Chapter 026
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‘ ‘ for thoughts.
“ “ for speech.
<> for non-verbal communication like telepathy
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Warning: May contain mature content (18+) of an adult nature. Read at your own risk.
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Note:
Although the full name mentioned here are Chinese style, (example: Fang Hao, surname Fang first then given name Hao), the names clubbed with descriptions are description and then given name instead of description and surname (example Fatty Hao and not Fatty Fang).
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Fang Hao was having a sumptuous breakfast of what looked like a shepherd’s pie and boiled duck eggs. While he was having a sumptuous meal with his clique, a few frowning teenagers were walking towards them. Fang Hao glanced at them and sighed mentally. It was the shameless outer disciple Zhen Ji who had offended old man Zhu! ‘This retard doesn’t even allow me to enjoy my breakfast. Why is this little dipshit coming here with his flunkies.’ Fang Hao shrugged and sliced a boiled duck egg placing it over a portion of shepherd’s pie and swallowed it in one bite.
Zhen Ji had a sneer on his face as he roared, “I didn’t expect you to be such a coward Fatty Zhao.” The commotion attracted a lot of attention in the dining hall, and instantly the background murmur dropped a few degrees. Fang Hao glanced at him as if he were looking at an idiot. He shrugged and continued eating his breakfast. Zhen Ji was clearly infuriated at this disdain. “Fatty Zhao, since you cowardly skipped this year’s annual tournament… I challenge you to a duel!”
Fang Hao paused his breakfast and thought ‘Shit…I was so busy with arranging performances at the arena for Master Zhu that I forgot all about the annual competition! I surely lost some sweet sweet xp. Still this dumbfuck is offering some xp, I shouldn’t refuse!’ “Of course brother Ji, let us exchange pointers.” Zhen Ji had a sneer on his face as he taunted, “I challenge you to a life and death duel. Do you dare accept?” Fang Hao was snorting mentally as he said with a pleasant voice, “Brother Ji, we are all fellow brothers of the sect. Why have a life and death duel. IS our grudge so deep?”
“I knew you were a coward, you little fatass! I knew you wouldn’t dare to face me in the life and death arena!” Fang Hao had a mocking look on his face as he said, “My master forbids me from fighting in life and death till Qi Condensation. Now do you dare to face an honest beating without any tricks?” Zhen Ji was about to object, but suddenly one of his lackeys whispered something in his ear causing him to have an expression that looked like he had tasted shit. “Fine I challenge you a non-lethal duel! As per sect rules let us meet in the arena to fight.”
Fang Hao replied leisurely, “Sure, Let us meet next month. Standard non-lethal rules of the arena apply.” Zhen Ji was about to say something…but hmmphed and turned away with his lackeys. Fatty Ning, who was the most talented of the group and was very close to breakthrough to the 8th layer of Qi Gathering, asked with interest, “Brother Hao, what exactly do you intend to do in this one month.” Fang Hao smiled cryptically and said, “Nothing just prepare a bit…” Fatty Zhang had a worried look as he said, “Careful Brother Hao. I heard that Zhen Ji broke through to the 9th layer of Qi Gathering not long ago.” Fang Hao just shrugged and said, “Now tell me something brothers… where can I get some mortal armor, custom made for my lordly physique of course, in the sect…”
It turned out there were quite a few weekly transports arranged for the outer disciples. One of them was to the arena; another was to a marketplace of sorts on another day of the week. Of course, Majority of the market place was inaccessible to outer disciples. Still, it had a section where many goods from the mortal world were traded to Qi Gathering Disciples and Janitorial disciples in exchange for fasting pills. It was Fang Hao learnt, where he could buy anything from sandalwood paste used as a fragrant beauty aid and herbal remedies to prevent pregnancies, to steel full plate armor and horse chopping sabers! When Fang Hao arrived, he saw quite a few inner disciples wearing white robes among the crowd of black robed janitorial disciples and grey robed outer disciples.
‘Eh, what are Qi Condensation Cultivators doing here? Probably here for the miscellaneous items I guess.’ Fang Hao maintained a respectful distance from the inner disciples and quickly made his way to the Arms and Armor section of the mortal market. He entered an armor store and saw many shop attendants who were outer disciples like him…but looked much older than him! He made his way to an unattended attendant, cupped his hand and bowed respectfully as he said, “Greeting senior, this junior would like to have a set of armor custom made.”
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The almost-middle aged outer disciple looked pleased at this respectful behavior and nodded appreciatively. “No need to be so polite junior, what kind of armor would you like? We have everything ranging from light leather armor to a set of steel full plate!” Fang Hao contemplated for a bit and thought, ‘Full plate looks like a pain to equip and would slow me down a lot despite my superior physique. Now chainmail looks like it offers good protection without being too encumbering…’
“Senior I am mainly interested in a full set of chainmail armor, but some better protection for my head and perhaps some kind of bracers or armguards to go with it.” The outer disciple nodded approvingly, “Good choice Junior brother. I would also suggest a layer of padded leather armor to use as padding for the chainmail…otherwise the feel of metal through thin clothes become a bit unbearable sometimes.” He flourished is sleeves and withdrew a roll of parchment scroll which he handed to Fang Hao and said, “This lists a lot of variety of armor we have. The price listed may vary depending on whether the armor has to be custom made for your size and if you want it prepared today itself. Roughly, if you want custom fitted armor by today, it will cost you double the amount of fasting pills listed.”
Fang Hao was a bit surprised at the possibility of getting custom made armor in a day by paying double, but he decided to scan the parchment roll before making a decision. In case he couldn’t afford it, he had a little around three weeks anyways. He scanned the roll for almost half an hour and decided on a set of armor. It was a set of padded leather tunic with full sleeves and a high collar covering his neck, padded leather gloves, padded leather breaches, a hood made of comparatively thinner leather and what looked socks stuffed with cotton. This was supposed to be the innermost layer of padded leather.
On top of that, He selected a full set of chainmail armor covering his ankle (Chainmail leggings) to his head (chainmail coif)…just leaving his face exposed. On top of that he selected a full helm which had a visor with perforations near the bottom half and a slit remained for allowing vision. The helm even protected his neck, though perception would be significantly limited if he wore it. He also selected a segmented demi-gauntlet which protected his forearm and hands from the elbow to his knuckles without restricting his dexterity too much. He topped it off with a half breastplate which offered additional protection from his solar plexus to his collarbones and almost knee high plate greaves which offered solid protection to his feet.
When Fang Hao listed his requirements to the outer disciple attendant enquiring the price, the attendant replied “Good Choice Junior, Usual price for that set would be around 60 fasting pills. Since you are fat and more material would be required…I would say around 80 fasting pills should cover it and you collect your armor within a couple of months.” “Senior, what would be the price if I wish to get my armor today?” The outer disciple attendant had a smile on his face as he said, “Junior it would take 160 fasting pills.” Fang Hao buttered up the Senior Disciple and with some bargaining he managed to get a price of 150 fasting pills.
The attendant had a skip in his step as he led Fang Hao to an inner chamber of the shop. There he had Fang Hao stand on a grey circular dais as he placed a little armored figurine on a nearby pedestal along with a jade slip. There was a flash of pale yellow light and a low humming sound as the outer disciple collected the jade slip and went deeper into the shop. After around half an hour, the outer disciple appeared panting a bit holding a weathered leather sack. He placed the sack in front of Fang Hao who quickly checked the contents before handing over a significant amount of his hoarded fasting pills to the smiling attendant.
He took the sack, which was thrown in for free, and returned to his cottage. ‘Since I decided to be shameless in the duel… might as well go all the way. Let me see the look on the spoiled brat’s face now, heh.’ thought Fang Hao as he stripped and started equipping his brand new set of armor.