Chapter 51

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Chapter 51: Beginner Six-Star

Watching Lou Yun raise the flowing light flickering greatsword in his hand, the nearly thousand onlookers did not utter even the faintest sound. Clearly, they were all utterly stunned. Crafting a common weapon in half a shichen? Such forging speed was practically unheard of.

Old Man Feng slapped his own head. "That kid is practically an all-round genius; he’s even this outstanding at weapon making! But just now, while he was forging, it seemed an energy pulsation not his own emanated from that flame. Heh heh, interesting, interesting!"

Sun Danxue nudged Lou Qian, who had frozen like a stone statue. "Hey, A-Qian, you really didn’t know your younger brother is a skilled weapon maker?"

Lou Qian was still clearly dazed, bewilderedly shaking her head. She was equally baffled to the extreme. She remembered Xu Yangteng was only a second-tier skilled weapon maker. Even if he had taught Lou Yun all his weapon-making knowledge, there was no reason Lou Yun could possibly defeat this fourth-grade skilled weapon maker!

Xia Zhilan, however, paid no attention to any of this. In her heart, she held almost unconditional faith in Lou Yun, so she found this outcome completely unsurprising.

Zhang Long, standing beside Qin Wufeng, scratched his head and said quietly, "Boss, if he’s also a skilled weapon maker, it won’t be easy for us to touch him now!"

Originally hoping Xu Baichuan could help him vent his frustration and teach Lou Yun a lesson, humiliating him, he now saw Xu Baichuan losing to Lou Yun instead. Witnessing Xia Zhilan’s beaming face as well, Qin Wufeng was practically seething with rage. "Shut up! My family has skilled weapon makers to spare! What’s there to fear!"

At the farthest edge of the crowd stood a graceful lady as elegant as a fairy—Liu Yunyan. Originally she had just been idly strolling into the city, but she overheard someone challenging Xu Baichuan to a forging duel. When she discovered the challenger was actually Lou Yun, she couldn’t resist her curiosity and followed the crowd.

Now, equally shocked by the result, she bit her lip lightly, silent, only gazing at that smiling, utterly composed young man in the distance. Half a year ago, it was this same calm, composed smile that had captivated her.

Approximately ten meters away from Lou Yun stood Xu Baichuan. Although his common weapon was being forged within a cauldron furnace, obscuring its state, seeing Xu Baichuan’s similarly stunned and speechless expression, everyone could easily guess he had certainly not finished forging his weapon.

Lou Yun turned and handed the greatsword to the elderly man acting as witness, then strode to one side, waiting leisurely for Xu Baichuan.

Under Lou Yun’s gaze, Xu Baichuan immediately appeared flustered. But he truly possessed real skill. Although he had already lost to Lou Yun in terms of speed, since the ultimate contest was about the quality of the weapon, he now focused his entire attention on forging, suppressing his anxiety.

When the full shichen had elapsed, Xu Baichuan finally extinguished the flame beneath his cauldron. He withdrew the common weapon he had forged and wordlessly handed it to the witness.

Now, the entire crowd held their breath. No one dared even to breathe loudly, waiting for the witness to evaluate the grade of the two swords and announce the final result of this forging duel.

The old man held one sword in each hand. Smiling slightly, he raised the sword Xu Baichuan had given him. "This sword, beginner five-star grade!"

He then raised the common weapon sword forged by Lou Yun, hesitating slightly before saying, "This sword… is also beginner five-star grade!"

The moment these words were spoken, the crowd erupted in a commotion. This unknown young fellow, Lou Yun, had crafted a sword of equal grade to Xu Baichuan’s! And though the grades seemed the same, Lou Yun took half a shichen, while Xu Baichuan took a full shichen. Given this, who won and who lost was perfectly clear to everyone!

The old man also looked towards Xu Baichuan. "Do you dispute this result?"

Clearly unwilling to concede, Xu Baichuan narrowed his eyes craftily. "Elder, strictly speaking, although he spent less time forging than I did, we didn’t explicitly include forging time within the scope of the contest. The agreed-upon time was one shichen, and I also completed mine within that shichen. Now the grade of the two common weapons is identical. This contest should be considered a draw!"

"Hssss!" Xu Baichuan’s reasoning was blatant sophistry, plain refusal to admit defeat. The crowd could hardly miss this, instantly responding with loud hisses to express their contempt for his behavior.

The old man gave a faint smile. "I haven’t finished speaking yet."

The noise from the crowd subsided immediately as they waited for his next words.

The old man tossed the common weapon forged by Lou Yun to Xu Baichuan. "See for yourself!"

Xu Baichuan caught the sword, still looking somewhat confused. But after a moment, his expression shifted abruptly. Just as he opened his mouth to offer some defense, he was cut short by the old man’s sharp, piercing gaze, forcing him to swallow his words. He lowered his head dejectedly. "I’ve lost!"

His sudden admission of defeat after seeing Lou Yun’s sword, following his earlier forced arguments, was such a rapid shift that the crowd clearly didn’t grasp the reason.

The old man gave the answer. "Although the grade of a common weapon is divided into five small stars within each major rank, this division is actually just a rough range. Anything exceeding four-star grade is simply categorized as five-star. The common weapons forged by both these men exceeded the four-star grade. Therefore, I could only classify them both as five-star. But if there was a six-star rating, then the weapon this young master forged would undoubtedly be a beginner six-star!"

"Therefore," the old man declared, raising his voice, "I announce this contest’s winner is this young master!"

After a moment of stunned silence, the surrounding crowd erupted with thunderous applause and cheers, celebrating Lou Yun’s victory.

Lou Yun walked forward and placed the sword he had forged into the hands of the middle-aged man. "Old uncle, I give this sword to your son. Be reassured—I noticed the sword you picked out earlier had wood attribute, so I specifically added a beast soul with wood attribute to this one too. It should match your son’s nature. Also, tell your son this for me: it’s fine not to have a magical weapon. Cultivating with a common weapon, one can still become a true champion!"

Both hands cradling the sword, the middle-aged man was shaking. Overwhelmed with emotion, he could only nod furiously, tears streaming down his face.

Returning before Xu Baichuan, Lou Yun offered a slight smile. "Grandmaster Xu, since you acknowledge defeat, you won’t renege on our agreed wager, will you?"

Xu Baichuan huffed angrily at Lou Yun. "Relax, I honor my gambling debts. I’m not so poor a loser. So, what do you want?"

He really has a thick skin. He was the one just being sophistical and refusing to admit defeat a moment ago.

Lou Yun pointed at the cauldron behind him. "I want this cauldron!"

Xu Baichuan’s face instantly changed drastically. He shook his head vehemently. "No! Impossible! That’s my weapon-forging tool! How can I give it to you? Absolutely not!"

Lou Yun said nothing, folding his arms across his chest as he regarded Xu Baichuan with a cold smirk. At that moment, the old man acting as the witness stepped forward. He looked at Xu Baichuan. "You spoke of honoring debts mere moments ago. Changing your mind already?"

For some reason, Xu Baichuan seemed to greatly fear this old man, not even daring to meet his gaze. His lips quivered for a long while without uttering a word. In the end, he could only give a sharp, reluctant nod. "Take it!"

Lou Yun didn’t stand on ceremony. He walked over to the cauldron, beaming, circled it once, then waved a hand. The cauldron vanished into his ring.

Next, he approached the old man and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Senior, for speaking righteously and upholding justice."

The old man laughed heartily. "Think nothing of it, little fellow. What’s your name?"

"Lou Yun!"

"Hmm!" The old man nodded. "How long have you been forging weapons?"

"Uh, less than a year."

"Good good good!"

Extremely satisfied with Lou Yun’s performance, the old man praised him repeatedly. He then stretched out his hand towards Lou Yun.

Lou Yun felt a slight coolness in his palm as the old man seemed to press something into his hand. Lou Yun was about to look down when the old man spoke first. His voice, however, buzzed faintly like a mosquito, penetrating only Lou Yun’s ears. "Fate brought us together. Consider this a meeting gift. Keep it safe; do not let too many know of it. Should you require materials or assistance in forging weapons in the future, take what I’ve given you to any common weapon shop on the Spirit Weapon Star. Show it, state what you need, and they will do their utmost to assist you!"

Before Lou Yun could fully process the old man’s words, the old man laughed again. "Alright then, everyone, the spectacle’s over. This witness must take his leave. You all may disperse as well. Farewell for now, little fellow. We’ll meet again!"

Nodding once more at Lou Yun, the old man’s figure vanished abruptly.

Although the old man’s action of giving Lou Yun the item was extremely subtle, Old Man Feng still caught a glimpse. "My gods! Has the sun risen from the west? That old coot actually gave that treasure to Lou boy! Could it be he wants to take the Lou Family kid as his closed-door disciple?"

"Regardless, this elevates that kid to extraordinary heights overnight!"

Since the old man had given such serious instructions, Lou Yun naturally dared not take the item out. He quietly slipped it into his ring. Finding Lou Qian and the others, he hastily left the area.

Watching Lou Yun and his group depart, despite seething with resentment, Xu Baichuan thought of the old man’s apparent favor towards Lou Yun. He could only swallow his bitterness and endure it!

Afterwards, Lou Yun and the others bought some materials. They ate a meal in Tianrang City and, seeing the sky darken, decided to return to the academy.

On the way back, Lou Qian and Sun Danxue talked animatedly about Lou Yun and Xu Baichuan’s earlier forging competition. They were exuberant, gesturing wildly as if they themselves were the victors.

Lou Yun shook his head helplessly, remaining silent. He couldn’t very well shut them up, so he had to endure the chatter. Xia Zhilan listened with a gentle smile, clearly finding it engrossing. Nie Jiu, meanwhile, was busy stuffing food into his mouth as they walked.

The five had just left the main road and entered the small path heading towards Chaoyun Valley. After walking less than halfway, Lou Yun’s sharp innate senses alerted him to something wrong. Subtly, he whispered to the other four, "Someone is following us."

Lou Qian jumped in fright and immediately started to turn around. Lou Yun stopped her. "Don’t look. Wait a bit. Let’s quicken our pace. Everyone, stay alert. Nie Jiu, stop eating."

Nie Jiu mumbled around the food, "Gotta eat! Only way to have energy for fighting is to be full!" He kept shoveling food, a true, indiscriminate glutton!

Xia Zhilan visibly tensed up. She seemed inclined to move closer to Lou Yun but hesitated, appearing shy.

After walking for another quarter of an hour, Lou Yun became certain the pursuer was indeed targeting them. When they sped up, the pursuer sped up; when they slowed, the pursuer slowed too.

Lou Yun turned to survey their surroundings. Darkness had fallen. The area was open wilderness. Ahead lay a grove of trees – the perfect spot for an ambush if they meant harm.

He relayed this observation to the others, urging them to stay vigilant. He himself amplified his innate senses to their maximum, intently monitoring the situation behind them. His mind raced: Who could be following us?

The most likely candidate was Xu Baichuan. Having lost his cauldron, how could someone like him possibly take it lying down?

Finally, the five filed into the small grove. Lou Yun signaled the group to stop. He turned around, speaking coldly towards the lingering darkness beyond. "You can come out now!"