When Old Jack heard that Zhou Qing and Tang San wanted to build a forging workshop, his immediate reaction was—
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Old Jack was speechless. "Xiao Qing, Xiao San, I know you're smart, but why build a forging workshop? The village already has a smithy, though no one dares to go there. I have to help take everyone's broken farm tools there."
Tang San blushed with embarrassment, but still spoke his intention:
"Well, it's actually to help my father pull himself together…"
"Huh, that actually sounds somewhat reasonable."
Old Jack was surprised. He hadn't expected these two kids to come up with such an idea. Still, he shook his head. "No, you two don't know how to forge."
"I do!"
Tang San raised his right arm high. "I've watched my father forge. I know how."
"You? Hahaha! Cough cough."
Old Jack chuckled until he coughed twice, then tried to contain his laughter. "You're so small barely taller than a forging hammer!"
"Grandpa Jack, how would we know it won't work unless we try?"
Zhou Qing stood firmly behind Tang San. "He's really strong—born with divine strength!"
"Born with divine strength?"
Old Jack thought of how Tang San went up the mountain to gather firewood every day, then looked at his build no longer that skinny. He now looked like a normal child. Perhaps it was possible.
"Then give it a try."
Thinking it couldn't hurt to humor them, Old Jack brought the two back to his house.
In the backyard, Old Jack pointed to a forging hammer over a meter long and said to Tang San,
"Xiao San, if you can lift that, I'll get someone to build you a forging workshop next to Zhou Qing's house."
"Okay."
Tang San immediately lifted the hammer. His small frame held the long, heavy iron hammer aloft, leaving Old Jack gaping.
"Truly born with divine strength!"
And then, Tang San even began swinging the hammer with ease, his movements fluid and natural astonishing Old Jack even more.
Next came—
Pure joy!
There wasn't any deeper reason. Just that strength alone was enough to convince Old Jack that in two years, when Tang San awakened his martial spirit, he'd definitely be born with innate soul power.
Saint Soul Village might just see another soul master!
"Good! Good! Good!"
Old Jack agreed on the spot and immediately went to find workers to plan and build a new forging workshop beside Zhou Qing's home.
Just because someone could swing a hammer didn't mean they could forge.
But Tang San was a thousand times more dependable than that scoundrel Tang Hao. Even if the path of a soul master didn't go well, returning to the village to be a blacksmith wouldn't be a bad life. He'd need a smithy of his own.
The current smithy Tang Hao's place was a mess. Tang Hao wouldn't repair it, and it might even collapse by the time Tang San grew up.
Building a new workshop wouldn't be a waste.
As village head, Old Jack did have some foresight.
If Zhou Qing knew what Old Jack was thinking, he'd think Old Jack's vision was a hundred times more forward-looking than Tang Hao's lazy, deadbeat life attitude.
After Old Jack happily left, Zhou Qing took Tang San to find the Lingyun Turtle.
Sensing their approach, the turtle crawled onto shore and lazily laid there, waiting for its "massage."
Left with no choice, the two boys first cleaned the turtle's shell removing new waterweed and dirt then applied medicinal salve with care.
Once they finished, Zhou Qing and Tang San headed into a nearby forest.
"What are we doing here?"
Each boy held a stick picked up from the roadside and swatted at weeds as they walked through the woods, quickly growing bored.
Wasn't this just a kids' game?
Using random sticks to whack weeds, pretending it was swordplay or staff technique just like how the village kids played enthusiastically.
If the other children saw how much overgrowth was here, they'd go wild with excitement.
But Zhou Qing didn't seem like the type to enjoy this sort of thing.
"I have a theory"
Zhou Qing shared his thoughts about a possible connection between the Saint Soul Village's soul saint and the Lingyun Turtle.
"Maybe the soul saint secluded himself for final cultivation right near the village."
"The plant growing on the Lingyun Turtle's back... looks like the soul saint's martial spirit?"
Recalling what Old Jack had said about the soul saint's martial spirit, Tang San had to admit there were similarities.
So the soul saint might have failed in his attempt to break through to the Rank-70 Soul Douluo level, gone mad, and died near the forest of Saint Soul Village… It wasn't impossible.
"Exactly!"
Zhou Qing flicked his stick and sliced through a patch of weeds. "If the soul saint really perished near the village, then as his juniors, it's only right that we lay him to rest. We can't just leave his corpse out in the wild."
"Fair enough."
Tang San nodded, not feeling much sentiment he didn't know the soul saint personally, and it had been two centuries. But still, "The dead deserve respect. Let the soul return to earth."
"Exactly. And we can collect a burial fee too."
Zhou Qing grinned like a profiteer, making a black line appear on Tang San's smooth forehead.
Burial fee?
Isn't that grave robbing?
But on second thought…
If they recovered the soul saint's remains and took the valuables he carried, using them to support themselves it wasn't that outrageous.
He was already dead. What use were those possessions?
Having convinced himself, Tang San became more eager. His hands moved faster as he cleared weeds.
After walking nearly two hundred meters into the woods, Zhou Qing spotted a cliff wall about thirty meters high, covered in creeping green vines. Tang San noticed a patch of the vines was indented differently.
The two exchanged a glance and rushed over. They pressed on the spot and found it hollow. With effort, they pulled the vines apart.
Wet soil, moss, and bugs fell on them, but they didn't care. Once the opening was wide enough, they crawled inside.
The cave interior was dimmer than outside, but not pitch-black. In fact, it was brighter than most homes.
Tang San handed Zhou Qing three newly-made bamboo leaf darts, and held two himself as they cautiously explored the stone walls.
After walking about twenty meters, they reached the next chamber. Inside was a hollow space the size of a football field.
In the center was a small lake. Looking up, a natural skylight let in sunshine. Around the walls hung stalactites, and along the ground near the edges grew rows of stalagmites.
Around the lake were strange stone formations covered in moss, Blue Silver Grass, and small shrubs and ferns.
To the right of the lake, a winding path climbed up the cave wall. At its peak sat a small, pointed-roof structure.
Calling it a "castle" wasn't wrong it did resemble a European-style castle from Zhou Qing's imagination. The only issue was that it was only slightly bigger than Zhou Qing's home like the mushroom houses that fairies lived in from storybooks.
"I knew it! I was right!"
Zhou Qing was elated and led the way with Tang San toward the small house.
They walked up the curved path and arrived at the "castle" door. Tang San reached to push it open, but Zhou Qing stopped him.
"Be polite."
He knocked on the dusty, moss-covered wooden door and called out,
"Anyone home? If not, I'm coming in!"
Tang San: "…"
Why did Zhou Qing suddenly seem kind of shady?