After the fifth match, I returned to my seat beside Lan Bei Er. To my surprise, a familiar face had finally shown up.
"He Shan Jie!"
"Brother Hei Ye, that was a good match." The dark-skinned Elemental Mountain Sect disciple beamed when I reached him, nodding in appreciation. "Defeating an array user with your own spirit arrays. Then again, I remember how you saved all of us with your arrays back in the Nine Suns ruin…"
"I didn't save anybody, if anything, you guys helped me. If it weren't for you guys holding back the enemy, it would be difficult for me to set up any arrays."
"Well, the both of you managed to set up your arrays in this match," He Shan Jie pointed out with a chuckle.
"I think it's because they were both busily setting up their formations to bother each other. Even so, that lady…Xing Ling, right? She was able to make it to the fifth round through the use of talismans to delay her opponent long enough for her to set up her formations." Lan Bei Er was analyzing the thing thoroughly. I nodded.
"Yeah."
"Either way, you were both impressive." He Shan Jie was generous with his praises. However, he wasn't the kind to flatter forever, and he got straight to the point at last. "Oh, but I've something for you. So if you're free after the fifth round, I hope you don't mind following me for a bit."
"Sure, we shouldn't have anything on after this." I glanced at Lan Bei Er for confirmation, and she nodded.
Mine was the second last match, so we could leave shortly after that. Rising from his seat, He Shan Jie led us to his accommodation.
"I've finally managed to forge an equipment from the Ghost Iron Ore for you!" He Shan Jie proclaimed proudly. "It's in my workshop right now…well, to be more precise, I sort of converted the room the Azure Water Sect provided me into a workshop. There were a few complaints, but when I forged a few treasure weapons for them, they were more than happy to accommodate me."
"That's good," I remarked, though I wondered why He Shan Jie didn't just put the equipment into his spatial pouch and pass it to me in the spectators' box at the arena. Probably for drama, or to give a bigger sense of importance to this particular moment. I didn't know. Or perhaps just for the sake of increasing word count and panels.
Whatever the case, He Shan Jie was doing me a favor, so I couldn't exactly complain about his method of doing things. Rather, I was actually grateful.
"Thank you for your help. I wouldn't know what to do with the Ghost Iron Ore otherwise."
"You would have brought it back to Azure Cloud City and have someone smith it for you later," He Shan Jie reminded me, amused. He clearly remembered my discussion with Lan Bei Er.
"Even so, we still appreciate your help a lot," Lan Bei Er said, reiterating my stance. He Shan Jie chuckled.
"I'm just glad that you'll be able to make use of the equipment I forged for the tournament. It sort of serves as advertisement for me too, you know."
"There is that," I agreed. "So what did you shape the Ghost Iron Ore into?"
The answer lay in his room…uh, workshop. He Shan Jie had left the product lying on top of his workbench, glowing somewhat ominously in the gloom of the room. With a wave of his hand, he activated the spirit crystals in the room to illuminate the interior, and I could finally see it clearly.
It was…a shield.
"Oh, interesting." I wandered over to run my fingers over the smooth, luminous surface. "A shield? Thank you!"
"Not at all. I just thought you would benefit from a defensive armament." He Shan Jie grinned and held up the Ghost Iron Shield. "They say Ghost Iron is particularly good against soul attacks, so if you run into Bai Ning Shuang in the tournament, you can put this shield to good use to defend against her soul techniques."
"Yeah, thanks! I'll definitely make good use of it!"
"Why a shield, though?" Lan Bei Er was scratching her head. "Is there any reason why you chose to craft a shield instead of an amulet or a sword?"
"An archer always needs a shield," He Shan Jie replied with a straight face.
"Huh?" Lan Bei Er gaped at him, but I quickly intervened with an explanation of my own.
"The most badass archer has a shield. Haven't you heard of an archer who possesses a shield that can block a treasure weapon (the characters for treasure tool in Chinese or Japanese are the same as the ones used for Noble Phantasm)?"
"I've never heard of such an archer…"
"Honestly, it doesn't matter," He Shan Jie interrupted. "For a treasure equipment to maximize a certain property, its form is important. So a shield would maximize its defensive properties because its purpose is protection. There is meaning in their shape and form."
"Just like how words have power," I agreed. As a user of spirit formations and arrays, this was particularly important for me. The runes we scribbled onto the ground to construct our formations and arrays, or even the simple runes on talismans – they were an ancient form of writing, making use of arcane characters from a divine language long thought lost.
People thought words didn't do anything, but they were dead wrong. Words had potent power in them, they could motivate, move, hurt, effect change (both good and bad) and convey meaning. Communication was impossible without words. There were those among the existences beyond the fourth dimension who claimed that words couldn't affect people, that you were "weak" if you allowed people's insults to hurt you. That was just assholes justifying cyber-bullying, verbal abuse and toxic behavior online. Since when was it the victims' responsibility to "man up" or "toughen up" and not the perpetuators to stop their harmful actions? It was like saying that bully victims should learn martial arts and physically defend themselves from violence, otherwise it's their fault for being bullied.
Utter bullshit.
Why do you think governments relied on propaganda? They were mere words, but they were super effective. They influenced the way their would-be supporters thought, which would in turn influence the way they act and behave in real life. Did you think the rioters who invaded the capitol in the United States in my previous world would have done that if they hadn't read Donald Trump's words online? No, as president, his words had power and a vast influence over his supporters, and it was words that moved them to such an action.
So perhaps before some of those people beyond the fourth wall claimed otherwise, they should take a look at reality and study history. Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime started off through propaganda and words of hate – prejudice against the Jews. It might seem harmless at first, but then those words transformed from mere propaganda into a literal ideology that drove the actions of the state and many citizens.
Well, enough politics and sermonizing. I was more interested in the Ghost Iron Shield. I picked it up and studied it. I could feel the creepy qi flowing through it.
"Ghost type spirit beasts and their ghost type attacks are super effective against soul techniques," I explained needlessly. "In my previous world, I suppose soul techniques would be translated as psychic abilities."
"Huh? Psychic?" Lan Bei Er stared at me blankly. I shook my head.
"Never mind. Anyway, this is great. It'll help me a lot! Thanks, He Shan Jie." I held the Ghost Iron Shield up. It was shaped like a shield (obviously), with what looked like a ghost's face on it. It wasn't exactly a human ghost…I wasn't sure how to explain it. The shield was dark purple, reminding me of a particular pocket monster, and had spikes on the top, probably to serve as a last resort weapon if I wanted to bash someone with it. Red eyes hovered near the top, along with a fang-filled grin that was filled with amusement. I swear, the red eyes appeared to be following me around, the dark pupils tracing my every movement. And the grin was laughing at me.
The shield felt…alive.
"Do you have a name for this shield?" I asked He Shan Jie. He shrugged.
"I took to calling it Ghost Iron Shield for now, but I thought you would want to be the one who named it. It's your armament, after all."
"But you're the one who forged it! And traditionally, it's the blacksmith who crafted the weapon who has the honor of naming it. I'll leave it to you."
"Ah…you really put me on the spot, huh?" He Shan Jie looked awkward. He pondered for a moment, staring intently at the Ghost Iron Shield. "Hmm, what would be a good name for it?"
"Well, as you correctly pointed out earlier, words have power. Names do too. Giving it a good name would make it a lot stronger spiritually. On the other hand, a bad name might end up making it a cursed armament."
"You're right." He Shan Jie glanced at me. "Are you sure you want me to be the one who comes up with its name?"
"That's precisely why I think you're the most suited to thinking a name for it," I explained. "As a blacksmith, you've named many other weapons and equipment. You have plenty of experience. You know what name works and what doesn't."
"I feel the same way," Lan Bei Er agreed, bowing her head. "Please, senior He. We'll be relying on you."
He Shan Jie laughed. "You flatter me. But okay…since you've said this much, I'll do my best. I'll try not to let you down."
The bald blacksmith returned his attention to the Ghost Iron Shield and considered for a few moments more. Then he nodded in satisfaction when he finally came up with something, his eyes fixed particularly on the spikes and the ghostly grin on the surface of the shield.
"How about Ghost Fang (Gui Ya)?"
"Did you get that name from A Will Eternal/Yi Nian Yong Heng?" I asked dryly. He Shan Jie feigned surprise.
"How did you know that?!" He Shan Jie shook his head. "Never mind. The both of us have spent way too much time with Lady Hong Yao Yao."
"Are you guys done horsing around?" Lan Bei Er snapped impatiently.
"Nah, I think Ghost Fang suits it." I hefted up the Ghost Iron Shield and tested its weight. It almost seemed to pur in delight at the name. "Let's stick to it."
"Huh? But it's a shield…"
"At least bro Shan Jie didn't name it Gengar or something."
"What? What's a Gengar?"
"Never mind." I returned my attention to Ghost Fang and placed it back in my spatial pouch, satisfied. I turned back to He Shan Jie. "Really, bro, thank you. I will definitely repay this favor."
"What are friends for?" He Shan Jie waved my gratitude away. "Don't be so reserved. We aren't outsiders."
Then he grinned.
"But if you really want to repay me, then make sure you win the intersect tournament. Get all the way to the finals and defeat Bai Ning Shuang in front of everybody."
"I'll do my best." I didn't have the confidence, if I were to be honest, and I could feel the pressure piling up. Just earlier, Xing Ling had requested that I win the intersect tournament, and now He Shan Jie was doing the same as well. The further I advanced, the higher the expectations everyone had of me.
That said, I was aware that apart from my friends, everyone knew that Bai Ning Shuang had the highest likelihood of winning. Cheng Kun was boasting about his sect's one in a millennium prodigy and was gloating as if Azure Water Sect had already won the tournament. That was probably why so many people were upset with him and wanted someone else to win. To take him down a notch.
Unfortunately, we didn't always get what we wanted in reality.