The hoe is different from the cleaver, and the sickle is different from the hoe. Gan Jin looked at the remaining two blueprints and suddenly realized that many aspects of these household utensils could be drawn upon when forging his Zhanmadao (horse-slaying blade).

"First, I'll forge the refined iron essence," Gan Jin said. He stripped off his upper garment, revealing a powerful physique. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he brought the hammer down heavily once more.

The three tools were finished. Gan Jin took the addresses recorded on the blueprints and headed first to Aunt Wang's house at the east end of the village.

"Eh? Who are you? Blake's apprentice? This cleaver wasn't forged by him personally, but by you?"

Aunt Wang, standing by the wooden door, was short but incredibly sturdy. Her arms were so thick that Gan Jin felt a pang of inadequacy. A pair of bold, bright eyes shone with unconcealed skepticism as she stared at the cleaver. "Let me tell you right now! If this thing isn't sturdy, I won't pay you a single coin. If it fails, I’ll tear down your entire smithy."

Facing such a forthright woman, Gan Jin nodded repeatedly. If even the Doubing (Battle Implement) he forged couldn't withstand her scrutiny, then...

"Eh? Rank One Doubing!?" Aunt Wang held the cleaver, her expression stunned.

Gan Jin's shock surpassed hers. This woman, who looked like a mere housewife, knew it was a Doubing the moment she touched the cleaver! This was more startling than encountering a Demon Race member in a backwater place like Oakland.

Rank One Doubing? Gan Jin’s mind seized up again. Did Doubing even have ranks? Blake had never mentioned that!

Gan Jin quickly opened his status panel and discovered that the hoe and sickle resting in the wicker basket behind him were also labeled: Hoe: Rank One Doubing. Sickle: Rank One Doubing.

"No wonder!" Gan Jin broke into a smile. "I wondered why, when Blake called the cleaver a Doubing after forging, I still felt the one in my hand wasn't as good as Fabredis's and his daughter's Doubing. So, this is a Rank One Doubing."

"Since it’s a Doubing," Aunt Wang’s expression instantly brightened. She hefted the cleaver with her thick arm and brought it down hard against a wooden stake outside the door, nearly a foot and a half in diameter.

A flash of crimson light instantly surged along the cleaver. The Douqi (Battle Aura) emitted a series of resonant hums as it vibrated through the steel. The blade gently contacted the stake, and it cut through the wood as easily as if it were soft tofu, cleaving the thick stake clean in two.

"Not bad! Not bad! Much more serious than that old man Blake! He gave me a Rank Nine cleaver last time; you’ve given me a Doubing straight away!" Aunt Wang casually tossed one hundred gold coins into Gan Jin's hand. "Take it!"

One hundred gold coins? Gan Jin scratched his head. Although the quest only stipulated fifty gold coins, this was double the amount. But he had given her a Doubing!

Even with the ugly appearance of a mere cleaver, it was still a Doubing! If this item were taken to the auction house in Oakland City, it would drive those families rooted in Oakland for generations into a frenzy! Forget one hundred gold coins; fetching thousands or even tens of thousands wouldn't be impossible.

Hailing from the Gan family, Gan Jin understood the chasm between the poor and the rich. The cost of one banquet hosted by the wealthy could sustain an entire common family for a lifetime!

Legend had it that a woman in the Divine Capital, known as the Jade Maiden Songstress Mu Baizhi, after being kept by the immensely wealthy merchant Mu Yishoucheng, spent over ten million silver coins on a single birthday celebration—equivalent to a million gold coins.

One hundred gold coins? Gan Jin glanced again at the robust, broad-waisted Aunt Wang and abandoned the thought of haggling with her. The sheer power displayed just now when splitting the stake would, in the Zhence Dynasty, qualify her as a genuine Demon Subduing Warrior. While his own Rank Nine Warrior status was formidable, it still fell short when compared to a Demon Subduing Warrior.

Two locations, three tools. The amount of gold in Gan Jin's hands reached three hundred, and his spirit felt somewhat numb from the shock delivered by these two individuals who looked like a housewife and a farmer.

Not only did Aunt Wang possess the strength of a Demon Subduing Warrior, but Uncle Luke, who looked like an honest farmer at the west end of the village, also harbored the might of a Demon Subduing Warrior!

"What kind of village is this?"

Gan Jin forced himself to rally his spirits and arrived before the Eulala Mysterious Pharmacy. He quietly pushed open the slightly ajar wooden door and once again saw the middle-aged woman wearing a red apron.

Just like last time, the woman was disheveled, engrossed in work over a cluster of glass test tubes, occasionally pouring various liquids into them, causing the already boiling tubes to bubble even more vigorously.

Gan Jin also noticed a desiccated Three-Step Snake beside the test tubes. Yes, a dead Three-Step Viper. Several of its scales had been tossed into a test tube, emitting a pungent, strange odor.

Gan Jin recalled that texts often described Mysterious Alchemists as lunatics, so he instinctively shrank his neck, pulled out three hundred gold coins, and stammered, "This... I'm here to buy medicine..."

"Buying medicine? Hold on..." The middle-aged woman waved a hand without looking up. "Pass me the test tube of Rotten Valley Grass—the purple one."

"Oh." Gan Jin carefully picked up the purple test tube, terrified of spilling a single drop. Who knew what powers these concoctions from the Mysterious Alchemist possessed?

According to historical records, a Demon Subduing Warrior once accidentally touched one of the Alchemist's experimental products. Three days later, his Douqi vanished entirely, turning him into an ordinary man. Three days after that, he aged from middle age to elderly, his face wrinkled and his hair snow-white, yet his voice sounded like an infant's.

This incident was known as the 'Failed Youth Restoration Potion Incident' and was recorded in many texts.

The middle-aged woman took the tube without even glancing at it and poured the liquid into another test tube... Halfway through, she suddenly shrieked: "Ah!!!!!"

The piercing sound reverberated through the entire village, making Gan Jin worry his eardrums might rupture. He watched as the surprise on the woman's face rapidly transformed into pure delight.

"Strange! The essence of Bad Snake Grass is actually more effective than Rotten Valley Grass?" The woman turned excitedly toward Gan Jin, shaking his shoulders vigorously with both hands. "Boy, how did you know Bad Snake Grass works better than Rotten Valley Grass?"

"Bad Snake Grass?" Gan Jin finally realized he had handed over the wrong test tube, and a cold sweat broke out instantly. He had heard that mixing up essences could easily lead to explosions... He recalled a story where a Demon Subduing Warrior, seeking advice from a Mysterious Alchemist to enhance his Douqi, was helping with an experiment when a test tube exploded, instantly blasting the Warrior to death...

"I... I didn't know it was Bad Snake Grass," Gan Jin replied truthfully, looking at the middle-aged woman.

"You didn't know? Really?" Beyond surprise, the woman's face was alight with joy. Gan Jin began to suspect she had some mental imbalance; she was still capable of smiling after he had nearly caused her death by handing her the wrong substance?