Converting Memory to Metal

Bowing to Lang Xinyue, Hong Zhao immediately took the book into the storage ring that his new friend had given him, as well as putting on a show by adding his gold to the ring. He didn't want the pouch to go back into his pocket, or his new master might think it strange for him to not use a storage ring he had only just moments ago gifted him. After exchanging goodbyes, he left the old man to his work as he made his way back to the inn.

As he went back to his room, he noticed that Ren Cai had already departed without so much as a note. It was for the best anyway, if he was to make sense of the old man's pendant, he would need to concentrate on both the journal and the memories. He now understood when old man Xinyue had told him that he wouldn't make much sense of the pendant without him. He did feel slightly bad for making it difficult on the old man, but there were some secrets that weren't his to reveal.

Taking out the qi blocking uniform, he switched into it and took a qi grasping pill while cultivating with a qi stone. After an hour or so had gone by, he had restored all of his qi back to a third star disciple. When he was ready, he took a look inside the storage ring that Lang Xinyue had given him. Within rested an anvil and hammer. As he examined the anvil, he noticed a hollowed out area within it. He took the anvil and hammer out of the ring and put it in front of him. When he felt he was ready, he placed the memory stone to his forehead and added a wisp of qi.

His vision darkened as his thoughts swirled into the stone. Once again, it was if he had turned on an old television set. Everything seemed in black and white, yet when he concentrated, it all became less fuzzy.

In the images, there was a set of youthful hands which grasped a hammer and a small bar of metal. From the memory, Hong Zhao noted that it had become first person instead of the third person viewing he had originally seen. He didn't know which type of metal the young man had, yet he had a feeling it wasn't anything too expensive.

The youthful hands seemed to disappear for an instance when Hong Zhao seemed to take a look within the memory holder's dantian. He noticed the boy using his own qi as a battering ram, much like he had done. But instead of trying to mold it with his own qi, the boy allowed the elemental qi to form into a flame within his hand. Taking the small ember, he placed it within the hollowed out part of the anvil. Within a few moments, the top of the anvil became white hot, melting the metal above.

The boy did nothing rushed. He used his own qi to separate the melted metal from the metal of the anvil. As he did so, he seemed to fold the metal into itself, slowly bringing it into the shape he desired. As he did, he allowed the heat of the anvil to subside and waited for the metal to cool slightly. He used his qi as a fan to add a breeze into the sizzling liquid, solidifying it slowly. Hong Zhao remembered at this point, the metal would usually be submerged into cold water in order to cool it, before hammering it back into shape above the fire. Instead, the boy remained patient and allowed the metal to cool slightly on its own.

When some time had passed, the boy took the hammer from his side and began pounding the metal more into the shape he preferred. It looked like it was going to be a small dagger. As the metal cooled more, Hong Zhao could sense the boy's irritation as he looked at his unfinished piece. After he could shape it no more, he placed it in his storage ring and put the anvil away.

When the boy finished, Hong Zhao let the memory fade and put down the pendant. His own mind seemed to be going through what the small boy just did, as if he were the boy himself.

Not wanting the memory to fade all together, Hong Zhao took a metal ingot from the storage ring that the old man had given him and placed it on the anvil. He then inserted a wisp of fire elemental qi within the hollowed out portion of the anvil. He went through all the steps he had seen the boy take. Having never tried it before, He had failed to keep the qi as a separator between the metal and the anvil, making a mess of the metal ingot. Yet the failure didn't seem to phase him as he took out another ingot and tried again, ignoring the burns he received from the melted metal. The second time, he was able to hold the barrier, yet he lost concentration when he tried to use qi to cool the metal after forming the dagger he wished to create.

The third try, he finally figured out how to split his focus between the barrier and the breeze as he cooled off the dagger. He allowed the glowing ember of fire qi to dissipate as he took the hammer and made some minor adjustments. When he was satisfied, he took the finished blade to the window to get a look with the mid day sun. With his previous experience with weapons, he had been able to mold the weapon closer to earth's standards. The edge of the blade was serrated in order to do maximum damage when exiting his opponents body, but he still needed the hilt of the blade.

Thanking his hoarding nature, he took out a log of firewood he had taken from his village and split it. He then carved out two crevices within the wood and began to whittle away the excess wood, doing his best to make it smooth before fitting his finished pieces to the blade. The last thing he did was take shadow panther leather from his ring and sliced a long strip from it, wrapping it around the hilt of the dagger. The finished piece looked as if it were meant to be on display.

Hong Zhao examined every inch of the dagger for any flaws. If there was one, he couldn't see it. With a smile, he put the dagger into his storage ring and laid flat on his bed. He beamed as he thought of the finished blade. "He probably expected the finished piece to take a month." Hong Zhao thought of old man Xinyue and. "I might want to wait a few days before bringing him my new dagger."