Chapter 703 - Smithing Hall
Chapter 703: Smithing Hall
On a hilltop that was surrounded by clouds and mist, Tian Yinghao ran cheerfully with a hand on his chest. It was obvious that he must have something important in front of his chest.
As he walked, he occasionally greeted a few of fellows that he was familiar with. He eventually arrived at a big courtyard in a valley.
“Elder Bai—is Elder Bai here?” Tian Yinghao shouted without any restraint despite the strange looks from other people.
“What’s all this yelling about? Don’t you know where this is?” A young man walked out angrily. He looked displeased.
Tian Yinghao smiled embarrassedly. The young man did not have a high cultivation base, but he had a rather strong background in the sect.
Xu Guangji was the grandson of Xu Feiyu—one of the smithing masters—and was regarded as a rising smithing genius in the sect. Although his smithing art was somewhat on par with Tian Yinghao at the moment, given his young age and family background, not many in the Smithing Hall dared to offend him easily.
Tian Yinghao’s face changed, but he did not have the guts to provoke Xu Feiyu. As such, he could only hold back his temper and suffer in silence. “Ah, it’s you, Junior Brother Xu. Hehe, I’m looking for Elder Bai for something important, which was why I was a little impatient. Please forgive me.”
“Hmph, so what if you’re looking for Elder Bai? If everyone screams like you over trivial matters, can the masters in the Smithing Hall still smith anything?” Xu Guangji rolled his eyes and questioned coldly, “If a master happens to be reaching a crucial point during a smithing process but is disturbed by your noise, can you bear the responsibility?”
The smile on Tian Yinghao’s face froze instantly. Even the onlookers had weird looks on their faces.
“Uhm, Junior Brother Xu, I’ve never offended you before, have I?” Tian Yinghao asked in a deep voice.
He was not an idiot. If he still did not understand what was going on after being aimed at like that, he would be too dumb.
Smithing masters were extremely steady, so how could they be easily distracted by a short sentence? Besides, they would normally isolate themselves if they were smithing important pieces of equipment. Not to mention shouting just once or twice, even if Tian Yinghao lost his voice from screaming at the top of his lungs, the smithing masters might not even hear him.
Xu Guangji sneered. “Senior Brother Tian, I was only speaking impartially. Does it matter if you’ve offended me or not?”
Tian Yinghao was furious but because he could rebuke Xu Feiyu regardless of the young man’s reputation, a familiar voice was heard. “Tian Yinghao, what’s the matter?”
He tensed up a little, and he immediately curbed his thought before he greeted the person with respect, “Elder Bai, you’re here.”
Bai Zhiyi paced toward him and the young man. “Tell me—what is it?”
Seeing as Bai Zhiyi had come, Xu Guangji looked slightly fearful too. He lowered his head a bit.
He dared to pick on Tian Yinghao, but he was not bold enough to provoke Bai Zhiyi. This was one of the rules in the sect, where it would be a serious offense for one to contradict an elder face-to-face.
Tian Yinghao answered right away, “Elder Bai, I did as you asked and… Brought the things here.”
He responded ambiguously while slightly moving his hand that was on his chest.
Bai Zhiyi’s eyes lit up, and he laughed out loud. “Great—you did great!”
“Oh? What is it that you take so much notice of, Brother Bai?” A figure slowly walked out from a room. It was Xu Feiyu, who was smiling faintly but had a fierce look in his eyes.
Elder Bai frowned and answered, “These are some treasures that I asked him to purchase. I was about to have them sent to the Smithing Hall’s depot.”
Tian Yinghao’s eyes gleamed all of a sudden. He noted, “Elder Bai, Brother Ou instructed me to distribute them to the people in need by today.” He paused for a while before he emphasized, “Yes, by today.”
“By today?” Bai Zhiyi was dumbfounded for some time. He mumbled, “Why is he in such a rush? Is he lacking spirit ores?”
“He said that the number of spirit ores can be discussed, but the distribution must be done fast.” Tian Yinghao shook his head.
Xu Feiyu’s eyes flickered, and he asked, “Tian Yinghao, are you talking about Ou Yangming?”
When the other people heard Ou Yangming’s name, they fell silent for a second. As for Xu Guangji, he pursed his lips and subconsciously clenched his fists.
Before Bai Zhiyi brought Ou Yangming to the mountain, Xu Guangji was the most well-known God-favored one among the blacksmiths from the Beast King Sect. Moreover, everyone had high hopes in him as the leader of the younger generation. Nonetheless, the challenge on the mountain that day almost caused him to be completely humiliated.
He did not express it, but he hated Ou Yangming to the bones.
Even so, he did not have the guts to seek revenge from the young fellow at this time.
Not to mention that Ou Yangming made a hit during the Auction Meet, so much so that Yuqi the Venerable One showed up and walked with him, even without the Venerable One, the others would not act rashly due to Sect Elder Peng Yanbing’s high praises for him alone.
Therefore, after knowing that Tian Yinghao and Ou Yangming had gotten quite close lately, Xu Guangji could not help but secretly aim at the former.
Bai Zhiyi chuckled and asked, “Brother Xu, I’m the one handling these things, so it doesn’t matter whether they belonged to him, right?”
Xu Feiyu scoffed. “Tian Yinghao, what treasures are you carrying? Show me!”
Tian Yinghao quivered a little and smiled apologetically as he replied to the elder, “Elder Xu, I really don’t have anything.”
“Hmph, if you don’t have anything, what are you carrying in front of your chest? A lump of sh*t?” Xu Feiyu reprimanded him mercilessly.
Tian Yinghao flushed but similar to how Xu Guangji dared not offend Bai Zhiyi, he was also not daring enough to denounce Xu Feiyu.
Bai Zhiyi looked deeply at Xu Feiyu and said, “Brother Xu, Yinghao has acquired some treasures for our sect, and they’ll be given to the disciples as benefits.” He paused for a while before he continued, “It’s better to keep them in the depot as soon as possible so that they can be given out.” He turned around and ordered, “Hurry up and go.”
Tian Yinghao responded to the elder loudly and thought, ‘Elder Bai is impressive indeed.’
Xu Feiyu’s face reddened. ‘Isn’t Bai Zhiyi simply regarding me as nothing? I must stop this unhealthy trend or I’ll lose my prestige.’
“You can’t leave!” He yelled madly while glaring at Tian Yinghao. Following that, he turned to look at Bai Zhiyi and uttered loudly, “I still don’t know what darn things he’s hiding. Hmph, treasures? If they’re really treasures, they’re too unworthy, aren’t they?”
Xu Feiyu’s eyes were like lightning. He could not see through Tian Yinghao’s clothes, but he could tell from the outline that there were a bunch of treasures inside.
‘How can a bunch of things be treasures? Who are you trying to fool…’
Xu Feiyu and Bai Zhiyi were used to going against each other. Since the former thought that he had something to use against the latter, how could he let go of this easily?
Bai Zhiyi’s face finally took on a grim look. He stared at Xu Feiyu and noted coldly, “Brother Xu, please don’t overdo this. Don’t be shameless!”
“I’d like to see who the shameless one is,” Xu Feiyu stated coldly. He fixed his gaze on Tian Yinghao and said, “Show me—I’d like to see what treasures they are.”
Bai Zhiyi smiled faintly and asked, “They’re going to be sent to the sect’s depot and distributed. Are you sure you want them to be revealed here?”
Xu Feiyu responded proudly, “Yes, I’m an elder in our sect too, so I don’t want to see rewards in our sect be replaced by fakes. These things must be inspected!”
Elder Bai sighed and suggested, “Brother Xu, I know you’re directed this at me but there won’t be an end to our enmity if we don’t settle it, so why don’t we bury the hatchet now?”
Tian Yinghao blinked and tried to hold back from turning to look.
‘It turns out that Elder Bai knows how to lure someone into a trap too. Judging from how Elder Xu’s behaving, he probably won’t be able to escape from the trap.’
Sure enough, Xu Feiyu sneered and replied to Bai Zhiyi, “Brother Bai, I’m not directing this at you; I only want to carry out a routine check, so please cooperate.”
Bai Zhiyi suddenly widened his eyes and released a strong momentum. He straightened his body and said loudly, “Okay, Xu Feiyu, since you’re pressing us so much, you won’t be given a share of what I’ve collected this time.”
Xu Feiyu was stunned. He was somehow regretful when he noticed the sudden burst of Bai Zhiyi’s momentum, but he knew better that there was no way out for him anymore.
He looked up and burst out laughing. “Why would I want your stuff? Don’t worry, regardless of what treasures they are, me, my family, and my friends won’t lay a finger on them!”
“Great!” Bai Zhiyi was just waiting for Xu Feiyu to say that. He later waved his hand in high spirits and instructed, “Tian Yinghao, take them out!”
Tian Yinghao was startled. “Here…?”
“Yes, here. Quickly.” Bai Zhiyi urged him.
Tian Yinghao smiled bitterly and shook his head helplessly. Subsequently, he began to retrieve the interspatial bags one by one.
Bai Zhiyi and Xu Feiyu’s argument had long spread far and wide in the Smithing Hall. Most people walked around them without wanting to help either of them, but the number of onlookers in the distance slowly increased. Even if they dared not stare at the scene, they glanced over from time to time.
Tian Yinghao lay a piece of white cloth on the ground before he laid out the interspatial bags one after another.
The crowd was shocked. They were surprised yet doubtful when they saw the interspatial bags.
If Tian Yinghao had only revealed only a few of them, someone might have exclaimed.
However, there were at least 30 interspatial bags on the white cloth. Even though they could sense the auras released by the bags and had guessed the truth, they dared not believe it.
Interspatial bags—they were interspatial bags!
The Beast King Sect was an influential force, but they could only provide 100 interspatial bags to outsiders every year. More bags were provided to the disciples from the sect, but there were only about 200 of them.
Given how rare the interspatial bags were, they were not enough to be distributed, thus everyone knew how precious they were.
At this point, even Bai Zhiyi was stupefied. He knew what they were, but he thought that Tian Yinghao only had roughly 8 of them.
One would be surprised if there were less than 10 interspatial bags, shocked if there were more than 10 of them, but the fact that there were over 30 of them… One would be in disbelief.