Before breakfast was even finished, the noise outside had already started. The villagers bustled over, and Henry Stone's father felt somewhat guilty—after all, this trouble was brought to their doorstep by him.

Henry Stone held a flatbread in one hand and gestured for everyone to quiet down with the other. Over a hundred villagers crowded into the small yard in front of Henry Stone's house, which was, of course, uncomfortable. But as soon as Henry Stone signaled, everyone immediately fell silent.

The flatbread made by Henry Stone's mother was delicious, and it was Henry Stone's favorite. He couldn't bear to eat only half. Sarah Stone stood to the side, eyeing the half piece of flatbread in her brother's hand like a tiger watching its prey, occasionally wiping her sparkling drool with her little hand.

“Uncles and brothers, I’ve already thought of a solution…” While eating the flatbread, he simply explained his plan to everyone.

Mr. Bolton had originally just come to watch the commotion, to see what kind of solution his chosen “son-in-law” could come up with. Confident in his own status, he stood at the back of the crowd, not squeezing in with the others. Before Henry Stone finished speaking, Mr. Bolton couldn’t wait any longer and rushed forward from the back, using his body—which was at least half as thin as anyone else present—to force his way through the crowd. He landed in front of Henry Stone, pumped his fist excitedly, his face flushed red: “Henry is right! There really is such a law in the Great Xia Code!”

The reason for his excitement was entirely because the valley Henry Stone mentioned was actually his family’s land. The soil in the valley was poor—three years barren for every year of farming. Mr. Bolton had planned to sell it in the next couple of years, but never expected it to be a treasure trove.

Hmm, his choice of son-in-law was indeed correct.

Now, in this mountain village, there were already two people who fancied themselves as having “an eye for talent.”

The villagers cheered at Mr. Bolton’s words, hoisted Henry Stone up, and noisily headed for the valley.

Mr. Bolton suddenly slapped his forehead: “Wait, everyone bring your hoes and shovels—how else are we going to mine?”

“Yes, yes, yes…” The villagers scattered, and with a thud, Henry Stone fell to the ground. The villagers were immediately full of apologies, and Mr. Bolton felt a pang of heartache—this was his son-in-law, after all.

Rubbing his backside, Henry Stone got up and gathered everyone again. According to the instructions recorded on the jade token from the Daoist Lord, he told the villagers what tools they would need. The iron ore vein in the valley was buried not far beneath the soil, so they only needed to dig through the top layer to extract the ore. Besides shovels and hoes, they just needed some baskets and wheelbarrows for carrying and transporting the soil.

At this point, no one was stingy—everyone brought out all the tools they had at home.

It wasn’t until noon that everyone finally set out. Henry Stone’s mother had made another scallion flatbread, wrapped it in oiled paper, and stuffed it into Henry Stone’s arms as rations. This made Henry Stone feel truly delighted—no amount of gratitude from the whole village could compare to his mother’s care and concern.

After walking in the mountains for half an hour, they finally reached the valley. Henry Stone directed everyone to start digging. Mountain folk were strong, and since this was something that concerned everyone’s fate, they all worked especially hard. By dusk, they had already dug through the soil and found the black iron ore beneath.

……

Everything went smoothly after that. Following the instructions on the jade token, Henry Stone assigned people to build a furnace and smelt iron. As soon as the iron ingots were produced, he immediately taught the villagers how to forge weapons and armor according to the methods recorded on the jade token.

The jade token was crafted with immortal techniques. Though small, it could record a vast amount of text. Henry Stone had long noticed this, but having already witnessed the wonders of the Daoist Lord’s Azure Dragon Ten-Guard Array, these minor tricks didn’t surprise him much.

He just hadn’t expected to run into trouble when it came to making weapons. Although the jade token’s instructions were clear, they were only words. There wasn’t a single blacksmith in the village, and the villagers, being complete novices, wasted a lot of iron billets. After several days, they hadn’t even managed to forge a kitchen knife.

In the villagers’ eyes, Henry Stone had already become an all-powerful figure. Whenever they failed, they immediately came to ask Henry Stone what went wrong. When it came to blacksmithing, Henry Stone was no different from the rest—completely clueless.

There was no other way; Henry Stone had to study the jade token day and night.

Time waits for no one. As the final deadline for conscription drew near, not only the villagers but even Mr. Bolton grew anxious. After all, he wasn’t a heartless landlord—the elders in the village had watched him grow up. How could he bear to let his neighbors die on the battlefield?

He had great confidence in his prospective son-in-law, but as time grew short, he became anxious too, making several trips to Henry Stone’s house each day.

Henry Stone had always thought himself quite clever. Many things the villagers couldn’t understand, he could grasp at once. But when it came to blacksmithing, he finally realized he wasn’t much better than anyone else.

With time running out, Henry Stone studied during the day, and even when his soul wandered at night, he was distracted. Drifting above the forest, he absorbed moonlight—helping the Daoist Lord hadn’t been without reward, at least he’d gained new insights into absorbing moonlight.