"Great Lord! How can this happening!" the Department Head is looking at over a hundred Nature Spirits is fighting against each another for the four limited spots. Plus, when one Nature Spirit is defeated, their power did not disperse but helps the other spirits to grow stronger.
With their numbers slowly diminishing, the fight becomes fiercer, leaving almost no space for the other blacksmiths within the forge to move. Afraid of being an unfortunate soul in between of the four gigantic swords fighting against each other, the crowd disperse and went outside of the forge.
At this moment, only Zhang Wu Ji, Zhang Wu Chou, and the Department Head remained inside the forge, surrounded by the four swords striking at each another. The situation was as if four cultivators fighting against each another until they collapse.
"Department Head, do you know what is happening?" Zhang Wu Chou questioned the most experienced Blacksmith in the whole Heavenly Sword Sect.
"This is... Spirit Sharpening. If I am not mistaken, it should be. The symptom is completely like how the books described. When the forging of a tool entered the state which the Nature Spirit deem that it was qualified to house them, they will fight against each another, until no competitors is left amongst the Nature Spirit." the Department Head begin to explain the situation to the two as they look at how the sword fly here and there.
Plus, although they were fighting, it was more accurate to call it like the name, Spirit Sharpening, because each time the sword touches each another, sparks of fire came out, sharpening the edge of the blade further until they were completely smooth. The blade begins to shine in luster because of the sharpening process, and as the weapon continues to be sharpened by the Nature Spirits, the ability to house and utilize the spirits will become stronger, where from the rumors, a strong Nature Spirit can form their ethereal body to fight with their master.
"It's done!" as the only person that can see the Natural Spirit, the Department Head informed the two the moment the fight enters their finale. At the end of the fight, only four Nature Spirit remains by the side of each sword. With each of them is sharpened and blessed, the Nature Spirit conducted the ritual to enters the sword, taking the oath of becoming one body with the sword itself.
As a weapon that housed a spirit, they can only be destroyed, and not allowed to move from one Sword Host to another sword host in the future if the owner decided to upgrade a weapon. But from this, the owner of the weapon is enjoying a privilege benefits as his starting point, where the sword is able to grow with the master as their master grows.
"Master Senior, quickly shot a drop of blood to each sword, this is the best moment to bond them with your blood!" the Department Head that was more experienced quickly instructed Zhang Wu Chou to not miss his most auspicious time to bond with this four swords.
He hesitates a little before looking at Zhang Wu Ji. But the latter only gave his second brother a nod, indicating that he should go ahead with the instruction mentioned by the Department head. Without further ado, he slits his wrist to allows four drops of blood gathers at his four fingertips. With a flick, he shot the four drops of blood to the four swords in order to bond them and him together.
Like it was a ceremony held by the heavens, the four drops of blood entered the sword, and become their life vein. As long their master remains alive, the sword is alive, if their master is dead, the weapon will follow. This is why they called it the [Blood Oath]!
With the drop of blood as their coloring, the four swords begin to have a blood red hue covering the ridge of the swords, before the four of them came back to his side. Of course, Zhang Wu Ji came forward to touches the weapon once to make sure he'd read through their status while he could.
The Spring Season
-Attack: 150 | Quality: Low-Tier Spirited Weapon
-Defence: 110 | Fighter Qi Consumption Rate: 15
-Durability: 85/85 | Spirit: Seasonal Wind Sparrow Spirit
-Information: Unknown. Unknown. The Spring Season is one of the four Heirloom weapon forged by Celestial Designer Zhang Wu Ji himself. Because the weapon housed the Seasonal Wind Sparrow Spirit, it allows the inheritor of Zhang's Household to utilize the weapon without the need to pay additional Fighter Qi after activation.
-Special 1: Wind Sparrow allows the user-bond with blood to execute [House of Blade] once a day.
-Special 2: Wind Sparrow allows the user-bond with blood to execute [Spring Wind] once a day.
-Special 3: If the weapon is used in 20 meters proximity with the other three heirloom weapon, double their durability.
-
The Summer Season
-Attack: 200 | Quality: Low-Tier Spirited Weapon
-Defence: 30 | Fighter Qi Consumption Rate: 10
-Durability: 150/150 | Spirit: Fierce Ape Havoc Spirit
-Information: Unknown. The Summer Season is one of the four Heirloom weapon forged by Celestial Designer Zhang Wu Ji himself. Because the weapon housed the Fierce Ape Havoc Spirit, it allows the inheritor of Zhang's Household to activates the passive ability of [Overkill] at all opponents.
-Special 1: Fierce Ape replenish the user with 5 strands of Fighter Qi for every weapon destroyed.
-Special 2: Fierce Ape replenish the user with 5 strands of Fighter Qi for every opponent defeated.
-
The Autumn Season
-Attack: 40 | Quality: Low-Tier Spirited Weapon
-Defence: 250 | Fighter Qi Consumption Rate: 25
-Durability: 60/60 | Spirit: Devouring Sloth Spirit
-Information: Unknown. Unknown. The Autumn Season is one of the four Heirloom weapon forged by Celestial Designer Zhang Wu Ji himself. Because the weapon housed the Devouring Sloth Spirit, it allows the inheritor of Zhang's Household to absorb all attack within Fighter Stage to 13th Warrior Stage.
-Special 1: The damage absorbs by the Devouring Sloth can be activated into [Devourer Silhouette]
-Special 2: Every [Devourer Silhouette] will create one Ethereal Autumn Season (Automated Ability)
-
The Winter Season
-Attack: 100 | Quality: Low-Tier Spirited Weapon
-Defence: 20 | Fighter Qi Consumption Rate: 5
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-Durability: 100/100 | Spirit: Mysterious Shadow Spirit
-Information: Unknown. The Winter Season is one of the four Heirloom weapon forged by Celestial Designer Zhang Wu Ji himself. Because the weapon housed the Mysterious Shadow Spirit, it allows the inheritor of Zhang's Household to move without creating any sound by paying (5) Fighter Qi as he moves.
-Special 1: Kills made using Winter Season won't have open wounds.
Looking at the weapons, Zhang Wu Ji wanted to try and upgrade them, only to find they were similar to all his personally crafted treasures, the UPGRADE was useless as it will not have any reaction from his effort.
"Second brother, the weapon..." he wanted to tell his brother about each sword and its effect, but unknown to him, the moment Zhang Wu Chou made a blood oath with the four weapons, the knowledge related to the four swords is opened to their owner without a hint of keeping it as a secret.
Controlling the four swords in a simple gesture, Zhang Wu Chou had the weapon strikes at one of the taller tree standing just outside of the Blacksmithing Department and sliced it into thin pieces of shredded wood paper. With the effect of opponent destroyed activated, Zhang Wu Chou received an increment of five strands of Fighter QI back to his body, before the sword effect [Spring Wind] is activated.
The circle of spring breeze wind carries the leaves together, forming an extremely sharp border that cleanly cut off all the leaves from the tree right beside the one he destroyed. Looking at what happened with a simple attack from him, Zhang Wu Chou face turn sinister...
"If I possess this set of swords before the Gathering starts... Won't that practically granting me with a winning streak?" Zhang Wu Chou considered this kind of possibility in his mind. But soon, he disbands this kind of mindset before it plagued his mind from overconfidence. He thought about this matter for a moment before he made a conclusion;
"Since somebody like me can get such a treasure, won't the others might have some amazing treasures in their hand as well? Perhaps even the losing team from Mystic Engineer Establishment might possess some treasures that allow them to win, it was just unfortunate their members were out from the match in the early of the Battle Royale..." Zhang Wu Chou habits of taking a thing over the border of importance.
Without bothering about what the others may have in his mind, Zhang Wu Chou took his younger brother away before allowing the Department Head to have the intention to do anything with his brother. In his mind, it was a very simple way of a mindset;
"Even if I despise my brother for his Trash Martial Body, It doesn't mean you can use him as you want, because, at the end of the day, he's a Zhang. And by Zhang, it means we rule over everything and not opposite."
But this fact reveals one more fact, which is except Zhang Wu Ji himself (or perhaps because he just transmigrated), maybe the remaining heir of the family already know the truth about their family background. Else why would his eldest and second brother is taking him so seriously, after commenting about the part he did not do well.
After a slight walk, Zhang Wu Chou and his brother reach the living quarter he purposely arranged for his younger brother. The moment they entered the room, Zhang Wu Chou took out a book and hand it over to his younger brother. On the top of the book's surface is written;
[Sun and Moon Convergence Sutra]
"This manual is given by your eldest brother. He spent quite a lot of fortune and effort to make sure there were no mistakes in his version before he copied them and give it to the two of us. I suppose to give this to you before the third day of the gathering, but since you're so busy, I planned to do it after the gathering."
"Who knows, you destroyed my weapon, and that end up delaying for another thirteen days. Take it and start practice. Eldest brother Wu Yuan says, this copy of Sun and Moon Convergence Sutra only have six verse inside, and it still lacks another three verse. Perhaps one of us will found the three remaining verse before we completed the collection."
"Alright, words over. You should return to your sect soon. Won't your master kick your butt if you return late because of meeting your brother longer?" Zhang Wu Chou finished his words and leave. But deep inside of his heart, a small part of jealous and care begin to appears.
Was it because of his trash of a brother no longer a trash?
Or perhaps...
Was it due to his talent?
Even Zhang Wu Chou have no idea about it, but after resting for another day, Zhang Wu Ji finally prepared to leave after staying in the sect for a total of fourteen days.
Due to such a hurry, the Blacksmith Department end up failed to request for a guidance. only after they went back to the spot where he previously used to temper the four swords the group of blacksmiths noticed a book placed on the top of the anvil.
Unexpected by everyone, Zhang Wu Ji purposely left a copy of the Minor Achievement Iron Process for them to study. One by one, as they read the books, their improvement started to leap by bounds. It did not take too long for the book to later become a sect treasure that only the most precious disciple that already been with the sect for many years is allowed to learn.
(Note the above paragraph depicting the situation of betrayal. With abundant knowledge, one may betray their sect in order for simply reading this copy of an educative record and exposed the content to others. Think about this. When a copy of such a treasure is known by the other stronger sect, won't their foundation will meet with threats?)
After bidding farewell to the others, Zhang Wu Ji departs while forgetting about one fact.
It took him two days of travel to finding out that instead of going through the correct way, Zhang Wu Ji actually went towards the direction where the Crystalline River County is located.
As a person that will consider his current situation for a while, Zhang Wu Ji agreed with something he must talk to himself about it.
"Zhang Wu Ji, you're a completely hopeless man. How can you get lost in other people's county?" he blamed himself partially, while the other part was blamed to his poor status during his former's life because he did not have the opportunity to ride in an airplane.
Staring at the signboard written;
[Route to Crystalline River County and Snow Maiden County]
Zhang Wu Ji felt a little depressed at first, but after a while of traveling further, he discovered a small village where vines are their best produce. since he was already lost, it wasn't a concern for him to be delayed for few more days. Relying on the available postman, Zhang Wu Ji assigned a letter to be addressed to the Seven Star Sect, where a flying bird with the size double of a wild pigeon flaps away from the cage.
Looking at the villagers busy handling their own matters, Zhang Wu Ji felt a hint of peace in his mind. By paying some gold coins in his pouch, Zhang Wu Ji rented a temporary shack for him to stay for the night while joining the family that living together with him. It was a simple dishes with nothing unusual.
But in the middle of the night, Zhang Wu Ji's rest is disturbed by the sound produced by the horse's hoof. Unexpected even to himself, the bandits that scatter all around this area came to rob the village. Unknown that are they lucky or unlucky, Zhang Wu Ji decided to remain quiet while looking at the bandits gathering the villagers to the middle of the village, while others continue to ransack the houses.
Monitoring their movement in every corner, Zhang Wu Ji noticed a total of 31 bandits. Each of them is armed with the most basic weapons but most of them came by riding on a horse. In Zhang Wu Ji's opinion, this 31 people should be quite a rich one as they can afford to send so many riders here for the sake of robbing the villages all around this border between Crystalline River County and Snow Maiden County.
Placing a few Wound Mending Pill in his hand, Zhang Wu Ji flicks his finger and fire the pill at the bandits.
The attack left some of the bandits to fall unconscious, leaving some lonesome bandit inside their house rummaging their belongings. Taking up the weapons in the unconscious bandit's hand, the villagers charged into their home in order to protect their own precious belongings. About half an hour later, the villagers came out from their respective houses.
Some have a few injuries on their body, while some have blood smeared on their clothing and face. among the ten something bandits, two has been killed, while the remaining is either injured or unconscious. When the sun came up from the east, a dozen villagers escorted the bandits over to the nearby town guards, while leaving the injured villagers to be attended by the female with good first-aid knowledge.
Zhang Wu Ji nonchalantly went close to one villager and activated the Small Nourishment Art at him. It heals his wounds and injuries, and even expels all the impurities within his body, especially on his knee, and right shoulder. Like almost instantly, the villager felt something different on his body.
His injured knees come from falling from the cliff because trying to harvest some medicinal herbs is healed, leaving him no longer a half-cripple man jumping around the village. Additionally, the right shoulder that takes too much pressure to support his weakened body is also recovered, allowing this thirty-something man in his prime stands up strong again.
"Thank you, my benefactor." the villager knows his miraculous healing is related to this mysterious guest of his house, making him immediately kneeled before the youth and thanked him. But who was Zhang Wu Ji? He placed one of his feet just below the man that sheltered him for a night and stops him from completed the kneeling process.
"Big brother Li and Sister Li, this junior is very much accommodated by your generosity of giving me a roof to sleep for a short while. This small gesture of mine is insignificant," he said. But before he managed to go out from the house and excuse himself from bothering the family too much, Zhang Wu Ji noticed a hint of smell from a beautifully crafted Rice Wine.
"What the heck! This wine is even better than those I taste from Heavenly Sword Sect!" Zhang Wu Ji's nostril opened wider as he takes a deep breath through his nose and savors the fragrance as much he could before he regrets himself from leaving it aside.
"Little brother, are you... mesmerized by the smell?"
"Big brother Li, you have to tell me, where did this smell come from?"
"It is our village's Ceremonial Wine. We called the wine [Scarlet General Wine] because it was popular amongst the general when they lead their troops into war. About sixty years ago, when the Northern Imperial Kingdom still tried to capture our land, the generals of the Southern Imperial Kingdom often come to collect a few jars before leaving to the battlefield." the one he called Big Brother Li explained.
"Scarlet General Wine. Good Name! Amazing Fragrance!"
"Big brother Li, may this junior, learn about this wine?" Zhang Wu Ji asked. Without delay, the recovered big brother Li took Zhang Wu Ji out with his wife along, as they headed to the Village Chief's house to meet face to face with the General's Wine.