Chapter 1021: The Despicable Sun Jin
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
After hearing those words, Zhang Xuan confirmed that that Blacksmith Sun Jin whom the other party spoke of had never intended to take the middle-aged man as his disciple in the first place. From the start to the end, that Sun Jin fellow had only regarded the other party as a mere tool for procuring ores!
In the gaps between the tectonic plates, valuable ores were usually produced alongside earth flames. As such, in places where earth flames could be found, there were bound to be plenty of valuable ores as well.
That Sun Jin fellow had intentionally made the middle-aged man cultivate a zhenqi that was at odds with the earth flames, thus making it easier for the other party to sense areas rich in earth flames. But cultivating such a cultivation technique meant that the latter would be unable to control the earth flames, making it impossible to smith!
In other words, Sun Jin had never intended to allow the middle-aged man to become a blacksmith!
Working as a blacksmith might have been lucrative, but selling those ores was even more so!
For a teacher to commit such an atrocity... Zhang Xuan was enraged.
It was one thing if he had never encountered it, but now that he had, there was no way he could let the other party off!
Black sheep like this had to be weeded from society!
Even though the other party wasn't a master teacher, he had assumed the name of a teacher to intentionally misguide others. This was completely unacceptable!
The thirty apprentices who had come under Sun Jin's tutelage alongside the middle-aged man had thought that they could rise to glory with a great 6-star blacksmith teaching them personally. Yet, due to Sun Jin's misguidance, their dreams had been shattered. Most of them had ended up dying while searching for ores for him, and even the fortunate survivor had ended up ending his life from the sheer despair of being unable to become a blacksmith.
To Sun Jin, they were probably just disposable pawns. As mere apprentices, they weren't qualified to learn his true teachings. Thus, their inability to become blacksmiths didn't harm his reputation by too much. On the contrary, the others might even think that it was those apprentices who were lazy and incapable, being unable to achieve anything despite coming under the tutelage of an esteemed 6-star pinnacle blacksmith.
Most likely, it was such overwhelming criticism that eventually pushed the middle-aged man to take the final step.
Had Zhang Xuan not heard of it himself, he would never have dared believe that there could be such a contemptible individual in the Firesource City Blacksmith Guild.
Those who imparted their teachings and dispelled the doubts of others were granted the noble title 'teacher'.
As an esteemed blacksmith, an Upper Nine Paths occupation, if Sun Jin had attempted to search for mercenaries to gather ores for him, he would surely have been able to do so easily. Just that, being found doing so could possibly sully his reputation, and the profits he stood to earn would be significantly lower as well. Whereas, by accepting a few apprentices and pretending to be a teacher to them, their act of gathering ores for him could be justified as filial piety, allowing him to take them for free without suffering the condemnation of others. On top of that, he could also conveniently toss them aside once he was done with them, and this was indeed what he had done.
"Despite studying under a 6-star pinnacle blacksmith for so many years, I am still unable to smith even the most basic Mortal weapon. No matter where I go, I am viewed with disdain by others, such that even my family members were mocked due to my incompetence. If all my existence does is bring shame to others, I might as well end my life right here, right now!" Seeing the elder before him fall into deep contemplation, the middle-aged man thought that the other party wasn't able to find a solution to his problem as well, and disappointment crept into his eyes.
