The next day, Xin Xiu prepared early again to go cuddle pandas, but after walking along the stream, she didn't see the big panda again. Indeed, good fortune rarely strikes twice in a row like misfortune does.
She returned disappointedly with heavy steps, only to find her master hadn't disappeared for once, but was in the room with the large furnace on the first floor of the bamboo house.
Xin Xiu asked, "Master, are you going to forge something?"
Her Reclusive Master, for some unknown reason, moved slightly to the side upon seeing her before answering, "Mm, I have some inspiration today."
Xin Xiu thought to herself, judging by her master's movement, had his social anxiety gotten worse after not seeing her for a few days?
"Master, can I watch how you forge?" she asked, feeling a bit bored and curious about how her master actually forged things. She hadn't seen him make kitchen utensils for her before.
Shentu Yu didn't answer, but he raised his hand and beckoned. Xin Xiu felt her body lighten, and her whole person flew towards her master. Then, one after the other, they turned into blue smoke and entered the strange-looking large furnace in the center.
Xin Xiu: ...? Master, aren't you supposed to be forging items, not forging me?
For a moment, she was reminded of the Monkey King being locked in the Eight Trigrams Furnace by the Taoist Patriarch. But her emotions remained largely stable because entering the large furnace only took an instant. Once inside, she discovered it was a whole different world.
The space inside the furnace was vast and high. Above, a giant inverted golden lotus spread bright light throughout the space, while beneath her feet was a floor patterned with bamboo joints. The entire space was like an inverted bowl, with a furnace within a furnace at the very center. Around it, the walls were carved with various complex symbols, resembling countless flower buds. At the center of each "bud" was tied a golden thread.
Shentu Yu had already sat down in front of the central furnace within the furnace. Without saying a word, Xin Xiu knew she was free to do as she pleased. Her master, either overly confident or trusting in his ability to clean up messes, never cautioned her about what to be careful of, only stepping in to solve problems when she had questions.
This was probably the confidence of an immortal cultivator. Her master was indeed as cool as his appearance suggested.
Xin Xiu was more curious about the flower bud-like things on the wall. She walked over and tried to pull on the golden threads, but no matter how hard she tugged, the soft golden threads wouldn't budge.
At this moment, a golden thread not far from her side loosened. The flower bud it was locking opened like a blooming flower, revealing its center. From the hollow inside floated out an instrument shaped like a pipa, but without strings. The patterns on it were also incomplete, like a half-finished product.
This pipa fell into Shentu Yu's hands. Immediately, there was a series of soft clicking sounds. Many golden threads opened up, the flower buds retreated, and numerous objects floated out, hovering one by one around Shentu Yu.
Xin Xiu then understood that these flower bud shapes were probably for storing half-finished products or materials. She walked over and grabbed a peacock blue crystal floating in the air. The crystal was irregularly shaped, as if it had been chipped off from somewhere, with some impurities. But the cross-section color was so wonderful - transparent and shining, the color changing under the light.
Except for the blue crystal she held in her hand to examine, the rest of the blue crystals flew into Shentu Yu's hands. Shentu Yu merely tapped the furnace with his finger, and countless small fire clusters jumped out from the many openings at the bottom of the furnace. They gathered together to form a quietly burning flame. The peacock blue crystals fell into the fire and were quickly enveloped by the flames.
Two stray flames floated in front of Xin Xiu, bouncing up and down. Xin Xiu released the peacock blue crystal in her hand, and the two flames quickly grabbed the crystal and merged into the previous flame.
The crystals melted into a ball, and the flame also left the furnace, wrapping around the ball to form another fire-colored sphere. Xin Xiu felt that all these things seemed to have their own consciousness, which was quite cute.
Besides these crystals, there were other things that Shentu Yu summoned to process.
There was a shell-like piece of white jade. Instead of being burned, it was squeezed and struck by an invisible force, making crisp clinking sounds.
A white substance of unknown material was thrown into another small furnace. From the furnace mouth, one could see this substance constantly flattening above the flame, then being stretched, its shape changing every moment.
An ordinary-looking piece of wood was held in Shentu Yu's hand. His hand seemed like a sharp carving knife, etching many lines that Xin Xiu couldn't understand onto the wood.
Xin Xiu watched seriously for a while, but felt dizzy, so her attention gradually shifted to other things, like her master's hair.
His white hair hung behind him, the ends falling to the floor. Xin Xiu, feeling bored, reached out and stroked it once. She did it casually at first, but finding the texture quite nice, she stroked it again.
As she was about to stroke it a third time, Shentu Yu spoke up.
Xin Xiu withdrew her hand in an instant.
Shentu Yu pointed at the fireball, "Refine."
Pointing at the white jade shell: "Hammer."
Pointing at the white substance in the furnace: "Forge."
Finally, pointing at the wood in his hand: "Create."
Xin Xiu sat upright, like a diligent student listening attentively to a lesson.
Shentu Yu said, "The art of forging is not simple. Besides these few methods, there are many more. You will have to learn in the future, first learning to forge hard objects, then soft objects, then objects with form and without form. All things in the world can be forged, all beings in heaven and earth can be created."
Although his tone was calm and slow, the implication was grand. Xin Xiu listened and asked, "Master, do I have to learn a lot of things?"
Shentu Yu: "Not much."
Shentu Yu: "Cultivate oneself, comprehend all laws, learn to control techniques, these are the basics. The art of forging can only begin after transcending mortality."
So forging was an advanced version, which would definitely take a long time. No rush. Xin Xiu said, "It looks like it will take a long time. Since it's a future matter, let's talk about it later."
Shentu Yu nodded. He hadn't planned to teach his disciple forging now either. It was still too difficult for her. She couldn't even use the Metal Fire Spirit skillfully yet, and her body hadn't transcended mortality. Without Metal Fire Qi in her body, she couldn't forge. He said these things only because he didn't want to be stroked by his disciple.
He extended his finger into the round flame ball and pulled out the peacock blue liquid, his finger guiding it to fall onto the pipa.
Xin Xiu saw the round flame ball spit out the separated impurities into a small ball to one side, then scatter into many small flames that spiritedly dove back into the furnace below. She picked up the ball of impurities and turned her head to look. The back of the pipa in front of her master was already coated with a beautiful peacock blue color.
"Master, is this an unfinished product from before? What is it used for?" she asked as a student.
Shentu Yu told her: "This is a weapon."
Grabbing the white substance from the furnace and pinching it between two fingers to draw out long threads, he said, "It can be used to confuse the mind. It's a spiritual tool used by those who cultivate music."
Xin Xiu: "Does it have an owner?"
Shentu Yu: "No."
Xin Xiu: "So after you finish making it, you'll just leave it there unused?"
Shentu Yu nodded.
At this point, Xin Xiu fully understood that those small models displayed on several layers in the small tower were probably not collectible figurines her master had gathered, but works he had created. When this pipa was finished, it might also be turned into a small model and placed there.
She couldn't sit still for long and got up to wander around again, continuing to tangle with the golden threads locking the flower buds. This time, she tried to mobilize the surrounding golden-red light dots. She couldn't always see these light dots, but now, there were particularly many golden-red light dots here, especially around her master.
Xin Xiu decided to sneakily steal some from her master's side to use. She raked over some active small light dots from her master's side, and seeing that he didn't say anything, she raked over another bunch. Then she used these light dots to try unlocking. Her approach was basically correct. After trying for a while, the golden threads that had been tied in several dead knots reluctantly unraveled before her eyes.
Xin Xiu was delighted. She reached into the flower bud and pulled out a bowl-sized container. Inside were some small fish-like creatures swimming around. Xin Xiu thought this should be a fish tank, probably another of her master's unfinished products, since completed ones should be in the small tower.
She stuck her finger into the small fish tank and stirred it around. The tiny fish inside showed no reaction, and she didn't feel like she had touched any fish either.
Could it be a fake fish? Xin Xiu tossed the small impurity ball she had earlier into the fish tank. In such a shallow tank, the ball should have been clearly visible after being thrown in, but Xin Xiu found that it disappeared upon entering the water.
Good, this was indeed no ordinary fish tank. Xin Xiu tilted the tank, intending to pour out the water, but after a while, a pool of water appeared before her, yet the water in the small fish tank didn't seem to have decreased at all.
Driven by curiosity, Xin Xiu took out a piece of string. She tied it to a piece of dried meat she carried as a snack and cautiously dropped it into the water. Strangely, although the fish tank was transparent, her string and meat disappeared once submerged, with only the part of the string she held in her hand giving her any sense of its existence.
Suddenly, the other end of the string was tugged. Xin Xiu's spirits lifted as she forcefully pulled on the string.
The strength from the other end in the water far exceeded her imagination. Xin Xiu tugged for a long time without success, but she stubbornly persisted, stepping onto the fish tank to pull harder. The string, which she had casually picked up in the tower, was so taut it seemed it might snap at any moment. After exerting herself for a while, Xin Xiu suddenly reached a tipping point and fell backwards with a thud, the string in her hand going slack.
She was certain she had pulled something out of the small fish tank, and when she fell, she heard the sound of that thing hitting the ground nearby. She quickly got up to look, and there, lying next to the small fish tank, was a... fish.
Let's call it a fish for now, since it had a fish head, tail, fins, and scales, even if it looked rather ugly. However, upon closer inspection, Xin Xiu discovered that this fish, nearly half her height, also had two legs and a pair of hands growing from its belly.
What on earth was this thing?!
The fish got up from the ground in a manner similar to her, seeming to have hit its head in the fall, and shook its head to clear it.
But then, the fish, like an offended tough guy from Northeast China, began yelling and cursing at her aggressively. Although Xin Xiu couldn't understand fish language, she was certain this creature was cursing at her, and its voice was as unpleasant as its appearance. Not only that, but after finishing its tirade, it seemed intent on teaching her a lesson.
Xin Xiu, momentarily stunned by the surreal scene, was punched twice by the fish before she fully came to her senses. This was outrageous! She had been hit by a fish. How could she possibly tolerate this? Regardless of what had hit her, she was determined to retaliate.
Without another word, Xin Xiu rushed forward to fight back, and a human and a fish immediately engaged in a life-or-death struggle.
Hearing the clanging noises, Shentu Yu glanced back.
It seemed his disciple had found a new toy. How delightful to see them playing so happily.
His current state of mind was like that of a cat owner who, after being constantly disturbed by a kitten during work hours, finally feels at ease upon discovering that it has found other toys to play with and will no longer bother him.
After quite a while, Xin Xiu, panting heavily, finally managed to forcefully stuff the ill-tempered fish back into the small fish tank. Heaven knows how it had been pulled out of such a tiny tank unscathed in the first place, but when she shoved it back in, she tore off a large patch of its scales.
Victorious in battle, Xin Xiu sat on the ground, rubbing her knee. The fish had jumped up and kicked her knee earlier, and she had to admit it hurt quite a bit.
"Master, what is this thing? I feel like it's similar to the World in a Basin we used to stay in before. It seems to contain an entire world inside," she asked her master while hugging the small fish tank.
Shentu Yu replied, "The World in a Basin was also created by me, so naturally, they are similar."
Xin Xiu exclaimed, "The World in a Basin was made by you, Master?!" Recalling the time she spent living in the World in a Basin and thinking about that realistic miniature world, Xin Xiu's gaze towards her master became even more reverent. Wasn't that basically the same as creating a world? Was her master really that powerful?
At this moment, perhaps only the word "father" could express her feelings.
Shentu Yu, unaware of his disciple's amazement, calmly explained, "A junior fellow disciple once asked me to create a portable lake for his mermaid, but I hadn't finished crafting it before he left the mountain to travel and never returned. I wasn't entirely satisfied with this one, so I just left it here." He had forgotten about it afterwards, and if his disciple hadn't dug it out today, he might have truly forgotten about it completely.
Xin Xiu caught a familiar term: "Wait, Master, what did you say is inside this?"
Shentu Yu: "A mermaid."
Xin Xiu: "..." The mermaids of the cultivation world were truly disappointing!
Recalling his disciple's earlier bare-handed fish-catching posture, and thinking of how meticulously she prepared meals every day, Shentu Yu said to her, "If you want to eat it, you can catch one to take back."
Xin Xiu firmly declared, "Master, I'd rather starve to death than eat something so ugly."
