Chapter 72: Take as a Master

Hearing the word ‘flaw’, Huo Xiao’s body froze, and he looked at Lou Mu Yan with a complicated look.

Smiths cherished every single Magic Tool they refined themselves.
He was obsessed with Smithing, and although he had an arrogant side, he could also receive teachings with humbleness.

“Can you tell what sort of flaws there are on this Spirit Treasure? I’ll be convinced if you can tell me.”

Lou Mu Yan put away her smiles and her expression grew more serious, “You lacked a material when you were refining this shield and the heat in several places weren’t controlled that well, so this can only count as a low-level Spirit Treasure.”

“You can see what materials I lacked when refining just like that?” Huo Xiao looked at her incredulously.
He discovered that he had belittled this woman too much before.

Lou Mu Yan raised an eyebrow, “How difficult is that? What’s missing is the Profound Ice Jade.
The biggest flaw of your shield is that it can’t withstand ice attacks.
If it met a high-level Sword Master who uses ice attributes very skilfully, then your shield would become a useless burden.”

“Then the heat in several places that weren’t controlled well could also be told by looking at it?” Huo Xiao asked eagerly.

Since he first came into contact with Smithing, he mostly taught and explored this area by himself based on his excellent Smithing talent, so he did indeed lack some skill in controlling the heat.
While refining this Spirit Treasure shield, he made three mistakes when controlling the heat, so he really wanted to hear Lou Mu Yan’s opinion.

Lou Mu Yan picked up the shield and turned it to the innermost side.
She pointed to a dark cyan line and said: “The overall shield body is cyan in colour, but the cyan here is much darker, indicating that the firepower used during the second solidification of the shield was too strong.”

Then she pointed to an inconspicuous faint red light on the shield and said: “When you added the fire attribute Spar and other materials to dissolve together, the firepower was slightly weaker, so the fusion here wasn’t the best.

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“Then look at this.
The edges of the shield aren’t smooth, indicating that your mentality wasn’t relaxed enough when the shield was being formed.
Because of your eagerness, the firepower was a bit high, which caused slight jaggedness on the side.

“That’s roughly about it for the problems with the heat for this shield.” Lou Mu Yan took this seriously and said with a tone of disapproval, “If I were you, I wouldn’t refine this shield Spirit Treasure without the Profound Ice Jade.
Not only did you waste a lot of materials, but the quality of the shield was also lowered by two levels.”

When Lou Mu Yan said it so seriously, Huo Xiao’s previous anger dissipated, and his eyes were full of shock.

He was completely stunned by her.
Her tone when speaking about Smithing were as if she were familiar with it.
She must be a mid-high-level expert.

So his old face blushed, “My shield was made at the time to advance to a Grade 3 Smith, and at the time I just couldn’t find the Profound Ice Jade, so I made do.”

“What’s the purpose of advancing? Naturally it’s to improve your Smithing ability.”

When Lou Mu Yan spoke about professional matters, she unconsciously displayed a natural seriousness and self-confidence, “The fundamental thing for Smiths is to refine every Magic Tool to as close to perfection as possible with their heart.
You definitely can’t make do.
If you do that often, then how would you be able to find the perfect opportunity to breakthrough to an even higher level? You’re not in the right mentality to begin with.
With this, you can’t go far.”

Huo Xiao listened carefully and discovered that Lou Mu Yan wasn’t like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl at all right now.
Instead, she felt like a veteran Smith, calm and leisurely.
He couldn’t help but be convinced by the words she said as well.

“Yes, that’s right.
I used to be too smug.” Huo Xiao nodded with enlightenment.

Lou Mu Yan was right.
He became a little proud and complacent ever since he broke through to a Grade 2 Smith.
In order to advance to a Grade 3 Smith faster, he did give up some of the principles he used to adhere to.

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After being analysed so frankly by her, he felt as if he had been struck and enlightened, but at the same time, he felt fear in hindsight.

If he really continued to walk on the current path, his future achievements would peak at a Grade 4 Smith, which was far from his goal.

“Thank you Young Miss Lou for your advice.
I’ve noted this favour.” If Huo Xiao thought that Lou Mu Yan was young and frivolous before and belittled her, then he was sincerely grateful now.

Lou Mu Yan was very satisfied with Huo Xiao’s change.
This person could still be taught, “No need.
Let’s continue to talk about the trade now.”

“Wait.
Can I ask Young Miss Lou a question first?” Huo Xiao’s expression displayed a somewhat indescribable and complicated look.

Lou Mu Yan smiled yet not quite smiled at him and said: “Ask.”

“Is Young Miss Lou a Smith?”

“I’m not quite a Smith right now.” She had never refined any Magic Tools ever since coming here, so technically she still wasn’t considered a Smith.

Huo Xiao looked at Lou Mu Yan, dumbfounded—not a Smith? As if that could be true.

“Then you understand Smithing?”

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Lou Mu Yan rolled her eyes at him,” Nonsense, if I don’t understand Smithing, then how could I point out the flaws in your shield? Can you ask some deeper questions?”

Huo Xiao pursed his lips inwardly—the questions you asked me before didn’t have much depth!

Huo Xiao suddenly stood up and bowed to Lou Mu Yan, with a serious expression on his face and firmness in his eyes.

“Young Miss Lou, I want you to be my Master, please accept me.” Huo Xiao’s attitude suddenly reversed, looking at Lou Mu Yan sincerely as if saying, ‘if you don’t accept me, I’ll let you see how I die’.

Lou Mu Yan held her forehead.
She truly didn’t know what sort of brain circuit Huo Xiao had.
She just casually said some simple things and suddenly he wanted to take her as his Master.

“Maybe I don’t know as much as you, so wouldn’t it be a disadvantage for you to take me as your Master?” Lou Mu Yan said, teasing.

Huo Xiao shook his head: “From the moment you looked at the shield I refined, I found that your proficiency in Smithing is better than me.
Even if you aren’t a Smith now, but I believe that you understand more things than I do.”

He was obsessed with the Art of Smithing, even if he had almost lost his way on the Path of a Smith because of his arrogance and complacency.
But he was a modest and studious person.
This young woman completely convinced him, so he was willing to sincerely ask Lou Mu Yan to become his Master.
He could tell that she understood far more than him.

Lou Mu Yan stroked her chin to look like she was contemplating, and then exchanged a look with Lou Mu Bai.
Seeing the approval in the other’s eyes, a smile of success rose on her lips.

Originally, according to her plan, she only wanted to take Huo Xiao under her wing and let him refine Magic Tools for the Lou Clan.
But she didn’t expect Huo Xiao to want to take her as his Master after being taught a lesson by her.

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After analysing the advantages and disadvantages, she felt that it was a waste not to accept a Grade 3 Smith as a disciple.
In this world where teachers were highly respected, a relationship with a disciple was much more solid and reliable than a relationship with collaborators.

“Have you taken other people as Masters?”

“Never.
Since I became a Smith, I’ve been studying it myself.”

A touch of amazement flashed by Lou Mu Yan’s eyes.
It seemed that Huo Xiao’s talent for refining wasn’t just strong.
He could have such an achievement without a Master and having been self-taught—she really picked up a huge bargain.

“Although I know a lot of Smithing methods, but I don’t know how to teach you.
Maybe you should change a teacher.” Lou Mu Yan pretended to shirk.

Huo Xiao’s eyes lit up when he heard the phrase ‘I know a lot of Smithing methods’, and directly knelt down in front of Lou Mu Yan, saying respectfully: “Master, please accept this disciple.” If he could take a great person as a Master, kneeling was only a small matter.

Lou Mu Yan was taken aback by his actions and immediately dragged him up.
She really didn’t like others kneeling down to her, “Alright, I’ll accept you as my disciple for the time being.
We’ll make it three years.
If you want to back out afterwards, I’ll allow it.”

Although she set a trap for Huo Xiao to crawl into, but she didn’t like to force others.
However, she believed that after three years, Huo Xiao would definitely be a proper, obedient disciple.

“Alright!” Huo Xiao didn’t expect this cunning woman to have such a considerate side and his heart grew more sincere.

He just felt that today’s choice would be the wisest decision made in his entire life.

The two high-fived in representation of their alliance.
Huo Xiao formally became Lou Mu Yan’s disciple, and since then, embarked on a path of Smithing full of oppression and exploitation, yet he felt both pain and  joy in it.