God Of Forges Chapter 7: Jewmaxxing

A couple of days would pass…

As Xiao Jian walked through the hallways and corridors of the Xiao Clan, his appearance split crowds like Moses split the Red Sea. The younger clansmen wanted no part of him after what had happened to Xiao Ning. ‘Cripple’ or not, he absolutely manhandled the most talented Xiao Clan member in his generation… minus Xun’er. 

Before he could quite leave, he was met with the head elder at the clan’s exit.

“Pardon me, head elder, I’m doing a little shopping-”

As he tried to walk past, the elder body blocked him.

Xiao Jian looked down with a slight frown. Though he towered over the elder, the strength difference was like heaven and earth. The head elder was only second to his father and a distinguished Dou Master in the Wu Tan City, after all, while Xiao Jian was still a 5-star Dou Disciple.

“You are not leaving the clan’s premises until you answer for what you did to my grandson.”

“... And how should I answer for it?” Xiao Jian questioned with a patient tone.

“Hmph, you broke his wrist yet speak so casually of it?”

“We got into a fight, I got hurt, he got hurt… shit happened.” Xiao Jian shrugged nonachalantly. “I got a good number of bruises from him. Should I go cry to my father too?” 

“...” The head elder frowned. “You-”

“Head elder, is there a problem?” Xiao Zhan walked up from behind the head elder.

“Yes, you know full well. Xiao Jian went too far!”

“It was a duel - one that they mutually accepted. You know that plenty worse things can happen than a broken wrist or a couple of bruises in such cases. We should consider what happened to be fortunate.” 

Xiao Zhan looked perfectly calm, masking his overwhelming pride in his son. In a single fight, he had silenced every elder and youth in his generation all at once.

“...”

Truth be told, the head elder had no grounds to deny the Clan Leader’s wishes. In this case, he was entirely right. 

“From what I hear, your grandson was also the main aggressor in said duel… perhaps he learnt that his actions have consequences that day.”

“...”

With a ‘hmph’, the head elder turned away. Xiao Zhan briefly showed a look of displeasure. Lecture and discipline my son… he does he think he is?

Afterwards, Xiao Zhan turned to Xiao Jian.

“Going shopping, hm?”

“Yeah.” Xiao Jian’s smile brimmed with confidence. “The words I spoke weren’t just words full of air. I’m going to make gold out of them.”

“... Eh.” Xiao Zhan chuckled warmly as he observed his son’s aura. Yes, this was the Xiao Jian that once shook the Jia Ma Empire. “You’ve already made me proud enough, Jian’er. No one can call you a cripple when you’ve beaten the best of your generation.”

“That’s not enough…”

Xiao Jian shook his head with a look of determination, walking past his father.

“...”

Xiao Zhan smiled.

‘He’s going to do it again, isn’t he?’

~

In three months, Xiao Jian would swiftly advance to Dou Disciple 9 by abusing the Foundation Elixir four times over. Being on the verge of Dou Practitioner, Yao Lao gave him a new set of ingredients to gather for the Qi Gathering Pill… and they, to his dismay, were out of reach for his current funds.

“Haaah, you're too poor.” Yao Lao shook his head. “How unfortunate.”

“Not my fault the ingredients cost a mountain of gold.” Xiao Jian rolled his eyes.

“Blacksmith money is too shallow, after all…” Yao Lao chuckled. 

“What if… you made some pills and I auctioned them off?”

 “Hmmmmmmmm…” Yao Lao stroked his chin. “Yes, I could do that. One condition, however. You must pay your long overdue respects to your master.”

“... Sure.”

He decided to swallow his pride and rely on Yao Lao’s alchemy to make some money. His growth up to this point had been dramatic, and Xiao Jian had no intention of stopping. 

He dutifully cupped his hands and lowered his head.

“Disciple Xiao Jian greets Master.”

“... Huh. This is a strange sight, indeed.” Yao Lao smiled slightly. “Very well, I shall officially be your master from this day forward.”

…

Using a good portion portion of his remaining savings, he bought enough ingredients for ten inferior Foundation Elixirs and put Yao Lao to work. Afterwards, he rubbed his hands. 

“You won't use any disguises?” Yao Lao questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Why should I? Besides, even if I did…” Xiao Jian looked at his feet and back at Yao Lao. “Don't you think my height and skin are a little too recognizable?

“... You are one distinguished kid.” Yao Lao nodded in acknowledgement. “Ah, how troublesome. Couldn't you be a bit shorter?”

“I'll just tell them my master made it and was too lazy to auction it himself.”

“Playing the part of errands boy, eh?” Yao Lao chuckled. “It could work, I suppose.”

…

And so, he got a bag full of elixirs and went his way to the Premier Auction House. Knowing the routine, he went across the lavish hall and straight to the Inspection Room. It was empty for once, with a bored man looking half asleep within. Upon Xiao Jian’s thundering steps, he woke all too suddenly with a disgruntled expression that soon turned into a more professional smile.

Xiao Jian had been somewhat of a regular four to five years ago as he used the Premier Auction House to sell off his finer, unwanted, crafted goods for gold. Alas, with the loss of his abilities as Dou Practitioner, he had also lost a great deal of his smithing prowess.

“Ah, if it isn’t Xiao Jian. It's been quite a while. What pretty-looking ceremonial weapon do you have for us today?”

It was somewhat of a back-handed compliment, though entirely true. Xiao Jian could work the most brilliant of weapons… in terms of appearance, but not ability! The opposite of what he had been doing years ago. This was simply because he couldn’t make such weapons anymore, so he did what he could…

“Nothing ceremonial today.” Xiao Jian smiled regardless, lifting up his bag and lightly placing it on the table. “Ten Foundation Elixirs.”

“Eh…” The middleaged man chuckled. “Xiao Jian, putting some ingredients together and mixing them doesn’t make an elixir.”

“I wasn’t the one who made them.” Xiao Jian shook his head. “My master did.”

“...?” The middle-aged man gave the elixirs a second look, grabbing one and sniffing the jade bottle. With that, he could tell that it was a genuine elixir. “I did not know you had an alchemist for a master.”

“I met him not that long ago.” Xiao Jian smiled. “He seems to be pretty good at it. Anyway, he made these and was too lazy to auction them himself… so I’m here.”

“Do you know the effects of this elixir?”

“It helps increase Dou Qi training speed without any side effects because the medicinal power is extremely peaceful.” Xiao Jian spoke almost as if he were Yao Lao himself.

Having abused the hell out of those things, he knew almost as much as Yao Lao did, after all.

“Could you wait for a short while? I need to ask our auction’s alchemist to inspect this Elixir.”

“Sure…”

Xiao Jian watched him walk off at a decently hurried pace. He waited for a short while before the middleaged man returned with a green robed elder with whitening hair. Gu Ni observed Xiao Jian with a slight smile before inspecting the Elixir. He lightly opened its tip, landing a small drop of green liquid at the centre of his palm. 

He stared at the liquid before inspecting it further with a silver needle, which showed a slight Dou Qi fluctuation. It slipped into the green liquid and slowly stirred.

His calm face slowly changed into a more serious one as the needle continued to stir. Afterwards, he put the green liquid back into the jade bottle.

 ‘The customer gets to enjoy a bit of Gu Ni’s palm with that Elixir.’ Xiao Jian thought to himself.

“The elixir is at a second tier… everything that was said before is true!” Gu Ni turned to Xiao Jian. “If I may ask, what tier is your master?”

“Dunno.” Xiao Jian shrugged. “He likes to be all mysterious.”

“Hm… it is not unusual for an alchemist. I take it you plan on auctioning these elixirs for him?”

“Mhm, all of them. He’s looking for some quick gold to buy some items to make a Qi Gathering Pill.”

“... Make a Qi Gathering Pill?” Gu Ni’s expression changed. To make a Qi Gathering Pill, one would need to be a tier 4 Alchemist or above… which there were only twenty of at most in the entire Jia Ma Empire.

“Mhm.” Xiao Jian nodded like it wasn’t anything special. “Do you think these elixirs will be enough?”

“Yes… it will do.” Gu Ni nodded firmly. “I would estimate that you could make enough for three to four set of ingredients, depending on how swiftly you want the elixirs auctioned off. The more time we have to publicise the auction, the better the gains will be.”

“Eh… I don’t think it matters too much. As long as I can get enough ingredients for two Qi Gathering Pills, my master will be more than happy. Er… just don’t mention me as the source.”

“Very well. I will see what I can do.”

 The elixirs were immediately auctioned off, with the three great clans of the Wu Tan City fighting over them quite relentlessly. The talent of their young generation would affect their future, after all. Xiao Zhang was especially fierce, spending more than he should have on several occasions. Though, just as cunningly, he made his rivals pay extra by raising the price.

In the end, all ten elixirs sold for 300,000 gold… which was enough to get high-grade ingredients for the Qi Opening Pill five times over. Immediately after, he used the gold to exchange it for them. Ya Fei acted especially sweet and alluring on this occasion.

“I hope your master would honour us with a personal visit next time.”

“Oh, he’s a pretty busy guy. More so lazy, really.” Xiao Jian chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. “Anyway, thank you for supplying me. It’s way easier than having to go shopping around in the markets.”

(Yao Lao: Stop calling me lazy, brat.)

“Come back if you or your master need anything else.”

“I will.”

Xiao Jian nodded, turning away and rubbing his hands.

“What are you plotting?” Yao Lao blinked as his disciple almost looked evil for a moment. Evil with endless greed!

‘I’ll never be too poor to buy ingredients again…’

Xiao Jian thought to himself, smirking slightly.

…

At midnight, when the Xiao Clan slept, Xiao Jian sat in his room and watched Yao Lao produce Qi Gathering Pills. Being of a far higher grade than the Foundation Elixir, it took some more effort… yet nothing too strenuous. Yao Lao looked like he was taking a casual walk to the park, except instead of walking he was cooking.

Eventually, he made all five…

“Hehehe.” Xiao Jian laughed, grabbing one and looking at it. “How much would one of these fetch in an auction?”

“... Who’s the shameless leech now?” Yao Lao could only chuckle, shaking his head. 

“I’ve still not caught up to my old self… nevermind where I would be without you taking my qi away.” Xiao Jian scoffed, crossing his arms.

“Mhm… anyway, you’d make more than enough, I’d assume. Gold is quite worthless for even a mediocre alchemist.”

“Small wonder why!” Xiao Jian exclaimed. “You wave your fire around for a night, and you’d make enough gold to buy the entire city.”

“It looks easy and simple because of my ability.” Yao Lao remarked. “For you… heh, you’ll see. Before that, however, you still have to become a Dou Practitioner.”

“Well, then.”

He grabbed one pill and swallowed it.

“Time to become one.”

“Heh, you’ll be eating those like candy soon enough…”

Yao Lao mused.

~

The month before the Coming of Age Ceremony.

All participants would have to test their Dou Qi, weeding out those whose Dou Qi wasn’t high enough to be inner clan members in the future. The requirement was the seventh stage of Dou Disciple, which was met by most of the clan’s prominent youths. The most shocking of the group was Xiao Xun’er, who broke into Dou Practitioner… while Xiao Ning made an advancement to the peak of Dou Disciple. 

One person was missing, however.

“Where is the third young master?” The third elder questioned with furrowed brows.

“That boy thinks he’s above the law.” The head elder scoffed. “He never fails to be late for such events…”

“Is he trying to save the embarrassment of failing?” The second elder mused. “Heh, it would not be unlike him. Maybe he ran off and left the Clan alltogther… you never know with that… boy.”

“Have some patience.” Xiao Zhan sighed, observing the field of awaiting youths. They had all been assessed by now and were just waiting for him.

“... What’s that… up in the sky?”

“An eagle…”

“No, it’s a person with eagle wings!”

A large figure with a colossal set of mechanised majestic gold-red eagle wings soared through the skies. These wings had been forged with a myriad of level three attribute wind cores, channelling energy in the direction of its master’s will. This figure swiftly descended onto the ground, the winds greeting a mighty gust of wind. His landing created a crack in the ground.

He shrugged off the wings and, with a press of a button, the wings contracted to a much smaller object. He then tossed it inside one of his many storage rings.

The elders were gobsmacked… never mind the youths. Their jaws had hit the ground.

What absurd creation had he forged? And all those storage rings - he was wearing one on each finger!

Xiao Zhan smiled with a look of pride. He knew damn well his son wasn’t going to fail to qualify… as the elders had suggested. Meanwhile, Xiao Xun’er was the least surprised of them all - her face lighting up with a smile at his appearance.

Xiao Jian smiled as bright as the sun.

“Sorry for being late and making everyone wait. I was just making a few last-minute touches."