Forging Immortality: The Undying Blacksmith

Chapter 47: News

A rooster’s sharp, piercing crow shattered the predawn silence, jolting Li Qing from his deep meditative state.

The sky was just beginning to pale. Inside the forge, the furnace fire had dwindled to embers, yet Li Qing felt no trace of the morning chill.

After a solid night of cultivation, he was stunned to discover a strange, new sensation stirring within his meridians.

With a focused thought, it flowed through him like a warm current. The feeling was incredibly subtle, as fine as a silk thread, almost imperceptible unless he concentrated completely.

After several more attempts, Li Qing finally confirmed the reality of it.

“I’ve cultivated Inner Force.”

Inner Force.

It was the hallmark of all internal martial arts. To successfully cultivate even a sliver of it meant he had finally crossed the threshold into the Novice stage.

The realization sent a jolt of shock and joy through him, and a wide grin he couldn’t suppress spread across his face.

Unlike the brute force of external arts, internal cultivation was a matter of talent. Countless martial artists could obtain a superior internal manual and still fail to ever produce a single wisp of Inner Force.

This was precisely why Li Qing had shelved the Turtle Breath Technique. The progress had been agonizingly slow, months passing with no discernible improvement. He hadn’t even been able to reach the Novice stage; he had the will to train but no path to follow.

He never would have imagined that by practicing the Turtle Breath Technique in tandem with the Golden Body Art, the two would create a synergistic effect, allowing him to generate Inner Force in a single night.

Of course, his previous months of thankless effort had laid the foundation for this breakthrough.

Even so, if word ever got out that he possessed compatible external and internal arts that could be cultivated simultaneously, the entire martial world would descend into madness.

*This secret must be buried,* he thought grimly. *If anyone found out, even the grandmasters of Inner Force would hunt me down.*

He had no desire to become the public enemy of the Jianghu, spending his days looking over his shoulder for assassins.

Feeling refreshed and invigorated by his newfound Inner Force, Li Qing stepped out into the early morning streets, the irrepressible smile still on his face.

“Master Li, good morning! Care for a bowl of wontons?” the owner of the neighboring stall called out with a grin.

Li Qing returned the smile. “Absolutely! Two bowls, and don’t be shy with the chili oil!”

Before long, two steaming bowls of wontons were placed before him, glistening with red chili oil. The fragrant, spicy aroma was enough to make anyone’s mouth water.

“Master Li, where’s young Qi today?” the owner asked casually.

The question made Li Qing pause. He blinked, only then remembering that Qi Kang had left the night before. He had ordered two bowls out of pure habit.

“Ah, him,” Li Qing said, his tone softening slightly. “Said he had some family matters to attend to back home. Probably won’t be back in Shengtian for a while.” He then dug into his meal.

The owner simply smiled, draped his cleaning rag over his shoulder, and went about his business.

As Li Qing focused on finishing both bowls of wontons, a man at the next table suddenly shouted with excitement.

“It’s a ceasefire! A ceasefire! The Imperial Court has stopped the war with Liang Country!”

The loud declaration drew a few curious glances, but the other diners quickly lost interest and returned to their meals.

For the common folk of Shengtian, the border wars were a distant rumble. As long as the fighting didn’t reach the capital’s gates, it was someone else’s problem. In their eyes, the army of Liang Country, though formidable, was no match for the Feng Country’s elite Wuli Army, a force composed entirely of martial artists. Their faith in the court was absolute.

Li Qing, however, gave it a moment’s thought.

A ceasefire was predictable. Neither side had any real incentive to continue fighting for the time being. With the onset of deep winter, the grassland horse bandits had vanished, and neither army could gain a decisive advantage. To keep fighting would be to senselessly pile up bodies.

Events had unfolded just as he’d reasoned. As the blizzards intensified, the opportunistic horse bandits withdrew from the conflict. With their proxies gone, Liang Country and Feng Country finally agreed to a truce to wait out the brutal winter.

Previously, Liang Country had repeatedly used their massive triple-bow ballistae to shatter the gates of the border fortress, Wangyuan City. But thanks to the Wuli Army’s desperate defense, a breached gate was all they ever achieved; they could never take the city itself.

After a long and bloody stalemate, both sides had finally chosen peace.

The price had been steep. The Wuli Army, 18,000 strong at the start, had suffered over 6,000 casualties. Liang Country’s losses were even more staggering, exceeding 10,000 in their failed attempts to seize the city.

But the Wuli Army’s losses were of a different quality. Nearly 20 of their centurions—all Outer Force martial artists—had been killed. Even a chiliarch, a powerful Inner Force master, had fallen on the battlefield.

These reports were a knife to the heart of the Wuli Army’s commanding general and a bitter pill for the Imperial Court to swallow.

*Even a master of Inner Force died out there. The battlefield is a terrifying place,* Li Qing mused, reviewing the intelligence he had gathered himself.

To the public, the casualties were just numbers on a page. But Li Qing knew better. They weren’t just numbers; they were a debt paid in blood and silver, a staggering cost. The court poured a fortune into training every soldier of the Wuli Army, and the cost to cultivate Outer Force and Inner Force warriors was astronomical. Now, not only were those investments lost, but the court also had to pay out massive, unavoidable pensions to the families of the fallen.

“Whatever the cost, the war is over for now,” Li Qing sighed, setting down the report from the border.

Without Qi Kang around, he had to gather all his own information now. The inconvenience was a sharp reminder of the boy’s absence, and he found himself missing his apprentice.

Over the next few days, Li Qing returned to his routine: hammering away in the forge to earn his lifespan, while diligently practicing his martial arts in his spare time. Occasionally, he would stop by the inn on the next street, listening to the loose-tongued patrons for any whispers of happenings in the Jianghu.

Finally, a rumor about Xiaocui Ridge surfaced.

“There’s been a killing! They found bodies on Xiaocui Ridge!” a man declared loudly.

At his words, several martial artists in the inn froze, their eyes narrowing. It was clear that the strange events surrounding Xiaocui Ridge were no longer a well-kept secret.

“Brother, care to elaborate?” one of them asked, leaning forward.

“That’s right! Tell us what happened. It’s been ages since any news came from that place,” another chimed in.

Faced with their eager questions, the man who broke the news simply wore a mysterious smirk, taking his time.

The innkeeper, however, was a savvy man. He immediately stepped in. “Esteemed guest, your drinks are on the house today. Do tell everyone what you know about the matter on Xiaocui Ridge.”

Only then did the man flash a satisfied grin.

“Hahaha, it’s not exactly a state secret. You all would have heard about it in a few days anyway,” he said, savoring the attention.

“That Xiaocui Ridge…”