At some point, a middle-aged scholar in a silk robe appeared beside Zhao Ping'an and spoke softly.
"Hmm? And you are?"
Zhao Ping'an asked in confusion. He had sensed someone approaching him long ago, but hadn't paid it any mind.
"I am the shopkeeper here, Wang Fugui! You look unfamiliar, young master. Is this your first time in South Ridge City?"
"That's right. Wang Fugui? Your name sounds so down-to-earth..."
"Down-to-earth? What does that mean?"
"Nothing—approachable, that's all. It's a dialect from my hometown."
Realizing he'd let something slip, Zhao Ping'an hurriedly brushed it off.
"Oh! Thank you for the compliment. Would you like to try these two hammers? We're running a promotion: anyone who can lift these two Black Gold Iron Hammers and swing them a hundred times may choose any weapon on this floor and take it home! The only condition is that you can use only your body's strength!"
"Really? Anything on the first floor?"
"Really!"
Wang Fugui nodded earnestly.
"The hammers don't count!"
Seeing Zhao Ping'an staring unblinkingly at the Black Gold Treasure Hammers in front of him, Wang Fugui immediately added that.
"Tch, boring..."
Zhao Ping'an muttered in disappointment and strode forward.
He couldn't take the hammers, but every weapon on this floor was worth at least ten taels of silver. He might as well take something for free.
Their conversation had already drawn the attention of the few customers on the first floor. Seeing the two of them gathered around the giant hammers, the customers immediately came over.
"Someone else is here to challenge the Black Gold Treasure Hammers!"
"Judging by his build, this young master looks like a trained fighter!"
"So what if he is? When this promotion first launched, weren't they all trained fighters? Thousands have tried, and only one person succeeded!"
"That's true. Each Black Gold Treasure Hammer weighs more than three hundred and fifty catties. Unless you were born with divine strength, swinging one without using Inner Force or True Qi would be hard even for a Grandmaster!"
(But why would a Grandmaster care for the ordinary weapons on the first floor? Just as the saying went: those that caught your eye were too heavy to lift, and those you could lift weren't worth looking at!)
"Look, he's got his hands on them!"
"This... So effortlessly? Looks like Old Wang has finally run into a tough one!"
"Indeed!"
Amid the murmurs of the onlookers, Zhao Ping'an had already grabbed both hammer handles.
"Up!"
With a hammer in each hand, Zhao Ping'an gave a low shout and lifted them both in an instant.
"They're pretty heavy! Must be seven hundred catties combined, right?"
"Seven hundred and thirty-two catties, four taels, and eight qian..."
Hearing the question, shopkeeper Wang Fugui answered by reflex.
"Clang!"
Without another word, Zhao Ping'an raised the two Black Gold Treasure Hammers and smashed them together.
A deafening clash of metal rang out through the entire first-floor hall of Wang's Weaponry Shop.
Then, under everyone's bewildered gaze, he began swinging them around with ease.
(The others were all stunned senseless.)
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!..."
Gusts of wind howled around Zhao Ping'an, making the weapon racks all around him sway violently.
"Crash!"
As a weapon rack lined with long sabers toppled in the gale, the sabers scattered across the floor, jolting the dazed onlookers back to their senses.
"Stop, stop, stop! Young master, please stop! You've passed the test!"
Wang Fugui shouted at once, snapping out of his stupor.
Watching those hammers whirl so fast that not even a drop of water could get through, he feared the shop would be torn apart if he waited any longer.
"Thud! Thud!"
Zhao Ping'an stopped quickly and gently set the hammers back in place. He couldn't afford to pay for the floor if he accidentally smashed it.
"Young master, you truly are a Divine Person! May I ask your surname? You may choose any weapon you like and take it with you!"
"My surname is Zhao."
Zhao Ping'an gave a perfunctory reply and wandered around the first floor.
"Hmm, this one will do. Could you find a scabbard for it?"
After looking around, he picked up the heaviest-looking Great Saber, its price marked at over fifty taels of silver. He hefted it in his hand, gave it a few casual swings, then asked the shopkeeper.
"No problem! Xiao Liu, bring this saber's scabbard!"
"Right away, shopkeeper... Here you are, sir. Your scabbard."
At the entrance to Wang's Weaponry Shop, Wang Fugui watched Zhao Ping'an stride away with the saber in one hand, lost in thought.
He wasn't worried about the saber, worth dozens of taels. As one of South Ridge City's great families, the Wang Family considered something like that a drop in the ocean.
What puzzled him was Zhao Ping'an's identity.
With strength like that, even an ordinary Innate Martial Master might not be a match for him. Yet there were only a handful of Innate Martial Masters in all of South Ridge City. Wang Fugui couldn't claim to know them all, but he'd at least heard of every one—and this young man wasn't among them.
"Xiao Liu, find someone and ask where this young man came from. With strength like his, he shouldn't be unknown!"
"Right away, shopkeeper."
"I didn't expect to come away with an unexpected prize. Now I won't have to find a saber to keep training!"
Tossing the thirty- or forty-cattie saber in his hand, Zhao Ping'an headed toward his Senior Disciple Brother's home in high spirits.
Since he didn't want to reveal his cultivation, Zhao Ping'an decided to present himself as someone born with divine strength.
"Hmm? Someone actually dares to follow me?"
Walking with the setting sun at his back, Zhao Ping'an sensed two gazes fixed on him for the past several minutes. Even after he turned onto another street, they hadn't shifted.
"Interesting. Wang's Weaponry Shop wouldn't do something so beneath them, and it wouldn't be worth the trouble. So who could it be?"
He asked himself who he'd offended since entering the city. He was unknown, too—who would bother following him for no reason? Could it be...
"Surely not?"
Zhao Ping'an suddenly thought of something and murmured, frowning.
Before long, Zhao Ping'an found his path blocked in Pear Blossom Alley. Two men stood in front of him and two behind, all dressed in matching Martial Artist outfits. Their cultivation was at the late stage of the Martial Practitioner Realm.
Over the heart on each man's chest was an embroidered golden character, "Sun," written in bold, sweeping strokes.
"Sun? The Sun Family, one of the three great families?"
Seeing the large Sun characters, Zhao Ping'an was at a loss. He seemed to have no dealings with the Sun Family at all.
"Are the four of you looking for me? I don't think I know any of you."
"Of course you don't know them, because you're not worthy! But you shouldn't have told anyone Huixin was pregnant. A few casual words from you ruined years of my plans. Do you know your crime?"
Before Zhao Ping'an could finish asking, a young man's voice cut in.
Around the corner at the alley entrance behind him, two more figures appeared, one old and one young.
The younger one looked to be in his early twenties, while the older one was at least fifty. The surging Xiantian True Qi around the older man constantly announced his identity as an Innate Martial Master.
Of course, the young man was also talented. He carried a long, pitch-black sheathed saber and wore white robes as pristine as snow. His features were delicate and feminine, and his cultivation had already reached the Houtian Martial Artist Realm Sixth Level.
"Huixin? Zhao Huixin? I didn't expect the child in her belly to be yours. Judging by all this, you must be a Direct Descendant Young Master of the Sun Family. Tsk, no wonder he's so arrogant!"
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