“How wide?
“Fifteen meters?”
The old blacksmith stared at Jiang He suspiciously and asked in astonishment, “Why would you want such a huge wok?”
He repeated himself, suspecting that he was not hearing Jiang He correctly, and became speechless when he saw Jiang He nod. “A fifteen-meter wide wok… Are you cooking a cow? No, not even a cow would need something that big.”
“I’m not cooking a cow. Why would I need such a huge wok to cook a cow?”
Jiang He chuckled. “I went to Jiangnan just a few days ago and got me a lobster and a crab. Well, as you would know, most marine life had evolved now, which is why those things are a little big…”
‘A little big, when you are asking for a fifteen-meter wok?’
The blacksmith smiled. “Can’t you cut them up before you cook them?”
“Sliced lobster and crab are soulless. Even king crabs are served whole—who on earth serves those things sliced?”
“…”
The old blacksmith had no retort to offer, and so thought about it before saying, “You want a wok that’s so huge and want it to capable of withstanding extreme temperatures… the wok has to be thick, at least thicker than normal woks…”
“Fifteen meters large and five times the size of a standard wok… when that happens, it would need more oil and firewood to heat it up.”
Jiang He laughed out loud. “It’s fine. Don’t worry and just smith it—I don’t use firewood anyway. My pets have fire-type powers, and I just need them to breathe fire on the food.”
Old blacksmith: “…”
After they discussed the design and details of the giant wok, Jiang He took out a sunflower stem with a turn of his hand.
Like its flower and seeds, the stem was purple-gold and appeared quite noble.
The old blacksmith received the sunflower stem and exclaimed in shock, “What is this? It’ looks like a sunflower stem, but it doesn’t feel that way to the touch…”
“It is a sunflower stem.”
Jiang He grinned. “I passed by a land where it was growing when I headed to Jiangnan. I wanted to chop them down to use as firewood, but it proved too sturdy. It might have evolved somehow, so I wanted to try to make it a weapon.”
“Wow!”
The old blacksmith’s eyes lit up then, “I could try…”
It was a new crafting material for the old blacksmith. Having come from a family with generations of blacksmiths and inheriting his craft from them at a young age, even awakening a smithing hammer as a superpower, it was obvious that the old blacksmith really liked his line of work.
He was almost impatient to test the purple-gold sunflower stem—Jiang He gave him eight of those before showing himself out of the blacksmith’s workshop.
Then, he saw that Dumbo and Trumbo were gone.
“Those two wretches!”
Jiang He clenched his teeth. Before he went to the blacksmith, he had them play outside the workshop and told them not to run around…
And now, they were gone in the blink of an eye.
Still, Jiang He was not worried that they would hurt others—he was confident on that much since he planted both beasts.
Even so this was the Martial Arts Department (MAD). With the many martial artists and Awakened working here possessing some extent of insight, they would jump when they found out that Dumbo and Trumbo were rank-six pinnacle.
Yes…
Both Dumbo and Trumbo were rank-six pinnacle now.
They had been munching on a lot of grave grass and blended qi pellets over the last two days, and aside from improved cultivation, Dumbo learned a blade technique while Trumbo awakened fire-type powers…
After all, one of the Heavenly Generals Jiang He killed was an Awakened named Earthen Savage or something…
Still, with a sweep using his spirit, Jiang He soon found Dumbo and Trumbo.
Cat and dog were playing chase and had arrived outside of the building for martial artist and Awakened assessments. There were a lot of people here, and aside from MAD personnel, there were martial artists and Awakened there to participate in assessments.
“Eh?”
Someone gasped in surprise then upon realizing how extraordinary Dumbo and Trumbo were, and exclaimed in shock, “Is that cat and dog Ferals? I actually sensed a dangerous aura from them?”
“I must be mistaken. As an Awakened with strong spirit, I could sense even rank-three or four martial artists that concealed their auras. How could I not sense it if that cat and dog are Ferals?”
A crowd started to form and surrounded Dumbo and Trumbo then. Exchanging glances, cat and dog were ready to leave when another gasp of surprise could be heard.
“Eh?
“Isn’t that the dog in Mister Jiang’s house?”
It was Su Ze and several colleagues who were passing by after having breakfast, coming by for a look in curiosity when they saw the crowd.
He immediately recognized Dumbo and Trumbo with his first glance and came to them with an outstretched hand, intending to pet Dumbo’s head.
Dumbo glared at him instead.
“…”
Su Ze pulled back, even jumping a step back.
A colleague of his in intelligence asked in curiosity, “What is it, Su Ze?”
“No… it’s nothing.”
Su Ze suspected that he had it wrong then… but did that dog just roll its eyes at him?
“No way? Even if Jiang He’s dog is a Feral and smarter than most dogs, it couldn’t be that human, could it?”
Su Ze could not help chuckling at that thought, and took out a tea egg from his colleague’s lunchbox and threw it at Dumbo, saying, “Here, have an egg. Go back to your master after you’re done eating.”
However, Dumbo shot the egg a look of disdain, and picked up the egg with its paw to throw it at Su Ze, barking, “Fool, why would this dog eat this rubbish?”
Tea egg[1]?
This dog eats rank-six and rank-seven Feral meat every day back home, and snack on blended qi pellets served in bowls. Would it even care for a tea egg?
Was Su Ze belittling it now?
With that, Dumbo stood on its rear legs, and spoke to a martial artist who was standing in its way, “Excuse me…”
Then, it strode off with a swagger along with Trumbo.
The crowd was left silent, with everyone gaping speechlessly and seemingly thunderstruck, frozen stiff where they were.
When cat and dog eventually vanished from sight off a corner, someone finally cried out in shock, “What the hell… human speech? Were those king-class Ferals?”
As the crowd erupted in an uproar, Su Ze remained where he was, holding the tea egg Dumbo had thrown back at him.
That was when Dumbo, who disappeared from a corner poked out its head and grinned at everyone.
The uproar faded instantly and everyone stared wide-eyed at Dumbo.
Laughing, Dumbo spoke with its Sichuan-Xibei accent, “Fools. What do you mean, king-class Feral? This dog is just rank-six pinnacle…”
“Are all Ferals that can talk king-class?”
“Starlings talk too, so they must be king-class.”
“Damn it!”
The dog could not show its middle finger, or the effect would have been astounding.
***
In the distance, Jiang He almost broke out in laughter.
That Dumbo actually gave those martial-artist and Awakened the stink-eye… that said, the dog itself could give that crowd a beatdown, and the stink-eye seems reasonable.
When dog and cat returned to him, Jiang He said, “Stop running around. Come with me.”
He led Dumbo and Trumbo back into the old blacksmith’s workshop. The blacksmith was actually scowling and said, “Your sunflower stem can’t be fashioned into weapons, Jiang He. It is sturdy, but it is still a plant and wooden. Still, I tried it and it really could be used as a club, and it would be a match for A-grade alloy weapons. You could also use it as a spear by adding a spear tip on it.”
The image of Dumbo and Trumbo holding spears came to Jiang He’s mind then…
It might look imposing, but neither of those beasts knew club or spear techniques.
Still, he wonders if the Sky Demon Cult has elites in those fields…
“Well, since that won’t work, please forge my wok, old man.”
Dumbo and Trumbo were clearly unhappy about that.
Scowling, Jiang He barked, “You’re a cat and a dog. Why would you want to fool around with spears and clubs? I’ll get you two a combat blade or a longsword later, and make it S-grade for you to play with.”
Delighted, cat and dog ran off again.
“What the hell!”
At a loss for words, Jiang He quickly scolded them, “Get back here! Don’t go running around without my orders.”
Initially, Jiang He wanted to craft his pets some body armor, but considering that the old blacksmith’s skill was still limited and he could not craft S-grade alloy amor, he decided to give up on the idea.
Hence, the old blacksmith started to forge the wok whereas Jiang He squatted outside, munching on sunflower seeds.
Soon, Duan Tianhe came by.
Clearly, he knew that Jiang He had come to the MAD.
He walked up and squatted beside Jiang He with a weird look on his face. After staring at Jiang He for some time, he breathed a long sigh, saying, “I heard from the Blade King about what happened last night. To think that you would grow from rank-four to such heights in just a month.”
Jiang He sighed at the mention of the old days too. “Yeah. At the time, I still wondered how I’m supposed to kill rank-seven grandmasters, but now… I could poke them to death with my fingertip.”
Duan Tianhe: “…”
Being a rank-seven grandmaster, he felt like his heart received a hundred-thousandfold critical hit.
“By the way, is there something you want to talk about, Chief Duan?”
Jiang He whipped out another handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket and split half with Duan Tianhe.
Duan Tianhe had seen these purple-gold sunflower seeds before. Still, despite the familiarity, he did not pay much attention to it after a glance at the pile of sunflower seed shells in front of Jiang He.
Could he be munching on them like that if those really were purple-gold sunflower seeds?
It was a treasure worth up to millions per seed that improves spirit after consumption.
“Well, there is something.”
Duan Tianhe said as he started munching on the sunflower seeds too. “The Tantra’s Secret Realm would be opened on the seventh of October, and the higher-ups mean to transport candidates such as you there ahead of time… Things might have been unpleasant between Minister Wang and the Tantra sect when he went there to talk, and if Tantra elites challenge you, you might need to help interfere.”
“That’s it?”
Jiang He laughed out loud as he spat out a sunflower seed shell. “Don’t worry, I actually have some ties to the Tantra sect. When the time comes, I’ll just have to show some sincerity, and their elites would show me face.”
Yeah…
Ties.
Jiang He believed that, at least.
Since the Dragon-Elephant Prajna was a secret technique of the Tantra sect, was it not a strong tie since he knows it?
“Good.”
Duan Tianhe smiled, although he was puzzled inwardly…
Jiang He had ties to the Tantra sect?
Could his hunch before was on the money? That Jiang He’s last name connects him to the Jiang clan of the Yellow Emperor’s Tomb which was another one of the five Holy Grounds…
If that was the case, it made sense that there were ties between.
Duan Tianhe thought about it whilst continuing to munch on the sunflower seeds, when his body’s aura suddenly shook…
Ooom!
His spirit seemed to have improved considerably?
Shock, Duan Tianhe stared wide-eyed at the remaining sunflower seeds in his palm and then at Jiang He, who said with a look of envy, “Ah… Chief Duan, you really are a lucky one, ascending your spirit by just munching some purple-gold sunflower seeds. I never had that, and who knows how many more years it would be before I ascend again…”
Jiang He realized that his growth rate had become infinitely slow after his spirit reached divine-tier…
Of course, it might be because he just ascended last night, and had not munched enough sunflower seeds or drank enough Origin Fluid yet.
[1] mm tea eggs are great though
