Thankfully, he didn't sense any killing intent directed towards him in the air.
Instead, there was...a intense energy of sadness. He had experienced this oppressive feeling before.
It was that "Despair Energy" he had found surrounding Guo Mei's ashes months ago.
This poor blacksmith...even though Qiu Yunru couldn't tell if he was awake or dreaming, if he had really been smithing down here all these thousands of years, was truly a living tragedy!
Or, a dead one? He was a corpse, but not a corpse...how confusing...
Without saying a word, the blacksmith lumbered away. Qiu Yunru could see now there there was a forge nearby. Silently, the blacksmith began to hammer away at a strip of metal, sending sparks flying.
Qiu Yunru jumped back, coughing and pulling the blanket over himself to stop the sparks from getting on his skin.
...The blanket?
Looking down, he realized there really was a blanket lying over him.
He could have cried a little. This blacksmith senior, even after a thousand years, had some compassion! What a great guy!
"Ahem...Senior Blacksmith..." He said. "Do you know how this one could...get back...?"
The blacksmith ignored him, continuing to hammer away. Every clang of his hammer seemed to grow stronger and harsher, reverberating out through the air itself and making Qiu Yunru's teeth buzz in his skull.
After some dozen more hammers, the blacksmith turned and dunked the strip of metal into a barrel of black oil. It sizzled, sending up a cloud of even more acrid smoke.
Qiu Yunru coughed pitifully nearby, eyes red from the fumes. There really wasn't much he could do. There weren't any windows or doors in this place, so if this blacksmith didn't want to speak to him, he could only sit here helplessly, breathing in smoke!
"Ahem..." He coughed politely. "I'm going to take a look around..."
However, as soon as he stumbled off the cot, that blacksmith reappeared directly in front of him, nearly scaring Qiu Yunru out of his wits. How could someone so big move so quickly?!
Again, the blacksmith peered down at him with pitch-black eyes set into a morphing face. Qiu Yunru only noticed then that this man didn't blink at all.
There spoke a voice then, rumbling and deep. It poured right into Qiu Yunru's head, causing Qiu Yunru to gag a little.
What a weird sensation! The voice wasn't speaking out loud, but in his thoughts. It felt like what he imagined have an ant crawl around your skull would be like--eugh!
This one heard from an associate that you were in trouble.
Not being stupid, Qiu Yunru figured this could only be the voice of the blacksmith. Or, at least, he hoped so, because he immediately bowed his head with a courtesy.
"Senior Blacksmith! What a--deep voice you have!"
The blacksmith didn't move, still staring down at him. A shiver ran down Qiu Yunru's back.
So he still wasn't going to make an expression in real life. What a stoic guy...
I have watched you since you joined the Sect.
Watched...? Wasn't that a bit of a privacy violation? What about all the times he'd been bathing in the hot springs...?
Still, Qiu Yunru wouldn't dare speak up against a guy like this, who looked like he could crush him with two fingers. He wasn't stupid! He bowed his head respectfully instead.
"I see. Senior Blacksmith said that he heard this one was in some danger...Have you brought this one here to give information about it...?"
Indeed.
A long silence stretched out. Awkwardly, Qiu Yunru shuffled his feet and coughed once. Was he supposed to say something more, or...?
The blacksmith retrieved the metal he had plunged into the barrel and began wiping it with a cloth diligently, the motion precise and practiced.
Six months and two days ago, Li Chenyuan tried to separate you from your friends.
"..." Qiu Yunru blinked, startled. "Li-shidi...? I suppose he did make a big deal out of people spending time with me at first, but...he's gotten much better at it. Is that really a danger...?"
You were lying in bed, and he sat outside your door, conducting your thoughts. Don't you already know about his father's abilities?
"...Conducting my thoughts...? I do know about Li Guiren's abilities. But..."
Then you know that he was able to alter memories and thoughts. He used his abilities to murder and pillage throughout the realm while maintaining a high reputation, throwing over thirty people into my lake in one year.
How could Qiu Yunru forget? He'd seen Li Guiren murder that young girl firsthand.
"Yes, but Li-shidi--"
Didn't you find demonic qi circling that child's head months ago? When he told you he had inherited a disease, you believed him.
Qiu Yunru's stomach suddenly hurt. It wasn't often that he felt his mind racing out of his control, but now, he could feel his thoughts running through his fingers like sand, unable to catch onto any one. "...I did..."
You shouldn't have. The Li Family has no disease. Li Chenyuan is not ill. He has the same ability as his father. I have seen it myself; even as he tries to find you in my lake, I can sense it in his body.
"He's looking for me...?" Qiu Yunru managed weakly. "Shouldn't I go back, then...?"
The blacksmith, ever unemotional, went on without a pause:
My associate sensed a generational demonic blessing; there is no demonic curse. Li Chenyuan has been using his abilities on the mountain for the past seven months.
"When...?"
My associate and I can sense him using his abilities daily, on a variety of targets. Though he hasn't used them extensively on you, his existence endangers the cultivation world. Even Li Guiren once only used his abilities to manipulate people in small ways for his convenience.
Qiu Yunru was silent for a long moment. His thoughts swirled, and his head hurt terribly. It didn't help that, whatever this realm was, it seemed unstable and ephemeral, giving him a sense of nausea.
To be truthful, everything the blacksmith had said made sense.