Silent Sleeve Arrow!

"Boss, can you do custom work here?" Tang San set down the cylinder and asked, "I'll set the dimensions and choose the materials myself; you just need to process them according to my requirements."

The blacksmith looked him up and down, the surprise in his eyes deepening.

"Little brother, do you know blacksmithing?"

"A little." Tang San wasn't lying. Back in the Tang Sect, although he hadn't specifically studied blacksmithing, he possessed a far-above-average understanding of metal properties and processing techniques. Hidden weapon crafting itself was a precision craft, involving materials science, mechanics, and mechanism design.

The blacksmith hesitated for a moment before finally nodding. "Fine, tell me the dimensions, and I'll give it a try."

Tang San pulled a piece of paper from his chest, on which the sketch of the Silent Sleeve Arrow was already drawn. He didn't take out the complete blueprints, only drawing a few key components on the paper, marking the dimensions and tolerance requirements.

"The outer diameter of the cylinder is one inch and two fen, the inner diameter is one inch, and the wall thickness is one fen. The length is six inches. The inner wall needs to be polished until smooth, without any burrs. For the spring steel wire, the line diameter is half a fen, the coil diameter is eight fen, and it needs fifteen coils. As for the arrows..." He listed them item by item, his tone calm and professional, not at all like a seven-year-old child.

As the blacksmith listened, the expression on his face shifted from surprise to gravity, and then to a serious look that suggested, "This kid isn't easy to fool." He took the drawing, looked it over, picked up some scraps on the counter to measure against it, and finally nodded.

"I can do it. But the price won't be cheap. These small parts are delicate work; I have to set aside specific time to make them for you."

"How much?"

The blacksmith calculated for a moment and quoted a price.

Tang San counted out the corresponding Gold Soul Coin from his money pouch and placed them on the counter. The blacksmith looked at the Gold Soul Coin, his eyes lighting up, and his attitude immediately became much more attentive.

"Come pick them up in three days." The blacksmith put the money away, carefully folded the drawing, and tucked it into his apron pocket.

When Tang San walked out of the blacksmith shop, the sun had already fully risen. Golden sunlight spilled onto the stone-paved road on the west side of the city, dyeing the entire street in warm colors. Most of the shops on the street were open; breakfast vendors had set up stoves by the roadside, fried dough sticks sizzled in the pots, and the aroma of soy milk drifted halfway down the street.

Tang San took a deep breath, bought two fried dough sticks and a bowl of soy milk at the roadside, and squatted down to finish them before heading back.

This matter should have happened earlier—shortly after he obtained his first soul ring, he should have thought of the path of hidden weapons. But the various events that followed—the entanglement with Yu Xiaogang, the choice of his first soul ring, returning to Holy Soul Village, encountering robbers on the road—all piled up one after another, leaving him no time to settle his mind and think.

Now, everything was finally back on track.

Back in Dormitory Seven, Huang Fei was sitting cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed, hands resting on his knees, looking as if he were "cultivating."

But in reality, he wasn't doing anything at all.

He was just thinking.

After returning to the academy, his days remained a cycle of eating and sleeping, but with one extra task: researching his own martial soul. Not cultivating—researching. Cultivation was about raising soul power and strengthening the physique, while research was about using his brain to figure out how else this martial soul could be used, beyond the fixed skills provided by the system.

Blue Silver Grass. No, it should be called the future Blue Silver Saint Emperor. Although the bloodline hadn't awakened yet, the foundation was already there. Since absorbing the eight-hundred-and-sixty-year-old Vine of Life soul ring, his Blue Silver Grass had undergone obvious changes—not in appearance, but an internal, essential change.

The toughness had increased. The regeneration speed was faster. But these were just fixed effects brought by the soul ring, not something he had developed himself.

Huang Fei was pondering a question: besides the skills rewarded by the system, could he tinker with some "gameplay" of his own? For instance, since the Blue Silver Grass had a life-force attribute, could he use it to heal himself? Could he use it to detect surrounding enemies? Could he use it to form a defensive shield?

These were all things Tang San hadn't done in the original story. Not because Tang San couldn't, but because Tang San had never thought in that direction. His Blue Silver Grass had been led astray from the beginning by Yu Xiaogang, following a poison-control route, and by the time he awakened the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline later, it was too late to turn back.

But Huang Fei was different. His Blue Silver Grass had started on the righteous path of life force, and the soul ring age was maxed out from the start. He could absolutely go further, wider, and wilder on this path than Tang San.

Huang Fei opened his eyes and raised his right hand.

The Blue Silver Grass emerged from his palm, the deep emerald stalks a circle thicker than before, and the faint luster on the surface of the leaves had become much more obvious. He tried injecting soul power into the Blue Silver Grass—not the way one would trigger a soul skill, but a slow, gentle injection, like watering a plant.

The Blue Silver Grass trembled slightly, as if responding to him.

Huang Fei tried again, this time increasing the output of his soul power. The stalks of the Blue Silver Grass began to grow slowly, extending from his palm to his wrist, and then from his wrist to his forearm. It wasn't the aggressive, rapid-fire growth of an attack, but a gentle, quiet spreading, as if it were searching for something.

"Interesting," Huang Fei muttered to himself.

He discovered that he could control the growth direction and speed of the Blue Silver Grass with his soul power. Although he couldn't achieve very precise operations yet, the direction was correct. If he could develop this ability to the extreme, he might be able to make the Blue Silver Grass spread silently throughout the entire room, the entire corridor, or even the entire academy without releasing a soul skill.

By then, his range of perception would cover everything.

Huang Fei retracted the Blue Silver Grass and closed his eyes again.

No rush. Take it slow. He had plenty of time anyway—while Tang San was cultivating, he could research these things.

And he didn't even have to cultivate himself.

How nice.

Three days later, Tang San retrieved his first batch of parts from the blacksmith shop.

The blacksmith's craftsmanship was better than he had imagined. The inner wall of the cylinder was polished very smoothly, with almost no resistance when touched by hand;

The spring's elasticity was uniform, and both compression and rebound were very smooth;

The sensitivity of the trigger mechanism was just right, crisp and clean when pulled, with no excess travel.

Tang San checked the parts one by one, giving the blacksmith an eight out of ten in his mind—the two points deducted were because the polishing of the arrows wasn't fine enough, the arrowheads weren't sharp enough, and the balance of the tail fins needed improvement.

But these were just the first batch of prototypes. They were usable.

When he returned to Dormitory Seven, it was the afternoon.

Most of the work-study students were active on the playground; only Huang Fei was in the dormitory.

He was leaning against the head of his bed, hands behind his head, eyes closed, not knowing whether he was sleeping or thinking.

Hearing the door push open, he opened one eye to glance, then closed it again.