“Aunt, what do you think of these knives?” Shang Xia asked.
Shang Xi didn’t seem to hear him as she played with the knives happily. A dazed look could be seen in her eyes and she stroked the knives gently.
Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask again, “Aunt, do you know how to use them?”
Shang Xi’s hand stopped on the handle of the knives and she shot a cold glare towards Shang Xia.
As the hair on his body stood on end, he saw two rays of light shooting towards him. He dodged on instinct.
“Blade intent!” Shang Xia yelled and he looked at his aunt. “You actually managed to comprehend blade intent?!”
For a cultivator who reached a certain accomplishment in the way of the blade, they would comprehend blade intent. When using their techniques, they could attack formlessly through the form of qi.
When they improved and reached the next level, they could tear through space itself with their blade light. That was called blade qi!
Coupled with a martial intent that specialized in the blade, a cultivator could summon their blade intent at any time. That was what Shang Xi used previously.
Even though she had only entered the Martial Intent Realm and remained at the small completion stage, her comprehension of blade intent put her ahead of cultivators at the same level.
As long as she was using a weapon with a sharp edge, she could utilize her blade intent!
Shang Xia laughed bitterly in his heart when he thought about it.
“Aunt, haven’t you thought of making weapons that would suit yourself?” Shang Xia asked cautiously.
However, Shang Xi’s eyes didn’t leave the twin knives when she replied, “Of course I have. It’s just that the weapons I made can’t compare to graded weapons!”
“Then… What do you think about this pair of knives? Do you think the clan will accept it if I trade it for the rights to own Jade River?”
Shang Xi finally looked at Shang Xia when he raised the question. A smile formed on her lips. “You brat… Looks like you have everything planned out.”
Shang Xia chuckled softly in response.
“Relax. From now on, Jade River is yours!” Shang Xi declared all of a sudden.
Shang Xia didn’t expect her to make the decision on the spot, and he seemed to be stuck in a state of disbelief. “Don’t you need to ask the elders of our clan?”
Shang Xi lowered her head to look at the knives again and snorted in contempt, “No one will dare to reject the notion.”
“But… Jade River is a mid-grade weapon! Even though the pair of knives can be compared to a mid-grade weapon, it’s still…” Shang Xia continued.
It was too bad Shang Xi wasn’t listening to him at all as she kept the pair of knives in her Embroidered Cloud Case. Seeing as they were safe, she turned to Shang Xia and explained, “From my point of view, it’s more than worth it to trade a treasure I can’t even use three tenth of the power of one that suits me. Anyone who refuses will be going against me! Humph! Even your grandfather will agree with me on this matter!”
Shang Xia finally relaxed when he saw how confident she was.
He turned to the other weapon in his hand and sighed “Aunt, this is another low-grade weapon called the Origin Light… No… It’s now called ‘Formless’... Why don’t you give this to Seventh Uncle?”
“This knife belongs to you. You can give it to whoever you want. The clan won’t interfere.” Shang Xi muttered.
After Duan Hong was done with the knife, the insignia of the Hundred Professions Pavilion was scraped away and it now belonged to the Shang Clan.
As Shang Xia imbued his inner qi into the knife, light started to distort around it and the blade turned blurry.
Shang Xi frowned when she saw the uniqueness of the blade. “This dagger is a great weapon indeed… It’s able to conceal itself and it’s much better than any ordinary weapon…”
She sucked in a cold breath and continued, “Strictly speaking, a weapon like that isn’t suitable for Yan Qi. Of course, It’s much better than sending him into battle with a fan.”
Shang Xia laughed in response, “Whatever the case, someone might recognize this dagger even after Uncle Hong’s customization…”
Shang Xi rolled her eyes at him. “Are you afraid that someone will recognize it now? Why didn’t you think of it sooner?”
“What do you mean! This is a graded weapon! If you were in my shoes, what would you do?” Shang Xia pouted.
“Relax. Since your Uncle Quan saw the weapon, he definitely knows what to do with it.”
How could Shang Xi not see through Shang Xia’s intentions? Even though the dagger was obtained by Shang Xia, it definitely belonged to someone on the Tongyou Peak. From the scarcity of weapons in the Shang Clan, one could imagine how important a graded weapon was. The moment news of the dagger was revealed, Shang Xia would be dragged into a major conflict. As such, he needed to borrow the clan’s power to keep it.
A better way to put it was that Shang Xia wanted to use the Shang Clan’s power to scare the other party so he could keep the weapon.
Of course, Shang Xia knew that the value of the weapon was enough for the clan to shield him from the backlash. Naturally, his actions would definitely piss off some people in the clan.
Now that Shang Xia had grown up and entered the cultivation world for real, he would no longer be treated like a kid.
Even with Shang Bo’s support, Shang Xia needed to form his own support in the Shang Clan in order to prevent tongues from wagging.
It seemed as though his aunt, Shang Xi, was his greatest ally in the clan.
Yan Qi might not belong to the Shang Clan, but he had been attending to Shang Xia all the time. His cultivation level was at the limit of the Martial Extremity Realm and he was an important combat figure in the clan.
It was especially so for the war that was about to break out. The Shang Clan only had half their original fighting power and Yan Qi’s importance was further accentuated. It wasn’t impossible to bestow the low-grade weapon on him.
With the ability to hand the Ivory Fan over to Shang Quan, Shang Xia would gain extremely strong allies in the Shang Clan. His grandfather, Shang Bo, and his fifth grandfather, Shang Ke, might not be able to handle things in the later generations as the forefathers of the clan, but those around him could!
“I haven't seen Seventh Uncle in awhile now. I heard that he’s been following Uncle Quan around. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to leave the pavilion for some time as I have to enter seclusion again and I hope that Aunt Xi can hand the dagger over to him.” Shang Xia said while passing the dagger over.
A trace of hesitation could be seen on Shang Xi’s face as she muttered, “No… He hasn't been seen around Shang Quan for some time now.”
“Did he run into any trouble?! What did Uncle Quan say?!” Shang Xia jumped in fright.
“That’s the weird part. Shang Quan knows where he is, but he refuses to tell me anything. There’s something fishy about all this. If Fifth Uncle is around I could look for him…”
Shang Xia frowned. “Does this have something to do with Fifth Grandpa?”
Shang Xi raised an eyebrow slowly and she muttered, “It’s not something you have to worry about right now. Concentrate on your cultivation.”
Retrieving the weapons, Shang Xi left in a haste.
She was an expert in the Martial Intent Realm. Training in the training field was of no use to her.
Before she left, she didn’t forget to remind Shang Xia to pass the Ivory Fan to Shang Quan when he saw him.
A large grin appeared on Shang Xia’s face after Shang Xi had left. Now, the mid-grade weapon finally belonged to him!
Putting some of his inner qi into the Delicate Jade River Sword, it became taut in an instant.
The first move of the Vigorous Sword Art, Torrential Advance!
His sword stabbed forward and it seemed to contain the might of a thousand men!
Shang Xia circulated his inner qi and continued to practice his sword art.
A soft glow enveloped the tip of the sword.
As he went through the moves one by one, he eventually finished all nine moves of the first manual.
Every time he completed one move, the glow around his sword grew longer. The sword light turned more and more solid.
When he completed the final move, Twisting Matter, a sword light emerged from the Delicate Jade River Sword and sliced the sword he was using previously in two!
When the sword qi dissipated, countless weapons on the rack clattered to the ground.
That was the first appearance of sword qi Shang Xia summoned! He might not have reached a complete understanding of the Vigorous Sword Art, but his improvement was clear as day.
The Delicate Jade River Sword played a role too as it channeled the transformed inner qi in his body into sword qi.
Even though the appearance of the sword qi wasn’t too helpful in telling him how much his strength increased by, it told him that he was on the right track! In the future, he wouldn’t face any obstruction when cultivating the Vigorous Sword Art.
It was too bad Shang Xia wasn’t content with the results. After recovering, he started to swing his sword again. This time, his moves were completely different from the ones he displayed previously!