Chapter 148 - The Forging Hall II - The Hall Leader’s Eye

  Niu Lan Tian threw her Drifting Stream robe from her shoulders. She retied it around her waist before pushing the hammer out of her mouth, her large canines leaving indents on the handle, which already had many.

  “No other disciple in this hall can beat me in armor. There are only a few that would dare compete with me in terms of weapons, too, Junior Brother Hao.”

  The muscles in her forearm rippled as she caught the hammer. There was a subtle clang amidst the cacophony of a dozen hammers as she leaned forward, one of her legs lifting to rest behind the other.

  “So what’ll it be?”

  Her momentum carried the thick braid that held most of her hair over her shoulder as she leaned face-to-face with Hao.

  Hao squinted his eyes. There are many awkward moments in one’s life. He had already experienced many of them. Yet this. There was an entire display of skill, beauty, and prowess. Now he had to say what his request was, and shout it into her face over the click of metal on metal and pop of flame.

  “Yes… I want some robes crafted for Winter and Summer!” He resisted the urge to take a step back, opting just for a smile, as far from a smirk as possible.

  Niu Lan Tian made the word with her lips.

  “Robes…” she said it out loud. Her mouth lingered on the word as her stature shrank and shoulders rounded.

  She turned, lit incense, and nodded. Her hand reached out to touch a few of the pieces of equipment, specifically the gauntlets, one of which she almost tried on.

  “Does Junior Brother have the materials?”

  Hao nodded.

  He thought it was better for both of them if he pretended not to see the clear blush of embarrassment peeking through her dark gray skin.

  “I have this. I am hoping it can make at least two.”

  His hand went up his sleeve, and when it came back out, the tail of the white furred pelt struck the ground. It kept going until it draped across both his arms.

  “Oh? A fine material.”

  Hao heard a voice behind him, deep and rich, aged and smooth without a crackle or hint of grit. Yet, the presence over his right shoulder was fire. The words were a statement, a reminder, not some quizzical musing of a disciple’s curiosity if it really was good; he was being told by an authority that it was.

  “Quite fine indeed, freshly cleaned up. Tuzai’s work. Young friend, if you killed this, you must be able to pay to have your request fulfilled, good, good. Not wasting any time here.”

  From the corner of his eye, he saw the brown beard. There was a guess already formed in Hao’s mind, but the reaction of Niu Lan Tian made any thought a waste.

  “Boss!” She shouted. Her hand jumped and slammed down on the incense. It did little to hide the lingering scent of generic sandalwood and more unique hints of saxifrages or bellflowers. The only aroma besides sweat and hot metal.

  His hand out to touch the pelt, but it stayed still as he walked around Hao, his head nodding in a round of greetings.

  “Hall leader,” He corrected Niu Lan Tian.

  Hao found it hard to believe someone so respectful of boundaries was a Hall Leader—well, a cultivator in general. If it were Tuzai or Taoyi, the pelt would have disappeared before he could blink.

  “This is your material, and your request is two robes. It’s possible, and there would still be some left over. What else? Maintain the natural properties of the Demonic Beast, perhaps something more?”

  His hand still hovered over the pelt. “May I?”

  Hao nodded, and instantly the man’s fingers wrapped fibers and tangles and fur.

  He spoke normally; someone like a Hall Leader should be able to hear him through all the noise.

  “Yes, if possible…”

  The Hall Leader looked up and nodded for him to continue as he lifted and inspected the pelt.

  Hao took the chance to take the thing that inspired the idea.

  “Oh, a cloak from Blue Moon Mountain’s sect. You can put it away. If you have something like that, you’ve done more than hunt a few cats and dogs.”

  The Forging Hall Leader recognized it instantly. He almost turned his head away; his crinkled brow said his disappointment was in the craftsmanship, not the fact that it was produced from a corpse.

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  “I get the idea, but those cloaks are mass-produced swill. I can do better if you are willing?”

  Hao put the cloak away, and the pelt landed back in his arms. “Hall Leader, this disciple needs it to work for mortals, to help them withstand even Summer at its harshest. It’s a gift.”

  “The same gift for two women?” The Forging Hall Leader nodded, “A dangerous game,” he let a chuckle crawl up his throat as he turned around.

  He put his hands behind his back. “Disciple Lan Tian, I promised a demonstration today. I will need your help, along with a few others. You can make me some purple bronze plates, as thin as possible, about this wide.”

  He pointed out the dimension with his finger behind his back.

  Niu Lan Tian seemed to pick up the instruction; she kept her robe around her waist as she tied a second belt around her toned abs.

  Her hammer fell in place on the belt without her attention. Then, she picked up two bowls of powdery metal, double-checking them. Then, a third time.

  One was red and radiated warmth, stinking of copper. The other was iron, Hao guessed by appearance, though a little strange. It had steam rising from its cold, slightly blue exterior.

  The Forging Hall Leader was halfway down the hall, adjusting his blue robe, when his voice made hammers sound like dove calls. “Get a few others to help you if you need. And someone needs to fetch some Mori Water Worm Silk. We should have some; if not, the worms started nesting with the recent cold of winter.”

  With another step, the Hall Leader was on the other side of the hall. Stood in front of one of the three-legged furnaces.

  Hao rubbed his eyes.

  “No need to hurry, Junior Brother Hao. The Boss will wait for all the newest Forging Hall disciples to sit down. He likes a crowd.” She chuckled, her giant canines on display without a hand or sleeve to cover them.

  She has dimples… Hao noted it, nothing of import, but he had to think of something other than the smell of hot metal and fiery personalities.

  Niu Lan Tian pointed to a few disciples. Her instructions echoed throughout the hall. Half the words Hao didn’t know—not in this context.

  Hao walked among the group as it gathered. Gray beards, long black hair, and smooth hairless faces. There wasn’t a single land-dweller trait missing. No Islanders with full heads of gold hair. No one else was like Senior Sister Niu Lan Tian either, with her charcoal skin and colossal stature.

  They formed around her, and by Hao. Their soot-covered robes left a trail on everything they passed, inside jokes and greetings, formal and informal, spread.

  No one seemed the least bit curious about Senior Sister Lan Tian. Not the way he was, her bloodline, race. But with that benefit, no one looked at him like a mutt.

  They were far more interested in the pelt Hao slowly shifted up into his arms. He brought more up until it blocked the bottom of his vision.

  When the line of bodies finally halted, a small group split off and sat down below his line of sight.

  Hao lowered his arms. In front of him, it looked like a class. About a dozen of the people who walked forward with him sat down, passing around pieces of bright green bamboo. They chewed on it as they looked ahead.

  Standing in front of them was the Hall Leader. He looked at Hao, winked, and scratched his chin. Niu Lan Tian walked up beside him, not too close; there was a workspace between them.

  “Clear the path, clear it. I will be working fast today. Get ready to take note.” The Hall Leader said, moving his hands as if he were parting people from the path they just walked down.

  He went on in restless jabber. No one got anything to ‘take note’ with, but he addressed the one who sat down in front of him, who just continued to chew the sweet bamboo.

  Hao was more focused on the furnace behind the Hall Leader. All the furnaces on the back wall have the same spherical shape with a hole at the center of their frame. Stood on three legs. No fuel. No hole to exhaust smoke.

  The one behind the Hall Leader stood out even among oddities. It must have been the most frequently used. It was cold. No fire in it, yet it seemed to agitate the air with a heat haze that rippled off its dimpled white exterior.

  As the lecture gained momentum, those in front leaned in. The ones at Hao’s side and behind him did the opposite, making muttered remarks.

  One right at Hao’s side, his face covered in soot, stepped forward a bit. “You must be the Junior Brother who has the Hall Leader moving in a hurry. I don’t know if I should say you are fortunate or not.”

  The others choked on suppressed laughs.

  “Don’t misunderstand, Junior Brother, we should thank you. You’ve done us all a favor. That pelt alone has put the Hall Leader in a good mood—and you will definitely get what you are paying for. In that respect, I am jealous, something made by the best Artifact Forging in the Drifting Stream. I just hope the Hall Leader doesn’t pull off his usual ploy.”

  “If he asks you to pay extra, just mention the Medicine Hall Leader; just the thought will make him blush, and that will earn you some time to sneak away.”

  One laugh escaped the pursed lips. It whistled out, a squeaking sound that was not worthy of notice in this hall; the hammers had stopped, but the fire still roared behind them.

  Hao didn’t have time to linger on the apprehension the remark made simmer up in him.

  The hall leader cleared his throat. “Disciple Wei Lin. Since you failed to hold in your laugh, you can lead your group come spring to clean out the Worm ponds.”

  With that, the laughter spread like pollen. The first one who failed to hold in his laugh, Wei Lin slouched, his jaw falling open.

  “Now, young friend, why don’t you bring over the main treasure to make today’s artifacts?”

  “Yes, Hall Leader,” Hao said, trying to bow with the pelt in hand. There were a few faces of surprise as he walked forward, weaving through the seated disciples.

  But one face glimmered with wide eyes and an ear-to-ear smile, the Hall Leader, who reached out for the pelt like he was about to cradle a baby.

  “Well done, young friend.”

  The pelt lifted from Hao’s hands. It unfolded and smoothed before the Hall leader caught two edges. Niu Lan Tian caught the others and stepped back. Slowly, the size of the beast was on display, with a slight sag still in the middle.

  “Now, why don’t you explain exactly the artifact you want again, just for them to hear?” He nodded his head to the side, at those seated and ready to listen.

  Hao nodded, stepping to the side, as he explained everything again. He had the words for it in his mind now. His cultivation swirled as he talked, which cooled him, but also gathered a few more eyes that otherwise would have been wandering.

  One set of those eyes belonged to the Forging Hall Leader. The bearded man stopped straightening out the pelt to look back.