The quiet of the previous day returned, and Biluo continued her silent contemplation. Qian Zhu recovered from his roar, pulled the hat over his eyes, and fell asleep, leaving Shuilian Ying’er staring blankly at Qian Jin, the recent conversations echoing in her mind.

"No one abandoned you. You abandoned yourself," Shuilian Ying’er murmured to herself, recalling everything from the moment she set foot on the path of the warrior. "Did I abandon myself first? What kind of past does this young man have? How can someone his age say such things?"

The village morning was alive with the breath of life. Before Qian Jin even reached the door of Blacksmith Black's shop, he heard a clamor rising from the usually silent courtyard. "Black! Has that boy still not forged his own weapon? You're not holding out on us, trying to keep the apprentice for yourself, are you?"

"That's what it looks like to me. You definitely don't want to share the apprentice, so you're deliberately preventing him from forging a weapon."

A blend of rough bass male voices and sharp, clear female sopranos had turned Black's smithy into a noisy marketplace.

Qian Jin recognized these two voices, which he wasn't overly familiar with: Adams, the stout pharmacist built like a sturdy bear with a full beard, and Oulala, the dishevelled middle-aged woman known as the Mysterious Alchemist.

Pushing open the slightly ajar courtyard gate, the creaking sound from the hinge drew the attention of the two apothecaries who had been looking for Black.

"Boy! You're finally here!" Little Adams, with his bulky frame, covered the distance to Qian Jin in a few swift strides. He clapped his somewhat hairy-backed hands onto Qian Jin’s shoulders. "Go! Go! Go! Today, you're coming with me to learn the great art of alchemy!"

Oulala stopped blocking Black's path and scurried over in quick steps, intercepting Qian Jin just as Adams was about to drag him away. "Great alchemy? Then Mysterious alchemy is the greatest! If you're learning, you naturally start with the greatest."

Adams widened his bell-like eyes and used his imposing height to lean down and glare at Oulala. "Your poisons that kill more than they cure—what's great about that? Today, we learn alchemy."

"Hmph!" Oulala suddenly straightened her spine, and Qian Jin noticed that this messy Mysterious Alchemist possessed an indescribably good figure. She wasn't tall, but her curves were pronounced, her bust rising and falling like waves. "Your potions are so great that if someone catches a simple cold, they take so much medicine and still don't get better; instead, they just end up eating the medicine until they're full!"

"You—"

"Both of you, shut up!" Black jammed his tobacco pipe right between the two arguers, instantly separating their eyes, which had been flashing sparks moments before.

"In twelve hours, he goes to the Mysterious Apothecary first, and three hours after that, he goes to the regular Apothecary." Black waved his hand at the two who had been shouting loudly, completely disregarding anyone else and looking ready to fight. "You two can leave now."

The two alchemists from different fields stared blankly at each other for several seconds, then glanced at the thousand-pound forging hammer Black held in his other hand. The last flicker of defiance vanished from their pupils.

"Fine."

They responded with weak, muffled agreement, looking at Qian Jin with lingering reluctance as he walked out of the smithy courtyard step by step.

Qian Jin took the opportunity to observe the old blacksmith Black closely. Those two apothecaries were both at the Demon-Slaying Warrior level, yet they hadn't even entertained the thought of resisting the old smith. It probably wasn't just because of his prestige, was it? Perhaps this old smith didn't just know how to forge iron; perhaps he was quite formidable when roused?

"Continue with what we were doing. Ten hours." Black retreated to the corner behind the door, shrinking his body, holding his pipe. It was hard to associate him with a powerful figure. "For the last two hours, go read the books you want to see."

Qian Jin grinned sheepishly, realizing his thoughts couldn't outmaneuver Black. Having managed the library at the Qian family residence for some time, he had grown accustomed to and fond of reading. To have a room full of specialized forging books and not look at them felt like having hundreds of monkeys clawing wildly inside him.

Taking a deep breath, he spun the Dou Qi in his one hundred and eight acupoints to the extreme limit—sixty rotations per minute, ten full turns! He gripped the hammer fiercely, lifted his right foot slightly, and stomped down! The burning charcoal in the furnace vibrated in unison, and the power of Wan Ying had instantly shifted Qian Jin to another spot!

Black’s half-closed eyes brightened. The half-dead tobacco strands in his pipe flared up fiercely at that moment, emitting a crimson glow never seen before.

The second strike of the Sheng Feng Eighteen Hammers slammed heavily onto the iron bloom, squeezing out a sheet of brilliant red firelight. Using the recoil, he employed Wan Ying a second time to move to the next position.

"Stop!" Black raised a hand. "You are not allowed to use your Dou Qi, nor the Blacksmith Breathing Technique. You can only use movement once your physical strength is exhausted."

Bang!

Lacking the assistance of Dou Qi, Qian Jin’s strong body still couldn't truly complete the Wan Ying movement, and he crashed heavily onto the ground.

"Can it really be done without Dou Qi?" Qian Jin shook his head and sighed doubtfully, then remembered that when Black performed Wan Ying, he truly hadn't felt him using Dou Qi or the Blacksmith Breathing Technique for help.

"If you can do it, I can do it too." Qian Jin wiped the dust from his face where he'd landed. "So what if I fall? I'll just fall again and get up!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! The dust flying up in the small smithy courtyard grew thicker and thicker. Although his Fengyun Stone Body ensured he felt no pain from the impact, it couldn't eliminate the soreness and fatigue. His clothes were soaked with sweat before he realized it.

Black leaned against the door, seeming both asleep and awake. A very faint satisfaction flickered in his tiny pupils. The speed of progress wasn't important; what truly mattered was persistence.

"Ten hours."

Qian Jin lay sprawled on the ground, panting heavily. He cast a look of admiration toward Uncle Black not far away. No matter how much his own strength improved, the old blacksmith uncle's training always managed to squeeze out the last trace of power, Dou Qi, and the vital heat from the Blacksmith Breathing Technique within him.

After resting for a while, Qian Jin staggered to the restorative hot spring and soaked for some time. While the power from the three Demon-Slaying Battles and the Blacksmith Breathing Technique couldn't be restored, his brute strength and mental fatigue recovered to their peak state.

"Books! Books!" Qian Jin hurried into the small thatched hut filled with forging literature, flipping through Black's works with insatiable thirst: Basic Analysis of Forging.

No matter the discipline, practice alone was never enough; corresponding theoretical knowledge could not be neglected. Especially concerning different forging methods, different metal combinations, and different points of force application on a weapon—all these were recorded in these books. Uncle Black never spoke of them.

As for the Zhence Dynasty? Forging techniques recorded like this were considered secrets, usually only accessible to a select few, and their security was no less stringent than that of Dou Qi secret arts.

Black peered through the crack in the door at Qian Jin, his expression showing increasing appreciation. A blacksmith who only knew how to bury his head in hammering iron would forever remain just a blacksmith, never a Master Forger, let alone a Divine Craftsman!

The more Qian Jin read, the more weight he felt in the book in his hands. The essence condensed in this thin volume was millions of times heavier than a thousand or ten thousand pounds. Many insights and feelings from his hammering practice were mirrored in this book, and several records even illuminated aspects he hadn't considered, correcting minor errors he had made along the way.

A treasure! If Dou Qi secret arts were the treasures of warriors, then Black's writings were secrets, even treasures, to any blacksmith! Compared to the myriad Dou Qi secret arts of the Zhence Dynasty, books on forging were comparatively rarer.

Two hours, for someone who loved reading like Qian Jin, passed quicker than a mere snap of the fingers.

"Pity, I can't take them out," Qian Jin sighed, shaking his head. He placed the book back in its original position, marking the page he stopped at with a sliver of wood as a bookmark.

The Mysterious Apothecary's shop. This wasn't Qian Jin's first time here. He had visited once before to purchase the kind of powder that could rapidly restore stamina when mixed with water.

He still shuddered recalling that previous visit. Who knew if the moment he stepped into the room, a terrifying explosion, worse than a Forbidden Magic Curse, would erupt, sending him straight back to the stars? The history of Mysterious Alchemists was rife with rumors of Demon-Slaying Warriors being vaporized by experimental mishaps.

The Dou Qi in his one hundred and eight acupoints spun at a rapid sixty turns per minute, ten rotations! Qian Jin stepped into Oulala's Mysterious Pharmacy, adopting a stance ready to flee instantly if the situation looked precarious.

As on his previous two visits, Oulala, wearing a large red apron, was busy fussing around a collection of test tubes containing various bizarre potions, occasionally mixing two different liquids, causing the already boiling concoctions to bubble even more fiercely, looking as if they might explode at any second.

"You're here?" Oulala looked up, put down a test tube, and waved Qian Jin over. "Come over here."

Qian Jin followed Oulala toward the courtyard behind the shop, maintaining a hyper-vigilant, twelve-thousand-percent watchfulness as they passed the bubbling test tubes.

Oulala moved quickly ahead, not looking at what she was stepping on. She trod on the stem of a purple flower, and the plant let out a piercing, high-pitched female scream.

Oulala acted as if she hadn't heard it, continuing forward. The plant's scream ceased the moment her shoe lifted from the purple bloom.

It was a very joyous yesterday! The tall building was very excited. Today, let's continue forging ahead on our own paths. Monthly tickets, plus more updates! I look forward to the support, and even more so to the engagement. If the monthly tickets reach the expected level today, in addition to the chapters already scheduled for extra release, I will add two more!

I only have this chapter written right now; I'll have to wait until I get home to write more. The second chapter of today's regular update should arrive in about an hour.

Our goal is simple: if the opportunity arises, we will scare Chen Dong a little. Beyond that goal, there is nothing else.

Come on, come on, come quickly! I look forward to it, and I look forward even more to seeing those two bonus chapters appear today when the monthly tickets surge!