Chapter 118

This was an ancient city, and even more so, a city of martial artists. It had no fame among the common people, but in the group of martial artists, its reputation was thunderous.

Because the people living here were either powerful themselves or had powerful ancestors; there were basically no families without a martial arts tradition.

Even the errand boy in a restaurant might have practiced a few moves when he was young.

Compared to Qingyuan County, where there were starving commoners everywhere, this place was like heaven; everyone was dressed in bright and beautiful clothes, with ruddy complexions.

Stepping into the city, what he saw was even more refreshing; he couldn't see the dirt and filth of Qingyuan County at all.

The streets, which could accommodate several carriages side by side, were all paved with smooth and clean stone slabs, and there were noisy sounds and hawking everywhere.

"The Purple Sun Sect being located nearby is secondary; the main thing is that this is the hinterland of the Yunling Mountain Range."

The Yunling Mountain Range was one of the famous mountains of the Great Xia, vast in territory, and no one knew how many treasures and strange beasts were conceived within it. Jianghu people who came here to search for treasures would basically settle here or sell their treasures, which caused the prosperity of this place.

"If Xu Qing could live here, I'm afraid she would wake up laughing every day in her dreams."

The prosperity here was beyond what ordinary people could imagine. Everything sold on the street was all kinds of snacks, and there were even people selling grilled strange beast skewers; the fragrance of delicious food was everywhere.

As long as you had money, you could eat from one end of the street to the other.

Xu Yang stood at a fork in the road and looked around for a while, finally choosing a street to continue forward.

His appearance as a country bumpkin entering the city for the first time, plus the clothes of an outer sect disciple of the Purple Sun Sect, immediately attracted the attention of some people, who knew that the young man before them was probably visiting Qingyang City for the first time.

On a restaurant not far away, someone noticed him.

"Eh... Xu Yang, he actually came to Qingyang City."

Li Rui'an squinted and looked over; it was indeed Xu Yang.

"He doesn't seem to have refined qi into steel yet; it seems he hasn't even reached the perfection of Qi Gathering."

His thoughts turned rapidly, and a fierce light gradually appeared in his eyes.

He was originally a bully among the outer sect disciples of the Purple Sun Sect, famous for bullying the weak and fearing the strong, which was why the Dawn Society had asked him to help put on a show.

He had stepped on a soft egg, only to find it was a nail, and was forced to apologize and reconcile, which naturally left him feeling unwilling.

The reason he was wary and took the initiative to bow his head was that he was worried about Xu Yang hiding in the Purple Sun Sect to refine qi into steel. Once he refined qi into steel, with Xu Yang's talent, killing him would only be a matter of time.

Xu Yang, who hadn't refined qi into steel and wasn't hiding in the Purple Sun Sect, was someone he didn't fear at all.

Not to mention just Xu Yang, even if Kong Yu hadn't refined qi into steel, he wouldn't be afraid of him outside.

Originally, he had planned to leave, but he sat back down and ordered another pot of wine from the shopkeeper.

"Don't think I didn't see it that day; you were only pretending to reconcile..." The fierceness in Li Rui'an's eyes grew more intense.

"Five taels? That's too expensive!"

Xu Yang asked around and finally found a courier agency that could send letters to Qingyuan County, but the asking price was five taels of silver. You must know that a Qi-Nourishing Pill was only ten taels of silver.

The manager of this courier agency smiled and said: "That's the price. I'm not trying to fool you alone. You can go ask people from Qingyuan County if that's the price for sending a letter. If my Four Seas Courier Agency takes even one extra penny from you, little brother, you can smash my Four Seas Courier Agency."

"My Four Seas Courier Agency's courier team doesn't go to small places like Qingyuan County themselves; we have to entrust other courier agencies to transfer them to Qingyuan."

"And these five taels of silver don't just cover sending the letter once. After the letter is delivered, we will also help bring back a letter from your family to prove that our letter was delivered. Five taels of silver is equivalent to the cost of sending two letters."

Hearing that the five taels of silver also included the return trip, he felt much better. Although he knew this was illegal bundled consumption, there was no place to complain.

After paying the money readily, Xu Yang said: "May I ask the manager, which shop in the city has good craftsmanship for forging weapons?"

The manager of the Four Seas Courier Agency said: "The best is naturally the Purple Sun Pavilion opened by the Purple Sun Sect. The weapons inside are at the worst forged by inner sect disciples of the Lihuo Peak, and even weapons forged by the Peak Master are for sale."

Xu Yang was speechless. If I could afford a weapon forged by an inner sect disciple of the Purple Sun Sect, would I still need to ask you?

"Manager, brother, just introduce a place that I can afford," Xu Yang said.

Only then did the manager realize that Xu Yang was probably not a rich person, and he pondered: "For a general weapon forging shop, the one with the best reputation is the Wang Family Weapon Forging Workshop. The Wang family's ancestors also came from the Purple Sun Sect, and their weapon forging craftsmanship is quite good."

Xu Yang asked for the location of the Wang Family Weapon Forging Workshop and soon found it.

This weapon forging shop did look like it had been around for some years; the gold paint on the plaque had fallen off a lot.

"Customer, do you want to buy a finished weapon or have one custom-made?"

As soon as Xu Yang walked in, a servant came up to greet him.

"How long does it take for a custom order?" Xu Yang said.

The servant said: "That depends on what level of weapon the customer wants to customize. Good ones take ten days to half a month, and ordinary ones take five or six days."

"Take me to see the finished ones; I want to see knives."

If he did a mission when he went back, he might not have time to come and pick it up, and he didn't have any special requirements for the style, so there was no need to customize and spend more money.

As for why he chose a knife, it was because, except for the main peak, Tianquan Peak, the strongest traditions of the other peaks were all knife techniques.

He was not in the top three of the examination, so it was almost impossible for him to join the main peak in the future, so he could only choose a knife.

As for spear techniques and stick techniques, although the Purple Sun Sect had traditions, they couldn't be ranked at all.

"Customer, please follow me."

This servant was also a person with a good eye. After taking Xu Yang into the place where weapons were displayed, he immediately took out a knife with a cold, piercing light.

"Customer, this is our shop's famous Cold Moon Knife. The blade was designed by a master, with perfect lines, and forged with mysterious iron and red gold. It can withstand the infusion of steel qi without breaking, and it is the treasure knife of choice for many experts who have just entered the steel qi realm to practice."

"Many disciples of the Purple Sun Sect bought this knife in our shop to practice knife techniques."

As soon as he saw Xu Yang's appearance, he knew he had refined qi into steel and intended to practice weapons, so he immediately introduced this Cold Moon Knife.

Xu Yang looked at it; he had indeed seen many people use this knife in the Purple Sun Sect, and the style was okay.

He held it in his hand and felt it was a bit light; there shouldn't be much mysterious iron mixed in.

"How much does this knife sell for? If I infuse steel qi into it now and it breaks, what happens?" Xu Yang said.

His steel qi was condensed on the basis of Diamond true qi, which was extraordinary, pure, and overbearing. He was afraid that ordinary weapons couldn't withstand his steel qi infusion.

The servant looked up and down at the outer sect disciple clothes on his body and said: "The Cold Moon Knife sells for one hundred taels. If it cannot withstand the customer's steel qi infusion, it proves that this knife has flaws, and if it breaks, naturally, the customer will not be held responsible."

He didn't believe that the steel qi of an outer sect disciple could break the Cold Moon Knife, unless it was deliberately broken with steel qi.

But if that were the case, it wouldn't be buying a knife but looking for trouble. Although the Wang Family Weapon Forging Workshop's ancestors were only Purple Sun Sect disciples, it wasn't just anyone who could come and look for trouble now.

Xu Yang nodded, and steel qi was infused into the blade bit by bit.

"Crack!"

With a crisp sound, spiderweb-like cracks covered the blade, and Xu Yang hurriedly withdrew his steel qi.

He sighed in his heart, knowing that it wasn't that the Cold Moon Knife had flaws, but that his steel qi was too fierce and overbearing, and the blade couldn't withstand his steel qi infusion.

"Broken... broken?"

The servant looked at the Cold Moon Knife full of cracks, speechless, not knowing what to say. He had boasted for a long time, but the knife had broken.

Xu Yang put down the cracked knife: "It seems the quality of your Cold Moon Knife is average. Do you have anything better?"

The servant hurriedly nodded and brought another knife with a style similar to the Cold Moon Knife, but it looked more exquisite, and the cold air emitted by the blade was even stronger.

"Customer, please look. This is our shop's Wolf Tooth Knife, forged with mysterious iron, red gold, and black gold. The quality is far superior to the Cold Moon Knife, and it is guaranteed to withstand your steel qi infusion."

Xu Yang took it, and it was much heavier than the previous Cold Moon Knife: "How much does the Wolf Tooth Knife sell for?"

The servant held up two fingers and said: "Two hundred taels!"

Two hundred taels—if it could withstand his steel qi infusion, he could take it out.

It was just that he would have to do missions immediately upon returning, and he didn't have much money left. If it weren't for that unexpected gain outside the black market, he wouldn't even be able to afford a knife for practice.

Xu Yang slowly infused steel qi again. The blade trembled, and the cold light soared, but it didn't break.

"I want this knife!" Xu Yang said.

Although there were better ones, he couldn't afford them, so he immediately took out the money and handed it to the servant.

"Customer, please wait!"

The servant confirmed that the money was correct and immediately brought the scabbard and strap.

Xu Yang strapped the knife on his back and turned to leave.