Becoming a god starting from blacksmithing

Chapter 5 The Subterranean Rumble

Shen Chi squatted down in front of the stove and added a piece of firewood to the firebox.

Flames licked the bottom of the pot, and the porridge bubbled and simmered inside. A-Zhu sat on the doorstep, holding her small bowl, blowing on it gently to cool it down.

The sky was just beginning to brighten. In the town, some people were sweeping the streets, others were fetching water, and the rooster crowed three times.

Everything was as usual.

Shen Chi finished his porridge and took the bowl to the well to wash it. The moment he squatted down, the fragment of the Guardian Sword in his arms vibrated.

It was very light. Like someone flicked him with their finger through his clothes.

As Shen Chi was stunned, the fragment vibrated again, with even greater force than before.

Shen Chi put down the bowl and reached into his robes.

The moment I held the fragment in my hand, it began to get hot.

He took it out and spread it in his palm.

The tip of the fragment was slightly tilted, as if it had come to life and was searching for something.

Shen Chi stared at the shards in his palm.

It points in one direction.

Slightly southwest. The town center is just across the alley.

Shen Chi stood up, and the shards tilted even more sharply in his palm.

He gripped the shards tightly and glanced back at A-Zhu by the stove.

I'm going out for a bit.

A-Zhu looked up: "Where to?"

"I'll be back in a bit."

A-Zhu glanced at him but didn't ask any more questions. But as she lowered her head to continue drinking her porridge, her peripheral vision still lingered on the hand Shen Chi had tucked into his pocket.

She saw it. Her eyes could see everything.

------

Shen Chi went out the door and followed the direction indicated by the fragments of the Guardian Sword.

With each step, he checked whether the fragment in his palm was veering off course and whether it was time to turn.

He turned into a narrow alley.

He rarely comes to this place. There is an old well at the end of the alley.

There used to be three ancient wells in Qingxi Town: one in the east, one in the west, and one in the center. Later, the wells in the east and west dried up, leaving only the one in the center.

However, the year my father had his accident, the ancient well in the town center also dried up.

Shen Chi stood by the ancient well.

The wellhead was covered by two thick wooden planks, which were covered with a thick layer of moss, like a green carpet. A few withered wild grasses stretched out from the cracks, lying dry and lifeless.

There was an iron ring on the edge of the wooden board, which was severely rusted.

Suddenly, the fragment in Shen Chi's hand trembled violently, like a trapped little beast desperately trying to break free.

It wants to go down.

Shen Chi held the fragment tightly in his palm, squatted down, grabbed the iron ring, and pulled hard.

The wooden board didn't move.

He gritted his teeth, changed his posture, and used both his hands and feet.

"Gah—"

He tore a hole in the wooden plank. Moss crumbled on the ground, revealing a dark hole underneath.

A cool breeze rose from the ancient well, carrying a strong smell of earth and decaying wood.

Shen Chi lay down at the well opening and looked inside.

It's dark. I can't see anything.

He pulled back from the well and felt for a hemp rope on a stone pillar beside it. The rope was dry and stiff, but it hadn't broken yet. He tugged at it twice; it was still strong.

He tied the rope tightly to the stone pillar and pulled hard a few times. After making sure it was secure, he lit a torch.

------

They've gone down the well.

The well was deeper than Shen Chi had imagined.

The rope was lowered three or four zhang (approximately 10-12 meters) before the ground beneath their feet became solid. This solid ground was actually dry, cracked mud, hard and unyielding.

Shen Chi used a torch to shine a light around the room.

The bottom of the well is circular, about ten feet wide. The well walls are entirely made of stone.

There was nothing there; it was completely empty.

But the fragments of the Guardian Sword were still vibrating.

Shen Chi crouched down and pressed the shards close to the ground. The shards vibrated even more violently.

It's not at the bottom of a well.

It's the well wall.

He looked up, and the torch flickered to the side—

There is a hole in the well wall. It is square and about the width of a person, clearly carved out by hand. The entrance to the hole is blocked by a stone slab, on which a mark is engraved.

A hammer.

The lines are simple. The hammer head is square, and the hammer handle is straight up and down.

Shen Chi's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

He recognized the mark.

That's the one embroidered on his apron.

His father's mark.

Shen Chi stuck the torch into the crack in the well wall and braced his hands against the edge of the stone slab. The slab was thick, but it seemed to be specially designed to be pushed open. He pushed hard, and the slab slowly slid to one side along a groove.

A musty, dusty smell of stone hit me.

A passageway. Leading into the depths.

Shen Chi picked up a torch and went inside.

------

The passage was longer than he had imagined.

It was so narrow that he could only pass by turning sideways.

He counted his steps. Thirteen steps, twenty-five steps, fifty steps.

Finally, the view ahead opened up.

Shen raised the torch high.

A stone chamber.

The four walls are carved rock, with traces of artificial polishing on the surface. In the center is a large, flat stone with a very smooth surface.

An object, about the size of a palm, sits on a large rock.

Shen Chi approached.

It is a fragment of a bronze mirror with curved edges.

The back is engraved with patterns.

Concentric circles. One after another, densely packed, just like the rings of a tree.

Shen Chi reached out to take it.

The instant it touched the mirror—

The lens emitted a buzzing sound, like someone tapping a bronze bowl. The sound echoed in the stone chamber, spreading out in waves.

Immediately afterwards, a realistic image was projected from the mirror—

A desolate land. No flowers, no trees. Only yellow earth and stones.

A high platform, made of stone, taller than a person. Standing on the platform is a person in a white robe, holding a round mirror in both hands.

The mirror is large. Complete. It reflects the entire sky.

The man in white robes spoke. His voice seemed to come from a very distant place, yet also as if it were right beside his ear—

"This testament of shared hearts can reveal truth from falsehood. May all people in the world speak from the heart and keep their promises."

The image flashed by.

It was still that same high platform. But the sky was red. There was fire on the ground.

A group of men in black dragged the man in white robes down from the high platform.

The white-robed man's clothes were torn, and his face was covered in blood. The round mirror slipped from his hand, fell onto the stone steps, and shattered into pieces.

Another flash.

A hand. A rough, calloused hand. There was dirt under the fingernails.

The hand buried one of the round mirror fragments into the ground.

Then pat the soil down firmly with your hands.

He stood up. He left.

The video ends.

Shen Chi stood there in a daze for a long time.

He looked down at his reflection in the glasses.

On the blurred bronze surface, next to his face, there was another face that could be vaguely seen.

It was blurry. The outline was almost swallowed up by the patina. But he recognized the outline.

Square chin. High cheekbones. Prominent brow bone.

His father.

Shen Chi's breath hitched for a second.

He flipped the lens over and over. There was nothing there. Only the blurry bronze surface and his father's almost disappearing silhouette.

He stared at it for a long time.

Then stick the lens to your chest. Place it together with the fragments of the Heart-Guarding Sword.

Two things. One is warm, and the other is cold.

Shen Chi walked out of the stone chamber.

He pulled the stone slab back into place.

Untie the rope.

Replace the wooden planks.

Standing by the ancient well, he glanced at the well opening.

Then he turned around and walked back.

------

Ah-Zhu sat at the entrance of the blacksmith's shop, drawing something on the ground with charcoal.

She heard footsteps and looked up.

"Brother Shen Chi—"

She stopped talking.

She tilted her head and looked at Shen Chi.

"That light around you..." she blinked, "...seems like there's an extra one?"

Shen Chi paused in his steps.

"What do you mean?"

"There used to be only one light," A-Zhu pointed to his chest, "but now... it seems there are two. One big, one small. They're next to each other."

Shen Chi looked down at his clothes.

Even through a layer of coarse cloth, he could feel a slight warmth in his chest.

He reached up and pressed his hand to his chest.

"...A-Zhu."

"Um?"

"Don't tell anyone about what happened today."

Azhu looked at him for a while and nodded.

"Okay. I won't tell anyone."

She went back to drawing.

Shen Chi stood at the entrance of the blacksmith shop and glanced in the direction of the town entrance.

The one-eyed old man said they would arrive by this afternoon at the latest.

What's meant to happen will happen.