“Woosh, woosh, woosh…”
Old Craftsman was glowing with health, and he became more energetic as he continued to perform the fist technique.
He suddenly yelled, then he withdrew his fists and stood straight while a hint of killing intent was released from his body.
Ou Yangming was moved. He beat everyone else to it and asked, “Old Man, who taught you this fist technique?”
Old Craftsman curbed his aura and answered loudly, “Big Brother Macaque was the one that taught me.”
Ou Yangimng nodded and cursed internally, ‘One takes on the color of one’s surroundings indeed. The fist technique’s more powerful, but it contains a vague killing intent.’
The old macaque laughed out loud. “Master Ou, it’s a secret technique that’s inherited in my race, and it’s the most suitable one to be learned by Younger Brother, so don’t worry.” It winked at Ou Yangming and smiled.
Ou Yangming was slightly stunned. He pondered for a brief moment and instantly understood the old macaque’s painstaking effort behind this.
Old Craftsman was originally stable, prudent, and somewhat timid, which might not be favorable if he wanted to train his willpower. Although a bit of killing intent was involved in this fist technique, it could compensate for the drawbacks in his character on a certain level.
It was evident that the Venerable Ones were not half-hearted toward Old Craftsman’s martial arts cultivation at all. Instead, they were truly doing their best.
Yuqi the Venerable One nodded as well. “Younger Brother, you’ve learned the fist technique quite well but…” He paused for a while before he continued, “The most important thing about martial arts cultivation is perseverance. Without sufficient bearing capability, one won’t be able to achieve much.”
Old Craftsman raised his eyebrows and responded, “Big Brother Yu, don’t worry, I’ve gone through hard days since I was young. If I’m not doing good enough, tell me straight away; I won’t complain at all.”
“Alright.” Yuqi the Venerable One gave him a thumbs-up and noted loudly, “Young Brother, you’re open-hearted indeed.” He added in high spirits, “Since you’ve grasped this fist technique, I’ll teach you a technique to train your willpower from tomorrow onward. If you’re able to perfect it, I assure you that you’ll advance into the Spirit Grade.”
Old Craftsman’s eyes lit up right away. The Spirit Grade might not be much to Ou Yangming and the others, but it was almost the synonym of invincibility to the old man.
He nodded hard and expressed, “Big Brother, don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you’ll be satisfied.”
Yuqi the Venerable One nodded with a smile. When everyone dispersed, there was a lively atmosphere again.
At night, Ou Yangming left the peak on his own. He looked into the distance for a while and finally sighed before he used his body technique to head to the forbidden area where the Venerable One was at.
Upon hearing Ou Yangming’s arrival, not only Yuqi the Venerable One, but the old macaque and Mao Jianbi also came out to welcome him.
Ou Yangming smiled with his eyes squinted when he saw everyone. “Ah, the 2 of you haven’t actually left. Hehe, did you know I was going to come and visit?”
Yuqi the Venerable One and the 2 others had had countless experiences in their lives, hence they had trained themselves to be extremely thick-faced. Even so, they could not help but blush at this moment.
Judging from how they were being so friendly toward Old Craftsman and the 3 ladies during the day, had they not been waiting for this moment?
Nonetheless, given their identities, they had reached their limit by doing that much. No matter what, they could not be shameless enough to fawn over the young fellow.
Ou Yangming cleared his throat and said, “Let’s go inside and talk.”
“Alright.” Yuqi the Venerable One immediately led everyone inside.
Ou Yangming did not beat around the bush, where he cut to the chase right away. “I’ve been thinking the whole day yesterday—the Thunderbolt-resistant Suit seemed to still have some drawbacks, so I’d like to smith another one and use it together with Earthly Formation Boards again.” He paused for a while and scanned the 3 men before he continued, “I’m sure you know that the suit and formation boards are meant to resist the Heavenly Thunderbolts. If I’d like to test the suit, I’ll need a top-grade Spiritualist to volunteer…”
Mao Jianbi trembled slightly, and he was so agitated that his eyes gleamed. He wanted to volunteer himself many times, but he kept looking at the Venerable Ones as he dared not respond before they did.
Ou Yangming continued to smile and say, “I don’t have any more top-grade Spiritualists around me, so I’d like the Beast King Sect to recommend someone. Would you be willing to do that?”
Yuqi the Venerable One and the old macaque exchanged glances and noticed the surprised yet overjoyed look in each other’s eyes.
They could not help but sigh internally at this moment.
‘Our hard work all this time isn’t in vain indeed. We received our returns so quickly.’
In actuality, according to the Venerable Ones, they were certain that Ou Yangming would repay them by making a similar request. Nevertheless, they did not expect happiness to arrive so quickly, so much so that it was far beyond their imaginations.
Yuqi the Venerable One took a deep breath and replied to the young fellow sternly, “Master Ou, you’re being too polite. Since it’s your request, the Beast King Sect will cooperate with you even if we need to go into boiling water or tread on fire.”
Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and thought, ‘Yuqi the Venerable One’s realistic; he’ll use honorifics whenever there are benefits. As for being willing to go into boiling water or tread on fire, that’s simply nonsense.’
Despite that, Ou Yangming’s vanity was satisfied after he was treated by the Venerable One with such respect.
The old macaque spoke eagerly, “Master Ou, let me know what materials you need, and I’ll get them prepared for you at once.” It blinked and added, “If you think that the suit’s still lacking, you can totally smith a few more.”
Ou Yangming almost passed out. He looked snappily at the old macaque and questioned, “Elder Macaque, if this spreads, I’m afraid that nobody will benefit from this, am I right?”
The old macaque was dumbfounded. It quickly laughed and rejoined, “Yes, yes, hehe. Making a fortune by keeping a low profile is the right thing to do.”
If only one newly advanced Venerable One appeared in the Beast King Sect within a short period, nobody would find it suspicious.
After all, the Nine Great Sects in Danzhou were influential sects with profound foundations, thus it would not be too much for a new Venerable One to emerge at any time.
Having said that, now that King Kong had just advanced, if someone else broke through that stage again right after that, anyone would be able to tell that something was fishy. The Beast King Sect might be one of the Humans’ Nine Great Sects, but they could not ignore the other sects and the Beasts coveting what they had.
Yuqi the Venerable One sighed and curbed his greedy thought as well. “Jianbi, you’ll be cooperating with Master Ou this time.” He instructed with a straight face, “You must follow Master Ou’s instructions completely and mustn’t delay anything, or I won’t let you off easily.”
Mao Jianbi had been waiting impatiently for a long time. He stood up in an instant and uttered, “Yes, Venerable One.” Following that, he kowtowed to Ou Yangming and said, “I’ll always be waiting for your instructions from now on, Master Ou.”
Ou Yangming waved his hand and thought.
‘Back when we first met, when you hosted the auction for the Interspatial Spiritual Tree, you probably never thought this was going to happen, did you?’
※※※※
Amidst a vast sea of clouds, a flying boat flew leisurely.
It was not fast, and it was much slower than a flying carpet. That said, the people on the boat looked like they were in a hurry and were rather depressed.
The flying boat was the flight equipment that was taken by the Zhangzhou powerhouses when they headed to and left Danzhou. The only thing was that the equipment’s quality was so high that it could not be compared by the Nine Great Sects from Danzhou at all.
Ai Hongli stood at the highest point on the flying boat. He had an unpredictable look in his eyes as he looked into the distance as though he was pondering over something.
Nobody on the flying boat dared to disturb the top-grade powerhouse at this time because they knew he was definitely in a bad mood at the moment.
In the Spiritual Realm, Danzhou and Zhangzhou had always been supporting but also competing with one another because they were just next to each other. Smithing art could not affect people’s feelings as much as martial arts could, but it influenced great benefits in the realm.
Honestly, Zhangzhou could steadily suppress Danzhou in terms of the smithing of large-scale and super large-scale pieces of equipment.
At the very least, the Humans from Danzhou could not refine something as humongous as a flying boat. In fact, they did not have Venerable Blacksmiths that could refine flying carpets. However, Danzhou was known for their smithing art in basic pieces of equipment, whose qualities would not be inferior to that of Zhangzhou at all.
It was worth noting that the Big Smithing Competition between the 2 prefectures would, in a sense, decide the trend of pieces of ordinary equipment for the next 3 decades.
After being defeated this time, there would be a negative impact on Zhangzhou, such that even Ai Hongli would more or less be tied up to this matter.
Therefore, even if one was courageous, one would not bring contempt upon oneself at this time.
Nonetheless, not everyone feared the top-grade Venerable One that much.
Qiu Chengwang flashed and arrived at the top of the flying boat without a sound and even approached Ai Hongli without any hesitation.
Ai Hongli asked without an expression on his face, “Venerable One Qiu, why are you here instead of going to Venerable One Chi?”
Qiu Chengwang grinned. “I’m passionately devoted to Venerable One Chi, and I’m sure she’ll accept me one day, so there’s no need to rush it now.”
Ai Hongli kept a straight face, but he disagreed with him. ‘How can Chi Ningyun’s heart be captured so easily?’
“Venerable One Ai, I’m here because I have something to ask.”
“Go on.”
“Before I arrived in Danzhou, I received news that Master Kurong was already near his end and didn’t have many years left,” Qiu Chengwang stated in a deep voice, “but he seemed to have completely recovered to his peak condition.”
Ai Hongli turned to look coldly at him. “Didn’t you hear that he found his path?”
Qiu Chengwang laughed. “It’s indeed a remarkable opportunity that he managed to find his path, but I never heard that one can recover one’s youthful vigor after finding one’s path.” A cold look could be seen in his eyes. “He only found his path—he hasn’t taken the step yet!”
Ai Hongli was struck dumb. A luster could also be seen in his eyes.
Seeing a peak did not mean that one had climbed the peak.
Perhaps an accident during the process would cause one’s efforts to be wasted, and one might even be killed on the spot.
Ai Hongli turned around and looked seriously at Qiu Chengwang. “Venerable One Qiu, you’re saying that…”
Qiu Chengwang chuckled. “I plan to stay in Danzhou for the time being to get to the bottom of it.” Subsequently, he cupped his hands at Ai Hongli and left.
Ai Hongli kept quiet, but the surging storm inside his eyes sold how impulsive he was feeling inside.
