章 27: Taking In 3 Disciples.

The moment he returned to his courtyard, Zhang Wu Ji went straight into his room for the sake to rewrite the three outdated Blacksmithing Technique Manual and his two newly created manual. It was an important project for him, because only after rewrite can he enhance their usefulness when he immerses himself in forging. Although their improvement may end up superficial, a small crab leg is still a meat.

Holding over 1600 Strands of Inner Qi with him, the rewriting did not take a toll on him, as he easily copied half of the first book before heading for his rest. But unfortunately, before he managed to doze off, a commotion came from outside of his courtyard's main door, where the visitors are knocking at the door without controlling their own strength. The continuous knock caught the three subordinates attention, where Zhao Xiao Hua have no other way except to see who was so daring to knock the Master Senior Ninth's door in such way.

But when the door is opened, the Three Elder ranked senior came in without an approval, and immediately went to the courtyard's garden, afraid of being rejected before they mentioned their request. Since the three-person before her belonged to the Elder's ranking, Zhao Xiao Hua has no other choice but to inquire about their arrival.

"Three elders, can this junior inquire the reason of your arrival. I am afraid that our Master Senior Ninth just came back from outside and in need of a good rest before anything..." Zhao Xiao Hua politely asks as she was afraid of invoking the wrath of the three elders because of the differences in their status. But what was happening next changed her view towards her master and also on the three elders.

"Little girl, can you try to call your master out? Please tell him the Department Elder and two Vice Department Elders have something we need to inquire him. Please deliver our request to him and try your best to ask him to receive this three old man?" the Department Elder actually lowered his tone as he speaks with the junior. In fact, his tone is more to asking for a favor and not demanding for an audience.

"S... Sure! I will go and ask now!" she quickly answered to their request and prepared to the left to the room Zhang Wu Ji slept inside, but as she turned around, one of the Vice Department Elder took a small medicinal pouch out and placed them on her palm. Although the elder was holding her hand during this moment, it was more to a reward to help them convey a message, and not how a leecher trying to take advantage of a lady.

"Three elders please wait for a moment, this junior will wake Master Senior Ninth now." she was confused with all these changes. It was well known in the whole sect that the Elders are all high and mighty individuals, why will they change their tone when it comes to their Master Senior Ninth? Additionally, all three elders from the Blacksmithing Department is here, if Bai Hei Tie is here, he will be surprised until he falls on his bottom.

She moves quickly and reaches where the room was located, but before she can knock, it was opened from inside. Zhang Wu Ji walks out after hearing out those loud knocks on his main door and intends to see what happened. But as he comes out, Zhao Xiao Hua is standing by his door, so he conveniently asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Reporting to Master Senior Ninth, the Blacksmithing Department's Department Elder and two Vice Department Elders are requesting for an audience, in fact, they passed me this medicinal pouch which is quite heavy for the sake of making sure you will accept their audience." Zhao Xiao Hua was well known for Zhang Wu Ji's behavior, which was told by Tang Yuan personally.

"Bring me to them," he replied. Walking in big and steady steps, he followed his subordinates and walked towards the three elders, while Tang Yuan who was smarter went to prepare the tea for the four of them while talking about those important matters. The only lacking is that Zhang Wu Ji has no habit of drinking top quality tea, thus his courtyard only have the most simple upper-class Soothing Chamomile Tea leaves in their kitchen.

"Three elders, please be seated. It was a lucky day for this junior to have his courtyard receive the shining grace from the three elders from Blacksmithing Department. Can this junior ask, what brings the three elder here today? Did this junior's arrival into the workshop disrupted the progress of the seniors?" since he just came back from the Blacksmithing Department's Vault this morning, it should be related to his handiwork. Either on the two manual or because he messes with their ingots.

"Hahaha, Ninth Direct Disciple is too polite, this three old man really underserve of such a statement. In fact, the three of us were here for the sake of one matter. It was extremely important thus I hope the Ninth Direct Disciple will give it a thought before deciding."

"The three of us has gone through the two manuals Ninth Direct Disciple left in the vault this morning, and we were surprised by the depth and immensely simplified techniques that were thought inside of its contents. This three shameless old man immediately tried to follow the guidance, and it was an unexpected, a nine of nine success in our attempt to refine the Advance-Quality Metal straight from the moment they were smelted from the Raw Mineral Ores."

"The Blacksmithing Department has received the grace of your abilities, and this three old man wishes to take you in as our master. Do you mind accepting this three old man that was halfway into their grave as your disciple? Please give us the chance to learn from you, and teach what we could so those from the more unfortunate condition can obtain their part of growth." the Department Elder unexpectedly kneeled before Zhang Wu Ji, and it was just right on the time that Tang Yuan is here with the four cups of newly brewed tea.

The elder lifted one of the cups and hold it with both hands. With the height of the cup of tea above his temple, this action signifies the seriousness of his words and crucified his intention to take this person as his master in the Blacksmithing Profession.

In their mind, this wasn't a shameful matter. There was over a hundred thousand case where one from the older generations is willingly becoming the direct disciple to a junior generation, for the sake of furthering their understandings in a profession. There was a word says that Talent and Knowledge are what justified a person's seniority. Ability and Might are what justified a person's strength.

"Department Elder, please stand up! Why would this kind of thing happened to me?" he immediately tried to hold the Department Elder up from his knees, but how can a 1st Stage Inner Qi Fighter can compete with an elder in his Inner Qi Elder's strength? Even in the competition of stubbornness, he may lose. As he thought of all this sudden occurrence, the other two Vice Department Elders followed the first's footsteps, and also kneeled with their hand both holding the cup above their temple.

"This two junior that lacked knowledge in the blacksmithing also wished that the Ninth Direct Disciple will give this two a chance as well! Please do not reject our effort!" the two of them must be practiced while coming on their way. There is no such coincidence that the two of them muttered the same sentence together.

Looking at this situation, the three subordinates were speechless with the shamelessness of the three elders. What made all of them kneeled on the ground? Even if their Master Senior Ninth is too amazing for one to accept, it doesn't need you, three elders, to do such an act, right? Why don't you consider how are we going to process this sight before us when we're going back to sleep and cultivates?

"I don't know what makes the three of you went to such a length just for the sake of accepting me as your master, but I will be honest, I might no as knowledgeable and half of you." Zhang Wu Ji was turned speechless after he sees how committed are the three elders in their action. Left with no other choice, he accepted the three of them, and see what funny thing were they trying to do.

If this thought were made known to the three of them, perhaps they will spit blood at this spot.

"Master! With your ability to easily produce 40% High-Quality Pure Iron and Sentient Iron from raw materials, even the Department Heads from other sect and clan will discard their sect to come and become your disciple."

"Alright, tell me, what do you three intend to do?" Zhang Wu Ji knows that this three must stumble across some difficult issue, causing them to be this desperate. But it was hard to guess, because no matter what, it was a rare occasion that a Department Elder and Vice Department Elders are left in such a sorry state, making them so desperate at that.

"The truth is, the three of us are barely a skillful Blacksmith, to begin with. We were lucky to be given the opportunity to grow under the previous Department Elder, but he passed away before he taught us all the skills he knows. At the end of the day, we were left with only half of a bucket full of knowledge, but doesn't know where is the tail, and what is the head."

"This ends up putting the Blacksmithing Department in a very dangerous position, where our quality of weapons and metal crafted weren't up to their standard. In a matter of fact, we are only able to barely produce material in Military grade and above, and the wastage from our department is quite high as well."

"Due to this matter, the Blacksmithing Department are wasting too much but our production remains low. Although the supply is above the demand at this moment, we cannot continue to only produce half dependable weapons that will endanger the disciple's life if they went out on an expedition. In order to get rid of all these weaknesses, we hope master can help the three disciples in this matter."

The three did not have any intention to hide any of the problems from his knowledge, which were a good thing especially towards Zhang Wu Ji's personality that hates to guess for the root of the problem. While at the same time, the three elders were a fellow blacksmith, thus their personality was also being mold according to their usual direct, straightforward, and honest manner.

"I see. That is an important matter. It was like what the three of you mentioned, the quality of the weapons stored inside of the vault are not up to their standards. I will give each of you with a task for now, and try to complete the preparations before I can think of another plan. As for now, stops the distribution of the worthless Seven Leaves Sword, and issue a call for the disciples to return the sword back to the Blacksmithing Department, and tell them that the department just found a new technique to increase the durability and lightness of the weapon. It will progress without issue like this."

"Other than that, I want you to create a mold for few different items. We will craft weapon straight from top quality ingots, thus we can skip the earlier process to hammer the ingots until we obtained the desired piece. The mold should contain the blade, the guard, and the pommel part. Make sure all of them were crafted well and accurate because this is how mass production weapon is made."

"Next, is to refine all the metal ingots in your vault. Use three-quarter of them and refine them until they reach proper Advance-Quality ingots. We will melt all of them later for the sake of producing a brand new Seven Leaves Sword for the disciple's usage. Last but not least, the two manual I compiled have all the required technique to enhance your results in refining the metal, and also in your smelting process. Follow the guidance well and for now, the three of you will act as the supervisor and mentor for the senior and junior blacksmith."

"If we have any Inner Qi Fighter's members, used them efficiently by placing them in the position of a bellow blower, and also the Rock Crusher Operator. This will help them to prepare the raw material faster. In the future, I will teach you all how to utilize enhancement material to increase the quality of the Metal Ingots created, so order the department to stop operating like how you do now. Stop all operation and run a renovation to repair all your tools and furnaces."

"Check their condition. If it is broken, repair them. Make sure there weren't any opened channel except the single vent that came from the Bellow. Remember to maintain the fire in 1500 Fahrenheit, this is the best temperature to control the separation between the slags and molten metal. The procedure, for now, may look similar to how it was, but this were all used to give you guys more experience in how to measure the purity of the molten metal before you're qualified to directly skip the refining process and went straight to molding."

Zhang Wu Ji completed his instruction for now. Since he was still filled with the impression of how bad is the quality of the manufactured materials, it wasn't a regret to agree to help this three new "Disciple" of his to a changeover in the term of quality the product they will distribute. Not only that, if he managed this matter well, he can easily absorb them into his master's faction and strengthen his master's overall support within the Seven Star Sect.

"Disciple understands! We will immediately go back and make sure all this instruction will be completed. Can disciple be daring to ask, when will master feel like coming to visit the Blacksmithing Department again?" the Department Elder asked. Even if they managed to obtain his agreement, it was still important for their master to make his appearance in the department for them to pay their respect at this [Master] of the elders.

"No need. I will pay a visit as an undercover inspector once a while to the department. This will also be my test of how the three of you managed the disciples under you all. Finding a master isn't difficult. The difficulties lie in the way they mentor their students. A proper mentor molds the shape of their disciples in character, moral, knowledge, and talents. You cannot only look at them through their talents alone, do you understand?" Zhang Wu Ji stated his intention, and how would he expect the three to mentor the juniors in the department for their improvement.

"As for the three of you... Come back here two days later, I will teach you something I know. Oh and also, bring over all the reading materials you have, I want to check on them." he left them with a final instruction and decided to leave aside all this. If he did not try to do so, perhaps the three will continue to kneel there forever. But before he forgets, he added one more sentence;

"Xiao Hua, return the medicinal pouch to my disciple, it wasn't the correct way to be rewarded for the works a person has done. Your rewards will come from me instead, for handling this matter with complete honesty." Zhang Wu Ji left for his room and drop on his bed. The act he has to give out when facing the three disciples of his were much more tiring than upgrading, especially when he was quite exhausted from rewriting half of the first manual.

Sleeping through the hour, he wakes up like normal after four hours. With a little more effort, completes the first manual and begin with the second manual. This one was slightly thinner than the first one, but their words are not too packed together as well, making things easier for him to finish rewriting. His occasional rest came four hours each time, and in just a single day, he finishes executing the Knowledge Unlocking at the first three manuals.

Coming out to stretch his limbs for a while, Zhang Wu Ji went to have a sit on his courtyard's garden, and reminiscence about what was happening a day before this. It was funny and shocking at the same time, which almost made him speechless, especially when the Department Elder suddenly kneeled before him. If his master were looking at his during that moment, what would he think?

"I wonder will master get jealous with me for accepting three disciples older than myself and him?" he chuckled, but then, a sound that only appears when clothes were touching at each another came into his ears, making him turn around to look at the sudden visitor.

"Miss Me?" the lady blurted out the first two words from her mouth.

"Quite. Where have you been? It was almost three month from the day we were accepted as disciples of the Seven Star Sect." Zhang Wu Ji stands up and walks towards the lady. Unknowingly to himself, he actually felt happy when he saw the little lady was standing not far from him. It was a breath of relief coming out of his mind, after occasionally pondering about her wellbeing.

"You lied. I know you're not really thinking about me." she pouted and turned around, making a bet in her heart by saying two words repeatedly;

"Hug me, Hug me!"

Zhang Wu Ji who wasn't a romantic guy, to begin with, so instead of hugging her because of the eagerness in his heart, he ends up slapping her back hard, like how guys and girls back in his own world greets each another.

"Piak!" it shocks her whole body, bringing all the follicles of hairs on her body stand up.

"You slap my back instead of hugging me? What does that mean?" Guan Qing Han turned herself to face that idiot without a hint of romanticism in him and gave him a punch on his chest.

"Augh! That's strong. Wow! It seems that your cultivation is already at 3rd Stage of Inner Qi Fighter." he moaned from the pain once and started to praise the lady for her quick improvement for reaching 3rd Stage of Inner Qi Fighter. Three months ago, her cultivation was still at the 1st Stage of Inner Qi Fighter, where she merely have over a hundred Strands of Inner Qi.

But seeing her now, she must have at least 20,000 strands of Inner Qi now. The amount was amazing in his eyes because he barely has over 1600 Strands of Inner Qi, but he did not calculate the advantages of him getting three hundred strands of Inner Qi for every three days. If this fact were to know by others, perhaps he will immediately become the grandmaster to the others, due to the amazing speed without the need for training.

Plus, this youth is a monster that overcomes 16 stage of cultivation, a total of two-tier of strength opponent in a few strikes, and even behead the opponent without mercy. Even a fool may not dare to cause trouble to him without sufficient confidence to escape from his grasp.

"So what! You're the monster, not me. Increasing your strength from barely thirty strands of Inner Qi until now as an Inner Qi Fighter, your improvement is a monstrous one. Even my master tells me to try pry open your mind to see how you cultivate. Is seclusion training so fun?" she retaliates his praise with her words. It was the truth. If the public knows how Zhang Wu Ji carries himself in the Seven Star Sect, perhaps all of them will come over to see what is actually inside of this person's mind.

He was talented but humble and secretive. He was mysterious, but that mysteriousness was what captured the heart of the people to follow him. He was weird, but weirdly dependable as well. If one would need a word to describe him, its called [Freak], but if they need two words?

[Complete Freak]

"Back to our topic, where did you go in this past three month? I did not see you anywhere at all." Zhang Wu Ji asked about her situation. Although he wasn't as socializing as the others, he still gets to know some news all around. Since Guan Qing Han has completely vanished from the name list of the disciples that entered the sect, she must be either expelled for failing the test or taken into some secret faction.

In fact, she was by his side a few times. During the time he went to the Reflection Pagoda for his seventh senior brother's issue, during the time he went to the Knowledge Pagoda to look for a manual, during the time he went to the Auction Hall, and during the time he was debating with the elders to establish the Apprentice Hall.

"I am the direct disciple for the headmistress, that's why you hardly see me. Our faction is always hidden and we dedicated our time to training, unlike you, who have so many activities here and there," she answered his question but did not dwell too deep into the important matters.

"Well, as long you're in the sect, it will be great. I can see you most of the time then." Zhang Wu Ji happily speaks out his mind once again, making the young lady started to get misunderstood again.

"You... You want to see me often?" her eyes immediately blinks like shining stars just came into her eyes. It was flashing with happiness.

"Yeah! We're from the same town after all, if we don't look after each another, then how are we going to tell our parents? They might blame us for not able to establish a proper standing in the sect!" he replied, but at the end, this failure in romanticism still cannot evade the fate of getting slapped.

"Why..." his mind is filled with question. "Did I say something wrong again?"

But this question will remain unanswered once again. Luckily, the young lady was infatuated with him, or else, Who can guess what is his ending in his future...

The next day, which is another three day period once again, Zhang Wu Ji's morning happened to have three additional members in their breakfast. This caused the kitchen to prepare even more dishes because the additional three members are none other than the three Department Elder and Vice Elder!