I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Forging

The Da Xi Kingdom was the mortal nation closest to the human Cultivation Realm. Many of its more worldly elders knew that Immortals existed in this world.

After extensive inquiries, the couple learned from a reclusive old man that Red Fox Town was the most likely place to find an Immortal Master. Furthermore, the town would even test its children for Cultivation Talent.

If a child possessed a Spirit Root, an Immortal would guide them to the Cultivation Realm to begin their path of Cultivation.

But this privilege was limited to the children of Red Fox Town; outsiders received no such treatment.

After some discussion, the couple decided to move to Red Fox Town.

Red Fox Town was very safe. As long as they could establish residency, even if they never met an Immortal Master and their child couldn’t practice Cultivation, their future would at least have some measure of security.

Or perhaps, one day, their child would have an awakening all on his own.

However, it was only after arriving in Red Fox Town that they learned it normally took fifteen years to gain residency.

And Red Fox Town only tested children for Spirit Roots before the age of sixteen.

If they followed the normal procedure, their child would be nineteen by then, far past the age limit.

Thus, the couple desperately took on tasks issued by the County Magistrate’s Office, hoping to accumulate enough merit for the office to make an exception—even if it was just to grant their child residency ahead of schedule.

As a result, their supply of arrowheads depleted rapidly, forcing them to visit Blacksmith Li’s shop frequently to restock.

Blacksmith Li took notice of their plight and couldn’t help but feel a pang of compassion.

One day, while chatting with the couple, he casually brought up an old incident from several decades prior.

The gist of it was that an outsider had accepted an extermination order from the County Magistrate’s Office, died in the line of duty, and left a child behind.

As a form of compensation, the child was subsequently granted residency and was cared for until they reached adulthood.

After hearing the story, the young couple exchanged a thoughtful look.

Blacksmith Li didn’t know if they had truly understood his meaning, but he couldn’t spell it out for them. He never mentioned the matter again.

Then, more than a year passed.

A savage bear emerged from the forest west of town, claiming several lives.

The County Magistrate’s Office hastily organized a party to hunt the bear. To ensure success, they conscripted over a hundred hunters and Martial Artists.

Ordinarily, with so many people conscripted, they should have been able to deal with the savage bear without issue.

Who would have known that this savage bear was no ordinary beast.

It had thick skin and tough flesh, impervious to blades and spears. It was immensely powerful, yet also fast. A single swipe of its paw could kill even a Martial Artist.

By the time the hunting party realized the danger, it was too late to escape.

In the end, of the party of over a hundred, only a dozen or so made it back alive.

Terrified, Red Fox Town sealed its gates shut. The County Magistrate contacted the imperial court that very night via a carrier pigeon from the Worldwide Bank. Only when the court dispatched a Martial Arts Grandmaster was the savage bear finally dealt with.

But that was a week later. In that week, Red Fox Town’s gates remained sealed, and no one dared to venture into the forest to collect the bodies of the dead Martial Artists and hunters.

By the time the bear was dealt with, many of the bodies had vanished without a trace.

Among the missing were the bodies of the young couple—Jiang Zuo’s parents.

The reason Blacksmith Li believed Jiang Zuo’s parents were still alive was that among the dozen or so people who escaped, nearly all had been hunters providing cover fire with arrows from the rear.

Jiang Zuo’s parents were not only skilled but also clever; the likelihood of them returning alive should have been very high.

If they had understood the meaning behind his story, the chance of them surviving was even greater.

Still, Blacksmith Li couldn’t be certain.

That savage bear was simply too powerful. Against such a beast, anyone below the rank of a Grandmaster could lose their life with a bit of bad luck.

"You should keep this to yourself and never speak of it to anyone. Even if your parents are alive, they would never dare to seek you out, so you mustn’t blame them."

Blacksmith Li warned Jiang Zuo.

He had never dared to speak of this to Jiang Zuo before. But now that Jiang Zuo could stand on his own and had a temperament as steady as his father’s, Blacksmith Li finally felt he could mention it in private.

To do so earlier would have only brought harm to them both.

"I understand. As long as they’re alive, that’s better than anything else!"

Jiang Zuo said sincerely, releasing a long breath.

They were his biological parents in this world.

’After I was reborn into this world, my soul seemed to be rejected by it. I could only watch everything unfold around me like a detached observer.’

’Any command I wanted to give my body took a long time to register, if it registered at all.’

’Sometimes I’d blink, and a considerable amount of time would have passed in the outside world.’

’But I could remember everything that happened, even from when I was an infant.’

’In this world, it’s a struggle for ordinary people just to get by. Raising a son who seemed like a simpleton required even greater courage.’

’If my parents had been anyone else, I probably would have been abandoned long ago.’

’But they never gave up on me. They did everything in their power to try and help me become normal.’

’If their son hadn’t been me,’ Jiang Zuo thought, ’they would have been living a decent life long ago.’

’It was entirely because of me that they died at the claws of that savage bear.’

Jiang Zuo had always been wracked with guilt over it.

Now, learning that his parents might still be alive, Jiang Zuo felt that if it were true, nothing could be better.

’As for why they wouldn’t secretly seek me out if they were still alive... I completely understand.’

’They can’t let the County Magistrate’s Office know they’re not dead. Otherwise, things would end badly for all of us.’

’The County Magistrate’s Office would absolutely make an example of them to warn others.’

’Exile and forced labor a thousand miles away would be a light sentence.’

The more he thought about it, the more Jiang Zuo believed it was highly probable his parents were still alive.

He had looked into the official records of the incident.

A total of eighty-seven people had died in the hunting party that year. Of those, thirty-one bodies were never recovered. But even among the unrecovered, some had left behind partial remains after being eaten by wild animals.

Only seventeen bodies had vanished completely.

Jiang Zuo’s parents were two of those seventeen.

Combined with what Blacksmith Li had said, the likelihood that they had seized the opportunity to fake their deaths was even greater.

"Mr. Li, back then, did my parents ever tell you where they were from?"

Jiang Zuo asked after a moment of thought.

’My current situation isn’t suitable for staying in one place for long. Sooner or later, I’ll have to leave.’

’If I had any clues about my parents, I have to repay them for raising me. The sooner, the better.’

"No, they never mentioned anything like that. Jiang Zuo, you don’t need to overthink it. With your parents’ skills, they won’t be doing too poorly, no matter where they are. What’s most important is that you be careful. Don’t arouse suspicion and expose this secret."

Blacksmith Li said, shaking his head reassuringly.

He then reminded Jiang Zuo once more.

’Even though there’s no proof, and I wouldn’t be implicated if the matter came to light, it would still be a huge hassle if people found out.’

"I understand."

Jiang Zuo nodded.

’So many years have passed already. There’s no need to rush.’

...

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!...

On one side of the courtyard, Little Xiangtao was happily romping around with Great Black.

On the other side, Jiang Zuo stood bare-chested by the forge, rhythmically bringing his hammer down with heavy blows on a red-hot block of iron resting on the anvil.

Waves of heat billowed from the forge, and sweat dripped from his head and body.

Jiang Zuo seemed oblivious, his eyes fixed on the block of iron as he hammered relentlessly, the sound of his work echoing without end.

Several of Blacksmith Li’s apprentices were also working nearby, but they could only hammer for a short time before needing to rest and let another take their place.

’This kid’s gotten stronger again! His stamina and endurance have improved, too. He’s a natural-born blacksmith!’

Blacksmith Li was resting to the side, occasionally giving his apprentices some pointers.

Watching Jiang Zuo, he couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of envy.

’To become an excellent blacksmith, strength, stamina, and endurance are fundamental.’

’You need steady hands, a sharp eye, and a bit of Comprehension. You have to be able to learn from experience, not just mindlessly hammer away.’

’Most importantly, you have to be able to endure the solitude to forge better billets.’

Jiang Zuo, it could be said, possessed all of these required qualities perfectly.

Setting aside those genius Martial Artists, Blacksmith Li had never seen anyone in Jiang Zuo’s age group with better strength, stamina, and endurance.

And his hand-eye coordination was even more impressive than that of many Martial Artists!

His Comprehension was simply astounding.

Jiang Zuo wasn’t an apprentice in his smithy; he had never formally taught the boy any smithing techniques.

At first, Jiang Zuo would just watch him work from the sidelines, same as the other apprentices.

But it wasn’t long before Blacksmith Li discovered that Jiang Zuo seemed to grasp numerous techniques just by watching silently.

He even seemed to master techniques that the blacksmith himself had never demonstrated.

And as for patience, Blacksmith Li had never met a young man with more of it than Jiang Zuo.

If the smithy were Jiang Zuo’s, Blacksmith Li suspected the boy would hammer away until the end of time to forge the exact item he wanted.

If Jiang Zuo were willing, Blacksmith Li would take him on as an apprentice without a second thought and pass on everything he knew.

Unfortunately, he could tell Jiang Zuo’s ambitions lay elsewhere.

For some unknown reason, however, Jiang Zuo wanted to learn the craft and forge something himself.

Now that Jiang Zuo’s earning potential was far greater than a blacksmith’s, there was even less reason for Blacksmith Li to suggest an apprenticeship.

Blacksmith Li was, however, quite curious about what on earth Jiang Zuo was trying to forge with all that time and effort.

The block of iron in Jiang Zuo’s hands had been repeatedly hammered by him for over a year.

He didn’t come every day, but all told, he’d spent nearly half a year’s worth of time on it.

"Jiang Zuo, what in the world are you making? This billet of yours has already become Hundred-refined Iron. You could have forged a fine weapon from it long ago."

Seeing Jiang Zuo place the cooling block of iron back into the forge, Blacksmith Li couldn’t hold back his question any longer.

"A piece of kitchen equipment... hmm, or maybe cookware? I’m going to use it to make something delicious. I’ll have you and Xiangtao try it when I’m done!"

Jiang Zuo said with a grin.

"Something for the kitchen? And Hundred-refined Iron isn’t good enough?"

Blacksmith Li frowned.

He’d forged plenty of ironware for kitchens, but he couldn’t think of a single item that would require iron better than Hundred-refined Iron.

"Not quite, but I’m close. If I push myself a bit this week, I should be able to finish it!"

Jiang Zuo said with conviction.

"Well, I’m curious to see what you end up making! Also, remember to forge a large cleaver for me later."

Blacksmith Li didn’t press the issue, only giving Jiang Zuo the instruction.

Jiang Zuo wasn’t an apprentice at the shop, so every time he came to use the forge, he had to make an item or two for Blacksmith Li, like a cleaver.

"No problem!"

’I don’t like taking advantage of an honest man’s kindness. If Blacksmith Li always let me use his tools for free, I’d actually feel too awkward to come here.’

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