Chapter 439 - The Sima Family’s Blacksmith
Translator: BinBin
Editor: EllisBLV13
“Believe it or not. I won’t force you either way,” Qin Feng berated and rolled his eyes at Ren Xiao Yao. His hoity-toity reaction incensed Ren Xiao Yao causing her to stomp her feet in anger.
After realizing the weirdo wearing a wolf mask might be a Stage 2 or higher pharmaceutical master, she decided to step down and not fight Qin Feng.
Being a pharmaceutical master was a rare profession in China. Even the lowest ranking pharmaceutical master had the ability to demolish a small familial clan from a second-tier city with a turn of the hand. This did not mean that a pharmaceutical master had a high combative ability. Instead, a pharmaceutical master was always surrounded by loads of martial artists because a high-grade pill or herb mixture could be a great help to a cultivating martial artist.
The cases of martial artists working themselves to the bone for pharmaceutical master in order to get their hands on a sovereign panacea were beyond counting.
“Hmph! You ain’t no big deal just because you’re a pharmaceutical master. Saint Medic has many pharmaceutical masters at our disposal, and none of them are any inferior to you!” Ren Xiao Yao placed her hands on her hips and glared ferociously at Qin Feng.
“I never said that I’m great. I’m just saying that the herb mixtures and pills in your shop are too expensive. It’s accurate for me to describe your shop as a black tavern,” Qin Feng did not get angry at all, and instead, maintained a gleeful smile as he stared at Ren Xiao Yao’s irresistibly charming breasts.
Ren Xiao Yao’s face darkened as anger brewed within her. Qin Feng was a pharmaceutical master, so his cost of concocting herb mixtures was low. However, it wasn’t the same for a large drug store like Saint Medic. Not only did they sell their own products, but Saint Medic had some medicine and herbs dealership contracts with various pharmaceutical corporations as well. For example, Dit Da Water was created by a pharmaceutical magnate owned by the Liang family of Jindu. The Liang family wanted to make money, and Saint Medic had to add on the processing fees and consignment commission charge thereby increasing the sales price.
“Go, go, go! Hurry up and get lost if you’re not going to buy anything from us, you annoying fly!” Since Ren Xiao Yao could not pick a fight nor get the upper hand from a verbal exchange with Qin Feng, she shooed him away.
Much to her shock, Qin Feng stepped backward and moved into the gap between her extended her arms causing her to lose her balance and fall directly into his arms. Qin Feng flashed a broad grin and opened his arms awaiting Ren Xiao Yao’s fall into his embrace.
“So soft!”
Qin Feng enjoyed the fine feeling of Ren Xiao Yao’s thin waistline while gazing lewdly at Ren Xiao Yao’s breasts. Her petite breasts were pressed against Qin Feng’s pecs. The soft and delicate texture excited Qin Feng so much that he almost screamed.
“Ah!!! Go to hell! Go to hell, you bastard!”
Ren Xiao Yao’s face reddened. Embarrassed and vexed with Qin Feng, she drew her soft sword and waved it in the air. It turned into a silver serpent and dashed towards Qin Feng.
Qin Feng had retreated from the shop the moment Ren Xiao Yao had drawn her sword. Before he left, he shouted at Liu Jie who was still zoned out in the shop, “Are you blind? Hurry up and run! Or do you want to hug that woman too?”
“What the--” Liu Jie had snapped out from his dissociation and hastily escaped, “Big Brother, you’re so amazing and awesome! You even dared to tease the beauty of Saint Medic… Big Brother, why don’t you teach me how to hook up with women instead of teaching me Chinese medicine?”
He yelled loudly while he was running, and the words fell clearly into Ren Xiao Yao’s ears. She was so infuriated that she almost crushed her bright teeth.
Just you wait, you bloody wolf-masked weirdo! I swear I’ll chop off your head if we ever have a chance to meet outside the Martial Artist Town one day! Ren Xiao Yao made an oath in her heart after she realized that she could not catch up with Qin Feng.
……
They sprinted for ten minutes straight.
“Big Brother, can we stop running now? That flare blitz beauty did not chase after us. I really can’t run anymore longer.”
Completely exhausted, Liu Jie stuck his butt on the ground and refused to move an inch further.
Qin Feng heaved a long sigh of relief after he realized that Ren Xiao Yao had given up. Even though he had the guts to tease her, and indeed had a fun time with her, that woman’s fathomless strength was something not to be reckoned with.
Qin Feng swept his gaze across his surroundings and a shop opposite of the road caught his attention,“A smithy? What is that? How can a worn-out shop like this even exist in Martial Artist Town? It severely damages the image of the town!”
The shop resembled a shop from ancient time. There was a large wooden stake outside the shop with a white banner fixed on it. On the banner was the word ‘smithy’ written on it.
Qin Feng began to grumble again. Liu Jie was so helpless at Qin Feng’s grumbled that he almost vomited blood.
The smithy and Saint Medic were two sacred and inviolable grounds in Martial Artist Town. He never expected that Qin Feng had planned to offend both shops during his first stroll through Martial Artist Town.
“Big Brother, I beg you to stop grumbling. The influence of this smithy isn’t minor, just like Saint Medic. This shop specializes in forging weapons and equipment required by martial artists, and they have a powerful backing!”
“Ahem, ahem!” After listening to Liu Jie’s explanation, Qin Feng cleared his throat and looked seriously at the wooden stake and white banner again.
“Not bad, not bad! The exterior of this shop has the vibe of an ancient blacksmith’s workshop. I can see from a single glance that the masters of this shop must have inherited the mantle from their ancestors. I believe that the weapons and equipment they forge must be first-rate with reasonable price!
“It’s a nice shop, and it looks promising. Let’s check it out!”
Qin Feng had swaggered his way into the smithy leaving a totally bewildered Liu Jie standing in the wind as he was unable to follow Qin Feng’s quirky thought.
The furnishing inside the smithy was minimal. The room was spacious, and multiple wooden shelves were nailed to the surrounding walls. A large variety of weapons were displayed on the shelves. Single-edged swords, spears, double-edged swords, halberds, axes, tomahawks, hooks, tridents, whips, bar maces, and so on: eighteen types of Chinese weapons were displayed on the shelves.
Qin Feng could sense a bit of spiritual essence lingering around the workshop as he walked further into it. The spiritual essence emanated from some of the weapons in the smithy.
“Wow, check this out, Big Brother! Lord Guan’s Great Blade is so cool!” Liu Jie had entered the smithy as well. He was gushing about a great two-meter long blade.
Qin Feng walked towards Liu Jie and studied the Lord Guan’s Great Blade. He knew the Lord Guan’s Great Blade was a replica, forged with iron and, probably, with a bit of winter iron since he could catch a sense of coldness from the Lord Guan’s Great Blade.
Qin Feng claimed Bronze Number 8 of the Golden Assassin Group’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade when he killed him. The Green Dragon Crescent Blade was the real McCoy. The blade was entirely forged with winter iron, and it gave the wielder a cold sensation. It could slice through metal like mud. Despite all of that, it was just a large weapon and not Qin Feng’s preferred weapon either, so he ended up fusing the Green Dragon Crescent Blade with the Flying Dragon Armour to upgrade the Flying Dragon Armour to a top orange-grade piece of equipment. At that time, if Qin Feng knew that he would eventually accept Liu Jie as his underling, he would’ve kept the blade for him since a large weapon matched Liu Jie’s burly figure perfectly.
Qin Feng did not pay much attention to Liu Jie and left him happily yelling and holding the fake Lord Guan’s Great Blade as Qin Feng went to check the prices and materials used to craft the weapons.
He realized that most of the weapons in this smithy were forged with very small amounts of rare materials such as winter iron or black iron. However, shockingly, the prices were ten times higher than a weapon forged with only pure rare materials. Disappointed, Qin Feng deemed this shop a black tavern as well!
After taking a stroll around the smithy, Qin Feng did discover a few white- and orange-grade pieces of spiritual equipment. The orange-grade spiritual equipment was a gilded Shaolin Staff that glowed with an orange light. It was probably the premier piece of the collection since it was displayed on the highest shelf.
As for the white-grade spiritual equipment, the weapon itself had to be completely forged with rare materials such as winter iron or black iron without any impurities while the orange-grade spiritual equipment, aside from using rare materials, it was definitely forged with the bones or hides of spiritual beasts. The Spirit Snake Whip Qin Feng had obtained from Bronze Number 5 was made of Spirit Snake’s skin and tendon.
The weapons forged with a mixture of winter iron and ordinary ore could not be called spiritual equipment. They could only be regarded as normal armaments.
And more than half of the weapon in the smithy were normal armaments.
There were two shopkeepers in the smithy. One of them wore a hoary linen robe while the other wore a white Tang costume. Contrary to his companion’s servant-alike appearance, the one in the Tang costume looked impressive, and it seemed as though that he was a rich young master from an aristocratic family. That servant-looking shopkeeper stormed towards Liu Jie.
With a disdainful expression, he pushed Liu Jie away and yelled at him sarcastically, “Hey, you fatty!” You’ve touched my weapon for half a day long and moistened it with your disgusting grease! Are you buying it or not? If you can’t afford it, then get lost!”
Liu Jie had been totally immersed in marveling at the Lord Guan’s Great Blade, so he hadn’t been aware of either of them. The servant-looking man pushed him to the ground. He hastily got up and yelled back at that servant, “Hey, why do you have to push me?!”
“Aiyo! What’s wrong? Do you want to cause trouble here? You have to know better, you insolent, blubbering fool. You’re still a hundred years too early to play high-and-mighty in front of me!”
The servant-looking one had been measuring Qin Feng and Liu Jie from the moment they entered his shop, especially Liu Jie who acted like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world and adored the fake Lord Guan’s Great Blade like nothing could be better than it. He was certain that Liu Jie was a poor schmuck, so he threw his weight around and insulted Liu Jie.
Liu Jie had calmed himself down. Even though he was enraged, he did not dare make any moves given the background of the smithy. If he was alone, he could battle to the death and vindicated himself; however, that was not the case. He represented the family behind him, and he could not follow any momentary inclinations without considering his family and his brethren.
“Hmph! Why are you keeping quiet now? Weren’t you acting cocky just now and wanted to fight me? I’m standing right here! Hit me if you have the guts!
“Otherwise, get the hell outta here! Don’t be a hindrance to the Sima family. We still want to maintain our shop’s operation. Tsk, tsk tsk, look at you. Look at your body. Other customers might think we, the Sima family, has a pig as our pet if you keep standing here! Get lost now!”
“You! You better watch your P’s and Q’s!” Liu Jie’s eyes went bloodshot. He clenched his fists tightly.
The servant disregarded Liu Jie’s threat. He craned his neck like someone that needed some good beating and stared at Liu Jie, “Hah, what’s wrong with me calling you a pig? You’re a pig! Your whole family is pigs!”
“I must kill you today!” Liu Jie was at the age when young men were filled with animal spirits and were easily taunted. He could not hold himself anymore. He raised his fist and was soon going to ram it into the servant’s face.
“Liu Jie, stand down!” Qin Feng’s voice echoed at this moment and stopped Liu Jie.
“Big Brother! He…” Liu Jie looked at Qin Feng as if he was wronged as tears formed in his eyes.
“If you still regarded me as your big brother, then stand down! I’m in charge starting from here on!” Qin Feng glared at Liu Jie. Then, he turned to the servant-looking man as a devilish grin slowly spread across his face, “Hey, brother, you said this shop is owned by the Sima family?”