When Zhi entered the Artefact Hall, he gathered quite a few gazes. It would be for the best not to forget that Zhi was not used to big crowds. Until now, he had lived inside a lonely battlefield. He met some people there but not too many, so to be in this kind of a situation where everyone always stares at him, made him uncomfortable. Zhi immediately asked a nearby person that who was in charge here. Hearing this question, everyone were a bit baffled but then all of them pointed towards an old man sitting in the corner.

He had his back towards Zhi and was currently inspecting a sword. The sword was of beautiful emerald green colour and was slightly curved with it’s tip becoming larger. It seemed like a slender scimitar meant for women to use. Zhi thanked the people and told them to go back to their own work as he set his steps towards the old man. The old man had a fairly large build and his hair were short and brown with grey stripes at the sides. He didn’t wear robes but rather traditional brown blacksmith clothes. When Zhi arrived behind his back, he didn’t say anything.

He was in no hurry and he knew that it was rude to interrupt someone from doing his work. Just as no one interrupted Zhi from cultivating or doing his own thing, he didn’t disturb others either.

The old man suddenly turned around waving the scimitar and shouted, “Who the hell was the idiot who inscribed the formations on this sword?!” As he turned back, the scimitar in his hand swept under Zhi’s nose. Luckily, Zhi had backed up in the last moment when he saw him turn around or he would have had to meet the sword with his neck.

Since he did not know how strong the old man was, he did not know which one of the two would win: His neck or the sword. Seeing the surprised Zhi standing there behind him, the old man froze for a second. As he processed what he had done just now, he turned frantic. He hurriedly scrambled up and bowed his head, “My apologies Island Master. Please punish this lowly one as you see fit.” Hearing this, Zhi just let out a hollow laugh as he said, “No worries, no harm done. Finish your business first, then I have something I want to discuss with you.” Hearing this, the old man had a mixed face on. He had practically attacked Zhi and now Zhi wanted to talk to him. To the old man, this just meant that his life was going to end.

Seeing this awkward face, Zhi just said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I am not here to punish you. It could be said to be my fault for standing behind your back without notifying you. Any ways, finish your business first, then lets have a chat about the future of the Artefact Hall.” Hearing that he was off the hook, the old man sighed in relief. Zhi’s status was just too high and no matter what, it was hard to not be nervous in his presence.

Be it his personal strength or all that he had done for the Island, no one could surpass him. The old man hurriedly nodded and waved the sword in his hand as he loudly yelled, “Who inscribed the Formations on this sword?!” Zhi stepped to the side to let the old man do his job. After asking the second time, a nervous young man stepped forward. Seeing the nervous young man that didn’t seem older than twenty, the old man just let out a sigh. He helplessly asked, “Why did you inscribe the [Flow like Water] and [Heavy as Light] on this sword?”

The young man just shifted around nervously and said, “Because the person who ordered the sword asked for something light and easy to handle.” The old man just sighed and said in a reprimanding tone, “Instead of [Heavy as Light] you should have inscribed [Light as a Feather]. [Heavy as Light] reduces the weight of the sword when the user channels Qi to the Formation. However, [Light as a Feather] is an autonomous Formation that gathers the Qi from the air and reduced the weight by itself.”

The old man then gave the sword to the young man and said, “Although, [Flow like Water] was a good choice. It will help the user channel Qi into it with more ease and it will also add a slight benefit to cultivation as well. If the user constantly carries this sword around, then he or she would have an increased intimacy with the sword. As a result, [Flow like Water] would also be helpful for his or her cultivation as well, not only for doing battle.” The young man looked in serious thought at the old man’s words and seeing this the old man nodded his head.

The old man then also gave him a tip, “The difference between [Heavy as Light] and [Light as a Feather] is that one consumes Qi to keep it light while the other doesn’t. If you can also link the two Formations, then there will be an additional effect that will help the user gather Qi from the outside at an increased rate when cultivating or healing. Now, erase the Formations on the sword and start over again.” The young man eagerly nodded as he took the sword and hurriedly left for one of the Forging rooms. When the old man was reprimanding the young one, the surrounding people were all also eagerly listening to him.

The old man inspected all the outgoing products and if there were no problems with them, they would get permission give over their work. None of the people in the Artefact Hall actually disliked the old man, he had very profound knowledge in Artefact Forging and every Artificer actually possessed the old man’s desire for perfection. It was easy to create a half baked product but it would be of no use for long.

The old man had once told them that the mentality an Artificer needed to have was simple: Create every Artefact like you were creating your best masterpiece. Although the words seemed simple, it ignited a certain flame in the hearts of Artificers. No Artificer would want to create an Artefact that was ridiculed. No matter if it was a simple Artefact to help cultivation or weapons/armours, you always needed to do your best and create one masterpiece after another.

So every time the old man was inspecting someone’s work, they would all be standing nearby, seemingly doing something but actually, they were all listening and waiting for the helpful advice. Seeing the situation pan out, even Zhi was quite surprised.

When the old man raised his voice earlier, Zhi felt as though he was a grumpy old man that was never satisfied with everything. However, after listening to the old man until the end, he understood that the old man had a carrot and a stick teaching method. First, he would say the flaws and then the good points. In the end, he would summarize the product and then “suggest” something that would help the other grow. No matter if it was an Alchemist, Artificer or Formation’s Expert, all of them needed to constantly strive to improve.

No one would have the use for a person that was always standing still, content with what he had and had lost the thrive to improve. When the old man finished his business, he went up to Zhi and said respectfully, “I am sorry for the delay Island Master. Feng Hide in your service.” Zhi just nodded to him and said, “Follow me.”

After saying so, he turned around and entered one of the forging rooms. When Hide also entered the room, he closed the door. Afterwards, Zhi told of the Hall Master idea to Hide as well. After explaining everything, both the responsibilities as well as merits, he gave Hide a bit of time to think. Suddenly, Hide asked, “Could I buy the Diagrams on Formations from the Treasury Hall and then distribute them based on merit here?”

Zhi thought about it for a second and then said, “No, not like that. In this case, there may be some people that will just get themselves apprenticed to their kin and get everything without having to do a lot of work. At best I can offer you the option to get a discount on materials and Formation Diagrams based on their rank inside the Hall.”

He took a short breath and said, “For example, you, as the Hall Master, will get a 50% discount while the Auxiliary Hall Master’s will get 30% off or something. The exact ratios depend on how many ranks you have and how hard a rank is to get.” Hearing this Hide understood the meaning behind Zhi’s mindset.

He did not want Dragon Cross turn into a place where things could be obtained through connections. Everything was strictly based on contributions, for the simple reason of it being the best motivator. The people who gained their statuses through connections tended to do so for their relatives and then the whole Sect would become corrupt. Those that have relations to people in power, will ascend to power. At the same time, those that work hard will be suppressed because they have no relations.

All those that had reached the Realm the old man had, they had reached there through their own hard work. Actually, what made Zhi a bit cautious was that he could not see this old man’s cultivation. He wasn’t the only one, there were a few others in Dragon Cross that actually had a cultivation that Zhi could not estimate. This left two choices, either they all had a technique that let them hide their cultivation level or their cultivation far surpassed Zhi. Actually, he did not care which one it was until they did not start creating trouble.

Zhi knew very well that everyone had their own story and unless they themselves told him about it, he wouldn’t pry into it. Hide thought about it for a moment and then agreed. This was already better than he had expected, he had actually expected that Zhi would tell him a concrete no to all this. After getting Hide’s agreement, Zhi left and did the same for the 3 Halls left, the Discipline Hall, the Treasury Hall and the Sleeping Dragon Hall.

Every single one of the three Halls actually expressed great interest in Zhi’s proposal. This was actually good for them as well because it gave them more power to make decisions. They did not need to run to Feng or Zhishi for every little thing and if they gave an accurate report at the end of each month, all would be well. Since Zhishi and Feng were swamped with all the things going on at the same time, they sometimes were very depressed about these kinds of things that took a forever to get permission for.

The Sleeping Dragon Hall was actually so interested that they asked Zhi to become their Hall Master. Zhi could only dodge that proposal as it seemed quite interesting to him but at the same time, he needed to focus on his own cultivation. The Sleeping Dragon Hall was something that appeared by itself and was not something that the Island Lords founded. It was basically an army for Dragon Cross that consisted of the elites.

The Sleeping Dragon was divided into three Factions: The Hibernating Dragon, The Napping Dragon and The Roaming Dragon. Each of the three “Dragons” had a different purpose and also for that same purpose, they had a different cultivation levels.

The three were divided by the Three Tribulations and went as following: Under the First Tribulation was the Roaming Dragon, The Napping Dragon had people that had passed the First Tribulation and had stepped into the Empyrean Realm. The Hibernating Dragon was naturally the strongest and consisted solely of people that had passed the Second Tribulation.

The Roaming Dragon’s purpose was to maintain order in Dragon Cross and they were usually the ones who patrolled the Island. They were basically like guards, that dealt with all the mundane things. The Napping Dragon were the Elites that dealt with the things that were out of Roaming Dragon’s hands. They couldn’t send people under the First Tribulation after Empyrean Kings and Empyrean Emperors, that would just be suicide for them.

The Hibernating Dragon, that consisted of people that had passed the Second Tribulation was the true Core of Sleeping Dragon Hall. They were the ones who only emerged when Dragon Cross was in great danger or when someone truly picked a fight with Dragon Cross. The Hibernating Dragon also wasn’t something that was a strict army kind of thing, they were all people that did their own things usually but when the order came, they gathered.

Some of the members of Hibernating Dragon were members of the other Halls or were in charge of Napping Dragon or Roaming Dragon. They were sort of a hidden dagger that was unsheathed when the time was right and not flaunted around. This was what actually made Zhi interested in Sleeping Dragon Hall.

No matter what, they had been of enormous use during the war and they had been the main reason why Dragon Cross had not been destroyed. Zhi thought seriously about this because he wanted to try his hand at leading an army of experts. This would also give him the best overview of Dragon Cross’s battle strength. It goes without saying that you could not ignore the Experts of other Halls, they mainly focus on other things and cultivation is secondary to them. Well, the Discipline Hall excluded that is. Also, loose cannons were only strong in small scale fights but well organized and disciplined armies like Napping Dragon or Roaming Dragon were the true fighters in any war.

So, to take control of this army and familiarise himself with it’s true strength so that he could improve it to the best he could was the best course of action. After, getting the agreement from all of them, he decided to seriously think about Sleeping Dragon Halls proposal.

Since currently, he still had time, he went back to his courtyard and started swinging his Naginata. No matter how busy he was, he always made time to train his Naginata because if he did not so, the Ancestor who created this Art would weep at it being used so offhandedly. Since Zhi always practised the Naginata Art, his movements became more fluid as he familiarized himself with the Art. When in the beginning, he had been using brute force to execute the movements, now he had gained certain enlightenment of the Art and his moves used gravity to link all of his moves. Also, since he had familiarised himself with the Art, he had also familiarised himself with the Naginata itself.

He instinctively knew how far it was from him after each movement or whether it was going to hit something or not. In the beginning, he had actually nearly killed himself a couple of times as he twirled the Naginata and nearly cut his neck with it. Like that, he kept practising the same moves inside the little courtyard.