Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

Chapter 298: Chapter 170: Shock and Anger

The Purple Sun Sect owned all of Cyan Yang City, so naturally, the Sect had many businesses there. The Divine Weapon Pavilion was one of them, mainly selling weapons forged by the disciples of Li Fire Peak for practice. Rumor had it they even had Half-Spirit Weapons for sale.

At the Purple Sun Sect’s businesses, to prevent the Guardian Disciples from colluding with the shopkeepers and staff to steal the Sect’s wealth, the Guardian Disciples were generally rotated every three months.

On the way from the Purple Sun Sect, the group gradually warmed up to each other and began exchanging names.

The man whose cultivation was at Gang Qi Great Success was named Zhou Zhichao, and he was from Tan Mountain County.

The other two were Li Yi and Xu Jun. Xu Jun even shared the same surname as Xu Yang.

From their conversation, he learned that these three, like him, hadn’t chosen this task willingly but had been assigned it by the Task Hall.

They all spent their years tempering themselves in the Yunling Mountain Range and looked down on the paltry contribution points offered by a garrison task. But when the Sect issued an order, they had no choice but to obey.

Gao Peng was somewhat evasive, but he also claimed that the Task Hall had assigned him to this garrison mission.

"Brother Xu, have you reached Gang Qi Perfection yet?" Zhou Zhichao asked with a smile.

He himself had reached Gang Qi Great Success, and his goal for this year’s Outer Disciple competition was to place in the top twenty. That made Xu Yang a potential rival, so he was naturally curious about his cultivation.

At his words, the others held their breath and listened intently.

Xu Yang smiled. "I’m still a ways off."

Zhou Zhichao inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. "I heard that a month ago, Han Feng and Xiong Kun had already reached Gang Qi Perfection and were starting to push for a breakthrough into the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm. I wonder if they succeeded."

Xu Yang shook his head. "The Marrow Cleansing breakthrough is incredibly difficult. Even back when Li Chuyang and Du Chuan reached Gang Qi Perfection, it took them two or three months of assaulting the bottleneck before they broke through."

Li Yi said, "I’m so jealous of geniuses like them. We haven’t even reached Gang Qi Great Success, and they’re already in the Marrow Cleansing realm."

...

As they spoke, Cyan Yang City appeared in the distance. The group fell silent, quickly entering the city and finding the Divine Weapon Pavilion.

As the shop with the highest-quality weapons in Cyan Yang City, the Divine Weapon Pavilion was exceptionally luxurious. Though only three stories, it stood a towering four to five zhang high, with soaring eaves, interlocking brackets, carved beams, and painted rafters. Its walls were lacquered red, and its tiles gilded.

Two enormous stone lions guarded the entrance, with a row of hitching posts nearby.

The group presented their tokens to the shopkeeper of the Divine Weapon Pavilion and were quickly assigned their duties.

Li Yi and Xu Jun, whose cultivation was at Gang Qi Minor Achievement, were each given a saber and immediately posted at the main entrance to stand guard.

The two were annoyed, but they could only accept their assignment.

Gao Peng was also given a blade and sent to guard the back door alone, an even worse post than Li Yi and Xu Jun’s.

Xu Yang and Zhou Zhichao, both at Gang Qi Great Success, followed the shopkeeper to the second floor. Zhou Zhichao was assigned to guard the second floor, while Xu Yang was responsible for the third.

He went up to the third floor with the shopkeeper and saw that the floorboards and wall panels had been reinforced with steel. Even the windows were iron.

There were very few weapons here. Xu Yang counted them—only six in total.

Two sabers, two swords, a greatspear nearly a zhang long, and a battle halberd.

The sabers and swords were sheathed, so he couldn’t gauge their quality, but the greatspear and the battle halberd were definitely Half-Spirit Weapons.

The aura they emanated was identical to that of the Half-Spirit Weapon, Blue Blade, which he had seen at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion auction.

"Annihilate anyone who comes near this place, unless I am personally escorting them," Shopkeeper Fan Chongde said.

Xu Yang nodded and asked curiously, "Shopkeeper Fan, are all of these weapons Half-Spirit Weapons?"

"They are," Fan Chongde confirmed with a nod.

"How much do they cost?" Xu Yang asked.

’If I liquidate all my assets, I should be able to afford one Half-Spirit Weapon,’ he thought. ’With a Half-Spirit Weapon, I could obliterate someone like Xiao Hua in just a few moves.’

Fan Chongde said, "The cheapest one, that sword, costs ten thousand taels."

Xu Yang was stunned. "I saw a Half-Spirit Weapon auctioned at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion once. The final price was less than six thousand taels. Why are the Half-Spirit Weapons at the Divine Weapon Pavilion so expensive?"

’The cheapest one is ten thousand taels... I can’t afford that even if I sell everything I own.’ He had apparently underestimated the prices at the Divine Weapon Pavilion.

’I always knew the Purple Sun Sect’s goods were expensive, but I never imagined *this* expensive.’

Fan Chongde said proudly, "How can the quality of items from the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion possibly compare to those from my Divine Weapon Pavilion? Even among Half-Spirit Weapons, there are vast differences. The type of Spiritual Gold incorporated, the skill of the weapon forger... the price can differ by severalfold."

"The Half-Spirit Weapons in our Divine Weapon Pavilion are all forged by the Elders of Li Fire Peak. They can’t be compared to those cobbled together by some back-alley forger."

Xu Yang realized that a Weapon Forger’s status was likely no lower than a Pill Master’s, and their earning potential might be even greater.

’A single Half-Spirit Weapon easily goes for over ten thousand taels, while painstakingly refining a whole cauldron of elixirs only earns a few hundred to a thousand taels.’

Nearby, there was a meditation cushion for the person on duty. Xu Yang went over, sat down, and closed his eyes.

At noon, Fan Chongde personally brought him lunch. Xu Yang devoured it but was still hungry, so he asked the shopkeeper to bring more next time.

Fan Chongde was dumbfounded.

He knew Martial Artists had large appetites, but this was the first time he had seen someone eat as much as Xu Yang. The young man’s stomach was like a bottomless pit—he had eaten enough food for three or four people by himself, yet he still felt it wasn’t enough.

And this wasn’t ordinary food; it was specially prepared Exotic Beast Meat. A normal person would feel full after just a few bites.

As evening fell, Fan Chongde came up with another man in tow. It was Cao Rong, come to relieve Xu Yang and take over the night watch.

"So the new Guardian Disciple is Brother Xu. What a coincidence," Cao Rong said with a smile.