The sound was loud, and many people were watching.
Qin An heard the sound and walked to the side of the crowd.
Outside the blacksmith shop, the bare-chested blacksmith had a flushed face.
The silk-clothed middle-aged man said disdainfully, "Although this is an old shop, it's only useful for opening a blacksmith shop. I still need to spend money on renovations, so it's good enough if it can sell."
The blacksmith argued, "The ironware inside the shop can sell for a lot, the furnace can be dismantled and sold too. You're taking advantage of me leaving and trying to rip me off."
The middle-aged man impatiently waved his sleeve, saying, "Forget it if you're not selling, I don't care to buy it."
With that, the middle-aged man turned and left.
The blacksmith saw this and did not stop him. He sat by the door, smoking dry tobacco, muttering as he smoked, "Though it's laborious work, I'm no fool, don't try to take advantage of me."
The townsfolk, seeing there was no drama to watch, prepared to leave.
Qin An grabbed a fellow townsman and asked, "What are they arguing about?"
The townsman was ready to get angry when Qin An caught him, but for some reason, he felt a chill emanating from Qin An, and shrank back.
"Mr. Sun wants to move to the next county and sell his shop, but he got pressured to lower the price and is upset."
Qin An looked at the blacksmith sitting by the door, lost in thought.
The townsman tightened his collar, muttered about the cold, and slipped away while Qin An wasn't paying attention.
Qin An rubbed his chin.
He heard what the townsman said and also heard Mr. Sun mention the word "labor," which gave him an idea.
Labor, isn't that strength?
Qin An has the Mountain-Picking Fist, but the Mountain-Picking Fist has limitations, and that limitation is strength.
The Mountain-Picking Fist states that if one with innate strength trains, they can make great progress quickly.
If he could train the blacksmith to level three and gain a talent related to strength, wouldn't he be able to train the Mountain-Picking Fist?
Even if not a strength talent, judging by the blacksmith's muscular build, the benefits gained wouldn't be small.
While Qin An was pondering this, Mr. Sun also noticed Qin An, feeling a chill from Qin An's gaze.
"Is there dirt on my face?" Mr. Sun touched his right cheek and found his hand clean.
Qin An approached and asked, "How much for the blacksmith shop?"
Mr. Sun looked puzzled and gestured a number with three fingers.
Seeing this, Qin An knew that the price was reasonable and nodded, "I'll buy it."
Mr. Sun was stunned, "You're buying it?"
He had lost the will to sell the shop.
Though the merchant's words were crude and he greatly downplayed the price, what he said was reasonable.
The shop is filled with blacksmith's items; anyone else would have to dismantle and clean up, which would be quite an expense.
However, if used for blacksmithing, without strength, one can't be a proper blacksmith.
Now Qin An says he's buying the shop. Mr. Sun temporarily brushes off what he's doing with it, but feels relieved to get rid of it.
Qin An said, "But I have one condition."
Mr. Sun snapped back to reality and cautiously asked, "What condition?"
As long as it's not excessive or a condition that heavily pressures the price, he can agree.
Qin An pointed to the blacksmith shop: "I want you to teach me blacksmithing. Not anything advanced, just something rudimentary will do."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Sun was even more confused.
Not only buying the shop but also wanting to learn blacksmithing?
Looking at the young man's appearance, he doesn't seem like someone suited to brute labor.
The world's three bitter tasks are rowing, blacksmithing, and grinding tofu—it's no joke.
Qin An nodded and asked, "Will you do it?"
To start a profession, one needs to at least enter the basics. Now with an experienced master teaching him, Qin An can start the profession more quickly.
The reason for learning blacksmithing doesn't need to be explained.
It's business. If you want to do it, do it. If not, it's your choice.
After pondering for a moment, Mr. Sun said, "Alright, but I'll teach for at most three days before I leave."
Qin An said, "Let's sign and seal it."
Mr. Sun didn't waste words and led Qin An to where they could sign and seal the agreement, completing all the formalities.
After everything was done, it was already midday.
Qin An quickly grabbed lunch, then pulled Mr. Sun along to begin learning the processes of blacksmithing.
For the first time, Mr. Sun saw a young man so anxious, knowing that the sooner he taught, the sooner he could leave, so he started teaching thoroughly.
In the furnace, flames rose, the heat was intense.
As Mr. Sun explained, Qin An followed along.
"Relax the first two fingers, hold lightly with the last three fingers, open the tiger's mouth, keep the wrist level to avoid drooping."
"Squat with the body tilted, use the waist and hips to rotate the upper body, reducing the burden on the arms."
Qin An was very attentive, listening to Mr. Sun's instructions, gradually deepening his understanding of blacksmithing.
The steps of blacksmithing are numerous, including smelting, slotting, forging, quenching, tempering, flattening, grinding, sharpening, oiling, and more.
Hammers are also divided into two types, a large one for one person, and a small one for another.
All these new things fascinated Qin An, and he became increasingly engrossed.
Until the afternoon arrived.
Qin An wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Tomorrow you can leave directly, no need to teach anymore."
Mr. Sun was slightly taken aback, not understanding the reason.
But since Qin An said he didn't need to teach, Mr. Sun was more than happy to leave immediately, so he quickly tidied up his things and left the blacksmith shop.
A wisp of smoke appeared before his eyes.
[Blacksmith lv.1 (0/100): The quality of your forged items slightly improves]
[Talent: None]
Whether it was due to the scholar profession or not, this time Qin An didn't spend much time starting a new profession.
For now, however, Qin An did not continue practicing.
He spent the whole afternoon training, and the sky was tinged with sunset.
If he kept practicing into the night, the neighbors might complain loudly.
Qin An thought for a moment, tidied up briefly, and headed out, walking towards home.
He had a new profession and planned to come back tomorrow to continue training.
...
On the way home, the sunset gradually faded.
By the time Qin An arrived at the alley before his door, night had already enveloped the earth.
Sparse moonlight scattered down, and Qin An, taking advantage of the moonlight, stepped deeper into the alley.
Upon entering the alley, Qin An's nose twitched, sensing something amiss.
"There's a scent of blood."
Having worked as a butcher, Qin An was exceptionally sensitive to the scent of blood, needing only a slight discernment to detect it.
This was just an ordinary alley, why was there a scent of blood?
Qin An drew the dagger from his waist, quietened his footsteps, and proceeded slowly.
After another hundred steps, he was close to the door.
But outside the door, the bloody scene made Qin An frown tightly.
Three pig demons were crawling on the ground, munching on the flesh on the ground.
And amidst these three pig demons, a wild boar demon over three meters high was gnawing on a piece of bone.
The wild boar demon had a round belly and its whole body was covered in black hair like steel spikes, fresh blood dripping from the hair at the corner of its mouth.
On the ground were fragments of floral cloth, which Qin An recognized.
This belonged to a very adorable young woman who lived in this alley.
The young woman was very thin, with disabled legs, living by doing some weaving work.
A short time ago, she even said to Qin An that she'd make a pair of gloves for him for the winter.
Qin An sighed, his eyes resolute, and walked towards the wild boar demon.