Yin Yang Soul Searcher

Outside Zhengshan Hall.

Cheng Yanbing, with his unremarkable appearance, looked at his junior sister speechlessly. He was currently carrying large bags of pastries in both hands...

Tang Weiwei wore a light blue dress, her skin as white as snow, her nose delicate and pretty, and her large, clear eyes, like fallen stars, sparkling. At that moment, her mouth was bulging like a squirrel's as she ate the pastries she had just bought.

Originally, Tang Weiwei was going to the Yin-Yang Palace to provide clues, but halfway there she started fussing about wanting to eat pastries from Tangxinzhai. Since she didn't have enough money on her, she asked her senior brother to pay for them.

Cheng Yanbing refused righteously. This junior sister would spend any money she had on pastries, which infuriated her master, who then stopped giving her any money. Each month, she was only given a pitiful amount to satisfy her cravings.

Unfortunately, this junior sister said she wouldn't run errands for you anymore, and that she would tell your master about how she had lied to him.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yanbing thought, "How can this be?" The lies she had told her master were enough for him to whip her corpse. She could only gently persuade her and bought her some pastries before finally arriving late.

After the official finished his report, Cheng Yanbing and his junior sister entered the courtyard.

Just as I reached the middle of the courtyard, I heard a noise from a room on the east side, and then the door was opened...

Han Xueshan wore her hair in a high ponytail, and her smile was as warm as the sun. Her clothes were slightly wrinkled, but she didn't look disheveled.

Standing at the entrance, looking refreshed and invigorated, I hadn't felt this good in all the days I'd been at the Yin-Yang Palace. Even the air felt sweet to me now.

"Miss Han, what's making you so happy?" Cheng Yanbing greeted her with a smile.

"Oh, it's nothing," Han Xueshan replied with a smile, and then greeted Tang Weiwei.

Inside the house, Bai Jueming lay sprawled on the floor, her hair disheveled. Staring at the rafters, she looked utterly despondent, tears streaming down her face.

Bai Jueming's actions fully demonstrate the saying, "When a young woman is strong, a young man will be subdued..."

Han Xueshan's attack was relatively restrained; her face was only slightly swollen. However, both her arms were already swollen from the beating, and her chest was so heavily pounded by the small fists that she couldn't move.

Upon hearing the voices outside the door, Bai Jueming screamed uncontrollably, "Is that Brother Cheng? Come save me!"

Cheng Yanbing, who had greeted Han Xue before, was taken aback: "Brother Bai is inside?"

Han Xueshan nodded somewhat awkwardly and stepped aside to open the door.

Upon entering the room, the two were quite surprised to see Bai Jueming lying on the floor. Tang Weiwei, who had been eating pastries, even stopped eating.

Cheng Yanbing's eyes widened in disbelief, then something flashed through his mind. He turned to look at Han Xueshan, who stood there with an embarrassed expression.

Cheng Yanbing pointed at Bai Jueming with trembling fingers, then looked at Han Xueshan and said incoherently, "This...this...you two, in broad daylight!" Couldn't you have waited until night? Or just not opened the door at all! The child is still here!

"Junior Sister, go find Hall Master Zhengshan first, don't keep him waiting. I have something to say to them." Cheng Yanbing said seriously, pushing his junior sister out of the room.

"Oh," Tang Weiwei said, leaving with a pastry in her mouth, somewhat confused.

After shooing her junior sister away, Cheng Yanbing squatted down, looked at Bai Jueming who was panting, and shook her head: "You two, sigh... never mind. Let the young people do whatever they want..."

Han Xueshan gave an awkward twitch of her lips. Why did she feel like there was something hidden in his words?

"Brother Cheng, you've misunderstood." Bai Jueming said, his face swollen, his words slurred. "Please save me first, and I'll explain later."

Cheng Yanbing didn't believe she had misunderstood anything. She silently took out a pill from her sleeve and put it into Bai Jueming's mouth. She explained, "You only have some superficial injuries, plus bruises on your face and arms. Take this pill, and you'll be fully healed in half an incense stick's time."

Bai Jueming returned a grateful look.

Half an incense stick later.

Bai Jueming, now full of energy, handed Cheng Yanbing a cup of hot tea. He also explained why he had become that way.

He had originally intended to spar with Han Xueshan using their cultivation techniques in seclusion, and he had even managed to paralyze her. However, she possessed a healing pill, while he did not. Having suffered this loss, Han Xueshan had just opened the door to find a healing pill for him... He hadn't expected to find him here, Brother Cheng.

Han Xueshan had seen Bai Jueming spout nonsense without batting an eye more than once. Hearing this, she merely curled her lip in disdain. She was about to utter a few sarcastic remarks.

Turning around, he saw Bai Jueming's face contorted in pain, his eyes filled with hope, as if pleading, "Please, brother, give me some face."

Forget it, I was assigned to protect him after all. If I beat him up now, I'll be in the wrong if word gets out...

"Is that really all?" Cheng Yanbing looked at Han Xueshan with some disbelief.

Han Xueshan nodded seriously.

Just then, Tang Weiwei returned, her light blue skirt swaying as she entered the room and swallowed the last bite of pastry with difficulty.

Bai Jueming very gentlemanly handed her a cup of hot tea. Han Xueshan rolled her eyes at the sight.

"Thank you." Tang Weiwei took the hot tea and took a sip.

"Thank you is fine, no need for that 'ya'," Bai Jueming thought to himself. "That sounds more like 'thank you,' doesn't it?"

After clearing her throat, Tang Weiwei continued, "Master Zhengshan said that many masterminds have been identified in this case, but it is still impossible to confirm who did it."

"He said I could tell him if I had any more clues, but I said no, and then the leader told me to come back."

"Wait, girl, you went in, ate a bite of pastry, and came out?" Bai Jueming wanted to complain...

Cheng Yanbing pinched her brow helplessly. She was supposed to arrive with Luo Wuju and listen to the case analysis. It was all her junior sister's fault for being so greedy...

Bai Jueming had no choice but to clear his throat: "Brother Cheng, let me tell you about the case..."

Next, Bai Jueming reiterated everyone's speculations, explaining how the mastermind had lured Haifeng away and then needlessly sabotaged the formation...

Cheng Yanbing nodded repeatedly as he listened, which made him think of something: Could the array master who appeared in the incident of the lost pills be the same person who did it? Which faction did he belong to?

After Bai Jueming finished speaking, Cheng Yanbing looked preoccupied: "What exactly is this formation master trying to do? First, he used the formation to steal the pills, and then he deliberately destroyed the formation. What's the point of doing this? Is he just deliberately causing us trouble?"

"We don't know yet." Bai Jueming sighed. The waters here are far too murky. Like I said, if someone can figure it out, I'll eat my words...

The room fell silent for a moment, save for the sound of Tang Weiwei unpacking the pastry bag...

A moment later, Cheng Yanbing stood up, stretched, and prepared to take his leave.

"Since my junior brother went to repair the formation, the task of forging weapons for Yunzhou has fallen to me again." Cheng Yanbing suddenly felt a little annoyed. He hated war too much. Whenever there was a need for war, he had to forge weapons day and night to expand military supplies.

Seeing his expression, Bai Jueming asked, "Is weapon forging difficult, Brother Cheng?"

"It's not that it's difficult, it's just that His Majesty suddenly went crazy again the other day, complaining that the magical artifacts made by our Craftsmen's Hall were breaking down too quickly, and wanted us to re-develop a more durable material. It's easy to say, but it seems like he doesn't have to make them himself, huh!" Cheng Yanbing muttered under his breath, not caring at all that he had insulted the second emperor.

Holy crap, are all the people in the Craftsmen's Hall this arrogant? They're openly cursing the emperor for being crazy in broad daylight...

Han Xueshan stood aside, pretending not to hear. No wonder she was trained by the Emperor's brother-in-law; she dared to speak so disrespectfully to the Emperor...

After thinking for a moment, Bai Jueming said, "Couldn't we strengthen the array formations on the weapons? Wouldn't that make them more durable?"

Cheng Yanbing sighed: "I've thought about it too, but His Majesty said that the cost would be too high. Weapons are consumables, and even with the wealth of Great Xia, it would be difficult to support large-scale production."

This is a classic case of wanting the horse to run but not wanting it to eat grass...

More durable materials... Thinking of this, Bai Jueming took out a shiny black dagger from his sleeve.

This was a magical artifact given to Bai Jueming when he first joined the Yin-Yang Palace. It was uniformly crafted by the Craftsmen's Hall, so light that it was as light as a feather, yet it could cut through iron like mud.

"Why are you holding a dagger?" Han Xueshan asked, somewhat puzzled.

"This material looks pretty good." Bai Jueming held the dagger in front of him and carefully stroked it.

"Brother Bai, you don't think that all magical artifacts forged in battle are made of this kind of material, do you?" Cheng Yanbing chuckled.

He then explained, "These daggers are made from the finest ores, and the array on them is so complex that it's impossible to mass-produce them."

Bai Jueming remained silent, then reached out and tapped the blade lightly with his fingernail. The dagger emitted a crisp, cold sound, and Bai Jueming knew in his heart that this metal was iron.

Is this really top-quality material? Has the Great Xia Dynasty not yet mastered steelmaking technology?

Bai Jueming closed his eyes and pondered for a moment.

Then he slowly said, "Brother Cheng, I have a method here to increase the strength and toughness of materials. I wonder if you would be willing to give it a try."

"You?" Cheng Yanbing looked at him with some surprise, dragging out the last syllable, clearly not quite believing in Bai Jueming's methods.

"I never expected you could refine weapons!" Han Xueshan's tone was full of sarcasm.

"No? It's one thing for professionals to look down on me, but you, a Taoist tomboy, look down on me too?" Bai Jueming didn't rush to refute, after all, he didn't know if this method would even work.

Bai Jueming once came across a piece of popular science information on a short video platform, explaining how ancient people made steel...

"Brother Cheng, I can offer you some theoretical support, but you'll have to handle the specific operations and details yourself. Don't blame me if you fail." Bai Jueming spoke with righteous indignation; the above was all a disclaimer.

Cheng Yanbing found it a bit funny, but after thinking about it, she agreed, since she didn't have any particularly good methods herself.

Bai Jueming carefully recalled the video content, and then said thoughtfully, "Put iron-containing ore and charcoal together in a furnace and heat them at a specific temperature."

Bai Jueming's speech slowed down, and some of the content became unclear to him.

"The iron in the ore is reduced to solid bloomery iron. Then the bloomery iron is heated in a charcoal fire for a long time, allowing it to absorb the carbon in the charcoal fire, increasing its carbon content, and thus turning it into steel."

"......."

After saying that, Bai Jueming slammed the dagger heavily onto the table, stating with certainty, "Its material is even better than this dagger!"

"What the hell?"

Cheng Yanbing tilted his head and scratched his ear: "Say it again, I didn't understand. I know about charcoal, but what is carbon content? And why does it turn into steel?"

Well, if I knew that clearly, I wouldn't have issued a disclaimer... I'm just a keyboard warrior myself.

Bai Jueming could only shake his head: "Brother Cheng, this is just a theory. I don't know the specific principles behind it either."

"You just need to keep refining it using this method to get a material that's even better than iron. However, you'll have to control the heat and time yourself during the refining process."

Cheng Yanbing looked at him in disbelief: "How do you know this theory?"

Han Xueshan looked at him with great surprise. Where did he get so much knowledge? Could it be from the black market?

According to Bai Jueming, if it could truly be refined into steel, it would be a major event that would significantly boost the nation's strength!

After all, the material cost is not high. When the time comes, it can be mass-produced for the army. How much of an effect would it have on the battlefield? I can't even imagine.

Bai Jueming gave a mysterious smile: "This inspiration came from short videos."

"What is a short video? Is it a book?" Tang Weiwei asked curiously.

Cheng Yanbing and Han Xueshan both looked at him with curiosity.

Bai Jueming smiled mysteriously, offering no explanation. He couldn't very well say he'd traveled from another time, could he? Let them guess.