Chapter 802: Among Giants (2)

Zhao Tianbing moved on from the topic and smiled at Su Yu, "Young Friend Cui, you have incredible weaponsmithing skills. And you even managed to obtain the teachings of my junior brother. His eyes have always been keen when it comes to talent. Let me thank you on his behalf for helping him with his weapon."

Su Yu smiled, "You're too polite, Principal Zhao. I was learning from Teacher Zhao, not helping him. I should be thanking him instead."

Hu Qi interrupted and said, "Are you not going to thank me as well? Without the Heavenly Forge Art I taught you, would you have lasted so long? Why do you keep calling him teacher? Are you planning to join Great Xia? Why are you only calling me Senior Hu? Looks like you're still as realistic as ever."

Su Yu's heart skipped a beat as he hurriedly said, "Teacher Hu, what are you saying? I merely lacked the courage to call you that. With my teacher around, wouldn't he be jealous if I call you teacher as well?"

"You sure are good with your words, brat." Hu Qi laughed and said, "You seem to have benefited greatly from this. You should return to Great Ming and focus on reaching the earth grade as soon as possible. We're all old while you're still young with a long road ahead of you. I reckon you can become the faculty head of the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy's Weaponsmithing Faculty the next time you return."

At this time, Zhao Tianbing said, "Heavenly Forge Art? So you can be considered a weaponsmith from Heavenly Forge King's line. What a pity that he's not here today. He would have officially taken you under his wing if he was present."

Hu Qi said, "In weaponsmithing, it is better for one to walk their own unique path. Cui Lang has learned both the Heavenly Forge Art and Soul Expanding Art. He should expand his horizons and not limit himself to a single legacy. This will benefit him more."

They no longer talked about Zhao Li. That fellow was too much of an eccentric. He had actually left when everyone was here to congratulate him. It was pointless to talk about that fellow.

Hu Qi said, "It's rare to see so many of us gathered in one place. Since I'm the eldest here, let me suggest a gathering to talk about weaponsmithing. We can find a place and take our students there as well. Cui Lang, you were Zhao Li's assistant during this forging. With his temper, he probably won't be interested to tell us anything. Are you interested in telling us about the process?"

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The moment that offer was made, the eyes of the surrounding earth weaponsmiths lit up with excitement. Zhao Li's temper was too terrible. It would be hard for them to get an answer out of him. But Cui Lang was also there during the forging!

Even Elder Chen got excited as he asked, "Young Friend Cui, are you interested in joining us in this gathering? Apart from the Heavenly Forge King's teachings and the Zhao Family's teachings, there are many other weaponsmithing teachings in the Human Realm. This is a good chance for us to exchange pointers and learn from each other."

Almost all the earth weaponsmiths were also Sunmoons. Mountainsea earth weaponsmiths were very rare. At this moment, about eight Sunmoons were looking at Su Yu expectantly.

Zhao Tianbing said, "Young Friend, Senior Hu was right. This is a rare chance. Apart from Heavenly Forge King and the First Divine Sect master, all the other top weaponsmiths of humanity are here."

Hu Qi said, "What are you waiting for, Brat? Just agree already. Do you want us to beg you? If you agree, we will benefit from what you share. And you will also benefit from what you can learn from us. Also, if you encounter any trouble in the future, feel free to look for these old fellows for help. They are all upstanding and important individuals. They can easily solve any minor issue you might encounter in the future."

The others were also waiting for his answer while smiling. They were indeed important individuals regardless of their origin. After all, they were earth weaponsmiths. They would be a big shot wherever they went. For example, Great Xia's Elder Chen was a big shot even Marquis Xia had to pamper all the time.

In fact, even an Invincible descendant like Yuan Qingdong did not amount to much before these earth weaponsmiths. He was nearby with his friends from the holy land, but all the earth weaponsmiths ignored them.

Why? Because these earth weaponsmiths were important enough to do so. They could do well wherever they went. Even the Invincibles of the various prefectures would welcome them with open arms.

For example, Zhao Tianbing had been able to join the conversation of three Invincibles not long ago. As for the Heavenly Forge King, he was even more aloof. After all, the Invincibles were the ones who would need his help every now and then, not the other way around.

Perhaps the son of Great Yuan King, who was also Yuan Qingdong's father, might be able to join the conversation of these big-shot weaponsmiths. But Yuan Qingdong himself was nearly not qualified.

Su Yu lowered his head with a smile on his face. He knew that Hu Qi was doing this to help him amass support.

Behind the seven earth weaponsmiths were even more profound and yellow weaponsmiths. These were basically the majority of the weaponsmiths in the neighboring prefectures. The favor of these people would be very valuable as these were the people who even Invincibles couldn't neglect. And it wasn't like these earth weaponsmiths were weak. Almost all of them were Sunmoons.

"In that case, I'll be embarrassing myself with the little knowledge I have. Seniors, we should look for a suitable venue. I'll pay for it since I'm going to be the one seeking guidance from all of you."

"Hahaha, fine. Let's go together."

The weaponsmiths were all in a good mood. When Marquis Xia saw that they had formed a clique of only weaponsmiths, he felt quite helpless. He wanted to use this chance to recruit Cui Lang, but these damn fellows had formed their own clique and excluded him. What could he do?

At the same time, Yuan Qingdong and his friends were also being subjected to the same treatment. Yuan Qingdong seemed indifferent as he was already used to this. In fact, he even looked aloof standing there silently, as though he didn't deign to associate himself with these weaponsmiths. But the other Sunmoons around him were still not used to such treatment.

The woman in the group smiled and offered, "Principal Zhao, maybe we can join in as well--"

Zhao Tianbing turned to look at them. Hu Qi was the one to give a straightforward reply, "Forget it. You're not from the same field so you won't understand anything. It's pointless."

The woman laughed awkwardly, but inwardly, she was furious. Yuan Qingdong remained expressionless. He had guessed that this would happen. Thus, he had been staying silent. It was obvious that these weaponsmiths didn't deign to associate with outsiders like them.

Instead, he looked at Marquis Xia and smiled, "Marquis, since Elder Zhao has completed his weapon, when will we proceed with Feng Ji's trial?"

Marquis Xia glanced at him and said, "There's no rush. The sky is already dark. We'll do it tomorrow."

"Feng Ji?"

Hu Qi suddenly said, "This has caused such a big ruckus. Acting Prefect Xia, you won't mind us listening in during the trial, right?"

Note the word "us" instead of "me" she used.

She knew that Su Yu definitely wanted to go. But it was also inappropriate for him to be there with his current identity. Thus, she decided to give him a proper reason to go. Invincibles would definitely be present during the trial.

And with so many earth weaponsmiths present, the Invincibles wouldn't dare to rashly scan them. Not even Invincibles were stupid enough to offend so many earth weaponsmiths at the same time. After all, they still needed the help of these weaponsmiths to forge the weapons required by those from their respective prefectures, right?

Mountainseas and Sunmoons required earth weapons. Just because Invincibles did not require earth weapons did not mean that their subordinates wouldn't need the service of earth weaponsmiths.

Marquis Xia smiled and said, "Of course. Since Senior Hu is interested, there won't be an issue. I'll be waiting for all of you tomorrow."

He was very polite toward the earth weaponsmiths.

Initially, the other earth weaponsmiths weren't too interested in the trial. But since Hu Qi had said so, they didn't mind going along with it. Zhao Tianbing said, "We're agreed, then. We will talk about weaponsmithing through the night before attending the hearing tomorrow. Great Xia is truly getting more and more..."

He stopped there and said something else instead, "After my junior brother stabilizes his cultivation, I'll try to get him to share some of his experience with us as well."

"You're too kind, Principal Zhao. With your presence, the talk tonight will be an interesting one."

"..."

The weaponsmiths continued chatting with each other. During this time, Su Yu waved at the nearby Bai Junsheng and said, "Little Bai, take us to a nice place to talk. Since you spend all your time fooling around, you should know such a place, right?"

Bai Junsheng felt incomparably gloomy. Little Bai? Holy shit! When they met not long ago, Cui Lang still addressed him as junior brother. Why did that change into Little Bai?

"I'm not familiar with Great Xia..."

He muttered softly to himself. But with so many big shots here, refusal wasn't an option. Thus, he awkwardly said, "Yes, of course. I'll show the way, Seniors."

He then started walking away with an embarrassed expression. He decided to find a random place that was large enough to fit all these people. In any case, these weaponsmiths probably wouldn't care that much. Before long, the group left the area.

This was a group of Sunmoons, Mountainseas, and Cloudbreaches. Su Yu could be considered one of the weaker ones among the group, but he enjoyed a rather high status. Thus, he walked right behind the Sunmoons alongside the Mountainseas.

After the weaponsmiths left, the woman beside Yuan Qingdong spoke with a furious expression, "What an arrogant bunch."

Yuan Qingdong shot her a glance and indifferently said, "Don't look for trouble. Every single one of them is a treasure in the eyes of the Invincibles. These are the VIPs of the various prefects. If you don't want to get yourself blacklisted by the entire weaponsmithing industry, learn to be patient. It would be embarrassing for someone your age to end up forced to apologize to these weaponsmiths by the Invincible from your family."

Did she not notice how even Marquis Xia was still smiling despite being ignored? Sure, sufficient strength could allow one to be arrogant. But they were all Sunmoons here. Being both earth weaponsmiths and Sunmoons, they would naturally enjoy a higher status than a mere Sunmoon. Only a fool would make a big fuss out of this.

Yuan Qingdong had smartened up considerably. He had learned to keep a low profile when he was outside the holy land. Just look at how calm he had been despite the numerous hardships he had been subjected to recently. Just endure and everything would be fine.

The people of the various prefectures did not care about the holy lands that much. Perhaps for these people, only the Invincibles in the holy lands were worth respecting, not the holy lands themselves. And there was nothing the others from the holy lands could do anything about that. For example, Zhu Tiandao had openly called them a bunch of servants.

Generally, only the second sons or branch families would be sent to settle down in the holy lands. Meanwhile, the main branches would remain in their respective prefectures. Thus, even the Invincibles were more biased toward the prefectures. Thus, the holy lands wouldn't benefit from getting into a conflict with the prefectures.

In the past, Yuan Qingdong had thought that the holy lands were the leaders of humanity. But after leaving for the outside world, he finally realized that he was completely wrong. He sighed inwardly. In truth, he didn't even feel like getting involved in Feng Ji's trial. But he had no choice. However, participating might get him in trouble as well. For example, Hong Tan. That was a massive trouble that might happen.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Great Xia was trying to protect the multiple character faction. Thus, he would offend both Hong Tan and Great Xia. If Xia Longwu could break through successfully, even more trouble would come knocking in the future. But even if he were to fail the advancement, Great Xia King alone was troublesome enough.

After leaving the holy land, Yuan QIngdong finally understood how naive he had been. And now, there were numerous undercurrents in Great Xia. Any carelessness might result in his death even if he was a Sunmoon and an Invincible descendant.

Way too many people were connected to the multiple character faction.