Chapter 7 - Coincidental meeting at the weapon shop
“Baobing House?”
Zong Shou remembered this merchant group. They mainly sold weapons and were really famous in his last life. They basically monopolized twenty percent of the entire Cloud World’s weapon and armor trade, and they also explored other worlds. They even set foot into those Spiritual Realm worlds.
Famous for being high-priced and high-quality, high-level experts would choose Baobing House first when they searched for weapons.
Coincidentally, it was also at this Twisted Gathering. Since he wanted to search for a few suitable defensive weapons, he only hesitated a moment before striding in.
The manager of the branch was around thirty years old, and it was just like the ones Zong Shou remembered. The managers of the various branches of Baobing House all wore wide smiles on their faces, giving off a gentle and humble image. They were calm and composed, but they also had the craftiness unique to businessmen. With a glance, the manager was able to see that the two of them were dressed differently and were not from normal rich families, so he personally came forward to welcome them.
Zong Shou did not mind, and judged the area around him first. The weapons here were all well-crafted elite items and were relatively high end. Normal martial artists would not be served here.
His eyes turned toward a corner where various throwing weapons were placed. He observed the items for a while, but silently shook his head. As expected, spirit mark weapons were still not prevalent in this era.
However, he did not feel disappointed and turned around to ask the manager, “Can I order custom weapons here?”
When the middle-aged shopkeeper heard that, he smiled, “As long as the requirements aren’t too high, our Baobing House branch can do it! Does the master have any weapon blueprints? Or you can just give us a description of the item…”
Zong Shou did not reply. Instead, he directly walked to the side of the counter. He took out two yellow pieces of paper and started to draw.
In a short while, a willow flying knife and a long needle were drawn on the paper. Their shapes were normal, and there was nothing special about them. The only notable parts were some lines and carvings of unknown purpose, looking really beautiful.
Chuxue looked on curiously from the side, but she could not understand his drawing. In the end, she said, “Young Master’s drawings are so good, much better than before. Did that Linhai College teach arts?”
Zong Shou smiled when he heard that. Putting down the wolf hair brush in his hand, his expression turned cold and solemn. “The knife is two inches long, and it needs to be as thin as a cicada’s wing. Forge it from elite steel with three grams of blood copper mixed into it. I would like three hundred of these knives!
“These needles are made from the same material. Split them into two inches, three inches, one inch, and half an inch, these four sizes; I need one hundred of each. How much time do you need to craft all these?”
The manager’s forehead furrowed. After thinking for a while, he said bitterly, “These items drawn by master are really precise, despite being small. Especially these patterns, they should be weapon marks, right? Although our branch can craft these, we have too little manpower. To carve these marks precisely would take at least ten days.”
Zong Shou had predicted such a situation, needing just ten days even exceeded his expectations. However, he did not have much time to wait now.
“Normal smiths naturally can’t, but based on what I know, each Baobing House branch has spirit blacksmiths, right? I want to collect these things in an hour!”
That manager looked at Zong Shou with a weird expression. He nodded slowly, “We do in fact have them. Within my shop, there are three. However, to invite the spirit blacksmiths to craft these weapons would cost more. For the three hundred willow mark knives and four hundred elite steel mark needles, the materials and labor would only cost seven thousand silver. If crafted by the masters, it would at least cost one hundred and fifty thousand silver…”
Zong Shou smiled in contempt and turned around to Chuxue. Anyways, he had nothing on him, so he could only seek her help.
Since he was able to ride such a carriage and own sixteen Cloud Stepping Foals, he felt like such a sum of silver should be easy to take out.
The latter did not disappoint him and casually took out a silk bag. The bag contained around three hundred crystals of various colors. When she shook the bag, the crystals gave out crisp tinkling sounds. She took out two fire red crystals and placed them on the counter.
These crystals made the manager’s eyes instantly light up. “Third Grade Fire Tiger crystals are worth one hundred thousand silver. Master, please wait for a moment, the three hundred willow knives and four hundred needles will only take half the time it takes to brew tea to be finished.”
He turned around and hurried away. Zong Shou had to hide his surprise. He also had a few such crystals, and they were all Second and Third Grade monster crystals inside the purse he carried.
However, for a Third Grade fire tiger beast crystal to be worth a hundred thousand silver, what kind of joke was that?
He thought about it. The current spiritual energy was thin, so such beast crystals were probably sparse. Rare things were expensive, so for them to be worth more in the current era than in the future was to be expected.
His family was probably not only rich, but also really strong.
With the flying knife and needles ordered, he still lacked a sword. Although the fine steel sword he carried with him was sharp, it was still lacking.
However, he did not need to custom-make this sword. This Baobing House had many mark swords sold as shop specialties and placed in the front of the shop. Furthermore, they were all specially crafted.
Standing in front of the weapon rack, Zong Shou contemplated for a long time before retrieving a shining Pinewood Patterned Wind Sword.
Although this sword did not stand out among the few mark weapons, wind could increase speed and protection. It was also really light and did not use up much stamina, just as he needed.
He casually waved it around; it was something he could barely use.
Chuxue, who was standing at the side, furrowed her brow as she hesitated, “Young Master, these mark swords will be difficult to use without spiritual energy and true qi. Why not use normal weapons…”
Zong Shou did not reply. Instead, he silently directed the energy currents in his energy ocean into the sword. Just as the marks were about to ignite, Chuxue swung around and looked down, staring at the door with alert killing intent.
At the same time, Zong Shou heard a laugh, “We really meet everywhere. Who knew that I would meet cousin-brother in a faraway place like Twisted Market? Wasn’t cousin brother at Linhai College learning those chanting methods and spiritual techniques? Why did you come here?”
At the opening to the shop, a young teen smiled as he stepped in. He was similarly extraordinarily handsome, and his words gave off a friendly demeanor, like a breath of fresh air.
Zong Shou instinctively stepped backward. Subconsciously, he felt afraid of this man, but he also felt also a rough sense of hatred. His eyes tensed up as he knew that this was a subconscious action of his body.
In this era, apart from those few characters who stood high above everyone, he was confident about handling even those few experts who had not appeared. What ability did this person have to make him feel fear?
Zong Shou looked past him, and saw two strong men standing behind him. From the way they walked behind him, they looked like followers. They were expressionless, and emitted a deathly aura, like they were his shadows.
However, in his eyes, the two of them were like sheathed swords. It was hard to disguise their sharpness; they were very dangerous.
Be it this young man or the two servants behind him, they all had some skill. They were around the same level as Chuxue!
However, he did not recognize any of these three. He only had a few fragmented memories about the one who called him cousin-brother. He could only turn around; his eyes were filled with a sense of loss.
That young man went along with what Zong Shou did. After taking a look at Zong Shou, he smiled meekly, “You spent three years in the college and don’t recognize me anymore? When we were young, you used to call me Brother Yu, remember?”
Only then did Zong Shou act like he was enlightened, but Chuxue gave a cold snort that was filled with killing intent. “How fake. Out of the more than ten brothers of Young Master, only you, Zong Yu, likes to be so fake! Weren’t the people sent to kill us during these past few days all from you? Trying to assassinate the heir, you entire race should die! Master will definitely destroy all of you traitors one day!”
Zhou Yu did not care and laughed out loud, “What a good ‘kill my entire race’! Xue’er is still so cute after so long. I can’t bear to kill you. If it were a few months ago, how would I dare? However, if that uncle of mine is confirmed to have died, even if I personally killed Brother Shou, what could any other people do?”
Chuxue’s face instantly turned ashen white, and her body shook as she snorted, “What are you saying? Only a fool would believe you…”
Zong Yu snorted. He was too lazy to argue with Chuxue as he continued, “With the empty spot of Monster King, there are many people internally with other ideas, and strong enemies are staring down. Would we really push this trash up onto the throne?”
Looking at Zong Shou, Zong Yu laughed coldly, “I came here to tell Brother Shou. After all, we are brothers. If you are willing to give up the throne, I’ll let you live. If not, don’t blame me for being vicious and heartless. This isn’t like when we were young and I let you off if you begged…”
After saying that, he swung his sleeves and left. Within the Baobing House, Chuxue’s face was green and white, while Zong Shou was deep in thought.