Chapter Summaries

Sixteen-year-old Qin Tiexin worked as a blacksmith in Ink City while caring for his gravely ill adoptive father, Old Qin. After forging a billhook and preparing medicine and congee, he entered Old Qin’s room as the old man’s cough worsened.

• Qin Tiexin finished his daily body-tempering practice before dawn.
• Qin Tiexin forged a replacement billhook for Hunter Zhao and left it in the shop for collection.
• Qin Tiexin cooked his own meal and prepared minced-meat congee and medicine for Old Qin, who could no longer leave his bed.
• Qin Tiexin heard Old Qin coughing, brought him the food and medicine, and entered his room.

Qin Tiexin remembered how illness and the rise of the Heavenly Craft Workshop had worn down his grandfather, Qin Feng, and forced him to take over the struggling family smithy. After Qin Feng asked him to wear his old blue work clothes, Qin Tiexin prepared for the final lesson he still had to attend.

• Qin Tiexin recalled how Qin Feng had raised him, taught him the family’s body-tempering method and smithing craft, and supported him through the smithy’s prosperous years.
• The Heavenly Craft Workshop opened across the street, undercut the Qin family’s prices, and drew away its orders; Zhao Ming then offered to buy the shop, but Qin Feng refused.
• After Qin Feng’s illness worsened, Qin Tiexin cared for him, took over the smithy, switched to making household and farm tools, and pawned possessions to pay for medicine.
• Qin Feng asked Qin Tiexin to wear his old blue working clothes the next day, and Qin Tiexin put them on as he prepared the medicine and faced the final lesson.

Old Qin recounted his past to Qin Tiexin, from his early days as an escort to the murder of his wife and son while he was away. He showed Qin Tiexin the keepsakes he had preserved and ended by telling him that he hunted down the seven bandits responsible.

• Old Qin recalled becoming an escort at sixteen and earning the name “Iron Hand Sword.”
• Old Qin told Qin Tiexin about marrying a scholar’s daughter and having a son.
• Old Qin recounted returning from an escort job to find that seven bandits had killed his wife and child.
• Qin Tiexin opened the cabinet and found the pouch containing his master's son's baby hair and a dried flower petal.
• Old Qin said he had knelt at their graves for a day before going after the seven bandits.

Old Qin confessed how he avenged his family, revealed the fate of their remains, and entrusted Qin Tiexin with a black ring, meteoric iron, and his final wishes. Old Qin died at the forge, leaving Qin Tiexin grieving and responsible for carrying on his craft.

• Old Qin told Qin Tiexin that he had hunted down and killed six people, including Yan Qi, but had been poisoned by Yan Qi’s dying palm strike.
• Old Qin told Qin Tiexin where he had buried his wife and son and asked him to bury Old Qin beside them after cremation.
• Old Qin gave Qin Tiexin a strange black ring and meteoric iron, and told him to seek someone surnamed Ouye and convey his apology to his master.
• Old Qin revealed that he had found Qin Tiexin as a newborn and named him after his own son, while Qin Tiexin insisted he would always keep the Qin surname.
• Old Qin asked Qin Tiexin to preserve the shop and his craft, then walked with him to the furnace and died standing by the anvil.
• Qin Tiexin put on the black ring, held the meteoric iron, and wept as he mourned Grandpa.

After Old Qin died, Qin Tiexin carried out his master's burial alone and vowed to preserve the blacksmithing craft. Back at the shop, he rejected Zhao Ming's offer to buy it and remained alone with the forge, determined to continue.

• Qin Tiexin stopped grieving when Hunter Zhao arrived, gave him his woodcutting knife, and refused his offer of help with Old Qin's funeral.
• Qin Tiexin carried Old Qin to Emerald Cloud Mountain, cremated him, and buried his ashes beside his wife’s grave.
• Qin Tiexin returned to Soot Alley, thanked the neighbors, and told them he would keep the shop and preserve the craft.
• Zhao Ming offered Qin Tiexin six hundred taels for the shop, but Qin Tiexin refused to sell it and ordered Zhao Ming and his assistants to leave.
• Qin Tiexin barred the shop door, sat alone beside the forge, and began tending the fire.

Qin Tiexin kept the Qin Household Blacksmith Shop open by taking on small repairs and farm-tool orders as the Heavenly Craft Workshop undercut his prices and cornered the iron supply. When Zhao Ming returned to pressure him into selling, Qin Tiexin defeated him and his workers, then went back inside to forge iron.

• The Heavenly Craft Workshop slashed its prices and advertised free repairs, while neighbors brought Qin Tiexin food and Master Liu and Escort Chief Chen explained why they could no longer give him work.
• Qin Tiexin put up a sign offering repairs and farm tools, and customers gradually brought him small jobs that he completed with careful attention.
• At the iron market, Qin Tiexin learned that the Heavenly Craft Workshop had bought up good materials and taken major contracts, leaving him with only low-grade iron.
• Zhao Ming confronted Qin Tiexin outside the shop and again offered six hundred taels for him to leave Ink City.
• Qin Tiexin threw Zhao Ming to the ground, quickly defeated his four workers, and snapped Zhao Ming's folding fan as a warning.
• Qin Tiexin carried the iron into his shop and resumed forging as the Heavenly Craft Workshop's furnaces glowed across the street.

After Zhao Ming returned injured from confronting Qin Tiexin, Zhao Xuan explained that his family could not risk using cultivation against a mortal. Determined to seize the Qin family’s shop and secure a Spirit Awakening Pill for his family, Zhao Xuan ordered a campaign to cut off Qin Tiexin’s supplies, customers, and resolve.

• Zhao Ming told Zhao Xuan that Qin Tiexin had defeated him and the four men who accompanied him.
• Zhao Xuan explained that Qin Tiexin had inherited his master Qin Feng’s body-tempering skills, while Zhao Xuan could not use spells against mortals without risking punishment from the sect.
• Zhao Xuan revealed that Fatty Li’s application for a second Divine Forging Furnace in Green Yu City had been approved, increasing the pressure on Ink City’s contribution ranking.
• Zhao Xuan told Zhao Ming that taking over the Qin family’s shop would let them expand their workshop, improve their ranking, and pursue a Spirit Awakening Pill for a descendant.
• Zhao Xuan ordered Zhao Ming to control iron supplies, spread rumors about the Qin shop’s products, pressure its longtime customers, and keep the Divine Forging Furnace running day and night.

As the Heavenly Craft Workshop draws away customers and iron stock, Qin Tiexin faces worsening poverty and physical weakness. The chapter ends with him relighting his forge and preparing to endure another day.

• Qin Tiexin noticed neighbors avoiding him and customers doubting his work while the Heavenly Craft Workshop attracted business across the alley.
• Qin Tiexin found little iron available at the market and had to buy poor-quality stock at inflated prices.
• Qin Tiexin struggled to forge acceptable tools as his food ran out and hunger weakened him.
• Qin Tiexin faltered during his morning body-tempering routine, feeling dizzy, exhausted, and unsteady.
• Qin Tiexin rekindled his forge despite his dwindling supplies and watched the fire as the marketplace woke.

Qin Tiexin endured hunger and poverty by hauling cargo at the eastern docks, then gathered firewood and bought rice to keep his blacksmith shop going. Zhao Xuan learned of his hardship and sent Zhao Ming to tempt him with silver, food, and a position at the Heavenly Craft Workshop.

• Qin Tiexin found almost no rice or charcoal in his shop and went to the eastern docks to seek work.
• Qin Tiexin carried two rice sacks at a time and earned sixty copper coins, then spent the day moving more cargo for a total of a hundred and twenty coins.
• Qin Tiexin bought brown rice and cooking supplies, gathered firewood on Emerald Cloud Mountain, and returned to make himself a warm meal.
• Zhao Ming reported Qin Tiexin's dock work to Zhao Xuan, who admitted that the Heavenly Craft Workshop's market squeeze was also draining its funds.
• Zhao Xuan sent Zhao Ming to offer Qin Tiexin six hundred taels, fine food, and a workshop steward position in exchange for his agreement.

Qin Tiexin rejected Zhao Ming’s bribe, then resisted the Zhao family’s attempts to drive him out of business. He preserved ownership of his shop and exposed a fabricated complaint, but still faced poverty and uncertain work.

• Qin Tiexin overturned Zhao Ming’s food and silver, threw him out, and refused to be bought.
• Zhao Xuan ordered Zhao Ming to block Qin Tiexin from dock work, challenge his shop deed, and frame him with a false complaint.
• After the docks stopped hiring him, Qin Tiexin found lower-paid work at the southern freight yard while continuing to run his shop.
• Wu Youcai claimed Qin Tiexin’s shop was leased, but Qin produced the official purchase deed and tax proof, defeating the claim.
• Qin Tiexin used his ledger and the knife’s markings to expose a man’s false complaint and drive him from the shop.
• Qin Tiexin remained short of money and watched his rice supply dwindle as the hammering continued across the way.

Zhao Xuan used the law to pressure Qin Tiexin into paying a fine that could cost him his shop, while Qin struggled to survive and train. When Qin’s resolve awakened the black ring’s Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts, he gained access to a virtual forging hall and a new path forward, though he remained poor and had yet to find an artifact to restore.

• Zhao Xuan persuaded County Magistrate Wang to fine Qin Tiexin two taels for felling trees and cremating his master, with Qin’s shop to be seized if he failed to pay by the fifteenth of the first month.
• Qin Tiexin refused his neighbors’ offers of money and kept working, but his meager wages and hunger weakened his body and left him far short of the fine.
• As Qin Tiexin clutched his master’s black ring and refused to give up the shop, the ring awakened the Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts and revealed its covenant to restore an Intent-Containing Artifact.
• Qin Tiexin entered the Virtual Realm · Forging Hall and studied artifact restoration knowledge, then continued earning copper by day and practicing by night.
• On New Year’s Eve, Qin Tiexin ate plain porridge, remembered his master, and resumed his body-tempering practice with renewed resolve.

Hunter Zhao recovered the wounded stag and used Qin Tiexin’s chopping knife to defeat two thugs who tried to rob him. After selling the hide, he brought Qin Tiexin venison in gratitude and the chapter ended with Qin Tiexin studying the Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts and considering how an artifact could contain Intent.

• Hunter Zhao tracked down the stag on Emerald Cloud Mountain, killed it with an arrow, and skinned it with the chopping knife Qin Tiexin had forged.
• Scarred Eye and Yellow Hair tried to rob Hunter Zhao near the city, but his chopping knife broke Yellow Hair’s saber and knocked Scarred Eye’s weapon away, sending both thugs fleeing.
• Hunter Zhao sold the hide for six taels and two mace of silver, then heard that Qin Tiexin had been fined two taels by the yamen.
• Hunter Zhao brought Qin Tiexin a deer leg and asked him to repair the chipped chopping knife; Qin Tiexin accepted the meat and repaired the blade that evening.
• After eating venison, Qin Tiexin studied the catalog’s teachings about artifacts and turned his thoughts toward the Virtual Realm · Forging Hall.

On New Year’s Eve, Qin Tiexin honored his late master and family at their graves, then returned to find that his neighbors had secretly left him food. As Qin Tiexin faced his hardship with renewed warmth, County Magistrate Wang Mingyuan arranged for Li Zhenwei to visit the Heavenly Craft Workshop about repairing his damaged saber.

• Qin Tiexin practiced his Body Tempering Technique, bought Burning Spring and offerings, and climbed Emerald Cloud Mountain to pay respects to his master, his master’s wife, and his little junior brother.
• At the graves, Qin Tiexin told them about the shop, his practice, and the county office’s two-tael fine, and promised to keep the shop safe.
• Qin Tiexin returned to Soot Alley and found food left outside his shop by neighbors who had heard he was alone and short of money.
• Qin Tiexin brought the food inside, cooked a modest New Year’s Eve dinner, and drank Burning Spring despite its sharp taste.
• At the county office, County Magistrate Wang Mingyuan told Li Zhenwei about the Heavenly Craft Workshop, and Li Zhenwei agreed to visit after New Year to see whether they could save his damaged saber.

During the new year break, Qin Tiexin trained, gathered firewood, and practiced purifying cheap iron while studying forging in the virtual realm, despite worsening hunger. When the Heavenly Craft Workshop reopened with a discount and faced complaints over broken sabers, Qin kept forging as Li Zhenwei watched his shop with growing interest.

• Qin Tiexin trained in the snow, gathered fallen wood on Emerald Cloud Mountain, and rough-forged two pig-iron ingots into wrought-iron billets.
• Qin Tiexin studied metal fatigue in the Virtual Realm · Forging Hall and recorded his ideas, then repeated his daily routine as his food ran out and his strength waned.
• The Heavenly Craft Workshop reopened with a ten percent discount, but Scarred Eye and Yellow Hair accused it of selling sabers that broke easily.
• Zhao Ming ushered Scarred Eye and Yellow Hair into the workshop’s backyard, then promised customers refunds, exchanges, and repairs.
• Qin Tiexin continued hammering iron without responding to Zhao Ming, while Li Zhenwei watched from the Drunken Immortal Pavilion and studied Qin’s shop and old saber.

Li Zhenwei brought his damaged old saber to the Heavenly Craft Workshop, where its smith declared it beyond practical repair and not worth the cost. After learning that a billhook from the Qin Household Blacksmith Shop had cut through one of the workshop’s sabers, Li Zhenwei decided to investigate the young smith and seek his help.

• Scarred Eye and Yellow Hair blamed the Qin shop for their broken saber and left the Heavenly Craft Workshop with hush money, while Zhao Ming seethed over the extortion.
• Li Zhenwei asked Zhao Ming to assess his old saber, but the workshop’s master smith said it was fatally damaged and would cost more to reforge than several new sabers.
• Li Zhenwei took back the saber, stung by the smith’s dismissal, and returned to his room at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
• Guard Sun reported that a hunter’s billhook from the Qin Household Blacksmith Shop had cut through a Heavenly Craft Workshop saber during a fight with Scarred Eye and Yellow Hair.
• Li Zhenwei ordered his guard to ready the horses and investigate the young smith at the Qin shop, hoping he might understand the old saber’s history.

After learning about Qin Tiexin’s hardship and skill, Li Zhenwei brought him a badly damaged saber that had belonged to a fallen comrade. Qin Tiexin agreed to try to repair it, leaving Li’s treasured weapon and his unfinished vengeance in the young smith’s hands.

• Commandant Sun reported Qin Feng’s history, Qin Tiexin’s hardships, and the quality of a knife the boy had forged, prompting Li Zhenwei to visit him in disguise.
• Li Zhenwei watched Qin Tiexin finish his work and asked him to examine an old military saber with a severe crack in its blade.
• Qin Tiexin carefully inspected the saber and asked Li Zhenwei about its history.
• Li Zhenwei explained that his brother had sacrificed himself to save him, and that the saber had served him through years of fighting before being damaged by a spiked club.
• Qin Tiexin agreed to attempt a repair without promising success, and Li Zhenwei left the saber with him.

Qin Tiexin used deep deduction in the Virtual Realm · Forging Hall to develop three ways to repair Li Zhenwei’s cracked saber while preserving its Intent, then chose the plan called Mend the Heavens. After Li Zhenwei obtained rare ore and Cloud Silver for him, Qin Tiexin began preparing to repair the saber.

• Qin Tiexin studied the saber’s history and resolved to repair it properly while preserving its Intent, rejecting his initial plans as inadequate.
• Qin Tiexin’s black ring triggered deep deduction, which produced three repair plans: Mend the Heavens, Reconnect the Veins, and Nirvana.
• Qin Tiexin chose Mend the Heavens and asked Li Zhenwei to find unusual materials and help guide the saber’s Intent during the repair.
• Li Zhenwei sent food to restore Qin Tiexin’s strength and returned with Ice Soul Stone, Fire Pattern Stone, and Cloud Silver.
• Qin Tiexin stoked the forge, placed Li Zhenwei’s saber on the anvil, and began the repair.

Qin Tiexin forged ice- and fire-infused patches into Li Zhenwei’s cracked saber, using his own injured hand to complete the repair. The blade was restored and its intent revived, while Qin Tiexin ended the three-day forging exhausted and badly burned.

• Qin Tiexin forged the ice soul stone and fire pattern stone into two iron patching plates.
• Qin Tiexin cleaned the saber’s crack, applied cloud silver solution, and heated only the damaged section.
• Li Zhenwei recalled his brother and poured his intent into the saber as Qin Tiexin hammered the patches into the crack.
• Qin Tiexin pressed his burned left hand against the nearly closed crack and struck it with his hammer, sealing the saber and leaving a blue-and-red marking.
• Li Zhenwei felt the saber’s intent flow again and sensed new resilience and force in the restored blade.
• After three days and three nights of forging, Qin Tiexin leaned against the wall with his hand badly injured as dawn arrived.

After Qin Tiexin recovered from repairing Li Zhenwei’s saber, Li tested it by cutting through a refined-steel spear and offered Qin a place in the army. Qin refused to leave his master’s shop for now, but accepted five taels for the work and was given ten days to decide.

• Qin Tiexin woke, ate the food Li Zhenwei had left, and explained that his blood and pain had steadied the saber during its repair.
• Li Zhenwei took Qin to the Heavenly Craft Workshop, bought its Armor-Piercing Spear, and sliced through its shaft with the repaired saber, stunning Zhao Ming and the crowd.
• At the riverbank, Qin sensed that the saber’s old and new forces had joined, and Li identified himself as a Northern Army commandant and invited Qin to join its craftsmen’s battalion.
• Qin said he could not leave his master’s shop, so Li gave him ten days to consider joining and promised to resolve the county office’s fine.
• Qin accepted five taels as fair payment, hid the silver in the rice jar, and practiced his opening stance before cooking the last of his rice.

Qin Tiexin insisted on paying his waived fine and resumed work at the blacksmith shop, where his growing reputation brought occasional weapon-maintenance jobs but little steady business. After the Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts unlocked new abilities and a quest requiring him to study weapons across the world, he resolved to leave Ink City for the army while finding a way to preserve his master's shop.

• Qin Tiexin paid his two-tael fine despite Lord Li's intervention, and County Magistrate Wang Mingyuan ordered the yamen to accept it and issue a receipt.
• Qin Tiexin bought rice, meat, and seasonings, then returned to his regular forging and Void Realm practice as word spread about his weapon craftsmanship.
• Qin Tiexin gained the [Appraisal] ability and four hours of daily access to the [Virtual Realm · Forging Hall] after completing the catalog's initial restoration quest.
• The Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts assigned Qin Tiexin the main quest [A Hundred Weapons Return to the Source], requiring him to record weapons and eventually unlock [Weapon Weakness Insight (basic)].
• Qin Tiexin decided that he would need to leave Ink City for the army and its craftsmen's camp, while promising his master's memorial tablet that he would preserve the Qin shop and carry on the craft.