The Great Song Dynasty's Soul-Forging in Progress

Liu Xinyi did not struggle.

She simply looked at her grandfather quietly, her gaze complex—a moment of understanding, a deep worry, and an indomitable resilience.

She got it.

This is a scheme targeting her, but even more so a scheme targeting Wang Zhonghua and the entire Sanyi Village.

With a gentle flick of her wrist, the constables retreated hastily. She snorted coldly, "You needn't bother. Until the truth comes out, I'll stay put and do as you please. If anyone intends to harm me, who am I, Liu Xinyi, afraid of!"

As he spoke, he slightly pressed down with his foot, leaving a deep footprint on the blue brick.

The constables looked at each other, and dared not step forward again.

Liu Xinyi took one last look at her grandfather before turning and leaving.

The slender figure disappeared into the corner of the corridor without looking back.

The night was deep and dark, like ink spilled across the sky, even the stars seemed to be tainted by this turbid world, hiding deep in the clouds.

Inside the Sanshenglu Medical Clinic in Huluwan, the candlelight flickered dimly.

Liu Jueming sat in front of the medicine cabinet, as if his soul had been ripped from his body. His hands, which once had the power to bring the dead back to life, now trembled so badly that he couldn't even hold a teacup. Tea spilled all over the floor, but he didn't notice, only staring repeatedly at the dried green streak on his fingertips.

"The poison...it's the Jade Silkworm Gu..."

When Lü Sanjun arrived after hearing the news, this usually shrewd and worldly-wise man, upon hearing what had happened, was so shocked that his teacup shattered: "That Chen Shimei! He's trying to destroy our spirit!"

He paced anxiously, the blue bricks cracking inch by inch: "Nephew Wang entrusted Sanyi Village to me, and now Xinyi is unjustly accused, our rear is on fire, and the war at the front is in grave danger! Chen Shimei's elaborate scheme is designed to cut off all our chances of survival!"

He abruptly stopped: "I will immediately mobilize all eighteen merchant firms, risking everything, to get this news to the Privy Council and then to the highest court!"

"It's useless." Liu Jueming spread his palms, the emerald green trace under the candlelight gleaming eerily. "Chen Shimei dared to use the forbidden Gu from the Western Regions because he calculated that there were no more than three people in the world who recognized this poison. We have no proof, and we'll only be accused of framing him. Besides..."

His voice suddenly rose: "He calculated that Zhonghua's nephew would definitely return to rescue Xinyi, and then he would pin a charge of 'absconding' and 'attempting rebellion' on him, and then Sanyi Village would truly be finished!"

Meanwhile, outside the steel plant in Lüjiachang, Sanyizhai, several furtive figures were wriggling in the darkness.

"Hurry! This batch of steel must be shipped out before dawn!"

"Keep your voice down! If we alert someone, we're all doomed!"

Unbeknownst to them, in the attic above their heads, the blacksmith, Old Qin, was watching them coldly.

He was clutching a note in his hand—it was given to him by his daughter before she left.

"Father, Chen Shimei's men will come to steal steel tonight. Don't move, let them steal it."

At first, Lao Qin didn't understand what his daughter meant.

Now he understands.

Only when things go wrong in the backyard can those in the front feel at ease.

The stolen steel will become evidence in the future. Those who stole the steel will become witnesses.

My daughter isn't going to her death.

She was going to set an even bigger fire.

Old Qin gripped the note tightly, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes, clouded by the smoke from the iron and fire.

"Steal, steal," he muttered. "The more you steal, the faster you die."

Before he could finish speaking, the door was pushed open with a bang.

Three dark figures stumbled in; they were the same men who had been lurking suspiciously outside the steel mill earlier. They carried heavy sacks on their backs, the steel ingots inside clanging against each other with a dull metallic sound.

"Old Qin!" The leader ripped off his black mask, revealing a face full of bulging muscles—it was Chen Wu, the head guard of the Chen family. "Lord Chen has ordered that this batch of steel is stolen goods from your collusion with us to smuggle official iron! Why don't you surrender now?"

Old Qin stood on the attic, looking down at them. His cloudy eyes showed no panic, only an indescribable mockery.

"Chen Wu, your master is quite the schemer." He spoke slowly, his voice hoarse like a leaky gong. "He made me watch you steal steel, then framed me. That way, the charge of stealing and selling government iron will be confirmed, and my daughter won't escape either."

Chen Wu sneered, "Old man, you do understand now. Too bad you understand too late! Men, seize him!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than more than twenty armed constables rushed into the attic and surrounded Old Qin instantly.

Old Qin remained motionless.

He simply clutched the note in his hand, the one his daughter had slipped to him before she left. The note was soaked with the sweat of his palm, the ink blurred, but the words on it remained clearly visible—

"Father, let them steal it."

He suddenly laughed.

In the dim candlelight, that smile bore a resemblance to his daughter, Qin Tiehua—stubborn, proud, and with a chilling edge.

"Chen Wu, do you think I really don't understand?" Old Qin slowly raised the note in his hand. "My daughter anticipated this move. She had me watch you steal, not to sit and wait to die, but to make you—steal with more peace of mind."

Chen Wu's expression changed.

"You old fool, you—"

Old Qin suddenly tore open his shirt, revealing a dense array of scars on his chest—marks left by thirty years of blacksmithing, traces of countless times being splashed by molten iron, medals etched by time onto this man.

"I've never had any real skills in my life, all I know is blacksmithing." He spoke each word clearly, his hoarse voice now booming like a bell, "But the knives I forge can kill, and they can protect! The one my daughter carries, the one Wang Zhonghua carries, the one Anjian carried during the bandit suppression in the snowstorm—they were all forged by the masters of my Lüjia Village! And you? People are bleeding, and you're stabbing those bleeding people with knives, have you no conscience at all..."

Chen Wu's face twitched as he shouted, "Take him down! Take him down now! And send men to capture Qin Tiehua immediately!"

The constables swarmed forward.

Old Qin did not resist.

He simply stood there, letting those rough hands push him to the ground. His cloudy eyes remained fixed on Chen Wu, a smile playing on his lips.

That smile sent a chill down Chen Wu's spine.

"What are you laughing at?!"

"I laugh at you—" Old Qin, pinned to the ground with his face pressed against the cold tiles, laughed even more heartily, "I laugh at you thinking you've won. But let me tell you, heaven is watching!"

He paused, then his voice suddenly lowered, as if he were muttering to himself:

"Girl, your father has no skills in this life, only blacksmithing. But take this knife I forged, and use it to... cut a path for your father."

Chen Wu kicked him in the face: "Old bastard, you're asking for it!"

Old Qin was kicked so hard his face was covered in blood, but he was still laughing.

The laughter echoed through the steel mill, as unrestrained as the north wind, yet as scalding as molten iron.

The Three Lives Abode at the same moment.

"I'm going to Bianjing to file a complaint with the Emperor," Qin Tiehua's resolute voice interrupted Lü Sanjun.

"Absolutely not!" Lü Sanjun exclaimed urgently. "It's eight hundred li away; Chen Shimei must have already drawn up a map and laid a trap! You are Zhonghua's betrothed; how could he possibly..."

"Precisely because I am his betrothed," Qin Tiehua slammed the knife down on the table, the blade sinking three inches into the wood, "precisely because Chen Shimei will not let me go, I should go even more."

She said, word by word, "In this world, only I can tell the people who should hear about the evil deeds of that bastard Chen Shimei, the injustice suffered by Xinyi, and the predicament of China."

She turned to Liu Jueming: "Divine Doctor, I want you to write down the ins and outs of the Gu poison, word for word."

"Where should we write it?" Liu Jueming smiled bitterly. "Everything we do is under Chen Shimei's surveillance. Letters will be searched. Even if we hide them in the most secret place, they won't escape his eyes."

Qin Tiehua drew his "Jinghong" sword, the blade gleaming coldly in the candlelight.

Write it here.

She tapped the spine of the knife—the hollow spine made a distinctive sound.

These were three swords secretly commissioned by Wang Zhonghua from the Lü family's ironworks, specifically for transmitting top-secret information. The spine of the blade is hollow, allowing a piece of silk as thin as a cicada's wing to be concealed. Once sealed, they would be completely undetectable to outsiders.

Liu Jueming's eyes lit up, then dimmed again: "But if Chen Shimei searches him..."

"He won't have a chance to search," Qin Tiehua said coldly, "because I won't let him catch me."

Inside the secret room, Sun Kui, the Mad Dog, and twelve other elite members of the "Dark Arrow" team had already assembled.

When Qin Tiehua walked in, everyone stood up.

"Sun Kui, choose nine people, no, twelve people." She glanced around, "You, me, and ten more brothers, divide into three teams."

Sun Kui was taken aback: "Miss Qin, you mean...?"

Qin Tiehua placed the "Jinghong" knife on the table and pointed to the spine of the blade: "Here are the truth about Gu poison written by Doctor Liu, evidence of Chen Shimei's collusion with bandits, and the secret letter that Brother Zhonghua asked me to keep."

Her gaze was sharp as a knife: "I want three teams to set off simultaneously. One team will take the official road, making a big show of it to attract the pursuers. Another team will take the waterway, bypassing the Grand Canal to confuse them. I will take the back roads, crossing mountains and valleys, heading straight for Bianjing."