As I stepped through the veil and into the sunshine on the other side, I felt suddenly rejuvenated, like I’d just gotten a full night’s sleep. The old man continued forward, unfazed though and casually repositioned the giant crate on his back as he made his way into the village. As Mal’Kira and Blue Rose entered behind me, they each seemed to experience the same sense of being refreshed, letting out small gasps of surprise.

“You guys felt that too?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Blue Rose said. “This place is radiating with Qi.”

I couldn’t sense Qi, so I wasn’t sure if I’d felt the same thing or not, but I felt good nonetheless. As we entered the village, it reminded me of Scalia a bit, looking like something out of ancient times, with its small stone huts with simple bamboo roofs. The ground beneath us was red clay and tucked between the small huts were towering thickets of bamboo with vast meadows and forests in the distance. It was both quaint and serene, with the smell of wood fires mixing with that of burning metal and coal as the banging of anvils, echoed throughout.

Men and women who wore simple blue robes like the old man, along with the same rope tied about their foreheads, toiled outside their various homes and looked up from their work to gawk at us as we passed by. Most looked more annoyed than surprised, some shaking their heads and muttering curses.

“Friendly bunch,” Blue Rose said, scoffing at them. “Good job getting the old guy to let us in here though, Max. I was about to stab his ass.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s the play here,” I whispered back.

For some reason I felt a kindred spirit with these people. Maybe because they reminded me of master Edrik or something or the small artisan village back in Jurin. Or maybe they just reminded me of simple, common folk in general, which is what we all were back home. As we got deeper into the village, we passed by what looked like a market square, with people buying and selling fresh produce and other goods. We then passed a stable of sorts and to my surprise, nestled within the stalls were smaller versions of the same crystal-backed lizard we had just slain.

In another open courtyard, that was formed almost like an arena, I finally saw what I’d come here for. A man with a long beard was in the middle of the courtyard going through a series of martial forms with a spear. I’d seen many spare practitioners before, especially onboard the Xin Long, but to see this man wield the weapon was truly like watching art in motion. Each technique was performed with such precision that he looked articulated in stop animation. The urge to learn gnawed at my gut and an eagerness filled my body with adrenalin and hope.

Past the courtyard, the village then opened up into a wide area with a hard stone floor and in the center was a towering structure with four chimneys sticking out of the top. It was made of ancient bricks, the same deep obsidian color as the stone which made the mesa. Only one of the chimneys seemed to be active though, belching white smoke into the air and as we passed by, I saw over two dozen men tending to a blazing furnace that burned hot with bluish white flames.

“Wait here,” the old man said and then hauled the crate over to where the men were.

He dumped the crystals onto the ground in front of the furnace and they all cheered in celebration, but when he pointed at us, seemingly to explain where they had come from, they all threw their hands in the air with curses. The old guy merely shrugged, leaving the crate with them before returning to us.

“Well, they seem grateful,” Mal’Kira said sardonically.

“Because they know it’s just prolonging the inevitable,” he said. “Mature scales like that will burn hotter and longer, but it won’t replenish the fires of the kiln itself. It’ll soon burn out like the others.”

I saw an opening to parlay further. “If you need more scales from the outside, I can be of service. Those crystal-lizards aren’t too tough once you get them on their backs.”

The man laughed. “It’ll take far more than scales to reignite that fire once it dies. Anyway, enough questions. I’m not even certain I should have brought you here. I may well be banished for doing so, but the core and scales are rare to come by these days and Chief Muraboshi is a fair man, when it comes to trade.”

“That’s good to hear,” I said. “And what is your name sir?”

He grunted at first as if not wanting to tell me. “You can call me, Koh.”

“Thank you, Master Koh, for your assistance,” I said with a short bow. “I appreciate this.”

“Well, don’t thank me yet. You can still be kicked out and me along with you.”

We arrived at a central hut and seated within was a gray-bearded man who looked perhaps 50 but had the body of a wrestler. His blue robes barely fit him and on his forehead were three bands of rope. Flanking him were two other people who looked in their seventies. One was a Dharmian man with a red beard and bald head and the other a woman with short cut white hair and green eyes. Both of them wore headbands with two bands of rope.

Koh told us to wait and then entered the hut and bowed before the three of them. They conversed quietly amongst themselves, the two-band elders glancing at us while they spoke. The burly man, who I presumed to be Muraboshi, however, never looked our way. Even when Koh handed him the Crystal Lizard’s core, all he did was merely examine it and then he did something I didn’t expect.

As he lifted the core in the air, he closed his eyes as if meditating and then a glowing light began to emanate from his palm. He mouthed a few words and then in a brilliant burst of light, the core transformed, becoming something that wiggled and squirmed in his hand. He handed it back to Master Koh, who bowed to him once more and then quickly made his way back to us.

“You’ve managed to buy yourself an audience with this,” Koh said, and in his hands, he showed us a foot long crystal lizard that actually looked kind of cute. “This hatchling will grow in time, allowing us to harvest its lesser crystals as a juvenile.”

“How did he do that?” Blue Rose asked. “What realm of Cultivator is he?”

She took the words right out of my mouth. How the hell did he do that? But Koh didn’t answer.

“Just go now,” he said. “You have an audience, but a short one. Don’t waste it.”

As he pushed me forward, I became suddenly conscious of my bloodied and tattered robes. I did my best to make myself presentable as I touched my head to the ground in a kowtow before the three elders.

“Greetings Chief Muraboshi,” I said with the best formal tones I could muster, and prayed I wasn’t butchering them. “Thank you for meeting with me. My name is Max Chun and I’ve come here to humbly request—”

“Before you get into all that,” he said, cutting me off. “I’m curious. Whose rich ear did you bend to grant yourself access to our planet?”

“Um…Empress Revenah’s?”

His eyes went wide and then he looked to his two companions as if impressed.

“An empress this time!” he said.

“Did I win the bet?” the woman asked.

“No, you said princess,” the Dharmian man said.

“It’s close enough.”

“Well, I’m just glad to see we still demand such high-caliber attention,” Muraboshi said, chuckling. “Now Let me guess.” He turned his attention back to me now. “You have some magnificent Spirit Beast core or artifact you wish transformed into a weapon, yes?”

“Ah, actually no.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“No?” he said, his eyes squinting as he shared a quick glance with his two elders. “Then why have you come here?”

“To learn,” I said.

“Ah! So you wish to become one of us!” He folded his arms, looking pleased. “Makes sense. Although, not many choose to switch paths like this so late in life, especially for one already so skilled in the martial realm.”

“Indeed,” the Dharmian man said. “Master Koh said you managed to defeat that Crystal Lizard with ease. Something truly must have shaken your soul to want to live a life of pacifism after reaching such heights of destructive capability.”

“What?” I said. “Pacifism?”

Muraboshi let out a huge laugh, elbowing his colleague. “Look, Fujihiro, he doesn’t even know!”

“Know what?”

The woman leaned closer to me. “Boy, did no one tell you that to follow the Path of the Living Forge that one must make a vow of non-violence?”

“Clearly no one did, Akemi.” Muroboshi then settled himself some, ending his laughter with a chuckle. “Anyway, knowing this, do you still seek to give up killing and violence to follow this path?”

The Demon in me wanted to yell, ‘hell no’ but the Struggler kept him quiet.

“I’m not after that either,” I said. “I wish to learn martial arts from you. My father-in-law, who is a great weapons smith, said that the artisan masters of Ri Ben are the finest martial arts practitioners in the empire. And by what I’ve seen in your courtyard, I know this is true. This is why I have come here. I hope to study from you. If you’ll have me.”

Muraboshi grinned at me and then laughed again. “I would have believed the artisan story before this one. Do you really think we can teach one such as you? You’ve wasted your time, boy. We share our techniques for the purpose of weapon smithing only. And for that you need to join our clan. And for that, you’d need to be at least a master artisan first.”

“Please,” I said, with [Struggler’s Resolve]. “I’ve come a long way. I can kill more lizards for you. Bring you more cores and scales.”

He turned to me with a scowl, his eyes flashing with sudden anger. “You think we can be bought so cheaply? We don’t need your pity. Be gone off-worlder! Your kind is not welcome here!”

I was stunned for a second, perplexed.

Geeze, what the hell did I say?

“Be gone!!”

Before I could even apologize, a cosmic vortex surrounded me as his words took physical form and I found myself flying backwards and slamming into Mal’Kira and Blue Rose. In a flash I was back within the darkness of night again, stumbling over my companions and onto the dirt road.

Blue Rose let out a curse. “Shit! What the hell just happened?”

But I had no idea.

Or explanation.

I rolled onto my ass, still confused.

What the hell had just happened, indeed?

* * *

It took us a few moments to get our bearings, but one thing was for certain.

I had screwed up.

Royally.

“What the hell did you say to him?” Blue Rose said, grilling me for the third time. “That was all of five minutes!”

“I knew I should have gone with you,” Mal’Kira said, shaking her head. “These kinds of people respect us sullied.”

I sighed as I leaned back against the prickly corpse of the crystal lizard. “This isn’t helping guys. I barely said anything, honestly. He just flipped out all of a sudden.”

“So now what?” Blue Rose said. “Head home?”

The Struggler in me didn’t want to admit defeat, but there didn’t seem much that I could do at the moment. I suddenly felt exhausted again. And hungry. And pissed off. Maybe it was a stupid idea to begin with, but to come all this way just to have a door slammed in my face added insult to injury.

“Let’s just try and get some sleep until dawn,” I said. “We’ll figure something out tomorrow.”

We settled down for a restless night of disappointment. I’d had much worse nights on the Hell World of Fhae I’ung though, and using my handler skills I made some steaks out of the lizard meat and fried it up with my Fire technique. It wasn’t the best meal, but it kept us from complaining and with full stomachs we all managed to drift off to sleep in the heat of the night.

Morning couldn’t come soon enough and by the time it finally did, we all dragged ourselves together in silence. We decided to wait one more day, just in case Chief Muraboshi had a change of heart. It ended up being another long day of waiting for nothing.

Mal’Kira did her best to try and lure them out by shouting into the wild, oscillating between begging for forgiveness and then cursing them for being assholes. We made use of the lizard corpse for food one more time, but by morning the thing was starting to stink. We buried it just after sunrise, and after another fruitless day of waiting, set in for another rough night in the heat. By morning we decided to call it quits and were preparing to make our way back to the Paifang when a familiar voice called out from nowhere.

“Thank the nine heavens you’re all thickheaded enough to still be here.”

It was Master Koh, but he looked a bit more riled up than before.

I couldn’t care though. I was just happy to see him.

“Master Koh,” I said with a bow. “Has the chief changed his mind?”

“No not exactly,” he said. “But something has changed, and you may all well be the cause.”

“Us?” Mal’Kira said. “What the hell did we do besides give you free stuff?”

“It’s precisely that,” he said.

Now I was totally confused. “So gifts are bad?”

Koh sighed. “In a way. Listen carefully. There is something I need to explain for this all to make sense.” He plopped down onto the ground then, seated in lotus position. “What you witnessed a few weeks ago was—”

“Weeks ago?” Blue Rose said.

“Eh?” Koh looked confused. “Ah, right. How long has it been for you?”

“Two days,” I said. “Going on three.”

“Well time moves differently within the village,” Koh said. “In truth its not a village at all. At least, not just a village. It is the inner world, projected by Chief Muraboshi himself.”

“Holy shit,” I said. “That whole place is his inner world?”

Koh nodded. “It is the reason we are known as the Living Forge Sect. Chief Muraboshi was one of the last surviving members of our world before the Bloodmoon came to destroy it. When the Yee empire came, Chief Muraboshi formed a pact. They allowed us to restore our ways and follow our own code, in return for supplying the empire with weapons and to never carry any ourselves. Hence the oath of pacifism. But I get ahead of myself. That’s not important. What is important is that, as you saw with the Crystal Lizard core, our new home can only be populated by the sacrifice of real world artifacts.”

Everything fell into place then.

It was no wonder he was so powerful.

“So he is essentially the god of your world?”

“A Lesser Deity on the brink of godhood, but yes, after thousands of years he continues to provide a place for our people. But time has taken its toll. The fires of the kiln, once four strong now wane. And your ‘gift’ to him reminded him of that fact.”

“So shouldn’t he have been grateful then?” Blue Rose said.

Koh harrumphed. “Muraboshi is a proud and stubborn man. He will not accept charity lightly. Even if it means death, he would rather face it, than beg.”

“Shit,” I said. “So me offering to kill more lizards pissed him off?”

“In a manner of words, yes. But more than that, his souring countenance has now affected our world. The kiln grows yet dimmer. Without it, we cannot produce and will eventually lose our value to the empire. Chief Muraboshi knows this. He’s known of it for decades. Our inevitable end draws nigh.”

The next question was obvious. “So, you’re here because there must be something I can do to stop it, right?”

He grumbled a little. “It’s rare for one of your strength to come seeking something so obtuse. Normally the demands would be for something of incredible power and there would be very little interest in anything else. To seek only knowledge is rare. But tell me this first.” He then pointed to Mal’Kira. “Was she being truthful when she called you an Imperial Marshal?”

I barely remembered that at all. It was on the road when we had first met, with Mal’Kira demanding him show respect due to my title.

“It is,” I said. “But my purpose wasn’t to gain special favor because of my status.”

“I’m not interested in your status. It is your strength. An Imperial Marshal means you have fought the perils of the Hell worlds more than once, yes?”

“We both have,” I said, jerking a thumb between myself and Blue Rose. “Weeks if you want to be more accurate.”

He furrowed his brow with incomprehension. “Weeks?!”

“It is true,” Mal’Kira said. “They were marooned on the Hell World for two weeks. The Iron Bull even more.”

He stood there staring at us, blinking in disbelief.

Then finally, he just waved his hand dismissively. “Fine, fine. Whether you are exaggerating or not, I do not care. I know one must be of keen strength and spiritual fortitude to endure even one trip to the Hell Worlds.”

“We’re not exaggerating,” I said. “Trust me.”

He paused a moment more, glancing to the side contemplating something.

“Look here,” he said. “Muraboshi being Muraboshi, he is far too proud to ask for help. Especially when we need it. As powerful as he is, he is no warrior, and as skilled as we are with weapons, we have made vows and cannot acquire the materials we need ourselves. So, I ask you, how much are you truly willing to sacrifice to learn the martial knowledge you seek?”

Martial knowledge? I thought.

That was the least of my interests now.

I had been meditating for months trying to figure out how to just manifest my inner world. But now, not only had I seen that done on a monumental scale, but Chief Muraboshi knew how to populate it with living things as well.

To learn that knowledge would propel my cultivation to new levels.

“How about we make a deal?” I said. “Yes, I wish martial knowledge, but I wish to know the secret of Inner World projection as well. If I can help you, will you teach me these things?”

“It won’t be my decision, truthfully,” Koh said. “But I can guarantee you one thing. If you simply give me what he needs, he will be indebted to you more than anyone in the empire. And you must just give it to him. He won’t ask for it and he won’t barter for it in advance. Like I said. He’d rather die proud than beg.”

“Sounds like a fanatic,” Blue Rose said.

“Hey! Do not insult the chief like that. He’s lived a thousand of your lifetimes. He simply sees it as his existence coming to a natural end. But when he goes, so will we.”

“Wait, so he’s dying?” I asked.

“His inner world is. It’s the world of Ri Ben before the fall. Without restoring the forges, it will all cease, and we will be roaming nomads cast to the stars. That’s a future none of us want. So…will you do this?”

“And what exactly is the ‘this’ that you need?”

“The same thing that Chief Muraboshi used to ignite his Living Forge many millennia ago,” he said. “The Awakened Heart of a Fallen Star.”