Follower

Yin Xiu came up to the stall and began inspecting the various weapons curiously. They seemed to be of high quality, but there was only one Qi refining level armament in the whole stall. Coming up to the burly looking stall owner he asked tentatively, "Do you do custom requests?" The man turned his head over with a look of disdain, and spit out "If I took your request there's no way a brat like you could actually afford it. Scram if you're not going to buy anything."

Shaking his head slightly in disappointment Yin Xiu turned away to continue his journey through the market. Unbeknownst to him a figure had been standing nearby the stall listening to their conversation. The figure then began cautiously keeping track of Yin Xiu's movements,

Yin Xiu perused for another incense stick's worth of time without finding anything else of interest, until he came across a large board covered in parchment in the very center of the square. Various notices hung haphazardly on it with various commissions available to those interested. Intriqued, Yin Xiu began reading the various tasks attentively.

'Looking for beast corpses, ten spirit stones apiece for unranked, and price to be negotiated for first and second stage beasts.' 

'Bounty for Xu Lei of the Black Sickle Gang, one hundred spirit stones dead, one hundred and fifty alive.'

'High prices for any Qi refining herbs of the Water element. Offer based on the individual herbs acquired.'

After reading through the large amount of requests, Yin Xiu eventually didn't decide to take any, as none of the requests for materials matched what they had left, and the bounties were either for strong or elusive criminals. He then quietly waited for a few more minutes until he heard Hu Meng announcing his return. "Did you find anything you want me to buy for you?" Yin Xiu whispered quietly. 

"No, we should go ahead and get out of here if you're done with everything. I managed to find out some interesting information, and I want to discuss it with you."

Yin Xiu nodded back in agreement, before making his way to the exit. He slipped passed the guard quite naturally and handed him two gold coins as he did so. "One is for you, give the other to Fu Ling." The guard cracked a slightly pleased smile before pocketing the gold. Not worrying about whether Fu Ling would get the gold, or not Yin Xiu returned to the complex set of alleyways, and began navigating back to the city proper with the help of Hu Meng. 

Just a few minutes had passed when the tiger issued a quiet warning to Yin Xiu. "We seem to have someone following us, but I'm not certain that they have malicious intentions." Puzzled Yin Xiu continued to walk forward calmly. "What makes you unsure?"

Hu Meng mused quietly "They don't smell bloody like someone who would often rob and kill others... if anything they smell like a fire and a mixture of metals."

"That's interesting... well we'll just have to see what exactly it is that they want from us." Yin Xiu said as he stopped and waited quietly at an intersection for their guest to arrive. 

A minute or so later a figure emerged from the darkness with a quick pace. They were a couple inches shorter than Yin Xiu with their face wrapped in unassuming brown fabric. Only exposing a pair of clear gray eyes. They seemed quite nervous as they gripped the hem of their sleeves tightly in apprehension. Upon seeing Yin Xiu waiting for them, the figure jumped slightly in fright before seeming to muster up the courage needed to approach Yin Xiu.

Stopping a couple of meters away from him, the figure bowed a Daoist salute in greeting, and in an obviously faked voice asked "I'm sorry to have approached you like this, but I happened to overhear your conversation with Old Iron Anvil in the market earlier. Are you in need of a blacksmith to make you a weapon?"

Yin Xiu's eyebrows raised in surprise at the unexpected reason for someone to follow him, but seeing as they didn't have malice, and were more than likely telling the truth Yin Xiu nodded generously. "I am indeed looking for a blacksmith to make some weapons for me."

Looking around at the less than stellar environment he asked politely "If you are comfortable to talk business in a better place, we can travel together back to the city, and talk about the request there. I also would like to see some of your work to ensure that you are capable of making the weapon I require." 

"I can agree to that, um, I have a small forge on the outskirts of the city that we can go to and we can talk about the commission. It's also where I store my work so I can also show you that there as well." 

Yin Xiu nodded in agreement and made a gesture to lead the way. The figure tensely walked ahead of them, obviously a little uncomfortable with having someone unknown walking behind them, but perhaps emboldened by their Qi refining cultivation base, they finally managed to ease their frazzled nerves. 

The rather unconventional looking group shuttled through the streets until the unknown blacksmith led them to a rather small building near the city wall. Upon opening the door, a wave of heat hit Yin Xiu directly from the still lit embers in the forge. 

Quickly taking stock of the interior Yin Xiu noticed that the tools used in the forge were obviously heavily used, and could honestly be replaced. Several racks of swords and spears were placed next to the forge. Each gleamed brightly in the light reflected from the embers, obviously well maintained and in their best condition for sale. The little remaining area in the building just had a small mat for meditation and sleep. Showing that times might not be the best for the blacksmith.

Yin Xiu came forward and picked up a sword from the rack, and carefully inspected it. It was not ornate, but felt much more comfortable in his hand than the sword he had picked up after killing the two cultivators from the Azure cliff sword sect. It shone coldly with sharpness, and the creator was obviously quite good at their craft.

"Swords don't seem to suit you." The blacksmith blurted out before stammering "I-I apologize, I hope I didn't offend you." 

Yin Xiu chuckled naturally as he placed the sword back on the rack. "Don't worry about it, I know that I have no affinity with swords." With interest he turned to look at the blacksmith with a lot more expectation in his eyes. "It seems you have quite the talent in weapon-smithing to be able to notice that my affinity is so poor with swords just from me picking one up."

The blacksmith seemed slightly taken aback from the sincere compliment for a moment before coughing in embarrassment "Thank you for your kind words." 

Yin Xiu then said "Since we are doing legitimate business, and I doubt you have any malicious intentions, is it alright if we undo our disguises?" He pulled at the collar of his robes slightly "It is a little too hot in here to be wearing all of this I must say."

The figure hesitated briefly before agreeing somewhat uneasily. Yin Xiu then removed his mask and cloak, finally feeling slightly less suffocated from the heat. 

The blacksmith observed Yin XIu's striking features for a second before slowly unwrapping the cloth around their face revealing, a quite beautiful woman with tan skin, dark red hair, and steel gray eyes. Upon seeing Yin Xiu not having any signs of rejecting her appearance, she finally relaxed completely "What type of weapon would you like to request?" 

"I want you to make me a set of needles, and I can provide all of the materials for the refinement." He paused slightly before asking. "They are all Qi refining materials, can you ensure that the finished product will be of that level?"

The woman's steely gray eyes seemed to light up at the prospect of using higher grade materials, as she exuded an air of confidence. "Rest assured, I can definitely complete the task. Can you show me the materials?" 

Yin Xiu then pulled out six of the appendages from the White Dahlia spider. "These are the main materials, they come from a rather strong spider type beast." He then removed two chunks of silver metal with a biting chill coming from them. "I also have two pieces of snow-glazed iron that should go quite well as a compliment in the forging process."

The blacksmith nodded in agreement as she gestured to the materials Yin Xiu had laid out. "May I take a closer look?" After getting Yin Xiu's consent she quickly began picking up the materials and inspecting them closely.

After looking over everything she gestured to two of the needle-like appendages "Have you used the raw materials as weapons before?" 

Yin Xiu scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "At the time that was all I really had to defend myself." Nodding in understanding she made an evaluation "Those two may not be at the same level as the rest of the needles once they are completely refined, is that okay?" Yin Xiu then took out another needle from his bag and handed it over.

"See if this one is an acceptable replacement for one of the damaged ones." After a brief observation the blacksmith nodded in acceptance at the replaced piece. "This one is in much better shape. Do you have any special requests for the shape of the weapon itself?"

Yin Xiu placed one of the damaged sections back in his bag as he answered. "I just have one request, I would like to have needle eyes placed into the ends to thread the needles."

"That's a rather inventive modification." the blacksmith nodded in thought "I can definitely do it, but the price will be slightly higher, as I will have to alter the structure of the materials." 

Satisfied that his thoughts could come to fruition, Yin Xiu nodded naturally. "What is the price for your work?"

The woman hesitated for a moment "How about thirty spirit stones per needle? If you have materials that can be used in forging you can also pay me in materials." Yin Xiu thought that the price was more than fair, and nodded in agreement. He first counted out half of the payment, and handed it to her.

"I'll use this as the deposit." He then reached out and shook her hand. "Pleasure doing business with you, I'm Yin Xiu." She accepted the spirit stones in a bit of a daze before snapping back to reality as she shook his hand back. "Its an honor doing business with you too, I'm Jin Zhu." As the deal was made, a beautiful smile crossed her face.