Balance Keeper

The wind in Red Willow Valley carried the tang of rust, making the 铁皮 (tin) sign of the smithy creak. Ye Ningzhou supported Su Muyao as they stood before the shop, gazing at the smoke-blackened wooden door. Above it hung a faded wooden plaque carved with "Old Shi's Forge," tiny iron filings embedded in its strokes.

"This is the place?" Su Muyao's voice held a trace of weakness. The scorch marks on her fox tails had scabbed over, but still throbbed faintly. She glanced at the pile of scrap iron by the door, thick with rust—untouched for years, it seemed.

Ye Ningzhou was about to knock when the door suddenly burst open from inside. A short, stocky figure charged out, brandishing a hammer. Sparks from the anvil showered over him: "Who's the idiot that—"

The curse died when he spotted the iron ring on Ye Ningzhou's finger. The figure dropped the hammer with a clang, his cloudy eyes widening as he grabbed Ye's wrist: "That ring… it's Wang Cheng's! Where is he?"

It was Shi Laoshuan. Even shorter than Ye had imagined, his back curved like an archway. His severed left arm was wrapped in sheet metal; his exposed right arm was crisscrossed with burns and scars, his palm calluses harder than the black iron talisman brush.

"Uncle Wang…" Ye's Adam's apple bobbed. "He was gravely injured by Butcher Li in Blackstone Town. I'm afraid…"

"Butcher Li?!" Shi Laoshuan with a rush let go, the hammer slamming into the ground with a thud. "That Demon-Slaying Alliance dog! Breaking my arm three years ago wasn't enough—now he dares touch my junior brother!" He dashed into the shop, reemerging with a red-hot pair of tongs, their tips smoking. "Kid, show me the way! Today I'll crush that bastard's bones to dust!"

"Uncle Shi!" Ye blocked him. "Uncle Wang sent me to find you. He said you could help me temper a weapon." He nodded at the giant axe on his back. "This was Butcher Li's. I want it to taste the blood of the Demon-Slaying Alliance."

Shi Laoshuan's rage froze. He stared at the axe, then at the faint cyan glow of the Dao Seal on Ye's chest. Suddenly, he squatted down, pounding his stump arm against the ground with dull thuds: "It's all my fault… If I hadn't greedily horded those Spirit Void Stones back then, Wang Cheng wouldn't have taken that blade for me…"

Su Muyao watched, quietly stepping back behind Ye. She could feel the old man's epidemic pathogenic factors —not a cultivator's spiritual energy, but a mortal's fierce courage, like red-hot iron, too scalding to approach.

"Spirit Void Stones?" Ye recalled Wang Cheng mentioning Old Shi had once visited Broken Boundary Cliff.

Shi Laoshuan stood abruptly, wiping his face, and stalked into the shop: "Get in." His voice was rough as sandpaper. "Wang Cheng had a sharp eye. If he trusted you, you're no fool."

The smithy was larger than it looked from outside. A mountain of iron chunks filled one corner; the central furnace blazed with cyan flames. On a stone platform beside it lay a palm-sized fragment, glowing faintly with spiritual light—a Spirit Void Stone.

"Picked it up at Broken Boundary Cliff back then," Shi Laoshuan ran a hand over the stone, his calloused fingertips rasping against its surface. "It can awaken the spiritual essence in mortal iron. Weapons tempered with it can carry talisman energy."

Ye laid the giant axe on the anvil. Its Demon-Breaking Glyphs shimmered in the furnace light, as if still clinging to the stench of Butcher Li's blood.

"To forge it into a talisman weapon, we'll need your blood and the Dao Seal's power," Shi Laoshuan hefted his hammer, striking the anvil to send up a shower of sparks. "Mortal iron recognizes its master. Once tempered, no one else can wield it—not even the one who forged it."

Ye said nothing. He picked up a shard of porcelain, slicing his palm, and let the blood drip onto the axe. The moment it seeped into the iron's grain, the Dao Seal flared hot. Cyan light surged down his arm into the axe, its blade glowing with a resonant hum.

"Good!" Shi Laoshuan's eyes lit up. He tossed the Spirit Void Stone fragment into the furnace. "Turn up the heat!"

The cyan flames roared higher, lapping at the axe, burning away rust and lingering malice. Shi Laoshuan's hammer fell, each strike landing precisely on the nodes of the Demon-Breaking Glyphs. His blows were so powerful the ground trembled. He hummed a strange tune, like an ancient forging song, the sheet metal on his stump clanging in time with the hammer—an uncanny, perfect rhythm.

Su Muyao leaned against the wall, watching Ye Ningzhou's blood intertwine with the Dao Seal's light on the axe blade. She suddenly recalled a line from her grandfather's journal: "Mortal iron has no spirit, yet gains life through unyielding resolve." This mortal-boned cultivator and the mortal blacksmith seemed to grasp the weight of "resolve" better than those so-called noble spirit-vein cultivators.

Before long, Shi Laoshuan's quenching stopped. He lifted the giant axe from the cold water, and through the billowing steam, its blade now glowed with a dark golden light. The Demon-Breaking Glyphs merged with the Spirit Void Stone's radiance, rippling with faint cyan—a mortal talisman weapon, forged.

Ye Ningzhou grasped the handle, feeling an almost blood-like connection to the axe. He channeled the talisman energy from his black iron brush into it; the blade flared instantly, its glyphs projecting a half-arc of light that split a scrap iron in the corner cleanly in two.

"This axe will grow with your cultivation," Shi Laoshuan wiped sweat from his brow, the perspiration on his tin stump drying white under the furnace heat. "Wang Cheng always said Abyss Guardians' weapons should be made of mortal iron—so they stay grounded, know warmth from cold."

Ye hefted the axe. It was thirty percent lighter, yet felt sturdier somehow. He suddenly understood: tempering spirit into mortal iron wasn't about the metal. It was about the smith's 执念,the wielder's blood.

"Thank you, Uncle Shi."

Shi Laoshuan waved him off, dragging a wooden box from beside the furnace. It held yellowed diagrams: "These are talisman patterns Wang Cheng and I collected back then. They'll work with your black iron brush." He paused, glancing at Su Muyao. "Ten-Thousand Demons girl, don't push yourself with those burns. I've got ointment made from red willow roots—mortal stuff, but take it if you don't mind."

Su Muyao froze. She'd expected this mortal smith to hate demons like other humans, but not this.

Shi Laoshuan had already stoked the furnace back to life. The hammer fell again—clang, clang—infusing even Red Willow Valley's wind with heat. Watching his hunched form, Ye suddenly thought of the smithy not as a shop, but a fortress, guarding something more precious than spiritual veins.

The dull thud of hammer on anvil echoed through the shop. Sweat beaded on Shi Laoshuan's forehead, mixing with furnace grime to streak his cheeks. He stopped, grabbing a wet cloth to wipe the axe, pointing to new patterns on its surface: "See? These are Spirit-Absorbing Glyphs. They'll store your talisman power. When you meet tough foes, you'll get a few extra swings."

Ye leaned closer. The glyphs were finer than the Demon-Breaking ones, coiling like tiny snakes across the axe, writhing faintly with his breath. The Dao Seal burned in his chest, resonating strangely with the patterns—as if the mortal talisman weapon had become an extension of his arm.

"It needs a name," Shi Laoshuan tossed a chunk of coal into the furnace, flames crackling. "Wang Cheng named his brush 'Black Iron.' This axe… deserves something fiercer."

Ye ran a hand over the handle, recalling Butcher Li's dying screams, Wang Cheng's bloodied leg, Su Muyao's charred tails. These images churned in his mind, condensing into two words: "Lie Xie (Rend Evil)."

"Rend Evil?" Shi Laoshuan tasted the words, then grinned, his toothless gums showing. "Good! Rend all evil under heaven—has a kick to it!" He swung his hammer, chiseling a rend into the handle's end. Sparks settled into the grooves, like cinnabar ink.

Su Muyao watched the character, her tails twitching slightly. She'd seen divine weapons of Southern Region cultivators—swords inlaid with gems, silk-wrapped whips—with elegant names, but none burned as hot as "Rend Evil." It sounded like it could shatter all filth in these Nine Mystic Realms.

The quenching water suddenly bubbled. Shi Laoshuan's eyes sharpened: "We have visitors."

Ye grabbed Rend Evil; the Dao Seal burned in warning. Su Muyao's tails tensed, foxfire coiled in her sleeve, ready.

The shop door pushed open. Three cultivators entered, led by a unfamiliar face in Demon-Slaying Alliance robes, a token carved with "Wind Scout" at his waist. He glanced at Rend Evil on the anvil, then Shi Laoshuan's stump, sneering: "Old man, still pounding iron? Leader Xiao wants you in Blackstone Town. Got questions."

Shi Laoshuan's hammer hovered, furnace light painting his face crimson: "About what?"

"About where that mortal-boned Ye Ningzhou is. About what treasure that old bastard Wang Cheng hid." The scout's hand rested on his sword hilt, his spiritual aura radiating early Qi-Convergence pressure. "Be smart and come quietly. Otherwise…"

His words cut off as Shi Laoshuan slammed his hammer into the anvil at his feet. Sparks singed the scout's trousers, making him leap back: "You court death!"

"Leave." Shi Laoshuan's voice cold as tempered steel. "Wang Cheng's business isn't for Alliance dogs to meddle in."

The scout laughed bitterly: "Guess we'll do this the hard way." He drew his sword, its blade glowing red. "Heard you could once take on Qi-Convergence? Let's test how tough mortal bones really are!"

As the sword stabbed for Shi Laoshuan's throat, Ye moved. Rend Evil whistled through the air, its Demon-Breaking Glyphs flaring to shatter the red light. The scout hadn't expected the mortal-boned cultivator to strike, hurry ly parrying—only to have his tiger's mouth numbed by Rend Evil's brute force.

"The brat's here too!" The scout's surprise turned to glee. "Capturing you'll earn me Leader Xiao's reward!"

His two followers lunged, burning talismans in their palms to conjure fire snakes coiling for Ye's legs. Su Muyao Sighing coldly,flicking foxfire—pink flames collided with the snakes, scattering them into sparks. Even injured, she handled two Condensation Realm cultivators easily.

Ye pressed his advantage, Rend Evil chopping for the scout's face. Infused with the Dao Seal's cyan light, its Demon-Breaking Glyphs streaked faster than Mountain-Crushing Fist, more direct than Phantom Steps.

The scout's sword flew from his hand. Staring at the approaching axe, fear finally flickered in his eyes: "How can a mortal bone—"

Rend Evil silenced him. Its blade sliced through his spiritual shield, Demon-Breaking Glyphs erupting to purge lingering malice. The scout's scream choked off as he crumpled, his unblinking eyes still reflecting the split on the axe.

The remaining two cultivators fled, but Su Muyao's foxfire blocked their path, forming a cage. Flames licked their robes, leaving them trembling on the ground.

Shi Laoshuan approached with his hammer, ignoring the two cultivators entirely. His gaze fixed on the blood coating Rend Evil, and he let out a heavy sigh. "Wang Cheng always said, 'Kill less, leave a way out.' But in this world... leaving a way out is just digging your own grave."

Ye Ningzhou wiped the blood from the axe blade. Rend Evil's cyan light rippled in his palm, humming as if satisfied. He knew this mortal talisman weapon would taste far more blood from now on.

The coppery stench in the smithy was masked by furnace smoke. Shi Laoshuan kicked the cowering cultivators aside, then used his tongs to drag the Wind Scout's corpse into a corner. "Bury it under the red willow roots tonight. Good fertilizer." His tone was casual, as if discussing a scrap of iron.

Su Muyao retracted her foxfire, faint burn marks from flying sparks visible on her crimson dress. "The Demon-Slaying Alliance has a nose like dogs. They'll send more men soon enough." She looked at Ye. "Your Rend Evil is sharp, but not sharp enough to fend off an army."

Ye ran a finger over the Spirit-Absorbing Glyphs, still tinged with the scout's spiritual energy. "Uncle Shi, can we add more to the tempering?"

Shi Laoshuan arched a brow. "What do you have in mind?"

"Talismans." Ye pulled out The Abyss Guardian's Manual, flipping to the page on "Explosive Ignition Talismans." "I want Rend Evil to channel talisman power—enough to split an array with one swing."

Shi Laoshuan stared at the talisman patterns, then laughed. "Wang Cheng wasn't lying. You've got guts to dream. For mortal iron to channel talismans, we need 'Talisman Fusion Water'—mixed from black iron powder, cinnabar, and your blood. Lucky for you, I've got black iron scraps."

He rummaged through the wooden case's bottom, producing a clay jar of silvery powder—leftovers from the black iron talisman brush. Su Muyao watched the powder, suddenly recalling the "human-weapon symbiosis" methods in her clan's ancient texts. So the Abyss Guardians' secrets had always hidden in such ordinary things.

Ye sliced his palm, letting blood drip into the jar. Shi Laoshuan added cinnabar, stirring rapidly with his hammer handle. The Fusion Water turned dark red, glowing strangely, with a sharp scent blending the Dao Seal's bitterness and cinnabar's spice.

"Heat the axe till it's red-hot." Shi Laoshuan handed over the jar, then began hammering the anvil in a faster rhythm. "The Fusion Water needs to hit while it's scorching—so the talisman glyphs and Spirit-Absorbing Glyphs weave together completely."

Ye tossed Rend Evil into the furnace. Cyan flames roared upward. The axe glowed crimson, like a searing brand, its Spirit-Absorbing Glyphs writhing as if alive. He took the jar, drew a deep breath, and doused the red-hot blade.

Sizzle—

White smoke billowed. The moment Fusion Water seeped into the axe's lines,the Explosive Ignition Talisman patterns emerged on its edge, weaving with the Demon-Breaking and Spirit-Absorbing Glyphs into a net. The Dao Seal burned fiercely in his chest, pouring more power into the axe than ever before. Rend Evil let out a dragon-like roar, shaking the smithy's tin sign.

"It worked!" Shi Laoshuan's voice cracked with excitement. "This axe can store three Explosive Ignition charges now. Just shout ' rend' to trigger them!"

Ye gripped the handle, feeling spiritual energy and talisman power flow through the axe like a living thing—as if he held a flame ready to detonate. He channeled one Explosive Ignition charge; the blade flared red, the air itself growing hot.

"Good lad. Now you can even take on late Qi-Convergence." Shi Laoshuan clapped his shoulder, the tin stump digging into Ye's flesh. "But remember—no matter how sharp the weapon, it needs a tough hand to wield it. Tempering spirit into mortal iron forges the weapon... but tempers the man."

Su Muyao watched the three-colored glyphs dance on Rend Evil, then spoke. "The Alliance has spies all over the Eastern Region. From Red Willow Valley to Ten-Thousand Wood Ridge, one every fifty li." She pulled a map from her sleeve, marked with countless cinnabar dots. "My clan's scouts drew this. If you're leaving, go via Broken Boundary Cliff."

Ye took the map, his fingers brushing the cinnabar marks. He thought of Su Muyao's charred tails. This fox demon never said much, but gave him the most vital intelligence.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I'll heal here." Su Muyao glanced at Shi Laoshuan. "The old man's red willow ointment works better than Ten-Thousand Demons' Moonlight Pills."

Shi Laoshuan snorted, stoking the furnace. "Who said I'd nurse you? Use the ointment and get out. You're in the way." But he pulled a clay pot from the wooden case,setting it beside her—the red willow ointment.

Ye slung Rend Evil over his back, taking one last look at the smithy. The furnace blazed, the hammer fell, Shi Laoshuan's silhouette flickering in firelight. Su Muyao bent over, applying ointment, her scorched tails stark in the candlelight.

These images etched into his memory, like the Dao Seal's glyphs.

He left Red Willow Valley as the moon reached its peak. Rend Evil trembled faintly on his back, as if matching his heartbeat. Ye knew the road ahead held more spies than Blackstone Town's sand, more Alliance pursuers than Butcher Li's axe. But he wasn't afraid.

For his axe held mortal iron's resilience, talisman power's fury, and the Dao Seal's balance.

And behind him stood an unquenchable forge, a grumbling mortal smith, and a fox demon who pretended to disdain him—yet slipped him a map.