Purple Steel Bow

"Many thanks, Brother Feng. Here is the remaining payment—please count it." Shi Mu nodded, withdrawing one or two silver notes from his sleeve and handing them over.

"Haha, how could I not trust Brother Shi! By the way, are you truly not planning to attend the Martial Academy test this time?" Feng Li laughed heartily, accepted the silver notes without even glancing at them, and then probed with another question.

Beside them, Gao Yuan also listened intently for Shi Mu's reply.

"When will the entrance test be held? Has an exact time been set?" Shi Mu did not answer directly but asked a question in return.

"Seven days from now at noon, the Guangling Valley will officially open for the test ceremony. They say that not only will the heads of the city's major families appear, but even the Prefect and a host of officials will be present." Feng Li replied without hesitation.

"In that case, I likely won't be taking part in this test. After all, I was personally declared a useless man by the Martial Academy's Pulse-Seeking Envoy—going would only invite mockery. Besides, the Jin Family's Spirit Qi Pill has already been given to someone else. Without grasping a sense of qi, I don't even meet the qualifications to participate." Shi Mu said flatly.

"What a pity. If that Pulse-Seeking Envoy hadn't set his sights on you back then, with your strength, you'd have had no trouble passing the test after awakening your qi sense." Feng Li said with genuine regret.

"It's fine. Even if I can't enter the Houtian realm, I can still practice martial arts at home—I just won't be able to cultivate those profound techniques. Besides, with what I have now, even if I can't be wealthy and noble, I'll never go hungry or lack clothes in this life." Shi Mu spoke lightly, as if it were nothing.

"It's best that you can see it that way, Brother Shi. Then we won't disturb you any longer." Feng Li nodded, and the two promptly took their leave.

About a meal's time later, the two Black Fox Society leaders were already on horseback, a li or so down the road from the estate.

"Elder Brother Feng, that kid is already a waste. Why do we still bother helping him, and you even insisted on delivering the goods yourself?" Gao Yuan, who had barely spoken in the estate, finally couldn't hold back his complaints to Feng Li.

"Third Brother, I don't know why, but when I heard the items he asked us to help find, I suddenly grew curious about his current situation. That's why I brought you along for this trip." Feng Li replied unhurriedly.

"Heh, and now that you've seen him in person, Elder Brother, what conclusion have you reached?" Gao Yuan asked with a sly chuckle.

"If I'm not mistaken, Shi Mu hasn't truly given up on the path of martial arts. If that's the case, there's no need for us to sour our relationship with him. After all, the Duke of Suppressing Barbarians, Yue Tai, who once shook the frontiers of Great Qi, was also a famous good-for-nothing in his youth. Yet he encountered one stroke of fortune after another, became a true Xiantian powerhouse, and later, during the Barbarian Tribe's invasion, used a massive blade weighing a thousand jin to slay thirteen Totem Warriors of the Barbarians in a single breath. That earned him the title of a duke of a different surname, and he has garrisoned the Three Frontier Provinces for a hundred years." Feng Li said gravely.

"Elder Brother, comparing that kid Shi Mu to Duke Yue is far too generous. Duke Yue was merely frail and sickly from childhood—he didn't have crippled meridians. Besides, did we really need to give him that Purple Steel Bow? That bow is only issued to military officers of at least company grade. We bribed that soon-to-retire logistics officer heavily just to fish it out of the armory as scrap." Gao Yuan curled his lips.

"Third Brother, no matter how good the Purple Steel Bow is, it's still just a lifeless object. Neither of us can draw it, so what use is keeping it? Since Shi Mu has asked for a good bow, it's only fitting to give it to him. Remember, adding flowers to brocade is easy, but delivering charcoal in a snowstorm is far harder." Feng Li said slowly.

"Since you think so highly of him, Elder Brother, then so be it. Besides, no matter what, that kid did help our society out of a tight spot back then. Giving him the bow is fine." Though still unconvinced, Gao Yuan could only reply helplessly.

Hearing this, Feng Li smiled silently atop his horse.

After Feng Li and the others left, Shi Mu carried two large bundles back to his bedroom and opened one on the table, revealing a rectangular wooden box several feet long.

With a flick of his hand, the box's lid flipped open, exposing a long and a short gleaming blade inside.

The longer one was about three feet in length, a slightly curved long blade with an unusually long hilt that took up nearly a third of the weapon. The shorter one was only about a foot long, slender and exceedingly thin throughout, like a bizarrely shaped narrow dagger, but it looked razor-sharp. At the end of its handle was a modest iron ring.

Shi Mu carefully examined both weapons, then suddenly slapped the table with one hand.

Bang!

The shorter, paper-thin dagger bounced up from the table and was snatched into his hand.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The dagger trembled, then transformed into a ball of cold light tumbling and spinning in Shi Mu's grip. In an instant, the room was filled with a chilling, icy gleam that made one's hair stand on end.

Shi Mu gave his arm a slight shake, and the dagger in his hand instantly reappeared in its true form, slicing toward the corner of the table.

Silent and seamless!

The table corner fell away as if it were tofu.

Seeing this, Shi Mu wore a satisfied expression. It seemed Blacksmith Ma hadn't cheated him—this dagger was indeed forged with a large amount of Cold Iron, or it could never be this sharp.

Shi Mu raised his other hand, grabbed the long blade, and gave it a few casual swings. After nodding slightly, he suddenly thrust the dagger into a flat gap at the long blade's hilt and twisted it gently.

Click!

The dagger merged flawlessly into the long blade's handle, leaving no trace of anything amiss from the outside.

This was the true form of the Sun and Moon Blades.

Shi Mu swung the long blade for a while before reluctantly placing it back into the wooden box. He then opened the other bundle, revealing a pale purple longbow, half a man's height in size.

His expression shifted. He took the purple bow in one hand and weighed it—a good fifty or sixty jin.

The bow body was slightly cool to the touch, its surface covered with an exquisite fish-scale pattern, as if forged from some kind of metal. The bowstring was a translucent milky white, seemingly made from some beast's sinew, but faint specks of silver light flickered within, as if silver threads had been woven in.

"This is..."

Shi Mu suddenly recalled something. Gripping the bow with one hand and the string with the other, he pulled hard.

Puh!

With Shi Mu's current strength, the purple longbow was only drawn about two-thirds of the way.

"Purple Steel Bow!"

Shi Mu blurted out, genuinely taken aback.

He released his fingers, and the bowstring snapped back with a sharp twang, then, trembling faintly, let out a clear hum like a dragon's roar, setting the entire room buzzing.