Chapter 67. Divine Metal
As with any marketplace, when night came, each shop closed its doors one by one.
Even so, the lights of Eight Directions Armory did not go out.
Was it because everything around had become quiet and dark? Instead, the candlelight burning in Eight Directions Armory seemed even brighter, and the sound of hammering seemed much louder than before.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The blacksmith's hands were still moving powerfully. Perhaps unless the chisel or hammer broke, or the candle flame went out, his arms would never stop. Or maybe only if he were completely exhausted and collapsed, or if his arms broke, would he finally stop.
And so, some more time passed.
A gust of cold midnight wind seeped into Eight Directions Armory and shook the candle flames. Perhaps the cold wind was lonely traveling alone, because it entered together with one middle-aged guest with a cold and aloof impression.
"It's been a long time, elder."
The voice of the middle-aged man, wrapped tightly in a fur coat, was as bleak as his face.
Clang! Clang!
Although the voice of the fur-clad middle-aged man was low, it was not so quiet as to be inaudible. Even so, the blacksmith's arms showed no sign of stopping, just as before.
"The alliance leader is looking for you."
There was no reaction from the blacksmith, but the fur-clad middle-aged man did not care and stated the reason he had come. However, the only response he could get from the blacksmith was still the noisy sound of the hammer.
"The alliance leader is looking for you, elder."
Whether the blacksmith answered or not, the middle-aged man repeated the same words to the blacksmith's back.
Did he hear the man only now? Or was he annoyed? Only then did the blacksmith stop his red-hot arms. Still, he kept his back turned to the fur-clad man.
"Oh? So what am I supposed to do about it?"
The blacksmith's voice was as rough and unpleasant as his skin, but judging from the fact that he was not surprised at all, it was clear that he had already known about the middle-aged man's arrival.
"The alliance leader ordered me to escort you to Zhengzhou."
"Who says I'm going? If you have eyes, take a look. I'm damn busy right now, you bastard."
At the blacksmith's coarse reply, the fur-clad middle-aged man finally looked at the iron table. In that instant, a strange light flashed in his eyes. At a glance, the material of the iron table was extremely unusual.
"... It's Ancient Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron."
"Heh heh heh. Ancient Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron? You've been stuck too long in some closed-off place like the Demonic Path, so even your eyes have turned into rotten pollack eyes."
"...…"
"Well, since even I don't know what this is, do you think you'd know any better?"
The blacksmith had clearly called the fur-clad middle-aged man Heaven-Splitting Sticky Blade.
Heaven-Splitting Sticky Blade, Eulji Tae.
It was by no means a light name. He was one of the Twenty Great Masters Under Heaven, and the right-hand man of the Martial Alliance Leader—who in the world would dare treat him lightly?
Yet the blacksmith of Eight Directions Armory was calling Eulji Tae "you this, you that" without the slightest hesitation. And Eulji Tae, who was being spoken to like that, accepted it without any issue and even addressed the blacksmith as "elder"...
That meant the blacksmith's identity was certainly not ordinary.
"Elder, the Heavenly Slaughter Star has appeared."
The blacksmith, who had been about to pick up the hammer again, stopped for an instant at the words Heavenly Slaughter Star. However, it was only for a moment, and his work soon resumed.
"So what if it's the Heavenly Slaughter Star? I've got a piece of metal in my hands right now that a blacksmith can't see again in his lifetime."
Clang!
Just as the blacksmith's hammer was about to strike the chisel once more, Eulji Tae opened his mouth again.
"It is the Extreme Yin Heavenly Slaughter Star, and it is a complete Full Star."
Ting—.
The sound was not clear. The hammer had struck the chisel off-target.
Missing the strike—this was something that might happen once in several years, or even decades, for the blacksmith. It was proof of how shocking Eulji Tae's words were.
For the first time, he turned his body and faced Eulji Tae.
Bloodshot eyes that still flashed with lightning-like brilliance. Lips tightly pressed together like ten-thousand-year boulders. Wrinkles on his face, cracked like dried fields. All of it looked as stubborn as the years he had lived.
"What did you just babble? What, Extreme Yin Heavenly Slaughter Star? And a Full Star? Are you talking nonsense in your right mind right now?"
If the blacksmith's voice earlier had been that of a rough marketplace smith, now a strange authority had been added to it.
Eulji Tae did not avoid the blacksmith's gaze and spoke in a low but precise voice.
"Yes, elder. It is all true. They say it was hidden by a Strange New Star, so it was only discovered now."
Perhaps because he was excited, the blacksmith's face grew even redder.
"Is it the Heavenly Demon Star?"
"We don't know yet."
"You're out of your mind. The Extreme Yin Heavenly Slaughter Star has become a Full Star, and you still don't know?"
"That is why the alliance leader is looking for you, elder."
The blacksmith shook his head from side to side. It did not mean he would not go—it meant he had to go no matter what. He could no longer refuse Eulji Tae's words.
"What should I do about this..."
The blacksmith muttered softly and finally gently stroked the iron table, which now had a small flaw.
The smooth surface's texture was felt through his fingertips, rough and cracked.
Divine Metal.
When the blacksmith first saw it, that was what he thought.
He had lived as a blacksmith for decades, but he had never heard of, nor seen, such metal. Moreover, what had been made from that metal was even more astonishing.
If this metal was divine iron, then the sword made from it was a demon's sword.
He had always prided himself on being the greatest master craftsman under heaven... but the moment he saw it, that belief shattered.
A shuddering sensation ran from the tip of his head to his toes. It was the first time in his life he had ever felt something like that.
A sword made from Divine Metal and demonic craftsmanship.
The blacksmith's pride was mercilessly crushed.
He asked the one who brought it where it had come from. Then that person answered by asking if he could handle it...
[Can you handle it?]
[ ... A mad piece of metal with mad craftsmanship. Where did it come from?]
[Can you handle it?]
[Handle it? Don't tell me you mean to melt this? This!? This perfect thing!?]
[Of course. If possible, please make something with this.]
[This is!? Isn't it yours?]
[That's right. If it is completed... if it can be completed, then please cut it into pieces according to the drawings beside it.]
"You're insane. You want to melt this and all you want to make is a piece of full-body armor?"
[Then I'll come back in a month.]
[Are you crazy? If you just hand something like this to me, what if I take it and run away with it?]
[I will find it.]
[Heh heh heh. You won't find it. I don't know whether you came here knowing who I am, but if I decide to hide, no one under heaven can find me.]
[Find it and...]
[Alright, let's say you can find it. Then what?]
[I will kill you.]
[ ...… ]
[And then I will take it back.]
[Huh, hahahahaha! What an interesting fellow. Fine, fine. If I ever do something like that, make sure you do just that. Hahaha!]
From that day on, the blacksmith began to melt that unidentified sword.
"Hahaha! Right, that's how it was. That's how it was! Hahaha!"
Recalling that time, the blacksmith could not hold back the hearty laughter welling up.
The laughter was so loud that the swords hanging on the armory walls trembled slightly, and the small tools on the shelves rattled.
Eulji Tae stood quietly and watched him.
Eulji Tae had known the blacksmith for a very long time. But this was the first time he had ever seen him laugh so loudly. No—this was the first time he had ever known that the blacksmith could even laugh.
Usually, the blacksmith was as cold and taciturn as metal itself.
To Eulji Tae, the blacksmith was simply the greatest—or rather, the strangest eccentric under heaven.
And yet, that man was laughing so cheerfully? He was seeing it with his own eyes, yet it was hard to believe.
'Who is it? Who in the world made that old monster laugh?'
Just as Eulji Tae was asking himself that question, the blacksmith stopped laughing.
When the laughter faded, his face returned to its usual stiff expression, but his eyes still shone with an interesting light.
"If that old alliance leader is so desperate to find me, I'll go for now, but in return, there's something you have to do for me."
"What is it?"
Bang bang!
In response to Eulji Tae's question, the blacksmith struck the iron table with his hand instead of the hammer and spoke.
Even though he hit it with his bare hand, the sound of striking metal rang out. It showed just how incredible his external cultivation was.
"Bring that guy here to the alliance."
Eulji Tae immediately understood that he was not talking about bringing the iron table, but about bringing the owner of the iron table.
"... Understood."
"Hey, you. Don't answer so half-heartedly. You must bring that guy. If not, I'll die. And if I die, it's all your responsibility."
"... Understood. Then, what is his name?"
At Eulji Tae's question, the blacksmith opened his mouth with a startled expression.
"Ah! I didn't think of that. Come to think of it, I never asked that guy's name."
Eulji Tae was not offended by the blacksmith's joking remark. The blacksmith had always been that kind of person.
More than that, it was astonishing that the blacksmith was taking such an interest in someone whose name he did not even know.
"Anyway, you don't need to go out of your way to look for him. If you just wait here, he'll probably come back here in about a month."
"Understood, elder."
"Well then, shall I go meet that old alliance leader now?"
Had he been waiting for Eulji Tae's answer? The moment Eulji Tae finished speaking, the blacksmith hugged the iron table to his chest and left Eight Directions Armory.
His steps were so fast that he soon became a dot and disappeared.
Eulji Tae stared at the place where the blacksmith had disappeared for a long time, then muttered a single sentence.
"Who in the world... is he?"
Just as when he had appeared, the cold wind blew back into Eight Directions Armory, carrying Eulji Tae's voice and scattering it into every corner of Datong.
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