The two of them arrived before a building that stood over a hundred meters tall. Li Qingshan raised his head and followed the building up, only to see it shaped like a sword, pointing straight at the sky. A silvery-blue light flowed through the entire building, displaying three large words, the Arsenal of Arms.
Gu Yanying walked in, and Li Qingshan followed closely behind. As soon as he stepped through the door, before he could even look around, an attendant received them. The attendant was surprised at first when he first saw Gu Yanying before showing respect.
“Ma’am, you’ve come to check on us!”
Loud greetings immediately rang out from all the floors. Almost a hundred cultivators made their way down, all saying, “Greetings from your subordinates, ma’am!”
Originally, Li Qingshan thought this was because of Gu Yanying’s identity as the White Hawk commander, but he noticed something was amiss as soon as he heard how they referred to themselves. They were not Hawkwolf guards, so why did they call themselves “subordinates”? And, this did not seem like they were receiving an esteemed guest.
Gu Yanying relieved him of his confusion. “Don’t you know that the Arsenal of Arms is my business? If you want any arcane artifact, pick away. There’s nowhere in the Ruyi commandery with more arcane artifacts than here.”
“You really do know how to make money, and you sure are extravagant.”
Li Qingshan could not help but remember how Hua Chengzan would always call her “boss Gu” whenever he mentioned her. Now, he finally understood the reason why.
“You can all go back to what you’re doing. Old Wu, take commander Li to the storeroom above for a look!”
Gu Yanying dismissed everyone with a wave of her hand before giving an order to an honest-looking Foundation Establishment cultivator who seemed to be in his forties or fifties. He was the shopkeeper of this Arsenal of Arms store, and he was in charge of receiving guests.
Old Wu could not help but study Li Qingshan. How could he let an outsider into an important place like the store room? Even if he received important guests, he would only invite them to a private room.
However, since the order came directly from Gu Yanying, he refused to defy her. “Yes, ma’am!”
Under old Wu’s lead, they arrived on the top floor. They passed through who knew how many alarm systems and formations and opened several gates before reaching the treasury of the Arsenal of Arms.
With what I’m capable of, getting through these formations on the outside is nothing difficult, but who knows what those gates are made of. They’ve been imbued with great power. I’d probably struggle to get through them even with the Traitorous Demon sword in hand.
Suddenly, there was a flash right before his eyes. A wave of light surged into his face, almost dazzling his eyes. He squinted, only to see countless spiritual artifacts glowing brightly. They varied in size, forming a dazzling array that filled his eyes, occupying the entire store room.
Shopkeeper Wu closed the gate and stood straight. “Ma’am, we’re here.”
Gu Yanying said, “Let’s take a look at the arcane artifacts inside.”
“That… might not be appropriate.” Shopkeeper Wu hesitated and glanced at Li Qingshan.
“Stop faltering around! Go!”
Gu Yanying urged with a smile. Her voice was very gentle, like he was an old friend and not a subordinate.
“Yes.”
With no other choice, shopkeeper Wu arrived before the eastern wall. He formed a seal and muttered a chant. Another gate opened on the clean, smooth wall, and he turned around. “Please!”
Finally, Li Qingshan arrived in the true treasury of the Arsenal of Arms. Looking around, there were almost a hundred different items, placed in individual display cases. There were common blades, swords, and armour among them, as well as various wondrous items hidden behind films of light, obscuring their glow.
However, Li Qingshan knew that every single one of them was an extremely precious arcane artifact, and they were worth far more than the countless spiritual artifacts outside combined.
Old Wu offered up a jade slip, and Li Qingshan sent his soul sense into it. Inside the jade slip was information regarding all of these arcane artifacts. Regular customers probably could only purchase these arcane artifacts through this jade slip and could not directly enter this room to pick and choose among the actual items.
Gu Yanying glanced around. She made her way over to a display case and extended her hand in. Her fair hand passed through the film of light slowly. By the time she drew them out again, she was already holding a set of almost-transparent gloves. They shone with lacy rings of light. They were a low grade arcane artifact.
“Come, try this on.”
“That’s a fantastic choice, ma’am. The ‘Gentle Wave gloves’ don’t require any special introduction. All they do is make water element techniques and battle skills a lot faster and a lot stronger when used. They’re perfect for this fellow to use,” shopkeeper Wu introduced with great expertise.
In a battle to the death, being even a split second faster might be the difference between life and death, let alone “a lot”.
Li Qingshan put on the gloves, and their glow became withdrawn. He discovered that the gloves were so light that he felt like he was wearing nothing. He could even make out his fingerprints clearly. They were like the blue waves of a lake, coloured when looked at from afar, but colourless when scooped up in the hands.
He held his hands. Even his sense of touch had not been affected at all. Just how functional would something so light and handy be?
He parted his hands again and silently circulated his spiritual qi. The moment the thought occurred to him, a tiny water swirl had appeared. The entire process had been free and smooth as if it had not taken him any additional effort at all.
Li Qingshan beamed with joy inside. If he possessed this, then he could definitely multiply the strength of Ocean Wielding. It suited him even more than the Heavy Water sword. If he had been wearing these gloves when he clashed with Eternal Faith, he was rather confident he could smash through his robes with a single punch.
Old Wu was secretly amazed too. The water swirl was only the size of a thumb, but it whistled like a tornado. The power it contained could probably pierce through rock, and he was merely testing it out. If he used the technique seriously, just how powerful would that be?
“Alright, this’ll be one!”
Li Qingshan said firmly before simply keeping the gloves on his hand, without taking them off. He continued choosing.
He was constantly amazed. He felt every single arcane artifact was so special and powerful, and basically the introduction for every single one of them was very long, providing various kinds of information regarding the arcane artifact.
He had always liked fighting and been skilled at fighting. Whenever he got to an arcane artifact, he would basically imagine the battle skill that could unleash the greatest strength of the arcane artifact automatically, so he took even longer.
“You’re too slow. If you continue like this, you’ll miss out on the banquet. You better just leave it to me!” Gu Yanying waited for a while before stowing her folding fan away and extending her hand.
Li Qingshan only felt a gentle breeze and the jade slip was in her hands. He smiled helplessly.
Gu Yanying began browsing through the arcane artifacts seriously. Although these arcane artifacts all belonged to her, she did not understand every single one of them. However, she was still much faster than Li Qingshan. Before long, she had chosen a jade pendant, a waistband, a set of soft armour, and a pair of shoes. All of them were obviously arcane artifacts, and they each possessed their own strange powers.
Li Qingshan obviously did not question her insight and understanding. All he could do was accept them. As he looked at the side of her beautiful face that thought seriously, he could not help but develop some other feelings again. He felt like he had been taken out by a wealthy girlfriend to choose a set of fitting and expensive clothes so that he could attend a luxurious soirée.
Li Qingshan smiled self-deprecatingly. You still won’t give up, will you? He set these thoughts aside and put on everything Gu Yanying had chosen. He acquired a brand-new look, now possessing an impressive bearing.
“Commander Li, your attire truly is very elegant!”
Shopkeeper Wu managed to infer Li Qingshan’s name and identity from their conversation, so he praised in a hurry, but he thought inside, Anyone who wears five arcane artifacts will be extraordinarily elegant. Though, whether he can unleash their powers is quite the question.
“That should be enough,” Gu Yanying studied Li Qingshan and said in thought.
Li Qingshan smiled. He also felt extremely satisfied inside. As long as he could refine all of these arcane artifacts, his strength would increase by severalfold, and he would have made up for his disadvantage of being too weak as a human cultivator. It would no longer be so awkward in many situations that were inappropriate for him to use his powers as a daemon. The next time he entered the Demon Suppression hall, he was bold enough to attempt the seventh floor now.
“Can I choose a few more?”
Gu Yanying smiled. “It’s fine even if I give you all the arcane artifacts here, but you’ve basically reached your limit already by wielding five arcane artifacts. If you have any more, the arcane artifacts will conflict with one another, and it will be detrimental to their usage.”
If it were not for the arcane artifacts all belonging to the water element and Li Qingshan’s god-like talent of controlling water from the spirit turtle, simultaneously wielding three arcane artifacts was basically the limit.
Having accepted bribes for all these years, Eternal Faith definitely had more than three arcane artifacts in his possession, but he only used three when he faced Li Qingshan.
Shopkeeper Wu was dumfounded. Although Gu Yanying had always been a generous person, this level of generosity was unheard of. Just what had this person done to receive such good graces from her?
“Alright, I’ll have you hold onto it then. We’ll see once I think of anything else I need! Hmm, is this an alchemy cauldron?”
Li Qingshan’s gaze drifted around; he spotted a pure-white cauldron that seemed to be carved out of white jade in the display case at the very top of the wall.
“That’s right. The cauldron is called the Jade Melting cauldron. It’s only a mid grade arcane artifact, but it’s worth the most among the arcane artifacts here,” Shopkeeper Wu said.
Originally, smithing and alchemy cauldrons that rarely came about were the easiest to sell, but due to being simply too expensive, many cultivators could only give up on it regretfully after seeing it.
“I also want this Jade Melting cauldron.”
Li Qingshan’s eyes lit up as he spoke up immediately. Ever since Ru Xin had given him the Water God Seal, he had always wanted to find a suitable gift to return the gesture. This Jade Melting cauldron was basically perfect.
Gu Yanying said, “I didn’t know you also knew alchemy.”
“I have a friend who’s skilled in this aspect.”
Gu Yanying smiled. “A beauty from the school of Medicine, Ru Xin, right? You sure are a passionate person.”
“You already know the answer to that question, but I only treat her as a close friend, that’s all,” said Li Qingshan. With Gu Yanying’s identity, even investigating the past three generations of his family was no issue, so there was nothing strange about her knowing Ru Xin.
“From your tone, you sound like you’re going to give this to her?” Gu Yanying leapt up gently and grabbed the Jade Melting cauldron. It fitted within one hand, and it was propped up by three long, curved legs. It was covered with a pattern of clouds, and it seemed detailed and delicate in design.
“Exactly.”
“Are you aware that this alchemy cauldron is worth even more than the five arcane artifacts on you combined?”
Li Qingshan asked, “And what about it?”
“You better refine your arcane artifacts quickly. There’s probably going to be a bitter battle tonight.” Gu Yanying casually tossed the Jade Melting cauldron to Li Qingshan and made her way out of the storeroom.
Li Qingshan was surprised. “A bitter battle?”
