Chapter 124: Heaven Refining Stone

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Zhou Shu quickly ran and disappeared like a wisp of black smoke in the darkness.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot toward him.

Zhou Shu frowned slightly. He disappeared behind a tree in a flash and instantly retracted his aura.

Just as he completed these actions, a figure descended from the sky.

It was the man named Yin Changhao who had fought with Xiao Shunzhi earlier.

Yin Changhao looked around in confusion. The person he was looking for had actually disappeared. No wonder he dared to infiltrate Great Wei’s diplomatic mission.

He smiled and muttered in a low voice, “Brother, I know you haven’t gone far. Please come out and meet me.

“Just now, if I didn’t fight Xiao Shunzhi, you probably wouldn’t have succeeded so easily, right? This could be considered a collaboration. Brother, you’re not planning on taking all the benefits for yourself, right?

“You’re not being considerate.”

Zhou Shu frowned slightly. Yin Changhao already spotted me at the post house?

He challenged Xiao Shunzhi for the sake of protecting me?

When did he follow me? Did he discover my true identity?

A few doubts flashed across Zhou Shu’s mind.

He was stunned. If Yin Changhao had found him outside the post house, he probably wouldn’t know his identity.

But if he had followed him from the baron’s mansion…

Zhou Shu’s gaze turned cold.

But this was unlikely. If he knew his true identity, he would have called out his name.

Even so, Zhou Shu’s heart still felt a little cold. He had already taken extra care against these first-rank martial artists, but he didn’t expect that he had still underestimated them.

Yin Changhao had discovered him, but he hadn’t detected Yin Changhao!

Fortunately, Yin Changhao didn’t seem to have any ill intentions. Otherwise, if he had launched a sneak attack, he might have been injured.

In the future, he would have to be more careful when facing these first-rank martial artists.

If it wasn’t for Yin Changhao today, he might have suffered under Xiao Shunzhi’s hands again!

He now thought that he might have underestimated earlier.

If Yin Changhao had spotted him, perhaps Xiao Shunzhi would have some special method to make him suffer?

“Are you planning to keep everything for yourself?” Yin Changhao continued loudly. “If so, don’t blame me for being unreasonable.

“Do you believe that if I shout now, tens of experts will surround this area?”

Zhou Shu’s expression darkened. He believed it!

From his name, Yin Changhao was definitely a member of the imperial family!

He was a first-rank martial arts expert of the Great Xia imperial family near Chang’an. Let alone tens of experts, if he wanted to, he could even mobilize the entire Demon Executing Army and Fiend Eradication Army!

Zhou Shu had no choice but to speak up.

If Yin Changhao really called people over, his safety aside, his identity would definitely be exposed.

“How can you be sure that I took something from the Great Wei diplomatic mission?” Zhou Shu sighed and walked out from behind the tree.

“Eh? You’re actually here?” A bewildered expression appeared on Yin Changhao’s face. When he was staring at Xiao Shunzhi outside the post house, he had accidentally discovered a figure. At the time, he hadn’t paid much attention to it and had only played along and helped Zhou Shu.

Only now did he realize that Zhou Shu had completely restrained his aura. Even though he was standing in front of him, he couldn’t sense Zhou Shu’s spiritual essence at all.

No wonder he could hide in the capital without being discovered.

Yin Changhao had already guessed Zhou Shu’s identity. This man in black, who only revealed his eyes, was most likely the mysterious expert who had left behind the saber intent in the Saber Cave, sent Great Wei’s assassination list over, and killed Zhu Chuanfeng.

“You have such an amazing qi restraining technique!” Yin Changhao praised.

“You flatter me. You haven’t answered my question.” Zhou Shu used his true qi to change his vocal cords, speaking in an old and hoarse voice.

“You didn’t kill anyone when you went to Great Wei’s diplomatic mission. You couldn’t have just gone there for a walk, right?” Yin Changhao smiled. “It’s the middle of the night. Who would come out and wander around without any benefits?”

“Aren’t you outside too?” Zhou Shu said calmly.

“I’m being treated like a laborer!” Yin Changhao said angrily. “Let’s not talk about this. What did you take from Old Xiao? Take it out and let me see!”

Yin Changhao smiled excitedly like a fish.

Xiao Shunzhi was the official envoy of the Great Wei diplomatic mission. Due to his status, he could occasionally find trouble with Xiao Shunzhi. But he wouldn’t be able to truly attack Xiao Shunzhi.

However, it wasn’t a problem for this mysterious expert to make a move against Xiao Shunzhi. He wasn’t a member of the Great Xia Imperial Court. He might not even be a member of Great Xia.

“You stole something from Xiao Shunzhi. That can only mean that you don’t have a good character. At most, my Great Xia will help him investigate. As for whether or not he’s able to recover the stolen item, there’s no guarantee.”

“There’s nothing.” Zhou Shu spread out his hands. He felt that an expert like Yin Changhao shouldn’t be interested in gold and silver, so he didn’t say anything.

Yin Changhao had asked him what he stole from Xiao Shunzhi.

There was indeed nothing valuable in Xiao Shunzhi’s room.

Yin Changhao frowned. “Really?”

“Of course it’s true. Think about it. Would Xiao Shunzhi carry valuable items with him in an enemy country?”

“That’s true.” Yin Changhao rubbed his chin.

“No, you already knew about this. Why did you still go to the Great Wei diplomatic mission? You must have discovered some secret, right?” Yin Changhao suddenly said.

He recalled how this mysterious expert had helped Great Xia greatly a few times in the past.

He now suspected that this mysterious expert had discovered another secret!

“Tell me. I’ll help you!” Yin Changhao said excitedly.

Zhou Shu was speechless. Yin Changhao’s cultivation base is quite high, but why does it feel like he’s a bit unreliable?

“There are no secrets! Nothing!” Zhou Shu shook his head. “If you insist on saying that there is, then Xiao Shunzhi’s room has a map of the You and Bing prefectures. Does this count?”

“A map of the You and Bing prefectures? What kind of secret is this?” Yin Changhao blurted out. He suddenly thought of something and frowned.

Although he was a little spontaneous, he wasn’t a fool.

Zhou Shu’s words reminded him of the bet between Great Xia and Great Wei.

“There’s something wrong with the You and Bing prefectures!” Yin Changhao exclaimed.

“Are you asking me? How would I know?” Zhou Shu shook his head.

“Alright, I’ve said what I needed to say. I’m leaving now.” Zhou Shu turned around and walked away.

“Stop following me. Otherwise, I’ll treat you as an enemy.”

Yin Changhao was still pondering when Zhou Shu had already walked several feet away.

Suddenly, Yin Changhao said loudly, “No, you’re hiding something from me! When I left, Xiao Shunzhi shouted. It seems he lost something!”

Zhou Shu stopped in his tracks. This guy is quite smart!

“Alright, I took something from Xiao Shunzhi’s room. It’s just some lousy stone,” Zhou Shu said casually. He even took Xiao Shunzhi’s money bag. But how could he tell Yin Changhao about this?

“Lousy stone?” Yin Changhao said in disbelief, “Brother, the rules of the martial arts world are that we should split the good stuff equally. Don’t hide it!”

“Fine, we’ll split half!” Zhou Shu said unhappily. “This is the stupid stone. If you want it, I’ll give you half.”

Zhou Shu flipped his wrist and retrieved a silver-white stone.

The stone was about the size of an adult’s fist. It was silvery-white and seemed to be made of silver, but it gave off a crystal clear feeling.

Upon closer inspection, one could even sense that the stone contained a starry sky.

It felt really strange. So although Zhou Shu didn’t know what this stone was, he still took it away.

Putting everything else aside, the stone was pretty, and he felt it would be nice to use as a paperweight in his study.

“Heaven Refining Stone?” Yin Changhao’s eyes suddenly widened. “You actually took Xiao Shunzhi’s Heaven Refining Stone!”

“This stone is called a Heaven Refining Stone?” Zhou Shu said. He really didn’t know.

However, it seemed like Heaven Refining Stones were very precious.

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know. I think it looks pretty, so I’m going to take it home and use it as a paperweight,” Zhou Shu said casually.

Yin Changhao was shocked. In the end, he gave him a thumbs up. “Using a Heaven Refining Stone as a paperweight, how bold!”

“Is this thing very valuable?” Zhou Shu asked casually.

He really didn’t know what this Heaven Refining Stone was. Since there was someone who knew about it in front of him, he naturally had to take the opportunity to ask.

Yin Changhao didn’t mind. Although he was a little curious about the other party’s cultivation level and why he didn’t know about the Heaven Refining Stone, it wasn’t something he couldn’t accept.

After all, it was possible that some people were obsessed with the Martial Dao and didn’t pay attention to other things.

“It’s more than precious! Heaven Refining Stones are an indispensable material for forging ranked weapons. There are a lot of them in this world. Let me tell you. For such a large Heaven Refining Stone, if you don’t have a hundred thousand taels of gold, then don’t even think about it!”

“A hundred thousand taels of gold?” Zhou Shu’s jaw dropped.

Did this mean he had made a killing?

He originally only wanted to collect some interest for the 10,000 of gold he lost. But in the end, he accidentally took 100,000 taels of gold from Xiao Shunzhi?

“This is going to be a big deal.” Yin Changhao laughed out loud. “Such a huge Heaven Refining Stone is more than enough to forge a heaven-grade weapon!”

Even with his status, such a large Heaven Refining Stone was extremely precious.

After all, gold was easy to find, but Heaven Refining Stones were hard to find.

The mineral reserves of Heaven Refining Stones were scarce to begin with. Coupled with the many years of wear and tear, the production of Heaven Refining Stones was decreasing day by day.

Even with Yin Changhao’s status, obtaining Heaven Refining Stones was not an easy task.

“You said that Heaven Refining Stones are an essential material for forging ranked weapons?” Zhou Shu asked.

Only now did he realize his lack of knowledge.

Although he was a Forging Apprentice, his forging techniques all came from the Legendary Armament Canon. To be honest, his knowledge of forging was almost nonexistent.

He lacked common sense when it came to ranked weapons.

It was mainly because Zhou Shu felt that he would become a Forging Master through the Legendary Armament Canon sooner or later, so he didn’t consciously try to understand it.

As a result, as a genius Forging Apprentice, he didn’t even recognize a Heaven Refining Stone. If others found out, he would be a laughing stock!

“Yes.” Yin Changhao didn’t provide Zhou Shu with any further general knowledge about forging. In his opinion, it had nothing to do with what had happened today.

“Brother, we stole the Heaven Refining Stone together. According to the rules, half of it should be mine, right?” Yin Changhao stared at the Heaven Refining Stone in Zhou Shu’s hand earnestly.

“I’ll give you half.” Zhou Shu didn’t dawdle and spoke decisively. After all, his harvest tonight wasn’t just this Heaven Refining Stone.

Then again, without Yin Changhao, he might not have succeeded.

“Heaven Refining Stones can only be split by Forging Masters, but neither of us are Forging Masters. How about this? Brother, how about you sell me your half of the Heaven Refining Stone?” Yin Changhao said.

Zhou Shu raised his eyebrows slightly. Only Forging Masters can divide them?

He exerted some force on the Heaven Refining Stone, but it didn’t budge.

His current strength was more than 500 kilograms. He could easily leave a fingerprint on a piece of metal. But the Heaven Refining Stone didn’t change at all. It was indeed abnormally sturdy.

“What price do you plan to pay?” Zhou Shu asked.

“Like I said, the market price for such a large piece of Heaven Refining Stone is a hundred thousand taels of gold,” Yin Changhao said. “I’ll give you fifty thousand, and this Heaven Refining Stone will be mine. How about it?”

Zhou Shu was somewhat surprised. He had previously obtained a heaven-grade weapon from Xiao Shunzhi and Shen Yue, which was only worth 10,000 taels of gold.

Such a Heaven Refining Stone was equivalent to ten heaven-grade weapons?

It was a bit funny. Zhou Shu was clearly an expert in forging, but he really didn’t understand the actual situation.

There were also differences between heaven-grade weapons.

Ordinary heaven-grade weapons were only worth ten thousand taels of gold. But top heaven-grade weapons were worth several hundred thousand taels of gold.

The difference was even greater than that between heaven-grade weapons and yellow-grade weapons.

Such a big piece of Heaven Refining Stone was enough to create a top heaven-grade weapon. It was worth 100,000 taels of gold, so it wasn’t too much.

Of course, even with such a large piece of Heaven Refining Stone, whether or not it could create a top heaven-grade weapon depended on the forger’s skills.

But no matter what, spending 100,000 taels of gold to buy such a large piece of Heaven Refining Stone, although it couldn’t be said to be a profit, definitely wasn’t a loss.

Zhou Shu was hesitant. Fifty thousand taels of gold had already exceeded his expectations, but this Heaven Refining Stone was a necessary material for forging ranked weapons. If he sold it to Yin Changhao, he might not have the chance to obtain Heaven Refining Stones in the future.

But keeping it didn’t seem to be of much use now.

He didn’t know when he would advance to Forging Master.

As for gold, he really needed it now. The baron’s mansion hadn’t even been renovated yet.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Shu made his decision. “If you can give me fifty thousand taels of gold now, then we’ll do as you say. If you can’t, then forget it.”

Zhou Shu wouldn’t go with Yin Changhao to get the money. One couldn’t judge a book by its cover. Who knew if Yin Changhao would backstab him?

“Really, what a coincidence! I really have banknotes worth fifty thousand taels of gold with me!” Yin Changhao was delighted.. As he spoke, he took out a stack of banknotes. “The Heaven Refining Stone is mine!”

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