Everyone’s expression shifted. The red-faced elder banged the table, roaring, “Qianye, you push people into a corner at every turn. Are you not afraid of the entire Eastern Sea turning against you?”
“If that comes to be, then I just need to fight.” Qianye was fairly calm.
The Xue family elder said in apparent displeasure, “Sire Qianye, did you come to establish your might instead of a negotiation?”
Qianye smiled coldly, the images of everyone appearing in his eyes. “Correct, that’s what I’m here for.”
His words hadn’t even ended when everyone felt their bodies tensed up, almost as though they were firmly bound by a sticky yet tenacious spider web—even raising an arm took considerable effort. A red light flickered in the chamber just as everyone was in shock—the elder surnamed Tian gradually collapsed to the floor with a startled expression, clutching his chest with both hands. No one at the scene saw how Qianye had attacked.
Only when the old man’s corpse had fallen down did everyone finally come to, quickly activating their origins barriers and entering a combat-ready state. Qianye sat down calmly, saying, “I killed the young master of the Tian family. He had intercepted my caravan, and it’s only natural to assume that he had the support of his family. Yet that man just came knocking on the door, truly reckless. Of course, there’s really no need to be nervous if you’re not plotting against me secretly. Besides, my rank-thirteen cultivation is probably nothing in your eyes. Why so serious?”
All the elders were livid, unsure whether they should keep up their combat stances. Many people cursed secretly at Qianye’s audacity to bring up his rank. That Tian family lord was also rank-thirteen, yet he was killed in a single move—he didn’t even have a chance to retaliate.
It was the Xue family elder who was still quite decisive. “Men, carry the Tian family lord away and provide immediate treatment.”
In truth, the old man had long since stopped breathing and everyone knew that. Yet, no one was willing to point out the fact. Two servants arrived and carried the corpse away in a hurry. Elder Xue then returned to his seat, saying, “Since Sire Qianye is here to establish his might, then do expand our horizons. If there’s really a good reason for us to submit, then it might be easier for us to explain things to the clan after going back, lest our younger generation, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, bump into you.”
These words were spoken quite tactfully. Qianye replied with a nod, “Since Elder Xue has spoken thus, I’ll not beat around the bush any longer. Zining gave me some small presents to show everyone.”
With a flip of his hands, a case appeared in Qianye’s grasp.
A commotion arose in the chamber. Spatial equipment were peerless treasures everywhere, and most of the families in Seagaze had never even seen one before. Two pairs of eyes started burning with covetous flames, but these people seemed to have a good relationship with Elder Xue. The latter shot out two wisps of origin power, which duly stung them as a warning.
The two old men trembled slightly. They recovered from their avarice just in time to see Qianye looking at them with a spurious smile. Their hearts were filled with a deep chill, and they quickly averted their gazes with embarrassed smiles. They immediately realized that Qianye had revealed his spatial gear in front of them to sound them out. Secondly, he had no fear that someone would try to snatch it from him. Even the Wolf King couldn’t catch Qianye and was even wounded instead. How could these people be capable?
Only after everyone was firmly seated did Qianye open up the case, revealing a number of lustrous mechanical parts within.
Those present here were either elders or clan lords, people with great experience. The parts Qianye had brought out weren’t unusual at all. They were all commonly found parts used in airship engines. As key components made for the standard engine design, it was fairly easy to identify where they were meant to be used.
These parts weren’t rare and could even be produced in the workshops of the neutral lands. Everyone here, including Xue Wu, was puzzled at Qianye’s seriousness as he brought out these parts. They exchanged glances before picking up the components to study them in detail.
As people with good judgment, their expressions changed immediately after just a few glances. There was nothing miraculous about these parts since everyone knew where they were used. Nonetheless, such exquisite craftsmanship had never appeared in airship engine parts before. One would only see this kind of quality in high-grade origin guns.
Some of them glanced at one another. Then, an old man said, “These parts are of great craftsmanship, but it’s not impossible for our families to produce something of this level. Please forgive my offense, but your establishment of might isn’t quite enough, it seems.”
Qianye smiled indifferently as he fished out a silver ball and placed it on the table. “I think it’s quite enough. Everyone, take a look at this one.”
Several old men walked around to observe the silver ball, yet they still couldn’t figure anything out just yet. This sphere was seemingly made from the same material as the previous batch of components, but the craftsmanship was evidently inferior. No one knew what it was used for.
Bold and scrupulous, Xue Wu noticed that this silver ball wasn’t as valuable as the other parts. Hence, he channeled his power to pinch it. He used roughly half of his strength, which was usually enough to flatten steel, yet this ball remained completely unaffected. Not even a fingerprint was left behind!
Xue Wu’s astonishment attracted the attention of the other clan lords and elders.
No longer attempting to hide his actions, he took a deep breath and went all out! The silver ball finally turned somewhat soft and slowly sunk in at the center, leaving a couple of deep fingerprints. Even at full force, Xue Wu could no longer press down further. He exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, his face flushed as he placed the ball back onto the table.
Noticing that he must have exerted his full strength, everyone else glanced over at the silver ball and were astonished without exception.
There was no other mark on the silver ball apart from the finger marks. Its shape didn’t change, either, remaining just as round as it was before. Everyone was greatly astonished because Xue Wu’s strength had already exceeded most family elders and even comparable to some of the lords. Yet he couldn’t deal with this silver ball?
Everyone began to realize that the true profundity of this ball was in its material.
The Xue family elder picked up the sphere and observed it carefully, and then he pinched it with great force. He increased his strength repeatedly until his face was bright red. Only then did he manage to leave his fingerprints on the ball, albeit slightly more shallow than Xue Wu’s. Having expected this outcome, he sighed. “I am ashamed.”
He passed the silver ball to the red-faced elder. “Brother Du Yun, why don’t you try?”
The latter waved his hands, saying, “I’m not strong enough, so I won’t embarrass myself with this.”
With Xue Wu and Elder Xu’s demonstrations before them, everyone was able to gauge their own strength. Those who weren’t strong enough shrunk back, while the remainder gave it a try. It was actually the lord of a minor family who managed to leave a deeper fingerprint compared to Xue Wu’s.
That clan lord placed the ball back in front of Qianye, saying, “Sire Qianye, this material is indeed good, and we have never seen it before. With how tough it is, it’s quite difficult to even put a dent in it. How are we to craft anything?”
This question was critical. Industry in the neutral lands wasn’t that developed, but they were able to craft certain intricate parts by relying on experts. Just like how Qianye had produced this silver ball, they would use origin power to melt the metal and mold them into the approximate shape before moving to surface processing. Theoretically, any component could be produced in this way, and almost all components for origin guns grade-eight and above would use this kind of method. The downside was obvious in that it would consume significant amounts of origin power, and the expert also needed to recover. Hence, the higher the grade of the item, the lower the production rate. It wouldn’t be surprising for the highest-grade components to take several months.
Most people in this room were helpless against this silver ball. Strictly speaking, only the two from the Xue family and that one clan lord could work with this alloy. Even then, they wouldn’t be able to get things done in one sitting. It would take several days to melt just a bit of the material, and several more days for completion.
This meant that Seagaze City had no power to process this kind of alloy.
Qianye picked up the silver ball with scarlet flames jumping from his hands. He simply rolled the item briefly between his palms, restoring it to its original round shape before blasting it with origin power. The surface became as bright as a mirror, and all of the previous marks and pits were gone.
“Ding.” The entire room was silent as Qianye put the silver ball onto the table in front of him.
Through this silver ball, everyone realized the difference between them and Qianye. Just in terms of strength, the latter could suppress everyone present here. Those scarlet origin flames of his were also extremely terrifying—their origin barriers might not last even a brief moment if scorched, and if caught on fire, even intact bones wouldn’t be left behind.
Qianye pointed at the silver ball with a smile. “I don’t even need to process such things myself back in Dark Flame, we have our own methods. Careful observation will have told you that those components were made from the same material.”
Elder Xue was shaken. “Sire, your meaning is that there’s a way to mass-produce them?”
“Of course, what’s the point of me bringing these here if we can’t manufacture them?”
Elder Xue asked after a moment of silence, “No ordinary fire can melt such an alloy. If you can mass-produce these components, could it be that you have the formula for it?”
“Wise deduction.”
Elder Xue continued his probe, “Then, what price must we pay to obtain this formula?”
Qianye simply watched Elder Xue without replying. Under his intent gaze, the latter eventually turned red, then purple.
The red-faced elder roared furiously, “Just say what you want, what’s the point of beating around the bush!?”
A dark, heavy-sword appeared in Qianye’s hand, which he duly placed on the man’s shoulder without even unsheathing.
The old man felt as though a mountain was pressing down on him. He had no choice but to use both hands to prop up the sword, yet even then, he still couldn’t overcome the massive force. His face gradually turned purple as a mouthful of blood was caught in his throat, and he was unable to spray it out.
The red-faced elder finally fell to his knees. The ground had been covered with a steel-like layer of origin power, stopping him from falling to the floor below.
From the beginning to the end, the old man couldn’t even last three seconds.
Qianye said indifferently, “All your Seagaze families added together cannot match the value of this formula. There’s no need for further discussion if you still think so highly of yourselves.”
…
