Interlude: Daily Life (Part 2)

Section Three: Silent Sleeve Arrow and Zhuge Repeating Crossbow

After deciding to focus most of his efforts on concealed weapons, Tang San often went to the blacksmith shop in Nuoding City, forging concealed weapons under the pretense of fulfilling orders.

Yu Xiaogang noticed Tang San's actions as well. At first, he had wanted to properly educate Tang San, but after witnessing the power of the concealed weapons and seeing that Tang San's cultivation had not fallen behind, he ultimately chose to let him do as he pleased.

Tang San waited for a long time before finally getting his chance.

Lin Qing had already broken through Level 30, so he requested leave from the academy to hunt Spirit Beasts. The academy did not suspect anything. After all, in the eyes of the teachers, Lin Qing was merely going to obtain his second Spirit Ring. In their view, Lin Qing, who also possessed Innate Full Soul Power, had broken through several months later than Tang San and Xiao Wu. They could only sigh that even Innate Full Soul Power had its differences.

Taking advantage of Lin Qing's absence on his Spirit Beast hunt, Tang San finally found an opportunity to meet Xiao Wu alone.

"Third Brother, can you stop bothering me? You're disrupting my cultivation, you know!" The impatience in Xiao Wu's eyes was impossible to hide. Well, Xiao Wu had not hidden her impatience at all; she displayed it openly.

"Xiao Wu, I didn't mean to disturb your cultivation." Tang San stood outside the door to Xiao Wu and Lin Qing's dormitory, his face full of guilt.

"Tang San, haven't I told you before? I don't want anything you give me!" Before Tang San could even take out his gift, Xiao Wu rejected him outright.

Seeing Xiao Wu about to shut the door in his face, Tang San immediately wedged his foot into the gap, using it to prevent her from closing the door.

"Ah! That hurts!" Tang San cried out in pain, but quickly suppressed it.

"Xiao Wu, you can look at what I brought first. I believe you'll definitely be interested." Tang San endured the pain as he spoke.

Unable to close the door with Tang San blocking it, Xiao Wu could only compromise. "Fine, take it out quickly. I still need to go back and cultivate."

"Well, Xiao Wu, what I want to give you is a weapon. It's not convenient to demonstrate it here. Can you come to the back mountain with me?" Tang San asked.

Xiao Wu had originally wanted to refuse, but then she remembered how Tang San had always harbored hostility toward Lin Qing. Maybe he was researching some weapon that could harm Lin Qing. So, Xiao Wu decided to go and "scout out the enemy."

"Fine, then Sister Xiao Wu will go take a look with you." Xiao Wu ultimately agreed.

"Great!" Tang San was overjoyed when Xiao Wu agreed. He immediately tried to take her hand and run toward the back mountain to demonstrate the concealed weapons.

But just as Tang San was about to grab Xiao Wu's hand, she slapped it away and said angrily, "Tang San, what are you doing? Don't you know men and women shouldn't touch casually?"

"Sorry, Xiao Wu. I was just too excited, so..." Tang San hurriedly apologized.

"Fine, but don't let it happen again. If you dare touch Sister Xiao Wu one more time, I won't mind giving you a good beating!" Xiao Wu raised her fist threateningly.

Yet when Tang San saw her threatening expression, he did not feel afraid at all. Instead, he found her incredibly cute.

"What are you staring at? Move!" Xiao Wu truly wanted to go up and beat him, but for the sake of gathering information for Lin Qing, she endured it.

"O-Okay. Follow me, Xiao Wu." Tang San nodded with a smile.

About ten minutes later, Tang San and Xiao Wu arrived at the academy's back mountain.

Tang San took out an iron object resembling a bracer. Embedded within the cold gleam of refined iron were three iron implements shaped like arrows.

"This is a sleeve arrow, also called a Silent Sleeve Arrow. Its defining feature is concealment. It can easily pierce the protective Soul Power of Soul Masters below Level 20 and injure them." Tang San placed the sleeve arrow in Xiao Wu's hand, then took out another one himself and demonstrated how to wear and fire it.

Xiao Wu's comprehension was quite strong. After seeing it only once, she had already learned how to use the Silent Sleeve Arrow.

"This is what you wanted to give me? With the damage this sleeve arrow deals, it can hardly harm anyone once they reach Level 20. If this is all you have, I'd rather return it. This sleeve arrow is practically useless to me." As she spoke, Xiao Wu made to remove the sleeve arrow and return it to Tang San.

"Wait, Xiao Wu!" Tang San hurriedly stopped her.

"Although the Silent Sleeve Arrow isn't especially powerful, its concealment is its greatest advantage. It can still threaten enemies when used by surprise."

"Besides, the Silent Sleeve Arrow is only an appetizer. What I truly want to give you is something else." With that, Tang San took a crossbow from Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlit Night, his belt-shaped Soul Tool.

This crossbow differed from ordinary ones. It could hold forty-eight arrows in total, fire sixteen at once, and shoot three consecutive volleys. This was the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow.

"Xiao Wu, this weapon is called the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow. It can hold forty-eight arrows in total, fire sixteen in a single volley, and shoot three times consecutively. And the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow's power is far beyond that of the Silent Sleeve Arrow," Tang San said.

Tang San then loaded the arrows, aimed at a massive tree over ten meters away that would have required at least four adults to barely encircle, and pulled the trigger.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

As the arrows tore through the air, the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow fired instantly. In barely a breath, the arrows struck the great tree. They did not remain lodged in its trunk; instead, they pierced straight through it, leaving sixteen holes behind.

"So powerful!" Xiao Wu was startled by the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow's might.

"According to my calculations, against Soul Masters below Level 40, a frontal hit is essentially an instant kill if they haven't activated defensive Spirit Skills or protective Soul Power. Flesh and ordinary Soul Power barriers cannot stop it. It specializes in piercing conventional Soul Power defenses."

"As for Soul Masters between Level 40 and Level 60, if they fail to react in time and cannot activate high-level defensive Spirit Skills immediately, there is still a fatal risk.

"Fragile assault-type, agility-type, and control-type Soul Masters have an extremely low margin for error. Only pure defense-type Soul Masters can withstand it head-on."

"I am confident that even a Level 60 Soul Emperor could perish in a close-range ambush," Tang San said proudly.

Hearing that the Godly Zhuge Crossbow was so powerful, Xiao Wu was deeply shocked.

It's fortunate I came today. If Lin Qing were caught off guard and Tang San ambushed him with these weapons, even if he didn't die, he would probably be in grave danger, Xiao Wu thought.

Tang San collected the arrows and handed the Godly Zhuge Crossbow and forty-eight arrows to Xiao Wu. "Xiao Wu, you've seen the power of the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow. When traveling outside, it can serve as a trump card."

"Thank you." Xiao Wu accepted the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow and thanked him.

Hearing those words of thanks, Tang San felt as though he had heard heavenly music, standing where he was and savoring them.

When Xiao Wu saw that Tang San had not reacted for a long time, she simply left. She still needed to wait for Lin Qing to return and show him the concealed weapons Tang San had made.

Only after a long while did Tang San recover from his reverie. He looked around, but Xiao Wu was nowhere to be seen. She had probably already gone back.

"Still, Xiao Wu was willing to accept my gift, and she even thanked me. This is a very good beginning. As long as I persist, one day I'll definitely move Xiao Wu!" Tang San left the academy's back mountain in high spirits.

Several days later, Lin Qing returned from his Spirit Beast hunt. As soon as he returned to the dormitory, Xiao Wu took out the two kinds of concealed weapons Tang San had given her.

"These are!" Lin Qing was quite surprised to see the two concealed weapons. He was not surprised that Xiao Wu had obtained Tang San's concealed weapons. With Tang San acting like an almost-simp, was it really difficult to understand why he would give concealed weapons to Xiao Wu?

As for why he was only an almost-simp rather than a true simp, Tang San's cultivation simply was not profound enough. If Tang San had not only given Xiao Wu a set of concealed weapons, but had also custom-made a set for Lin Qing, then Tang San could have been considered a passable simp.

"Tang San gave these to me a few days ago. He said they were called concealed weapons." Xiao Wu introduced them. "These concealed weapons are very powerful, especially this Godly Zhuge Crossbow. Its power might even be enough to injure a Soul Emperor!"

"I had to work hard to trick these out of Tang San. Hurry up and keep them so you can study them. It would be bad if Tang San ambushed you later." Xiao Wu spoke with concern.

Watching Xiao Wu chatter away like a wife protecting her husband, Lin Qing felt a warmth fill his heart. He could no longer restrain himself and pulled Xiao Wu into his arms.

"Ah! Lin Qing, what are you doing?" Xiao Wu was startled by Lin Qing's sudden embrace. Unable to break free, she could only raise her fists and punch his chest several times.

"Xiao Wu, thank you for thinking so much about me." Lin Qing looked at Xiao Wu in his arms with a gentle gaze.

"N-No need to thank me. We're family, after all!" Feeling Lin Qing's intense gaze, Xiao Wu's cheeks warmed slightly, and she lowered her head.

After a long while, the two finally separated. Lin Qing placed all the concealed weapons Tang San had given him into Xiao Wu's hands. "Xiao Wu, I don't need these concealed weapons, and I know a little about them anyway. Keep this set for self-defense."

Section Four: Talent Release—Nichirin Blade

In the Star Dou Great Forest, Lin Qing had just slain a Thunder Lizard nearly ten thousand years old. A dark purple Spirit Ring rose from the lizard's corpse, with a trace of deep black clinging to its dark purple surface.

Lin Qing sat cross-legged and activated his Martial Soul to draw in the Spirit Ring. Under Lin Qing's guidance, the Spirit Ring gradually flew above his head before settling around his body.

The next instant, Lin Qing felt a gentle energy continuously washing through the meridians in his body. The Spirit Ring's energy was transforming and strengthening his physique. However, to Lin Qing, it was merely a drop in the bucket. As a Demon King, his physique was already immensely powerful, and the Spirit Ring's enhancement to his physical condition was negligible.

In truth, with Lin Qing's current abilities, he could fully absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. However, for the current Lin Qing, high-year Spirit Rings were basically of little use.

Could a high-year Spirit Ring produce more powerful Spirit Skills? Sorry, Lin Qing's Spirit Skills were fixed as Sword Technique Awakening.

Could a high-year Spirit Ring greatly improve Lin Qing's physical qualities? Sorry, as just mentioned, it had almost no effect.

Could a high-year Spirit Ring raise a Soul Master's level further and save them a great deal of cultivation time? Sorry—oh, no, that was still quite useful. But it was not necessary either. Lin Qing would need only one or two months at most to make up the cultivation gained from a Spirit Ring. It was not a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring, after all. It truly was not that useful to Lin Qing. Rather than risk himself for a so-called high-year Spirit Ring, he might as well forgo the year limit and avoid the danger.

Finally, after a full two hours of absorption, the Spirit Ring was successfully absorbed.

Lin Qing summoned his Martial Soul and gripped the Nichirin Blade. Three Spirit Rings—yellow, purple, and purple—circled his body, making him appear solemn and sacred.

"Third Spirit Skill: Thunder Breathing."

The Spirit Ring flashed, and the Nichirin Blade in Lin Qing's hand changed. Its hilt, guard, and blade turned yellow. White bandages wrapped around the hilt, leaving only yellow diamond-shaped patterns exposed; the guard changed from an oval to a four-leaf clover shape; yellow lightning-like patterns were engraved on the blade, with the words "Slay Evil Demons" carved on one side and "Lin Qing" carved on the other.

"Just as I expected, my third Spirit Ring came from a lightning-attributed Soul Beast, so the Sword Technique it unlocked was naturally Thunder Breathing."

"No!" Lin Qing sensed his own condition and suddenly detected something unusual.

"All my physical attributes seem to have increased by fifty percent, and I can feel that the power of my Thunder Breathing Sword Techniques will increase by one hundred percent right now. What's going on?"

Filled with confusion, Lin Qing carefully examined his condition. He checked everything from his body to his Martial Soul, then from his Martial Soul to his Spirit Skills. Then his face filled with delight.

"I awakened another talent!" Lin Qing sensed the information contained within it.

Lin Qing learned that this talent was called Sword Technique Release. It meant that any Sword Techniques Lin Qing had already unlocked no longer required Spirit Skills to switch between them. Instead, he could seamlessly switch them with a single thought.

As for his Spirit Skills, this talent had transformed them into enhancement-type Spirit Skills. Every Spirit Ring's Spirit Skill had been changed into a fifty-percent boost to basic attributes and a one-hundred-percent boost to the power of its corresponding Sword Technique.

In other words, when using Thunder Breathing Sword Techniques, activating his third Spirit Skill could grant him a fifty-percent boost to his basic attributes and a one-hundred-percent boost to his Sword Technique's power. But if he switched to another Sword Technique, such as Water Breathing, then the third Spirit Skill could only increase all his basic attributes by fifty percent. This fifty percent could stack with the boosts from his other Spirit Rings.

In other words, when Lin Qing used Sword Techniques now, he could directly activate all three Spirit Skills, stacking a one-hundred-and-fifty-percent boost to all attributes, along with a one-hundred-percent boost to his Sword Technique.

How strong would he be after such comprehensive enhancements? "I should at least be able to defeat a Soul King. As for a Soul Emperor, it's not like I can't fight one."

Although Lin Qing did not know the exact strength of human Soul Masters, he could now face a Soul Beast nearing thirty thousand years old alone without falling behind. A Soul Beast nearing thirty thousand years old should at least be comparable to a Soul Emperor, right?