Chapter 20
Strong
Infusing Qi into his voice, Master Lang called out to the rider of the scaled bird.
“You are courting death! To dare attack the Chu Sects carriage you deserve to die a death of a thousand cuts!”
The driver of the Mountain Eagle stayed off to the side. He was only at the late Tiger stage. He was a beast tamer, a profession where the person bound a beast to ones soul and raised it.
He could be of no help in this fight except for keeping the Mountain Eagle calm. While the Mountain Eagle had a great physical prowess, its long-range attacks were lacking.
Immediately after saying this Master Lang swung his mace at the scaled bird. Qi surged off the tip and rushed towards them. The Qi resembled a mountain, aiming to crush the poor fools in its path. An image of a mountain faintly appeared in the air behind Master Lang.
As the Qi came towards the thief the sneering look on his face immediately disappeared. Instead a face of disbelief came over him. Grabbing a sword from his side he swung it at the mountain.
The sword gave off an imperialistic and n.o.ble feeling. It was incomparably sharp and seemed capable of cutting the world in half. The Sword Qi met the Mountain Qi. When they did, it was not with a large explosion but rather, when they met the sword Qi faded and disappeared.
The Mountain Qi smashed into the scaled bird and rider. With a puff of red the bird and man pair directly dissolved
Qi appeared around Master Lang covering him in a blinding light. When it dissipated he was covered in earthen colored armor. Master Lang jumped off the Mountain Eagle before hovering in midair.
All of the thieves faces changed. They had thought this would be easy prey but their strongest warrior had already been killed. When the old man had mentioned the Chu Sect they already carried hesitation in their heart. Now that they knew the strength of that old man they were definitely anxious to get away. Immediately the thieves started flying away rapidly.
“Ha! To late to regret it now.”
Saying so Master Lang disappeared. Suddenly one of the beasts exploded. Some of the thieves tossed out treasures. Dazzling Qi exploded in the air. Nothing saved them though. Each time the treasures and Qi collapsed soundlessly once Master Lang a.s.saulted it.
One by one all the flying beasts exploded into blood mists, sharing the fate of their comrades.
Chu Shen stared in amazement. To be so fast as to become invisible to the eye, to be able to fly in the air with a mere thought, this was true power!
‘I wonder when I can have power like that.’ Chu Shen eagerly looked forward to that day.
“Impressed Chu Shen.” Master Lang whispered in his ear.
“Gaah!” Startled, Chu Shen let out an involuntary cry before turning around. Master Lang merely stared at him with a bemused expression on his face.
Showing his displeasure, Chu Shen let a “Humph” and turned his back. Laughing, Master Lang waved him into the carriage. The carriage had survived the attack. After all, the thieves did not want to damage any treasures in the carriage.
Master Lang walked in, his joints cracking as he did so.“These old bones just can’t move like they used to.” He sat down and sighed.
“Anyways, where was I? Oh yes. Let me help you with a.s.similating that black iron into the Living Steel.” Master Lang reached out his hand and in it appeared the hammer.
Apparently during the chaos earlier he had grabbed the hammer and stored it in his spatial ring. Along with the hammer Master Lang withdrew a chunk of black iron the size of a babies fist.
Holding up the iron he started to explain some of the mysteries of the Living Steel.
“When I made this hammer I put a restriction on it. Once you reach the Dragon stage you will naturally be able to lift it. The restriction is in place so that the Living Steel will keep its shape. Once you reach the Dragon stage you can change the shape of the weapon. “
“Now in order to merge any material with the Living Steel you must infuse the hammer with Qi. Then you simply put the metal you wish to merge it with on the steel. The greater the upgrade the more Qi needed.”
“For example, if I tried to directly merge Red Cloud Steel with the hammer you would have to be at the Martial Warrior stage to support the drain. Also, the Living Steel is cultivating to reach perfection. Because of that it will absorb the best qualities of any metal it touches.”
“If you gather Lava Stone and merge it with a hammer of Red Cloud Steel it will not absorb the hardness of the Lava Stone because the Red Cloud Steel is harder and lighter than Lava Stone.”
“However because the Lava Stone is extremely fire-resistant it will cause the Red Cloud Steel hammer to take on the fire-proof properties.”
He handed back the black steel and hammer to Chu Shen. “It’s a very simple process. You try it.”
Chu Shen circulated the Qi in the manner his teacher taught him to cancel the null Qi’s special effects. His Qi flowed from his dantian, through his meridians, and into the hammer. The hammer started glowing a faint white.
Grabbing the black steel he touched it to the hammer. The hammers steel handle immediately rippled like water. The Living Steel covered the black steel. The black steel started dissolving into the Living Steel.
As the black steel started melting the Living Steel’s ripples started coming faster and faster. With each ripple the Living Steel started becoming darker and darker.
Eventually all of the black steel was gone but the Living Steel kept changing. The Living Steel final stopped changing but now the entire hammer looked like it was crafted out of black iron now.
Chu Shen grabbed the hammer. “A good hammer, truly a good hammer.”
Master Lang then pulled out another contraption. This was a sleeve crossbow. It was small with a lever to pull backwards instead of a crank like the one he had before.
It was small, almost unnoticeable if worn in the sleeve of his shirt. “The material used for the string and crossbow is also living steel. I already a.s.similated Aquamarine Steel into the string of the crossbow. As you know its flexible but very strong, just like you asked it to be like.”
Chu Shen’s jaw was already on the floor from the gifts he had gotten.
Master Lang looked on with pride. “Okay, now sit back and rest. We will arrive soon and you will need your strength for the trials.”
Following his masters advice he sat back in the carriage and fell asleep. By the time he woke up, Chu Shen would be that much closer to entering the academy.