Ou Yangming’s eyes lit up. He finally knew what the Wish-fulfilling Clay was for and why the antelope was so infuriated.
The antelope did not know where Ou Yangming and Big Yellow came from; it thought they were local cultivators from the Spiritual Realm.
Since the WIsh-fulfilling Clay was not a rare item in this world, it would definitely be incorporated in pieces of equipment smithed for spirit beasts.
If not, judging from how fast a spirit beast would grow, one would need to change one’s equipment set every once in a while. As such, any materials accumulated would end up being fully consumed.
In actuality, if Big Yellow had not met a wealthy blacksmith like Ou Yangming in the lower realm, it would not have gathered a full set of equipment.
Ou Yangming cleared his throat and responded with a smile, “Your Excellency, please don’t be mad. Frankly speaking, I was the one that smithed the equipment set.”
The antelope was less angry, and it asked, “Y-you’re a blacksmith from the Humans?” As it scanned Ou Yangming from head to toe, there was a subtle change in its attitude.
Before Ou Yangming could answer it, Big Yellow went forward and said, “Woof, you don’t believe it? Hmph, Lil’ Ming, let’s ignore it then.”
Big Yellow glared at the antelope. It seemed like it had a bitter resentment toward the antelope after being hotly pursued by it. Upon seeing this, Ou Yangming was annoyed and amused at the same time. He pushed the dog’s head away and asked the antelope, “Do you not believe me?”
The antelope shook its head. “So, you’re a human blacksmith. If that’s the case, you can’t be blamed. Did a mountain lord invite you here?”
Ou Yangming found it odd, but he kept a straight face and asked the antelope in return, “How did you know, Your Excellency?”
“Human blacksmiths like you need rare and precious minerals while beasts like us need pieces of equipment to protect ourselves. Hasn’t this been the norm for countless years?” The antelope was proud. It blinked and looked at the unconscious Silver Ridge Giant Leopard, then it remarked, “That damn leopard must’ve been blind to attack a human blacksmith. Heh, if word spread, even if you don’t call it to account, it’ll suffer a miserable fate.”
The young fellow was moved, and he thought, ‘It looks like human blacksmiths are very popular in the Spiritual Realm.’
He raised another question, “Oh, according to what you say, can we leave this place easily without Silver Ridge’s lead?”
“Of course,” the antelope answered without any hesitation, “When human blacksmiths and alchemists enter the 10,000 Beasts Ridge, while the rules don’t allow it, spirit beasts like us welcome them. If any fella attacks them, they’ll surely be punished by the sirs.”
Ou Yangming nodded as half of his doubt was answered. “If you want an equipment set, I can customize one for you, but you’ll need to provide me the materials.”
The antelope’s eyes gleamed, and it questioned, “Can the equipment set be mentioned on equal terms with that fella’s?”
Big Yellow glared at it. If it was not certain that it could not defeat the antelope, it would have pounced on it long ago to bite it into pieces.
Ou Yangming grinned. “You’ll find out once I’m done smithing.”
Seeing how unconcerned but confident he was, the antelope was elated. Nevertheless, it stressed after a moment of hesitation, “I want a set of equipment that can be resized, not this, this…” It had a rather complicated look in its eyes.
Earlier when the antelope fought Big Yellow, it knew how tough the pieces of equipment were and was coveting them. Even so, they were tailored and would not be useful to it if it took forcible possession of them.
Therefore, the antelope loved but hated them, and it felt very helpless.
Ou Yangming laughed and said, “Your Excellency, you’re wrong.”
“What?” The antelope asked as it was puzzled.
The young fellow put his hands behind his back and responded with an unpredictable look on his face. “The smithing of the pieces of equipment are actually closely related to their materials. If the Wish-fulfilling Clay isn’t one of the materials you’re about to prepare for me, even if I have a divine ability, I won’t be able to smith pieces of resizeable equipment.”
Upon hearing him, the antelope was overjoyed. It nodded and said, “Smithing master, don’t worry, I’ve prepared the Wish-fulfilling Clay already.”
Following that, it turned its wrist to return the spiritual herb to its body. It was weird because once the herb was covered by its dense coat of fur, not only would it not be seen, but even the lazy turtle and Big Yellow could not sense it anymore.
Ou Yangming was rather intrigued when he looked at the antelope’s fur. Without needing to ask, he knew there was something mysterious about its fur.
Having said that, the young fellow was not a fool, thus he would not ask about its fur’s origin and functions.
The antelope later swayed and ran far away, but its voice echoed in the air. “Human master, please wait for a brief moment while I go to retrieve the materials.”
Ou Yangming turned to ask the lazy turtle after the antelope left, “Lazy turtle, have human blacksmiths entered the sea before?”
The lazy turtle shrunk its neck and answered, “Of course.”
“If that’s the case, you were already aware of the unspoken rule.” Ou Yangming looked hostile.
Even though the antelope did not explain it clearly, Ou Yangming understood what it meant. Human blacksmiths and alchemists had always been able to enter and leave the Beasts’ territory. Furthermore, the beast powerhouses would not harm them after finding out their identities and would secretly protect them too.
This was because the Beasts could not smith pieces of equipment and could only obtain them from human blacksmiths.
Needless to say, human blacksmiths would not anyhow smith pieces of equipment for them. Without materials that would move them, they would not work for nothing.
Ou Yangming could not understand why such a rule existed, but he believed that there was a purpose in everything. Since it had been going on for generations and was approved by both parties, it must be reasonable.
This also meant that he could arrive at the Humans’ boundary even if he strutted through the ridge; he did not need the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard to guide him.
The lazy turtle made an unnecessary move when it pretentiously put a restraining order on the spirit leopard.
Perhaps it was looking for a way to take away the Tree of Splendour righteously.
Sure enough, the lazy turtle became unusually embarrassed. It laughed and expressed, “Master Ou, why are you clinging to such a trivial matter? Don’t worry, I won’t leave even if you shoo me away next time!”
Big Yellow was confused because it could not understand the riddle between them.
However, after hearing the lazy turtle’s pledge, it looked strangely at Ou Yangming.
‘Lil’ Ming is really amazing. How did he fool that dumb and lazy turtle just now? It actually became dead set on following him now. I should probably learn this from him.’
“Woosh…”
A strong wind blew all of a sudden. The antelope was indeed a… An animal of its word. It had asked Ou Yangming to wait for a brief moment, and it really returned after a short while.
Chapter 555 - The Wish-fulfilling Clay
The antelope arrived like a wind in front of Ou Yangming and the others, then it tossed an interspatial bag without any hesitation.
Needless to say, the antelope did not want to cause any misunderstanding that would get itself killed. Besides, the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard’s end was right in front of it, hence instead of getting too close to Ou Yangming and the rest, it stopped a distance away from them.
Ou Yangming reached out to catch the interspatial bag.
He was shocked when he looked inside through his mental conception.
Sure enough, there were plenty of mineral
s inside, each one seemingly unordinary. According to the way of the lower realm, the minerals’ values were probably not inferior to that of a certain treasure that belonged to the imperial family.
Nonetheless, it was worth noting that the minerals were merely a part of a wild spirit beast’s collection.
Ou Yangming could tell from the interspatial bag alone that the Spiritual Realm’s wealth was far from what the lower realm could compare.
Of course, this was only a disparity between them in terms of treasures. In actuality, the lower realm had vast lands, which if used reasonably could create wealth and value that could not be imagined by ordinary people. Even so, people that were qualified to gain that level of wealth were unordinary too. At the very least, spirit beasts such as the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard and the antelope would not have any hope.
The young fellow lamented for a while before he shook his wrist and retrieved a soft, clay-like, red item.
His Military Fire then flickered in his hand.
[Item: Wish-fulfilling Clay]
[Properties: Has a unique ability to change an equipment’s size, the Spiritual Realm’s specialty]
Ou Yangming’s eyelids twitched. If he stumbled upon flying stones from beyond Heaven or peculiar stones in the lower realm, he could not have identified what they were through the Military Fire or appraisal art.
According to the little red bird, appraisal art was a type of origin magic art, which drew on the world’s origin power to appraise items. Therefore, even if appraisers did not recognize certain items or equipment, they could vaguely detect their names and functions through appraisal art.
Nevertheless, the art’s biggest shortcoming was it would be useless against items that surpassed the acknowledgment of the world’s origin.
It would definitely be useless work to exert the Military Fire or appraisal art on the Wish-fulfilling Clay in the lower realm. This was because the item simply was not born in the lower realm. Even if a bit of them occasionally got from the Spiritual Realm into the lower realm, the lower realm’s origin would not be able to discover its properties.
Once Ou Yangming entered the upper realm, his Military Fire no longer borrowed the lower realm’s origin knowledge, but the origin knowledge system that belonged to the Spiritual Realm.
Hence, when Ou Yangming’s Military Fire flickered, he immediately understood the item’s name and its function.
As said by the lazy turtle, the Wish-fulfilling Clay was not a rare item in the Spiritual Realm, or the antelope could not have acquired it.
Ou Yangming kept a straight face as he continued to retrieve the other minerals from the interspatial bag and identified them with his Military Fire.
His Military Fire did not disappoint him at all. In particular, when he appraised the remaining materials, the notifications displayed were so detailed that they were out of his expectations, thus he was very satisfied.
Afterward, he shook his wrist again. This time, what appeared was not a mineral, but a rhizome with a peculiar luster and enormous energy inside.
Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. Earlier on, he was completely focused on the different minerals. A blacksmith that came across such rare minerals was similar to a starving glutton running into a full banquet, or a pervert that chanced on fair ladies; one would not be able to hold back.
Thus, Ou Yangming was rather startled when he unconsciously retrieved the plant.
The antelope was also stunned, and it did not know to cry or to laugh. “Ah, I made a mistake. Fine, fine… This will also be one of the rewards. As long as you manage to smith an equipment set, I’ll give that to you as a bonus.”
Ou Yangming quietly tossed the item aside, but it landed steadily on the ground as though it was carried by a pair of invisible hands.
Although the antelope was not concerned about the item, the fact that it collected it proved that it was a commendable item.
Especially to Ou Yangming, who had just come from the lower realm and was akin to a poor beggar, every little gain mattered to him, so he would not anyhow discard anything.
Despite that, a yellow figure flashed beside him as Big Yellow leaped and picked up the item with its mouth.
Ou Yangming looked at the big yellow dog in shock because it was usually impatient when it found spiritual items. Having said that, something was different this time. When the young fellow looked at its eyes, he did not see any excitement; the yellow dog looked confused.
It seemed like even Big Yellow found it strange that it suddenly acted like that.
The young fellow was moved. He glanced at the odd rhizome and secretly remembered it, but he quickly looked away and continued to inspect the various minerals inside the interspatial bag.
He could tell from the types and quantity of minerals that the antelope had been preparing for a long time for its equipment set. At the very least, everything that he could think of was gathered, and there were also many minerals that did not cross his mind at all.
The antelope was nervous when it looked at Ou Yangming being deep in his thoughts.
It was not a blacksmith, after all, so it only knew how to gather materials. As such, it was unsure if the materials were enough and if they could be used to smith anything good. Moreover, the antelope was told that human blacksmiths would not always succeed in smithing anything and would sometimes fail.
This was why the powerful mountain lords on the 10,000 Beasts Ridge would always prepare at least 4 sets of materials.
Even though the antelope had put a lot of thought into this, the materials that were gathered could only be used to smith 3 equipment sets at most, so it was feeling uneasy.
“Human smithing master, so… Are these materials enough?”
Ou Yangming seemed to be considering the matter seriously, but whatever was going through his mind at the moment had nothing to do with it.
He glared at the antelope and asked in return, “Do you think these are enough?”
Honestly, the materials were more than sufficient; there were too many of them. However, Ou Yangming could not help but deceive the antelope when he saw how anxious it was.
Sure enough, the antelope smiled apologetically and said, “Human blacksmith, I know that normally, at least 4 sets of materials need to be prepared for assurance, but I’ve only gathered this many for now.” It paused for a while before it added, “But I can use my other collections as replacements. No matter what, I won’t let you suffer any loss.”
It knew very well how difficult it was to stumble upon a reliable human blacksmith on the 10,000 Beasts Ridge.
If it missed this opportunity, it would not know when it would be able to encounter another human blacksmith.
Of course, the antelope only trusted Ou Yangming very much because it experienced how tough Big Yellow’s equipment set was. If that was not the case, it would not have been so easygoing unless the young fellow smithed pieces of equipment that satisfied it.
Ou Yangming wondered and asked scornfully, “What other good collections do you have? Can they be better than I have?”
If human blacksmiths and alchemists were indeed wealthy figures—as said by the antelope—their possessions should worth more than what the antelope had.
As expected, the antelope looked gloomy right away. It was as if it was also blaming itself for being overconfident by trying to compare its net worth with a blacksmith’s.
Ou Yangming looked at the antelope and noted, “Alright, I’m lacking a fur coat. If you contribute your fur, I’ll do my best to smith an equipment set for you.”
“F-fur?” The antelope was stupefied, and it had a weird expression on its face.
“If you’re not willing to do that, forget it.” Ou Yangming curled his mouth but was secretly more alert as he thought, ‘Looks like there’s something bizarre about its fur. I was being too obvious with my intention.’
Who knew, the antelope shouted, “No, no, no, I mean… Ah, since my fur will grow, I’ll give them to you if you’re able t
o smith an equipment set with similar qualities as that dog’s.”
Ou Yangming was elated. Putting aside everything else, the fact that the fur had the unique ability to hide a spiritual item’s aura proved that it was much more valuable than Big Yellow’s suit.
Since the antelope did not know about goods, he could not be blamed for taking advantage of it.
That said, Ou Yangming did not know that the antelope was also talking to itself at the moment.
‘This human blacksmith is really blind; I can’t believe he wants my fur, which will grow out at any time. I made a fortune—I really made a fortune this time!’
As both parties achieved their aims, they were delighted.
In actuality, it was not that they had poor visions. Was the antelope not aware of its fur’s special function? It simply did not treasure it because it could easily gain new fur. Similarly, smithing pieces of equipment was a piece of cake for Ou Yangming, so he could not understand how much the antelope yearned for a suitable equipment set.
Ou Yangming picked up an ore and looked at the big lazy turtle. He delivered a message through his conception, “Hey, how should I use the Wish-fulfilling Clay?”
The lazy turtle blinked and twitched its eyes as it cursed, ‘How dare this fella smith something when he doesn’t even know what the Wish-fulfilling Clay is? He’s simply…’ Nonetheless, it dared not reprimand Ou Yangming openly.
“I’m not sure too, but I heard that you just have to incorporate the clay into the equipment.”
Ou Yangming shook his head and thought, ‘That’s a useless answer.
‘Incorporate it? How much do I have to incorporate for it to be functional? What will happen if more clay is used? What will happen if I use less of it?’
In any case, he knew it would be pointless discussing this with the lazy turtle, so he could only explore the clay himself.
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 327
