Becoming a god starting from blacksmithing

Chapter 8 The Mohists? The Mohists!

Shen Chi turned and walked out.

"Where are you going?" A-Zhu's voice came from behind.

"Go find that one-eyed old man."

Do you know where he is?

Shen Chi paused in his steps.

he does not know.

He was so eager to save lives that he forgot about this.

Shen Chi turned around and looked at Azhu. Azhu has special perception abilities; she can see things that ordinary people cannot. Perhaps she can provide some clues.

"You know?"

A-Zhu nodded and pointed out a direction—there's a wooden house in the mountains outside the town, just follow the stream upstream.

Shen Chi looked at her with heartache. "Close the door. Wait for me to come back."

He turned and walked into the night.

------

The mountains and forests outside Qingxi Town are very quiet at night. Only the sound of the stream and the occasional bird call from the depths of the forest can be heard.

Shen Chi followed the stream upstream for about half an hour and finally saw a wooden house deep in the woods. A light was on inside, and the light leaked out from the crack in the door, casting a thin yellow line on the ground in the night.

The door opened before he even got close.

An old man with one eye stood inside the doorway. His single eye stared at him, as if he had known he would come.

"Come in."

Shen Chi followed him inside.

The room was very simple. There was a wooden bed, a table, and an oil lamp. Several old iron tools hung on the wall, some rusted, some polished to a shine.

The old man sat back down at the table, picked up the wine pot, and took a sip of wine.

Shen Chi stood at the door, unsure of where to begin.

"Your name is Shen Chi," the old man said first.

Shen Chi was taken aback.

"Your father's name is Shen Qingshan. You smashed a Heart-Locking Blade a few days ago."

Shen Chi stood there, opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. The old man knew far more than Shen Chi thought.

"I......"

"My name is Mo Chenzi," the old man interrupted him. "When your father was still alive, he called me 'brother.'"

Shen Chi's throat moved slightly.

This was the first time he had heard someone mention his father in such a tone—not out of pity, not out of avoidance, but as if he were talking about someone he had known for many years.

Mo Chenzi put down the wine pot: "Where is the stuff?"

Shen Chi snapped out of his daze, took the piece of iron from his pocket, and handed it over.

Mo Chenzi took it and held it up to the light of the oil lamp.

He stared at it for a long time.

Shen Chi stood beside the old man, looking at his face. The light from the oil lamp flickered on the old man's face, and his single eye stared at the patterns on the iron sheet, the pupil contracting slightly.

It was an expression Shen Chi couldn't describe. It was as if he had seen something that shouldn't be there.

"What is this? Where did you get this?" Mo Chenzi thought Shen Chi would take out the fragment of the Guardian Sword, but he didn't expect him to take out this piece of iron.

Shen Chi told the truth—an injured man collapsed at the entrance of the blacksmith's shop at nightfall, clutching this in his hand.

"Where is he?"

"In my backyard. Still alive."

Mo Chenzi did not hesitate. He stood up and picked up his cane from the corner of the wall.

"Walk."

------

When the two returned to the blacksmith's shop, Azhu was still squatting beside the straw mat. She was holding a bowl of water, but the person on the ground couldn't drink it; the water dripped down his neck from the corner of his mouth.

Seeing Shen Chi return with the one-eyed old man, Azhu silently stepped aside.

Mo Chenzi squatted down and placed his cane on the ground. He completely tore open the clothes of the man lying there. The moonlight shone on the man's dark gray wounds—the fine lines spread further along the blood vessels, and in some places the flesh had hardened considerably.

Mo Chenzi pressed the hardened flesh with his knuckles. He pressed very slowly, as if measuring something. He then moved to several other spots, pressing each one for a long time.

"The Heart-Locking Nail..."

He paused for a moment.

"...a counterfeit."

Mo Chenzi spoke while tending to his wounds, his tone both like talking to himself and like speaking to someone else.

"The Heart-Locking Nail is a product of the Yansheng Pavilion. When driven into a person's body, it can seal off their emotions. The genuine article is too precious; not everyone can afford it, and it's not primarily a weapon of killing. So they made a replica—the power to kill emotions is much weaker, but its power to attack the physical body is considerably stronger."

He pointed to the black threads around the wound.

"These threads are traces left by the counterfeit. If it were genuine, he would be a living dead by now."

Shen Chi stared at the black threads. They gleamed with an ominous, dark light under the moonlight.

"Can it still be saved?" Shen Chi asked.

"Yes, but you'll need Blood Lotus Heart-Corroding Grass."

Mo Chenzi stood up: "I happen to have one there. I'll go get it. You watch over him. Don't let him die."

He turned and walked out, but stopped after a couple of steps and looked back at the person on the straw mat.

"If he opens his mouth again, listen to what he has to say."

Shen Chi didn't understand the meaning of those words, but he still nodded.

Mo Chenzi is gone.

------

The backyard fell silent.

Ah Zhu squatted back down beside the straw mat and put the bowl in her hand on the ground.

Shen Chi took out the iron sheet and examined the patterns again.

"Brother Shen Chi."

Shen Chi raised his head. A-Zhu looked at the person on the ground.

"He's moving."

Shen Chi looked down.

The man's eyelids were trembling, and his lips were moving. It was as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out of his throat, only a hissing sound of air flowing.

Shen Chi leaned closer.

He heard two words. The voice was very soft, so soft that it seemed to drift from a great distance.

"...Heart...Imprint..."

Shen Chi didn't understand.

He turned to look at Azhu. Azhu shook her head as well.

But the man's lips moved again, as if he wanted to say something, but he no longer had the strength.

Shen Chi straightened up and looked at the person on the ground.

Heart Imprint.

He memorized the word.

------

Mo Chenzi returned sooner than Shen Chi had expected.

He held a strange herb in his hand, entirely blood-red, faintly glowing in the moonlight. That must be the Blood Lotus Corrupting Heart Grass.

A-Zhu fetched a basin of fresh water. Mo Chenzi made a hand seal, causing the Blood Lotus Corrupting Heart Grass to float in mid-air. Then, the Blood Lotus Corrupting Heart Grass gradually dissipated, transforming into a stream of colorful light that slowly flowed toward the wound of the person lying down.

The man shuddered as he fell unconscious. The black threads on his body visibly receded back to his wounds.

Mo Chenzi treated the injury slowly, but each step was steady. It was clear that this was not the first time he had treated this type of injury.

Shen Chi watched from the side.

He had so many questions to ask. He wanted to know what the runes on the metal plate were. He wanted to know who the injured person was. He wanted to know why Mo Chenzi knew his father. He wanted to know what "Heart Imprint" meant.

But he didn't speak. The old man was saving lives; it wasn't the time to ask questions.

After treating his wounds, Mo Chenzi said, "He's alright now and will wake up soon. Do you know who this person you saved is?"

Shen Chi shook his head: "I don't know."

Mo Chenzi remained silent for a while.

"He's a member of the Mo Clan," he said. "He's the only one left who possesses this craft."

Shen Chi remained silent. He didn't know what the "Mo Clan" was, but he could tell from Mo Chenzi's tone that it wasn't the tone of an ordinary old man.

"You saved him," Mo Chenzi said, "which means you've completely placed yourself on the opposite side of the Yansheng Pavilion. Have you thought this through?"

Shen Chi did not answer immediately.

He looked down at his chest. Beneath his clothes, the normally invisible iron-gray pattern was unusually still. It hadn't been burning since yesterday, but just now, when he was near the unconscious person, it seemed to stir slightly.

He has already stood on the opposite side of the Yansheng Pavilion. From the moment he killed Gray Eyes, from the moment he said, "I promised him."

"The person is already at my house," Shen Chi said.

Mo Chenzi didn't reply, but the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

He turned around and walked straight towards the door.

They stopped at the doorway.

"It's fate!"

Then it disappeared into the night.