The Fang family was one of the few big clans in the prefecture, and it was only second to the Ni family.
Fang Yihai and Xiaoxiao Sheng arrived at the Ni residence the morning after to wait.
Xiaoxiao Sheng’s eyes lit up at the sight of Ou Yangming, and he remarked, “Master Ou, your martial arts cultivation base has improved once more.”
Ou Yangming grinned and replied to him, “Indeed, I can’t hide from your lightning eyes, senior!”
Fang Yihai was slightly stunned. He thought to himself after scanning Ou Yangming from head to toe, ‘This young fella is truly nature-defying, nothing can stop him.’
When Ou Yangming returned from the dense forest after killing Zhang Yinli, he had already entered Yin Grade Class One.
Even Fang Yihai was stunned by his cultivation speed. Nonetheless, some people were simply gifted and had enormous powers.
They gained a huge advantage when they were in Force Grade, thus they could advance to Yin Grade faster than the others.
Despite that, Fang Yihai had never heard of anyone who maintained such a fast cultivation speed after having moved one grade up already.
The trip to the Fang residence this time was so that Ou Yangming could attach Unique Attributes to some pieces of equipment, which was considered the clan’s secret. As thick-faced as Ni Yinghong was, she was not bold enough to tag along.
Therefore, there were only three people who set out.
The Fang family was a rich and influential family, so their residence’s decorations were not inferior to the Ni family’s at all.
It was evident that some aspects were interdependent when a clan’s wealth and legacy were at a certain level and point of time, thus a clan’s foundation could be identified through some inconspicuous details.
Some people had been waiting in the Fang residence for a long time.
Apart from Fang Xuande, there were also two other old men.
One of them smiled at Ou Yangming while the other’s eyes were lowered as though he was half-awake.
Ou Yangming suddenly became tensed up when he noticed the latter.
‘A Supreme Great Ancestor!’
The thoroughly meticulous state instantly allowed him to spot the fearsome energy that surrounded the elder. Although the old man had curbed his aura, he could not hide it from Ou Yangming. All of a sudden, the old man opened his eyes and cast a strange look at Ou Yangming as he remarked, “Lil’ Friend, you have a good eye!”
Ou Yangming dared not be impolite because he was facing a Supreme Great Ancestor, after all.
“I didn’t mean to offend you, please forgive me, senior.”
The old man waved his hand and said, “It’s fine. In actual fact, we should be thanking you instead.”
Fang Xuande turned to look at him and asked, “Grand Elder, you’re…”
“You’ve found a great little friend, he perceived my cultivation base at one glance. Hehe, I have confidence in him!” The old man chuckled.
The other people were taken aback because they did not expect Ou Yangming to have such a frightening vision.
Xiaoxiao Sheng cleared his throat and introduced, “Master Lil’ Ou, this is Fang Zhaoyang, the Fang family’s Supreme Great Ancestor; this is Fang Zhengde, our clan’s patriarch for this generation.”
Ou Yangming bowed at them but was still curious about something.
Between them, apart from Fang Zhaoyang, who was a Supreme Great Ancestor, in terms of cultivation base, Xiaoxiao Sheng was the best.
‘Xiaoxiao Sheng is at the peak of Yang Grade Class Five and is a half step to being a great ancestor.
‘But why is his surname not Fang, and he considers himself as Xiaoxiao Sheng instead?’
Ou Yangming was even more confused when he noticed how the rest treated Xiaoxiao Sheng without reservation as if he was a core figure in their clan.
Nevertheless, Ou Yangming was not interested in exploring the disputes and the past of a big clan.
Fang Zhaoyang asked, “Lil’ Friend, I heard you want to learn our clan’s Tool-chiseling Secret Technique?”
Ou Yangming was stunned for a while, but he quickly understood what it was, and he cursed, ‘Boring is boring, why do you have to say that it’s tool-chiseling? As nice as it sounds, it’s just boring…’ Despite that, he responded respectfully, “Yes, I’d like you to guide me, senior.”
“The Tool-chiseling Secret Technique isn’t our clan’s lost study, and there’s someone who’s adept in the art.” Fang Zhaoyang smiled and continued after a pause, “We need you to attach layered attributes to some pieces of equipment, and if you do it well, I’ll ask Xuande to teach you everything.”
Ou Yangming’s eyes glowed, and he quickly thanked, “Thank you, senior!”
It was extremely difficult to get a Supreme Great Ancestor’s promise.
That said, Ou Yangming somewhat realized that he had actually benefited from the Ni family. If the Ni family had not taken his side and even snatched him away when he arrived at the prefecture, perhaps the situation would be completely different.
Fang Zhengde stood up and said, “Master Lil’ Ou, please come with me.”
Following that, they headed to a secret room. Ou Yangming was drawn when he saw the pieces of equipment, precious ores, and gems that were stored here.
Normal types of equipment were helmets, arm guards, greaves, and weapons. However, in the room, a longbow replaced the military saber. Other than that, there was also a precious sash, a pair of boots, and a cloak.
Ou Yangming saw the precious sash, the boots, and the cloak slightly longer.
Even though he could smith most types of equipment, he was clueless about these three types of equipment. “Master Lil’ Ou, I heard you’re also an appraiser. How about you take a look at these pieces of equipment first?” Fang Zhengde stated with a smile.
Ou Yangming responded to him, then took a step forward to touch them for a brief moment.
In actuality, he knew their attributes, grade, and rank the instant he touched them, but it would be quite shocking if he simply revealed them.
“This helmet is at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five, it’s quite good. As for this armor, it’s a Fine Grade Rank Four…” Ou Yangming stated after he acted pretentiously for 15 minutes. He continued to disclose the properties of the other pieces of equipment until he reached the longbow, where he spoke in confusion, “This weapon is probably the equipment set’s essence, am I right? But it seems like it’s only in Fine Grade Rank Three…”
Before Ou Yangming came, he had actually roughly found out about the trip’s purpose.
An archer’s equipment set!
This was the reason the Fang family had looked for him.
In spite of that, since the task involved an archer’s equipment set, its core is naturally the longbow.
Contrary to what Ou Yangming had expected, while the other pieces of equipment had achieved Fine Grade Rank Five if not Fine Grade Rank Four, the core was only a Fine Grade Rank Three.
No matter how he looked at it, it was not quite reasonable.
“Ah…” Fang Xuande sighed. Since he was the best in smithing art in the clan, it only made sense that he explained the matter.
“Master Lil’ Ou, honestly, the longbow that we need must contain a certain element. We’ve been providing the element for decades and invited countless smithing masters to smith it, but Rank Three is the best we can get…” He sounded very helpless.
Ou Yangming was moved, and he instantly associated the matter with the Fang family’s unique skill — tool-chiseling or boring.
Clearly, the longbow was not as simple as it seemed.
“If we found you earlier, we would’ve asked you to smith one,” Fang Xuande shook his head and uttered.
“Do you not have the materials for this longbow anymore?” Ou Yangming asked as a thought crossed his mind.
Fang Xuande smiled bitterly. “It’s incredibly difficult to gather that material, and we’ll only be able to gather it at least at the end of next year, but…”
“Cough…” Fang Zhengde suddenly coughed and cut him off. “Master Ou, can you see if you’re able to improve its rank?”
He was obviously asking a question to fill in the conversation because he wanted to stop Fang Xuande from continuing.
Fang Xuande was dumbfounded, but he realized that he had slipped up, hence he quickly shut his mouth.
Ou Yangming answered after some thought, “I can try. I might be able to do it.”
“What?”
A few of them uttered at the same time. Even Fang Zhaoyang, the Fang family’s Supreme Great Ancestor, looked at him in high spirits.
“I said, I might be able to do it.” Ou Yangming was taken aback.
Xiaoxiao Sheng quickly questioned, “Master Lil’ Ou, if you attempt it, will you damage the longbow?” Ou Yangming glared at him and responded, “Senior, are you underestimating me?”
“How certain are you about succeeding?” Xiaoxiao Sheng smiled embarrassedly.
Ou Yangming pondered. He wanted to say that he was roughly 75% sure that he could do it, but he decided to say, “Around 50%…”
The other people exchanged glances as they thought a 50% success rate was worth a try.
“Okay, Master Ou, please attempt to improve its rank as much as you can,” Xiaoxiao Sheng said, then added after a pause, ‘The Fang family promises that as long as you do your best, you’ll be our most honorable guest, and we’ll protect you in the future no matter what happens.”
Ou Yangming was shocked. It would seem more appropriate if Fang Zhaoyang or Fang Zhengde had given the promise instead.
That being said, after looking at the other people from the Fang family, he understood that the promise represented the Fang family’s promise.
Ou Yangming nodded. He took the longbow and turned it around to study it for some time.
Regardless of the situation, he could not let anyone see the Military Fire’s secret, so he racked his brain to come up with a reason. “This longbow is smithed pretty well, but its fine structure is a little flawed, which is why it’s only in Fine Grade Rank Three.”
“Its fine structure is flawed?” Fang Xuande immediately had a strange look on his face, and hesitated for a moment before he revealed, “Master Lil’ Ou, this longbow was personally smithed by Master Wu Hongxi!”
Ou Yangming was stupefied. “Master Wu Hongxi, the Fine Grade King?” “That’s right.”
‘Oh no…’ Ou Yangming said to himself.
Master Wu Hongxi was a truly renowned peerless figure. He had smithed uncountable pieces of equipment throughout his life, and he was particularly honored for smithing pieces of Fine Grade equipment.
It was said that 70% of the pieces of Fine Grade equipment smithed by him were at the peak of Rank Five, and he gained the respectable title of Fine Grade King due to this glorious achievement.
‘How can I talk nonsense like that? The fine structure is flawed? If he hears this, I’ll…’Ou Yangming dared not think further.
However, as the people from the Fang family gave him questioning looks, he had to bite the bullet and complete his lie.
Ou Yangming glanced at Fang Xuande before he asked, “Senior Fang, what was my success rate of smithing pieces of equipment at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five yesterday?”
Fang Xuande was startled. There was a drastic change to the look on his face, and he was soon lost for words.
In addition, the other people stopped casting doubtful looks at him too.
The peak of Rank Five. Every piece of equipment that was smithed by Ou Yangming yesterday was at the peak of Rank Five despite their different grades.
As such, Fang Xuande shut his mouth, but he was secretly feeling more bewildered.
‘Could the famous Master Wu Hongxi’s level of attainment in fine structure be inferior to this young fella’s?’
