Forging Immortality: The Undying Blacksmith

Chapter 8: The Sun That Vanished

As Old Man An stepped into the courtyard, his eyes fell on Li Qing, clad only in a thin shirt despite the chill. He let out a heavy sigh. “Master Li, have you taken up martial arts?”

Brimming with energy, Li Qing nodded. “Just some basic exercises,” he said, playing it down. “A bit more strength makes the forging easier.”

In this world, a master craftsman commanded respect. It was why men like Yan San and Old Man An treated him with such deference. In an Obsidian City where nine out of ten homes stood empty, skilled blacksmiths were a dying breed. Those with Li Qing’s talent were rarer still.

Old Man An’s gaze drifted to the pile of newly forged sickles stacked against the wall, a flicker of sorrow in his eyes.

“Ah, I used to see plenty of martial artists in my youth,” he lamented, shaking his head. “But now… it’s a rare sight. With nothing growing in the fields, how can anyone train to a high level?” He turned back to Li Qing. “Master Li, if you have questions, please ask. This old man has no great virtues, but I’ve lived a long time and seen a thing or two. I should be able to answer most of what you want to know.”

Li Qing’s mind raced. *Many martial artists in his youth? That means food wasn’t scarce back then.* It confirmed his suspicion. The Extreme Night World hadn’t always been dark; a civilization like this couldn’t have developed in eternal night.

Decades ago, there must have been a sun.

This was the question that concerned him most.

“Old Man An,” Li Qing began, probing carefully, “are you saying crops used to grow in the fields?”

The old man paused, momentarily taken aback. He looked at Li Qing’s youthful face and gave a bitter smile. “Aye, that’s right. Several decades ago, there was a sun in the sky. You’re a young man, Master Li. I suppose you’ve never even heard of it?”

“It was a great, blazing orb of light, brighter than a thousand of those red moons. You couldn’t look straight at it, or it would blind you!”

“When the sun was in the sky, the world was warm. Real food grew from the earth—things far more delicious than these Black Wheat Mushrooms.”

Once on the topic, Old Man An became quite talkative, painting a vivid picture of the sunlit era for Li Qing.

Then one day, the sun simply didn’t rise. The world plunged into darkness, and cold and hunger have been its masters ever since.

So much time has passed that the sunlit days are now just legends, stories told by old men like him. The younger generations hear them as myths. How can you believe in something you’ve never seen?

“You’re a child of a bitter fate, Young Master Li,” Old Man An sighed, a deep yearning for the past in his eyes. “Heh, living in this sunless world, eating nothing but Black Wheat Mushrooms… we all share a bitter fate.”

Li Qing remained silent, offering neither comfort nor doubt.

Instead, he asked, “Where did the sun go? Why did it disappear?”

Old Man An was surprised. He had expected skepticism, not a follow-up question. His own granddaughter would just roll her eyes whenever he brought it up, dismissing it as an old man’s ramblings.

His voice took on a distant, reminiscent tone. “I don’t know. No one does. Back then, some said we angered the gods, and they took the sun as our Penalty.”

In the chaos that followed, charlatans peddling all sorts of doctrines sprang up, preying on the desperate to gather followers and wealth. But as the darkness dragged on, even they faded away. The world grew emptier.

It was a chilling thought, but if not for the discovery of the Black Wheat Mushroom, the entire Extreme Night World might have fallen silent, every last person succumbing to the cold and dark.

Soon, Li Qing posed his third question. “And the Yan Family, acting like tyrants… is there no one to keep them in check?”

He needed to know if any semblance of a government or official authority still existed in this region.

Old Man An’s answer didn’t surprise him.

“There was, back when the government still stood. But the government is long gone. Now, in Obsidian City, the Yan Family’s word is law.”

Li Qing’s eyes narrowed. No government? Then it made no sense. How could the Yan Family have traded Black Wheat Mushrooms for the secret techniques of powerful martial arts schools?

If he were a powerful martial artist on the brink of starvation, his first instinct wouldn’t be to trade away his life’s work. It would be to storm the Yan Family’s granary. The starving don’t trade; they raid.

The fact that the Yan Family could protect such a massive food supply was, in itself, a testament to their power.

They either had a stable of formidable enforcers or a powerful backer hiding in the shadows.

Either way, the Yan Family was not a force he could afford to provoke. Not yet. Best to keep his head down and stay off their radar.

Li Qing’s thoughts sparked and danced like embers in the forge. He set the damaged iron pot over the furnace, letting the heat soften the metal. A repair this simple was child’s play for him. It would take but a few moments, a few well-placed strikes of the hammer.

While working the metal, Li Qing asked his final, most pressing question. “Are there other cities near Obsidian City?”

Old Man An answered without hesitation. “Of course. Head out the west gate and keep walking, and you’ll reach Giant Rock City. It’s much larger than Obsidian City. To the south, there’s Black Earth City. Most of the coal we burn comes from there.”

He then added a stern warning. “But Master Li, don’t you even think of traveling far from the city alone. The roads are treacherous. A man on his own is a dead man!”

Listening to the old man’s advice, Li Qing brought his hammer down with a final, ringing blow, the pot perfectly restored.

“Alright, I have no more questions. Old Man An, you can take your pot back.” Li Qing handed the still-warm vessel to him.

Gratitude filled the old man’s face. “Young Master Li, thank you so much!”

Li Qing saw him out and secured the courtyard gate behind him.

The conversation had been illuminating. His understanding of this world had sharpened, the vague outlines of its history and politics now filled with grim detail.

“The sun disappeared… angered the gods?” Li Qing murmured to himself, then shook his head.

In this life, as in his last, he was a staunch atheist.

He could accept the existence of beings with immense personal power, but the idea of a petulant god snatching away the sun was absurd.

With a quiet, cynical scoff, Li Qing returned to his room, ready for a deep sleep. Since beginning his training, he’d come to value his sleep more than ever. At least in the endless dark of the Extreme Night World, there was plenty of time for that.