Chapter 360: Chapter 359: Ten-Year Weapon Embryo (Sixth update)
"Outstanding figures emerge endlessly in the world."
Lu Lingxi stared at Shi Xiaole for a long while before pulling her gaze away, her heart filled with too many feelings of wonder.
As the universally acknowledged number one female sword prodigy of Fire Cloud State, Lu Lingxi knew that the world outside was vast and full of formidable fighters, but she had never left Fire Cloud State before.
Among the people she knew, originally only ’Lightning Blade’ Yang Feng could earn her admiration. Now, another person was added to this list: Shi Xiaole from Qingxue State.
"I wonder, who is stronger between him and Yang Feng?"
Yang Feng for Fire Cloud State was like Shi Xiaole for Qingxue State, both being the personification of their state’s genius, the flag-bearers of the younger generation, their talent so high that it made others dim in comparison.
Regrettably, Yang Feng left Fire Cloud State a year ago. It was said that he went to the broader Martial World beyond the Eight States, and no one knew how he was doing now.
With Shi Xiaole at the helm, the escorts of the Heroic Escort Agency were thoroughly reassured, occasionally bursting into laughter and finally relaxing.
Their luck wasn’t the best, as they later encountered several formidable groups of bandits. However, under the leadership of Shi Xiaole and Lu Lingxi, they easily beat them off with ease.
Three days later, Flame Cloud City was within sight, a magnificent metropolis.
The city wall stood fifteen zhang high, entirely paved with red and yellow bricks. At the center was a red copper gate embroidered with flame patterns. Through the city wall, one could easily see a stretch of neatly arranged loft buildings inside the city, echoing the fire clouds on the skyline, a bustling and vibrant scene rushing towards the face.
Also confronting them was the sweltering heat in the air.
Flame Cloud City was near the Flame Cloud Mountain Range, with temperatures reaching over forty degrees. It could be seen that both the city guards and the citizens entering and exiting the city gate dressed very lightly.
After an inspection, everyone entered the city.
The streets of Flame Cloud City were dozens of meters wide, accommodating several carriages driving side by side, even the cobblestones paving the ground were red.
Looking around, both sides were filled with shops, banks, taverns etc. The shouts of peddlers, the cries of salesmen, the voices of discussion formed a clamor, causing one’s ears to ring.
"It indeed deserves to be the number one city in Fire Cloud State."
Shi Xiaole nodded to himself.
The Martial World of Fire Cloud State was obviously stronger than that of Qingxue State by more than one level, and even slightly superior to Great Cold State. Without having walked a hundred meters, Shi Xiaole had already seen a lot of masters in the Spiritual-Passage Realm.
Of course, this was also because Flame Cloud City was uniquely located. Many masters came to Flame Cloud Mountain Range in search of weapon embryos.
"Honored guests, I need to meet up with my master now and will bid you farewell."
In the middle of the street, Lu Lingxi gave the group a fist salute.
"Please go ahead, Lady Lu."
Wang Dahuh and the others quickly returned the salute.
Having gotten to know the famous Lu Lingxi, they felt that escorting this trip was worthwhile.
"Brother Shi, in the coming days, I’ll be at Lingjian Tower. You can find me there if there’s anything."
Lu Lingxi suddenly addressed Shi Xiaole.
Along the way, she had asked him a lot of questions about swordsmanship, initially with the attitude of giving it a try. Unexpectedly, he had not withheld anything, imparting his knowledge attentively and benefiting her greatly, probably saving her years of effort.
So now, Lu Lingxi admired not only Shi Xiaole’s strength but also his generosity, and recognized him as a good friend.
"Certainly."
Shi Xiaole nodded with a smile.
As for teaching Lu Lingxi, Shi Xiaole did not take it to heart. Only weaklings would withhold everything, fearing to be surpassed by others. He wished that more and more of his peers would become high-level martial artists.
The group parted ways, and shortly afterward, Shi Xiaole and the escorts settled in an inn.
After successfully acting as escorts, Wang Dahuh and his peers were not in a hurry to return.
Now was the eruption period of the Flame Cloud Mountain Range, and if they were lucky, they might find some superior weapon embryos in the Flame Cloud Mountain Range. Even if they didn’t craft weapons themselves, they could exchange these embryos for what they wanted in the black market, or simply sell them for money.
Don’t think that Shi Xiaole had no worries about food or clothing, but that was because he had the financial support from the Golden Phoenix Tower and Lele City. For ordinary people of the martial community, money was always a big problem.
Boom!
In the inn, Shi Xiaole looked towards the back of Flame Cloud City through the window.
There, the horizon was dyed red, with columns of red magma shooting up into the sky from time to time, followed by black smoke. The strong tremor could still be clearly felt in Flame Cloud City, which was dozens of miles away.
"It’s really like a volcanic eruption, but each eruption is hundreds of times smaller, posing no big threat to martial arts masters."
Shi Xiaole looked eager to give it a try.
Whilst for others the Flame Cloud Mountain Range was a treasure land for hunting weapon embryos, for Shi Xiaole it held much more significance—it was a place to forge swords.
Although he already had a Redfire Sword, after his strength reached the fourth level of the Spiritual-Passage Realm, the power of the Redfire Sword had reached its limit. If he could find a superior weapon embryo, Shi Xiaole might be able to forge an even better low-grade spiritual sword.
What’s more, the process of forging a sword would in itself refine his own swordsmanship and Sword Heart, benefitting swordsmen enormously.
After lunch, Shi Xiaole and Wang Dahuh headed for the Flame Cloud Mountain Range. Having been there many times, Wang Dahuh knew the terrain well. With their guidance, Shi Xiaole could save a lot of effort.
Inside the Flame Cloud Mountain Range, the ground was uneven and full of pits, with numerous small peaks scattered everywhere, and countless volcano craters stretching as far as the eye could see.
Every once in a while, numerous volcanic craters would spew out magma, creating a spectacular scene of countless fire dragons soaring into the sky.
The temperature here reached a horrifying eighty degrees plus. Ordinary Martial Artists in the Xuanqi Realm dared not approach, only masters in the Spiritual-Passage Realm dared to enter.
As for those masters above the Spiritual-Passage Realm, to say nothing of the fact that they are non-existent amongst the eight states, even if they were here, they wouldn’t be interested in the weapon embryos found here, thus they wouldn’t likely visit this place.
Shi Xiaole and the others mobilized their internal power and swiftly entered the Flame Cloud Mountain Range.
"Brother Shi, be aware, the taller and thicker the volcanic crater is, the more frequently it erupts and the more ferocious its firepower. If weapon embryos emerge from it, they are also likely to be of higher quality,"
"However, don’t ignore those low, inconspicuous volcanic craters, especially the recently formed ones. The first explosion could possibly bring up the weapon embryos from the underground magma river. There have been several instances in the past where fifty-year-old weapon embryos were ejected and triggered a mad scramble among many."
As they passed by many dark volcanic craters, Wang Dahuh enthusiastically explained.
Shi Xiaole took note of all this, his eyes keenly observing his surroundings.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Just then, the ground nearby began to shake violently. Several volcanoes, some hundreds of meters away and others only a few tens of meters away, all erupted magma simultaneously with fiery liquid splattering everywhere.
"Dodge quickly!"
Wang Dahuh shouted.
Everyone hastily activated their flying skill to retreat. Some of the fiery liquid sprayed far away, fortunately only splattering sporadically, and was dispersed by their internal power.
"Huh, there’s a weapon embryo here."
One of the escorts suddenly squinted his eyes, slightly shifted his body and picked up a baby-fist-sized black stone, still radiating heat, from the ground not far away.
The black stone looked like a honeycomb. Its surface was about twenty percent red, alternating between bright and dim, its aura causing the internal power on the escort’s palm to sizzle.
"Liu Dayou, you’re lucky, you’ve found a high-quality weapon embryo."
The other escorts laughed, their expression conveying their envy.
"Who can blame me for having sharp eyes?"
The escort named Liu Dayou chuckled foolishly and quickly took out a special box he had bought from Flame Cloud City to store the black stone.
Weapon embryos are classified into lower quality, middle quality, high quality, as well as ten-year and twenty-year weapon embryos, etc.
The lower quality weapon embryos are hot to the touch but are black in color, representing the poorest hardness. While the middle-quality weapon embryos are baked red by the magma covering about ten percent of their volume, therefore, their hardness is considerably better.
What Liu Dayou picked up was a high-quality weapon embryo.
As for the ten-year weapon embryos, their hardness represents the fact that they can withstand being in a magma sea for ten years without being destroyed. Naturally, if they were used for weapon crafting, they would be indestructible.
However, such weapon embryos are rare.
Despite the thousands of miles of volcanic craters in the Flame Cloud Mountain Range, generally, only a few would explode every five or six years. Once they were discovered, they would inevitably trigger a mad scramble.
Actually, Shi Xiaole had noticed the weapon embryo in Liu Dayou’s hand earlier, but for him, it wasn’t worth making a move for such a level.
The group continued to venture deeper into the Flame Cloud Mountain Range, coming across many martial artists along the way. Whenever a volcanic crater erupted, they would all rush towards it.
There were even a few times when high-quality weapon embryos appeared. The masters nearby would inevitably fight for them, with the defeated ones left dead on the ground. After a short while, they would be engulfed and incinerated by the spewing magma, leaving no remains.
The cruelty of the Martial World was fully demonstrated here.
Wang Dahuh and his men also rushed into the fights several times, obtaining a few middle and lower quality weapon embryos.
As for Shi Xiaole, he had not made any move all along.
After several days, Wang Dahuh finally obtained a high-quality weapon embryo, but the luck of the other escorts was much worse. Apart from the first day, the harvest in the next few days was negligible.
A while later, Wang Dahuh received a letter from the Heroic Escort Agency stating that they had received a heavy assignment and had to return immediately. So, with reluctance to part from Shi Xiaole, he led his men away from Flame Cloud City.
Shi Xiaole began to wander alone in the Flame Cloud Mountain Range.
Unlike the others, he had been silently observing the regularities in the quality of weapon embryos from different volcanic craters with his spiritual power, hoping to find excellent weapon embryos more efficiently. If he were to rely on luck, what would he do if he were not lucky?
Lo and behold, he did manage to find some clues.
One day, Shi Xiaole stationed himself in front of a medium-sized volcano, not going anywhere else.
This volcano was ordinary, but Shi Xiaole, with his spiritual power far exceeding those at the Spiritual-Passage Realm, noticed that its temperature was a bit higher than that of other areas, and it fluctuated. This was the precursor of an eruption.
At a certain moment.
A loud explosion occurred.
Strands of magma erupted into the sky. Shi Xiaole’s eyes were fixed on this volcano. As his body leaped through the sky filled with splattering fiery liquid, he had an extra black rock, about fifty percent of its surface red, in his hand by the time he landed.
The heat it radiated caused the air to distort incessantly.
"Tsk, tsk, you’re so lucky, you’ve actually found a ten-year weapon embryo. Kid, leave your stuff behind."
A figure flew over from the distance, his face filled with excitement.
