. Through the window, he saw the tightly shut doors of the Qin Household Blacksmith Shop diagonally opposite, and the corner of his mouth had even curled into a smile. As expected, the boy could not hold out anymore, could he? Perhaps the place was already deserted, merely waiting for him to return and wrap things up.
Yet the closer the carriage drew, the faster that ease in his heart dissipated.
The shop doors were closed, but there were no seals pasted across them, nor any signs of belongings or luggage piled outside. Though old, the window paper was intact; the place did not look abandoned. More importantly, an instinct-perhaps a vague perception from the meager spiritual sense of his Qi Refining Third Layer cultivation-told him that the shop was not empty.
Something was wrong.
The smile slowly vanished from Zhao Xuan's face. After stepping down, he did not immediately enter the Heavenly Craft Workshop. Instead, he stood by the rear entrance and stared darkly at the silent shop diagonally opposite for more than a dozen breaths.
"Master, you've returned." The workshop's manager hurried over upon hearing the news and bowed respectfully.
"Mm." Zhao Xuan withdrew his gaze and strode into the rear courtyard, his voice betraying neither pleasure nor anger. "Tell Ming'er to meet me in the secret chamber."
Inside the secret chamber, the glowstones shone with the same cold light.
Zhao Ming arrived shortly, irrepressible delight on his face. "Father! You're finally back! It's done!"
"Done?" Zhao Xuan sat in the principal seat, his fingers tapping lightly against the ironwood tabletop. "Tell me how."
Oblivious to the odd note in his father's voice, Zhao Ming leaned closer excitedly. "Just as you instructed before you left! We drove that brat into a corner! You didn't see how miserable he was before and after New Year, hauling heavy sacks at the docks, eating bran and swallowing greens. He wouldn't even accept help from those paupers in the alley-suffering to death just to save face! A few days ago, he went around saying goodbye to the neighbors and even repaired their tools for free. He was clearly packing up to get lost! Last night, who knows what madness got into him, but he hammered away at his forge all night. Probably making some lousy blade to sell for travel money. He hasn't opened his doors all day today. He must have worked himself into the ground, or... already left!"
The more he spoke, the smugger he became. "Father, I've prepared everything! Two hundred taels in ready silver! Once he leaves-no, he might be gone by tomorrow-I'll immediately take over the shop! This time, we're only paying two hundred taels! Let's see how he-"
"Shut up," Zhao Xuan interrupted coldly.
Zhao Ming froze, the excitement stiffening on his face. "Father?"
Zhao Xuan stared at him, his gaze sharp as a knife. "You said he went around saying goodbye, that he was leaving? Where?"
"To... to join the army!" Zhao Ming grew uneasy under his father's stare. "He said it himself, that he was going to become a common soldier. Isn't it because he's too poor to survive?"
"Join the army?" Zhao Xuan's brows knotted tightly. "Which army? Who recruited him?"
"How... how would I know? He's just joining up for army rations." Zhao Ming sounded somewhat dismissive. "Probably got ideas after listening to those laborers spout nonsense at the southern freight yard. A big, stupid lump like him, all brute strength-what else is he suited for but soldiering?"
"Then what was all that forging last night about?" Zhao Xuan pressed.
"Oh, just fussing around before leaving!" Zhao Ming waved a hand. "He wanted to forge a good blade, either to protect himself or sell for money. Making some noise to show how capable he is. Just country tricks and a bit of strength."
Zhao Xuan said nothing, his fingers tapping a little faster on the table. His son's explanation seemed reasonable. A youth driven into a corner chose to enlist, then poured everything he had into forging himself a weapon before departing. It made perfect sense.
But why was that unease in his heart growing stronger and stronger?
"The man who wanted his saber repaired," Zhao Xuan began slowly. "The one who came to the shop before New Year with an old military saber. What happened to him afterward?"
Zhao Ming's expression shifted, and he stammered, "He... he was just some poor soldier who couldn't recognize quality. All our master craftsmen said that saber was ruined and couldn't be repaired. Afterward... afterward, he left."
"Left?" Zhao Xuan's gaze abruptly turned icy. "Then why, when I entered the city, did I hear people in the street discussing how someone had cut through our 'armor-piercing spear' with a single stroke outside the Heavenly Craft Workshop before New Year?"
Cold sweat instantly sprang up on Zhao Ming's forehead. "That... that's a rumor! Father, don't listen to those unruly commoners talking nonsense! It... it was that brat across the street. He found some lousy saber somewhere and came to scam us! I've already had it suppressed!"
"Suppressed?" Zhao Xuan slammed the table, drawing a dull thud from the ironwood surface. "With silver? Those two thugs, Scarred Eye and Yellow Hair-were you the one who sent them? And were you the one who paid them hush money?"
Zhao Ming flinched in fright, his face deathly pale. Not daring to conceal anything further, he stammered through the course of events, including how Qin Tiexin had repaired the saber, how the soldier had tested it by cutting through the spear, and how he himself had spent money to settle the matter.
"Idiot!" Trembling with rage, Zhao Xuan pointed at Zhao Ming. "I told you to use strategy, not these disgraceful tricks! And you let someone test a saber in the street and slap the Heavenly Craft Workshop in the face! Could a soldier who severed a refined-steel spear with one stroke be an ordinary man? You didn't even find out where he came from!"
Zhao Ming lowered his head, not daring to utter a sound.
Zhao Xuan paced rapidly back and forth through the secret chamber, his expression shifting constantly. The soldier... testing the saber... Qin Tiexin had repaired the saber... Qin Tiexin was joining the army...
The clues linked together rapidly in his mind.
A soldier who could cut through the Heavenly Craft Workshop's refined-steel spear with one stroke was certainly no ordinary man. He had specifically sought Qin Tiexin out to repair his saber, then tested it in a show of force afterward... What did that mean? That he acknowledged Qin Tiexin's craftsmanship, and perhaps... even appreciated him?
Did Qin Tiexin's sudden decision to enlist have anything to do with this soldier?
If that was truly the case... then this was nothing as simple as his son's claim that the boy had been "forced to enlist because he had nowhere else to turn"! This might be the soldier recruiting him! Once Qin Tiexin left with that man, he would leap off the chessboard that was Ink City, turning all Zhao Xuan's previous arrangements and schemes into a joke!
No! Absolutely not!
Qin Tiexin had to stay, or... at the very least, he had to get that shop! Otherwise, the application for a second Divine Forging Furnace, his place on the contribution ranking, the Spirit Awakening Pill... everything would dissolve like a bubble!
"What about County Magistrate Wang?" Zhao Xuan stopped, his voice bitterly cold. "Before I left, he agreed to apply pressure through the law and demand payment of the fine by the fifteenth day of the first month. The deadline has now passed. Has the yamen demanded payment? Have they seized the shop?"
"Well..." Zhao Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead. "A few days ago... I think the bailiffs went there once, but nothing happened afterward. I... I assumed you had arranged it all, Father, so I didn't ask."
"Useless!" Unable to restrain himself any longer, Zhao Xuan kicked the chair beside him, smashing it with a crack. His chest heaved violently, and only after a long while did he suppress his anger, his expression so dark it seemed water might drip from it.
The situation had spiraled completely out of control, all during the few days he had been away. His son knew nothing and remained immersed in the illusion of impending "victory."
He had to find out immediately what had changed on County Magistrate Wang's end! And who exactly that soldier was!
"Prepare the carriage!" Zhao Xuan barked toward the door. "To the county yamen!"
"Father, it's so late..." Zhao Ming said timidly.
"Late?" Zhao Xuan glanced back at him, sending a chill through Zhao Ming's entire body. "One step later, and the cooked duck really will fly away!"
The rear hall of the county yamen was brightly lit.
County Magistrate Wang Mingyuan had just finished handling several backlogged official documents and was about to have dinner when a commotion rose in the front hall. Hurried footsteps followed, and Zhao Xuan burst straight in, leaving even the bailiff responsible for announcing him behind.
"Immortal Master Zhao?" Wang Mingyuan set down his chopsticks, displeased inwardly, though he still forced a smile onto his face. "What brings you here in such haste? Have you had dinner?"
Zhao Xuan had no patience for pleasantries and went straight to the point. "Lord Wang, before I left the city, we discussed Qin Tiexin's fine. You promised to handle it impartially, setting the deadline at the fifteenth day of the first month. Now that the deadline has passed, has the fine been collected? Has the shop been seized?"
Wang Mingyuan's heart lurched. He knew the real issue had arrived. Keeping his smile unchanged, he leisurely picked up his teacup and took a sip. "Regarding that matter, Immortal Master Zhao... ah, I was just going to explain it to you. Several days ago, Qin Tiexin paid the full two-tael fine to the revenue office."
"What?!" Zhao Xuan's pupils contracted. He almost thought he had misheard. "Where did he get the silver?"
"That... I do not know." Wang Mingyuan set down his teacup and sighed. "However, when he paid, a distinguished person spoke on his behalf."
"A distinguished person? Who?"
"General Li Zhenwei, the Commandant of Manifest Might." Watching Zhao Xuan's face change abruptly, Wang Mingyuan continued slowly, "General Li recently returned home to visit his family. He has some ties with Qin Tiexin and thinks highly of his blacksmithing skills. General Li personally spoke to me, explaining that there were reasons behind Qin Tiexin's burial of his master, that the circumstances warranted leniency, and asking me to handle it with discretion. Since the fine has been paid, the matter is now closed."
Zhao Xuan felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. The Commandant of Manifest Might! A Northern Army commander with real authority! No wonder that saber strike had been so terrifying! No wonder Wang Mingyuan's attitude had changed!
"Lord Wang!" Zhao Xuan's voice was somewhat dry. "What we agreed upon before-"
"Immortal Master Zhao," Wang Mingyuan interrupted. His tone remained reasonably courteous, but his eyes now held a measure of distance and helplessness. "General Li is a fierce Northern Army commander with illustrious military achievements. After reporting for duty in the capital, he will return to the frontier. I cannot refuse him this courtesy. Besides, Qin Tiexin has indeed paid the fine. Neither legally nor reasonably do I have grounds to pursue the matter further."
Looking at Zhao Xuan's livid face, he added in a slightly lowered voice, "Immortal Master, take my advice. Since Qin Tiexin has won General Li's favor and will be leaving with the army, let this matter... end here. It is only a shop. Your Heavenly Craft Workshop is thriving; why cling to this? General Li... is not someone to provoke."
He spoke those last words softly, but they struck Zhao Xuan's heart like a heavy hammer.
Not someone to provoke. A frontier commandant with real authority might have less personal cultivation than an "immortal master" at the Qi Refining Third Layer, but the imperial authority and military backing he represented were certainly not something a mere commercial disciple on the sect's fringes could easily contend with. Besides, Zhao Xuan was not entirely in the right to begin with.
Zhao Xuan stood there, his face alternating between red and white, his chest heaving, yet he could not utter a word.
Seeing him like this, Wang Mingyuan knew he had made his point and raised his teacup. "If there is nothing else, Immortal Master Zhao, I must have my dinner..."
Zhao Xuan abruptly cupped his hands and turned to leave, his steps somewhat unsteady. His retreating figure no longer held the darkness and certainty with which he had arrived, only the panic and fury of having his plans utterly disrupted.
Watching him disappear through the doorway, Wang Mingyuan shook his head and spoke quietly to the adviser beside him. "Tell our subordinates not to concern themselves with the Qin Household Blacksmith Shop again. That General Li... is not someone we can afford to offend. Even an immortal master... cannot cover the sky with one hand."
The Heavenly Craft Workshop's secret chamber.
Zhao Xuan paced the room like a trapped beast, breathing heavily, his eyes bloodshot. The glowstones' cold white light shone on his face, making it look especially savage.
Failed. The entire plan had utterly failed because of a suddenly appearing Li Zhenwei!
Not only had Qin Tiexin not been crushed, he had climbed onto a lofty branch and was leaving with a frontier commander! Naturally, the shop could no longer be touched either. That fence-sitter Wang Mingyuan had immediately shrunk back upon seeing that Zhao Xuan's title of "immortal master" could not outweigh a general with real authority.
What about the second Divine Forging Furnace? What about the contribution ranking? What about the Spirit Awakening Pill?!
Was he supposed to expand in another direction? That plot in the western city was decent, but it was only half the size of the Qin shop's land. Expanding it enough to accommodate a second furnace would require swallowing at least four or five neighboring small shops, costing more than five or six times as much! It would also cause too much commotion and easily alert his competitors. There was no time, either! Fatty Li's second furnace was already on its way!
No! He absolutely could not let Qin Tiexin leave just like this!
Once he left Ink City with Li Zhenwei and entered the military system, he would be like a fish entering the sea. Trying to touch him again would be as difficult as ascending to heaven! And Zhao Xuan could forget about ever obtaining that shop!
He had to stop this! He had to stop it before Li Zhenwei came to collect the boy tomorrow!
But how?
Openly? Li Zhenwei's name stood there, and Wang Mingyuan had explicitly stated that he would not help. By force? His cultivation at the Qi Refining Third Layer was certainly sufficient against mortals, but Li Zhenwei was a battle-hardened commander, highly skilled in martial arts, with personal guards at his side. Besides, if the sect learned that he had used magical techniques against a mortal military officer, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Covertly? Arrange an accident? Make Qin Tiexin "unable to go"?
The moment that thought emerged, it sank its fangs into Zhao Xuan's heart like a venomous snake.
He stopped, struggle, resentment, and ruthlessness flashing alternately through his eyes. Cultivators paid heed to cause and effect. Dealing a vicious blow to a mortal, especially one who might involve the military, carried enormous risks. But... with an immortal opportunity right before him, was he to lose it because of one mortal brat?
He recalled the descendants of outer disciples in the sect who possessed pseudo spirit roots. Even at only the Qi Refining First Layer, they could learn basic magical techniques and extend their lives by sixty years, their standing worlds apart from ordinary mortals. He remembered the longing in his son Zhao Ming's eyes, and the frustration of his own decades wasted without hope of Foundation Establishment.
The hesitation in his eyes gradually gave way to a madness that staked everything on one throw.
Qin Tiexin had to stay. At least until Zhao Xuan obtained the shop, he could not leave with Li Zhenwei.
Since both overt and covert methods were restricted... he would use a "reasonable" excuse to make the boy "temporarily" unable to leave.
Zhao Xuan's gaze slowly shifted toward a small locked iron chest in a corner of the secret chamber. Inside were certain disreputable "things" he had brought from the sect in his earlier years, things that might prove useful against mortals.
He walked to the wall and murmured toward the furnace-shaped statue of the "Machine Spirit," as though persuading himself:
"Contributions to the sect concern my Dao Path... I have no choice... as long as I don't take his life, only make him fall ill and miss tomorrow's appointment... once I have the shop, I'll cure him... nothing will go wrong..."
His voice grew quieter and quieter, finally vanishing into the secret chamber's silence.
Only his eyes, glinting coldly beneath the glowstones' chill light, foretold that this night was still far from over.