Chapter 188 – Collaboration

The Attack of the Wastrel

The Spirit Cleansing Pill that had managed to raise the suspicions of the Royal Family of the North Qiu Kingdom could no longer be sold.

The people around Gu Lingzhi used the several batches of medicine that Gu Lingzhi had made on accident. Yan Liang’s younger sister was not someone who shot their mouth off as well. Even if the Royal Family of the North Qiu Kingdom had their suspicions, there was no way that they could confirm the medicine was indeed a Spirit Cleansing Pill.

At the very least, she could still forge Spiritual Weapons. However, her ability to forge weapons and her ability to mold weapons were worlds apart. Within a year, all the weapons that she had made had gained a reputation in the Xia Kingdom. Many low-level Martial Artists were familiar with how the Black Thorn was a mysterious girl who made funny-looking Spiritual Weapons that were strangely useful and handy. For many people who focused on increasing their cultivation, they did not care about the appearance of the weapons and were thus huge fans of her work.

Most of the things that Gu Lingzhi possessed were from the accumulation of earnings from forging weapons. Now, her Weapon Forgery skills were finally on par with her Alchemy skills – she was now able to forge Black-Level Spiritual Weapons. She was extremely close to becoming an Earth-Level Master Weapon Forger or Master Alchemist.

She suddenly thought about the shopkeeper of the Baina Court that she had rejected. Even if his goal was not to work with her to help sell her weapons, she was very confident that she could earn enough spirit stones from the auction to purchase the Thousand Leaf Jade.

Though her weapons looked weird, it was unique to her in the entire kingdom.

“After selling these weapons, I should have enough spirit stones!” Gu Lingzhi mumbled to herself before heading up to the Weapon Forgery Room that was located on the second floor.

She engrossed herself in forging weapons, and before she knew it, night had fallen by the time she came out of her Inheritance Space. The moment she appeared, she was engulfed in a warm hug.

“What took you so long? I almost thought you were going to spend the night in there,” Rong Yuan complained as he took a long whiff of Gu Lingzhi’s scent. He was upset that she had spent the afternoon shopping with a stranger when she should have been resting.

Was he… acting coy?

Gu Lingzhi was slightly stunned as she looked at Rong Yuan who had nested himself in between her shoulder and her neck, his lips showing a hint of a smile. Who knew that someone who was renowned to be a War God could behave like this too?

“I had to finish what I wanted to do before coming out. What about you? Don’t you have to attend a banquet that’s hosted by the North Qiu Kingdom’s Royal Palace? Why are you back so early?”

“Why else would I be back here so early if not for you?” Rong Yuan said as he rolled her eyes at her. The tone of his voice sent chills down Gu Lingzhi’s spine.

Rong Yuan then ruffled the top of Gu Lingzhi’s head before bringing her up to the second level of the bedroom.

The quarters that the North Qiu Kingdom had prepared for them was extremely similar to the hostels in the Royal School. The first level was for hosting guests, while the second level was for resting. The two rooms were of similar size and were connected by a winding staircase.

Rong Yuan looked at the intricately-designed sleeping quarters and looked at Gu Lingzhi with a disappointed expression. He felt that the North Qiu Kingdom’s Royal Family was being too cheap. It was obvious that he and Gu Lingzhi were engaged, why couldn’t they just give them a bigger room? What a waste of a good opportunity.

Silently, he harbored these dirty thoughts in his mind while he followed Gu Lingzhi into the bedroom. He told her briefly about what had happened at the banquet and subtly implied how dangerous it had been for her to go off alone with a stranger to shop. He had almost managed to convince her that it was dangerous for her to venture alone without Rong Yuan by her side.

The moment this thought appeared in her head, Gu Lingzhi immediately recovered before she pouted. She almost got brainwashed by him.

She glared at Rong Yuan before trying to evict him out of her house. Yuan Zheng, who had been guarding them outside, saw his master being chased out. His eyes widened in shock before he turned around quickly, pretending that he did not witness anything.

The following two days, Rong Yuan dutifully attended the banquet. He looked forward to the day that he could attend such formal events together with Gu Lingzhi without being rejected by her. For now, he could only order Yuan Zheng to guard her and try his best to not let her go out on her own too often.

However, his worries were for nothing – Gu Lingzhi had only met up with Wei Hanzi to order her to go to the Baina Court to enquire about collaborating. Afterwhich, she no longer went out of the house. All she did was enter her Inheritance Space to forge weapons.

The Baina Court had agreed to collaborate with her on a long-term basis to sell her weapons. She could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Gu Lingzhi gave it a thought before deciding to sell her weapons to them at thrice the price compared to what she had sold it for to the Store of Many Treasures. Yesterday, she had seen her weapons on sale in Baina Court, which had been selling for twice the price compared to the Store of Many Treasures. Though the price that she had quoted was slightly higher, it was much cheaper than if they were to import weapons from the Xia Kingdom to the North Qiu Kingdom themselves.

The nerve of Gu Lingzhi to quote such high prices shamelessly caused the shopkeeper’s lips to twitch, but in the end, he still agreed.

On the day of the auction organized by the Baina Court, her strange but exceptional weapons were popular amongst the crowd and were sold out quickly.

Gu Lingzhi had spent three days trying to forge these weapons. She sold them all to the Baina Court, including the older weapons that she had made previously. Just like that, she earned back all the spirit stones that she had spent. She could not help but sigh, thinking that the people in North Qiu Kingdom were filthy rich. If it were the Xia Kingdom, there was no way any store would accept the high price point that she had requested.

“I didn’t think that Lady Black Thorn’s weapons would be so popular even in the North Qiu Kingdom,” Nie Sang, who had also come to attend the auction, laughed as he looked at the Spiritual Weapons on display.

“It is indeed good business,” Wei Hanzi replied, smiling.

“Lady Black Thorn is too modest. Many people can forge weapons, but only the weapons you sell are exceptional and unique. I am looking forward to you becoming a Heaven-Level Master Weapon Forger. I can’t wait to see how powerful your weapons will be.”

The rankings of Spiritual Weapons differ from that of Martial Artists. Spiritual Weapons made by Earth-Level Weapon Forgers could only be used by Martial Lords, while those made by Heaven-Level Weapon Forgers could only be used by Demigods. Currently, in the entire Tianyuan Continent, there were only three Heaven-Level Weapon Forgers. Even Demigods had to be polite towards them. Nie Sang was silently implying that Gu Lingzhi had potential to become one of them.

“Thank you, I look forward to that day too,” Wei Hanzi readily accepted Nie Sang’s compliments.

This only made people think that she was conceited. A man who was standing nearby and looking through the weapons to mumble to himself, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Since when did it become so easy to become a Heaven-Level Weapon Forger? Does she really think she is a genius after forging a few Spiritual Weapons?”

“Senior, lower your voice…” a petite girl pulled at his sleeve reminded him. However, the man who had spoken previously had no intention of taking back his words. Everyone who was around him heard him loud and clear. People who had not noticed Gu Lingzhi previously now had their attention on her. They started pointing and giving looks at Wei Hanzi who was wearing a mask.

“Is that the Black Thorn from the Xia Kingdom? It seems that the rumors are true, she wears her mask all the time.”

“Why is she being so sneaky? She must be really ugly if she’s hiding her face behind her mask, so that she does not scare people off with her looks.”

“I actually think that she is using the mask to cover up her pretty looks to prevent people from chasing her.”

Hearing the discussion all around her, even Gu Lingzhi found it unbelievable that the reputation of the Black Thorn had spread far and wide that even people in the North Qiu Kingdom recognized her.

“Look, the auction is about to start, let’s go,” Gu Lingzhi tried to disperse the crowd to prevent herself from being the centre of attention.

When Gu Lingzhi walked past the man who had slandered her previously, she lowered her voice and whispered in the man’s ear, “I don’t know if the Black Thorn can ever become a Heaven-Level Weapon Forger, but I know that you can never be one. How could you ever be one when you are so cowardly even when it comes to the girl that you like?”

She did not even stop to see the expression on the man’s face that had changed instantaneously. She merely walked past him towards the auction that was held at the five-storey building. Yuan Zheng, who was lagging behind at the back, twitched his finger. A strong surge of energy pierced through the man, causing his face to change.

“Senior, what’s wrong?” the petite girl frowned as the man suddenly bent down in pain. Suddenly, there was a pungent smell in the air. He quickly retreated a few steps back, his face in disbelief.

“I…” the man opened his mouth, wanting to ask the girl for help. However, the moment he opened his mouth, he could feel a sensation that rushed through his body before he let out a long and loud fart.

There was a stench that followed it.

“It’s so smelly! What on earth did you eat to make it smell like that?” A man who was in the nearby radius that had accidentally smelled the fart scolded him and immediately took a few steps away from him.

People who were around the man also did the same to the petite girl, they even looked at her like she was dirty.

The man recovered his senses and howled in embarrassment before leaving the place quickly. Gu Lingzhi, who was on the fifth floor, looked down when she heard the man’s cries. She only saw a silhouette that was rushing to leave the place and could not help but shake her head and sigh, “I didn’t think that the people of the North Qiu Kingdom were so weak. I only said a few words and he got so upset, he’s not fit to be a Martial Artist.”

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