Ling Chen POV:

I woke up in the morning full of excitement as this was the day I was going to leave the small Sunki village for the first time in my life and head to Qingshui city to try to make some real money so I can expand my research into transferring my knowledge into being compatible with Qi.

I went to the workshop to see Master Zhuang and he was already there preparing for our journey. "Are you ready?" He asked me. "Of course!" I replied with a look of keen anticipation on my face. I started to pick up all the prototype steel weapons when I saw the back Master Zhuang has prepared to transfer everything "Uh I don't think we'll be able to bring all of this with us with that small back" I told master Zhuang with a confused stare. "HaHa haven't you ever seen a simple space expansion bag before it's considered a pretty basic immortal Item especially this one can only expand to 5 times the internal storage space the truly impressive ones are the storage rings which legend says the highest end ones can store an entire world inside of them but I find that hard to believe."

We loaded up onto Master Zhuang's carriage where I noticed the reigns on the horse seemed to have some sort of ancient characters inscribed on them. "Oh, you noticed them their some simple stamina-increasing formations so we can journey for longer without stopping there are also stability formations on the carriage so the journey is more comfortable it's quite convenient." Master Zhuang told me Excitedly, that he does love everything to do with the creation process. I looked up at him and asked "What's the difference between immortal forging and formations?" "Well for one immortal forging is creating an object using raw materials while formations use a power source and specific characters to control or give an object a specific ability often both formation master and Immortal blacksmiths work together on many large projects". Once I heard this I grew greatly interested in formations they sounded similar to computer coding from my home world but with a much larger use case, I felt this could be a key area of research to be able to mix science and qi.

We finally arrived at Qingshui city and I was in awe of how large it was it was easily 10 times the size of my home village and was a similar size to some of the big cities back in my original world "Is this really considered a small cultivation city?" I thought exasperatedly with people everywhere you looked and all sorts of shops and stalls. Master Zhuang took me to a large building that had a sign that said: "Qingshui Weapon Shop" he walked in and the shopkeeper greeted him. "Ah, Master Zhuang it's been a while since you last visited us what can I help you with today?" The shopkeeper asked while looking over at me with some confusion. "I've brought some weapons for you to take a look at I think you're going to be very interested." Master Zhuang told him with an excited voice. The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he heard this as he knew that Master Zhuang is one of the best blacksmiths in the area.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He eagerly took the weapons from us and started to inspect them closely. After a few minutes, he looked up at us with an astonished expression on his face. "Where did you get these? They're amazing! but I don't sense any qi at all in them?" "Ah yeah well their a new mortal alloy I invented called steel it doesn't have any qi but they are as strong and sharp as low-level grade 1 immortal weapons and they're even lighter than them." the shopkeeper looked at Master Zhuang with a surprised look on his face and said, "This is amazing we shall buy your entire stock off you at the rate of grade 1 immortal weapons how does that sound?" Master Zhuang looked at the shopkeeper with a hint of surprise on his face "ok we have a deal"

"Master Zhuang why did he buy those weapons at such a high price," I asked the blacksmith curiously "Well I have a feeling he won't be selling those weapons on the open market he's probably going to show them to the higher-ups at his clan so expect a meeting with the Li clan soon" He replied promptly.

"Who are the Li clan Master Zhuang?" I asked with a look of confusion on my face. "They are the best local blacksmithing clan and one of the 3 top clans in Qingshui city, the other two being the Qin and Yang clans. Each of these clans has its unique abilities. The Li clan is known for their ability to create powerful weapons, the Qin clan is known for their defensive abilities, and the Yang clan is known for their speed and agility." Master Zhuang told me with a look of excitement in his eyes as he loves discussing all things related to blacksmithing.

While I and Master Zhuang were looking at the market two men approached us silently and handed us a letter that informed us that we received a summons from the Li clan to meet with them so we went to their estate. We were led into a large room where we saw 3 people sitting at a table one man and two women "Ah Master Zhuang it's been too long please take a seat" The man said while gesturing towards some chairs in front of him. We sat down and Master Zhuang started to speak "I was just telling my young apprentice here about your great clan's reputation."

The man looked at us with an interesting expression on his face "Oh really now I'm happy to hear it. I'm quite curious about this new steel alloy you've created tell me more about it." He asked curiously. Master Zhuang proceeded to explain how he had invented it and how it didn't contain any qi but was still stronger than most low-level grade 1 immortal weapon. The man nodded his head in understanding "I see so you wish to sell us the rights to this new steel alloy?" He asked plainly. Master Zhuang nodded his head "Yes that is half correct I would like for us to go into a partnership you the Li clan would have exclusive rights to sell and produce steel weapons while we would get 10% of the profits and get funding for you to set up a research lab and information of blacksmithing techniques." The man thought for a moment before replying "That sounds fair I agree to your terms now let's discuss the price."