Becoming a god starting from blacksmithing

Chapter 17 Nighttime Murder

midnight.

Shen Chi felt as if someone had grabbed a string and pulled him sharply in the chest.

He opened his eyes to find the room pitch black. The hundred-refined hammer lay beside his pillow; he reached out and grasped it, its surface still warm—it hadn't cooled down since he returned from the clock tower.

But something felt off.

It wasn't the "cold shrinking" he felt when the Enforcement Hall's carriage arrived in town. That time, it felt like something dirty had touched him, and he instinctively flinched away. This time was different—it was more like someone had stepped on the thread he had laid out outside, and the other end of the thread trembled slightly, telling him: something was coming.

Shen Chi sat up, but didn't dare to light the lamp.

He slipped on his shoes, picked up the hammer, and walked to the door. He pressed his ear against the door and listened for three breaths.

It was very quiet outside. Unnaturally quiet—not even the chirping of insects.

He was hesitating whether to open the door when he heard a very soft rustling sound of fabric behind him.

Shen Chi turned around.

A-Zhu stood barefoot at the doorway of the inner room, her hand resting on the doorframe. Moonlight streamed through the window cracks onto her face; her lips were pursed, as if she were frightened by something but dared not utter a sound.

"Go back," Shen Chi said in a low voice. "It's alright."

A-Zhu didn't move. She stared in the direction of the window.

"Brother Shen Chi." Her voice was very soft, almost inaudible, "The person outside... the light around him is black."

Shen Zhi held the handle of the hammer tightly.

"What does it look like?"

Ah-Zhu squinted, as if trying hard to make out something. "Like... smoke. Not the kind that should be on a person. It's black, in clumps, seeping out from the cracks."

Shen Chi recalled that during the day in front of the clock tower, Gu Cangming's aura was restrained, like a deep pool of water, without any ripples.

The "black" that Ah-Zhu talks about is different from that.

"Can you see how far away he is?"

Ah Zhu shook her head. "I can't feel it. But he's walking this way."

That's enough.

Shen Chi gently pulled off the bolt, making sure it didn't hit the door frame. Then he opened the door a crack, squeezed out sideways, and closed it behind him.

He stopped at the doorway, letting his eyes adjust to the night.

no one.

Shen Chi took a step forward.

Then he saw it.

A person stood in the shadows at the alleyway opposite the blacksmith's shop.

The man, dressed in a close-fitting black outfit, stood at the base of the wall, seemingly emerging from the darkness. The moonlight couldn't reach his face; only the palms of his hands gleamed with a matte finish—the Heart-Locking Nails, blacker and thicker than Li Han's.

After being discovered, the man remained calm and looked at Shen Chi from a distance of ten steps.

Shen Chi had met people from the Enforcement Hall before. Whether it was Gray Eyes, Li Han, or Gu Cangming.

The person in front of me—clearly not.

"Who are you?"

The man glanced at the hammer in Shen Chi's hand, then looked up as if checking something in his mind. After confirming, he took a step forward.

Shen Chi sensed it in just one step.

During the day, as Gu Cangming walked forward in front of the clock tower, the air seemed to tighten, as if a wall was pressing down on him. It was a kind of suppression—the suppression of a Lock Emperor level; you knew that if he wanted to, he could pin you to the ground.

But this person is different.

His presence wasn't suppressed; it seeped in. Like ink dripping into water, it spread silently, enveloping you until you noticed.

Shen Chi didn't wait for him to take a second step.

He picked up his hammer and went to attack.

Left foot pushes off the ground, right shoulder thrusts forward, waist and abdomen twist—this is how blacksmiths generate power, pressing the entire body weight onto the hammer. The hammerhead is coated with a thin layer of flame, its dark red light drawing an arc in the night.

The man raised his hand.

Spread your five fingers and grip the hammer face.

Shen Chi felt as if the Hundred-Refined Hammer had been smashed into water—no, into slurry. The hammerhead was enveloped by a force, unable to be pushed forward or pulled back. The Oath Fire burned on the hammerhead, but the layer of Locking Yuan Qi was like a transparent shell, keeping the fire out.

The man didn't even take a single step back.

He glanced at Shen Chi, then clenched his fingers.

Shen Chi was pulled forward by the force, and a tearing pain shot through his hand. He didn't let go, but blood was seeping from between his fingers.

Shen Chi remembered that Mo Chenzi had mentioned the Lock Yuan system: Lock Apprentice, Lock Master, Lock Warrior, Lock Master, Lock Sect, and above that, Lock King, Lock Emperor, and Lock Venerable. The person in front of him was at least a Lock King.

The man released his grip, as if confirming the last piece of information and no longer needing to fight. He glanced at Shen Chi, then turned to disappear into the shadows at the alley entrance—his movements unhurried, as quiet as when he arrived.

Then he stopped. He sensed someone approaching.

His steps were heavy, each one a pause.

Mo Chenzi. He walked out from under the moonlight, without a cane and wearing an old white robe. He didn't look at Shen Chi, but stared at the man in black at the alley entrance with his single eye.

The two people looked at each other at the alley entrance.

The man in black sensed Mo Chenzi's cultivation level. The composure he had shown when facing Shen Chi had vanished, and his shoulder blades tucked in slightly, as if he had switched from a leisurely stroll to a fighting stance.

Mo Chenzi did not make a move.

He stood in front of Shen Chi, five steps away from the executioner, and neither of them moved.

After a long time—or perhaps only two or three breaths—the executioner took a step back. Two steps. Then he disappeared into the shadows at the alley entrance. The footsteps followed the wall toward the north of town, growing farther and farther away, finally swallowed by the night wind.

Mo Chenzi stood still until he was sure that the aura had completely disappeared before turning around.

He glanced at the ground at the alley entrance. There was a small piece of black cloth there. Mo Chenzi bent down, picked it up, and held it between his fingers. The black cloth had neat edges and wasn't ordinary cotton. It was a material that had been soaked in something, and it felt rough to the touch.

"The executioners of the tribunal," he said.

He tucked the piece of cloth into his pocket.

Shen Chi glanced back at the blacksmith's shop door—A-Zhu peeked out from the crack, her face pale, her fingers gripping the edge of the doorframe. Shen Chi shook his head slightly at her, meaning "It's alright." A-Zhu didn't go back inside, but she didn't come out either, just looked through the crack in the door.

Shen Chi turned to look at Mo Chenzi.

"He's not one of Gu Cangming's men?"

Mo Chenzi shook his head. "The Enforcement Hall and the Judgment Division are two separate entities under the Yansheng Pavilion. Gu Cangming gave us three days, so he won't act prematurely. The Judgment Division is different—they are not under his jurisdiction."

The Court of Judgments. Another name Shen Chi had never heard of.

Mo Chenzi turned around, took two steps back, and then stopped.

"Your father crippled one of his children back in the day."

This sentence was very short. So short that before Shen Chi could even ask, Mo Chenzi had already walked away.

Shen Chi did not chase after him to ask.

He looked at the hammer in his hand. The hammerhead was still warm, but the pain in his hand reminded him—if that person had really wanted to fight, he would be lying on the ground by now.

------

Ah Zhu peeked out from under the door, her voice very soft:

"Gone?"

Shen Chi nodded.

He looked at A-Zhu standing barefoot on the ground, the moonlight illuminating her face, her lips still bloodless. Shen Chi suddenly felt that he shouldn't have struck so hard with that hammer blow. What would happen to A-Zhu if he fell?

Shen Chi bolted the door again, sat in the darkness, and placed the hundred-refined hammer across his lap. He stared at the moonlight streaming through the crack in the window, thinking about what Mo Chenzi had said.

The executioners of the Court of Judgment. Above the rank of King Lock.

His father had crippled one of his children.

What about him?

The night outside the window was deep. Clouds obscured the moon, and the courtyard was completely dark.

Shen Chi placed the hammer face on his forehead.

The dough was still warm. But for the first time, he felt that warm wasn't enough.