Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Just as Zhou Shu disappeared, two figures descended from the sky.
One figure stumbled and fell to the ground, and the other figure landed gracefully on the ground.
“Your Highness, we seem to be late.” Sun Gongping rubbed his butt and stood up. He looked around and found no one else in the surroundings.
Yin Wuyou frowned and stared at the bloodstains on the ground without saying anything.
Sun Gongping had just been thrown down several meters by Yin Wuyou. But his skin was thick, so he wasn’t injured.
He walked over to the severed arm on the ground and kicked the long saber with the tip of his foot.
“Your Highness, we’re not at the wrong place. The battle fluctuations should have come from here. I don’t know whose arm it is, but it was cut off,” Sun Gongping said.
“This saber…” When Yin Wuyou saw the saber, her pupils constricted, and she said solemnly, “It looks a little like the Blood Thirsty Rampant Saber that belongs to Great Wei’s Imperial Preceptor Xiao Shunzhi!”
“Seriously?” Sun Gongping said. “Xiao Shunzhi is a first-rank martial artist. Who has the ability to cut off his arm?”
Sun Gongping picked up the saber and injected a wisp of spiritual essence into it.
“It seems… it really is a heaven-grade weapon!”
A look of shock appeared on his face. A first-rank martial artist had his arm chopped off?
He had even abandoned his weapon and ran away?
This sort of thing was simply unheard of.
In his memory, a first-rank martial artist had never been killed by anyone before.
A look of astonishment appeared on Yin Wuyou’s face.
“Who was the one fighting with Xiao Shunzhi? And where is Zhou Shu?” Yin Wuyou whispered.
“Your Highness, are you sure Old Zhou was abducted by the Great Wei diplomatic mission? Do you think His Majesty sent someone to save him and also injured Xiao Shunzhi?” Sun Gongping said.
“No.” Yin Wuyou shook her head. The strongest person in Great Xia who could make a move was her imperial uncle Yin Changhao. But even her imperial uncle could at most fight Xiao Shunzhi to a draw. It was impossible for him to cut off Xiao Shunzhi’s arm.
“Then, who is it?” Sun Gongping wondered. “Do you think it’s that mysterious expert from the capital?”
Yin Wuyou continued to shake her head. “There’s no point in us guessing. Looking at the bloodstains, Xiao Shunzhi should have gone in this direction. Let’s chase after him and take a look!”
“Alright, let’s thrash him!” Sun Gongping shouted. “Damn Great Wei’s diplomatic mission, do you really think Great Xia is easy to bully?”
The two of them chased in the direction Xiao Shunzhi had escaped ink. This was also the direction of the You and Bing prefectures, which had just been returned to Great Xia.
…
Zhou Shu’s body flickered with golden light. The muscles on his chest contracted, and blood no longer seeped out. The wound seemed to be healing.
He let out a long sigh of relief, feeling a lingering fear in his heart.
The eleventh level of the Golden Bell Shield Technique still couldn’t withstand an attack of a first-rank martial artist.
If he hadn’t cut off Xiao Shunzhi’s arm with his last attack, Xiao Shunzhi’s saber really might have cut him open.
But the Golden Bell Shield’s defense was truly sick enough to be able to forcefully block Xiao Shunzhi’s attack for a moment. In this short moment, the outcome had already been decided. That was, Xiao Shunzhi’s arm was cut off, and he was severely injured.
If not for the Golden Bell Shield Technique, Zhou Shu would probably be a corpse by now.
Of course, if he didn’t have the Golden Bell Shield Technique, Zhou Shu wouldn’t have gone all out to resist Xiao Shunzhi’s attack.
I must not be overconfident in the Golden Bell Shield in the future. I was almost cut into two, Zhou Shu thought.
If he could reach perfection in the Golden Bell Shield Technique and attain an invincible body, he might be able to withstand the attacks of first-rank martial artists. But this was not certain. After all, it was hard to say what trump cards first-rank martial artists had.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to kill Xiao Shunzhi. Zhou Shu sighed.
My cultivation level will probably be exposed.
What a pity. After leaving the Forging Division, where can I find so many opportunities for my forged weapons to complete kills?
With his current cultivation, he could go anywhere in the world.
But without the channels of the Forging Division, the weapons he forged wouldn’t be able to be sent into the army in batches. Then, the benefits from the Legendary Armament Canon wouldn’t come so easily.
When he thought of the Legendary Armament Canon, Zhou Shu’s heart stirred slightly.
The pages flipped quickly and stopped at the page of the Great Destroyer Sword.
[Upgrade (7/100)]
Zhou Shu raised his eyebrows. The number’s changed!
So the condition for the upgrade is to complete kills!
For standard weapons, completing kills would only bring back benefits. The number on the Legendary Armament Canon was the number of the forged weapons.
As for this ranked weapon, it was no longer the number of forged weapons, but instead, it was the number of kills completed.
Killing a hundred people would fulfill the conditions for the upgrade?
How will the next weapon appear?
Zhou Shu was puzzled.
Will the next weapon appear when the upgrade condition is met?
This upgrade requirement was 100 kills. It was a problem.
In the past, after Zhou Shu forged one hundred copies of a weapon, the next weapon would appear. This was easy to control. He just needed to forge more weapons.
But he couldn’t control the number of kills the ranked weapon completed.
Not to mention that he would give most of his ranked weapons to others after forging them, even if he kept them, it was impossible for him to kill people all day long.
Was the one who killed five million people deemed a hero?
As expected, it’s not that easy to upgrade a ranked weapon. It seems like there won’t be a second ranked weapon in the Legendary Armament Canon for a long time. No wonder it was so generous as to give me the Great Destroyer Sword right away.
[You receive a Breakthrough Pill because the Autumn Anatidae Plume Saber you forged effectively completed a kill!]
[You receive three Breakthrough Pills because the Autumn Anatidae Plume Saber you forged effectively completed a kill!]
…
[The Great Xia Dragon Sparrow Saber you forged effectively completed a kill. You are rewarded with the forging formula for standard weapon Eight-Sided Han Sword!]
[The Great Xia Dragon Sparrow Saber you forged effectively completed a kill. You are rewarded with the forging formula for the standard weapon Bamboo Bronze Whip!]
…
Suddenly, a barrage of messages flashed past Zhou Shu’s eyes.
The battles of the You Prefecture Army and the Bing Prefecture Army have started so quickly?
Zhou Shu was slightly stunned. If he remembered correctly, when he was in seclusion forging the Great Destroyer Sword, the You Prefecture Army and Bing Prefecture Army had just been established.
They should be taking over the You Prefecture and Bing Prefecture right now, and they’re already killing enemies?
Thinking about it, it was quite normal. After all, Great Wei had been in control of the You and Bing prefectures for many years. Even if they withdrew their troops on the surface, they might have done something behind the scenes.
The You Prefecture Army and the Bing Prefecture Army had been established for the purpose of killing.
This Great Xia Dragon Sparrow Saber’s reward is quite interesting.
With a thought, Zhou Shu flipped through the Legendary Armament Canon. A few pages of new content appeared in front of him.
The reward for successfully killing with the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow Saber was actually the forging formulas for other standard weapons.
Initially, he thought that after a ranked weapon appeared on the Legendary Armament Canon, only ranked weapons would appear in the future.
He didn’t expect there to be standard weapons.
Eight-Sided Han Sword, Bamboo Bronze Whip, Eight-Feet Long Spear…
Is it going to cover all eighteen types of weapons?
He didn’t know if there was a limit to the Legendary Armament Canon’s rewards and a limit to the types of standard weapons. There would be a time when he reached perfection in the cultivation techniques.
He wondered if the Legendary Armament Canon would give any other rewards at that time.
Zhou Shu pondered. Up until now, his Dragon Elephant Prajna Technique was on the verge of reaching perfection, and so was the Golden Bell Shield.
The Visualization of the Five Mountains’ True Form was far from it.
The Heavenly Saber Art and the Astounding Heavenly Eighteen Swords techniques could be improved continuously.
The rewards for the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow Saber had just begun.
Currently, there was still quite a bit of leeway for each of the Legendary Armament Canon’s rewards. Therefore, Zhou Shu didn’t know what would happen when all the rewards were given out.
The Legendary Armament Canon won’t kill me, right?
No, I’m the owner of the Legendary Armament Canon!
I’ve obtained a few more forging formulas for standard weapons. Even if I become a Forging Master in the future, I can’t stop forging standard weapons.
It’s a pity that without Great Xia’s Forging Division, I will have no way of sending the standard weapons out to the armies.
Damn you, Xiao Shunzhi! My Zhonghua Pavilion has just been established. I haven’t even made a name for myself, and my plans already fell through! Don’t let me see you again, or I’ll definitely cut you into pieces!
Zhou Shu gritted his teeth.
Earlier, he should have ignored his injuries and chased after him.
As long as he killed Xiao Shunzhi, no one would know the secret of his cultivation base, and he wouldn’t have to worry about Emperor Yuan Feng and the others becoming suspicious. He would be able to properly stay in Great Xia’s Forging Division.
Unfortunately, it was useless to regret now.
Xiao Shunzhi had lost an arm, so he probably ran as far as he could. It was already impossible to catch up to him now.
If I can’t return to Great Xia, where should I go?
Ever since he came to this world, he had been in Great Xia’s Forging Division.
Although he had received some unfair treatment in the Forging Division at the beginning, he later became the superintendent of the 0th Workshop. Later on, he got along quite well with the grand minister, Yin Wuyou.
The feeling the Great Xia emperor gave him wasn’t bad either.
In addition, he had made a few friends in Great Xia—Sun Gongping, Mi Ziwen, and even Yang Hong.
Zhou Shu felt somewhat uncomfortable about suddenly giving up all of this.
It wasn’t easy for me to have some foundation in Great Xia. Am I really going to give up just like that?
With his current cultivation, if he really returned to Great Xia, Great Xia might not do anything to him. It was just that they might be wary of him in the future.
This wasn’t what Zhou Shu wanted.
What was the point of staying here then?
It was very important to work comfortably.
It’s all Shen Yue and Xiao Shunzhi’s fault!
Zhou Shu clenched his jaw. If not for them, things wouldn’t have developed to this stage!
After I recover from my injuries, I’ll go to Great Wei first! Shen Yue is dead, but Xiao Shunzhi is still alive! Since they’ve made things difficult for me, I won’t let them have a good time either! They’ll all die!
…
Several days passed by in the blink of an eye. Under the support of his powerful physique, the shocking wound on Zhou Shu’s chest healed at an incredible rate.
Even the saber qi that invaded his body had been obliterated by the true qi within his body.
Although the true qi that Zhou Shu cultivated in his body was different from the spiritual essence that martial artists in this world cultivated, it was essentially a type of energy. True qi could also obliterate saber qi and saber intent.
The light on Zhou Shu’s body gradually faded, and he stopped circulating his cultivation technique.
After several days of continuous recuperation, he had more or less recovered.
The rest would have to take time to heal.
It’s time for revenge!
Zhou Shu let out a cold snort and was just about to stand up.
Suddenly, a weak tremor came from his arms.
With a thought, he reached into his clothes and took out a palm-sized mirror.
He held the mirror in his palm and injected a stream of spiritual essence into it.
The surface of the mirror flashed, and a golden light shot into the sky, forming a light screen. On the light screen, words jumped, and after a while, it calmed down.
Zhou Shu’s gaze landed on the screen. His expression froze, filled with shock.
[Yellow-grade Armament Manual (Updated Daily)]
[1st, Great Destroyer Sword (Battle accomplishment: Nameless expert wielded this sword and cut off the right arm of Great Wei’s Imperial Preceptor Xiao Shunzhi)]
The Ranked Armament Manual made an announcement!
The Heavenly Mirror in Zhou Shu’s hand had been given to him by Shi Songtao, and he had kept it with him ever since.
At the time, Shi Songtao had said that the Heavenly Mountain Villa’s armament manuals would change to be updated in real time.
From the looks of it, it had indeed changed. But it was not updated in real time. Instead, it was updated daily.
Although it was not a real-time update, he was still shocked by the efficiency of Heavenly Mountain Villa’s information gathering.
The amount of information required for daily updates was also enormous.
The Great Destroyer Sword actually ranks first on the Yellow-grade Armament Manual!
Zhou Shu didn’t look at the Heaven-grade and Earth-grade Armament Manuals. He had only forged yellow-grade weapons before, so there was no point in paying attention to the Heaven-grade and Earth-grade Armament Manuals.
Although he knew that the Great Destroyer Sword was very powerful, he didn’t expect it to be ranked first in the Yellow-grade Armament Manual.
Unlike the Standard Armament Manual, this manual also included the battle results of the weapons.
The ranking of ranked weapons was determined by the accomplishments of the weapons. By listing them out like this, it also proved the fairness of the Heavenly Mountain Villa.
This was very interesting. The Great Destroyer Sword had severed the arm of a first-rank martial artist. This result was indeed not something that an ordinary yellow-grade weapon could achieve.
Perhaps for a long time, other yellow-grade weapons wouldn’t be able to achieve such results.
Does this count as creating a record?
Zhou Shu was also a little proud. To use a yellow-grade weapon to cut off a first-rank martial artist’s arm, who else could do this?
Since this Heavenly Mountain Villa knows that the Great Destroyer Sword cut off Xiao Shunzhi’s arm, they should know my identity!
Zhou Shu looked at the words on the screen. Why did they state my name as a nameless expert?
Since the armament manual lists me as a nameless expert, doesn’t that mean that my actual cultivation hasn’t been exposed? In that case, does that mean I don’t need to leave Great Xia?
A ray of hope rose in Zhou Shu’s heart.
If possible, he didn’t want to leave Great Xia’s Forging Division. Not only did Great Xia’s Forging Division have channels he needed, but it also bore some feelings and friendships that he couldn’t bear to part with.
If he could stay, why would he want to leave?
Toward the Great Xia, toward the Forging Division, he had given his all!
