Bab 14: Closed For The Day
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Hey, have you heard? Owner Zhang of the blacksmith has beef with the Stardust Swordsman!"
"Who's Owner Zhang? Stepping on the No.1 inner disciple's tail?"
"What? You don't know who Owner Zhang is?!"
…
"Senior Brother Li made it clear that he would kill Owner Zhang in three months."
"What did Owner Zhang do to get on the senior brother's bad side?"
"I heard that Senior Brother Li wanted to get a refinement but Owner Zhang held on to his principles and rejected him, and the rest is history."
"Woah, Owner Zhang is really not afraid of suppression? He's a role model for all of us!"
…
"Have you heard? Three months later, the blacksmith Owner Zhang will be killed, Li Xingchen said it himself!"
"The rule of the blacksmith is one refinement a day, which means there are 90 slots until that day. We must hurry if we want to get our swords refined!"
…
Li Xingchen was renowned as the No.1 of the inner disciples and Zhang Zhi was just a small business owner in Lingtan Town, the grudge between the two of them became an explosive topic that caught everyone by storm.
After a night, those who knew Li Xingchen would know Zhang Zhi by now.
On the other hand, Zhang Zhi was still drooling in his sleep in the middle of the night.
After a few hours, he heard a voice in his head, "Mission complete. Reputation: 1,000/1,000. Do you want to receive your reward now?"
"Shut up!" Zhang Zhi was having a good dream, he got grumpy when the system woke him up but when he wrapped his mind around the situation, he was shocked to find out that he had completed the mission.
He was a little confused. Before he went to bed, his reputation was stuck at 213 and before it was even morning, his reputation reached 1,000?
Then, a thought popped in his mind: it must be the grudge he had with Li Xingchen.
It seemed like his reputation rose when he got involved with a renowned inner disciple.
Zhang Zhi sighed heavily. He had restored and refined many swords in the past few days yet his reputation remained low. After he argued with Li Xingchen, his reputation surged.
He did not know whether he should be happy or helpless.
However, it taught Zhang Zhi a lesson about the system's missions. If he ever got another reputation mission from the system, he could just stop working and argue with renowned cultivators to boost his reputation.
Putting those thoughts aside, Zhang Zhi prepared himself to get his mission reward. According to the system's description, he might be able to get a forging skill that would enable him to forge an epic-tier artifact, but there was a chance that it might turn out to be a skill that forged low-tier artifact.
He rubbed his hands and hoped for the best. His luck was being put to the test.
His heart raced as he said, "Accept reward."
"Ding Dong. Reward received. Acquire Forging Skill, Flying Sword Forging (Epic Artifact)!"
When he saw the word "Epic Artifact", Zhang Zhi sighed a heavy breath of relief. Nothing could stop his luck blessing him, not even God.
After he calmed himself down from the excitement, a thought popped in his mind: since the system provided him materials for restoration and refinement, would it provide materials for forging as well?
"System, will you provide the materials for flying sword forging?"
"Not at the moment. When your forging skills reach Level 3, you will have access to a new function: Material Shop. You can buy all the materials there."
Zhang Zhi nodded at the convenience of the system. He added, "System, show me my current stats."
"Your current stats are as followed:
Name: Zhang Zhi
Cultivation: Veteran Qi Refining
Forging Level: 2
Forging Skills: Flying Sword Forging (Epic Artifact), Flying Sword Refinement (Low-tier Artifact), Flying Sword Restoration (Low-tier Artifact)
Experience: 330/500"
His experience was already at 330, he would soon level up to 3. The happiness in him overflowed, he felt that the hard work that he had done for the past few days had been worth it.
"Ding Dong. Since the host has acquired the first forging skill, a sub-mission is triggered: the host must forge an epic-tier flying sword for himself. Reward will be an authentication seal."
Forging a flying sword for himself was not a big problem. He had to fight Li Xingchen in three months time after all, so he must at least have a handy weapon in possession.
However, the reward for forging himself a flying sword was just an authentication seal, a little too stingy even for the system.
He asked, "What's the seal for?"
"My host, all forging masters has their own seal, it is to seal your mark on the artifacts that you forged. Using the authentication seal that the system provides will increase the power of the artifact by 10%."
Zhang Zhi squealed out of excitement in his heart.
'The items from the system are all godly! Even a seal can grant such an amazing effect!'
Zhang Zhi was no longer sleepy after the exciting news and since the sky was turning bright, he got out of bed to start his day earlier.
After a whole night, the line in front of the blacksmith had increased from 20 to 30 people and the number was still increasing.
Everyone was having a great time with each other as they talked about cultivation and similar topics.
"Hey, Lil' Hai, you are here as well?"
"Of course, I heard Owner Zhang has three months left to live, of course I want to get myself a mid-tier artifact!"
"I've just counted. You are at 27, so that means around a month or so, it's more than enough!"
…
Some time later, when the sun fully rose to the sky, the cultivators started to complain.
"What's wrong with Owner Zhang today? The shop is still not open!"
"Do you think Owner Zhang is worried about the matter with Li Xingchen and doesn't want to open today?"
"Huh? No way, that won't do!"
The cultivators at the front of the line started to knock on the closed door, "Owner Zhang, open the door! Stop hiding inside, I know you are there!"
"Owner Zhang, be strong! Don't let the pressure stop you from doing business!"
Some of them even tried to console Zhang Zhi by shouting their cheers.
Zhang Zhi was actually hiding at the street corner, looking at the long and anxious queue.
"Thank goodness I decided to come out from the rear to have a look first…"
He decided to close shop for the day to shop for materials at the market, he needed the materials to forge his own flying sword.
However, if he just walked out and announced that he decided to close for the day, the angry crowd might beat him to death; if he simply walked away quietly, he was afraid that the crowd might tear his blacksmith apart.
On second thought, he decided to inform the crowd out of professional ethics but in a smarter way.
He called a random cultivator who was there for the show and said, "Hey man, do you have a minute?"
The guy was curiously looking at the anxious crowd before he saw Zhang Zhi signalling him. He asked, "What's up?"
"Do me a favor will you?" Zhang Zhi waved a piece of low-tier spirit stone in front of the guy's eyes.
The guy's eyes glistened, he walked closer and asked, "Yes sir, how can I help?"
Zhang Zhi took a piece of paper out and pointed at his blacksmith's entrance, "Stick this at the door for me will ya? This low-tier spirit stone is yours."
The guy looked at Zhang Zhi as if he was looking at an idiot. He was thinking Zhang Zhi was a fine person with arms and legs and he was only a few steps away, why would he ask for such a favor?
However, Zhang Zhi was offering a low-tier spirit stone, it was practically free based on the amount of work the guy had to do, so the guy took the payment and the paper and ran to the blacksmith.
The guy stuck the piece of paper on the door.
"Due to some private matters, we are closed for the day."
"Hey! Who told you to stick this here?" The cultivators in line frowned at the guy.
The guy chuckled and said, "A rich idiot told me to stick this here and he gave me a low-tier spirit stone. My my, nothing can stop my luck now!"
The guy boasted of his luck but the other cultivators responded with a strange look, especially the Lingtai Sect disciples who were at the front.
"Have you ever heard of a powerful palm attack that descends from the sky?"
"Huh? I actually never have, please do enlighten me, immortal!"
The guy's eyes gleamed and thought he was blessed by Lady Luck. Not only did he get a piece of low-tier spirit stone for free, he might even get to learn a set of powerful skills!
Slap!
A powerful slap landed on the guy's face and he spun for a few turns before he got on his feet.
He covered his cheeks and said nervously, "Immortal, why? What give?"
"What gives? I'm giving you a lesson here you dumbsh*t!"
Not only the cultivators at the front, even those at the back jumped out and surrounded the guy and beat him up.
Even though they knew the individual cultivator must have stuck the piece of notice at the blacksmith on Zhang Zhi's order, the anger and resentment in them was burning and they decided to vent it on the poor guy. No one wanted to wait for another day.
While the poor individual cultivator was getting beaten up, Zhang Zhi sighed a breath of relief at the street corner, "Thank goodness I didn't stick it myself."
Zhang Zhi then adjusted his mood and prepared to head to the market. It was then that he realized something and asked, "System, what if those people broke into the blacksmith?"
The system replied after a long while, "Loophole restored. Blacksmith's defense is strengthened. It is strong enough to withstand a Nascent Soul cultivator's attack now. My host is rewarded with a rank up for discovering the loophole."
"Wow!"
Zhang Zhi asked the question out of concern but he did not expect it to be a loophole. He savoured the feeling of Peak Qi Refining cultivation as he grinned and strode to the market.
One thing worth noting was that as long as no spiritual powers were used, any conflict would not startle Elder Wu. Therefore, the group of cultivators of Foundation Building stage relied on their strong bodies to beat up the poor guy of only Qi Refining stage.
After venting their anger and grievance, the cultivators got together to come up with a new plan.
"Do you think Owner Zhang will appear if we storm into his shop?"
"I think as long as he's in there, he won't reject us, we lined up here all night after all."
"Yeah!"
The cultivators decided to ram the door down.
They thought with their strengthened bodies, ramming down a wooden door would be a piece of cake but the door did not even budge after several tries.
"Move, I'll have a try!" One of the cultivators drew his sword out.
Streams of light swirled around the blade as he swung it at the door.
Kakroom!
A dust storm was produced upon contact, shrouding the entrance completely. The crowd cheered and applauded, "Nice slash! As expected of the indomitable Tianxing Sword, no one shall stand in its way!"
The cultivator looked proud when the crowd praised him.
"It's just a door, some wooden plank could never stop my sword!"
He took a step forward and wanted to enter the blacksmith but… THUD!
He knocked his head on the door plank and his forehead swelled. He staggered backwards as he squealed in pain.
When the dust finally settled, the crowd realized the blacksmith's door was unscathed!
The cultivators were infuriated, everyone drew their swords out and brandished it at the door. They tried to cut it, pry it open, slash it but none of the attacks worked.
Even after everyone got tired, the door did not even budge. It stood there like an immobile monolith.
One of the cultivators who was skilled in formation went up for a closer look, he told his peers, "The blacksmith is covered with a layer of formation!"
The crowd immediately understood what happened.
"Then how long will it take to break the formation?"
Everyone thought it was just a blacksmith, the formation that it had would not be too difficult to break.
The formation cultivator said, "Unbreakable. This is a Guardian Mountain Formation of sect level!"
Guardian Mountain Formation?
The name shocked everyone.
A tiny blacksmith used the sect level Guardian Mountain Formation to prevent intruders?
Many of them were deterred when they found out the truth, their temper died down and they obediently went back in line.
-- Hadiah diterima