Lin Ke’s arrival at the Azure Cloud Sect Inner Mountain had barely lasted six incense sticks before the office hammer fell. The ink on his promotion scroll had not even dried when a royal patent summons from the Provincial Board of Patents was served directly against Smelting Ward Seven, citing unapproved heat-powered fire modifications and secret metalworking throughput.
Facing an immediate seizure of all ore allocations and a total audit that would permanently erase his retirement ledger, Elder Wu DeZheng had suffered a near-fatal panic attack. Scared of insolvency, the old bureaucrat had mobilized Lin Ke, Meng Shan. Shen Yue as a specialized technical defense delegation under Section 14 of the Provincial Craft Guild Compact.
Now, instead of enjoying the calm jade terraces of the upper peaks, they were crammed into the rattling belly of an unheated transport cart, riding the heavy ore carriage down the rutted mountain highway toward the regional manufacturing capital of Iron Crucible City.
The stench of scorched stone oil hit Lin Ke’s nostrils three miles before the outer wooden wall.
It was a thick, greasy reek that coated the back of the palate like rancid mutton fat. Every breath drew airborne fine dust into his lung tubes. Tiny flakes of rusted melted rock waste and powdered spirit iron that ground between his back teeth whenever he clamped his jaw.
