'Ah' Liu Tián Qǔ thought to herself, 'This must be the infamous Melded ore.

'Well,' Liu Tián Qǔ thought to herself, 'Since I have a story to tell, ore to show, and a witness who watched the whole thing. I might as well head over to the Wang Royal Manor to hand over the ore and set a price on the mountain.'

Liu Tián Qǔ replaced the stone in the sack. She then twisted the mouth of the sack close, flung it across her shoulder and made her way towards her horse. Liu Tián Qǔ secured the sack of ore to Wēi Guāng. Climbing onto Wēi Guāng, she quickly left the mountain lest she ran into more trouble.

A half-hour later she arrived outside in the Imperial City. Liu Tián Qǔ dismounted and walked her Wēi Guāng to cool the horse down and to be safe. Riding a blind horse in the streets of a crowded imperial city was asking for trouble.

Upon entering the city, she first headed towards the blacksmith. She wanted to take Wēi Guāng over to the blacksmith to be reshoed.

Twenty minutes later, Liu Tián Qǔ arrived at the blacksmith located in the heart of the market. She walked her horse up to the horse water trough outside the blacksmith. Liu Tián Qǔ allowed the horse to drink its fill before tying it to the hitching rail outside of the blacksmith shop.

Even before entering the blacksmith Liu Tián Qǔ smelled the distinctive odor coming from it that hung thick in the air, burning her nostrils with the distinctly industrial stench of coal dust and molten iron.

She entered to see a short, stocky, muscular man walking towards her. He was the blacksmith owner. Her gaze briefly past him, taking in the shop. It was an enormous shop with hard and soft partitions dividing the workspaces. Apprentices busied themselves in the background. The clanging of the anvils and the whooshing of the bellows attested to their diligence in their work. Lining the walls of the Blacksmith were many weapons, tools, and other hardware.

After greeting each other, the blacksmith asked, "Young Master, how can I help you?"

With a slight smile, Liu Tián Qǔ replied. "First let me ask you. Do you accept custom orders?"

"Of course I do Young Master," the blacksmith said immediately with a nod and a big smile.

"Great, do you by any chance know what stone locks are?"

"Of course, Of course," the blacksmith nodded voraciously.

"Great I need you to craft me five no make it six stone locks first. I need a Five pound, ten pound, fifteen pound, twenty pound, and finally a twenty-five-pound weight stone locks. The last stone lock makes it one pound.

After you finish crafting them have them delivery to Liu Residence. That's the old Chen Residence next to the Wang Royal Manor. Do you know of it?

"Yes, I know of it. It is no problem to do so."

" Okay, the next thing I need is for my horse to be reshoed. That's the black mare in front of your shop."

"Okay, let me go out and take a look." The blacksmith said.

"I will leave it to you then. I have other business to attend to," Liu Tián Qǔ said.

The Blacksmith nodded and said, "I will get started on reshoeing your mare right away."

Liu Tián Qǔ and the blacksmith bade each other farewell. Liu Tián Qǔ headed over to the book shop. He wanted to pick up ink, brushes, paint, and drawing paper. Approaching the book shop, Liu Tián Qǔ noticed that there was a different vendor outside of the books hawking his wares. Liu Tián Qǔ clearly remembered there was a man selling mirrors here last time.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Liu Tián Qǔ walked over to check the wares that were displayed. On a long wooden table, the vendor seemed to be hawking many different odds and ends. It all looked like junk to her.

Turning away, Liu Tián Qǔ started to head towards the door of the book shop when the vendor asked. "Are you looking for anything specifically?"

"No," Liu Tián Qǔ "I was actually going to the book shop. I stop to see what you were selling. But all I see is a whole bunch of...stuff." Liu Tián Qǔ said in a dubious tone of voice.

"I am a peddler I travel the six countries buying and selling in each country," The peddler said with a slight smile.

"Oh? Then maybe you can help me. I have a friend who felt cold when I touch him. I believe he is like that all the time. Have you ever hear of warming jade?"

"Actually I do have something like that." Reaching over to the corner of the upper right side of the table. The peddle retrieved a plain dark stain wooden box. He opened the box and passed it to Liu Tián Qǔ. In the box rested an emerald green imperial jade medallion.

"I pick up this medallion in the northern uppermost northern part of Asledan. A nobleman traded it for a dual potion for his daughter. He claimed that this jade was found in a mountain that erupted and spewed fire. I can't speak for whether that is true or not. I can confirm the this is a warming jade, and a high grade one at that."

On the continent that Liu Tián Qǔ reincarnated into, there are six countries. The Tolling Lands were in the center of the continent. Asledan to the North and North West. Nadeline to the North and North East. The Sunken Lands to the West, Leandore to the East and Josper to the South.

"This medallion looks gorgeous and very expensive. What kind of potion did he trade for it? If you don't mind me asking." Liu Tián Qǔ asked with slightly furrowed eyebrows. She was wondering if she was being scammed.

"That is a dual potion solely created and used in Asledan. In Asledan, the majority of their armies are women. Centuries ago an alchemist in Asledan created a dual potion called Black Blossom. The first half of the potion was designed to change the development of young girls that are chosen to be an elite warrior before they develop."

"Change their development? Explain more clearly." Liu Tián Qǔ asked in curiosity and a slight hint of doubt.

"It destroys the hormones that make their breast grow. There is a name for it. I don't know about all that stuff. All I know is it keeps their chest flat like a man so that their movement is inhabited and it stops them from bleeding monthly. Black Blossom is only given to young women with high potential who are chosen to be elite warriors." The peddler said in a neutral informative manner.

"What about when they finish serving and want to get married and have children?" Liu Tián Qǔ asked in complete interest while passing the box with the jade medallion back to the peddler.

"The second part of the dual potion is for that. There are two parts to the potion. The first potion the young lady must take before her first menstruation, it destroys the hormones. When they are ready to get married and have kids, they take the second part of the potion. It causes the hormone in the body to regenerate and shortly after the breast grows and their monthly bleeding will start." The peddler said while he closed the box with the jade medallion and set it on the table.

"Wow, that sounds crazy. Do you have any more?"

"Yes, I have two Black Blossom dual potions left."

Thinking of all the possibilities, Liu Tián Qǔ said with a glitter in her eyes, "I will take one of the Black Blossoms dual potions, and I will take the warming stone as well."

"Before I sell this Black Blossom dual potions a fair warning must be given. The person taking the potion must first prepare to get sick before taking it."

"Get sick, what do you mean?" Liu Tián Qǔ asked with a voice and eyes full of suspicion.

"The Black Blossom dual potion essentially is designed to destroy apart of the body. There are many changes in the body after consuming Black Blossom" The peddler saw the suspicion in the young master begin to fade as he explains why one would get sick after consuming Black Blossom.

"In Asledan the young women who are chosen to take this potion don't just immediately take it. Their bodies must be prepared for one month." Liu Tián Qǔ listened in rapt attention as the peddler explained how the Black Blossom must be used.

"They are made to exercise to build up their stamina. They must eat a lot of meat during that time and take a lot of body strengthening potions. After taking Black Blossom, that person will be very sick for three to seven days. After overcoming the sickness, the body will be in a weakened stage. That person must take care to rebuild the body. The good part is after the body recovers. There is an explosion of energy and strength. Because of that, most of the Asledan women warriors are stronger than men."

"I understand," Liu Tián Qǔ said all she could think was that this would be a game-changer in the realm of gender-bending. For the first time since reincarnating into a very weak body, Liu Tián Qǔ was very happy. Due to a constant diet of mostly vegetables and poor health, the body she reincarnated into was underdeveloped. Her chest was as flat as that of a boy. Nothing had grown. However, this was a good thing. That would make her disguise as a man so much simpler and easy.

"I will take both the Black blossom dual potion and the warming jade." Liu Tián Qǔ said with a smile before asking, "Do you have any more interesting things like this from Asledan?"