Pei Ye looked up, but saw none.
"Because they're engraved on the Sword Body," Sui Zaihua said with a smile. "If, as with this one, both hilt and scabbard bear marks, it means both came from the East Sea, to say nothing of the Sword Body—I'll probably find a swordsmith's mark when I draw it."
Sui Zaihua drew the sword, its gleaming Sword Body sliding out without a sound. This made Pei Ye's eyes widen again—unless he moved extremely slowly and gently, his own sword always clattered against its scabbard when drawn or sheathed.
Then he lowered his head to look. Sure enough, several small characters were engraved beneath the guard: [Third-Grade Lower, Life-Wounding Furnace]. Beneath them were the faintly incised words "East Sea Sword Forge."
Pei Ye remembered having seen this format before, on Zhu Gaoyang's sword: [First grade, lower rank, Rhinoceros-Gleam Forge, Caution]. Yet in the end, he had never remembered to ask its name.
This sword lacked the final entry, but the format of the first two matched.
Sui Zaihua infused it with true qi, and light wound through the small characters like a slithering snake. Relaxing his hand, the old man smiled. "It should be genuine. Do you know how much a sword like this costs?"
"..." Pei Ye glanced at the old sword in his hand. It was worth five taels and already ranked among Fenghuai's finest swords. He looked up and ventured, "Thirty taels?"
That was already twice the money the youth currently carried. When Shang Lang left that day, he had lent him only twenty taels, already more than enough for the journey to the Divine Capital.
Sui Zaihua smiled. "Between sixty and a hundred and twenty taels."
"..." Pei Ye was speechless with shock. "Isn't it... just a piece of iron?"
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