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墨書 Inktalez
At this moment, the Innkeeper had arrived at Liu Guanfeng's door and gently knocked. A voice came from inside, "Who is it?"
"It's me, the Innkeeper."
Liu Guanfeng opened the door and asked, "What brings the Shopkeeper here?"
"This guest, the blacksmith President Qifeng Ge has arrived at our tavern. Please come with me to meet him." The Shopkeeper thought it was a great opportunity; Qifeng Ge was a prominent figure in the entire Knight Continent. His presence here was already a significant honor, and it wouldn't be appropriate to let him enter just to meet a young man.
Liu Guanfeng smiled slightly, "I didn't expect him to arrive so promptly. I understand; let him come in to find me." After saying that, Liu Guanfeng turned back into his room and closed the door again.
Liu Guanfeng's actions startled the Shopkeeper. He had never seen anyone dare to speak like that in front of Qifeng Ge. He had heard that even the King of Guardian Nation, Li Longfei, showed respect when meeting Qifeng Ge because he was the only Divine Blacksmith on the entire continent, and his works were rare treasures.
There was even a story about a king who wanted Qifeng Ge to forge a weapon for his birthday. However, Qifeng Ge ignored him completely. The king was furious and prepared to send troops to capture Qifeng Ge, but before he could act, the emperor sent two legions to surround the royal city, forcing that king to abdicate. Since then, no one dared to show any disrespect toward Qifeng Ge because he had thousands of disciples in the blacksmithing field across the continent, many of whom were leaders in various Blacksmith Guilds in major cities. His influence was immense, yet this young man seemed unconcerned about Qifeng Ge.
Ultimately, the Shopkeeper could only turn around and head back while contemplating how to phrase his words so that Qifeng Ge would not be angry and would spare his small shop.
When Qifeng Ge saw the Shopkeeper returning, he immediately approached him. "Shopkeeper, what did that young man say?"
"He said... he said you should go in and find him yourself." The Shopkeeper mustered all his strength to say those last few words. After finishing, he felt utterly drained. He braced himself for Qifeng Ge's wrath but was instead met with a beaming smile.
"Of course! I should personally pay him a visit. Thank you for leading the way, Shopkeeper."
The Shopkeeper widened his eyes at Qifeng Ge, trying to confirm if he had misheard. "President Qi, what did you say?" He had anticipated all sorts of reactions but never expected such a cheerful expression from Qifeng Ge.
Qifeng Ge continued smiling broadly and said, "I said I want to visit personally; you will lead me there. Is there a problem?"
The Shopkeeper waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "No problem, of course not." It was a joke; did it really take for him to get angry for it to be a problem? After speaking, the Shopkeeper turned and led the way, while Qifeng Ge slowly walked towards the backyard accompanied by Dragon Ring and a group of guards. The onlookers outside were unable to follow; they were blocked at the door by the guards left behind.
The Shopkeeper led Qifeng Ge and the others through the corridor to the courtyard where Liu Guanfeng was located. Upon entering the courtyard, the Shopkeeper raised his voice and shouted, "President Qifeng Ge from the Blacksmith Guild Headquarters has come to pay a visit to Young Master Liu Guanfeng."
In fact, this was the Shopkeeper giving Liu Guanfeng a way out, implying that someone had already arrived; shouldn't he come out to greet them? After the Shopkeeper's shout, other doors opened, and Bao Rui, Copper Bull, Iron Bull, and others all stood at their doorways looking outside, but no one came forward to greet them. As for Liu Guanfeng's room, its door remained completely closed.
This made the Shopkeeper quite awkward. He turned to Qifeng Ge and said, "President Qi, what do you think about this..."
Qifeng Ge didn't even glance at him; he simply asked, "Is Liu Family's young master in that room with the closed door?"
The Shopkeeper nodded. "Exactly."
"Then this is no longer your concern. You may leave now," Qifeng Ge waved his hand dismissively at the Shopkeeper. Clearing his throat, he continued:
"I am Qifeng Ge, President of the Blacksmith Guild Headquarters. I have come to pay my respects." After saying this, Qifeng Ge bowed towards Liu Guanfeng's door.
At that moment, Liu Guanfeng's door opened, but no one showed their face. A voice came from inside: "President Qi, please go upstairs. As for your subordinates, it's fine if they stay where they are."
"Understood," Qifeng Ge replied before kicking Dragon Ring in the shins. Dragon Ring fell to his knees with a thud. Qifeng Ge looked at Dragon Ring and said, "Listen well; unless I give you an order, you will kneel here until you die." After saying this, he no longer glanced at Dragon Ring and walked towards Liu Guanfeng's room.
Meanwhile, the Shopkeeper listened and watched secretly from the side, filled with questions. What puzzled him most was what kind of person Liu Guanfeng was that even someone like Qifeng Ge had to pay him a personal visit and even made Vice President Dragon Ring kneel before that young man.
Qifeng Ge quickly arrived at Liu Guanfeng's door and gently knocked. "Come in."
Qifeng Ge entered and closed the door behind him. At this moment, Bao Rui and Copper Bull looked at Dragon Ring kneeling on the ground and chuckled before turning back to close their doors and return to their rooms.
Dragon Ring kept his head down as he knelt there. He understood that his master was doing this for his own good and held great respect for him. He always obeyed his master's words without daring to utter a single objection. The guards behind him dared not defy Qifeng Ge either; they could only stand in two rows behind Dragon Ring.
Qifeng Ge closed the door and saw a young man sitting by the table in the room. When the young man noticed Qifeng Ge enter, he stood up to greet him, saying, "President Qi, please don't take offense. I had no other choice."
Qifeng Ge quickly replied, "Not at all, it's my student's lack of discipline."
Liu Guanfeng immediately realized that Qifeng Ge had misunderstood. He held no resentment towards Dragon Ring Liu Guanfeng, as he was merely trying to uphold his teacher's dignity.
"President Qi, you misunderstood. I asked you to come here personally out of necessity. Please don't hold it against me."
"Not at all," Qifeng Ge said while placing the small Hammer on the table.
He looked at the Hammer and then at Liu Guanfeng. "May I ask, young man, do you know the owner of this Hammer?"
Liu Guanfeng nodded. "I do. This Small Hammer was given to me by my master, and he asked me to show it to you."
"May I ask who your master is?" Although Qifeng Ge believed that Xuanwu was not dead, it was always good to clarify things. In fact, Qifeng Ge felt quite conflicted; he wanted confirmation from Liu Guanfeng but also feared that Liu Guanfeng might mention someone other than Xuanwu. Thus, he looked at Liu Guanfeng with eager anticipation.
Liu Guanfeng smiled slightly. "My master is the one standing in front of your Blacksmith Guild."
Upon hearing this, Qifeng Ge clenched his fists with excitement and asked, "Young man, how has my master been?"
Liu Guanfeng nodded. "My master has been doing well. According to seniority, I should actually call you 'senior brother.'"
Qifeng Ge shook his head. "I can't consider myself a disciple of my master; he never said anything about taking me as a disciple."
Liu Guanfeng laughed heartily beside him. "I say, senior brother, even though my master never officially took you as a disciple, he often thinks about your performance and feels Pride in having you as a disciple."
With tears of excitement in his eyes, Qifeng Ge said to Liu Guanfeng, "Young man, are you saying that my master has always regarded me as his disciple?"
"There’s no doubt about it. I came here this time on the orders of my Master; otherwise, I wouldn't have brought the Master's token with me," Liu Guanfeng said, pointing to the small Hammer on the table.
Qifeng Ge stared at the small Hammer on the table, slowly becoming lost in thought. He recalled the time he encountered Xuanwu and how, with Xuanwu's help, he embarked on this path of forging and achieved such accomplishments.
Seeing Qifeng Ge in a daze, Liu Guanfeng did not disturb him. From Qifeng Ge's performance and the confirmations he received from him, Liu Guanfeng understood the high regard in which Xuanwu was held in Qifeng Ge's heart.
After a while, Qifeng Ge finally came back to his senses and looked at Liu Guanfeng with an apologetic expression. "Junior Brother, I'm sorry. I got a bit distracted."
Liu Guanfeng smiled slightly. "It's fine. It seems that Senior Brother must have been reminiscing about something."
Qifeng Ge nodded. "You don't know, Junior Brother, but my ability to walk this path is entirely due to Master’s guidance. Back then, I was just thirteen years old and an ordinary blacksmith apprentice. Due to my poor performance, I was often scolded by my master and bullied by my fellow apprentices. So, I worked hard every night until late. One night, Master came to my side and said: 'You have a strong will; I believe your future achievements will surpass those of your master.'
From then on, Master would come to guide me every night, although his methods were somewhat harsh." As Qifeng Ge spoke, he unconsciously rubbed his left arm, indicating that he had received quite a few lessons from Xuanwu. Liu Guanfeng understood this well; seeing Qifeng Ge rub his shoulder made Liu Guanfeng feel a tingling sensation in his back as well—places that had also felt the sting of Xuanwu's discipline.
Qifeng Ge smiled nostalgically. "However, Master’s methods benefited me for a lifetime. Every time I saw Master forge something, I felt a sense of admiration; his movements were simply beautiful. With Master's help, my forging skills improved rapidly. Soon, I surpassed all my fellow apprentices and became the top blacksmith at our Blacksmith Shop. However, Master was not satisfied with my performance; he once told me that only forging divine weapons from the most ordinary materials counts as the highest skill in forging.
Thus, Master taught me for half a month. After that time, he told me that my future achievements would depend on myself and that he would not return again. When he left, he did not reveal his name or allow me to call him Master. It wasn't until I joined the Blacksmith Guild that I learned that the God of Blacksmiths we worshipped in our guild was actually my Master. At that moment, I was extremely excited; however, when I asked everyone about his name, no one knew it.
We only knew that the first Vice President of the Blacksmith Guild, Xiang Sheng and Huang Sanlang, became the first divine-level blacksmiths in the entire continent with Master's help and established the Blacksmith Guild. Even so, they did not know Master's name either. In the end, they could only erect a statue in front of the Blacksmith Guild to ensure that future generations of blacksmiths would remember our Master."
Meanwhile, Liu Guanfeng listened with great interest: he hadn't expected Xuanwu Master to enjoy such mystique.
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