A moment later, the Master of Fire Refinement held the spirit stone and used a secret method to start infusing the soft armor. Soon, the infusion was complete, and the runes on the snake scale armor lit up, with a faint layer of green light appearing on the outside of the armor before quickly disappearing.

“Not bad,” the Master of Fire Refinement said, satisfied as he carefully inspected the armor. A bald man immediately brought over a clay teacup filled with bright red tea.

After setting down the armor, the Master of Fire Refinement picked up the teacup and took a sip. Then, he stood up and stretched his muscles.

“Turn around, turn around,” Yuan Ming silently urged. Unfortunately, his thoughts couldn’t influence the Master of Fire Refinement, who simply stretched his waist before sitting down again. Yuan Ming estimated that the time for his possession was about to end, and he couldn’t help but sigh.

But at that moment, the “clang clang” sound behind him suddenly stopped, and the voice of the bald man immediately followed, “Master, it’s done.” Just as Yuan Ming was feeling puzzled, the Master of Fire Refinement finally stood up and turned around.

As his gaze shifted, Yuan Ming also looked over. However, behind the Master of Fire Refinement, there was no one else except the bald man. But next to the bald man, there was a six-foot-tall figure that looked human but clearly wasn’t – the “Ironclad Man.”

The Ironclad Man was wrapped in dark green iron skin, with only a human-like outline but no human features, and even the body structure looked rough and crude, with only two finely crafted arms. One of the arms didn’t have a human hand structure, but was directly connected to a huge forging hammer.

Whether it was the forging hammer or the other parts of the Ironclad Man, the surface was covered with dark red sunken circles, with intricate lines connecting the circles, resembling unique runes that were magnified several times and severely distorted.

“Just what is this thing used for refining?” Yuan Ming was thinking this when the bald man gave the answer. “Master, although this mechanical puppet is useful, its limitations are too great…” His words contained some complaints.

“How much rice you eat and how big a bowl you hold, what’s there to complain about? Being skilled in making low-grade artifacts is enough in this Blackrock City,” the Master of Fire Refinement scolded him.

“But the iron ore it refines can actually reach the middle-grade level. Your skill in carving and infusing runes is exquisite. Why don’t we take on the business of middle-grade artifacts? The profits could increase at least fivefold,” the bald man said.

“I’ve told you this so many times. This puppet’s level is not high. Even if it can refine middle-grade iron ore, it’s not the best quality. Wouldn’t the artifacts made from it be just for show?” the Master of Fire Refinement frowned and said.

“You’re just too demanding,” the big man muttered under his breath, knowing that the Master was getting angry. “If I hadn’t been injured by someone in my early years and couldn’t wield a hammer to refine the ore, why would I need to buy a puppet from the Hundred Mechanisms Sect?” the Master of Fire Refinement sighed.

Yuan Ming listened with great interest. So there were puppets that could specialize in refining ore. What was the Hundred Mechanisms Sect? A sect that specialized in producing puppets? He hadn’t heard of it in the Southern Frontier, maybe it was a sect from the Central Plains?

Just as Yuan Ming was lost in thought, his vision began to blur, and he fell into darkness once again.

The next day, Yuan Ming retrieved the snake scale armor and the Eight Trigram Mirror from the Master of Fire Refinement. Although the snake scale armor was a low-grade artifact, the appearance and quality were fine, and the Eight Trigram Mirror was repaired very well. Yuan Ming was very satisfied and left after paying.

After leaving Blackrock City, Yuan Ming patted his spirit beast bag, and a streak of green light flew out. When the green light landed, a clear and melodious crane call sounded, and the Azure Cloud Crane spread its wings and danced in place, clearly preferring to be outside rather than sleeping in the spirit beast bag.

Yuan Ming reached out and the Azure Cloud Crane immediately obediently lowered its head, gently rubbing against his palm, showing great obedience. “Let’s go,” Yuan Ming leaped onto the back of the Azure Cloud Crane and gave a light command.

The Azure Cloud Crane immediately let out a long cry, flapping its wings powerfully to stir up the air, lifting its body into the sky and flying towards the east. In just two days, the Azure Cloud Crane descended towards a town below.

After landing outside the town, Yuan Ming put away the Azure Cloud Crane and walked to the city gate. Iron Tiger Town, he hadn’t expected to come back here. Looking at the familiar sign, he chuckled softly. With that, he quickly walked into the city gate.

After entering, Yuan Ming subconsciously glanced at the notice board next to him, only to see that the papers on it had faded, and the latest one was a recruitment notice for what seemed to be a painter. Yuan Ming didn’t pay much attention. He had come to Iron Tiger Town this time mainly to see if the people his father had sent to meet him were still there.

Although Yuan Ming didn’t know if they were still there, he decided to make a trip. It was almost noon, the busiest time in the city. As Yuan Ming passed by the inn owned by Old Pipe, he found that it had closed and stopped operating.

He didn’t mind and planned to walk through the streets to the Lord’s Manor to gather information. But as he walked through the streets, the scent of food and wine wafted from both sides, making Yuan Ming’s mouth water and his stomach growl.

He chose a restaurant with a moderate number of people and walked in. A dark-skinned young man with furrowed brows came forward to greet him.”Upstairs we have private rooms available, please follow me,” the young man with thick eyebrows began, but his expression soon turned into a frown. He looked at the customer before him, feeling a sense of familiarity, yet he couldn’t quite recall who it was.

“Hu Tu, long time no see. Yuan Ming here has been having a good time,” he chuckled. Hearing Yuan Ming’s voice, Hu Tu immediately realized, “You’re Yuan Ming?” His face lit up with joy, then quickly shifted to guilt, his gaze darting away.

“Oh, have you become the boss now?” Yuan Ming teased. He noticed at a glance that although Hu Tu’s clothes were simple, the fabric was not something a mere waiter would wear.

“This is just a small tavern, Brother Yuan, please follow me upstairs, we can talk there,” Hu Tu stammered for a bit before finally calming his nerves and leading Yuan Ming to the second floor.

Once in a private room, Hu Tu instructed the waiter to serve the best banquet they had and then closed the door. Turning around, he immediately knelt before Yuan Ming, filled with both guilt and gratitude, “Brother Yuan, I’ve been looking for you for a long time, but since our last parting, there has been no news of you.”

“Why were you looking for me?” Yuan Ming feigned ignorance. “To apologize and to repay you. I once harbored ill intentions towards you, yet you did not blame me, and instead left me ten silver coins. Anyone else would have sold me off to work in the mines,” Hu Tu said with a serious expression.

Yuan Ming thought to himself, I did sell you, but then I took you back. “Enough, if you hadn’t taken me out of that graveyard, I might well be dead by now. It’s all karma,” Yuan Ming had thought of this before and thus hadn’t truly sold Hu Tu off.

“This time, no matter what, I must properly thank you.” Seeing that Yuan Ming bore no grudge, Hu Tu was overjoyed. Moments later, the waiter brought up a table full of fine wine and dishes, and Hu Tu, disregarding his business, joined Yuan Ming for the meal.

He recounted his experiences since parting with Yuan Ming, how he used those ten silver coins to struggle and gradually build his wealth, eventually settling down in Iron Tiger Town and opening this “Ming En Tavern.”

In fact, Yuan Ming had passed by this tavern the last time he was in Iron Tiger Town. After a long conversation, the two men laughed off their past grievances.

Just as Hu Tu was about to ask about Yuan Ming’s adventures, a commotion suddenly erupted from downstairs. Yuan Ming listened closely and heard the sound of armor clashing, with at least a dozen men involved.

Before he could make out the details, the noise escalated into the sound of tables being overturned, curses being shouted, and the panicked cries of customers. “It’s nothing, I’ll go have a look,” Hu Tu said, furrowing his brow to reassure Yuan Ming before hurrying downstairs.

Upon reaching the ground floor, he recognized the armored soldiers as the personal guards of the Iron Tiger Town lord, and his expression immediately soured.

“My lord, what is this about? I am the owner of this tavern, and I’m friends with the steward of the lord’s mansion, Wu Lin. Please show some respect, whatever the issue is, let’s sit down and talk it over,” Hu Tu paused, then quickly put on a smile and went to greet them.

“It’s you, you scoundrel, to hell with you!” The leader, a burly man with a full beard, was furious and slapped Hu Tu, sending him staggering and crashing to the ground.

“That damn Wu Lin introduced a swindler from the Central Plains, claiming to be a court painter directly taught by Wu Daozi, and cheated the lord out of a large sum of money before fleeing. He’s been beaten half to death and confessed that it was you who introduced that swindler to him, is that true?” the burly man bellowed.

“Ah… it wasn’t me…” Hu Tu was shocked and quickly tried to defend himself. “I don’t care if it was you or not, that swindler called ‘Wu Liao,’ did he stay here or not?” the burly man demanded.

“He moved to the lord’s mansion two days ago and hasn’t been back since…” Hu Tu immediately responded. Wu Liao had stayed at his tavern for several days, eating and drinking lavishly on credit.

When Hu Tu pressed for payment, the man claimed to be a direct disciple of the painter Wu Daozi from the Wu Kingdom, a court painter who could easily paint a picture worth more than the tavern itself.

Hu Tu didn’t believe him and intended to report him to the authorities, but Wu Liao said he saw a notice at the city gate that the lord’s mansion was looking for a painter, and taking on that task would easily allow him to repay his debt. As a result, Hu Tu was once again duped by someone from the Central Plains, falling for Wu Liao’s trick.