CLANG!
The heavy brass-studded doors of the Hundred-Refinements Weapon Bazaar flew inward as Tie Niu planted one size-sixteen iron boot against the latch.
A wave of dry, sulfurous heat rolled out from the two-story stone hall. At the back of the showroom, a thirty-foot magma furnace roared like a caged beast, fed by overhead chutes of black spirit-coal. Racks of broadswords, spears, and spiked maces lined the granite walls, while the center of the hall was dominated by a raised obsidian display altar.
“Master Smith Zhao!” General Meng Tie strode through the doorway beside Lin Mo, his newly regrown left arm flexing at his side. “Hold the noon smelting! My father’s Iron-Ridge Battle Halberd is in that scrap batch—I have the stones to redeem it!”
Near the magma chute, a portly, oil-shiny cultivator in a gold-threaded leather apron—Master Smith Zhao (Goodness: -14)—was pouring amber spirit-wine for a burly, bare-chested man with a jagged knife scar splitting his nose.
Lin Mo’s [Pure-Heart Eye] flashed two crimson tags across his vision.
[TARGET 1: ZHAO TIECHUI (MASTER SMITH ZHAO — HUNDRED-REFINEMENTS BAZAAR MANAGER)].
[CULTIVATION: RANK 5 PEAK | MORAL INTEGRITY: -14/100 (MIXED BRITTLE SLAG INTO BORDER SPEARS, FENCED LOOTED GOODS FOR BANDITS, BEAT APPRENTICES TO STEAL THEIR WAGES)].
