Chapter 423: Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade

With everyone watching in astonishment, Gong Shenjun halted before the wall, looking at the hilt with clear excitement.

“What is that?!” Duze Honglian asked.

Neither Jiang Qing’e nor Li Luo knew, but they could sense that there was something unusual about that hilt. Although it was covered in dust, a burnished gold tint shone through from underneath. There was no energy aura around the weapon, unlike the others on the stone pillars, and yet it somehow felt dangerous.

This sword-in-the-wall in the middle of the schools’ treasure vault was clearly nothing ordinary.

It was the First Princess who explained it to them. “If I’m not wrong, that should be the Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade. Made from the Golden-Jade Onyx Elephant’s tusk, it’s said to channel the beast’s rampage in its offensive power, enough to carve a mountain in two.”

“Gold-eye treasured artifact, huh?” Li Luo repeated to himself.

He was a little disappointed. For such a mysteriously hidden sword, he expected it to be a violet-eye treasured artifact. Or at least a gilded gold-eye? Just a gold-eye treasured artifact.

It wasn’t that he thought gold-eye treasured artifacts were any less valuable. It was just that such a huge reaction from a guy like Gong Shenjun had shot his expectations up all the way to the moon.

Gong Shenjun was the son of the Regent after all. He surely had expensive tastes, and wouldn’t want more gold-eye treasured artifacts.

“Is there something special about the history of the Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade?” Jiang Qing’e asked carefully.

The First Princess laughed softly. It was Vice Principal Su Xin who answered with a smile. “This was once the partner weapon of the Principal.”

The students’ eyes widened. The Principal!

The weapon once used by a King?

Suddenly, there was prickly excitement in the air. Even Jiang Qing’e was slightly flushed.

“The Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade was with the Principal for the longest time and witnessed his growth. When the Principal reached the King Stage, the weapon was no longer as useful for him, so he sealed it here. In terms of grade, it is indeed only a gold-eye treasured artifact. But it has a particularly sharp sentience after being with the Principal for so long. In fact, he left it here in the vault with the hopes that the other gold-eye treasured artifacts would nurture it further.

“Besides that, Kings’ possessions have a lingering aura called King Qi. Being constantly exposed to it helps to lengthen the path of one’s future growth.”

The excitement in the air only heated up further with Vice Principal Su Xin’s explanation.

This sword was hella good! No wonder Gong Shenjun was so worked up over it.

“Information about the Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade has been kept rather quiet. But I guess nothing slips past you two,” Su Xin said to the royal pair. From Gong Shenjun’s reaction, he had clearly been aiming for the Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade since the beginning.

“Vice Principal, you’re really willing to let us take the blade?” the First Princess asked.

“Like I said, anything here can be chosen. Since you have found the Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade, of course it is also one of the options on the table. I will not stop you,” she confirmed with a smile.

“I,” she emphasized, “will not stop you.

“But can you pull it out from the wall?”

They stopped short at that question.

Was it so hard to remove a blade from a wall?

“Like I said, this blade possesses sentience far beyond other gold-eye treasured artifacts, and it has King Qi lingering on it. Moreover, it has been joined to the treasure vault for a long time now. It will not be easy to remove.

“If you are interested in it, you may try, of course. Whoever pulls it out can select it.”

“Well, I’ll give it a try, then,” Gong Shenjun said with a broad smile. No one raised any objection. He had been the one to raise the idea first, so it only seemed fair that he got to go first.

Li Luo bit the inner wall of his cheek. Of course he was tempted by the Golden-Jade Onyx-Elephant Blade as well. Still, he felt like these waters were too deep for him. If even Gong Shenjun failed, how could he possibly succeed? Rumble!

While Li Luo was lost in his own thoughts, Gong Shenjun had already gotten down to action. He was rapidly bringing his resonant power to bear, summoning all of his heavenly pearls.

With a deft rotation of the wrist, he cleared all of the dust from the hilt, leaving its original, burnished gold color exposed.

Gong Shenjun laid his palm carefully on the hilt and hesitated. He could feel a strong resistance from the weapon. He wrapped his fingers deliberately and slowly around it.

The shriek of metal rang out shrilly in the air.

Gong Shenjun’s face was grim as he pressed on. His scaled-dragon power coated his arm, and his veins bulged.

His heavenly pearls started to settle on his hand, studding it like stars.

Everyone could feel the incredible power in his right hand.

One punch from this arm would split rivers and mountains alike.

How could it possibly not pluck the sword out?

BOOM!

Gong Shenjun gave a tremendous yank, his resonant power roaring out like a fired engine. A terrific wind started to blow and the entire hall began to shake.

His robust resonant power came again and again in steady waves, turning his entire body into a scaled-dragon, starting from his arm. And yet the hilt in the wall did not budge at all, no matter how much power he used.

Clearly, the walls of this vault were also built of some special material and reinforced with runes. Otherwise, it would not have withstood Gong Shenjun’s strength.

It was a riveting sight, and also sort of discouraging.

BOOM!

One final, superb blast of power, and the residual power echoed off the walls, ricocheting towards the other students. Vice Principal Su Xin negated it with a simple lift of her hand.

Gong Shenjun’s hair and clothes were in disarray. He panted heavily as he let his resonant power fade back away.

He rearranged his clothing more properly, and gave a rueful laugh. “No wonder the Vice Principal let us try it. I have overestimated myself.

“What can I say now?” he said, spreading his hands and giving up gracefully. Vice Principal Su Xin nodded kindly to him, and Duze Honglian looked at him admiringly.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

In the ensuing silence, it was Li Luo who spoke up hesitantly.

“Well… you can say something like ‘sorry? I’ve interrupted the treasure selection’?”