The back workshop of the Vessel Hall was a furnace of rolling heatwaves.

It was completely different from the clamor of the front hall. The air was thick with the unique metallic, fishy scent of burnt coke and cooling metal. Giant bellows resembled the lungs of slumbering behemoths, each rise and fall accompanied by a dull, rumbling roar.

Zheng Tieshou led Su Ming through a long corridor piled high with discarded molds and pushed open a heavy, iron-clad wooden door.

Inside was a world of its own.

It was a stone chamber only about twenty feet square. The walls were hung with all manner of strange tools, some hook-like or claw-shaped, others seemingly carved from whole animal bones, gleaming with a cold luster. In the center of the room, a red copper beast-head furnace burned fiercely, its flames licking at a dark blue-green earthenware jar suspended above it. A rich aroma of liquor, carried by the hot air, rampaged through the confined space.

"Sit."

Zheng Tieshou casually kicked two rush cushions, sewn from some unknown beast hide, over beside the furnace and sat down himself with a wide-legged, imposing posture. He grabbed two rough earthenware bowls.

"This place is a bit messy, I'll admit, but it's quiet." Zheng Tieshou lifted the earthenware jar. A thick, viscous thread of dark red wine poured out, looking particularly enticing at that moment. "This is my private stash of 'Fire Pear Brew'. It's fierce stuff. Those delicate-skinned alchemists would feel their throats on fire after one sip. But for us ironworkers, this is the drink."

Su Ming sat down as instructed, accepting the bowl with both hands.

The liquor hit his throat, indeed feeling like a line of fire shooting straight down to his gut. Immediately, a wave of warmth spread to his limbs and bones, even making the spiritual energy circulating in his meridians feel a bit more lively.

"Good wine." Su Ming set down the bowl and exhaled a puff of white mist tinged with the scent of alcohol.

"You know your stuff!"

Zheng Tieshou laughed heartily, threw back his head, and drained the bowl in one gulp. He casually wiped the wine stains from his beard. "Back there earlier, those little bastards must have given you quite a show. All of them have high ambitions but low skills, thinking forging artifacts is just about swinging a hammer. They don't realize the 'finesse' involved is finer than a woman's embroidery."

He leaned forward, his eyes, reflecting the furnace fire, glowing red as they fixed on Su Ming. "Brother Su, I truly admire that 'water grinding effort' technique of yours. No fire refinement, no hammer forging, just using water spiritual energy to permeate and replace, and you smoothed out the hidden damage in that Yin-Yang Mother-Child Formation Plate. That kind of skill... you can't develop it without a good eight to ten years of immersion."

Su Ming gave a slight bow of his head and picked up the jar to refill Zheng Tieshou's bowl. "Steward Zheng flatters me. This disciple's spiritual roots are impure, and my fire techniques are not refined. I can only spend more time pondering these clumsy methods. Like water dripping through stone. The stone is hard, but it still fears the long-term, soft, persistent grind."

"Well said! The soft, persistent grind!"

Zheng Tieshou slapped his thigh, making the shelves behind him buzz. "Young people nowadays all think about using overwhelming force to overcome all techniques, about how to push the fire temperature to the extreme, to refine materials harder than diamond. But they don't understand—what is too rigid breaks easily."

He picked up his wine bowl, his gaze suddenly becoming somewhat distant, as if looking through the dancing furnace flames at scenes from long ago.

"Thirty years ago, the Earth Patrol Division placed a huge order."

Zheng Tieshou's voice lowered, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the rough rim of the earthenware bowl. "Back then, I was still an elite inner sect disciple, full of pride. The Earth Patrol Division wanted a batch of 'Mystic Iron Drill Cones' for exploring mineral veins over three thousand *zhang* underground. There was only one requirement: hard, harder than all rock."

Su Ming's fingers holding the wine bowl paused slightly.

Three thousand *zhang* underground.

Within his Consciousness Sea, Lin Yu, who had been lying lazily, suddenly sat up. "Disciple, this plot feels off. There's gossip to be had. Listen to what this old blacksmith has to say."

"Back then, we demanded the finest Mystic Iron essence, mixed in diamond dust, and even requested a Golden Core elder to personally inscribe 'Rock-Shattering Patterns'." Zheng Tieshou let out a wine-scented belch, a self-mocking smile appearing on his face. "When that batch of drill cones was finished, they could pierce straight through the skull of a fourth-rank demon beast. We all thought nothing in this world could stop them."

Su Ming didn't interrupt, just watched Zheng Tieshou quietly.

"And then?"

Zheng Tieshou splashed half the wine from his bowl into the furnace. The flames surged up half a man's height, making his face flicker between light and shadow.

"Half a month. It only took half a month." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Zheng Tieshou held up two thick, short fingers. "The Earth Patrol Division sent that batch of drill cones back. Thirty-six in total. Twenty were broken. The remaining sixteen..."

Zheng Tieshou poured himself another bowl of wine. "At the time, the three of us artificers refused to believe it was that strange. We wanted to melt them down and remake them. But the moment we threw them into the earth fire furnace..."

He paused, a flicker of fear in his eyes.

"The furnace exploded?" Su Ming asked softly.

"If only it had exploded." Zheng Tieshou gave a bitter laugh. "The dark golden fragments on them... the moment they touched the earth fire, it was like they came alive. They didn't melt. Instead, they started devouring the earth fire! The spiritual energy in that furnace was sucked dry in the blink of an eye. Two junior brothers who were controlling the fire stood too close. They didn't even have time to scream before all their vital energy, blood, and spiritual energy were sucked dry by that thing. They turned into two desiccated corpses!"

Su Ming's heart skipped a beat.

"What happened after that?" Su Ming's expression remained unchanged, only his voice lowered a bit. "Didn't the sect investigate?"

"Investigate my ass."

Zheng Tieshou cursed. "An elder came from above, took one look, and had the things sealed away. Said it was some kind of special magnetic field anomaly underground, told us to keep our mouths shut. The remaining drill cones were all confiscated."

He didn't continue, just pointed upwards. "Some things... us workers, we just need to understand in our hearts."

After three rounds of wine, the atmosphere warmed up again.

Zheng Tieshou, having finally vomited out that secret he'd held for years, clearly felt much more at ease.

He thumped his chest and pointed at the rows of shelves outside.

"Brother Su, I'm happy today. That stunt of yours fixing the formation plate earlier helped me vent some pent-up frustration. From now on, in this Vessel Hall, aside from those core materials that require an elder's written order, everything else, you pick whatever you want! I'll write you the chits!"

Su Ming set down his wine bowl, the apparent drunkenness on his face seeming to fade a bit.

"Since Steward Zheng says so, then this disciple won't stand on ceremony."

Su Ming pulled out a list he had prepared long ago from his robes, but didn't hand it over directly. Instead, he probed, "I wonder if the storeroom might have any 'Void Stone'?"