180: blacksmithing

The morning in Fentian City did not have the birdsong and fragrance of flowers like the First Heaven; there was only the roar of the increasingly violent Red Lotus Karmic Fire erupting from the depths of the earth veins.

Lin Chen walked along the obsidian-paved streets with Little Demoness Dragon and Su Qingge. The architectural style here was rugged and bold, with every tower resembling a crimson heavy sword piercing the clouds. Due to the unique gravity and environment, most female Cultivators of the Second Heaven were tall and athletic. Their gazes toward Lin Chen, aside from the habitual contempt for a "Lower Realm ascendant," actually carried a predatory scrutiny, as if estimating how many breaths this exceptionally handsome man could last in bed.

“Brother, the smell coming from that big chimney is so fragrant, like some high-grade metal being roasted,” Little Demoness Dragon said, sniffing the air and pointing toward a massive circular domed building in the distance. That was the famous Artifact Refining Holy Land of Crimson Bright and Yang Heaven—the Tiangong Workshop.

Lin Chen looked up. It was the place with the densest fire elements for a hundred miles around. Crimson pillars of smoke shot into the sky, accompanied by rhythmic, thunderous sounds of metal clashing.

“Qingge, can you see the 'Qi' inside?” Lin Chen asked softly.

Su Qingge wore a white silk blindfold, her silver pupils shifting slightly beneath the ribbon. She nodded slightly, her voice carrying an irrepressible hint of amazement: “Master, the fire elemental power there presents an extremely terrifying spiral shape. At the very center, there is a mass of incredibly strong Metal Qi; that should be where the Great Master of Artifact Refining is located.”

“Let's go and meet the woman who can play with the fire of this world in the palm of her hand.”

The moment the three of them stepped into Tiangong Workshop, a heatwave capable of instantly vaporizing iron and stone swept over them. Ordinary Cultivators entering this place would need to constantly circulate their protective immortal essence, but Lin Chen walked as if strolling through a garden.

Deep within the workshop, hundreds of female apprentices dressed in light clothing and covered in sweat were laboriously swinging heavy hammers. On the open-air forging platform at the very center, a figure capable of making the stars grow dim stood with her back to the door.

She was Iron Heart Orchid.

Unlike the usual delicate female Cultivators, Iron Heart Orchid had hair like a black waterfall tied behind her head with a simple straw rope. Her skin was an extremely healthy and seductive bronze color. Her back was broad and streamlined; with every swing of the heavy hammer named "Earth-Shaker," the butterfly bones on her back vibrated intensely like wings about to take flight.

Her upper body was merely wrapped in a few turns of dark red fireproof cloth, barely covering her majestic Peaks, yet perfectly revealing her washboard abs, which were covered in glistening beads of sweat.

“Clang—!”

As the hammer fell, sparks flew three zhang high, yet the grinding-stone-sized piece of star iron remained completely unmoved.

“Master Tie, I am Lin Chen. I would like to ask the Master to repair a sword,” Lin Chen said, standing below the platform, his voice clear and piercing through the noisy sounds of smithing.

Iron Heart Orchid's movements paused slightly. She did not turn around but instead rested the heavy hammer on her shoulder. Sweat slid down the deep groove of her spine and disappeared into the tight leather shorts at her waist.

“Get out.”

Her voice was raspy and magnetic, carrying an unquestionable dominance. “Tiangong Workshop does not take jobs from Lower Realm people. Moreover, a pretty boy like you, who relies on Medicinal Pills and women to pile up your cultivation, is not worthy of holding an item forged by me, Iron Heart Orchid. Get out of here; don't let your scent of rouge spoil my fire.”

The surrounding female apprentices broke into mocking titters, looking at Lin Chen with provocative eyes.

Lin Chen did not get angry. Instead, he stepped past the Restriction and walked slowly toward the scorching forging platform.

“Master Tie has quite a temper.” Lin Chen walked up to the piece of star iron and reached out a finger, lightly tapping the scorching metal surface. “Your hammer technique is fierce enough, but unfortunately, you have fire in your heart but no fire in your hands. You have already hammered this star iron three thousand times. Every strike tries to break the law with force, yet you do not know that even diamond has a soft side. Is it that you are incapable, or is it that the fire of this Second Heaven... is incapable?”

“What did you say?”

Iron Heart Orchid spun around abruptly. In that instant, a violent wave of Qi from a Peak Earth Immortal, or even a half-step Heavenly Immortal, swept across the entire area.

Her face was extremely heroic, her eyes filled with defiance, and sweat hung from her thick eyelashes. Due to her anger, her chest, which was barely restrained by the fireproof cloth, heaved violently, nearly tearing the fragile material and revealing a breathtaking expanse of bronze skin.

“I said your fire control is insufficient.” Lin Chen looked directly into her burning dark eyes, a playful smile hanging on his lips.

“Good! A fine 'insufficient fire control'!” Iron Heart Orchid laughed out of pure rage, slamming the ten-thousand-jin "Earth-Shaker" hammer onto the ground. With a boom, the floor of the entire workshop instantly cracked.

She pointed at the still-cold and hard star iron and stepped forward. Her wild body was almost pressed against Lin Chen, and a wave of heat mixed with the smell of metal and a mature woman’s body fragrance hit him. “You fair-skinned piece of trash, if you can melt this iron in this Earth Vein Furnace, my life and my skills will be yours from now on! If you want me to forge, I’ll forge; if you want me to warm your bed, I’ll warm your bed!”

“But if you can't...” Iron Heart Orchid reached out her rough but slender finger and made a slicing motion across Lin Chen's neck, “I will throw you into the furnace and forge you into an iron pillar to use as a footstool!”

“It's a deal.”

Lin Chen laughed freely and then, under everyone's watchful eyes, untied the sash of his black robe.

The robe fell to the ground, revealing Lin Chen's body, which looked like a True God descended to earth. His muscles were not bloated like those of a Body Cultivator but instead possessed an ultimate streamlined quality, with every inch containing world-destroying explosive power. The dark gold dragon tattoos seemed to come alive in the high temperature, with the faint sound of a dragon's roar.

The contempt in Iron Heart Orchid's eyes vanished, and for a rare moment, she stared blankly at Lin Chen's body. As an Artifact Refiner, she understood best what a "perfect structure" was, and the man before her was simply the... work of art she had always dreamed of.

“Watch closely. Fire is not something to be begged for; it is something to be... commanded.”

Lin Chen stepped forward and thrust his right hand directly into the Earth Vein Furnace, which was erupting with temperatures of several thousand degrees.

“What is he doing! Is he crazy!” the apprentices screamed in terror.

However, in the next second, the fire elemental power of the entire Tiangong Workshop seemed to see its king, letting out a collective whimper of fear. In Lin Chen's palm, a cluster of dark gold Chaos Flames rose up—a fire of Origin countless levels higher than the earth fire of the Second Heaven.

“Melt!”

Lin Chen struck the star iron with a punch.

There was no violent explosion. Enveloped in that dark gold fire, the star iron that even Iron Heart Orchid was helpless against actually melted like butter dropped into boiling water. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a pure, translucent pool of liquid metal, flowing gently through Lin Chen's fingers.

The entire place was deathly silent, save for Iron Heart Orchid's increasingly heavy breathing... Late at night, in the inner chamber of Tiangong Workshop.

The temperature here was still scorching, but it was now filled with an ambiguous and oppressive heaviness.

Iron Heart Orchid sat slumped in a massive profound iron chair. Her black hair was disheveled, and her bronze skin now held a strange flush due to her previous shock and shame. She accepted her loss; in this world where the strong were respected, the fire control ability Lin Chen displayed had completely shattered her pride.

“You won.” Iron Heart Orchid looked up at Lin Chen as he approached step by step. There was no longer any contempt in her eyes, replaced by a mixture of confusion and desire after being utterly conquered. “My life and my skills are at your disposal. How do you want to repair that sword?”

“The matter of the sword is not urgent.”

Lin Chen reached out and directly tore away the many layers of fireproof cloth wrapped around her chest.

“Rip—!”

In that instant, two Peaks as majestic as volcanoes and filled with mature strength bounced into the air, accompanied by the tremors of extreme suppression. Unlike Su Qingge's ethereal nature, Iron Heart Orchid's body was a sculpture full of wildness, every inch of her skin radiating the scorching body temperature of one who had been baptized by fire for years.

“Lin Chen... you...” Iron Heart Orchid trembled all over.

“Since you said you'd warm the bed, then show me the same vigor you use to swing that big hammer.”

“Ah—!”

Iron Heart Orchid let out a sharp and high-pitched scream. There was no weakness in that sound, only the madness of a long-awaited rain after a drought. This feeling of being forcibly dominated by a man was nothing short of a Soul-shattering explosion for this Artifact Refining Genius who had grown up among feminist Cultivators and had never known a man.

“Master... Master! Please... refine me!”

Lin Chen showed no mercy, as if he were forging a top-tier divine weapon.

“Clang! Clang! Clang!”

Beads of sweat constantly seeped from Iron Heart Orchid's bronze skin. She was like a piece of fine iron being tempered a thousand times over, as the fire poison and Impurities within her body were stripped away layer by layer. She roared loudly, her heroic face now twisted with lust. In the midst of extreme pain and pleasure, she experienced the ultimate joy known as "submission."

“...I'm really going to melt...”

In this scorching forging room, Lin Chen used his matchless masculine prowess to completely forge this proud master refiner into his most loyal and fanatical female slave.

It wasn't until dawn that Iron Heart Orchid collapsed into Lin Chen's arms like a puddle of soft mud. Her original pride had now turned into a gentle softness.

“Master... tomorrow I will repair that sword for you...” she murmured, leaving a bite mark full of desire on Lin Chen's chest, “But I want even more... to forge the strongest body for you.”

[Congratulations to the host! Successfully conquered the Second Heaven's Artifact Refining master: Iron Heart Orchid!] [Due to Iron Heart Orchid's submission, Tiangong Workshop has officially been incorporated into the Yunmiao Sect's territory!] [Su Qingge and Little Demoness Dragon have received exclusive Immortal Artifact upgrades! The host has received the reward: [God Weapon Domain] (Can control ten thousand swords against enemies)!] [Next step: Iron Heart Orchid reveals that among the prizes of the Ten Thousand Immortals Assembly, there is a "Scarlet Sun Immortal Marrow" that can completely resolve Su Qingge's petrification hidden danger, but that requires going to the Fentian Palace's Forbidden Ground...]

Lin Chen stroked Iron Heart Orchid's sweaty back, his eyes flashing with a cold light of total control.

The women of this Second Heaven are indeed more vigorous when they are smiths.