At the same time that Xuan Hao had just returned and entered closed door meditation, both Qing Yi and Chu Yang got the news that their master had returned and quickly made their way back to the pavilion. Only to find out that he had already entered closed door meditation.
But things were not all bad, as both of them soon discovered that their master had brought a child back with him to the sect! And he had even ordered for Zhi Ruo to inform them that they should show him around the sect and help him familiarizes himself with the daily happenings of the Flying Sword Sect.
The child in question was Bai Ning, who was nervously inspecting the two disciples of Elder Xuan in front of him as he had just recently managed to move in his few belongings that he had with him into the room Zhi Ruo had told him that he would stay in for now on.𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"What is your name? How did you and master meet? And do you perhaps know about what master have been doing over the past few weeks?" Launching a barrage of question at him the moment she had spotted him; Qing Yi curiously observed the young boy in front of her while waiting for him to answer with an excited look plastered all over her face.
Chu Yang followed closely behind, but compared to Qing Yi, he was calmer as he patiently waited before asking anything. Not wanting to stress the boy out more than he already was after Qing Yi's barrage of questions…
"M-my name is Bai Ning! I-I first met Elder Xuan in an underground cave… I-I-I don't know what Elder X-Xuan have been doing over the past few w-weeks…" It was just a moment ago that both of them had barged into his room and Bai Ning did not know what to do as he nervously answered the big sister in front of him while stuttering a bit along the way.
"Hah… No need to be so nervous, Qing Yi here isn't as scary as she looks-"
"Who is scary looking!?"
Trying to calm down Bai Ning, Chu Yang jokingly poked fun at Qing Yi as he was quickly interrupted by Qing Yi, who angrily puffed her cheeks and stared menacingly at him.
Clearly not happy about the fact that she was referred to as scary looking.
"Haha, See? No need to be so nervous." Ignoring the now pouting Qing Yi as he said this, Chu Yang laughed loudly.
This in turn caused Bai Ning to calm down as he also began to chuckle a bit upon seeing the stark contrast between the earlier aggressive questioning and the current aggrieved look on Qing Yi's face as she pouted angrily while staring at Chu Yang.
"Hmph, I have something to do at the Alchemy Hall anyway, so I will let this 'junior brother' be the showing you around." Not wanting to stay and ask about her master anymore, Qing Yi quickly escaped out of Bai Ning's room.
For some reason, she had a feeling that Bai Ning's appearance would not be a good thing for her.
Given that he was already staying at the pavilion, Qing Yi already guessed that he would end up as a future disciple of her master.
I will have to find a new disciple for master as well!
Considering that Bai Ning seemed to have been drawn over to the side of the cool big brother Chu Yang already, Qing Yi felt that she needed to recruit a little sister of her own.
With this plan in mind, Qing Yi decided to scourge through the disciples of the Flying Sword Sect and see if she could find someone fitting to recruit.
"Big sister is an alchemist?" Not understanding why Qing Yi had run away, Bai Ning had an innocent look on his face as he asked curiously. Being a blacksmith himself, Bai Ning had always been curious about alchemy as both professions were often discussed when it came to what the number one profession out there was.
"Yes, she is, you can try and ask her later on if you have any questions about alchemy."
Rolling his eyes upon thinking about his senior sister, Chu Yang could not help but remember how embarrassed she had been before escaping earlier.
He had a foreboding feeling that his senior sister would try and look for him in the soon to be future to try out a new potion she had recently made. Not that he really cared much about it, as it would most likely just end up with drinking some weird potion of hers…
Chu Yang still remembered that Qing Yi had gotten him to eat a weird pill that made grass taste like strawberry cake when their master had just left and after that drink a potion that made his hair turn purple for a little over a day…
This had made Chu Yang discover how truly weird alchemy was.
"Great! I always wanted to know more about alchemy ever since I first found out about it!" Not acting nervous anymore, Bai Ning excitedly exclaimed as he happily moved around.
"Seeing that Qing Yi already left, we should get going before it gets too dark if we want to look around the sect today." Looking out at the sky slowly growing dark as night approached, Chu Yang said this before both he and Bai Ning moved out of the pavilion as they made their way down the mountain that it was situated on.
After some time, Chu Yang discovered like his master had, that Bai Ning was still a normal person and decided to carry him down the rest of the way.
…
Clang~ Clang~ Clang~
A loud sound of metal hitting metal continuously rang out as Chu Yang and Bai Ning both arrived in front of a small wall located towards the edge of the core area of the Flying Sword Sect where large plumes of smoke rose to the sky from the other side. Coincidentally, it was located not too far away from the base of Xuan Hao's Mountain, so Chu Yang ended up arriving here first.
"This over here is the Blacksmithing Hall where the different blacksmiths from the Flying Sword Sect normally spend their time either learning in the library or crafting different weapons and artifacts for themselves and the disciples or elders to use." Explaining what the place in front of them was, Chu Yang curiously looked over at Bai Ning who was completely absorbed as he looked at the plumes of smoke rising up from beyond wall in front of him full of excitement.
"Are you perhaps interested? Want to go in and take a look?"
"Yes!" Exclaiming loudly in response to the question, Bai Ning could almost not hold himself back as both of them soon entered the Blacksmithing Hall together.
The moment they entered through a large gate leading inside, Chu Yang and Bai Ning were met with a scene of several different people working on their own artifacts in both open and closed workstations as both of them could see a bunch of both men and women sweating heavily while working with their artifacts or weapons.
A little further inside, a large building was standing tall as it stood out among the many different workstations inside the Blacksmithing Hall.
"What is that building…?" immediately spotting the building standing tall in the middle of the large open field filled with all sorts of working stations for the blacksmiths, Bai Ning curiously asked as he pointed over towards the pagoda.
"That is the main part of the Blacksmithing Hall and also the place where the different elders of the Blacksmithing Hall stay most of the time, if you want to join the Blacksmithing Hall, you will also have to go there if you want to join the Blacksmithing Hall and become a blacksmith." As they were making their way over towards the large building, Chu Yang explained this to Bai Ning as both of them soon entered the large building under the eyes of a few nearby disciples who had come to join the Blacksmithing Hall.
The inside of the building was a stark contrast from the outside environment as there seemed to be a soundproofing formation in place that prevented the loud clanging noise from outside enter inside.
"Are you perhaps here to become blacksmiths as well?" Seeing that Chu Yang and Bai Ning both came inside the building as well, one of the disciples who had watched them as they approached from afar stepped forward and asked curiously.
"Haha, no, I'm just here to show this junior brother around." Waving his hand in denial, Chu Yang answered while motioning towards Bai Ning that was walking beside him.
"I see… Recently Elder Teng is the one in charge of admitting the new disciples for the Blacksmithing Hall and I heard that he is quite ruthless… I already failed the test to join twice!" Letting out a complaint, the disciple along with the rest of the disciples all had a dispirited look on their faces.
Compared to the Alchemy Hall that would accept anyone that wanted to come and join them, the Blacksmithing Hall did not have a lack of disciples that wanted to join them… On the contrary, too many disciples wanted to join them, and they only accept a limited amount of people each year.
The competition inside the Blacksmithing Hall was also way fiercer as the disciples competed for resource and opportunities to be personally taught by some of the blacksmith elders during some of the many events and competitions held yearly by the Blacksmithing Hall.
Overall, the Blacksmithing Hall could be considered one of, if not the most competitive place in the Flying Sword Sect!