Chapter 288: Chapter 230: Lei Xiao’s Drastic Change in Attitude
Long Xiao took the seemingly ordinary Spirit Wood Box, which felt surprisingly heavy in his hands.
He placed the box on the stall’s black counter, which was crafted from Tier Two Profound Gang Rock, letting out a dull THUD.
The mood around the stall became a bit strange.
Lei Hu’s breathing grew heavy, his eyes locked on the box, filled with a mix of tension and anticipation.
Beside them, Lei Xiao stood with his arms crossed, his gaze sharp and a sneer playing on his lips.
’Let’s see what tricks some unorthodox master of unknown origin can pull.’
With all eyes on him, Lei Hu gingerly opened the lid of the box.
A dagger lay quietly inside the box.
The moment he saw the blade, the look of anticipation on Lei Hu’s face visibly crumbled.
’This... this is a Tier Three Spiritual Soldier?’
The entire dagger was a dull, dark color, its design simplistic to an extreme.
It had no ornate markings, and the blade wasn’t even sharpened. It looked like a grimy iron bar that had been carelessly ground into the shape of a dagger.
Forget comparing it to the creations of the masters at the Celestial Workshop—even the standard-issue Tier Two weapons on the Black Market looked better than this.
Anyone would believe this thing was a practice piece from some apprentice.
Lei Hu’s heart sank to rock bottom.
"Pfft... Hahaha!"
Lei Xiao couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, his voice dripping with undisguised mockery.
"Lei Hu, oh, Lei Hu! My dear little brother!
Is this the masterpiece from your precious Master Han that you’ve been dreaming about?
Over four thousand Spirit Coins, and this is the piece of junk you bought?"
He pointed at the "iron bar," doubled over with laughter.
"Forget piercing the armor of a Tier Three Demon Beast—I bet the blade would bend just from cutting tofu!
Do you take your big brother for a blind man?
And this piece of junk dares to call itself a Tier Three Spiritual Soldier?"
Lei Hu’s face turned beet-red, and he was too humiliated to say a word in his own defense.
’Even he had to admit... this thing looked incredibly shoddy.’
"Brother, that’s enough!"
Lei Hu snarled, his embarrassment turning to anger.
"Me, be quiet? I’m teaching you a lesson here!"
Lei Xiao’s voice boomed even louder.
"So that you’ll remember this!
Stop treating every Tom, Dick, and Harry like some revered master!"
Gao Fei watched from the side, scratching his head anxiously.
He discreetly shot Long Xiao a look.
Long Xiao got the hint. He cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence.
"Now, now, Grand Commander Lei, you can’t judge something just by looking at it."
Long Xiao began in his gruff voice. "Master Han’s craftsmanship is all about subtlety.
It’s a case of a treasure concealing its own brilliance, you see? The edge of a truly great item is always hidden within."
"Hiding its brilliance?"
Lei Xiao looked as if he had just heard the joke of the century. "Long Xiao, are you just grasping at straws for compliments?
This is just crude and shoddy work!
Don’t think I can’t see it for what it is!"
Long Xiao shrugged, not bothering to argue further. He just turned to Lei Hu and said,
"Why not try it and see for yourself? Channel your True Qi into it."
Though Lei Hu was disappointed, those words sparked a final sliver of hope within him.
After all, he had personally seen the Tier Two daggers Han Feng had crafted previously. They had looked just as plain, but their power had been undeniably immense.
He took a deep breath and wrapped his hand around the cold hilt.
The feel of it was strange—not too heavy, not too light, yet it fit his palm perfectly, as if it had been custom-made just for him.
Hesitating no longer, he drew upon the True Qi of his Enlightenment Realm and slowly channeled it into the dagger.
The very instant his True Qi surged into the blade!
VMMMM—!
A clear, resonant hum suddenly echoed forth!
The once unremarkable, dull dagger, like an ancient Fierce Beast abruptly awakened, suddenly erupted in a dazzling, ghostly blue light!
An incomparably sharp aura shot toward the heavens!
CRACK!
The Spirit Wood Box that held the dagger was silently sliced in two by the light radiating from the blade, not even making a sound!
What was even more terrifying was that the counter beneath it, crafted from Profound Gang Rock, also split down the middle, leaving a fissure as smooth as a mirror!
The fissure was as fine as a hair, looking as if it were a natural part of the rock rather than something cut by a blade!
"This..."
The sneer on Lei Xiao’s face froze instantly.
He stared wide-eyed at the crack in the counter, his eyeballs looking as if they might pop right out of their sockets.
’Profound Gang Rock!’
’That’s a Tier Two material renowned for its hardness!’
’Even his own Tier Three Middle Grade Battle Saber couldn’t slice through it that easily, as if it were air.’
’But now, this Profound Gang Rock had been split open just by the light radiating from a dagger?’
’What the hell does that even mean?!’
As the one holding the dagger, Lei Hu’s experience was even more visceral.
When his True Qi flowed into the blade, he felt as if he were holding not a dagger, but a living creature!
Within the blade was an Energy Channel so perfect it was astounding.
His True Qi circulated within it without the slightest bit of resistance or loss; it was unbelievably smooth!
What shocked him even more was a set of rune constructs inside the blade—complex yet perfectly integrated, and completely beyond his comprehension.
As his True Qi flowed through these Rune Circuits, its very nature underwent a qualitative change, spontaneously gaining an indomitable Armor-Piercing Trait!
’This... this is simply divine craftsmanship!’
"What a blade! What an incredible blade!"
Lei Hu trembled with excitement, a fanatical gleam in his eyes as he gazed at the dagger in his hand.
"Try this!"
Long Xiao had been stunned as well, but he recovered in an instant. He quickly pulled a palm-sized, cracked metal fragment from under the counter and tossed it onto the ground.
"This is a fragment from the Arm Guard of a Tier Three Middle Grade ’Vajra Rhinoceros’ Battle Armor. It’s scrap, but it’s still just as hard!"
Without a word, Lei Hu gripped the dagger and swung it casually at the fragment!
PUFF!
There was a soft thud, almost too quiet to hear.
The Battle Armor fragment, which was durable enough to withstand a full-powered blow from a warrior of the same tier, was sliced in two as if it were a stick of warm butter.
Once again, the cut was as smooth as a mirror.
"I... fuck..."
Lei Xiao, who had been holding his breath, finally couldn’t stop himself from swearing.
He rushed forward and picked up the two halves in disbelief. He ran his finger along the incision, feeling its perfect smoothness.
Forget his Tier Three Middle Grade Battle Saber—not even a Tier Three Upper Grade Spiritual Soldier forged by one of the renowned masters from the Celestial Workshop could have made such an effortless cut!
"So, Brother Lei Hu, are you satisfied with this weapon?"
Long Xiao sidled over, a triumphant grin on his face.
He cleared his throat and relayed the information he’d gotten from Gao Fei.
"This blade is called ’Dawn.’ It’s a Tier Three Upper Grade Spiritual Soldier.
It has a seamlessly integrated ’Piercing Rune Array’ and possesses three Traits: ’Armor-Piercing,’ ’Sharpness,’ and ’Energy Gathering.’ To put it simply, it’ll cut through anything like a hot knife through butter."
Long Xiao’s words struck Lei Xiao’s heart like a series of hammer blows.
’Tier Three... Upper Grade!’
This revelation completely shattered his last vestiges of doubt.
"Satisfied? I’m more than satisfied!"
Lei Hu was grinning from ear to ear, stroking the blade lovingly, unable to put it down.
Without another word, he pulled a pouch from his Storage Ring, counted out nine hundred Spirit Coins, and slapped them onto the counter.
"Old Dragon, here’s the rest of the payment!"
"That’s too much,"
Long Xiao said with a glance. "You already paid a deposit of six hundred. Another six hundred is all that’s needed."
"No!"
Lei Hu pushed the pouch forward, his tone magnanimous. "The extra three hundred is a bonus for Master Han!
This dagger far exceeded my expectations!
Master Han must have poured his heart and soul into crafting it. He must have toiled away for the last half-month!
I am deeply ashamed of my earlier doubts!"
Hearing this, Gao Fei, who was standing nearby, felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
’Half a month? Poured his heart and soul into it?’
’When he’d come over, he heard Brother Zhao Yu from the repair department talking about it.’
’Brother Feng forged this thing in less than two hours, from firing up the furnace to the final cooling. The whole process was completely relaxed, like it was child’s play to him.’
Of course, he wasn’t about to say that out loud.
’At the same time, his understanding of Han Feng’s Artifact Refining skill reached a whole new level.’
’This wasn’t just skill.’
’It was monstrous talent!’
’He’s leagues better than those arrogant, high-and-mighty masters from the Celestial Workshop!’
’The key was, not only was he ridiculously efficient, but he was also affordable.’
Just then, Lei Xiao, who had been silent, suddenly coughed loudly twice.
"Ahem!"
He walked up to the counter, a flicker of embarrassment vanishing from his face to be replaced by a look of nonchalance.
"So... Long Xiao,"
He rubbed his hands together, his tone taking on a surprisingly fawning quality.
"Could you ask for me... is Master Han... still taking commissions for Tier Three Spiritual Soldiers?"
"I happen to have a spare piece of Tier Three Material myself. It’s a waste to just let it sit around, so I was hoping to ask Master Han to craft something with it.
Price is no object, absolutely no object!"
The moment he said this, the entire area fell silent.
Lei Hu, who was still ecstatic, whipped his head around. His eyes were wide as saucers as he stared at his older brother in utter disbelief.
"Brother? Didn’t you say... you’d already hired Master Wu from the Celestial Workshop?"
Lei Xiao’s face flushed red. He coughed again to cover his embarrassment, then said with a perfectly straight face,
"That was then, and this is now! That was only because I wasn’t aware of Master Han’s true skill, wasn’t it?
Now that I’ve witnessed his divine skill with my own eyes, I think I’d feel much more at ease entrusting my materials to him!
As for Master Wu, I’ll just cancel on him!"
Long Xiao watched from the side, trying so hard not to laugh that his face turned red.
He was roaring with laughter on the inside. ’Good grief. A minute ago, he was calling Master Han worthless, and now he’s changed his tune faster than you can flip a page.’
"Well..."
Long Xiao deliberately dragged out his words. "I’ll have to ask.
Master Han just finished forging your brother’s dagger, so he’s likely mentally exhausted and will need to rest for some time."
"Of course! That’s only right!"
Lei Xiao nodded profusely, his attitude impossibly agreeable.
"A master craftsman must balance work and rest, after all! Tell the master I’m in no rush. I’ll wait as long as it takes! As long as he’s willing to take the commission!"
"Alright, I’ll ask him for you later and let you know when I hear back."
Long Xiao nodded.
"Great! Great! I’m counting on you, then!"
With a grateful expression, Lei Xiao then pulled along the still-dazed Lei Hu.
"Let’s go, let’s go. We shouldn’t keep Boss Long from his business."
Watching the two brothers depart, Long Xiao finally let out the laugh he’d been holding back.
He picked up the two halves of the severed Battle Armor fragment, clicking his tongue in amazement.
’Just what kind of monster is this Han Feng?’
’His freakish combat ability was one thing, but for his skill in forging Spiritual Soldiers to be this ridiculous, too...!’
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