Awakened: The Spirit King!

Dense fog was covering the city's streets, but the radiance produced by the lamps made it possible for Xie Yang and Xie Ye to get a nice enough view of their surroundings.

Trees, grasses, and flowers were plenty on each side of the road. Behind them were big and small buildings, and there were many long and narrow alleys in between the houses.

Xie Ye took one while pulling his young master along with him.

After roaming the alleys for a couple of minutes, they unintentionally ended up next to a restaurant. A line of annoyance appeared in between Xie Ye's eyebrows, and Xie Yang's eyes also narrowed in slight displeasure. They weren't happy. After all, they ended up in the wrong place by following the guidance of the damn map.

"It seems like we won't be reaching our destination by following the directions mentioned in the map."

Xie Yang exposed a bitter smile.

The map of this place wasn't proving helpful to them.

They didn't have a funny or impaired sense of direction. It was just that this part of the city was like a huge maze. There were just too many misty and dark alleys, and it was easy for a person to get lost while traveling through them and end up in a random place unintentionally. On top of that, the roads didn't match the ones on the map they possessed, which could only mean that it was outdated!

Xie Ye thought for a moment before saying, "Young master, follow behind me closely."

Xie Yang replied, "Okay."

Xie Ye's gaze of scrutiny remained on the map for a few moments before he closed it, set it aside, and maneuvered through the maze of alleys with exaggerated calm.

As if Xie Ye was a hen and he a newborn chick, Xie Yang followed behind him attentively.

They walked out of different alleys and across a few streets so secretively that no one sensed their presence, nor did anyone try to strike up a conversation with them.

Eventually, they arrived at the open front of a not-too-sunny smithy.

Xie Yang looked at the smithy and tutted in disappointment.

They hadn't taken a step inside when the wooden plank hanging from the curved ceiling of the smithy fell and smashed on the spot a step ahead of them.

Xie Yang first thought was: It's sad that it hasn't smashed on our head. If it had, we would at least have a reason to sue the owner. Wait! Can't we still sue him for the nonexistence fright we've suffered from nearly getting hit by it?

Xie Ye saw his face changing expression faster than breathing and wondered, 'What is it this time? Is Young Master cooking a nonsensical plot to undermine the owner in his head?

"It's like a haunted place."

Xie Yang's disappointment spread all over his face when he saw rusted walls and smelled a weird scent coming off the building.

The owner of this building was asking others to sue him just by existing and minding his own business!

"It seems like the owner is a depressed man who doesn't give a damn about cleaning his place."

Without even meeting him, Xie Yang judged the southern blacksmith to be a lazy alcoholic hunk who was, for some reason, wasting away his life.

"Before we go in, you must know that the owner of this smithy doesn't have a good temper, is extremely pride, doesn't like others taunting him, badmouthing him, and speaking the bitter truth on his face. He also has the habit of shutting down his door in the face of people that displease him, and he has done it to many people without caring about their status.

As his nose is above his head, he doesn't mind offending people of status. If you carelessly say something to him and he finds it hard to swallow, there is a high chance he won't work for us."

Xie Ye gave the intel his men had gathered on the blacksmith to Xie Yang.

The Blacksmith King came from the southern part of the empire. Scribers attributed his rise to the glorious peak of smithing to his unique bloodline, which gave a massive boost to his smithing talents. The same prideful and special blood runs deep in the blood of many Southerners, which was why each of them was prideful and had better skills than other blacksmiths.

The thing they hated the most was others looking down at them.

"It's good that he is arrogant. At least that means his skills aren't below an average southerner."

Xie Yang, looking forward to meeting the southern blacksmith, wasted not a moment more and stepped into the smithy through its open front with Xie Ye.

"What do you mean it shattered? How could you fail at amplifying a rank four spiritual object so miserably that it broke into pieces?! Are you playing me for a fool?" A teenage girl with fiery red hair shouted at a man three heads taller and two waists wider than her. She had the famous ruby eyes, indicating that she belonged to the Daun family.

She was wearing clothes that covered her entire body and exposed only her face, her swan-like neck, and the long, slender fingers of her fair hands.

She gave off a scholarly air, something one wouldn't except a descendant of the Duan Family that has been involved in the army since their beginning and even gave birth to a fierce tigress that defeated the troops of the northern army many years ago and created a miracle.

The blacksmith rolled his eyes in annoyance.

He opened a box and placed it before her.

Inside of it was her spiritual object.

It was once shiny and bright, but now it was in two pieces and had lost its radiance.

Her eyes reddened when she saw how badly the southern blacksmith had damaged it.

"I already told you that it's risky for a blacksmith to amplify a spiritual object as lightweight and soft as this brush and that there was a good chance of it breaking if I increased its rank without enchanting it with the stone of immortality, but you didn't listen to me! You signed the contract and forced me to proceed anyway.

The one at fault here is you little missy, not me, so stop putting the blame on me for your stupid decision." The owner of the smithy, Chen Wei Qi, who was also the only southern blacksmith in the city, retorted her claims with equal ferocity.

He wasn't good at upgrading stuff, but he was the only intermediate-level blacksmith with a 33% chance of successfully amplifying a rank four object to rank three.

Nevertheless, he was better than the rank four blacksmiths of the Blue Moon City.

Therefore, the abandoned miss of the Duan Family, who couldn't afford to look for an Advanced-grade blacksmith and didn't have enough money to hire one, decided on hiring him.

There was a sixty-four percent chance of him failing to amplify her brush and only a 10% chance of him not only failing to amp it but also damaging her spiritual object.

She didn't think she was going to be extremely lucky, so she passed on using the stone of immortality and told him to proceed anyway.

As a result, they were now bickering, both refusing to admit that they were in the wrong.

"Stop calling me little missy. I have a name! It's Duan Hui Yin. Call me by my name and add an honorific too, Mister Brawns for Brains."

Chen Wei Qi spat on the floor.

When he parted open his lips, the horrible stench of alcohol wafted out of his mouth and permeated his surroundings.

The air started to smell so bad that Duan Hui Yin covered her mouth.

"If you want me to respect you, you must learn to respect me first."

Chen Wei Qi was so drunk and tired that he didn't want to argue with this daughter of an unfavored concubine and only wanted to fall asleep.

Duan Hui Yin snorted.

Chen Wei Qi wasn't a man worthy of her respect.

He fooled her into signing a contract that stated three things in favor of him.

First off, the customer, meaning her, must give him the full payment in advance. Only then will he start the spiritual object upgrading process.

Secondly, if he fails to amplify it, he won't return the full payment.

The last was that he would restore the item if he broke it, but the customer must pay a small fee.

As she was too impatient at that time, she had agreed to the ridiculous conditions.

At that time, if only she knew that he would intoxicate himself before upgrading her spiritual object, she would have definitely strayed away from this shady guy.

Now, however, it was too late for her to regret it.

"Why are you still hovering around me like a bug? Do you want compensation? You know that's impossible. The contract you agreed to is in effect. Even if you put the entire blame on me, I am still not obliged to return a single tael to you. The law of the empire is also on my side, so you won't win even if you complain to the judicial government."

It seems like it wasn't Chen Wei Qi's first time experiencing such a situation.

"When did I ever say I was asking for compensation?" She placed her hands on her hips and smirked.

"What on earth do you want then, little miss?" Chen Wei Qi felt that she was on to something and raised his eyebrow at her.