Those were interspatial bags, after all. If one sold them without being too fussed about the number of spirit ores they cost, they would be incredibly well-known.
Even the dumbest person would know how to choose at this time.
Ou Yangming shook his head. He figured that Tian Yinghao did not know that the Insects were about to attack, or the man could not have been so cheerful. When the young fellow asked Tian Yinghao to sell the interspatial bags on his behalf, he was not worried that any force would stock them up; he knew Yuqi the Venerable One would definitely handle this well so that more people in need could obtain the interspatial bags before the war. If anyone dared to infuriate the Venerable One at this time, one could imagine the consequences.
The young fellow smiled when he looked at the interspatial materials on the ground. He retrieved corresponding supplementary materials from his interspatial bag, then he used his Military Fire to envelope the sets of materials separately.
Yes, Ou Yangming was no longer content with smithing pieces of equipment one by one.
In particular, for items that he was familiar with, he began to refine several of them in one go.
If other blacksmiths that were adept in refining interspatial bags were here, they would have cursed at him loudly. This was because interspatial materials were rather rare even in the Spiritual Realm, thus they were fully focused every time and dared not be careless at all. They knew very well that even the slightest mistake would cause them to ruin an interspatial bag.
Moreover, those blacksmiths must only refine interspatial bags in their best conditions to slightly increase their success rates.
Interspatial power was one of the mightiest powers in the world. There would always be some disharmony for Spiritualists below the Venerable-One-level to refine pieces of interspatial equipment. Even after exploring for 10,000 years, nobody found a way to improve.
However, the refinement of interspatial bags was not difficult for Ou Yangming. Especially since his mental power merged with his Military Fire, there was almost no difficulty for him to grasp partial space.
Whether he sliced using Rune Powers or wanted to expand the ranges of interspatial bags to their maximum limits, he could achieve them easily.
Ou Yangming exhaled deeply after half an hour. 10 interspatial bags appeared under his feet.
He was unfeeling even after completing everything at such a shocking speed as if it was insignificant, where he simply looked away from the interspatial bags.
After pondering for a brief moment, Ou Yangming retrieved the ancient shield. For some reason, he felt that there was probably a secret behind the round shield and that he would benefit greatly if he could discover the secret.
Ou Yangming could not find anything unusual about the shield even after he studied it for some time. He decided to release his Military Fire after some thought. The young fellow had bought the equipment for only 600 spirit ores, so he considered it the most ordinary equipment if he ignored the fact that it was labeled as a piece of “ancient” equipment.
As such, he did not cherish the equipment at all.
Next, Ou Yangming’s blazing Military Fire enveloped the ancient shield. That said, he began to have a strange look on his face after a while. While looking like he was in disbelief, he actually looked like he was eager to try something too.
Chapter 700 - Dragon Shield
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Boom…”
As Ou Yangming’s Military Fire scorched, something unimaginable happened.
His Military Fire was the Heavenly Phoenix Fire. Its full potential could not be unleashed because it was hidden inside the body of a small human, but the young fellow knew it was an intense fire that could burn even Heaven and Earth.
Nothing could resist the Heavenly Phoenix Fire.
Before this, Ou Yangming had smithed countless pieces of equipment, and he could always melt any material at lightning speed. Moreover, the melting processes would always come about as he wished; he could control their speeds however he wanted them to be.
This time, Ou Yangming came across trouble. The shield maintained its original state despite being burned by his Military Fire, where it did not show signs of being melted at all.
It was definitely his first time encountering this problem.
With a flash of thought, Ou Yangming focused his mental conception on the shield entirely.
Sure enough, he sensed that something was indeed strange about the shield. In particular, unique energy was released from the surface, and it resisted the fire’s might.
Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows. He sensed the energy quietly and began to use the knowledge that he had learned about smithing art throughout these years.
After a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes in shock.
‘An outer guard!’
Yes, Ou Yangming finally understood why it felt so different to him.
It was because his Military Fire was not in contact with the shield’s real body but a layer of a protective guard outside.
The smithing master that smithed the shield was unknown, but it was worth noting that an outer shell was added to it. Further, the shell was extremely hidden as it could not be pried at all. Ou Yangming, who possessed the Heavenly Phoenix Fire, had only uncovered the secret by burning the shield for an extensive period.
Without the Heavenly Phoenix Fire—if Ou Yangming had only used an ordinary fire—nothing would happen to the shield’s outer shell even after 10 to 15 days, let alone being able to unearth the truth.
Ou Yangming’s heart pounded as he was overwhelmed with intense emotion.
‘If the outer shell is already a Good Grade magic tool, what will I find if I remove it?’
The young fellow rolled his eyes out of the blue as he recalled something. Tian Yinghao had told him that the ancient shield was initially not for sale, but it was eventually auctioned because 2 of the subsidiary clans were interested in it.
‘Why are those 2 clans suddenly interested in this ancient shield?’
In actuality, if Ou Yangming had not realized that his Military Fire could not melt the shield, he would not be interested in something ancient but useless.
His Military Fire kept burning, but the outer shell seemed like an indestructible wall, which shut out all of the fire’s powers.
After burning the shield for such a long time, Ou Yangming only sensed that something was off and found out about the outer shell. Even so, he still needed to put in a lot of effort as he was still far from burning the shell away.
Nonetheless, blacksmiths seemed to be born to be patient. Ou Yangming did not care about how long it would take, and he continued to work hard.
Ou Yangming’s eyes suddenly lit up after 3 hours because he finally burnt off one of the shell’s corners. His Military Fire was balanced and perfect under his control, by which the same burning power was exerted on every inch of the outer shell.
Nevertheless, even the most perfect thing could be flawed due to various accidents. Perhaps the shield’s corner had been hit hard before this, there was a slight change in its outer shell. The change was the exact reason Ou Yangming spotted the secret. As he burned the shield for a long time with his Military Fire, that spot was also the first to reveal a flaw.
“Pow…”
Accompanied by an incredibly subtle sound, nearly invisible shards fell from the corner bit by bit and landed on Ou Yangming’s hand, which was already in place for them some time ago.
Ou Yangming could not help but frown as he looked at the shards and pinched them. He vaguely felt that they were awfully familiar.
After pondering for a brief moment, Ou Yangming’s eyes gleamed. He turned his wrist and retrieved from his interspatial bag a crock with some black soil inside.
It was something that Ou Yangming obtained from the coffin in the secret realm. At that time, this thing was accompanied by 9 Concentric Knots. He clearly remembered how B
ig Yellow, Far Antelope, and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard looked when he retrieved the soil that day.
The spirit beasts looked like they could not wait to feast on the soil as though it was a rare delicacy.
Ou Yangming was deep in his thoughts as he looked at the black soil and the shards from the outer shell.
He could not compare with those old pedants, who were potent blacksmiths, in terms of experience. Having said that, if he could not make out anything from a raw material and a finished product, everything that he learned throughout recent years had gone to a dog’s body1. (Big Yellow wagged its tail indignantly and thought, ‘What’s this got to do with a dog?’)
Nobody knew what the black soil was, but Big Yellow and the spirit beasts wanted to take forcible possession of it after they saw it. If Ou Yangming had not been reputable enough to stop Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard from acting rashly on that day, they would have snatched it from him already.
After wondering for some time, Ou Yangming waved his hand again and retrieved the giant coffin.
He did not know why he did that; perhaps it was a subconscious act.
That said, the instant the ancient coffin was retrieved, the round shield in the Military Fire made “woo, woo” sounds without warning and turned into a black light to hit the coffin.
There was no sound of a loud crash. The round shield was tremendously fast, but it touched the coffin as light as a feather, then they stuck tightly to each other like magnets.
The only thing was that Ou Yangming had a slight hunch that it would not be easy for someone with his capability to get to the bottom of it.
Ou Yangming gritted his teeth after a long time. He was about to spread his Military Fire to envelope the whole coffin when a loud bark was heard.
He raised his eyebrows a little and immediately curbed his Military Fire.
The bark came from Big Yellow, and it was a warning. Something must be happening in the courtyard, or the big yellow dog would not have anyhow barked knowing that the young fellow was in the process of refining something.
Ou Yangming cleaned up everything before he got up and opened the door.
This was the inner sect of the Beast King Sect, hence Ou Yangming believed that Big Yellow could hold on for some time regardless of the trouble. Sure enough, by the time he opened the door, the big yellow dog was only baring its teeth in the courtyard and had not attacked yet.
When Ou Yangming turned to look, he was surprised.
A white-haired elder was seen standing outside. He had seen the elder once.
Back at the square, when Tian Yinghao introduced to him the 2 clans that were interested in the round shield, he noticed that this elder was one of the people in charge from one of those clans.
The elder laughed out loud as soon as he saw Ou Yangming. “Master Ou, I’m Cheng Yuhong, and I’ve especially come to visit you.”
Ou Yangming made way after some thought and responded, “Elder Cheng, please come in.”
Cheng Yuhong’s face changed. He quickly said, “Master Ou, you’re being too polite. I don’t deserve to be addressed like that by you.”
Even Great Elder Mao Jianbi from the Beast King Sect had begun to address Ou Yangming as a brother, thus Cheng Yuhong dared not take advantage of the young fellow.
Ou Yangming grinned. “Come inside.”
Once they were inside, he asked, “Elder Cheng, straightforward people don’t resort to overtones. Have you come to ask about the round shield?”
Cheng Yuhong was lowering himself onto a chair when he heard the young fellow. He could not help but answer, “Yes. I know it’s quite bold of me to do this, but please have mercy on me, sir.”
Ou Yangming’s eyes flashed as he questioned, “Why is your clan after this item? Are you aware of the hidden secret?”
The elder looked up abruptly with flickering eyes and replied to him after some time, “Master Ou, what hidden secret are you talking about?”
“What you’re after is naturally the hidden secret.” Ou Yangming sneered.
Cheng Yuhong twitched his mouth. He slowly looked fearful and uneasy.
‘I’ve only found out about the round shield’s origin by chance, but our clans are the only ones that know about it, so how did Master Ou find out?’
Ou Yangming became more curious as he looked at the elder.
He was not one to take advantage of his power to bully the weak, but he would not mind adopting some measures within boundaries to achieve his goal sometimes.
With that, he released his spiritual world and enveloped the entire courtyard.
Next, a wonderful power was released, and it filled the real world.
Big Yellow, which was in the courtyard, tilted its head for some time before it slowly lay prone on the ground but with a confused look in its eyes.
‘What’s Lil’ Ming up to? Why is he making a big fuss over this?’
It was difficult and strenuous to release one’s spiritual world to wrap up the real world, so even Ou Yangming would not anyhow release his.
That said, the young fellow had just released his spiritual world without any hesitation to probe the round shield’s secret.
Needless to say, it was also because the elder was merely an ordinary Spiritualist, or Ou Yangming would not have been so unrestrained.
Cheng Yuhong slowly looked odd and dazed as if he was trapped in a dream and could not get out of it.
It was a world that had been meticulously built by Ou Yangming for him, causing him to fall deeper inside.
If Cheng Yuhong knew his visit would lead to this, he would not have dared to come so recklessly.
However, how many of such an unusual situation would he encounter in his life?
“What exactly is that round shield?”
“I’m not sure, but it could be the King of Water’s shield.”
“What do you mean?”
“I meant the shield that was said to have been refined by the Dragon God from a Black Turtle’s carapace1.”
“The Dragon God…”
Chapter 701 - Skull
‘The Dragon God!’
There was a subtle change in Ou Yangming’s expression when he heard the name.
He was familiar with the legendary Dragons because he had witnessed the appearance of the dragon and the phoenix in Lil’ Red’s spiritual world. It felt like it was just yesterday the young fellow was in awe of what he saw. Besides, the Heavenly Phoenix Fire that he possessed was also an exemplary art of the Phoenixes, which were on par with the Dragons.
In a way, Ou Yangming could even record and reflect the appearance of the dragon and the phoenix because he possessed the Heavenly Phoenix Fire. Therefore, he knew more about the Dragons than most people.
‘But this shield was actually refined by an Almighty Being from the Dragons by using a Black Turtle’s carapace?’
Ou Yangming could not help but feel dubious after he heard about it. Even so, if it was true, it could explain why the round shield’s outer shell did not fear even his Military Fire.
The Heavenly Phoenix Fire was mighty, where it could be used to deal with items of lower ranks effortlessly. Nevertheless, it was inevitable for the fire to suffer a loss against something refined by a powerhouse from the Dragons.
Needless to say, it was not because the Phoenixes were inferior to the Dragons, but because Ou Yangming was not capable enough to fully unleash the Heavenly Phoenix Fire’s potential.
If Ou Yangming’s Military Fire was a lighter, it could be easily used against an ant. However, if a bucket of water was poured on it, not to mention making a fire, the lighter itself might be damaged.
Ou Yangming took a deep breath, then he hesitated for a while before he asked, “Where did you hear that from?”
Cheng Yuhong answered without any hesitation, “Xu Jia and I were exploring an ancient tomb when we found an ancient manual and found some clues. We searched bit by bit according to the clues and stumbled upon an ancient battlefie
ld, but it had long been found and occupied by our sect. Only after asking around for some time, we managed to locate the round shield.”
At this time, Cheng Yuhong was already deep in an illusion, hence he would answer all of Ou Yangming’s questions without hiding anything.
Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows and raised another question, “Where’s the ancient manual?”
“We burnt it.”
The young fellow glared at him because petty people like him were the reason lesser ancient manuals were passed down.
Having said that, for all Ou Yangming knew, he might have done the same thing if he was in the elder’s shoes.
“What else was recorded in the ancient manual? Tell me everything?”
Sure enough, under the illusion’s influence, Cheng Yuhong did not resist at all; he told the young fellow the content of the ancient manual as much as he could.
In actual fact, there was not a clear description in the manual. It was only stated that there was a huge secret behind the round shield, and that one that could unveil it would benefit greatly.
Spiritualists might not be moved if the reward would only be normal, but it was clearly written in the manual that the round shield was smithed from a Black Turtle’s carapace by the Dragon God. Putting aside everything else, the Dragon God’s identity and a Black Turtle’s carapace were enough to move anyone.
Of course, other people might still be doubtful, but Ou Yangming had inspected the shield himself.
If the shield was not related to the Dragon God, how could it block the Heavenly Phoenix Fire?
Despite all that, it was evident that the ancient manual was not left behind by the Dragon God. Much of its content was unclear, and there were more speculations instead of research, thus Ou Yangming was rather disappointed.
Ou Yangming shook his head as he knew he could not get anything else out of the Spiritualist. Once he waved his hand gently, the peculiar aura slowly disappeared.
Cheng Yuhong shook his head hard. He looked dazed, which was obvious that he did not understand what happened earlier. This was the power of an Illusion Formation, one would not notice it at all if one was absolutely suppressed.
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