Becoming a god starting from blacksmithing

Chapter 25 Raven Town

After leaving the valley, they traveled for two days without encountering any pursuers.

In the afternoon, the outline of a small town appeared ahead. It was gray and dusty, like a stone growing out of the ground. Shi Jian said that this was Raven Town—the last place a person stayed before reaching Tian Shu City.

The archway at the town entrance was newly built, its stone so white it clashed with the rest of the town's color scheme. It featured a relief carving of three lock-shaped nails, each the size of a fist, painted black. The lines of the three nails connected, forming a circle—like an eye.

An old man in a gray robe stood beneath the archway. He saw the four approach, his gaze sweeping over them, pausing briefly at Shen Chi's waist before moving away. He said nothing.

As Shen Chi walked past him, Xin Yin twitched slightly, as if someone had pressed a finger against his chest—light, but distinct.

He raised his head.

Along both sides of the town road, every ten steps or so, stood a stone pillar, about half a person's height, with a black keystone embedded at the top. The patterns on the keystone were alive, slowly rotating in the afternoon sunlight. From a distance, they looked like countless tiny eyes watching every passerby.

Shen Chi didn't stare. He lowered his head and followed Shi Jian inside.

A-Zhu walked beside him and suddenly tugged at his sleeve, her voice low: "They're listening."

Shen Chi paused in his tracks: "What are you listening to?"

"Listen to see if there is still light in people's hearts."

Shen Chi didn't ask any more questions. He tightened his grip on A-Zhu's hand a little and continued walking.

------

There are people on the street.

An old man sat on his doorstep shelling beans, his movements so slow one one wondered if he was deliberately stalling for time. A woman carrying a basket of clothes walked back from the well, spilling water along the way, but she didn't notice. Two children squatted by the wall playing with pebbles, nudging each other's stones, neither laughing nor speaking.

As Shen Chi walked past a child, the child looked up at him.

His eyes lacked the curiosity one might expect from a stranger. They were empty—not foolish, but the kind of emptiness where he looked at you, but wasn't really looking at you.

Shen Chi recalled when he first arrived in Qingxi Town. A-Zhu, a child of that age, or perhaps a little younger, would run and chase each other through the town's alleys, with Old Chen calling after them to slow down, their laughter echoing from one end of town to the other.

He walked with his head down, not looking at the child again.

Shi Jian found an inn. It was indeed the only one he could find—the wooden sign at the entrance read "Crow Inn," the characters crooked and uneven. The innkeeper was a thin man in his fifties. When he saw a guest arrive, his face remained expressionless, and he simply said that it would cost iron coins to stay.

Shi Jian took out a few iron pieces from the wooden box and placed them on the counter. Shen Chi noticed that those iron pieces were different from those used in Qingxi Town—Qingxi Town occasionally circulated copper coins, but here there wasn't even a trace of copper coins.

The shopkeeper accepted the iron coins, took out a rusty key from under the counter, and pointed to the room at the far end of the upstairs.

The four people went upstairs.

The room wasn't big, with two shared beds. Shi Jian pushed open the door but didn't go in immediately. He stood at the doorway and looked around—the window paper was torn in two places, there was dust in the corners of the walls, but the beds were covered with clean straw mats.

"Just for one night," Shi Jian said. "I'll leave at dawn tomorrow."

Mo Huaizhou placed the Hidden Killer under his pillow, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes. Azhu sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at her palm.

Shen Chi sat by the window and glanced outside.

From this vantage point, you can see half of the town road and three stone pillars. The locking pins at the top of the pillars are still turning, very slowly, like a clock that has been ticking for a long time and is about to stop.

Shi Jian sat down opposite him and began wiping the array plate.

Shen Chi turned his gaze from the window to Shi Jian.

"Why is the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion helping me? What does it mean to observe me?"

Shi Jian didn't look up, nor did he stop what he was doing. "The duty of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion is to deduce, not to blindly follow."

"I don't understand this kind of talk."

Shi Jian put down the array plate and looked at Shen Chi. After thinking for a moment, he changed his approach.

"The Heart-Locking Nail system has been operating for three thousand years, and the results of its calculations are getting worse year by year. What does this mean? It means that the emotional network of the Three Realms is collapsing. The Heart-Locking Nails can suppress the surface, but not the root cause."

He paused, then lowered his voice.

"Wilderness tide, you've heard of that term, haven't you?"

Shen Chi's hand tightened slightly. He'd heard it before. It was what Huo Wei said in Broken Soul Valley. "The Desolate Tide has begun; he said he'd wait for me to return."

"If we do nothing, the desolate tide will come again in a few hundred years, just like it did three thousand years ago." Shi Jian looked into his eyes. "So I'm helping you, not because I trust you as a person, but because we need another possibility."

Shen Chi remained silent for a moment. "There's no conflict."

Shi Jian paused for a moment, then his lips twitched—not a smile, but a slight movement.

Shen Chi didn't ask any more questions. He looked out the window again; the lock nail on the stone pillar was still turning. He didn't know if Shi Jian was telling the truth, but he knew one thing—the world outside Qingxi Town was indeed as his father had described. Locks were not the path to peace.

------

In the evening, Shen Chi went out alone.

He didn't tell Shi Jian where he was going. He just wanted to walk around and see what was left in the town besides the Heart Lock Nail.

He walked along the town road to the other end. The closer he got to the edge, the fewer stone pillars there were, and the slower the locking nails rotated. The last stone pillar stood beside the dirt road at the end of the town; its shaft was cracked, and the patterns on the nails were barely moving.

Shen Chi stood there for a while, then reached out and slowly approached the heart-locking nail.

When his finger was still three inches from the nail, Xin Yin suddenly pulled back.

It felt like being burned. It was as if the heart itself had taken a step back, refusing to get any closer.

He withdrew his hand and looked at his palm. Suddenly he understood—the people in this town weren't quiet; their emotions were suppressed, and they had even forgotten how to laugh.

"Are you from Qingxi Town?"

The voice came from behind. It wasn't loud, it was flat, like a question he already knew the answer to.

Shen Chi turned around.

A middle-aged man in a worn gray robe stood a few steps away. He was of average appearance and rather thin build, with no weapon at his waist. But he stood there, blocking the way back to town.

Shen Chi did not answer.

The man didn't wait for his reply. He looked at Shen Chi for a few moments, his gaze lingering on his chest—the light of the bronze seal shone through from under his collar, faint but striking in the drab town.

The man turned and left. His steps were neither fast nor slow, and he soon disappeared around the corner of the town road.

Shen Chi returned to the inn and told Shi Jian what had happened. Shi Jian asked about his appearance, and Shen Chi described him. After listening, Shi Jian remained silent for a moment.

"Zhou Xuan. A member of the Enforcement Hall."

"What is he doing here?"

Shi Jian did not answer immediately. He wiped the last array plate in his hand clean, put it back in the wooden box, and closed the lid.

"Waiting for you. Or rather—waiting for an opportunity."

Will he make a move?

"It won't be in town. But it's hard to say once it's outside of town."

Shen Chi gripped the handle of the Hundred-Refined Hammer. It was already dark outside. He walked to the window and glanced out. On the second floor of the inn diagonally opposite, a window was open. No lights were on inside, but by the moonlight, he could see a figure standing motionless behind the window.

Shi Jian walked over and glanced in the direction of his gaze.

"He lives in that room."

Shen Chi remained silent. They were separated by only a wall. The people from the Enforcement Hall lived right across the street.

night.

A-Zhu was already asleep. Mo Huaizhou leaned against the window, holding the hidden kill piece in his hand, his thumb gently rubbing the spring.

Shen Chi sat on the edge of the bed and took out the Guardian Sword.

The candlelight fell on the sword, making the flowing patterns appear deeper than before—as if the sword was moving and changing along with him.

A crow cawed in the distance, carried far by the wind. Then silence returned.

Shen Chi raised his head and glanced at the dark window opposite.

The figure is still there.

We're leaving town tomorrow.

He lowered his head and gripped the sword a little tighter.