Becoming a god starting from blacksmithing

Footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.

The door lock is open.

Su Qingyan pushed open the door and entered, carrying a tray. Today she wasn't wearing the gray uniform jacket of the Enforcement Hall—she was wearing a light blue inner robe, buttoned up to the top. Her hair was still neatly tied up, with the hairpin in the same place as before.

She placed the tray on the ground in front of the iron chair. A bowl of porridge. A steamed bun.

"eat."

She walked to the table, sat down, opened the file, and began grinding ink. She held the ink stick in the same way she held a brush, keeping her wrist still and only moving her fingers.

Shen Chi glanced at her. He picked up the bowl of porridge and took a sip. It was lukewarm. Not too hot, not too cold, as if it had been timed perfectly to coincide with his waking up. After finishing the porridge, he ate the steamed bun as well. Su Qingyan didn't urge him.

The only sounds in the cell were the slurping of his porridge and the grinding of ink by her. The soft, rustling sound was like autumn leaves being crushed.

------

After Shen Chi finished eating, Su Qingyan took the bowl away and placed it by the door. She sat down again and pulled out a piece of paper from the file—it contained the contents of last night's interrogation.

"The Forbidden Techniques of the Ink Sect"

"The hammer you're carrying was given to you by Mo Chenzi. What did he teach you?"

Shen Chi looked at her. She didn't look at him; she was looking at the words on the paper.

"Weapon forging. He taught me how to forge iron with a hundred-forged hammer."

"What kind of iron?"

"Ordinary iron. He first taught me how to sense the temperature of iron."

Su Qingyan wrote a few words on the paper. The handwriting was the same as last night, with straight lines.

"Anything else?"

"Distinguish the material. The origin, tempering, and impurities of the iron will make each piece different."

"Mo Tie taught it too?"

Shen Chi paused for a moment. "I taught him."

Su Qingyan didn't press further. She waited for him to continue. Shen Chi remained silent. She looked at him for three breaths, then changed the subject.

Did he teach you how to forge weapons using the Oathfire?

Shen Chi hesitated for a moment. "...Yes."

"How was it made?"

"The seal of the heart ignites the flame of oath, encapsulating the iron—"

"I didn't ask about the steps," Su Qingyan interrupted him, the first time she had ever interrupted him. "I asked about the feeling. When he taught you how to forge weapons with the Oath Fire, what did your heart feel like?"

Shen Chi was taken aback.

Su Qingyan's tone remained unchanged, exactly the same as last night. But her question had changed—she was no longer asking about facts, but about experiences.

Shen Chi remained silent for a long time. Then he spoke.

"It's jumping. Because it can feel the iron in that fire."

Su Qingyan's pen stopped on the paper. She put it down and looked up at him. There was no scrutiny in that glance, only confirmation—what Shen Chi said and what she herself thought were on the same page.

She didn't press the matter further. She turned a page of the file.

"When did you leave Qingxi Town? Which road did you take?"

"After Old Man Mo died, the mountain path to the south."

Who did you meet on the way?

Shen Chi looked at her. She was asking a question he didn't want to answer.

"The people from the Tribunal."

Su Qingyan's pen didn't stop. She wrote on the paper at the same pace.

"several times."

"twice."

"Who helped you?"

Shen Chi did not answer immediately. Su Qingyan raised her head and looked at him. Her gaze was calm and unapproachable.

"People from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion."

Su Qingyan lowered her head and wrote a line on the paper. Shen Chi didn't know what she had written.

------

The interrogation lasted about half an hour. Su Qingyan asked a question, and Shen Chi answered or didn't answer; she didn't urge him. After asking a question, she would wait, three breaths, five breaths, or even longer. She knew that some answers needed time to surface.

Shen Chi encountered an opponent he had never faced before—an opponent who did not presuppose an answer.

"Does everyone in your Yansheng Pavilion know what the Heart-Locking Nail is used to press down?"

He glanced down at the shackles on his ankles. He'd been pinned down all night, his heart pounding dully, like a fire being suppressed underwater. He didn't know why he suddenly wanted to ask that question. Perhaps it was because he'd been holding it in all night; some things, if left unsaid, would fester inside.

Su Qingyan raised her head and looked at Shen Chi. Her gaze held scrutiny, as well as a very faint hint of surprise.

Why are you asking this?

"You stopped the people from the Tribunal last night," Shen Chi said. "Stopped what?"

Su Qingyan placed the brush on the edge of the inkstone, interlaced her fingers, and placed it on the table. Her movements were slow.

"The lock-heart nail is the source of disaster." Her voice was calm.

What is the source of this disaster?

"You don't need to know."

"How did you know that?"

Su Qingyan looked at him. Her gaze was calm, but Shen Chi saw a wall in those eyes—a wall that she herself hadn't been able to climb over.

"Because I've seen it," she said.

Shen Chi did not back down. "Where have we met before?"

Su Qingyan lowered her head and remained silent for three breaths. Five breaths. Then she picked up her pen again and turned to a page of the file.

Shen Chi saw the page he had turned to. It was blank.

"The lock nails suppress the warmth that a person should naturally possess."

Shen Chi uttered those words. His voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear and distinct.

Su Qingyan's eyelashes fluttered. Just once.

The cell remained quiet for a long time.

Then Su Qingyan spoke.

"You asked me a question last night—how many of them, after reviewing them, did I realize I was wrong at the beginning?"

She looked at him.

"You're the first person who makes me feel..."

She didn't finish her sentence. But her pen paused on the paper for a moment, then she lowered her head and wrote a very small line of text on the edge of the file. Shen Chi couldn't see what she was writing.

------

Suddenly, there was a knock on the cell door.

Su Qingyan stood up and walked to the door. She pushed the door open a crack, peeked in, and then opened it completely.

Shi Jian stood outside the door. He wore a dark blue Tianji Pavilion robe, followed by two Tianji Pavilion deacons, with silver-patterned tokens hanging from their waists. Shi Jian didn't speak, but first handed in a scroll of documents.

Su Qingyan took the book, unfolded it, and read it from beginning to end. She looked at it for a long time. Then she closed the book and looked up at Shi Jian.

"The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion has stepped in to bail him out. What are the conditions?"

"Attend the Weapon Debate. You are not allowed to leave Tian Shu City." Shi Jian's voice was not loud. "Gu, the head of the Enforcement Hall, has already signed it."

Su Qingyan's gaze lingered on the document for a moment. Then she looked at Shen Chi.

"If you abscond while on bail, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion will bear full responsibility. Shi Jian, do you understand?"

"I heard you clearly."

Su Qingyan didn't ask any more questions. She turned back to the table, took a stamp from the drawer, dipped it in cinnabar, and stamped it on the release record. The vermilion stamp landed on the paper. She pushed it aside, then pulled out another piece of paper from the bottom of the drawer and handed it to Shi Jian.

"The Adjudication Division will not let this go. This is a temporary protection order from the Enforcement Hall, valid only during the proceedings. They won't dare to act inside the hall, but outside—you'd better watch out."

Shi Jian took the paper, didn't look at it, and put it directly into his sleeve.

Su Qingyan stood up and walked to Shen Chi. She knelt down and unlocked the shackles on his ankles.

The moment the black fragment left his skin, Shen Chi's heart skipped a beat—like a spring that had been compressed all night and suddenly released, blood rushed back to his chest, and for a moment he even felt his heart burning. A faint red mark was left on his calf, but he didn't look at it. He just moved his ankle, and the joint clicked.

Su Qingyan stood up.

"Your hammer is in the cabinet in the lobby. Say my name."

Shen Chi stood up. His legs were still a little numb, and it took him a moment to steady himself. As he walked to the door, he glanced back at her.

Su Qingyan sat at the table, head down, writing on the blank page that had been turned over.

------

The doors to the Hall of Law Enforcement closed behind him.

The sunlight beat down on him. Shen Chi stood on the steps for three breaths before his eyes adjusted to the brightness. In the early morning in Tian Shu City, the sky was grayish-white, and people were already walking on the streets. He squinted.

There are people across the street.

A-Zhu squatted on the ground, her chin resting on her knees, her gaze fixed on the entrance to the Hall of Law Enforcement. She saw Shen Chi come out but didn't run over. She stood up, brushed the dust off her skirt, and then looked at him.

Shen Chi walked down the steps.

Ah Zhu reached out and touched his wrist.

"The light is still there."

Shen Chi looked up and saw Mo Huaizhou leaning against a pillar not far away, arms crossed. After seeing him come out, he didn't say anything, turned around and walked towards the inn. Shen Chi followed. A-Zhu walked beside him.

The three people walked on the streets of Tian Shu City. The morning light shone through the city walls and fell on the stone pavement, casting long shadows on them.

------

Iron Anvil Inn. Second floor room.

Shi Jian closed the door, pulled three sheets of paper from his sleeve, and spread them out on the table. The first sheet was the rules for the weapon debate. The second sheet was the list of participants, dozens of names densely packed together. The third sheet was the list of judges, arranged in three rows.

Shen Chi's gaze fell on the list of judges.

His gaze stopped on the second line: Law Enforcement Hall · Su Qingyan (Reviewer).

"She applied on her own initiative," Shi Jian said.

Shen Chi remained silent. He stared at the name; the ink had dried, and it was printed in standard dossier font.

"The Weapon Debate will begin in three days." Shi Jian put away the three sheets of paper. "Prepare well during these three days. The Hundred Crafts Institute has taken the top rank, and the Weapon Debate is a joint meeting of the three factions, so the rules are different. There will be people from the Enforcement Hall and the Judgment Division present."

Shen Chi nodded. Shi Jian glanced at him, said nothing more, and went out.

The room fell silent.

Shen Chi reached out and touched the Hundred-Refined Hammer.

Outside the window, under the gray sky of Tian Shu City, several chains extended from the tall tower in the center of the city and disappeared into the mist.

He held the hammer handle, feeling the slight warmth emanating from it.

three days later.

Su Qingyan is on the judges' panel.

And he will show her that the light when the heart's imprint burns is not a disaster.