Chapter 74 – The real meaning of “heavenly armament”
After hearing these words, the black outfitted people at the door immediately turned and glared at Chu Yang. Chu Yang instantly felt an icy killing aura locking on him.
These words of Tie Long Cheng were like a ball of explosives that broke his levee, and the killing aura flooded into the room like a rushing tide!
However, there was suddenly another killing aura that exploded next to Chu Yang. Compare to that of the black outfits, this killing aura was much more potent. One against four, and not even a little deficient!
At that same moment, Gu Du Xing quietly came right next to Chu Yang!
Gu Du Xing’s hand was already on the sword’s hilt, his eyes were bright with a light that exposed a body of martial power that had been concentrated to the max… He carried a breathtaking air, but he was also perfectly calm at the same time.
Gu Du Xing’s killing aura and that of the four black outfits collided making the front of Heavenly Armament Pavilion seemed like an ice cave. That chill even spilled out into half of the street in front.
In Gu Du Xing’s eyes, he did not care how powerful the opponent or his position was. Because, to him, the Lower Three Heavens will always be the Lower Three Heavens; it could never be compare to the Middle Three Heavens!
Forget about general whatever, so what even if it was an emperor?
Currently Chu Yang was his biggest backing and also his only hope to saving his Sister Xiao Miao. Therefore, if these people wanted to cause trouble for Chu Yang, they would have to step over his dead body first!
Who cares about consequences; if you people make one move, I will kill you!
Tie Long Cheng stared at Gu Du Xing with great surprise, and raised his arm to wave a signal to the back. The four killing auras immediately disappeared without a trace. Only then did Gu Du Xing grunt coldly and take back his own aura. His countenance returned back to an expressionless face, as he stood motionless behind Chu Yang.
The four black outfits outside the door might have pulled back their killing aura, but their eyes still carefully watched Gu Du Xing. The fact that such young man like him was able to emit such a powerful killing aura made these four stunned!
“Very good!” Tie Long Cheng praised, but he did not reveal whether that praise was for Gu Du Xing or the sword. Afterward, he turned back to Chu Yang and spoke slowly, “Since you opened Heavenly Armament Pavilion, this place was at risk of closing dozens of times! You should know that if I did not give orders to protect this shop early on, it would have already been reduced to dusts and ashes!”
“Why?” Chu Yang asked acting as if he was surprised. Internally, he was thinking no wonder no one came, this damn old man secretly caused mischief. Old man, you ruined my plan, and dared to take credit?
“All because of these two words, heavenly armament!” Tie Long Cheng suddenly tilted his head and looked straight at Chu Yang, “You openly put these two words on your shop’s sign right on the biggest street of Iron Cloud Citadel. This proved that you have given this much thought and that you have great insights. You have grasped the true weakness of Iron Cloud Nation! I came here to see what your true motives are! In truth, even if this little shop was filled with divine weapons, I could care less!”
“What motives?” After hearing these words, the young lady next to Tie Long Cheng could not help but turn and look at Chu Yang.
“Yes, this person definitely has ulterior motives! But if it was just ulterior motives, then it was still not worth my coming here!” Tie Long Cheng clasped his hands behind his back and said, “I personally came here because I have my reasons. But the most important thing was to stop all who were interested in this Heavenly Armament Pavilion! Regardless of who, once they have come here, they could be used by this shop owner to further his own agenda! Even though I also don’t know what his real agenda is, I only need to blockade this whole place and his plan will fall apart!”
“The purpose of this shop was not to sell weapons, but to create publicity!” Tie Long Cheng coldly concluded, exposing Chu Yang’s plan in the open.
“A total blockade is the simplest and most effective tactic. If it was at a different time, then I would have left him to do whatever he wanted. But currently, Diwu Qing Rou has started some movements in the Southwest. This is why I cannot ignore any little ambiguous actions!”
These words of Tie Long Cheng made Chu Yang extremely shocked. Cold sweats ran down his back.
Whoever said the people in this world are fools? This Tie Long Cheng is really scary!
Even though he does not know my exact plans, his simple blockade tactic has ruined my plans completely. I have no way of moving further.
“Diwu Qing Rou’s plans for Iron Cloud Nation started 10 years ago. At that time, there was suddenly a large number of killers sneaking into Iron Cloud Nation. The strange thing was, they did not kill any royal members or officials. Instead, they killed the famous blacksmiths of Iron Cloud Nation, creating a wave of bloody wind and rain.”
Tie Long Cheng’s eyes became sharp as a needle, “Even now, all these cases are still left as unsolved. From the most skilled blacksmiths who were capable of creating the highest quality weapons to apprentices who were just learning the craft, none were spared! In fact, even military blacksmiths died one after another, suddenly and mysteriously. From top to bottom, more than thirty thousand blacksmiths from Iron Cloud Nation were killed! Especially those blacksmiths at the level of master craftsmen, none were lucky enough to be spared!”
“Iron Cloud Nation was famous as a nation with the most mines in the entire continent, but it has not one blacksmith! Such a funny situation actually happened!”
Tie Long Cheng sighed and said, “The most hateful thing was that those damned officials in the justice department only saw these cases as ordinary, and just went through the motions!”
“It was not until three of our biggest weapons dealers in Great Zhao and seventeen secret weapon suppliers in other nations were completely destroyed right down to the roots, that everyone realized this would shake the country to its core. But it was too late.”
“The cruelest thing was the places of those master blacksmiths were also burned to the ground. The life’s work and legacy was destroyed in only a moment. You can say that all the precious smithing knowledge passed down to now is only a handful!”
Chu Yang was shocked after hearing this.
So this is why Iron Cloud Nation does not even have one blacksmith!
This one drastic move of Diwu Qing Rou was indeed sinister! In the beginning, the deaths of a few blacksmiths did not get the attentions of the higher ups of Iron Cloud Nation. By the time they took notice, this massacre was already coming to an end.
Because of Diwu Qing Rou’s ambitions, tens of thousands of lives were destroyed in such short time! Plus, until now, the officials could not find any evidence whatsoever. This type of massive tactic was shocking!
After this massacre, if Great Zhao took over Iron Cloud Nation, they would not have to worry about an uprising! How many blacksmiths could a country have? Because Iron Cloud Nation was a place with many ore mines, skilled blacksmiths gathered there in great numbers. But after this, how many were left?
Even young men who had the intentions of learning this craft would abandon such thoughts once they learned of what had happened.
Weapons, this was the key. Without weapons, what would they fight with? With their hands? What a joke!
The more he thought about it, the more bone-chilling it was. This was the lives of tens of thousands of people not pieces of wood. Even the blacksmiths who had nothing to do with the wars. This was pure brutal murder!
A person who could give such orders. How cruel, how unscrupulous, how mad?!
Not long after this massacre, Great Zhao fell under the leadership of Diwu Qing Rou and started to continually go to war with Iron Cloud. Each year, the two countries, Great Zhao and Iron Cloud, fought with each other countless times. Of course, because of this, the supply of weapons could not meet the demands of war. And at these key periods, Iron Cloud Nation had no blacksmiths to make weapons for the soldiers.
At first glance, these incidents were just brutal killings of the innocent, but who could have known that this would determine the outcome of a war between two nations?
“War is nonstop, fighting and killing goes on without end… But Iron Cloud Nation, famous for having the most ore mines, with the highest quality iron ores, was unable to create decent weapons! Generals and commanders were weakened by the use of mediocre weapons. They could not find a decent weapon that suited them and were stuck with using ordinary weapons like soldiers!”
“Basic soldiers were not affected because they have always used ordinary weapons. However, who would have thought that, by killing all the blacksmiths, they were actually aiming at the military leaders of Iron Cloud?”
Tie Long Cheng growled, “A person capable of using weapons weighing eighty pounds was forced to use weapons weighing only eight pounds. Plus, these weapons would shatter upon contact with the enemy’s weapons… Would this not drop their ability to fight down more than one level? This is the key reason why Iron Cloud Nation could only defend, but never have the ability to end the invasion!”
“On the battlefield, soldiers held these inferior weapons to fight with the enemies, only to their weapons shatter on contact! It was such a joke! Yet so many brave men died tragically under the hands of enemies inferior to them!”
“So Iron Cloud Nation continually lost on the battlefield! Even though all the soldiers tried their hardest to kill the enemies, they could not change the tides of battle! In the end, they could only watch as seven provinces and forty-eight towns become part of Great Zhao. And Diwu Qing Rou’s fame grew from there!”
“For eight years, Iron Cloud Nation tried its best to nurture new blacksmiths, but could not make up for that lost. Moreover, all those brothers lost in battle will never return! So high quality weapons were Iron Cloud Nation’s biggest pain! But now, you dared erected Heavenly Armament Pavilion on the busiest street of Iron Cloud Citadel?”
Tie Long Cheng looked coldly at Chu Yang, “These two words ‘heavenly armament’ touched Iron Cloud Nation’s most sensitive nerve! Speak! What are your motives?”