For some reason, Shangguan Bing Xue slowly began to feel that she became obsessed with not wanting to fall too far behind Bai Zemin. Strangely, she did not wish to be ahead; if it happened then perfect, but if not then she would definitely not lose sleep over it. All she wanted was to keep an eye on the back that she could barely see at the moment.
Whether this was due to her competitive spirit or her natural pride, Shangguan Bing Xue did not know. She just knew that she definitely did not like the idea of completely losing sight of him at all, and that was enough for her to work hard and force herself to exceed her own limits countless times.
"But… If I bring you with me when I leave, then that might bring too much trouble." Bai Zemin frowned and shook his head.
"Trouble?" Shangguan Bing Xue looked at him and said slightly displeased, "I didn't know that taking a friend with you so that she can become stronger too is troublesome."
Bai Zemin rolled his eyes and said a little speechless, "Hello? Bing Xue? Are you still asleep or what? You know well that's not what I meant."
"Then what is it?" Shangguan Bing Xue asked, crossing both arms under her chest and unconsciously causing her prominent mountains to rise even more.
Bai Zemin could not appreciate the moment at all for when he saw her remove her hands from the ice-sealed mold he panicked and immediately had to check to make sure nothing went wrong.
This time it was her turn to roll her eyes.
"Calm down, child. The remaining ice is enough to finish sealing the heat completely. In a few more minutes the hammer will be complete."
Child? Bai Zemin blinked when he heard that word and couldn't help but think of Lilith again as she often called him like that playfully.
Even though he really wanted to ask the beauty next to him what part of him looked like that of a child, he decided the right thing to do was to shut his mouth. He looked at her and noticed that she now had her elbows resting on the work table, her body leaning slightly forward, and her delicate chin resting on her hands as she stared at him.
Shangguan Bing Xue was wearing a snow-white dress devoid of imperfections that hugged the curves of her body delicately. In fact, this was a considerably modest dress just like most clothes she wore as the length was long enough to barely cover even her knees. However, there was a very small neckline that did not really reveal anything unless one looked from the top down.
The problem was precisely that Bai Zemin was sitting on the work table and Shangguan Bing Xue was leaning forward standing on the floor.
The corner of Bai Zemin's mouth twitched a couple of times as for a second his eyes moved unconsciously to that patch of white skin with a barely visible but definitely deep crevasse; crevasse in which countless men would be willing to die.
His eyes only delayed merely for a brief second before he turned his face away slowly.
"Mm?" Shangguan Bing Xue inclined her head slightly and was about to ask what's wrong when she saw Bai Zemin point downward.
"I say, Bing Xue… Do you really think I'm a little child or do you just think I don't like women at all?" He said in frustration.
'Damn it, this senior has been fighting on the front lines without a good rest for almost two full months while big beauties willing to come into my bed every day tempt me relentlessly. Do they think it's easy to hold back?' Bai Zemin secretly cursed as he activated Blood Manipulation to calm down his crotch and prevent it from waking up.
Shangguan Bing Xue was stupefied when she heard what Bai Zemin said, but when she looked down and saw the very subtle but clear view of her cleavage, she immediately understood what he was referring to.
Her expression did not change so it was hard to tell what she was thinking as she straightened her posture and then sat down next to Bai Zemin. Even though he was approximately a head taller, it was impossible for him to see anything from the angle he was at unless he were cheeky enough to let her see him struggle to do so.
A somewhat awkward silence surrounded them both as for an instant no one knew what to say.
Shangguan Bing Xue was secretly tremendously embarrassed. She basically trusted the man beside her to the point where all her guard was gone, but the problem was that she sometimes forgot that he was a young and healthy man!
No, rather than her forgetting, the problem was that since Bai Zemin never showed any signs of lust or interest in women, she unconsciously even came to think that….
"I guess you are attracted to women, after all." She said in a joking tone to break the silence.
"What the hell?" Bai Zemin turned his head and looked at her somewhat wordlessly. Then, as if he had become a little more daring just like when he spent his time with Lilith, he said in a deep voice, "You want me to show you how much I like women?"
If there was one thing no man could ever tolerate, it was having his manhood questioned! Least of all a man proud and arrogant of himself like Bai Zemin!
"Oh?" Shangguan Bing Xue also looked at him, except that her expression was slightly amused. Her lips curved into a smile and she said with raised eyebrows, "How are you supposed to prove that?"
Bai Zemin looked at the beautiful woman beside him and could clearly feel the emotion known as lust slowly awakening within him. He was, after all, a perfectly healthy man who also desired beauties and it just so happened that the beauty next to him was without a doubt one of the most beautiful women he had ever met in his twenty years of life.
However, Bai Zemin knew perfectly well that Shangguan Bing Xue was joking. If he did anything she would definitely fight him and would be disappointed. Besides, Bai Zemin himself also had no intention of doing anything to her even though at that very moment he felt lust towards her.
Shangguan Bing Xue was also surprised to see the small flame of lust burning in the eyes of the man beside her. But instead of being angry or surprised by this, the real reason behind her surprise was herself! She couldn't believe what she was doing right now!
Wasn't what she had just done for the last few minutes flirting with him? What difference did it make?!
Bai Zemin secretly took a deep breath and as the blood flow in his body slowed down, his heartbeat also slowly returned to normal. The flame of lust began to subside until a few seconds later it finally disappeared completely.
During this whole time, both of them had been staring into each other's eyes with different complex emotions in their hearts.
"Looks like this is already over." Bai Zemin got down from the work table and hit the ice block hard, causing it to break into countless pieces.
Shangguan Bing Xue followed his movements while also taking a deep breath to calm herself.
The two were a grown man and woman so they clearly easily noticed each other's emotions. But in order for the good friendship they had built up to continue as such, there were things that were better left unsaid out loud.
"How about the hammer? Do you think you can work better with it now?" she asked as if nothing had happened and still sitting on the work table.
Bai Zemin pushed what had just happened to the back of his mind and with a little effort broke the mold made of bones carefully. Then he took the hammer by the handle and immediately felt the weight of between 100 and 200 kilograms.
Even though he had used a pretty big Lapiodite fragment, the weight of the hammer surprised him a lot!
Moreover, what Bai Zemin did not expect was that the electric property was still there so blue lightning flashed on the body of the hammer like playful little snakes.
"Damn, doesn't this mean I'm the rightful heir of Asgard?" He said aloud.
"Pfffft! Hahaha!" Shangguan Bing Xue couldn't help but be surprised only to start laughing out loud when she heard Bai Zemin's funny comment.
She laughed as loud and as free as that night inside that forest thick with dangers in which they both opened up and became close friends. In the span of a week or two, Bai Zemin had made her laugh more than she did in years and it was something she appreciated very much, therefore, she too decided to forget what had just happened while secretly vowing to herself not to be so naughty again.
Bai Zemin sighed in relief at this and with a small smile began to read the records of the hammer.
———————————————
[Refined Crusher –
[One-handed weapon.]
[Rank: 1]
[Physical Attack Power: 600]
[Magical attack power: 200]
[It has a certain chance of paralyzing the enemy depending on the level difference.]
Durability: 5000/5000]
[Description: A hammer created in a clever but rather improper way by a novice blacksmith with intentions of obtaining better forging tools. Its high physical attack power makes it easier to fashion metals, but be careful how hard you hit or it could turn into a terrifying weapon!]
———————————————
"Pu. What?" Bai Zemin almost spat on the floor when he saw the physical attack power of the hammer in his hands. "Damn, this hammer has almost the same number of physical attack power as my main weapon…. Although it's just a hammer meant for blacksmithing!"
Moreover, it even had 200 points of magic attack power!
Shangguan Bing Xue was curious to see Bai Zemin's attitude so she gracefully approached, bringing a gentle breeze along with her movements. Placing her small hand on the surface of the hammer and reading the records, even she was startled before her mouth twitched slightly as she murmured:
"Really… This hammer has almost the same power as my sword, but if we add the magic attack power then it far surpasses it."
Bai Zemin looked at her and said not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "I didn't even put effort into this stuff but that's how it came out."
Shangguan Bing Xue forced a smile and said slowly, "Maybe…. We underestimated the power of a precious Rank 2 ore too much…"
Bai Zemin also forced a smile and nodded slightly. However, he was actually secretly ecstatic. He had found a large quantity of Lapiodite so he couldn't wait to forge a new sword for himself; his attack power and overall battle power would definitely increase tremendously by then and even if a Third Order existence appeared before him Bai Zemin was confident of prevailing!
Just as those thoughts appeared in his mind, the sound of footsteps from outside caught his attention.
By the time Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue looked towards the still open workshop door, they saw Chen He standing there staring at them with a calm expression.
Bai Zemin shook his head secretly. This guy really had to arrive now? He even looked timed!
He subtly glanced at Shangguan Bing Xue, standing a step away from his body and whose small hand was just inches away from his as she was still holding a part of the hammer.
"Chen He, is something wrong?" he asked calmly. It wasn't like he had to explain himself to anyone anyway; it was just that if possible he didn't want misunderstandings.
Shangguan Bing Xue didn't show many reactions either. In fact, she simply took her hand away and took a step back but stayed at a fairly close distance from Bai Zemin.
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with Golden Tickets! <3
