Chương 88: Tieniu’s Long-Held Wish Comes True—This Old Smith Made It!

"I'm rich! I'm rich!" After Su Zhe finished up, his eyes burned with excitement. He took stock of his gains— Stone Scab Inner Armor. Spirit Ao Fist Art. Kan-Water Fist Gloves. Ten taels of refined gold. A core disciple token from Haiyan Hall (Sea-Calming Hall). A silk letter proving the Qin family of Zhujian Villa (Sword-Forging Villa) had colluded with the enemy and betrayed their sect. … Su Zhe stored everything inside the Fortune Immortal Cauldron.

"You gave me this many treasures, one way or another. Leaving your corpse out in the wilderness would make me feel a little bad." Su Zhe sighed. Then he brought the Forging Hammer down hard. A surging wave of qi erupted, carrying heaven-toppling force that tore into the earth. It smashed out a deep pit. Su Zhe tossed the Haiyan Hall disciple inside, covered him with dirt, and considered it a proper burial. After that, guided by the giant softshell turtle artifact spirit, Su Zhe left the place.

"At the Su River's River God Festival, a man-eating turtle demon attacked."

"Su Zhe, reincarnation of the Su River God, fought the great demon and saved the people." In just a few short days, the story spread on its own. With the fishing village as its center, it radiated outward in every direction. The rescued commoners even pooled their own money together and built a "Su River God Temple" by the river. Beside it, they erected a stone stele specifically to sing Su Zhe's praises. The giant softshell turtle's body was enormous.

When the disciples of the Blacksmith Gang hauled it back, it immediately drew gasps from everyone. Su Zhe was generous about it. He had the disciples from the Medicinal Cuisine Hall take precious blades and cut the demon beast's treasured flesh into pieces. Most of it went toward extra meals for the Blacksmith Gang disciples. But the giant turtle's flesh was far too nourishing. Even third-rank martial artists like Guo Ju and Xiao Xunhuan could barely handle a small piece.

Their inner force circulated through their bodies and nearly burst their meridians apart. As for Sun Tiexin, after eating one piece of giant turtle meat and cultivating the Flood Dragon Method, he broke through to the fourth rank in one go. He became the second Fourth-Rank Meridian Opening martial artist in Lu County. The Blacksmith Gang's position in Lu County grew even more solid, pressing down so hard that gangs like the Cao Gang could hardly breathe.

"Martial arts are hard to cultivate. Root bone, talent, and comprehension—you can't be missing any of them."

"The Flood Dragon Method emphasizes the union of strength and speed. Shifu has cultivated the Wild Ox Hammer for years, so he's skilled in strength-based martial arts."

"That's why he was able to get started with the Flood Dragon Method. But as for the Dark Sickle Method, shifu couldn't even cross the threshold." When Su Zhe heard the news, he couldn't help sighing inwardly. There was no strongest martial art, only the strongest martial artist. The path of martial arts also paid attention to fate and affinity. Without that affinity, it naturally became a misplaced effort.

Someone like Su Zhe, blessed with a cheat that allowed him to absorb countless martial arts into himself, was truly a work of heaven's fortune. The giant turtle's body could be called a great medicine. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Everyone else ate a small half of it. Most of the remainder ended up in Su Zhe's stomach. His uncle Su Yuan and aunt Lin Xia also received some.

With the help of the treasured medicine, Su Yuan's Flood Dragon Method made some progress as well. Afterward, Su Zhe gave part of the giant turtle's treasured bones to Sun Tiexin, while storing the rest inside the Fortune Immortal Cauldron. Besides that, Su Zhe also gave Sun Tiexin several dozen drops of treasured blood. Sun Tiexin received the giant turtle's treasured bones, whose spirituality surpassed ordinary precious materials, along with the treasured blood and the Blood Refining Method Su Zhe had gifted him.

He immediately lit the furnace and began forging. After three days of sweat and toil, a Treasure Turtle Inner Armor, a fourth-rank Treasure Armament, was born.

"Hahahaha! This old smith made it!"

"A fourth-rank Treasure Armament! This old smith made it!"

"From this day on, this old smith is a Treasure Craftsman!" In the Craftsman's Heart Hall, Sun Tiexin held the Treasure Turtle Inner Armor high. His hair and beard were filthy and disheveled, scorched by smoke and fire. But his eyes were blazing and clear, tears welling inside them, flowers blooming within the tears. Even when he stepped into the fourth rank, Sun Tiexin had not been this happy. For a blacksmith, the craft was the pursuit of a lifetime.

The meaning of becoming a Treasure Craftsman was far greater than stepping into the fourth-rank martial realm.

"Back then, during the bone-testing and skill-transmission period, that timid kid… I took him as my disciple on a whim. And in the end, he helped me fulfill my dream."

"That boy from those days has only practiced martial arts for half a year, yet he's already become Lu County's sky." Sun Tiexin held the Treasure Turtle Inner Armor in both hands, gazed out the door, and let out a long, quiet breath. A family that accumulates kindness will surely have blessings left over. A family that accumulates evil will surely have calamity left behind. He and Wang Shan—one focused on the path of craftsmanship, the other on weapons and war.

But when it came to their karma with Su Zhe, they had walked two different roads. Sun Tiexin treated Su Zhe with goodwill, and in the end, blessings remained. Wang Shan harbored malice toward Su Zhe, and in the end, disaster came for him. Every sip and every bite was fixed by fate. … New Year's Eve. Light snow drifted through the air. The Su residence was decorated with lanterns and colored banners. Su Yuan and Lin Xia gave Su Zhe two red envelopes. Su Zhe accepted them with a grin.

Then, in passing, he prepared one for his yet-to-be-born "little brother or little sister." Over the next few days, Su Zhe played the role of the boy who scattered wealth. He went to the Sun residence, and whenever he saw a child of the Sun family, he handed over a red envelope. Adults looked forward to farming. Children looked forward to New Year. The children of the Sun residence had never seen an elder as generous as Su Zhe. One by one, they bounced around in joy.

The Three Stars hung in the south, and every household paid New Year visits. The juniors kowtowed, and the elders handed out money. Firecrackers rang out again and again. Joy filled the air. Aside from visiting his shifu Sun Tiexin for New Year, Su Zhe spent the rest of his time in seclusion, practicing martial arts. [Stone Scab Inner Armor, fifth-rank Treasure Armament. Root bone talent stacked. Water-attribute martial talent increased.] [Traits: Watertight Defense (Fifth Rank, increases defense), Water Mastery (Fifth Rank, improves water affinity), Armor-Shell Protection (Fifth Rank, the body secretly harmonizes with a turtle shell, protecting the five viscera). Special Acquisition: Former owner's martial memories.] Su Zhe combined the Stone Scab Inner Armor with the Demon-Scale Inner Armor. It upgraded into the Demon-Scale Stone Scab Inner Armor, its quality becoming a peak fifth-rank Treasure Armament.

[Kan-Water Fist Gloves, fifth-rank Treasure Armament. Root bone talent stacked. Water-attribute martial talent and fist art talent increased.] [Traits: Water Dao Insight (Fifth Rank, improves water affinity and comprehension of water-attribute martial arts), Fist Spirit Wisdom (Fifth Rank, increases comprehension when practicing fist arts).]"These gloves are really good!"

"Besides the Spirit Ao Fist Art 'gifted' by that Haiyan Hall martial artist, the Twelve Forms of Xingyi taught by shifu also use fist practice as their foundation. The Fist Spirit Wisdom trait will help with cultivating the Twelve Forms too." Su Zhe was especially pleased with the abilities attached to the Kan-Water Fist Gloves. During these days, Su Zhe would occasionally dive into the Su River to cultivate the Spirit Ao Fist Art. The Spirit Ao Fist Art stored both movement and stillness.

In stillness, it sought movement; in movement, force flowed through the four limbs. Stillness existed within motion, and force hid within stillness. Power operated in movement, hid in yin, and circulated through yang. Movement and stillness complemented each other, forming one unified whole. This fist art was also divided into the Twelve Ao Extremity Diagrams, with twelve moves in total.

These included techniques such as Spirit Ao Crosses The River, Golden Ao Leaves The Cave, Southern Snake Seizes The Child, Spirit Ao Plays With The Head, Golden Ao Pounces On Prey, Golden Ao Probes The Cave, and Golden Ao Coils In Mud. Su Zhe cultivated it to minor mastery and gained the beast form known as Seizing Supremacy Within The Ao. [Root Bone: Upper-grade "One in Ten Thousand" (innate root bone), Middle-grade "Dragon Posture, Heavenly Bones" (root bone after equipment).] On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, heavy snow fell. Su Zhe's cultivation advanced greatly once more. After nearly a month of practice, he cultivated all of the Twelve Forms of Xingyi to the External Three Harmonies level. When his force erupted, he could strike out a dragon-shaped beast-force phantom. With the help of the giant turtle's flesh and blood, his inner force tempered his meridians, progressing quite a bit. His vast inner force surged into the Penetrating Vessel and Belt Vessel.

Once both vessels were opened, he stepped into the middle stage of the fourth rank. On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, several carriages left Lu County. Each carriage belonged to a different sect or faction. This time, Baijian Villa (Sword-Worship Villa) was holding its disciple recruitment ceremony and accepting disciples widely. Any young talent could go. From the Blacksmith Gang, three people went: Su Zhe, Xiao Xunhuan, and Yu Yi. The falling snow made no sound.

Heaven and earth were wrapped in white. Snowflakes filled the sky like silver butterflies dancing through the air, covering a thousand mountains and blanketing ten thousand trees. The long street was silent. The snow was over a foot deep. Only the sound of footsteps crunching through snow could be heard. The fine horses were spirited, their hooves trampling the accumulated snow as they sped away. Snow still fell in flurries, and the carriages gradually disappeared into the distance.

Tang Prefecture, the place where true dragons gathered. This Su is coming.