Nangong Wan'er spent a full quarter of an hour regulating her breathing before the frost on her body slowly faded. She rose, picked up the Yellow Springs Saber beside her, glanced at it, then handed it to Qin Shuang. Deep shock showed in her beautiful eyes as she said, "Thank you for lending me your saber. Here."
"Miss Nangong, are you... all right?"
Qin Shuang sheathed the Yellow Springs Saber and slung it across his back. Looking at Nangong Wan'er, he asked.
"I'm fine. I badly wounded Situ Rui. When I used this saber to injure him, the icy energy inside it also invaded my meridians. Unfortunately, I couldn't kill him! That dog escaped."
A trace of regret appeared in Nangong Wan'er's beautiful eyes.
Just now, if she hadn't immediately regulated her breathing to drive the chill that Black Saber had sent into her body, the consequences would have been dire.
"He escaped, so you don't have to worry anymore."
A thoughtful look crossed Qin Shuang's face as he spoke.
Nangong Wan'er would probably be leaving soon.
"For now, I'm safe, but his father won't be easy to deal with."
Nangong Wan'er nodded, then looked at the Yellow Springs Saber on Qin Shuang's back and asked, "That saber of yours is extraordinary... where did you get it?"
Nangong Wan'er remembered that Qin Shuang hadn't had a saber when he left. He'd been gone for a day and a night, and now he had this remarkable weapon.
"This saber... I killed a White Jade Golden Pattern Python today. I chased it back to its lair and found the cave dwelling of a senior who had passed away. I saw a saber inside that felt right in my hand, so I took it."
Qin Shuang smiled faintly as he spoke.
"You killed a python... and found the cave dwelling of a deceased senior?"
Nangong Wan'er's beautiful eyes widened with shock. She murmured, "It seems your fortune really is remarkable. From the terrifying chill contained in this saber, and the words 'Yellow Springs' on it, it resembles the weapon of the legendary Blade Dao Overlord from over a century ago, Li Tianhen—the Yellow Springs Heavenly Saber."
"But it doesn't quite seem to be the same. If it really were the Yellow Springs Heavenly Saber, I doubt I could control it! They say that saber is a weapon that grows stronger, and that its slaughter was so great that not a blade of grass grew for a hundred li around wherever it was."
"Still, your saber has the beginnings of an Artifact Spirit. It's at least a high-grade Spirit Artifact. You must never let anyone find out, or the Jianghu will be swept into a storm of bloodshed, and you'll bring a deadly calamity upon yourself!"
Nangong Wan'er spoke with great seriousness. She knew that the saber had an Artifact Spirit and immense power. If word of it spread through the Jianghu, countless fighters would fight to claim it!
After all,
even the Divine Saber Sect's Crimson Flood Dragon Spirit-Slaying Saber was only a high-grade Spirit Artifact!
That showed just how valuable this saber was.
"High-grade Spirit Artifact?"
Qin Shuang was delighted. He hadn't expected the saber he'd stumbled upon to be a high-grade Spirit Artifact.
"Exactly!"
Seeing that Qin Shuang didn't know much about weapons, Nangong Wan'er picked up a bun and ate as she explained. "In the Jianghu, weapons are divided into..."
From Nangong Wan'er, Qin Shuang learned that
weapons were divided into five grades: Mortal Iron, Spirit Artifacts, True Artifacts, Sacred Artifacts, and Divine Artifacts. Beyond these conventional categories were Dao Artifacts, weapons that could grow stronger, and Forbidden Demonic Weapons.
Mortal Iron was divided into crude iron, hundred-forged steel, and Dark Iron. For example, Nangong Wan'er's saber was Dark Iron.
Spirit Artifacts were divided into low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade.
Low-grade Spirit Artifacts possessed a trace of spirituality and were sharper.
Mid-grade Spirit Artifacts could increase the force of an attack. For example, the Startling Swan Saber in Situ Rui's hands was a mid-grade Spirit Artifact that could deflect thirty percent of an attack.
High-grade Spirit Artifacts, meanwhile, had the beginnings of an Artifact Spirit. The Yellow Springs Saber could release icy energy on its own, so it was at least a high-grade Spirit Artifact.
True Artifacts were divided into three grades: Earthly Baleful, Heavenly Astral, and Yin-Yang.
As for Sacred Artifacts, Divine Artifacts, unconventional Dao Artifacts, and Forbidden Demonic Weapons, Nangong Wan'er didn't know much about them.
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She had heard a little about weapons that could grow stronger. Such weapons were divided into Blood Refinement Advancement, in which they evolved by drinking the blood of countless powerful fighters, and Soul Devouring Advancement, in which they grew by devouring all kinds of Artifact Spirits.
"Thank you for explaining all that, Miss Nangong. What are you planning to do next?"
Qin Shuang looked at Nangong Wan'er and asked.
"Situ Rui has already escaped. Now I have to leave Yanzhou. The day I return will be the day I destroy the Divine Saber Sect!"
Nangong Wan'er looked at Qin Shuang, determination shining in her beautiful eyes. She turned to him and cautioned, "But you... Situ Rui is petty and vengeful. He already hates you, too. You'd better leave Qingzhou City."
"Thank you for the warning. I'll leave as soon as I can."
Qin Shuang nodded.
"Oh, right, Qin Shuang. You must use your Qi and Blood to temper all 206 bones. Don't enter the Marrow Jade Realm too soon! Only then might you go further in the future," Nangong Wan'er urged.
"Mm. I'll do everything I can to forge my bones!"
Thinking of the golden color on the spine and brow of the skeleton in the White Jade Golden Pattern Python's cave, Qin Shuang's heart stirred. He asked, "By the way, Miss Nangong, do you think anyone has ever forged their bones until they turned golden?"
"Golden bones?"
A look of yearning appeared in Nangong Wan'er's beautiful eyes. "If a martial artist can forge golden bones and doesn't die young, their future achievements will certainly surpass the Divine Wheel Realm. As far as I know, the Holy Maiden of Pudu Jing Zhai, the foremost righteous Holy Land in Tianchu; Buddha Son Hui Zhen of Pure Land Zen Monastery; Sword Addict Jian Bu Er of the Heavenly Sword Sect; Holy Maiden Nalan Qiaoqian of the Demonic Sect's Nine Nether Mansion; and Crown Prince Chu Tianyang of Tianchu all forged their bones golden to varying degrees. It once caused a Heaven and Earth Anomaly..."
"Those who can forge golden bones are all peerless geniuses, dazzling talents. Resources and talent are both indispensable..."
"For ordinary martial artists like us, forging golden bones is just too difficult..."
As Nangong Wan'er spoke, a trace of dejection showed in her beautiful eyes.
She, too, had tempered all 206 bones, but hadn't managed to forge them golden. It was a regret she would carry for the rest of her life.
Nangong Wan'er gathered herself and smiled brightly at Qin Shuang. "Qin Shuang, thank you for helping me all this time. If it weren't for you, I could never have badly wounded and driven off Situ Rui. Until we meet again in the Jianghu!"
She knew that
she had to leave Qingzhou City as soon as possible. Once Situ Rui returned to the Divine Saber Sect and reported what had happened, he would surely bring back even stronger reinforcements to hunt her down.
"Good. Until we meet again in the Jianghu!"
Qin Shuang looked at Nangong Wan'er and nodded.
Nangong Wan'er gave Qin Shuang a long look, nodded to him, then picked up her Dark Iron Saber and small bundle and slipped away.
"Time to buy an Alchemy Furnace!"
Qin Shuang took a deep breath, locked the door, and headed for Apricot Grove Spring Medicine Hall.
Half an hour later.
At the Tong Ren Tang Main Hall in West City, an old man of about fifty looked at Qin Shuang with a troubled expression and said, "Young Master Qin, our medicine hall does have a few Alchemy Furnaces, but they're reserved for our Pharmacist Li. We really can't sell them..."
"Then could I rent one for two days?"
Qin Shuang's gaze flickered as he asked.
If he couldn't rent one either, he'd have no choice but to visit the Black Market again tonight.
"Rent one?"
The old man's eyes lit up. He set the tobacco pipe in his hand on the counter and said, "That could work! But you'll have to pay rent and a deposit. And you can only rent it for three days—you have to return it by then, because Pharmacist Li will be back from Kunzhou in three days."
In truth, Pharmacist Li wouldn't be back for ten days. Zhou Junhui had said three because he was worried Qin Shuang might rent the furnace and fail to return it on time.
"Deal!"
Qin Shuang was delighted.
As long as he could refine the White Jade Golden Pattern Python's essence, that was enough. He could buy an Alchemy Furnace later!
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