Forging Immortality: The Undying Blacksmith

Chapter 94: Hunting Wolves

Li Qing had never forged trigger-action animal traps before, but the mechanics were hardly a mystery. After a brief study of the rusted sample provided by the Sand Crocodile Gang, he easily deciphered the required spring tension and release mechanism.

Within two days, ten heavy-duty iron traps sat complete on his workbench.

He was using a thick iron rod to test the bone-crunching snapping force of the steel jaws when Miao Qi finally scurried into the shop, bursting with news.

“Brother Li, I got it!” Miao Qi panted, his eyes wide with excitement. “The Red Fish Chamber of Commerce just put out a massive bounty. They received reliable intel that there are fresh tracks of a wolf pack down south, out in the Tree Mushroom Forest!”

Li Qing slowly lowered the iron rod, giving his operative his full attention.

“The Chamber publicly announced that anyone who brings back a live wolf will get a staggering three hundred money crystals, plus a dose of something called a Blood-Generating Pill!” Miao Qi continued. “The money is one thing, but that pill… word on the street is that if a martial artist swallows it, it can artificially force a massive surge in their vital energy and blood!”

A Blood-Generating Pill? Li Qing rubbed his chin, his mind working rapidly.

“How many local forces are moving on this?”

“Almost all of them,” Miao Qi replied immediately. “The Sand Crocodile Gang, the Fist Mountain Gang—every faction with enough blades to form a hunting party is mobilizing as we speak.”

Li Qing gave a curt nod. “Take these traps and deliver them to the Sand Crocodile Gang. Afterward, keep your eyes fixed on the City Lord’s Manor and the Red Fish Chamber of Commerce. Watch their every move.”

“Consider it done!” Miao Qi thumped his chest confidently before hauling the heavy sack of iron traps out the door.

Alone in the quiet forge, Li Qing closed his eyes and began to process the variables.

The Tree Mushroom Forest to the south had once been a dense, thriving woodland during the Age of Sunlight. When the sun died and the normal flora rotted away, towering mutated mushroom trees had claimed the corpses of the old forest. Finding a surviving wolf pack there meant the forest supported a fully functioning, predatory ecological food chain.

Finding wolves isn’t the real shock here, Li Qing mused. It’s that Blood-Generating Pill.

Outer Force martial artists were essentially in the ‘Body Forging’ realm. Stepping into this stage required mercilessly tempering the flesh until vital energy and blood naturally overflowed, generating raw physical power. In the old world, achieving this merely took bitter, agonizing training and a steady, heavy diet of meat.

But in the starving Extreme Night World, simply eating one’s fill was a luxury. Without abundant calories and nutrition, cultivating vital energy was nearly impossible. A pill that bypassed that starvation barrier? For desperate martial artists stuck at the threshold of Outer Force, the temptation was absolute.

Breeding beasts from the Age of Sunlight, and now synthesizing Blood-Generating Pills… As an Inner Force expert, Li Qing had zero personal need for such a drug. What fascinated him was the source. Who was compounding these pills, and through what methodology?

There has to be an Otherworlder pulling the strings behind the Red Fish Chamber of Commerce, Li Qing concluded. His wariness toward the merchant guild deepened into a cold, calculating caution.

Fueled by greed and ambition, a frenzy swept through Giant Rock City. Capturing a single wolf meant three hundred crystals—enough to buy two prime Armored Pigs—and a pill that could manufacture an Outer Force enforcer. Even the desperate commoners were tempted to try their luck.

For a few days, the southern gate was a chaotic bottleneck. Soon after, the city streets grew eerily empty, swept clean of its usual underworld riffraff.

Through it all, Li Qing remained as patient as a stone idol. He didn’t actively chase opportunities; he waited for the perfect moment to strike, quietly synthesizing the intelligence Miao Qi gathered while maintaining his blacksmith cover.

Nearly half a month later, the first wave of hunters finally returned. And they didn’t come back empty-handed.

A massive commotion erupted at the southern gate. A group of rugged men marched through, hauling a large, violently struggling gray wolf heavily bound in thick ropes. They headed straight for the Red Fish Chamber of Commerce, drawing massive crowds of curious onlookers.

“Gods above, so that’s a wolf,” a bystander gasped, shrinking back from the beast’s bared fangs. “Look at those eyes! It looks like it wants to rip our throats out.”

“Tsk. I heard there used to be a beast called a tiger that was ten times worse, but they’re all gone now.”

Many citizens born in the eternal dark had only ever heard of wolves in bedtime stories. Seeing a living, breathing predator sent a collective shiver down their spines.

The captive wolf was the prize of the True Martial Gang, personally brought down by their leader. He was a broad-shouldered man with a square jaw and thick eyebrows, radiating a boisterous, heroic aura.

“Second Brother!” the gang leader boomed, slapping his lieutenant on the back. “When we get that Blood-Generating Pill, it goes straight to you! Once you break through to the Outer Force realm, our True Martial Gang will have two true experts! Who in this city will dare deny us face then?”

He turned to his exhausted but grinning men. “And you all earned your share! Once we cash in, we’re buying a fat Armored Pig! Tonight, we feast on meat, and we split the rest of the crystals evenly!”

Cheers erupted from his men, their loyalty thoroughly cemented.

Following the True Martial Gang’s triumphant return, the rest of the surviving factions began trickling back into the city. A lucky few brought their own spoils. Most, however, returned empty-handed—and deeply bitter.

Outside the protective walls of Giant Rock City, the wilderness was a lawless void. Morality didn’t exist in the dark; only the size of a man’s fist mattered. If a gang couldn’t track a wolf, they simply ambushed the gangs that did. If I can snatch it from your dying hands, it’s mine. As a result, the returning gangs brought a heavy, volatile tension back with them. Blood debts had been forged in the mushroom forest.

The imposing shadow of the City Lord’s Manor kept open warfare off the streets, but the underworld was notoriously impulsive. A few days later, a gang known to have robbed another faction outside the walls suddenly went quiet. Three of their core members were found slaughtered in their own homes—only discovered when the stench of rotting flesh finally drifted into the streets.

Giant Rock City was instantly thrown into an uproar!