Tengxiao, thinking about how busy the Marshal was with official duties, guessed that she didn't remember the craftsman's name, so he immediately added, "You mean Yingxing, right? A short-lived species."
Hua nodded and continued asking, "Where is he?"
Seeing this, Tengxiao quickly said, "I'll bring him over right away."
With that said, he was about to go find Yingxing.
Hua shook her head with a sigh, "No need to make such a fuss. I just want him to repair an old item."
Hearing this, Tengxiao instantly understood.
It seemed the Marshal wasn't here for official business, but personal.
The Marshal was always low-profile. No matter how trivial the matter was, as long as it wasn't official business, she, just like any other Xianzhou person, would follow procedure step by step like normal.
Given the Marshal's status, she didn't even need to personally come to the front lines to find someone to repair an old item… As long as she was willing to speak,
Even the hardest thing to repair, someone would rush to do it.
The more Tengxiao thought about it, the more confused he became.
Let alone all the famous craftsmen of the Zhuming Xianzhou, just look at the people around the Marshal…
One of them had supposedly once been a Zhuming general and was now a Cloud-Faring Ranger.
All of them were long-lived, with abundant experience. Which one of them wasn't better than Yingxing, who had only just become a Furnace Master? Why insist on looking for Yingxing?
Tengxiao had never been good at hiding his thoughts. Hua only needed one glance to read them all on his face.
She swept her gaze sideways; the smile gradually faded.
Yes. Whether it was Zhuming's craftsmen or the former Zhuming general who was now a Cloud-Faring Ranger, they had forged countless divine weapons.
For them, repairing an item was nothing but an easy task.
But there was one thing they could not repair.
The broken sword left behind by the former Marshal, stained with blood.
After that person passed away, the Aeon brought this sword to Hua.
Rather than calling it a broken sword, it was more like scattered, shattered fragments of the blade.
If someone could just repair it, she could use the residual blood on it to infer and piece together clues related to that person.
Why did that person die? Did they experience pain before death?
Hua only knew the answer to the first question. As for the second…
The answer was simple. It was inside this item.
Back then, Hua only took one glance before putting the fragments away.
Once, the Zhuming general who raised her, asked, "Marshal… did he leave nothing behind?"
"Truly… nothing at all?"
Hua shook her head and never mentioned the broken sword she had received.
No one but her had ever seen it, nor knew it existed.
Because, for those who had followed the former Marshal, it was simply too cruel.
Now, after hundreds of years, Hua was finally able to find someone to piece together and repair the old item she had stored away.
As for the right person… only Yingxing of the Luofu's Artisanship Commission.
He was not a Xianzhou native, he was a short-lived species. He had no permission to view the previous Marshal's confidential records, which only the highest levels of the Xianzhou could access.
Yingxing knew nothing about that person's life or deeds.
Besides, as a short-lived species, he had defeated many Xianzhou craftsmen with several centuries of experience and won first place at the Great Refining, earning the title "Furnace Master."
Naturally, he had the qualifications to repair the former Marshal's weapon.
Hua withdrew her thoughts and looked toward the wooden box that held the broken sword.
Nearby, Tengxiao was mentally selecting someone who could accompany the Marshal.
Since she didn't want to draw attention, he definitely couldn't choose anyone who knew her identity…
Tengxiao quickly eliminated everyone who had seen the Marshal.
Maybe he should let Jing Yuan accompany her to find Yingxing? Let Jing Yuan meet his future superior in advance?
But Jing Yuan had been very close with the previous Marshal…
Earlier, Tengxiao had heard rumors that the two Marshals of the Xianzhou Alliance didn't get along.
At first, Tengxiao believed it.
After all, historically, most emperors and crown princes were at odds, few princes ascended the throne smoothly.
The two Marshals had completely different styles; it was only natural they wouldn't get along.
But seeing things now, those rumors were obviously false.
If they truly didn't get along, why would the Marshal come all the way from Xuling to Luofu specifically?
A phrase suddenly popped into Tengxiao's head, "homesick and hesitant to return."
The Marshal was always busy. If she waited until the next time she came to Luofu to visit the former Marshal, who knew how many decades that would take?
Better to call Jing Yuan over now. Not only would this let his Cloud-Knight subordinate meet the Marshal early, but the Marshal could also ask about the former Marshal's condition.
Tengxiao acted quickly, immediately taking out his jade-signal to message Jing Yuan. He patted his chest and assured the Marshal that he had already found someone suitable.
After waiting a little while, Hua soon saw a very familiar young man.
White hair, golden eyes, his appearance was exactly the same as in the file Hua had read.
She knew his name was Jing Yuan. He was one of that person's very few friends, and also the disciple of Jingliu.
Long before Hua learned about her guardian's relationship with Jingliu, she had already read Jing Yuan's file.
As for why she investigated Jing Yuan… that went back a long time.
That person's subordinates, driven mad by grief after his death, told Hua that he had been bullied by his fellow academy students.
Hua at the time, "..."
For a moment, she thought she'd heard wrong.
'Huh? Who bullied who?'
'With that person's personality, even if he'd lost his memory, there was no way he would ever let himself be taken advantage of.'
Her guardian would never be ostracized by others, he would be the one doing the ostracizing.
Those people were furious, vowing to teach those children a lesson and said they had to go to Luofu to stay by that person's side.
Hua calmly comforted them with practiced ease, "He wouldn't care, and he definitely wouldn't lay a hand on Xianzhou people."
With just that sentence, all of them backed down and never mentioned it again.
They couldn't go to Luofu. They didn't want to disturb that person's peaceful life.
If they couldn't investigate the former Marshal, they could at least investigate the people around him, right?
And so Hua found Jing Yuan's file.
Now, the youth from that file appeared before her.
Hua didn't say much. She stood up, holding the wooden box in both hands, and signaled for Jing Yuan to lead the way.
Contrary to Tengxiao's assumptions, Hua did not try to pry information out of Jing Yuan about Zero.
Jing Yuan, having received General Tengxiao's orders, knew he was to bring this person to his friend Yingxing.
He immediately sent Yingxing a message to inform him.
Upon meeting Hua, Jing Yuan originally wanted to say something, but seeing she wasn't in the mood to chat, he closed his mouth.
The two walked in silence.
When Jing Yuan brought her to Yingxing's tent, Hua took the initiative to dismiss him.
Standing before the tent, Hua watched Jing Yuan leave, then stepped inside and looked toward Yingxing.
"I've long heard the reputation of the Furnace Master. Now I finally meet you."
Yingxing poured his entire heart into forging. Facing friends, he couldn't be bothered to think, appearing like a science-and-engineering straight man who didn't understand human interactions.
But when facing outsiders, his social instincts instantly activated.
After receiving Jing Yuan's message, he had been wondering,
What kind of person would come looking for him, a Furnace Master, here on a front line where everyone was busy like dogs?
Whoever it was, their status must be high.
He rushed back to his tent immediately, afraid Jing Yuan would bring someone only to find him gone.
After hearing Hua's compliment, Yingxing responded with the usual polite phrases, then got to the point, "What needs repairing?"
Hua handed him the wooden box she'd been holding.
Softly, she said, "A broken sword."
Yingxing took the box, opened it, and froze.
'This… this isn't a broken sword. This is... what kind of smashed mess was this?!'
He was originally going to say there was no point repairing it, but when he saw the dried blood on the fragments, he fell silent.
Hua continued, "It was left behind by an elder of my family. I don't know if… after all this time… it can still be repaired?"
The longer Yingxing listened, the hotter the wooden box felt in his hands. It didn't feel like a broken sword, it felt like the relic of a highly respected elder.
He opened his mouth and, after hesitating a moment, said, "It can be repaired. But it will take a long time."
Hua, satisfied with the answer, straightforwardly asked for Yingxing's payment account. While transferring money, she said, "This hundred million is the deposit."
Yingxing, "..."
He was stunned and confused.
Stunned at the enormous amount of money.
Confused because, why did this person, and Zero, both love paying deposits upfront? With deposits this big… how much was the final payment supposed to be?
Hua paused, then transferred another hundred million. "I have a small request…"
Yingxing's hands trembled slightly as he held the box.
In an instant, he remembered the time he pulled an all-nighter forging a confession gift for Zero.
What request? Was she also going to throw money at him to make him work overnight?!
He had nearly worked himself to death over those three hairpins, only for Zero to never even use them.
Yingxing had been furious at the time. Good thing he wasn't a Xianzhou native, otherwise he would've fallen into demonic corruption on the spot.
At that moment, Zero stopped being his god-tier client and became an infuriating one.
Fortunately, even though the process had been chaotic, the result was good, Zero and Jingliu ended up together.
Because of Zero's example, Yingxing was now extremely cautious. He did not let Hua's two enormous transfers cloud his judgment. Very carefully, he warned this client, "This sword is too unusual. It has to be repaired slowly."
Hua saw right through what he was thinking.
In the end, this was her personal matter.
And since it was personal, how could she justify making someone stationed on the battlefield, someone responsible for maintaining Cloud-Knight weapons, waste precious time working for her?
Hua shook her head, "You misunderstand. Repair it after you return to Luofu. There's no rush, take your time."
Yingxing, 'Why does the second half of that sentence sound so familiar?'
Hua glanced at the blood-stained blade fragments and told the still-thinking-hard Yingxing, "You just need to piece the sword together."
'Let me see it once. That's enough.'
Yingxing obeyed. He put on gloves and carefully lifted the blood-stained fragments out of the box, piecing them together bit by bit.
A craftsman's work, to outsiders, looked unbearably dull.
They had to hammer and forge a weapon for long periods.
During the process, they had to revise blueprints repeatedly. And when it came time to forge the weapon, they repeated the same actions over and over, hammering different materials.
Compared to forging new weapons, repairs were simpler, no need to draw blueprints.
The entire process was monotonous, but the god-tier client watching Yingxing was incredibly focused.
The client who had paid him two hundred million, no, the god-tier client.
This second god-tier client didn't blink once, staring at the sword that was gradually being pieced together.
When Yingxing filled in the final gap with the last fragment, Hua took a deep breath and pulled her gaze away from the dried blood on the blade.
Did that person experience pain before death?
She already knew the answer.
Hua asked, "Do you have another pair of gloves?"
Not understanding why, Yingxing pulled out a new pair and handed them over.
Hua put them on, lowered her eyes, picked up the assembled broken blade, and placed it back into the wooden box bit by bit.
While doing so, she inevitably touched the long-dried, dark red blood. The color transferred onto the gloves.
Hua stared at the stain for a moment, then closed her eyes, removed the gloves, and said coldly, "Burn the gloves. Clean the blood from the blade. What happened today is known only to you and me."
"When the repair is done, go find Tengxiao and have him send it to Xuling."
As she spoke, she walked toward the exit. Before leaving, she turned back and added, "Counting the earlier payments, the total is one billion. Once the sword is delivered to Xuling, the final payment will be settled."
Yingxing was dumbfounded.
He had only known that this god-tier client was no ordinary person, but… the way she naturally ordered around a Luofu general…
Before he could make sense of it, he was hit by the amount of the final payment.
Exaggerating a bit, one billion was enough to buy several of his lives.
The Furnace Master felt bittersweet.
'Zero, you're no longer my god-tier client!'
'In the moment you forced me to rush those hairpins and then didn't even use them, I removed you from my god-tier list!'
'From now on, the true god-tier client is this Xuling person who paid me a billion!'
Yingxing carefully placed the wooden box in his cabinet, but after thinking left and right, he felt his tent wasn't safe enough.
A sudden inspiration hit him, his friend Dan Feng.
The Dragon-Lord's tent was far safer than that of a logistics worker like him.
Yingxing turned, holding the wooden box, and went to find Dan Feng.
Fortunately, Lord Imbibitor Lunae was in his tent, so the trip wasn't wasted.
Holding the box, Yingxing said to Dan Feng, who looked utterly miserable while staring at his nutrient drink, "I'm going to put something here..."
Trusting his friend, Dan Feng didn't even look and simply waved for Yingxing to go ahead.
Yingxing walked into the inner room, thinking hard for a long time, and finally found a safe place for the wooden box worth a billion.
Dan Feng casually asked, "Why suddenly putting things here?"
Yingxing replied, "My tent isn't safe."
The Dragon-Lord thought, 'Not safe? How? You're a Furnace Master who can forge three-thousand-pound weapons… clearly the dangerous one is anyone who messes with you!'
Dan Feng didn't say what he was thinking; instead, he invited Yingxing, "It's about mealtime. Want to eat together?"
Yingxing glanced at the nutrient drink on Dan Feng's table and nodded.
Nutrient drink was nutrient drink, wherever he drank it, it was the same.
One man and one dragon sat together again, unrestrainedly slipping into gossip. They felt pity for Jingliu, who had barely started a relationship and was thrown onto the battlefield.
Yingxing sighed, "I wonder when we'll get to return to Luofu…"
Dan Feng sipped his nutrient drink. "With the Marshal personally stationed here, and the Cloud-Faring Rangers helping, this battle should end soon."
Meanwhile, the Marshal, trusted by countless Cloud-Knights, was in her own tent, trying to digest all the information she had just learned.
Her thoughts uncontrollably drifted back to long-ago memories.
Once, she had asked the Strategist-General, "What should I do?"
The Strategist-General replied, "He asked me a similar question… but the answer I gave you is different from the answer I gave him."
"You don't need to do anything. Just keep walking on the path you choose."
Hua took a few deep breaths. Before she could stabilize her emotions, her jade-signal rang.
She answered it, her voice inevitably carrying traces of what she felt.
"What is it?"
On the other end, Zero was silent for a long moment.
He didn't know how to comfort her, so he simply asked, out of nowhere, "Did Aha pay you back yet?"
Hua, "..."
Whatever sadness she had felt instantly vanished upon hearing that sentence, replaced by pure anger.
Someone who knew him would see he was trying to change the subject. Someone who didn't would think he was deliberately provoking her.
Expressionless, Hua said, "No. He took your things and auctioned them off for ten billion Shard-jades. Oh, and… our Xianzhou was the one who bought them."
Zero, "..."
Hua continued pouring fuel on the fire, "But they were stolen by a Masked Fool afterward."
Zero, "..."