Tang San grew wary when he saw Ning Fengzhi approaching.
He remembered him as the man who had spent a fortune at the auction to buy the Iron Mother Vajra Armor and his Godly Zhuge Crossbow.
Ning Fengzhi was adept at dealing with people. Having spent years mingling in all kinds of circles and making his mark in both politics and business, he naturally noticed the wariness in Tang San's eyes.
"Young brother, we mean you no harm. We simply hope to continue our cooperation and take it further."
After obtaining the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, Ning Fengzhi had already tried it out.
"What a wondrous treasure this world has produced!"
That was Ning Fengzhi's assessment of the Godly Zhuge Crossbow.
"The Godly Zhuge Crossbow isn't difficult to use. Even Rongrong will be able to handle it with ease once she reaches the Soul Elder rank."
"Uncle Jian, can you make sense of its design?"
Chen Xin examined the Godly Zhuge Crossbow for a while, looking thoughtful, but in the end he still shook his head and sighed.
"Fengzhi, this Godly Zhuge Crossbow is crafted with extreme precision and has a design that prevents it from being taken apart. If anyone tries to force it open and inspect its internal structure, it'll be damaged immediately."
"It seems we can only find the person who made it."
"This Godly Zhuge Crossbow is of immense significance to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. This technology must be in our sect's hands."
Ning Fengzhi made up his mind.
So Ning Fengzhi went to find Tang San.
He wanted to use Tang San as a go-between and work with the true maker of the Godly Zhuge Crossbow.
But Ning Fengzhi didn't know that the true maker of the Godly Zhuge Crossbow was standing right before him.
"Hello, Mr. Ning."
Having lived two lives, Tang San wasn't the least bit intimidated when Ning Fengzhi approached him.
Seeing how mature Tang San was, Ning Fengzhi looked pleased. But his heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he had a feeling that this negotiation wouldn't go smoothly.
"Young brother, I'm very interested in the Godly Zhuge Crossbow you put up for auction. May I ask who crafted such a marvelous item? Could you introduce me to them?"
Ning Fengzhi was shrewd. He wanted to meet the true maker of the Godly Zhuge Crossbow in person and bring him into the sect. That way, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could produce the crossbows on its own.
Hearing Ning Fengzhi's question, Tang San was puzzled. He asked himself,
The true maker of the Godly Zhuge Crossbow? Isn't it one of my Tang Sect Hidden Weapons? I'm the only one who can make it.
Tang San's mind was still that of a man in his thirties. He didn't think of himself as a child, and hadn't realized how absurd it was for a child to create a marvelous object like the Godly Zhuge Crossbow.
On top of that, in his previous life Tang San had been a homebody who spent his days in the sect studying Hidden Weapons and cultivating. He wasn't very skilled at dealing with people, so for a moment he didn't know how to respond to Ning Fengzhi.
Should he simply tell Ning Fengzhi that he, Tang San, was the one who made the Godly Zhuge Crossbow? Or should he do something else?
Tang San couldn't make up his mind.
Just then, after calming Xiao Wu down, Li Luo stepped in to smooth things over.
"It's an honor to meet you, Sect Master Ning!"
Li Luo stepped forward and held out his hand to Ning Fengzhi.
Ning Fengzhi was briefly taken aback, then came to his senses and reached out to shake Li Luo's hand.
"Young brother, who might you be? May I ask your name?"
"My name is Li Luo. This is Tang San, and that's Xiao Wu."
After introducing himself, Li Luo introduced Tang San and Xiao Wu to Ning Fengzhi.
"The three of us are sworn siblings. I'm the eldest."
"So you're Li Luo. A pleasure, a pleasure."
Seeing that Li Luo claimed to be the eldest of the three, Ning Fengzhi assumed he was the one who spoke for the group and made the decisions, so he treated him with great courtesy.
"Then may I ask whether you have any more Godly Zhuge Crossbows?"
Ning Fengzhi still had the crossbow on his mind.
Li Luo glanced at Chen Xin out of the corner of his eye and saw him playing with Ning Rongrong. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Good thing it wasn't Gu Rong.
With Chen Xin by Ning Fengzhi's side, Li Luo had the nerve to negotiate with him. Chen Xin was relatively upright in his dealings.
Gu Rong, on the other hand, was prone to murderous thoughts. If he were here, he might have simply tried to abduct Li Luo and the others and take them to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect by force, killing them if they refused to cooperate.
Li Luo wasn't sure whether Tang Hao was secretly protecting him and Tang San right now.
Tang Hao really wasn't by Tang San's side. At that moment, he was getting dead drunk somewhere or other.
Since Chen Xin is with Ning Fengzhi, as long as I don't play dirty, I don't need to worry about drawing Chen Xin's attention.
Li Luo thought.
"Sect Master Ning, I don't have any ready-made Godly Zhuge Crossbows on hand."
Li Luo didn't contradict what they had said earlier. Since Tang San had already told the Grand Auction House's manager that they had none, they had to say the same to Ning Fengzhi. If they contradicted themselves, even if they managed to make a deal, it would never go smoothly.
They might even end up offending both the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Grand Auction House.
But Li Luo had deliberately emphasized the word "ready-made," meaning to tell Ning Fengzhi that they had none now, but that didn't mean they wouldn't have any in the future.
"You've bought a Godly Zhuge Crossbow, so you've surely seen that it's no ordinary mechanical weapon. It's a Hidden Weapon!"
"Hidden Weapon?"
This was the second time Ning Fengzhi had heard the term. The first had been from the auctioneer, but he hadn't understood it then. Now that he heard the unfamiliar term from the source himself, Ning Fengzhi wanted to learn more.
"Then, young brother, could you explain to me what a Hidden Weapon is? And how does it differ from other weapons?"
Ning Fengzhi's words seemed to flip a switch. As soon as Tang San heard someone wanted to learn about Hidden Weapons, he stepped forward to explain them. In truth, he was painting a rosy picture to tempt Ning Fengzhi.
"Hidden Weapons, whose full name is Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, are the Tang Sect's exclusive treasures. They're assembled using exquisitely refined techniques. It's nearly impossible for anyone else to copy them."
Tang San immediately gave Hidden Weapons an impressive introduction, using the opportunity to promote his Tang Sect a little.
"The Tang Sect?"
Hearing the name, Ning Fengzhi assumed it was some minor sect. But after searching his memories again and again, he still couldn't find any information about the Tang Sect.
Strange. I couldn't possibly have never heard of a sect capable of making a marvelous item like the Godly Zhuge Crossbow!
But Tang San's next words made Ning Fengzhi feel ashamed and utterly humiliated.
The moment he had obtained the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, he had asked Sword Douluo Chen Xin to examine its internal structure. Tang San's remark that "it's impossible to copy" was aimed squarely at Ning Fengzhi himself.
Tang San didn't know that Ning Fengzhi had already considered copying it, though perhaps he had guessed and simply didn't care.
Ning Fengzhi was a man of great cunning. Even after Tang San's words hit home, his expression didn't change. He remained gentle and refined, patiently listening as Tang San continued.