"Oh... Hey!" Zhang Wu Ji greets the lady before him. failed to sense her anger, Zhang Wu Ji pays no attention to how she speaks because his mind is filled with the anticipation to forging the [Fire Lizard's Touch], an incendiary tool that allows him to ignites a wall of fire to deter Fighter Tier Wild Beast from approaching.

"How can you leave me alone in the Peony Flower City? I was looking for your for three days before Brother Yong Lie came back and bring me to meet the Headmaster! Luckily I found you, or where should I go?" Meng Ran shouted at the irresponsible Zhang Wu Ji for leaving her alone back in the Peony Flower City.

"I'm sorry... I thought I can return to the Peony Flower City earlier, but who knows I got caught up with all these matters and delayed my return." Zhang Wu Ji scratches his head as he bowed slightly to ask for her forgiveness. Although he did not do it on purpose, putting himself in her position, it was a judgment on the weight of this matter done awfully wrong.

With only the two of them belonged to the Seven Star County here, who else can she depend except him? This is also why she got so angry when she looked at him. But after the fire of anger started to subside, she noticed that Zhang Wu Ji is no longer a 5th Stage Inner Qi Fighter, but a 6th Stage.

"How can this be? I remembered he was only a 4th stage like me before we went back to the apprentice hall! How did he cultivate?" the question filled Meng Ran's mind. Since Zhang Wu Ji has something to do in the City Forge, he did not await her to say anything else. Afraid that he might incite her anger once more, Zhang Wu Ji pulled her along as they walk to the City Forge.

Inside, Zhang Wu Ji returned to his usual spot and prepares the furnace. With Meng Ran seated a little away from the burning heat that came from the furnace, Zhang Wu Ji walked to the reception to make a few requests. But since he has no payable currency in hand, Zhang Wu Ji pawned ten of the Fighter Chasing Dan to be exchanged for materials.

He can come back to purchase the treasure back, but 10% extra as the interest surcharge. But with almost a thousand of the pills still in his ring, Zhang Wu Ji has no intention to purchase them back. With some of the ingredients in his hand, Zhang Wu Ji returned to his forging spot and prepare himself to start forging.

As an official blacksmith, Zhang Wu Ji put more trust in the metal he smelted himself. By softening them in high temperature, Zhang Wu Ji tempers the metal to removes all the impurities in the form of slags. His method of refining the metal took the other fellow blacksmiths by surprise, especially when they noticed that the removed slags containing Sentient Iron are done in such a perfect way.

Soon, Zhang Wu Ji's two pieces of ingots combined into one piece of Pure Iron, in their much proper quality. The removed slags are melted once more in the crucible before they were poured into two smaller cast, forming two 10kg ingots that contain a high concentration of Sentient Iron and a little Crystal Iron.

The Advance-Grade Pure Iron was then melted once more in a smaller crucible before poured into smaller molds carrying the shape much similar to a flat sheet metal. As his initial ingot was a twenty kilograms ingot, Zhang Wu Ji made twenty pieces of sheet metal out from that single piece of Pure Iron.

Lucky for him, the City Forge is filled with machinery that can be operated using Inner Qi. And one of them is the Rolling Machine that can expand the sheet metal further until they molded into a thin sheet of Iron Plate that fits to be flame welded into a completely sealed can. The outer layer of this [Fire Lizard's Touch] carries the form of a Metal Can Grenade but comes with a few variations in the ingredient used.

Putting the materials together into the container, Zhang Wu Ji replaced the cover with a weight-stone that fits inside perfectly before he forcefully hammers the eight-pointed pins that will hold the Weight-Stone in place. This counted as a complete product the moment it did not explodes from all the pressure he put during the creation of this one-time use weapon.

Ungraded Fire Lizard's Touch

-Damage: 40 Points x 8 | Fighter Qi Consumption Rate: 11

-Capacity: one-time | Usage: Disposable weapon

-Durability: 6/6 | Quality: Ungraded

-Information: Crafted by First-Grade Celestial Designer, Zhang Wu Ji. The Fire Lizard's Touch will explode when the volatile sack stored within the can is punctured by the Brimstone Rod. During the explosion, the user is advised to escape into the southern route because the explosion and weight stone is designed to spreads from left to top, and end at right.

"I completed the forging of this weapon. Based on the number of the volatile sack and Brimstone Rod I got from the exchange, I suppose I can craft all of them tonight. It will be useful for us when we hunt tomorrow." Zhang Wu Ji calculates the time he required to forge each of the Fire Lizard's Touch, and estimates he can get everything done in around five to six hours.

Seated just behind him, Meng Ran started to feel bored. Since she's inside the City Forge now, why not tried to collect some of the unwanted mineral ores powder from the ground so she can use them to produce some Formation Plate? With her skill is now better after she knows where did she lack in their competition, Meng Ran is more focused on quality instead of quantity.

She loiters around and borrowed a broom from the reception staff in order to collect the mineral ores powder. With the City Forge suddenly obtained a volunteered cleaner, they were more than happy to borrow her the tool she asked. With each of them absorbed into the topic of their interest, five hours pass quickly. Zhang Wu Ji completed sixteen of the Fire Lizard's Touch, and two of the Willow Crossbow using the remaining ingredients in his hand.

As for Meng Ran, she crafted fifty Formation Plates in the span of four hours, and successfully engrave three of the plate with a formation inscription in the fifth hour. With the cost of 20 minutes is needed to complete one Formation Plate, Meng Ran will have a long time to practice he engraving skill, which is almost sixteen hours needed for her to complete all of them.

Unfortunately, her engraving skills is not that refined yet, causing the formation plate she crafted is usable, but lack of the required base quality. Luckily the cost of creating the Formation Plate is zero, or else, this will end up as an expensive profession for her to walk all by herself.

Leaving the City Forge that operates nonstop for the whole year, Zhang Wu Ji returned to his accommodation with Meng Ran following him from behind. It was only until they reach the accommodation Zhang Wu Ji noticed that, the Headmaster Windchaser only arrange for his accommodation, and not Meng Ran's because she wasn't expected to come to this city!

He tried to request another additional accommodation, but after the staff answers his request, Zhang Wu Ji knows that there is no other choice but to share his room together. They hesitate for a moment before Meng Ran took the initiative to step inside the room. It was spacious enough to accommodate the two of them, so the problem with the sleeping place is not an issue.

When Meng Ran took the liberty to sleep on the bed, Zhang Wu Ji takes the initiative to meditates in the comfortable seating in a small section that came along with a small Energy Gathering Inscriptions. While he meditates, Meng Ran tries to sleep. But her mind keeps thinking about nonsense for the earlier ten minutes before she falls into her slumber.

"Krukkkk... Few..." if this snoring feature is made known to the lady, Zhang Wu Ji's fate of getting slap is imminent. Thus, he decided to keep quiet and act stupid in case she asks.

Replenishing the small portion of Fire Element he used today through meditation, Zhang Wu Ji wakes up in the next day, only to found out that their hunting today has been canceled, because of the lack of Ashen Fur Wolves surrounding their vicinity. They can equip themselves to hunt for the level 9 Wild Beast, the Stone Bee, and their nest, but preparation such as Tier 1 Antidotes, Insect Repellent Tool, and some backup weapons is a requirement.

Listening to their explanation, Zhang Wu Ji knows what he will need to prepare as well, but for now, what can a pauper do to get some money? Pawning the Pills can be considered, but the Fighter Chasing Dan is something rarely found, so he can simply waste them for a small amount of currency.

The choices of selling the Flying Sword is taken into consideration too, but when he thought about the importance for the team to have a flight escape route, Zhang Wu Ji put aside this option as well. While he almost out of the way for him to earn some quick money, the god of fortune drops a sliver of luck on him.

"Young Master, I'm afraid we already purchase all the available Empty Formation Plate inside of the city." a butler followed their young master as he walks quickly with a great amount of frustration. They soon went past where Zhang Wu Ji idling around.

"I don't care. Hire the producer of the Formation Plate to make more of them for my engraving practices. I am in the juncture to succeed in creating a brand new formation plate!" the young master ordered his butler to do his bidding. Based on the way he speaks, this person is a formation master, or perhaps in training to become one.

"Hold your steps!" Zhang Wu Ji approached the young master and tried to introduce himself. But to make this god of fortune felt more confidence in what he tried to sell, Zhang Wu Ji took the six formation plate he made during his first trial and in the competition to be presented for the young master's inspection.

The butler tried to shoo away Zhang Wu Ji at first, but when his young master raised his hand to stop the butler from speaking. Honestly say, even if he's a butler of a Formation Master, does this means his ability to discern good plates and bad plates on par with his young master? Luckily, he was stopped before he even managed to spoil his young master's plan.

"This brother here must be a fellow Formation Master as well. Since I am younger, let me call myself a junior then." the young master unexpectedly possess nothing similar to the spoilt debauchee like the former Zhang Wu Ji. Furthermore, when he introduced himself as a junior for the first time, he obtained Zhang Wu Ji's goodwill even further.

"This juniors name is Meng Hao, from the Willow Timber County's Meng Branch." but when he mentioned his name, Zhang Wu Ji stunned. What does this mean? It means he coincidently found Meng Ran's remaining family out of the blue. But what does that means as well?

Similarly, Zhang Wu Ji exchanges his greetings with Meng Hao and was invited back to his small villa. It seems that even at most, this villa only fits twenty people. How can that be the Meng Family Branch? But before Zhang Wu Ji went ahead and ask, Meng Hao already had his butler prepared the required ingredient to start making the Formation Plates.

"Brother Zhang, I can see that your Formation Plate is better than the others. Instead of cracking in the first engraving, I estimate it can suffer three times at most before it shatters." Meng Hao praised him for his good quality Formation Plate. As a material for practice, what could be better than having a piece of formation plate that can handle over two to ten times engraving before it shattered?

"I won't take brother Zhang's skill to my own advantages. How about like this? A normal plate sold in the store cost 5 Qi Sensing Pills each, but brother Zhang's plate can handle three times the stress, so I'll make them 15 Qi Sensing Pills each. Because I'm bothering brother Zhang to come personally to make me some Formation plate, I'll make then twenty Qi Sensing Pills for each plate you made."

"Is that fine with you, Brother Zhang?" unexpected by Zhang Wu Ji, this young master of a family was quite a generous person in both in an out. But at the same time, the rates of 5 Qi Sensing Pills per plate already shocks him, never to mention when he's paying 20 Qi Sensing Pills, or 20,000 Gold Coins to purchase each of his plates.

It was an amazing profit for him because, with each ball of Formation Clay he made, Zhang Wu Ji can create three Formation Plates. With the cost of 10 minutes each time, which was slightly faster than Meng Ran's production speed, Zhang Wu Ji can easily make 18 Formation Plates in an hour!

"No problem at all. I am free for today, so let me made as much as I could for you. But I need to ask first. I can make 18 formation plates in an hour, which means, in five hours of work, it will cost at least 1,800 Qi Sensing Pills. Are you sure its fine to pay me this much?" Zhang Wu Ji wasn't looking down on his ability to pay, but it was a hint of goodwill he can show to the other side, at least before they set the final price.

"Of course not. If brother Zhang worries that junior cannot afford it, let this junior pay in advance." he withdraws a piece of currency plate similar to the Crystal Coin made my the Wen Wu City Lord. The only differences are the plate produced by Meng Hao carries a sign made from an Inner Qi Lord using the strands of Lord Qi.

The plate carries a word;

-

Willow Timber County's Currency

One Million Gold Coins

Issued by: Mystic Engineer Establishment

Signed: Lord Windchaser

-

Looking at the plate, Zhang Wu Ji felt a little disrespect towards Meng Hao, and cupped his hands together and ask for his forgiveness to bring up such a matter. But like his personality, Meng Hao pushes away that negativity between their conversation aside and continue to chat with Zhang Wu Ji.

This further obtains his approval. Without wasting time, Zhang Wu Ji took out the tools that needed to form the Formation Clay out before he requested for a piece of Formation Plate, which he will return later. Using his own improvised Ingredient Mixing Inscription, Zhang Wu Ji engraved the Formation Plate quickly before he started to mix the ingredient together.

While Zhang Wu Ji is busy handling the production of Formation Plate, Meng Hao took a seat somewhere not too far from him as he started to engrave his formation into the Formation Plate. But unfortunately, his skill is somewhere not on par, and he did not carry a good formation chisel, which further increases the difficulties for him.

About four hours later, he destroyed all the formation chisel in his hand. Feeling demotivated, Meng Hao Stands up to relax before he continued, but when he noticed Zhang Wu Ji's chisel on the ground, he picked it up to see where are the differences between his chisel and Zhang Wu Ji's chisel.

"Brother Zhang, can Meng Hao try to engrave using your chisel?" he asked for the permission before using it. As Zhang Wu Ji is too busy in preparing the Formation Clay, he gave him a nod as a reply before putting his attention back on the Ingredient Mixing Plate.

Preparing himself with another piece of formation plate, Meng Hao begins his engraving process. The formation inscription he was trying to do is called the Nutrition Gathering Plate, a plate that will gather the available natural nutrition in the air to form the Plant Nutrition Pill. Although it wasn't beneficial or harm a human when eaten, it was a great supplement, especially for plants.

For each single Nutrition Pill grounded to powder, it can nourish a piece of Plateau Plantation Plate. The nourishment it gave can reduce the time for the plant to grow by a single day. With daily nourishment, it's not impossible to harvest them in fifteen days.

"How can the blade is so sharp? I don't even need to insert too much Inner Qi to draw a line! This chisel is amazing!" moments after he tried to use the chisel, he already completely engrossed into his engraving. The process only took him forty minutes to complete, compared to his earlier attempt that made him spent an hour on a single formation plate.

Furthermore, this Nutrition Gathering Plate is able to produce three Nutrition Pills instead of one, which was a great reduction of wasted space. But the main question still remained in his mind.

"How can brother Zhang's Formation Engraving Chisel so sharp, is it because he customizes them to suit his need?" his mind is full of questions for a moment there, but when he tried to ask about the background of the chisel, Zhang Wu Ji already completed his works and walk towards him.

"Brother Meng, I've done the task you asked," he said.

"Ah. That's great. Let me give you the remaining Currency Plate for your help." Meng Hao withdraws another Currency Plate worth 1 Million Gold Coins and handed it to Zhang Wu Ji. Looking at his generosity, Zhang Wu Ji just smiled before he added a word that will make him happier.

"It seems that you like the chisel. How about I'll give that chisel to you as our meeting gift?"

"Seriously? Brother Zhang, you cannot be kidding about this!" Meng Hao's mood turns brighter the moment he hears Zhang Wu Ji said that he will give him the chisel because Meng Hao likes it so much.

"Of course. But I have another question to ask you, do you mind?" Zhang Wu Ji replied before he came out with a question he wanted to ask for so long.

"Sure, what was that?"

"I've noticed that you're engraving so much Nutrition Gathering Plate, what are the plants you're trying to grow?" Zhang Wu Ji wanted to clear his curiosity related to Meng Hao's unyielding effort to engrave the plates.

"Oh, that's your question? Come here, I'll let you have a look at it." Meng Hao took the lead and bring Zhang Wu Ji into a secret chamber that only can be open by a special key attached to his necklace.

Inside, Zhang Wu Ji is greeted with an underground chamber at least filled with three hundreds pieces of Plateau Plantation Plates. Each of them has ten Sun-Facing Fruit Plant growing on them, which also means if Meng Hao can produce three hundred of the Nutrition Pills daily, his yield each month is going to be 6,000 Sun-Facing Fruits.

If they were concocted into Qi Sensing Pills... That's a yield of 45,000 to 48,000 Qi Sensing Pills monthly. Which means, this small villa he'd seen, is a money processing factory that generates close to fifty million revenue monthly!

"Big business ah!"