Zhang Fei - The Abandoned Son

Chapter 544: The Sword Souls

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[Ding]

[Daily Quest: Absorb 100,000 Qi.]

[Status: Done.]

[Reward: 1,000 bronze coins sent to the inventory.]

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[Daily Quest: Killing 500 beasts or demon beasts at the earth realm or above.]

[Status: Done.]

[Reward: Daily gift pack x1 sent to the inventory.]

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Zhang Fei shook his head as he noticed someone following him from a distance. He guessed that it was Huangfu Lianʼs guards, and Mei immediately confirmed it. ʼHuangfu Bo, huh? That idiot prince must have told his father about me, and Huangfu Shou ordered him to follow me.ʼ

[As expected, you are indeed a magnet for trouble, and trouble has begun to disturb your life in this realm, Master. Lian Jinshu is after you because of Zhang Lingxue, and Huangfu Shou is after you because of your relationship with the Xian royal family.]

Zhang Fei released a soft sigh and nodded. ʼI didnʼt want to cause trouble with anyone, but Xian Feng was really persistent in bringing me to his side. He even ordered his aides to protect us, which drew the attention of his enemies to me. Iʼm not afraid of them, but I wonʼt fight them openly either, and Iʼll wait for them to come to me.ʼ

Before long, Zhang Fei had arrived at the blacksmith shop, and he immediately looked for Gang Zhishou, who was forging equipment at his forging site.

Observing Gang Zhishouʼs full concentration, Zhang Fei remained silent, closely observing his senior as he meticulously forged the equipment. As a novice blacksmith with limited experience in forging equipment, he needed to expand his knowledge before he could create high-quality equipment for all his wives. ʼHey, Mei! Open the two daily gift packs.ʼ

[You gained 50.000 beast essence.]

[You gained 50.000 Qi.]

An hour later, Gang Zhishou had finished the equipment, but he threw it aside after assessing it. ”Phew! I canʼt possibly defeat the blacksmiths of the Divine Flame Realm if my abilities are still stuck like this.”

”This equipment is actually quite good, but you seem to be aiming for a higher level, Old Gang.” Zhang Fei expressed this as he took the equipment and examined it. ”Are the skills of the blacksmiths from that realm that good?”

”I canʼt say whether they are good or not, and you can judge their abilities for yourself during the competition. You can have it if you want it, especially since it is useless to me, and I have no interest in selling it either.” Gang Zhishou then asked. ”How is your training? Have you gotten used to blacksmithing?”

”Haha.” Zhang Fei immediately put away the equipment before taking out his first sword, and he swiftly handed it to Gang Zhishou. ”After I used up three-quarters of the thunderstrike alloys, I managed to forge it perfectly, but I would like to know your opinion on it.”

Gang Zhishou immediately observed the sword based on its thickness, shape, sharpness, and hilt. ”I thought you would need a week to forge your first weapon, but you did it in a day. The thickness is perfect, but the sharpness still needs improvement, and you should flatten the sharp part further. The shape isnʼt bad, but it wonʼt sell, and you can use your imagination more in forging your next weapon.”

Zhang Fei scratched his head after Gang Zhishou mentioned imagination, but he admitted that his imagination in forging weapons was still lacking. ”I will try to improve my imagination again, Old Gang. Do you still have the thunderstrike alloy?”

”A lot.” Gang Zhishou then gave Zhang Fei a few batches of thunderstrike alloys. ”You can use them to forge the best sword, and I will teach you to forge a mid-tier mortal-grade weapon after you have successfully forged it perfectly.”

Zhang Fei immediately stored those alloys in the system inventory. ”Old Gang, do we need special materials to forge a spirit weapon?”

”Yes.” Gang Zhishou nodded to Zhang Fei. ”Although a spirit-grade weapon is the most basic weapon for cultivators, we require materials far superior to the thunderstrike alloy. We usually need two to three materials to forge one, and the process will take longer. Have you ever heard of a soul weapon?”

”I have one.” Zhang Fei immediately summoned the demon extermination sword. ”Old friend, he is my friend, so you can let him observe you.”

*Zing... Zing...*

Gang Zhishou immediately took the sword from Zhang Feiʼs hand, rubbed the blade, and then examined the materials used to forge it. ”Everything about this sword is truly marvelous! Unfortunately, its grade is only a spirit grade, but it is still not perfect, and you can upgrade it to a higher grade if you can find the right materials. However, I cannot recognize the materials used by the blacksmith to forge it, so I canʼt help you increase its grade.”

”Do you think Senior Duan Zhao can help me with that, Old Gang?”

”No.” Gang Zhishou shook his head and returned the demon extermination sword to Zhang Fei. ”I got my blacksmithing knowledge from my master, so Iʼm sure he wonʼt be able to recognize the materials either, but you can ask him when you meet him on the day of the competition. In my opinion, the best choice is for you to find the blacksmith who forged it, and you can ask that person to improve its grade.”

Zhang Fei smiled bitterly at that, especially since he got the demon extermination sword from the system reward. Unfortunately, the system did not record the name of the blacksmith who forged it, making it impossible for him to locate the blacksmith. ”Are you going to forge equipment again?”

”Yes.” Gang Jinshou then took out three different metals. ”Since you are interested in learning how to forge a spirit-grade weapon, I will demonstrate it for you now, so please pay close attention.”

Zhang Fei nodded in agreement, and Gang Zhishou began to heat the three metals in the furnace. A while later, he took the three materials and melted them together, molding them in a special container into a new type of metal.

Gang Zhishou then immersed it in a special liquid to accelerate the cooling process, during which he explained to Zhang Fei the process of forging a spirit-grade weapon. Once it hardened, he started heating it again, and after it softened, he began hammering it.

Unlike when he forged a mortal-grade weapon, Gang Zhishou took a longer time to forge a spirit-grade weapon. After three hours, he successfully forged a long sword and handed it to Zhang Fei once it had cooled. ”This sword is only an ordinary spirit-grade sword, and we need a soul if we want to turn it into a soul weapon. However, finding a suitable soul for our weapon is not easy, and we have to put the soul into it right before we finish forging it.”

”Are there any special requirements for the souls we will use to create a soul weapon?”

Gang Zhishou nodded to Zhang Fei. ”We can use the souls of humans, beasts, demons, or even natural races to become the soul of our weapon. We must first build a close relationship with it before using it, or else it will refuse to enter our weapon. Usually, the blacksmith will use the soul of the living being closest to them, so the chance of success is very high.”

”The soul of the living creature closest to us, huh?” Zhang Fei muttered as he thought about the soul inside the demon extermination sword. ”Is it possible for us to establish communication with the soul within our soul weapon?”

Zhang Feiʼs question left Gang Zhishou bewildered. ”You should be able to do it, right? If you canʼt do it, your sword wonʼt be able to respond to you.”

”I canʼt do it yet.” Zhang Fei immediately summoned the demon extermination sword again. ”My sword always follows my orders and reacts to my every word, but I have never met or spoken directly with the soul inside it.”

Gang Zhishou nodded and then told Zhang Fei, ”Just like us humans, a soul sword also has a soul space, but not everyone can enter it; only its owner can.”

”Eh?” Zhang Fei was surprised to hear that. ”Does that mean I just need to use our bond to enter its soul space?”

”Yes.” Gang Zhishou then explained to Zhang Fei how to access his sword soul space.

Zhang Fei immediately sat cross-legged on the ground with the demon extermination sword in his lap, but he right away closed his eyes and released his soul.

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Zhang Feiʼs soul entered the demon extermination sword soul space a while later, but the atmosphere inside confused him because it was divided into two areas: one bright and the other dark. ”Donʼt tell me that my sword has two souls.”

”You are right, Master.” Zhang Fei immediately looked up and saw two women, about 17 years old, standing there. From their appearance, they were clearly twins, but they were the complete opposite of each other, more like the Amaris Twins. They had long black and white hair, respectively. ”We are the souls of the demon extermination sword, and our father forged the sword.”

”Your father?”

Both women nodded to Zhang Fei. ”We died long ago, and our father couldnʼt accept our deaths, so he put our souls into the demon extermination sword.”

”Why did he do that?” Zhang Fei asked with a frown. ”If he really cared about you two, he should have let you guys die in peace, and you guys might have been reincarnated by now.”

Both women exchanged glances for a moment before floating down in front of Zhang Fei. They immediately grabbed his hand and led him to another area, where a large rock was located right between the two areas. ”Our father is not only the best blacksmith, but he is also one of the best soul cultivators in the universe. Unfortunately, he had too many enemies, and we were not at home when one of them came to our residence. When we returned, that person had killed all of our family, including our mother, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.”

Zhang Feiʼs expression turned painful after hearing that, and he hugged the souls of the two women. ”Then, how did you two die?”

”When we found them, their condition was really terrible, as that guy had cut their bodies into pieces and hung their heads in front of our residence.” Zhang Fei immediately inhaled deeply. ”Our father, deeply devastated by their deaths, was unaware that he was still hiding in our residence. He then captured us and used us to force him to hand over something to him, or he would kill us. Even though our father had handed it over to him, he still killed us before his eyes.”

Zhang Fei then turned the souls of the two women to face him. ”Who exactly is that person? Why did he slaughter your family? What item is he looking for?”

”We donʼt know anything about that item.” Both women answered by shaking their heads. ”That guy is a demon, and heʼs powerful.”

”A demon?”

Both women then continued. ”When we opened our eyes again, we found ourselves in this state, and our father was also in a serious condition. He told us that he would make a sword that could kill the demon, so he wanted to use our souls to strengthen it. We were angry because we were too weak and couldnʼt protect our family, so we agreed to his wishes.”

”I see.” Zhang Fei nodded in understanding. ”Does that mean your father is still alive?”

”No.” Both women shook their heads at Zhang Fei. ”Our father realized he wouldnʼt live long due to his severe injuries, so he forced himself to forge the demon extermination sword, which he managed to complete in a few days. Before death came to him, he implanted our soul into it, and weʼve lived here ever since. After that, we entered hibernation and waited for the master of this sword, but its master never appeared for a very long time. We donʼt know who picked up the sword and gave it to you, but we are happy because you are the master, and we hope you can help us kill the demon so our father and family can die in peace.”

Zhang Fei naturally wouldnʼt refuse, especially since the demon extermination sword was already a part of him. ”Do you two know the identity of that demon?”

”Our father told us that the demon came from the Abyssal Realm, and his name was Xereth.”

Zhang Fei instantly frowned because the Abyssal realm was Morganaʼs home realm. ”You two and the demon extermination sword have helped me a lot, so I will help you two kill Xereth. However, I am still too weak now, and that guy is clearly much stronger than me. Thatʼs why I canʼt do it in the near future, and it will take a very long time, so I hope you two can be patient and wait for me to become strong.”

”We understand, and we will continue to assist you in becoming stronger.”

Zhang Fei then asked them. ”So, what are your names?”

”My name is Jian Guangʼan.” The woman with white hair answered.

The black-haired woman also told Zhang Fei. ”My name is Jian Heiʼan.”

”Jian Guang and Jian Heiʼan, you two must know my name, right?” Both of them nodded at Zhang Fei. ”Where is your home realm? What is your fatherʼs name?”

”Our father is Jian Shen, and we used to live in the Starry Sky Realm, one of the planets in the upper realms.”

”I see.” Zhang Fei nodded in understanding. ”I will bring you two back to that realm someday, and we will visit your old residence. Anyway, are you two able to reform your bodies?”

”Before our father put our souls into this sword, he already told us that we would never be able to reincarnate or reform our bodies, so we will continue to live as the souls of this sword. If this sword is destroyed, then our souls will be gone forever.”

Zhang Fei was deeply disappointed upon hearing that. ”You two are part of the demon extermination sword, and the sword is part of me, so I will never let you all disappear.”

”Yes.” Both women then asked Zhang Fei. ”Can you accompany us often, Master? We have lived here for a long time and have never met anyone, so we want you to accompany us.”

”Sure! Iʼll come in here often to accompany you two, but I have to get out now, or Old Gang will worry about me.”

After Zhang Fei disappeared, Jian Guangʼan said to her sister, ”I originally thought our master would never notice our existence, especially since he hasnʼt been a cultivator for long. However, he already has knowledge of the soul sword, and the old man told him how to get in here.”

”I thought so too at first.” Jian Heiʼan replied with a nod. ”Moreover, our master has always been serious and persistent in his cultivation and training, so Iʼm sure he will become strong very quickly, and he will definitely help us to take revenge on Xereth.”

Jian Guangʼan then whispered something to his sister. Jian Heiʼan, without hesitation, agreed with her sisterʼs idea. ”We just need to wait for our master to come in here again, and we will discuss it with him directly.”

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”How did it go? Have you met your sword soul?” Zhang Fei nodded to Gang Zhishou and told him about the two souls of his swords, shocking him. ”All this time, I only knew that a weapon could only possess a single soul, but your sword actually has two souls, which meant their father was a skilled blacksmith in the past. Unfortunately, he died long ago, so I couldnʼt meet him.”

Zhang Fei then stood up and put the demon extermination sword back into his body. ”Since their parents are dead, I have to find another way to perfect my sword. Unfortunately, I canʼt do anything right now, so I have to wait until I can go to the upper realms to perfect it. Anyway, all my wives have gathered at my restaurant, so I will meet them there and take them back to our residence. I will see you again once I have successfully forged a sword of the highest quality.”

”All right, you can go now, and I will forge other equipment.”

- To Be Continued -