Forging Immortality: The Undying Blacksmith

Chapter 72: Watching the Storm Gather

On a moonless, windswept night.

Li Qing, a guest at the Dragon Gate Inn, sat cross-legged in his room. He was a motionless statue, simultaneously cultivating his Golden Body Art and the Turtle Breath Technique. Through this relentless, day-by-day accumulation, the Inner Force born from his Turtle Breath Technique had grown profoundly deep.

Suddenly, the night erupted. From the street below his window, the clang of steel rose in a sharp crescendo, accompanied by a chorus of war cries and death screams. It was a scene straight from a mortal hell.

It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. The Black Fiend Gang and the Lei Family were at it again, and tonight’s clash was exceptionally vicious.

The commotion stirred Li Qing from his meditative state. He slowly relaxed his posture and rose to his feet in a single, fluid motion.

“So this is Qingzhou,” he murmured. “You wouldn’t see a show like this in any other city.”

With that, Li Qing pushed open the window, leaning against the frame to watch the rare spectacle unfold. The Dragon Gate Inn was an imposing structure with several tall floors, and his superior room afforded him a sweeping, unobstructed view of the carnage several streets away.

Both the Lei Family and the Black Fiend Gang were apex predators in this city. When they went to war, it was nothing like the petty brawls of street thugs.

He saw two entire streets choked with bodies. Moonlight spilled down, catching on the edges of a hundred blades and fracturing into a thousand points of cold, deadly light.

“Kill them! Slaughter every last one of these Black Fiend Gang dogs!”

“Damn you, Lei Family animals! We’ll bathe your entire clan in blood tonight!”

The battle raged on, escalating in its ferocity. Severed limbs became a common sight. The coppery tang of blood grew so thick that even Li Qing, watching from his room, could smell it on the wind. The intensity was staggering, more akin to a small-scale war than a gang fight.

Though curious about the treasure that had sparked such a conflict, Li Qing had no intention of getting involved. In a meat grinder like that, not even an Outer Force master could guarantee their safety. And while Li Qing was confident in his own abilities, he felt not a flicker of interest.

Risking my life for some trinket of unknown origin? The height of foolishness.

It was completely unnecessary. He preferred to remain a spectator.

No matter how precious the treasure, could it possibly compare to the more than a century of life he still had ahead of him? Could it be worth more than the divine weapons he could forge with a bit of effort, or the entirety of the Extreme Night World, a virgin territory awaiting his exploration?

Even if he survived, what if he lost an arm or a leg? Who would raise his tiger cub then?

“Ah, Fantong,” Li Qing sighed, a hint of mock sentiment in his voice. “In this whole world, no one will ever treat you as well as I do.”

His gaze fell upon Fantong, who was sprawled on the floor, sleeping like a stone. A flicker of annoyance cut through his musings.

“Useless lump,” he cursed under his breath.

The war between the two factions dragged on until the early hours of the morning before finally sputtering out. No one would bother to count the dead. In Jingyang City—no, in all of Qingzhou—human life was cheap.

While Li Qing had chosen self-preservation, others weren’t so clear-headed. Many of the so-called martial experts staying at the Dragon Gate Inn had eagerly thrown themselves into the fray. He wondered how many would return in one piece.

Just as the fighting ceased, the city’s officials finally made their appearance, not to enforce the law, but to clean up the mess, clearing the battlefield for the two exhausted gangs.

Watching the constables reduced to street sweepers, Li Qing almost laughed out loud.

“Truly, the people of Qingzhou are a simple, honest folk,” he chuckled, closing the window and stretching out on his bed.

But before he could drift off, a piercing, agonized scream tore through the city’s newfound quiet.

“SUN QI! I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! AAAAAAGH! I SWEAR I’LL HUNT YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!”

It was a roar infused with such potent Inner Force that it carried for miles. Even inside the inn, Li Qing heard it with perfect clarity, a testament to the speaker’s incredible power.

Naturally, the other guests heard it too.

“Gods above, that level of Inner Force… That’s at least twenty or thirty years of hard cultivation.”

“Sun Qi? Isn’t that the name of Qingzhou’s Number One Sword?”

“How curious. Has even the Number One Sword set his sights on the treasure? Or did the Lei Family pay a fortune to hire him?”

“Let’s go see what happened!”

Murmurs of speculation rose from the other rooms of the inn.

Only Li Qing remained unmoved. He simply covered his eyes with his hand, yawned, and let himself sink into sleep.

To live a long life, you must master your curiosity and never meddle in affairs that aren’t your own. Give it ten or twenty years; the relentless current of time washes all secrets to the surface eventually.

Night receded as the summer sun climbed into the sky. A rooster’s crow soon echoed through the streets, rousing the city from its slumber.

“AWOO!”

A fierce roar from Fantong finally pulled Li Qing from his deep sleep. He stretched languidly, feeling a surge of vigor, as if his body held an inexhaustible well of strength. This was one of the great benefits of his training; he woke up like this every morning.

“Come on, boy. We’ll grab some supplies, then head straight for Chongning,” Li Qing said, patting Fantong’s head. He executed a perfect carp flip, landing lightly on his feet with startling agility.

He had just stepped out of his room when he nearly ran into a waiter who reeked of medicinal herbs, clearly having just made a delivery.

“Ah, good morning! Did you rest well last night, sir?” the waiter asked, his face instantly breaking into a professional smile.

Li Qing was in a good mood. He casually tossed the man a piece of silver. “Slept like a log in the second half of the night, though the first was a bit rowdy. What’s with the smell of medicine?”

The waiter’s eyes lit up as he caught the silver, and he instantly transformed into an open book.

“You’re too generous, sir! I was just delivering some salves and potions to the other rooms.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “I warned every guest who checked in, you know. Told them not to go out at night unless it was urgent, to stay clear of the Lei Family and the Black Fiend Gang. But do they listen? This morning, a few of them never came back at all. The ones who did… well, they were either bleeding from a dozen wounds or missing an arm or a leg!”

Towards the end, the waiter’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“You, sir, you look like a man who knows how to take good advice. See? It’s much better to stay safe and sound in the inn, isn’t it?”

Li Qing smiled. “Haha, I’ll admit, the treasure was tempting. But I value my life more. What in the world is more precious than that?”

“You see things with perfect clarity, sir!” The waiter gave him a thumbs-up.

Changing the subject, Li Qing asked, “That roar late last night woke me up. Someone was shouting the name Sun Qi. I seem to recall he’s Qingzhou’s Number One Sword. Who was that, and what happened?”

The waiter grinned. “You’ve asked the right person, sir! I just overheard some other guests talking about it.”

“It seems that right after the big fight, the leader of the Black Fiend Gang went home, only to find his entire family had been slaughtered by Sun Qi’s sword! And that mysterious treasure? Sun Qi took it!”

The waiter shook his head in disbelief. “Can you believe it? The gang leader hid the treasure in his own home, not at the gang’s headquarters!”

“They say you should never involve a man’s family in your disputes. That Sun Qi… he’s a ruthless one.”

Hearing this, a chill ran down Li Qing’s spine. He waved a dismissive hand. “Alright, that’s all. You can get back to your work.”

“Of course, sir! Just give a shout if you need anything!” The waiter scurried away, still smiling.

Never involve family?

Li Qing scoffed internally. Once a man was blinded by greed, there was nothing he wouldn’t do.

The so-called rules of the Jianghu were nothing but empty words.

He strode towards the inn’s entrance.

“Coachman, get the carriage ready. We’re leaving now.”