55: Chapter 55 Master Huo is Extraordinary

Xie Feng threw the last card into the pile.

"We have arrived."

The carriage curtain was lifted a corner by the wind, and a wave of heat poured in from outside. Xie Feng's spiritual power perception spread out and touched a wall built of temperature.

The air outside the city wall was slightly distorted by the earth fire. Ranhuo City's city wall was black, having been smoked and scorched for who knows how many years, its color seeping into the brick gaps, and the entire city looked like a huge brick kiln.

The original color of the wall bricks could no longer be distinguished. The surface of every brick was hung with a very thin layer of tar-like substance, accumulated from the smoke sprayed from the earth fire fissures adhering to the brick surface all year round. The south city gate was open, and two rows of armored guards stood at the entrance.

The carriage stopped at the city gate.

A guard walked over, his hand resting on the hilt of his knife, his gaze sweeping over the attire of the four people in the carriage.

"Qingyun Sect?"

Tu Ziguan nodded, felt out his inner Sect token from his waist, and handed it over.

The guard took it, turned it over and looked at it twice, then poked his head into the carriage to look around. He threw the token back to Tu Ziguan.

"City entry fee. One tael per person."

Tu Ziguan took out four taels of silver and handed it over.

The guard weighed the silver in his palm and turned sideways to clear the path.

How ruthless, can you people even afford to live? Can ordinary people afford to enter the city at this price?

Hearing this price, if Xie Feng had eyeballs, he would definitely glare.

The temperature inside the city gate tunnel was suddenly a notch higher than outside the city, stepping from the shade of autumn trees straight into the scorching sun of midsummer.

A layer of fine sweat immediately oozed out on his skin. The two empty sockets beneath the black cloth faced the carriage ceiling, and every breath he inhaled carried the dry, fierce scorching smell from the earth fire fissures.

The streets of Ranhuo City were narrower than those of Cangyun City, and the houses on both sides were squeezed tightly together, their walls smoked into varying shades of grayish-black.

Most of the shops along the street kept their doors open. There were no clerks shouting in the shops, only the clanging sounds of forging coming from every door, rising one after another. The entire city was a giant blacksmith's shop.

The attire of the people walking on the street was noticeably different from those in the Qingyun Sect's territory; those were the standard garments of Tianque Sect Disciples.

As they walked on the street, upon seeing the blue-curtained oilcloth of the carriage, their gazes drifted over, sticking to the carriage for a long while before being shaken off by the carriage.

"The atmosphere is not quite right."

Tu Ziguan lowered his voice.

"It's been like this ever since the news about Cangyun City spread over."

Mo Tang subconsciously touched the wooden box beside her feet.

"The Senior Brother from the Artifact Hall who came back to purchase copper ingots last time said that he walked less than two hundred steps on the street and was blocked three times by people from the Tianque Sect.

They just blocked him to question him: What are you doing in Ranhuo City? Who sent you here? Does the Qingyun Sect not have its own copper mines? After asking, they didn't make a move, just stared at you until you walked far away."

"Isn't this just being a hooligan?"

Xie Feng felt that the Tianque Sect Disciples were so low; he hadn't seen this kind of behavior since high school.

Master Huo's shop was in the deepest part of Ranhuo City, clinging to the northern city wall base, the heat waves wrapped in the smell of rust.

Gu Jian stepped over the threshold, and Xie Feng followed behind him. The ground was tamped earth, trampled by countless pairs of feet for who knows how many years, its surface as hard as slate.

The fine sweat on Xie Feng's skin was baked dry as soon as it oozed out, forming a very thin layer of salt frost on his skin. Licked by the heat wave, it felt gritty, as if someone was gently rubbing his arm with extremely fine sandpaper.

The shop was not big. Facing the entrance was a half-person-high forging table, and behind the forging table was an earth fire furnace. The furnace mouth had no cover, and flames surged up from underground, bound into a straight beam at the furnace mouth by a very thin rune circuit.

A person stood beside the furnace.

His figure was not tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back, and his two forearms were more than a circle thicker than ordinary people's. His grayish-white hair was shaved extremely short, clinging to his scalp, and his eyebrows had been licked by the furnace fire for years, leaving only a few sparse grayish-white stubble.

"Gu Jian?"

Gu Jian nodded.

Master Huo's gaze moved away from him, sweeping over the earth-shaking thunder at Tu Ziguan's waist.

His gaze paused on Tu Ziguan's waist for a moment, then withdrew.

"Here to pick up the sword?"

"Yes."

Master Huo turned and walked to the innermost part of the shop, taking down an extremely long wooden box from the wall. He placed the wooden box on the forging table and opened it.

The sword lay at the bottom of the box.

The sword body was three-tenths narrower and three inches longer than an ordinary sword.

The crossguard was a bronze sparrow with wings spread, its two wings wrapping forward around the base of the sword body, and its head facing backward, pecking at the hilt.

Gu Jian reached his hand into the box. The moment his fingers touched the hilt, within Xie Feng's spiritual power perception, a very thin and light spiritual power resonance suddenly appeared between that hand and the hilt.

"Good sword."

Master Huo did not answer. He closed the wooden box, turned around, felt out a copper ingot from under the forging table, and threw it into the furnace fire beam.

Mo Tang had been staring at the earth fire furnace all along; she had been looking at it ever since she entered the door. Her lips moved several times, and a bunch of words were backed up in her mouth waiting to burst out, but she forcefully pushed them back one by one.

Until Master Huo threw the copper ingot into the furnace, she finally couldn't hold it back.

"Master Huo." Her speed of speech was more than double her usual pace,

"I have seen records of Ranhuo City's earth fire quenching method in the Qingyun Sect's ancient texts.

The books say that copper ingots quenched by earth fire have an extra restraining effect on anomalies. The Qingyun Sect's Artifact Hall imitated the earth fire furnace, with identical rune circuits, identical Spirit Stone grades, and even furnace bricks transported back from Ranhuo City. Yet the copper ingots quenched were just ordinary copper ingots."

Her brows were knitted, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the hemp rope of the wooden box.

"I spent a year flipping through texts in the Artifact Hall, extracting and comparing all records mentioning earth fire quenching. All records point to the same conclusion: neither the rune circuits of the earth fire furnace nor the quenching craft are the key. The key lies in the fire itself. Ranhuo City's earth fire is not the same thing as earth fire elsewhere."

Master Huo's hand paused at the edge of the forging table.

He turned around, his light gray eyes looking at Mo Tang for two breaths.

"You are from the Qingyun Sect? From the Artifact Hall?"

Are you blind or am I blind? Can't you see we came in together? Xie Feng felt that Master Huo was showing off too much.

Master Huo put the iron hammer in his hand on the forging table, clipped the copper ingot burned to white heat from the furnace fire beam, and placed it on the forging table.

The copper ingot emitted scorching thermal radiation on the table surface. He pressed his palm onto it, pressing onto the white-hot copper surface. The moment his palm touched the copper surface, a very slight quenching sound was emitted.

He took his hand away, and there was an additional charred palm print on the copper surface.

"It was not written in the Qingyun Sect's ancient texts because the person who wrote the texts didn't know." He said, "Or rather, even if they knew, they couldn't write it.

Ranhuo City's earth fire is not natural; there was originally no such fissure underground. Six hundred years ago, a great Cultivator of the Tianque Sect returned from the Far North and brought back an anomaly."

Why do you guys always run to the Far North every day?

Xie Feng's back tightened.

"That anomaly is different from any anomaly you have seen in the Nine Provinces. It is a living fire. The great Cultivator failed to kill it, nor could he Seal it. Any Seal Formation cannot last a single hour in front of it.

But the great Cultivator found that pressing it deep into the earth veins and using the heaviness of the earth veins to offset its flames can trap it."

Master Huo's palm pressed on the copper ingot again.

"The great Cultivators pressed this fire anomaly deep underground in Ranhuo City, melting it into the earth veins. Since then, there has been this earth fire fissure deep beneath Ranhuo City. The reason copper ingots quenched by earth fire can restrain anomalies is because the fire carries the power of the anomaly itself. An anomaly's power hitting an anomaly hurts much more than ordinary iron."

I really shouldn't have come.

Xie Feng wanted to turn around and leave right then.

"That anomaly." Xie Feng's voice carried a hint of helplessness. "Is it still alive?"

"I don't know." Master Huo said. "For six hundred years, the temperature of the earth fire fissure has had three abnormal rises. The first time was four hundred years ago, the second time was two hundred years ago, the third time..."

"Starting a few months ago."

Mo Tang squatted by the edge of the forging table, rummaged out a roll of paper and a charcoal pen from the wooden box, and began to draw the rune circuits of the earth fire furnace. Her pen tip moved rapidly across the paper, the rustling sound mingling with the crackle of the furnace fire.

Tu Ziguan felt out the blueprint of the gun barrel from his bundle, unfolded it, and laid it out beside the forging table. Master Huo lowered his head and glanced at it.

"Inner wall spirals." He said.

"Can it be engraved?"

Master Huo picked up the blueprint and brought it close to the light of the furnace fire, looking at it for a long while. "Engraving is possible. But this tube of yours is not used to launch spiritual power." His light gray eyes lifted from the blueprint and looked at Tu Ziguan. "It's for launching physical objects. What physical objects?"

Tu Ziguan was somewhat surprised. "It hasn't been made yet. You'll know when it's made."

Master Huo did not ask further. He folded the blueprint and placed it beside the forging table. "Materials. Did you bring them?"

Tu Ziguan felt out a fist-sized metal ingot from his bundle and placed it on the forging table. The color of the metal ingot was an extremely deep dark gold, and its surface was covered with dense layered patterns.

Master Huo picked up the metal ingot, weighed it in his palm, and then put it down. "Not enough. If the material of this tube is too soft, it can't be engraved; even if it can be engraved, it won't withstand a few launches. The piece you brought is enough to forge half a tube."

Tu Ziguan's expression froze for a moment. "What material is enough?"

Master Huo pushed the metal ingot back to him. "Old copper ingots quenched by Ranhuo City's earth fire for over a hundred years. There is one piece in the warehouse, pressed for at least three hundred years. Enough to forge two." He turned and walked to the innermost part of the shop, pushed open an extremely narrow iron door, and disappeared into the darkness behind the door.

After about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, he walked back, holding a copper ingot in his hand whose color was no longer that of copper.

Master Huo placed the copper ingot on the forging table, placing it side by side with the dark gold metal ingot brought by Tu Ziguan. "Three hundred years. Enough to engrave any spiral you want." He raised his head and looked at Tu Ziguan. "What will you exchange it with?"

Tu Ziguan did not hesitate. "The rune circuits of the earth-shaking thunder. The full set."

In Master Huo's light gray eyes, the two charcoal-fire-like bright spots flashed. "The rune circuits of the earth-shaking thunder from the Qingyun Sect's Artifact Hall are not passed down externally."

"I am not from the Artifact Hall." Tu Ziguan said. "The earth-shaking thunder was developed by myself. The circuits were engraved stroke by stroke by me. I can teach."

Master Huo looked at him for several breaths of time, then nodded. He reached out and slapped palms with Tu Ziguan.

Xie Feng's blind cane tapped the ground. "Master Huo. I also want to forge a cane."

Master Huo turned around. "What material?"

Xie Feng reached his hand into his sleeve. The moment his fingers touched the statue, the Gate Guide in his right eye socket twitched slightly. He pulled his hand out from his sleeve and spread his palm open; there was nothing in his palm.

That's right, this was Xie Feng's thought. Damn toad, can't I destroy you just because I can't see you?

Although there was a high probability it might not succeed, he had to try after all. At least in Cangyun City, Cthulhu-style elements could affect anomalies to a certain extent, and anomalies could conversely interfere with Cthulhu-style objects. That Formless Spawn carrying a hint of a fishy smell was the best proof.

In case it succeeded, at least he wouldn't have to carry this little foodie around everywhere every day.

When Master Huo's gaze landed on his palm, he saw nothing.

The flame in the furnace fire beam jumped fiercely the moment Xie Feng spread his palm. At the base of the flame beam, that extremely faint blue-white layer suddenly became clear once, twice, three times, completely synchronized with the breathing undulations deep within the statue's material.

Unfortunately, no one noticed.

Master Huo lowered his head, looking at Xie Feng's empty palm.

His light gray eyes reflected the light of the furnace fire, and the two charcoal-fire-like bright spots slowly narrowed. "There is something in your palm."

"There is a statue."

"I can't see it."

"If you could see it, that would be bad."

Master Huo reached out his hand. The moment his fingers touched the surface of the statue, the calluses on his finger pads suddenly tightened.

"This is not something from the Nine Provinces."

"You know your stuff, indeed it's not. Can it be forged?"

"No." Master Huo's palm wiped over the empty palm of Xie Feng. "This is not a material, this is alive."

"I can embed it into the head of the staff; you just need to find a staff body that can bear it."

"Can it really be forged? As expected of our Tianjin's Number One Master Huo!"

"Where is Tianjin? Let's make it clear first, you have to provide the Materials and expenses."

Xie Feng thought about it, and it was reasonable. He was penniless, and he couldn't make people work for free. However, before coming, all his Sect contributions were exchanged for physical objects. Later, he would look around in Ranhuo City to see if he could buy some good Materials back.

"Come find me after you find it." Master Huo withdrew his hand and looked at Tu Ziguan again. "I need three days. Come to pick up the gun barrel after three days."

Tu Ziguan disassembled the copper shell of the earth-shaking thunder, flattening the rune circuits on the forging table.

Master Huo lowered his head, his light gray eyes drawing close to those extremely fine grooves.