Chapter 239: CH. 239 | Invitation From Ya Fei

Lin Tian walked out of the authority’s office alone. The four blacksmith owners still looked shaken behind him, clearly not expecting to have been threatened like that.

Still, they didn’t seem too bothered, despite the fear lingering in their hearts. They were confident Lin Tian wouldn’t be reckless enough to actually kill them.

The four of them left the office feeling bitter, frustrated that they’d failed to get Lin Tian punished. Meanwhile, Lin Tian already had a clear plan in mind for how he’d bring them down.

He wasn’t going to kill them, that wouldn’t be right. Whatever else they were, they were still mortals, and killing a mortal was something a cultivator simply didn’t do.

But given his standing, he was thinking more along the lines of destroying their businesses instead, starting with spreading word about the poor quality of the swords and goods in their shops.

It would take time, and the payback would drag out slowly. But the outcome would be far more satisfying for him in the end.

Once he’d left the city behind, Lin Tian tore open a dimensional rift. He stepped through it and appeared back at his house, where An Yue sat waiting in her chair, worry etched on her face.

The moment she saw the rift appear, she knew it had to be Lin Tian. Her guess proved right as he stepped out of the crack in space.

"How did it go? Are you alright, husband?"

"I’m fine," Lin Tian said. "They ruled that I wasn’t guilty of anything. So I won’t be going to prison."

"Thank goodness. I’m glad to hear that," An Yue said.

"Who exactly were those four men? And why don’t they like you, husband?" An Yue asked.

Lin Tian smiled. He sat down at the table and poured tea into two cups. The two of them enjoyed their tea together that evening, with dinner laid out in front of him.

He didn’t hold anything back, telling An Yue everything that had happened, since he felt she deserved to know exactly what was going on.

An Yue nodded along as he explained, occasionally offering her own thoughts on the men and on his situation as a whole.

"Since they’ve decided to mess with my business, I’ll make sure their businesses suffer the same fate," Lin Tian said.

"Why?" An Yue asked, catching him off guard.

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to destroy them?" An Yue asked.

"Because they attacked my business," Lin Tian answered.

The woman gave a brief smile, then reached out again to hold his hand. Her eyes stayed fixed on her husband.

"I understand why you’re upset, but they only did it because they felt their own businesses were threatened," An Yue said.

"We haven’t done anything wrong, but we would be wrong if we used our power to crush theirs."

"Didn’t you tell me yourself that the cultivation world and the mortal world are different? That the two shouldn’t interfere with each other?"

Lin Tian took in her gentle words carefully. He drew a long breath, letting it settle the irritation in his chest, clearing his mind and steadying his dao heart once more.

The mortal world was complicated, certainly, but it was a world apart from cultivation. He understood exactly what An Yue was getting at.

The heart of her advice was simple: avoid conflict, and try to resolve the matter peacefully, without either side losing face, not theirs, and not Lin Tian’s either.

But her clearest point was this, she wanted him to hold back from retaliating against them. Doing so would only make things worse and drag the whole situation further downhill.

"You’re right, Yue’er."

"I’m grateful to have you by my side, so you can help me work through the problems that come my way," Lin Tian said.

"Of course, husband. It makes me happy to be able to help you as much as I can," An Yue said.

"What matters most right now is staying calm and keeping your focus on the business. Don’t punish them, because whatever punishment you hand down could mean the complete ruin of their lives."

"I understand, Yue’er."

Lin Tian chose to listen to what she’d said, knowing it was the best path forward for both of them.

He decided he’d try to be more patient and keep himself level-headed, staying focused on the original purpose behind this whole disguise of his.

"Enough about that for now," An Yue said. "Let’s eat before it gets cold."

He and An Yue shared their dinner together, talking about all sorts of things, their future, and about the dao.

Lin Tian happily answered every question An Yue brought up, since he felt this could be a crucial step toward her own dao enlightenment.

Her cultivation base was still only Early Nascent Soul, but guidance from Lin Tian on the dao could open her mind to new ways of understanding her path toward the heavens someday.

That would prove incredibly valuable to her, especially since she’d already indirectly inherited part of Ling Weixi’s legacy. For now, though, Lin Tian only asked that she focus on her pregnancy.

He asked her to set aside any deep thinking about dao comprehension and her heavenly path for the time being. He worried it would place too much strain on her mind and end up affecting her pregnancy in some negative way.

"Alright, husband. I understand."

***

Three months later.

Word about Lin’s Blacksmith had spread far and wide among both townspeople and cultivators. Many of them made their way to Xiayu Village just to see if the rumors were true.

They’d heard plenty about the quality of the swords coming out of Lin’s shop, that some of the blades Lin Tian forged supposedly carried a trace of rune array essence within them.

Rune arrays of that complexity weren’t something an ordinary cultivator could see, not even a skilled formation master could spot them easily. So they came to test the claim for themselves.

"I hear you’ve got spiritual swords here?" one cultivator asked, a Foundation Establishment practitioner.

Lin Tian smiled. "I forge some of my swords using spirit stones. I think there are a few over there on the rack."

They turned and inspected the sword rack along the wall, trying to determine whether Lin Tian was telling the truth or not.

Still, there was only one real way to confirm his claim: buy one of the weapons and try it out firsthand.

If a cultivator’s spiritual qi managed to sync with the rune array embedded in the blade, the sword’s power would increase dramatically.

Worried the stock might run out, several cultivators handed over spirit stones to Lin Tian, buying up multiple weapons just to test them outside.

Lin Tian accepted their payment and let them try the swords out in the open.

That kept the shelves emptying out day after day, forcing Lin Tian to forge new swords regularly at set times just to keep up.

In the middle of the crowd, a few cultivators spoke up excitedly when they noticed someone new arriving in Xiayu Village.

"Look! Isn’t that Ya Fei? Head of the Formation and Array Hall from the Lingxian Sect?"

Lin Tian caught their words and quickly moved to conceal his cultivation base. He was fairly confident that his altered appearance would keep Ya Fei from recognizing him right away.

She’s probably here because she’s heard the rumors. Ya Fei clearly wants to see the truth of it for herself.

The shop door opened, and sure enough, they were right. Ya Fei walked in accompanied by two of her hall’s core disciples. One of the women stepped forward toward Lin Tian.

"Are you Lin, the blacksmith of Xiayu?" the woman asked.

Lin Tian responded by clasping his hands together and bowing his head respectfully. "I’m Lin Yuxu, owner of Lin’s Blacksmith."

"So it’s true," she said. "You can forge swords infused with rune arrays. Is that correct?"

"I simply make use of spirit stones. I figured forging weapons with them would add a significant boost to their strength."

Ya Fei raised her hand, running her fingers along one of the blades displayed on the wall, then turned to look at Lin Tian. "I’ve never heard of anything like this before."

"You?! Are you trying to fool us, you damned mortal?!" one of Ya Fei’s core disciples snapped.

The blonde-haired woman heard her disciple shout at Lin Tian. She tried to calm the girl down while stepping closer to him herself.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, her focus fixed sharply on Lin Tian. Ya Fei had another reason for coming to the shop in person.

"Weapon forging is an inseparable part of the Technique and Weapon Hall’s work. My senior sister is currently away, and there’s no one left at the sect who knows how to forge iron into weapons," Ya Fei said.

"I’ve heard you’re the finest blacksmith in Yanzhe City."

"I came here to invite you to the Lingxian Sect, to teach the disciples of the Technique and Weapon Hall the art of forging weapons," Ya Fei said.

"Don’t worry about compensation. We’ll make sure to reward you generously."

Lin Tian smiled, then clasped his hands together and bowed his head obediently. "But I’m not able to work formations or rune arrays into swords myself."

"No need to worry about that," Ya Fei replied. "Your only task would be to teach the basics of weapon forging. Leave the modification of the swords to me and my disciples."

Ya Fei looked at Lin Tian with a serious expression. "So, what do you think? Are you interested?"