Before they had even returned to the camp, the news of a half-spirit beast being slaughtered had already spread across the entire camp.
There was a sensation as soon as the squad returned to the military camp, but Ou Yangming returned to his courtyard to rest as he was exhausted.
Chapter 62
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next morning when Ou Yangming awakened, he felt refreshed.
He headed to his courtyard to practice the martial-art squat for half an hour, where he clearly felt an enormous change in his body. The essential Qi of a Force Grade Class Four martial artist was insignificant among many soldiers, but it was not the worst.
Other than the Guards under the command of the generals from different camps, if Ou Yangming fought a normal soldier, he could simply go head-on without using skills and without wearing any equipment. Moreover, he could easily have the upper hand due to this abundant Qi and blood.
The light at the center of his Dantian circulated and it was no longer the size of a bean as it had increased many times into the size of a baby’s fist.
Of course, it was just a vivid metaphor. If someone actually opened his stomach to look, one would definitely not find a light source the size of a baby’s fist.
Ou Yangming proceeded to practice his fist art and his blade technique after he was done with the martial-art squat. Although the fist art and the blade technique were taught by Sui Hezhi, they were different when Ou Yangming performed them.
Besides, when he practiced, the mental power between his eyebrows was eager to make a move.
In a flash, a stream of mental power was released, which pushed Ou Yangming lightly at his waist. He dashed forward due to the power’s momentum and slashed with his saber at the speed of light.
From an outsider’s perspective, the posture seemed to have exhausted him of all his power. However, the moment he became stagnant, a new force was suddenly generated, allowing him to perform an earth-shattering slash when it looked impossible.
Ou Yangming’s slash would not gain him victory during an official battle, but it could at least frighten his opponent terribly.
A faint smile was seen on Ou Yangming’s face as he finally uncovered a hint of his mental power’s function. If he complimented it with his martial arts skills during a battle, an unimaginable, powerful might could be released.
Even though Ou Yangming had not eliminated the pressure and danger from Zhang Yinfan, he was no longer afraid like he was before. This was because he had the power to protect himself, such that he was confident about escaping even if Zhang Yinfan personally made a move. Furthermore, as Ou Yangming’s power kept improving, he could one day crush his opponent instead.
A knock was heard all of a sudden, and Ou Yangming’s ears twitched a little. He quickly put his military saber away, and hurried to the door.
Old Craftsman’s fingers reached out to him as soon as the door was opened.
“Ah, Old Man, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!” Ou Yangming was on the tip of his toes as he shouted while grimacing in pain, “My ear is going to be torn off soon!”
Old Craftsman did not let go even when Ou Yangming yelled, but he held back his force and pulled Ou Yangming inside.
Once they entered the building, Old Craftsman finally let go and scolded him, “You little fella, are you tired of living? How dare you fight a half-spirit beast? Do you want to die?”
Ou Yangming rubbed his ear while gesturing to Old Craftsman to sit. He then served him a warm cup of tea before replying to him, “Old Man, you must’ve heard it wrong. Who spread the rumor to you?”
Old Craftsman sneered. “Did I need to ask about it? The Middle Camp’s general sent a notice, which states that your credit ranked first among those who slaughtered the half-spirit beast. Heh, very well, how dare you fight a half-spirit beast? Why didn’t you lose an arm or a leg?!”
While Old Craftsman chastised, he kept scanning Ou Yangming’s body to confirm that he was fine. Just as the old man was finally relieved, he fumed with anger and began to rage. Old Craftsman stuck his leg out with the intention to kick Ou Yangming but was afraid that he would really hurt him, hence he went around Ou Yangming to kick his butt instead.
Ou Yangming groaned and fell to the ground.
In actual fact, it was extremely easy for him to avoid the kick given his current ability, but he must take the hit and endure it because it was Old Craftsman who had kicked him.
Old Craftsman then continued to beat Ou Yangming up while lecturing him, “Little b*stard, I asked you to gain experience. It’s fine if you fought a wild beast, but how dare you provoke a half-spirit beast? Are you tired of living? Did you want me to watch you die before I do? Since you’re tired of living, I’ll beat you to death!”
Though the old man sounded ruthless, he only hit the meaty parts on Ou Yangming’s body.
Ou Yangming puffed hard on the ground, and did not get up. His groans were getting louder.
Old Craftsman finally stopped after a brief moment. His heart thudded when he looked at Ou Yangming, who was curled up on the ground, and he wondered, ‘Oh no, did I hit him so hard that I actually hurt him? But he has been practicing the martial-art squat, as well as other skills, so he can’t be that weak.’
He frowned. “B*stard, why are you still lying on the ground pretentiously? Get the hell up!”
Ou Yangming pressed the parts that hurt on his body as he stood up staggeringly with a sour face. “Old Man, it hurt so much!”
Old Craftsman scoffed, then went inside to look for ointment. “Come, I’ll rub those spots for you.”
Ou Yangming went over to him and removed his clothes, but when Old Craftsman looked at his body, he did not see many bruises.
“Old Man, I didn’t even see the half-spirit beast when I was there,” Ou Yangming quickly said as he knew that he was in a bad spot.
“Nonsense, why did you get the most credit if you didn’t see it?” Old Craftsman was distracted indeed.
“That’s because I smithed three arrows for Squad Leader Jiang Chengwei from the Middle Camp, and I heard that the three arrows were the key,” Ou Yangming explained.
“What arrows were those that they were so powerful?” Old Craftsman doubted him.
“Old Man, please wait here for a while, I’ll show you a demonstration!” Ou Yangming chuckled then darted into his house. It was clear from his agile movement that he was not injured at all.
Old Craftsman widened his eyes and thought, ‘Sh*t, I beat him too softly earlier, I must use more force the next time!’
After some time, Ou Yangming returned with a dagger. “Old Man, I employed a trick in my Military Fire, and this was the result. Take a look at it.”
Old Craftsman looked at the dagger carefully after receiving it, and had a serious look on his face. “This dagger is strange indeed. Its internal structure looks stable, but it also has a strong tension, how did you smith it?”
Ou Yangming admired Old Craftsman, who was worthy of being a top-notch Military Fire Blacksmith, because he noticed the dagger’s biggest feature at one glance.
“Old Man, I incorporated a hint of mental power into my Military Fire and channeled it into the dagger. I managed to achieve this by luck.” Ou Yangming lowered his voice.
“Mental power?” Old Craftsman was stunned and bewildered. “How were you able to use the power?”
‘Why do you think that I’m not able to use it?’ Ou Yangming thought to himself, but dared not rebuke the old man, or he would be beaten up again for sure.
While Ou Yangming was not related by blood with Old Craftsman, they were really close. Their way of expressing themselves was simply distinctive and reserved.
“Cough, cough. Old Man, please don’t underestimate me, you’re the one who groomed me, right?”
Old Craftsman nodded hesitantly. ‘It’s true that I raised this fella, but why do I not recall teaching him anything about mental power?
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‘Besides, what exactly is mental power?’
Nevertheless, he was definitely not going to admit his ignorance in front of Ou Yangming.
“Okay, what’s so special about this thing?”
“Old Man, look!” Ou Yangming laughed. He channeled a hint of essential Qi into the dagger, then threw it to the corner of a wall that was far away.
“Pow—”
After the soft sound was heard, Ou Yangming knew that there was no need for him to explain to Old Craftsman anymore. The old man had been a Military Fire Blacksmith for years, so if he could not tell the weapon’s worth, he would not have become the military camp’s blacksmith chief.
Old Craftsman sighed when he looked at another dagger for a while. “Ah, I’ve really aged, but my life wasn’t spent in vain now that I have a successor.”
His main point was that he had a successor, hence it was a delightful comment rather than an emotional one.
Ou Yangming quickly responded, “Old Man, you’re old but vigorous, you can live for a few hundred years more!”
“A few hundred years? Haha, that’s impossible.” Old Craftsman was cracked up. He then shook his head and remarked, “Even the blacksmith master from the prefecture, who arrived yesterday, is more powerful than me, not to mention you. Hehe, it’s rare that he’s still so young, he certainly has a bright future!”
Ou Yangming’s face changed as he recalled something.
On that day when he had a conflict with Huang Jingtian and the others from the West Camp, they talked about a Military Fire Blacksmith from the prefecture, who was invited by General Tian. On top of that, the master seemed to have discovered a method to mass-produce Good Grade Arm Guards.
Although Ou Yangming was indifferent about the rumor, those were Good Grade Arm Guards. Even with different workmanship, it was impossible to let normal soldiers have a pair each. Nonetheless, he also knew that one who came surely had ill-intentions because one who meant well would not have come.
It seemed like that master had arrived when Ou Yangming entered the dense forest, and he had even met Old Craftsman.
“Old Man, did that person offend you?” A flash of cold light was seen in Ou Yangming’s eyes. He would only laugh it off if he was the one who was offended, but if it was Old Craftsman who was offended, heh…
“What do you mean by that? That fella’s craftsmanship is amazing indeed, and he’ll definitely surpass me in the future, but…” Old Craftsman found his question strange, but he replied to him proudly, “I can still suppress him well now!”
Ou Yangming studied the old man’s expression closely, especially his arrogant look, and quickly realized that he was overthinking.
Old Craftsman suddenly slapped his forehead and glared at Ou Yangming. “Ah, I was too focused on teaching you, my unfilial student, a lesson that I forgot what I needed to do. Get dressed and follow me to meet Master Ni.”
“Master Ni? Which Master Ni?” Ou Yangming got dressed right away.
“The new master, you must learn well from him, understood?”
“Yes, Old Man, I won’t embarrass you.” Ou Yangming’s eyes lit up as he smiled mischievously.
Chapter 63
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the Middle Camp, many soldiers surrounded Jiang Chengwei to listen to his story of the event that took place in the dense forest.
After the half-spirit beast’s carcass was carried back to the military camp, there was quite a bit of excitement indeed, and the people involved quickly drew everyone’s attention.
Ou Yangming, who was given the most credit, naturally attracted the most attention, but nobody dared to disturb him after knowing that he was a Military Fire Blacksmith from the Armament Camp. After all, it was not the blacksmith whom the bloodthirsty men admired, but the warriors who killed using weapons smithed by the blacksmith.
Yu Hailiang was a captain from the South Camp and was considered one of the high officials there, hence it was impossible for the soldiers to inquire about the incident from him. On the other hand, not only was Jiang Chengwei’s position just right, but he also participated in the attack personally, so he drew everyone’s attention. Many curious individuals surrounded him to listen to his story.
Jiang Chengwei was proud of his success after being given credits for his service, and he drank a lot of alcohol as the other soldiers flattered him. He was spluttering the happenings that day and was even more pretentious when he talked about how he shot the three explosive arrows. It was as though he was in that situation at that moment, causing the listeners to be in a trance.
A voice was heard in the crowd all of a sudden. “Since Squad Leader Yan is so amazing, why was a nobody from the Armament Camp given the most credits?”
Jiang Chengwei instantly froze, and the other people looked at each other, but could not find the person who raised the question.
Not knowing if Jiang Chengwei was agitated or was simply drunk, he expressed angrily while tapping the armor on his body, “I won’t be pleased if someone else is ranked first in terms of contribution, but I’ll say no more if it’s Master Ou! You have no idea, but I witnessed Master Ou’s abilities myself!”
At that moment, the listeners around him forgot about the voice that came from the crowd earlier as they urged him to explain.
“You’ve heard of Yan Haobo from the West Camp, right? That fella got a huge bargain!” Jiang Chengwei widened his blurry eyes and burped, then swallowed his saliva and said enviously, “That fella’s armor was refined by Master Ou, guess what happened to it…”
Although the crowd was unhappy with him being so secretive, they began guessing according to his tone.
“Master Ou restored the holes on his armor?”
“Did Master Ou make shocking adjustments to the armor?”
“Master Ou didn’t upgrade the armor, did he?”
“Tsk…”
Scornful laughs filled the air. The burly soldiers were not blacksmiths, but they dealt with pieces of equipment every day and knew how difficult it was to upgrade equipment. Therefore, they ridiculed upon hearing the wild guess.
Despite that, Jiang Chengwei slapped his thigh hard and announced, “You guessed it right!”
The crowd was stunned and their faces changed. “Squad Leader Jiang, did Master Ou really increase Yan Haobo’s armor’s quality?”
Jiang Chengwei laughed and kept them in suspense. “No.”
The person who asked earlier was another squad leader from the Middle Camp’s Guards, and he was white with fury. “Very well, Jiang Chengwei, you’re teasing me! Hmph, Ou Yangming didn’t attach an attribute to the armor, did he?”
Everyone else was startled at first, but they soon burst into laughter.
They knew that the squad leader had blabbered because he was flustered.
How could binding an attribute to equipment be an easy thing to do? Even the best Military Fire Blacksmith in the military only had a thirty-percent success rate, and the probability only applied if the blacksmith was smithing with extreme focus. It was impossible for one to attach an attribute to random equipment in the wild.
Nonetheless, Jiang Chengwei was stunned and left open-mouthed. He asked, “How the f*ck do you know everything?”
“Of course it was just a gu…” The squad leader replied exasperatedly, but suddenly stopped and reacted as if he had just seen a ghost. “What did you say? Did he really fix an attribute to it?”
The waves of laughter from the crowd slowly stopped as well, and everyone looked at Jiang Chengwei shockingly. Even though they knew based on their rationale that it was absolutely impossible, most of them had guessed the answer when they looked at his expression.
It was the exact reason they were in disbelief.
“That’s right, Master Ou simply took Yan Haobo’s armor and combined it with a Power Ore to it to add some Power,” Jiang Chengwei responded slowly, and continued after a pause, “He also took three o
f my High Grade Arrows to improve them with his Military Fire. Not only did my arrows’ quality improve, but they also had an extra explosive ability. The explosive arrows were the main reason we were able to slaughter the half-spirit beast successfully.”
He described the explosive arrows’ might vividly, causing the listeners to turn pale as they wondered, ‘If we encountered the arrows that were so tyrannical in nature, wouldn’t we be doomed?’
It was then when they finally understood why Ou Yangming was given the most credit.
He was a blacksmith who could remodel arrows as such, so who would have the guts to steal his credit?
Without being noticed by the crowd, a white figure had left discreetly and swayed far away.
After a couple of hours, Assistant Supervisor Zhang Yinfan from the Provision Camp lectured a few men furiously and yelled at them based on a petty excuse.
Later on, Assistant Supervisor Zhang locked himself in his room and only left after half a day.
※※※※
A figure appeared outside a courtyard in the Armament Camp, and the person jumped over the wall easily to get inside.
Inside the courtyard, a man, who looked like a white-faced scholar, was studying a military saber carefully. He turned and smiled when he heard some voices. “Little Sister, why did you go out again?”
The figure was the white figure who was hiding in the crowd earlier to listen to Jiang Chengwei’s story. She was disguised as a man, had fine features, and bore a natural heroic spirit. It was difficult to spot her disguise without spending a long time with her.
“Elder Brother, I went to ask around and found that the old craftsman’s disciple, Ou Yangming, is quite skillful. I heard that he can smith Attribute Equipment, and…” The lady hesitated before continuing, “He seems to be able to smith explosive arrows.”
“What? Explosive arrows? How is that possible? That’s a Magic Blacksmith’s secret technique, which is never taught to others, how did he achieve it?” The man’s face changed abruptly.
“I have no idea either.” The lady shrugged, then asked after seeing the military saber in the man’s hand, “Elder Brother, whose product are you looking at? Why do you look so serious?”
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 37
