Chapter 17: An Honorable Duel
Jia Yuan snapped out of his bitterness and said, “Fine, I
guess I’ll have to make do with these swords. I still didn’t really like the
weight of the last one though, so lets keep looking.”
“Alright then. Did you feel that the last sword was too
light or too heavy?”
“Hmm, I’ve only ever used a wooden sword, so it was a little
heavy for me.”
“Alright, so I guess you’re looking at something that has
some wind stones along with some fire stones…”
“Aha, you’re in luck. This right here is a hand and a half sword
made out of 70% rare fire tones and 20% rare wind stones. The last 10% is some
other metals to increase flexibility, just like the sword we tried out earlier.”
“The wind stones are lighter and also improve the speed of
the sword. However, you’ll lose a bit of the fiery aura. Also, as a fire
practitioner, the wind aura gained from the wind stones will go to waste. As
such, swords like this one aren’t really popular… but if you want a light sword
without sacrificing the structure of the sword, this will probably be your best
bet.”
Jia Yuan took a moment to think about the situation. In all
honesty, this sword was probably the best for Jia Yuan. What the weapon
specialist said was true. For any other martial cultivator, training in more
than one element was out of the question. After all, Jia Yuan was the only one
in possession of a Song of the sword element.
However, Jia Yuan could just train in the wind element in
the future, at which point this sword be of better use to him than any sword
that only contained stones of a single element.
“Can I test the balance of it?”
“Go right ahead.”
Jia Yuan reached out with his right hand and gripped the
sword tightly. He then unsheathed the sword and swung it with some rigid,
jagged cuts. He then relaxed his grip a bit and performed some wide slashes as
well as some more intricate maneuvers.
He was rather delighted this new sword. The balance was
exquisite, and he was able to wield the sword as he wished. Furthermore, it
wasn’t too heavy for him.
Finally, he settled into the first stance he had seen on the
scroll housing the Song of Swords. He then performed the four stances without
fault, and then sheathed the sword.
“I’ll take it.”
“Alright, then. Hey, Guo Shi, come over here. This guy..er,
this esteemed customer wants to buy this sword.”
“Thank you sir, I will bring sir Jia Yuan to the boss.”
Guo Shi led Jia Yuan to the top floor of the building. They
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soon arrived in front of a giant set of double doors, over ten feet tall and
teen feet wide. The most marvelous thing about the doors, is that they seemed
to be made from solid gold.
Guo Shi knocked on the door and said, “Sir, this is Guo Shi,
with an esteemed customer who wishes to buy a sword from the 4th
room.
An aged voice sounded from within the room. “Come in.”
The doors opened, and Guo Shi motioned for Jia Yuan to
enter.
After entering the room, Jia Yuan saw that despite the
absurdly ornate doors leading to the room, the inside of the room was rather
bare. The only redeeming quality of the room was that it was big. Inside, a man
stood over a table with an axe on it. He walked around the table, gazing at the
axe.
As the man saw Jia Yuan enter, he looked up and saw the
sword in Jia Yuan’s hands. Then he saw the mysterious getup Jia Yuan was
wearing, and his eyes showed a sharp curiousity.
“Ah, quite the interesting sword. Come in, come in. Now,
would you be up for a spar?”
“Ah, sorry?” Jia Yuan was quite surprised. After all, why would this old man in charge of this prestigious Guild Hall want to spar someone like him?
“I like to have a spar with the people who buy weapons from
our guild. If the customer wins, they can receive an additional 20% off of the
purchase. That sword in your hand costs 7 thousand large fire shards. With the
10% off from receiving the black and gold Currency Card, it will cost 6700
large fire shards. If you spar against me and win, it will be a total of 30%
off, so it will only cost you 4900 large fire shards.”
“Of course, I’ll lower myself to the level of cultivation
that you are currently at. If I go over that, I will admit defeat. Oh, and
obviously, I will make sure to not harm you in any way. The duel will end once
someone’s weapon is sufficiently close to someone’s fatal point.”
Jia Yuan was slightly skeptical, but didn’t see what the
catch was. As such, he readily agreed. “Sure. Should we go outside?”
“No need. This room should be able to handle any fighting we
do. Now, what level of cultivation are you?”
“…”
Jia Yuan was rather unwilling to reveal his level of
cultivation, but the lure of an additional 20% discount was just too juicy for
him to ignore.
“I’m at the 3rd level of Absorption.”
“Not bad, not bad. Hmm… Okay, I have lowered my cultivation
to that of the 3rd level of Absorption as well. Now, come at me!”