The shopkeeper continuously nodded as he listened to Ye Xiao speak about the sword. His face looked indifferent at the beginning, but after a while, it became sincerely moved. When he saw Ye Xiao was preparing to leave, he immediately asked him to stay,
Please stay, sir. You have spoken like a true swordsman. We have proper goods for distinguished guests. Only distinguished people can see the most precious items. To be honest, these weapons here that we put in our showcase are only for ostentation. We just use them to impress some outsiders. As for the real divine weapons… How could we just show them here in front of the public? You are a distinguished man, sir. Since you are seeking weapons with sincerity, may I lead you to our secret storage?
Ye Xiao’s eyes lit up and he said,
I said the Divine Arms Mill was better heard than seen. It turns out that there are some secrets within it. Ok. That’s fine.
In his mind he said, [I knew that you guys are not dishonest.
You would never show me the real deal if you didn’t get scolded.]
They both walked to the back of the shop.
A big fellow in cyan robes opened a hidden door for them and then another big fellow in white robes opened another hidden door. After passing through, the door to the secret storage was revealed.
The shopkeeper unlocked the door himself and walked in with Ye Xiao. The doors were closed immediately. Several superior cultivators came and stood outside the doors.
It is obvious that the security here was extremely rigorous.
After entering the secret storage, what came in sight was a spacious room. Weapons were hung or leaned on three walls.
There were only three weapons!
On the wall in front was a sword, on the wall on the left was a knife and on the right was a spear! There was a small chest on the floor by the right wall, and on the other side, there were some unimpressive metal.
The sword and the knife were sheathed, while the spear handle was placed on the floor and its blade leaned on the wall. It resembled a king looking down upon the world.
Well, at least weapons here are fine enough to enter my sight.
Ye Xiao nodded with satisfaction.
After checking carefully, he shook his head again.
The spear was fine. A spear was always used in the formal battle. It moved drastically. Yet normally, the superior cultivators barely used spears.
Among all the weapons that could create a spiritual connection, the most common were swords and knives; other kinds of weapons were extremely rare.
The spear in front of them lacked spiritualization, but it was still a piece of divine weapon, a perfect weapon for a soldier to cleave enemies and capture the flags.
However, although the sword and the knife were a lot better in both quality and value than the so called ‘the sword of king’, the spiritual part which Ye Xiao valued the most was still missing.
Or might be broken.
It seems the divine weapons you Divine Arms Mill make… are only worth mentioning in the Land of Han-Yang…
Ye Xiao didn’t continue to make excessive demands.
Because with the condition of the Land of Han-Yang, the sword, knife and spear were already in the peak range among the divine weapons!
It wouldn’t be appropriate to judge by the standard of the Qing-Yun Realm.
Are these all? Anything else?
Ye Xiao asked with disappointment,
It would be fine even if it is just some tiny ones. Throwing knives? Sleeve dagger? Throwing needles? Or maybe…
The shopkeeper had realized that the guy in front of him was was quite professional in smithing although he was young. Yet he actually saw no value in the weapons of his shop…
Even the most precious item of the shop… was too cheap to get in his sight.
The shopkeeper felt disgraced.
So he spoke,
Items of my humble shop are beneath the professional sight. If the weapons here could not suit your demand, I shall only apologize that there are no better weapons here really… The smaller ones. We do have some… There are a set of throwing needles and twelve throwing knives kept in the storage… But those are the last pieces of our departed great master, Shen Lian-Zi, which remain unfinished… There is still a final step to finish. And that’s why these unfinished pieces are still kept in our shop. Nobody ever wanted them, so they are more like souvenirs now…
Ye Xiao asked indifferently,
The last pieces of a departed smith? That is interesting. Maybe you could show me.
Hmm?
The shopkeeper didn’t hesitate and brought up a small leather bag. After it was opened, Ye Xiao’s eyes lit up immediately.
Inside the bag, there were 108 shining needles. Every piece of it was extremely thin. They were delicate in shape, giving off a sense of extreme coldness that could make people tremble. Yet the needles were somehow defective; they didn’t have edges. Needles without edges, how would they injure enemies and defend the user. With such a defect, the needles were useless.
Twelve needles together are no thicker than my forefinger. Impressive.
Ye Xiao measured them with eyes and picked one of them in hand. He felt a sense of refreshing coolness and a killing intent hidden inside it. He was motivated: [The needle is filled with spirit. It’s something extraordinary.]
He murmured,
Yet the needle has no point… Why?
These 108 needles and 12 knives are all made from a piece of Deep Sea Frigid Metal by the great Shen Lian-Zi. They contain no other materials. However, the proper material required to make the edges was yet to be found. They are simply hard to merge. So they have been kept this way.
The shopkeeper was a bit embarrassed.
I see.
Ye Xiao put down the needle.
He picked up a throwing knife. The knife was rather delicate. Each of them was only as long as a finger with a beautiful curve. The edge was sharp, filled with terror, shining with a sinister glow.
The knives were also defective in the same way – they had no edges!
Deep Sea Frigid Metal!
Ye Xiao thought of the Spiritual Essence of Gold in his Spaces that he bought earlier. He had spent 1 million silver bars for it. He was quiet for a moment and then spoke,
These are fine. I will take them. Give me the price.
You… You will take them?
The shopkeeper was surprised.
There had been many people saying they were good items after they had saw them, but because they had no edges, they were only ornaments in their eyes. They couldn’t be properly used, so nobody really wanted them. People always left some kind words like ‘this is truly a masterpiece set made by a great smith… And then they turned away…
For so many years, the shopkeeper had seen a lot of people doing so, but he never expected that the young man in front of him would actually want to buy them.
I do! State a price!
Ye Xiao nodded affirmatively.
Well…
The shopkeeper smiled bitterly,
Forgive me, sir. They are not something that can be exchanged with money. Before Shen Lian-Zi passed away, he said that these were Divine Weapons with Demonic Edge; one who was not a monarch should not use them. They are weapons of the monarch. Once they meet the right person, they will be revealed and start killing in the world. He said that once the right person appeared, we shall charge him nothing for them; otherwise, they shouldn’t be sold for even ten thousand golds. We only hope that… The right one will return us a favor in the future whenever the Divine Arms Mill makes a mistake because of offending someone or if we fall into trouble.
When speaking, the shopkeeper was somehow indifferent.
[Such defective items are actually called… the weapon of the monarch?
How ridiculous!
It was apparently an excuse for the fact that they were impossible to sell because of the flaw.
Fine. Since it was the words of a deceased person and luckily the man in front of me has a crazily high standard that disdains everything, I will just present him.
They are not gonna be sold out within a thousand years anyway.
Making friends with a valuable man shouldn’t be a mistake!]
However, after hearing what the shopkeeper had said, Ye Xiao was rather motivated.
He stared at the needles and knives for a long time.
[Divine Weapon with Demonic Edge!
Weapon of the monarch!
What does that mean?]
It reminded him of his title in the previous life: the Xiao Monarch!
[The monarch!
Does it mean I, the monarch? Or a monarch of the mortal world?]
He took a closer look at those dedicated items that were sending out endless senses of hostility. He had a feeling: [These are not some defective items!
Nor some unfinished pieces that were casually made!
That departed smith, Shen Lian-Zi… He must have spent all his energy on these 120 pieces of weapons!
And that had led him to the death when he finally finished the these fantastic pieces!
These are the true most precious items of the Divine Arms Mill!
The true divine weapons!
Yet he had left such a strange message. Present?
Did this Shen Lian-Zi see through the destiny? And wanted to use these items to seek an opportunity to leave the Divine Arms Mill a chance of survival?]
He collected thoughts for a long time and then said blandly,
Since master Shen Lian-Zi had left such words, and I like this set of weapons a lot, then… if someday the Divine Arms Mill offends me… I will spare you for good!
The shopkeeper smiled bitterly.
[The guy talks with such smugness… He actually climbs up along the pillar I made[1]… Spare us? Who do you think you are? Such a…
I am speechless!]
However, it was the last word of a deceased master, and it was restated by himself, so there was no way to deny it even if he wanted to. So at the moment, his face looked like he just had swallowed shit.
Ye Xiao smiled and put the needles and knives into his clothes.
108 needles and 12 knives, all together, were packaged only with a small bag.
That spear. I will take it too.
Ye Xiao pointed at the spear.
The spear was for another intent. He once heard Su Ye-Yue said that her father, the Prince Hua-Yang, was the best at using the spear. There amount of weapons in his house could nearly fill up an entire weapon shop and most of them were spears.
As he heard previously, he knew that the Prince Hua-Yang must have no proper weapon!
Because… one weapon was enough if it was a proper one. A man doesn’t need to keep that many weapons.
This time the battle was in the south. The Prince Hua-Yang would soon join the battle. Therefore, when Ye Xiao saw the spear, he had a plan. He prepared to give it to the Prince Hua-Yang as a gift for nothing but all these years’ secret protection…
To give him a spear was something worth doing.
…
—
[1] To climb the pillar that is made by others, (顺着竿子往上爬），means to seize the very chance for self-praise.
2nd guaranteed chapter of the week
Translated by: Rain
Edited by: Arch, Alpha
