By the time Ou Yangming returned to the luxurious courtyard that was prepared for him and his companions, Wu Hanning and the others had been waiting for a long time.
The beautiful ladies looked at him in confusion, making him feel uneasy. He turned to ask Ni Yinghong, “Elder Sister Ying, why are you looking at me like that?”
Ni Yinghong answered with a smile. “Lil’ Ming, why did you suddenly want to accept an apprentice? Isn’t that too fast?”
“Exactly. Besides, Master Ou, your apprentice is a 40-year-old… Uncle,” Bai Shixue noted with a smile.
Based on their understanding of Ou Yangming, he would unlikely do something like that.
Ou Yangming cleared his throat and said, “You’re quite well-informed, aren’t you?”
Bai Shixue explained, “Nothing can hide from us because Her Highness is here.”
The imperial family did not seem much superior to the aristocratic families in the eight counties, but they had daunting potential. Not to mention they could secretly send news to each other, even if they had to go against the various aristocratic families, they might not actually lose.
Wu Hanning looked deeply at Bai Shixue and remarked, “Young Pavilion Master, the Yi Pavilion has branches in every county’s prefecture and has connections with different aristocratic families. I suppose you’re more well-informed than we are.”
The two ladies looked at each other with smiles, but even Ou Yangming could tell that they were on the verge of breaking out into a fight. He furrowed his eyebrows and quickly expressed, “Try and guess why I did that.” With that, everyone including the two ladies became curious.
Jiang Jiumei frowned and went first. “Elder Brother, back in the martial arts field, you said that he’s gifted with mental power. That said, he’s not young anymore, so he can’t achieve much even if he’s really talented.”
The other ladies agreed with her. They were as puzzled as Yu Jinshuang and the other Supreme Great Ancestors.
It was true that a talented person was worth being groomed, but apart from one’s talent, one’s potential had to be taken into consideration too.
Perhaps Mao Ruiyi was gifted enough to cultivate mental power but given his age, it would be too much to say that he still had the potential for that. Nonetheless, there must be a reason Ou Yangming decided to accept him as his apprentice. Although the other people were puzzled, they would not get to the bottom of it because they did not want to offend the reputable master.
“I wouldn’t have recruited him if he only had the talent to cultivate mental power.” Ou Yangming nodded, then he explained after a pause, “But his physique is somehow unique; he’s immune to the Birds’ soundwave attack.”
Wu Hanning’s eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, “Immune to the soundwave track? He has that kind of physique…” The other ladies cast questioning looks at her.
After all, the imperial family had the most profound foundation, thus certain things could only be perceived by them. The other ladies might be as intelligent as the princess, but they were inferior to her in terms of their clans’ foundation. In particular, they lacked experiences related to the other races.
Wu Hanning did not intend to keep it a secret. She explained, “The Birds aren’t known for their physical powers, but their soundwave attacks. It’s a powerful power that must be grasped by all flying creatures.” She looked meaningfully at Ou Yangming and asked, “Brother Ou, you’re planning to…”
“One mustn’t harm others, but one must be vigilant to not be harmed,” Ou Yangming stated softly. His eyes were hollow as he continued, “The goshawk acknowledged me as its master but at the end of the day, it’s not the bird king. It’ll be troublesome if we encounter a more formidable bird in the future and become enemies with it. However, if we can come up with a type of Soundwave-resistant Equipment, everything will be different.” The young ladies looked at each other and nodded. ‘That’s the real act of being far-sighted and well-prepared.’
Nevertheless, Wu Hanning commented after a moment of hesitation, “Brother Ou, according to what I know, there are indeed people that are immune to the Birds’ soundwave attacks, but it’s a gift that belongs to that person only. It doesn’t seem possible to replicate it on other pieces of equipment.”
Ou Yangming chuckled. “Your Highness, it’s just an idea that I have, so I’ll have to research and try if I can realize it.” He humbled himself, but deep down he was very confident about succeeding.
After all, the young fellow had smithed distinctive pieces of Thunderbolt-resistant Equipment, so it would be possible for him to come up with others that carried gifted abilities.
The others looked at each other and stopped talking about this matter.
Since the goshawk acknowledged Ou Yangming as its master, it would become unloyal if it knew Ou Yangming was finding a way to guard against the Birds.
Ou Yangming looked at the ladies and smiled. “Now that I’m free, let me smith a suit for each of you. Your Highness, please request for some featured steel in this city because I’ll need them.” Wu Hanning was surprised. “Why would you need featured steel?”
The other ladies exchanged glances too because they knew he would not use featured steel for the pieces of equipment for them.
In actuality, before Ou Yangming rose to be successful, even a Superior Blacksmith like Wu Hongxi could only smith ordinary tools at the peak of Fine Grade. The longer the ladies stayed by the young fellow’s side, the more their eyes were opened. As such, they even began to look down on ordinary tools at the peak. Ou Yangming laughed and explained, “I’d like to smith a unique suit for Multi-armed King Kong and the goshawk too. The peculiar stones won’t be enough for sure, so I’ll have to use featured steel.”
It was then when the others came to a sudden realization, but they also felt helpless when they thought about the spirit beasts’ builds. Even if featured steel was used for their armors, the amount needed would be substantial.
Even so, nobody would think that Ou Yangming was wasting the people’s hard-earned wealth. Without him, the spirit beasts would have caused unimaginable damages to the Humans. Therefore, everyone would rather pay the price to gain the beasts’ help instead.
After some discussion, Ou Yangming stayed in the residence without worries.
Even though the Insects would emerge from underground several times a day, none of their attacks could shake up the people in the city.
Needless to say, the city was also strictly guarded such that every dead space was watched, hence the Insects could not launch large attacks at all.
Perhaps Ou Yangming and the others would feel impatient, but Yu Jinshuang and his people did not find it strange. This was because the Insects had been using the same tricks every time for generations. The only thing different this time was the parasites arranged by the spirit insect in the city had all been wiped out.
Even if there were a few that escaped, they were insignificant figures in the city and could not threaten the people at all.
Ou Yangming was relieved after he understood the entire situation. He focused on smithing pieces of equipment for the young ladies and the Supreme Great Ancestors in the city.
According to the ladies’ specialties, Ou Yangming worked hard to smith pieces of equipment that suit them and attached the best skills to them. As he did not need much time to smith everything, he completed their suits in several days.
Following that, it was the city’s Supreme Great Ancestors’ turn.
Once Ou Yangming displayed his unbelievable ability in smithing art, Yu Jinshuang and the other Supreme Great Ancestors were elated.
Under Jiang Jiumei’s request, Ou Yangming treated the Supreme Great Ancestors from the Mysterious Mirror Sect with special respect. While their pieces of equipment were not as remarkable as the ones received by Ni Yinghong and the other ladies, they were better than the ones given to the other great ancestors. Qinmiao Daoren and the rest were pleased. After getting a better understanding of everything else, Ou Yangming vaguely heard about the story between Qinmiao Daoren and Chen Dishou.
Ou Yangming was not a fan of gossip, and he never talked behind someone’s back. Having said that, he knew the story between the two figures was not unfounded.
Of course, Ou Yangming was not going to put his mind on such a matter. He had communicated with Multi-armed King Kong, the goshawk, and the others several times and sensed something unordinary. The Insects were skilled at being patient, but they were still unperturbed even when the parasites in the city were eliminated. It was as if they were not affected at all, so Ou Yangming and the others were puzzled.
They even began to think it was all a trap, but they could only wait helplessly because they could not find any clues.
A huge convoy showed up after a month, and the guests were warmly welcomed by Yu Jinshuang and the other powerhouses in the city. The convoy comprised 50 Supreme Great Ancestors, who were valiant and had important roles among the Humans.
Those Supreme Great Ancestors were the ones from the capital that headed to Huangsha County from Changlong County. Though they were inferior to Yu Jinshuang and the other experienced great ancestors, given that there were many of them and that they were equipped with pieces of equipment smithed by Ou Yangming, they had one of the greatest combat powers around.
Apart from Wu Yuanwei, who was the imperial family’s greatest powerhouse, and Ou Yangming’s spirit beasts, nobody could contend with them.
The person that led the convoy was none other than Woo Lejia. He greeted Wu Hanning and said, “Master Ou, we came to help because we heard the Insects changed their main target. We were afraid that the Insects are deliberately luring us away so only half of us came. Hehe, we almost fought each other for the spots.”
Everyone else grinned. They knew he was exaggerating it, but that was probably what happened.
When the capital’s Supreme Great Ancestors heard that Her Highness and Ou Yangming were in Yongxiang City, they were not willing to stay in Huangsha County anymore.
