Forging Immortality: The Undying Blacksmith

Chapter 100: It’s You

City Lord Qin’s public guarantee to find the killers was a massive concession of face to the Dahe Gang. Every eye in the courtyard snapped to Jia Dachun, waiting for him to accept the olive branch.

Instead, Jia Dachun fell completely silent. He sat rigidly in his chair, staring blankly ahead.

Seeing the obstinate refusal, the temperature of Qin Xiu’s voice dropped into the freezing margins. “Leader Jia. Whether you agree or not, I expect an answer.”

The shift from ‘Jia Dachun’ to ‘Leader Jia’ was subtle but devastating. It was the formal, icy address of a warlord drawing a line in the sand.

Hidden in the shadows behind Ke Luoda, Li Qing finally tasted the true flavor of the evening.

So, this birthday banquet isn’t a peace summit at all, Li Qing mused, a faint smirk touching his lips. It’s a mafia sit-down. And this entire courtyard is a trap built specifically for Jia Dachun.

Fascinating.

Jia Dachun maintained his stubborn silence. The atmosphere in the manor grew so heavy it felt suffocating.

Ge Wen, the President of the Red Fish Chamber of Commerce, finally stepped in to shatter the tension. “Hahaha! It seems Leader Jia needs a moment to chew on the offer. City Lord Qin, didn’t you promise us wine tonight? Bring it out! Let these men wet their whistles!”

“It’s been years since any of us had a real drink,” Ge Wen added, his bright red nose practically glowing with anticipation.

Qin Xiu gave a cold snort but offered a curt nod to his staff.

Servants quickly emerged from the manor, carrying three small, dust-caked clay jars. It was a pitifully small hoard—barely enough to fill two or three small pots per table. The extreme scarcity of alcohol in the Extreme Night World was glaringly obvious.

As the sharp, intoxicating aroma of fermented grain wafted over the tables, the suffocating tension in the courtyard finally began to thaw.

The gang leaders cradled their small ceramic cups like holy relics, taking microscopic sips, terrified of wasting a single drop.

Only two men in the entire courtyard ignored their cups: Li Qing and Jia Dachun.

Li Qing enjoyed a good drink, but he had zero interest in sipping thimble-sized portions like a starving beggar. Finding it utterly unfulfilling, he subtly slid his cup toward Ke Luoda. He wasn’t the only subordinate to do so; across the courtyard, bodyguards were tactfully surrendering their shares to their respective bosses.

If alcohol is this heavily prized, Li Qing thought, calculating the economic leverage, I should start brewing my own. It would be the ultimate currency to buy loyalty or trade for high-tier resources.

Jia Dachun, meanwhile, was playing a different game. He waited, watching the men around him drink. Only after confirming that no one was choking on poison did he finally pick up his cup and drain the vintage wine in a single, rough gulp.

Clack!

He slammed the empty cup down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “City Lord Qin,” Jia Dachun growled. “You say you’ll investigate the murders. But how do I know you won’t just drag some random street trash out to take the fall?”

He leaned forward, his voice rising in volume. “My three dead brothers were apex fighters! Even a seasoned Outer Force expert would have to bleed to put them down!”

Qin Xiu’s ascetic facade vanished completely. His face was a mask of pure, absolute zero. “Are you implying that you no longer trust this old man’s word?”

Suddenly, Jia Dachun’s eyes bulged, the whites flashing a violent, bloodshot red. With a roar of pure rage, he grabbed the edge of his heavy wooden table and flipped it.

Crash! Plates, food, and precious wine shattered across the cobblestones.

“Damn you! The wine is spiked!” Jia Dachun bellowed, his voice ragged.

Absolute panic erupted across the courtyard. Gang leaders dropped their cups, staring at Jia Dachun and the City Lord in sheer terror. They had all drunk the wine! If it was poisoned, they were all dead men!

Yet, at the head table, Qin Xiu and Ge Wen remained perfectly relaxed, casually picking at their food.

“Leader Jia, what madness are you spouting?” Ge Wen asked smoothly. “We all drank from the same jars. Brother Qin and I drank it. Why aren’t we poisoned?”

The panicked gang leaders blinked, suddenly realizing they felt perfectly fine. The men sitting at Jia Dachun’s table patted their own chests, confirming they weren’t dying.

But Jia Dachun was fighting for his life. His breathing grew jagged and desperately heavy. He could feel his vital energy rapidly dissolving into an empty, sickening void. His muscles were turning to water.

“The cup…” Jia Dachun gasped, staring at the shattered ceramic at his feet. “It was the cup!”

He glared up at the head table, his bloodshot eyes burning with a hatred so absolute it bordered on madness.

“It was you!” Jia Dachun roared, pointing a trembling finger at the City Lord’s Manor. “Your people slaughtered my brothers! No wonder my boys couldn’t find a single trace of evidence pointing to the rival gangs. It was you, Qin Xiu, you treacherous old dog!”

He staggered, fighting the paralyzing toxins. “You and Ge Wen… you had the motive. You two old tyrants just couldn’t stomach the idea of someone else breaking into the Inner Force realm, could you?!”

Boom!

A terrifying, concussive wave of pure physical power erupted from Jia Dachun’s body. He forcibly detonated his own vital energy, violently churning his blood qi to forcefully burn out the paralyzing toxins.

The sheer kinetic shockwave of his aura confirmed the impossible.

Jia Dachun had secretly broken through to the Inner Force realm!

Gasps of shock rippled through the courtyard. The Dahe Gang’s leader had operated in the shadows for years, quietly accumulating enough power to rival the city’s apex predators. If the City Lord hadn’t forced his hand tonight with poison, no one would have ever known.

Qin Xiu slowly rose from his chair, his own monstrous Inner Force aura flaring to meet Jia Dachun’s.

“Jia Dachun,” Qin Xiu said, his voice echoing like grinding stones. “You repeatedly disrespect my authority. You ruin my banquet. Did you truly believe that just because you scraped your way into the Inner Force realm, you were untouchable?”

As the City Lord spoke, the synchronized, heavy thud of marching boots echoed from the streets outside. The metallic shriek of drawn steel rang out as dozens of elite, heavily armed guards appeared over the courtyard walls, their crossbows leveled directly at the Dahe Gang.

The trap had sprung.

Jia Dachun bared his teeth like a cornered beast. He knew he was staring down a death sentence.

“You think I’m just going to roll over and die?!” Jia Dachun roared. “Shi Dong!”

A heavily scarred, ferocious-looking man stepped out from the shadows of the Dahe Gang’s table, moving to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his leader. This was Shi Dong, the gang’s second Outer Force expert and Jia Dachun’s most loyal pillar.

Together, they glared up at the utterly relaxed figures of Qin Xiu and Ge Wen.

“I only have one question,” Jia Dachun snarled, his eyes burning. “How did you know? I never breathed a word of my breakthrough to a living soul.”

Neither Qin Xiu nor Ge Wen bothered to answer. They looked down at Jia Dachun with the cold, clinical detachment of men inspecting a corpse.

The utter dismissal snapped the last thread of Jia Dachun’s sanity.

“Fuck you! Shi Dong, with me!” Jia Dachun roared, his blood qi flaring to a blinding peak. “We kill these two old dogs tonight! Tomorrow, Giant Rock City is ours!”

“Boss. I’m right behind you,” Shi Dong said, his voice grave and heavy.

“Let’s go! Kill them!”

Jia Dachun surged forward, his Inner Force cracking the cobblestones beneath his boots.

He took exactly three steps before his momentum violently collapsed.

Jia Dachun froze mid-stride. A horrible, wet tearing sound echoed over the silent courtyard. Slowly, agonizingly, he looked down at his own chest.

The tip of a razor-sharp dagger was protruding from his sternum, having been violently driven straight through his spine from behind. The bone-chilling cold of the steel was the clearest thing he had ever felt.

Drip. Drip.

Hot blood splattered onto the cold cobblestones. The sound was deafening in the absolute silence.

Jia Dachun painfully wrenched his head over his shoulder, desperately trying to understand. His dying eyes locked onto the familiar, scarred face of his most trusted brother.

Shi Dong’s face was a mask of cold, clinical indifference.

“It’s you…” Jia Dachun whispered, blood bubbling from his lips.