As per arranged, Ling Yue’s days of interacting with the different metals inside the Ye family’s forge has begun.
Because of the black cauldron’s existence, the work that’s usually considered laborious in the eyes of others have become a form of trial for her.
On one end, she kept training her Jade Flower Hand by cutting the iron ores with this technique, and on the other, she was constantly refining the ores with her cauldron in secret.
In order to not be discovered, the level of purity from her work remains at forty percent. Unknowingly, Ling Yue has spent over a month in this place.
During these days, the spirit smoke of the cauldron has grown thicker and larger from constant use.
Not only that, the capacity of her Yuan energy has grown exponentially, at the peak of the fifth rank. She can feel it, anytime now a breakthrough will occur.
“Little Miss, you are here.” Seeing her coming, the martialists working for the Ye family all called out in respect.
It wasn’t always like so. Back in the beginning when Ling Yue first came to the forge to work, she had created quite the stir due to her age and appearance.
Such a pretty little girl, and a lady of the clan too, there’s no way someone like that would come do menial labor tasks of their own volition.
None of them looked kindly at her. Some even began to bet how long she would last.
But Ling Yue wouldn’t have that.
Using her sweet tongue and powerful memory, she managed to WOW all these muscle heads with her charm. Unlike the other lords and ladies of the main house, she was very approachable and would always call them out by name. One of Ling Yue’s main merit.
Then as the days moved along, the others then learned of something shocking, Ling Yue’s a fifth rank martialist. Despite her young age, she was able to remarkably keep up with the workload and cut the ores with top speed while maintaining her precision and neatness.
That’s not all, she also has a pair of razor sharp eyes. According to the rumors, it’s said that even the ones that couldn’t be appraised by the old ore masters could easily be identified by her with a little touch from the hand.
A little here and a little there, a month down and Ling Yue was excelling in her job.
On this morning when Ling Yue just arrived at the forge, she was surprised to find several workers running out to her, some of their hands injured.
“Little Miss, don’t go inside, an angry dog just went into the forge. That thing will bite anyone he sees. Several of our brothers have been injured already.”
The time of day was still very early in the morning so only ordinary workers are present, the highest being a third rank martialist.
Hearing the bad news, she promptly ran inside to be welcomed with a series of loud barking noises.
Not far away stood a dog that’s as high as her waist, its hair dirty and unkept. And hanging from the corner of its jaws were the bits and pieces of rags and flesh from its victims.
By now the forge has become a total mess with workers fleeing in all direction.
“Squeak!”
Just when Ling Yue was about to make her move, Little Squeak suddenly squirmed out of her chest from inside the dress.
On a normal day Little Squeak would always stay by Ling Yue’s side and was practically inseparable. However, the little guy was very lazy majority of the time, only knowing how to hide inside Ling Yue’s dress and nap.
Today though, Little Squeak seems to have sensed something was amiss so he kept an eye out.
Then when the little guy found that the culprit of his ominous sensation was coming from this vicious dog, his big blue eyes were filled with disdain.
Noticing Little Squeak’s strange behavior, Ling Yue decides to simply retract herself to the side.
Landing on the ground with ease, Little Squeak leisurely came up to the vicious dog with those tiny little legs.
A teacup sized fox and a miniature cow sized dog was giving each other a stare down. Just looking at this scene was hilarious.
Thank the heavens there are no one else around, otherwise this will cause quite the commotion.
Suddenly finding a little pipsqueak in front of him, the angry dog began to growl and started barking.
Squeak!
Seeing the dog was being impudent in his presence, Little Squeak issued out a sharp hiss of his own.
That hiss was very different from Little Squeak’s usual cutesy appearance. Like an arrow, his hiss shot straight into the dog’s ear.
What was supposed to be a very fierce angry dog suddenly hollered out a whimpering cry. Like a giant pressuring aura just smacked it on its back, all four of the dog’s limbs began to shiver and went limp. Next thing Ling Yue knew, the dog had flopped to the ground onto its back and stayed there in front of Little Squeak.
Ughh, what show is this again?
Standing at the side, Ling Yue had an ironic feeling of wanting to fall on her knee and laugh at this comedic scene.
Regardless, the end result is that the dog is subdued and won’t hurt anyone else now.
Squeak~
Leisurely wandering back over to Ling Yue’s side, Little Squeak childishly calls out to her.
“You mean that guy is sick?” Ling Yue’s face was full of embarrassment for she understood what Little Squeak’s was getting at.
Although she read a lot of Mr. Red Mist’s medical records, but she’s still not a real doctor. Forget about treating a dog, she never even looked at a real patient yet.
Seeing Ling Yue’s refusal to move forward, Little Squeak gently bites down at her hand and slowly drags her outward.
“You’re telling me to use the cauldron’s spirit smoke to treat him?” Ling Yue finally understands Little Squeak’s meaning.
But does the cauldron have that ability?
As if able to understand why the human girl was drawing near, the vicious dog began tearing up with a pitiful face.
“Desperate time calls for desperate measures.” Bracing herself, Ling Yue moves her hand forward and touches the dog’s body. Reacting to its owner’s plea, the cauldron began to liven up and shot out a silk like thread of smoke into the dog.
In the next moment, a picture of crisscrossing veins appeared in Ling Yue’s consciousness.
To her surprise, she found that in the brain area, a black spot the size of a fingernail was slowly expanding with no end in sight.
It’s very clear now, the dog was very sick and needs help.
Now she understands. The reason for the drastic change in the stray dog’s temperament was due to this black spot.
Fortunately, she has her cauldron. Becoming excited over the anomaly, the spirit smoke actively swam up to the black spot on its own accord and began launching a relentless attack at the source of the illness. Unlike the impurities of the Xuan Yuan Jade or the Yuan Iron ores, the process this time was more time consuming.
A full hour later with Ling Yue swimming in sweat, the black spots inside the dog was finally gobbled up.
“The vicious dog is over there!” Several fifth rank martialists were coming over with the intent to fight, each holding weapons of some kind.
“Little Miss, what are you doing here? And that vicious dog?” Before they can say more, the newcomers were dumbfounded by what they saw. The allegedly dangerous dog was lying on its back against Ling Yue’s feet and was constantly wagging its tail for affection.
Under the morning light, Ling Yue wipes away the sweat on her face to bloom a dazzling smile.
“Interesting, what a interesting little thing!” Just as Ling Yue and the rest of the members of the forge had left, a man wearing a golden metal mask suddenly floated down from the rooftop.