"Is this what Cangfeng Pavilion taught you?"
The dusk stained the sky like ink, and Fu Jin's voice, wrapped in the coldness of iron clashing, exploded in Yue Shan's ears.
"Craftsman?!"
The hairs on the back of Yue Shan's neck stood on end, and the veins under his skin throbbed. When he turned around, his footing was unstable and spider-web cracks appeared on the blue bricks. A scream like a broken gong pierced the dusk, and there was a slight tremor in the tail tone that he himself didn't even notice.
Fu Jin pulled lightly with his palm, and saw Yue Shan's body, which was as big as a hill, fell directly on the ground like a wooden stake, hitting the wall heavily, making a big hole, and rolling out of the yard.
Yue Shan got up covered in dust and dirt, and was about to leave with a depressed look on his face when Xu Yunfan called out to him.
"Wait."
Before Yue Shan could make any move, he saw Xu Yunfan standing straight in front of him.
He was shocked and angry, and asked in a deep voice: "What else do you want?"
Xu Yunfan said, "You've messed up this yard. You've even torn down the fine iron stakes I had someone install with such great difficulty. You've also smashed a big hole in the wall. Are you going to leave without paying me some money?"
Yue Shan's face turned blue and purple, and he wanted to explode, but then he saw Fu Jin standing beside him with his arms folded, looking unhappy.
He took out a hundred-liang silver note from his pocket, crumpled it into a ball and threw it to Xu Yunfan, then left quickly with his head down.
Looking at Yue Shan's receding figure, Xu Yunfan smacked his lips and said, "This is the second time I've seen someone this tall."
Fu Jin said, "There's a Black Turtle Camel Mountain Kung Fu in the Cangfeng Pavilion. This kid is incredibly talented, and he's been raised in potions since he was little, so it's not surprising that he's grown this big. You'll have the chance to see even bigger ones in the future."
He reached out and patted Xu Yunfan on the shoulder, looking at the somewhat confused Xu Yunfan with a complicated expression.
"I'm afraid it's not easy to come here all the way?"
Xu Yunfan's heart moved. Seeing Fu Jin's dusty appearance, he realized that he was being investigated.
He said lightly, "Brother, what are you talking about? Every difficulty will be overcome. As the saying goes, there will always be a time to ride the wind and waves, and set sail to cross the vast ocean. Now I am rising."
"What a wonderful poem! There will always be a time to ride the wind and waves." The more Fu Jin savored it, the more he felt it was exquisite. He couldn't help but slap his thigh and said, "This poem is great! It fits your name perfectly."
"No, no, I've been using this name from the beginning until now."
"It's a good thing to have ambition. From now on, Tiangong Cave will be your home. There's no need to be restrained. If you need anything, just tell me, Senior Brother."
"That's right, Senior Brother."
"What realm are you in now?"
"I'm only half a step away from a blood transfusion. At my age, if I don't break through within two years, my Qi and blood will start to decline, and there will be no hope."
"There's another question."
"Um?"
"When I entered the Mechanical City, you shouldn't have had to go to meet me, given your status, right?"
"Of course not. It happened to be my turn that day, and I had nothing else to do, so I came to see which idiot had spent fifty taels of silver on the toll. That slide was developed by the Mechanical Hall, and it hasn't been used in years, so it's almost rusted.
I didn't expect that your appearance was so unique. You can indeed do what ordinary people can't do. I am not as good as you."
"..."
Fu Jin told them not to pay any attention to Yue Shan, saying that the man was not very smart and was being used as a gun to test him. If they met him again, they could just fight back. As long as no one was killed, everything would be fine.
Xu Yunfan agreed immediately.
The craftsmen from the Tiangong Department restored the yard to its original state in less than half an hour.
"Thank you for the favor, forty-nine taels and eight cents." The black iron abacus in the palm of the Tiangong disciple's hand crackled. "This is just a small change to congratulate Senior Brother Xu on his promotion. It's just a small gift. Fifty taels will do."
"So expensive?!"
Xu Yunfan blurted out without a voice.
The Tiangong Department laughed and said, "Brother, don't think it's expensive. You're really wasting our talents by asking us to do this. We build mechanical towers and cities, and build the Immortal Golden Fortress. If you weren't preparing to teach us, we wouldn't come to do this kind of work."
I understand, it's Brother Civil!
What else could Xu Yunfan say? He gritted his teeth, took out the silver to pay, and even forced a smile to say thank you.
After sending Tiangongbu out of the door and preparing to go back, Xu Yunfan raised his eyebrows. Outside the vermilion courtyard gate, there stood a girl holding a sword, her height not even as high as his chest.
The girl with the two buns on her head and the towering hair on top of her head that could never be smoothed out was the one who was accused of disturbing the neighbors by the neighboring villa in Cuibo City that day.
"So you are the true disciple appointed by the Weapon Casting Hall."
The girl was surprised and frowned, and she made two "tsk" sounds before leaving without looking back, leaving Xu Yunfan baffled.
Looking at the girl's departing back, Fu Jin, who had originally left, reappeared beside Xu Yunfan out of nowhere.
"Are you interested in her?"
Fu Jin pinched his chin as he watched the girl's departing back, thinking, "She's the granddaughter of the current Tiangong Cave Sect Master, Hong Siyang. She's already twelve years old, so she should be able to get married in two years. I could ask Master and the Sect Master to bring it up. If they can bring them together, that would be a good thing..."
"Brother! She's still just a child!"
Xu Yunfan almost jumped up and shook his head repeatedly: "Brother, I appreciate your kindness. I still have to practice martial arts seriously. I will talk about men and women after I have mastered my skills."
"Indeed, at the moment, martial arts training is the most important thing. Let's put aside the feelings of children for now. Okay, I won't bother you anymore. Just make the most of your time to practice martial arts."
Fu Jin waved his hand and was about to leave when Xu Yunfan stopped him.
"Brother, I want to learn weapon forging from you."
Fu Jin was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "Your main priority right now is to practice martial arts. Forging iron and forging weapons can come later."
Xu Yunfan said, "Brother, I have perfected my Cloak Hammer, and I can wield the heavy hammer with ease. If I could learn weapon forging and control the lightness and heaviness of my power, my power would naturally be taken to a higher level, which would definitely be of great benefit to my strength growth."
Fu Jin thought for a moment after hearing this and said, "I need to talk to Master about this first. You can just focus on practicing martial arts."
After Fu Jin hurried back, there were not many disturbances in the following days. Xu Yunfan's identity was confirmed. Although he appeared out of nowhere from Beiye City, he came from the direction of the 800-mile Huangchuan Glacier. With the connections in Tiangong Cave, he could naturally find out about the Ningguta incident.
So every time Fu Jin came over and saw Xu Yunfan, he would sigh and say that he was a child with a miserable life, just like Shenbingling. The feeling of sympathy made him very annoyed.
Until yesterday, when the news came that Wuzhou was blocked by the Great Zhou Imperial Court, Zhan Yan was casting weapons for him and had not yet come out. As the acting person in charge, Fu Jin was dragged away to discuss matters. Only then did Xu Yunfan have a lot of peace and quiet.
One hundred thousand black-armored tiger soldiers cut down mountains and destroyed temples in Wuzhou, and the gates of fourteen sects were all trampled down.
This incident shocked the martial arts world. It was said that even the only top sect in Yanbei Dao, Jiuyao Sect, personally sent people to Yujing.