Chapter 126: Thoughts
Xu Yunfan leaned back to widen his field of view. He saw someone well over two meters tall, their body a mass of corded, bulging muscle. Even under loose robes, he could clearly see veins throbbing from their sheer tension.
The anxiety was practically radiating off of her.
’Why is she so nervous?’
Puzzled, Xu Yunfan gave a slight nod as a greeting.
Yan Yuwei watched Xu Yunfan brush past her and felt a wave of relief. ’Looks like he’s not here to cause trouble for me.’ After all, she had spent days badmouthing him behind his back; now that the man himself was right in front of her, she naturally had a guilty conscience.
Before she could even catch her breath, Xu Yunfan’s nostrils twitched slightly. The young woman smelled of forged iron sand mixed with red copper powder—the unique medicinal aroma of a True Disciple from the Melt Gold Hall’s body tempering regimen.
Since he frequently loitered in the Scripture Pavilion, he had run into disciples from the Melt Gold Hall many times and was quite familiar with the scent.
He suddenly stopped in his tracks. He recalled that the powerfully built young woman before him seemed to be the head disciple of the Melt Gold Hall, Yan Yuwei.
Xu Yunfan turned, and a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder.
Yan Yuwei’s scalp went numb. The muscles around her shoulder blades bulged into two mounds, and her loose Disciple Robe was stretched taut like a skintight suit as surging qi and blood flooded her flesh.
’I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead!’
Yan Yuwei felt her own muscles ripple and shake, yet the hand on her shoulder remained perfectly still, without the slightest hint of movement. Despair flooded her heart.
Her shoulder-shrug, elbow-drop technique had once snapped a log of Elm Iron Wood.
But now, her burst of Strength vanished as if it had never existed, creating not even a ripple.
’Killing fellow disciples is forbidden in the Celestial Craft Cave. I won’t die, at worst I’ll just get a beating. What the hell am I afraid of!?’
Yan Yuwei steeled herself, only to hear Xu Yunfan speak in a deliberately strained voice.
"Senior Sister Yan?"
Yan Yuwei turned her head, forcing a smile that looked worse than tears.
"Junior Sister, you can just call me Junior Sister. Is there something you need, Senior Brother Xu?"
Xu Yunfan smiled faintly, not bothering to argue about the titles.
"Junior Sister Yan, have you ever tried the Drunken Immortal Carp at Cui Bo Tower?"
As he spoke, he deliberately crushed three green bricks underfoot, the dust swirling into the shape of a small Cyan Dragon on the autumn wind. "I hear that when the Rainbow Trout Spirit Fish return in the autumn, the lines on their tails are a third again as fine as the grain on the Melt Gold Hall’s Thousand-Forged Steel. The flavor is said to be exquisite."
At the sight of Xu Yunfan’s casual display of Emitting Force, Yan Yuwei’s pupils constricted and the knots of muscle on her shoulders went slack.
"I’ve... of course I’ve heard of it."
Xu Yunfan’s face lit up. "That’s wonderful! Master always said that we of the Nine Peaks and Six Ministries of the Celestial Craft Cave are like siblings and should grow closer. I’m usually buried in hard training and haven’t had a chance to get around. It’s a rare coincidence that we’ve run into each other today. Come, come, let me treat you at Cui Bo Tower. We can get to know each other better."
Yan Yuwei was stunned for a moment, then an expression of utter disbelief crossed her face.
"Ha, hahaha, you must be joking, Senior Brother Xu."
She swallowed hard, the sound like an iron ball dropping into a sack, and forced out a few words.
"My master recently went underground to search for a piece of Rare Iron, so I have to watch the Heart Melting Furnace for him. If I don’t, it will affect the Steel Refining and slow down the Weapon Casting Hall’s progress. As you know, Senior Brother, the Arsenal opened a while ago. We’ve received orders not just from the major Sects in Cangzhou, but also deposits from Sects in other states throughout Yanbei Dao, so..."
"Watching the furnace?"
Suddenly, Xu Yunfan’s fingers became like a sword, and he slashed at a nearby stone pillar. Seven spiral grooves instantly appeared on its surface. This was the Seven Stars Stone Circulation Handprint from the Melting Gold and Forging Iron technique, a method originally designed to excavate rare ore from rock formations without damaging it.
In the Melt Gold Hall, it was commonly known as Raozhi Rou. If those fingers were pressed against a person’s body, they could pierce a skull as easily as poking tofu.
The sight shook Yan Yuwei to her core. She never expected Xu Yunfan to also be proficient in the Kung Fu of the Melt Gold Hall.
The hairs on the back of Yan Yuwei’s neck stood on end. She could see with perfect clarity that Xu Yunfan hadn’t actually practiced the Melting Gold and Forging Iron technique. He had carved those lines purely by relying on his finger strength, simply mimicking the way Raozhi Rou Emitted Force.
’It’s a completely blatant threat!’
Xu Yunfan retracted his fingers, his smile radiant. "Don’t worry, Junior Sister Yan. I have a bit of say in the Weapon Casting Hall, so this won’t cause any delays. Come on, come on, you can’t refuse. This is the first time I’ve ever asked a girl out to eat."
Xu Yunfan felt a bit helpless himself. Ever since the True Inheritance Ceremony, he hadn’t seen a single one of the head disciples from the Nine Peaks and Six Ministries of the Celestial Craft Cave. They were clearly avoiding him.
Without a little pressure, she would never agree.
Yan Yuwei wanted to refuse, but met with Xu Yunfan’s deep, smiling, and insistent gaze, she opened her mouth and stammered, "Then... it would be rude of me to refuse."
Xu Yunfan’s face instantly broke into a wide grin.
"Wonderful! It’s still early, let’s head out now."
"Ah, right now?"
"Is there a problem?"
"Um, right now is... fine."
Urged on by Xu Yunfan, a reluctant Yan Yuwei still fetched two Scale Horses from the mountain gate. They set off from Celestial Craft City, heading toward State Azure Wave City.
「Atop Mist Rain Tower, by Vermilion Bird Bridge.」
Mo Shisan was fiddling with a piece of Armor on the table. A wrench in his hand turned a gear, sending a few sparks flying. He was spitting with excitement as he fiercely debated the power transmission method for a Human-shaped Mechanism Armor’s core furnace with the head disciple of the Celestial Craft Department.
The Dragon Scale Mortise and Tenon he was adjusting in his hand suddenly jammed mid-motion. Outside the window, two figures flashed by—figures he found extremely familiar, yet who had no reason to be together.
"Brother Mo, are you saying this Tiger Crouch Valve should be embedded at the Danzhong Acupoint?"
The head disciple of the Celestial Craft Department picked up the buzzing Purple Copper Furnace from inside the mannequin’s chest cavity. He suddenly noticed that Quenching Oil from the flask in the other man’s hand was dripping onto his own boot.
"Hey! Your oil flask... What are you staring at?!"
The Celestial Craft Department’s head disciple followed his gaze, just in time to see the taut muscles of Yan Yuwei’s back as she rode, stretching her Celestial Silkworm Thread-stitched Disciple Robe tight.
He then glanced instinctively at the figure beside Yan Yuwei, and his relaxed, carefree expression suddenly froze.
The Purple Copper Furnace in his hand suddenly cracked with a KACHA sound; he had just unconsciously exerted the force of his Camel Mountain Force.
The voices of the two men died abruptly. They stared blankly out the window at the two rapidly receding figures.
Xu Yunfan always carried a Fine Steel Box on his back and was never without it, so he was instantly recognizable.
"Did you figure out a key mechanism, Brother Mo?"
After a long moment, the head disciple of the Celestial Craft Department asked in a mumble.
"That’s not it..."
Mo Shisan shook his head, rubbing his eyes to be sure. "I just feel like I’m seeing things."
’That Xu Yunfan... I never would’ve thought he’d be into her type...’
The Celestial Craft Department’s head disciple stroked his chin.
"Truly, extraordinary men do extraordinary things. I am thoroughly impressed."
Mo Shisan: "..."
In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Xu Yunfan and Yan Yuwei left Celestial Craft City. Both were formidable Martial Artists, and they spurred their horses to a gallop, racing toward State Azure Wave City.
And on the outskirts of a town that had sprung up near Celestial Craft City, a pair of eyes, glinting with an inscrutable light, quietly watched the two figures recede into the distance.