MARTIAL ADVERSITY, VOLUME 8 - Season 12 Episode 9

This time, Yang Yan took two months to finish her Artifact Refining.

But on the day she exited the stone room, she brought out seven Saint King Grade artefacts, some from each Grade!

Perhaps it was because of the pills and Saint Crystals Yang Kai had given her, but this time, she didn’t seem too tired. After handing over the artefacts to Yang Kai, she even had the mood to calculate how many Saint Crystals she still owed Yang Kai and began counting seriously.

Skilled in Artifact Refining, neither prideful nor arrogant, easy to talk to, beautiful with an outstanding good figure, and most importantly, charged only a modest fee!

Yang Kai felt like he had picked up a treasure and became more and more determined to permanently retain Yang Yan as his dedicated Artifact Refiner.

After giving her a few more bottles of pills and a number of High-Rank Saint Crystals, Yang Yan smiled with joy and stuffed everything into the Space Ring before asking, “What are you going to make me refine next? Let me examine the materials first so I can see what kinds of ores are needed.”

Yang Kai took out the carapace, tail, and pincer of the Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion and tossed them over to Yang Yan.

The little girl’s eyes immediately bulged as a fascinated light flashed across their depths. Squatting down, she picked up these items one by one, stroking them with her delicate hands while muttering something under her breath, seemingly lost in her own world.

After a long time, she looked up into Yang Kai’s eyes and asked, “You’re willing to give me these materials to refine?”

Yang Kai nodded seriously, “You’ve proven your ability; I believe that you are indeed an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner, so naturally I’m willing to let you work with these things.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away with these things?” Yang Yan still couldn’t believe what was happening, “These are the materials of a Ninth-Order Monster Beast, and they can be used to refine Origin Grade artefacts!”

“You can try to run, I’ll just capture you and bring you back though,” Yang Kai grinned.

Yang Yan spat disdainfully, seemingly quite annoyed with Yang Kai’s self-confident attitude, treating it like he had everything in his grasp.

“Rest assured, I’m not someone who breaks their word, I’ll make the best use of these things for you, but the ores you need to purchase this time won’t be the same as before, you’d best be prepared for some massive haemorrhaging,” Yang Yan said solemnly.

“It doesn’t matter, write up the list,” Yang Kai nodded and added, “That’s right, I have a request this time.”

“Ask whatever you’d like.”

“Use this carapace to refine me a defensive artefact, I’ll be using it myself, feel free to do what you want with the rest.”

“Got it, do you have this Monster Beast’s Core? If you have it, give it to me as well, it will be useful for this time’s Artifact Refining.”

As soon as Yang Yan spoke these words, a fist-sized Monster Core that gave of two distinct Energy Attributes was tossed over to her. Catching this core, Yang Yan nodded with satisfaction and began writing up a list of auxiliary materials. A moment later, she handed the list to Yang Kai and anxiously urged, “Hurry up and come back, after a couple of days of rest, I’ll start refining again. Following you was really a good choice, you unexpectedly have so many good materials on you for me to use.”

She seemed a little impatient.

Heavenly Fate City. Inside Trade Company, Qian Tong was sitting in a room on the third floor, sipping a cup of tea lightly as he gazed in the direction Yang Kai had left two months ago, a faintly anxious and helpless look upon his face.

Although he had previously determined that Yang Kai would come here again, he hadn’t expected that two whole months would pass by with no words from him.

Until today, the young man had not shown up again, making Qian Tong somewhat depressed. At the time, he was worried about leaving a bad impression on the powerful master behind the young man, so he had not sent anyone to follow him and did not dare inquire about his identity at will, planning to slowly win his trust by steadily purchasing the final products this master and the young man delivered.

Now however it seemed he had acted too cautiously, and Qian Tong thought he should have at least told the young man he was interested in soliciting his master. So long as that young man was intelligent enough, he would definitely bring those words to his master.

At that time, if the powerful master was willing, he would naturally pay a visit to Shadow Moon Hall, if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t be too late for Qian Tong to make a direct appeal.

The earlier such a Grandmaster Artifact Refiner could be recruited, the earlier Shadow Moon Hall would be able to reap the benefits. If they waited too long and another force discovered this master, they would definitely try to rob him from them. Once the situation developed to that extent, it wouldn’t be a matter of just one or two people dying.

Thinking about it, Qian Tong’s mood became irritable and he unconsciously crushed the teacup in his hand. It wasn’t until the hot tea dripped down his hand that he noticed what he had done.

Looking down the messy tabletop, Qian Tong couldn’t help letting out a dumb laugh.

He wasn’t young anymore, and his cultivation level wasn’t low, it had been many years since he had become so agitated. Even when he was a boy, his emotions had not been as uncontrollable as right now.

Picking up the broken teacup fragments and drying the spilt tea, Qian Tong took a breath and calmed his irritable mood.

Just then, there was a sudden knock at the door, causing Qian Tong to call out in a disgruntled tone, “What is it?”

“Elder Qian, the young man who came to sell artefacts two months ago is here again,” The clerk who had received Yang Kai last time replied respectfully. After waiting for a while, the clerk became somewhat suspicious about not receiving a response when Elder Qian Tong excitedly shouted, “Quickly invite him inside!”

As soon as those words came out though, Qian Tong corrected himself, “No no no, this old master will go welcome him personally!”

A burst of sound rang out, as if the tables, chairs, and tea sets in the room were all blow away and crushed.

The clerk’s face turned black, not understanding what was so special about this young man that Elder Qian Tong would treat him so seriously, even going so far as to smash the furnishings in his room in an effort to rush out and greet him.

The door was flung open and Qian Tong quickly walked downstairs, his face filled with smiles.

The clerk took a peek into the room curiously and sure enough, he discovered that all the furniture inside had been completely tossed about and destroyed.

On the first floor, Yang Kai was becoming impatient.

The last time he had come here, the clerk had received him diligently, showing the utmost consideration and attentiveness. This time, as a repeat customer, he had come here to sell some more artefacts in accordance with his previous agreement, but before he could even say anything, the clerk had asked him to wait and then run off somewhere.

A short time later though, the fat old man named Qian Tong walked over hurriedly, his face aglow and his belly trembling with laughter as he warmly shouted, “Young man, this old man has been waiting two months for you to return, come come, this way, please!”

Saying so, he held Yang Kai’s shoulder warmly and directed him towards the private room they had used last time.

Inside Trade Company’s lobby, the cultivators who were going about their business all froze up in shock as they stared towards Yang Kai’s back, unable to speak for a long time.

Many of them knew Qian Tong and were aware that he was a high-level Elder in Shadow Moon Hall, but this great master was now actually treating a young man like Yang Kai so kindly, causing all of them a great deal of shock. After the pair disappeared, the lobby exploded with chatter, everyone speculating about Yang Kai’s identity.

“What kind of background does that young man have that would compel Elder Qian Tong to come out and greet him personally? Heavens, even if one of the Patriarchs from the nearby families that came here, could they have received such an enthusiastic welcome from Elder Qian Tong?

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen him before, but from how he was dressed he doesn’t seem to be from some kind of big force.”

“His cultivation wasn’t high either, Third Order Saint Realm.”

“I remember that when the Patriarch of the Ke Rui Family came last time to discuss some important business, Elder Qian Tong didn’t even meet with him.”

“Who knows what is happening?”

…..

In the backroom, Qian Tong enthusiastically had Yang Kai sit down before having one of the maids serve tea along with a platter of golden spirit fruits. These spirit fruits were small but contained an astonishing amount of energy. Smiling broadly, Qian Tong explained, “These fruits are my Shadow Moon Hall’s special product that throughout all of Shadowed Star we are in sole possession of. Each fruit tree only produces one batch of matured fruit every ten years, with at most five hundred fruits per harvests. Although they have only provided minimal help increasing one’s cultivation, their taste is exquisite, and can help calm one’s mood, and also rapidly supplement one’s Saint Qi. They are best suited for someone who is about to break through, please feel free to try them.”

Qian Tong could see at a glance that Yang Kai was on the verge of breaking through from the Third Order Saint Realm to the Saint King Realm, so he had immediately offered these fruits.

Yang Kai glanced at him for a moment before reaching out and picking up one of the fruits, eating it without the slightest hesitation or worry, savouring the fragrant flavour and nodding, “The taste is indeed quite good, Elder Qian, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take these back with me.”

These fruits ability to quickly restore Saint Qi would be very useful for Yang Yan’s Artifact Refining.

Qian Tong’s eyes flashed, letting out a hearty laugh as he nodded, “Of course I don’t mind, if you like them, I’ll have someone prepare a few more, unfortunately, there aren’t many of them.”

Qian Tong truly didn’t mind that Yang Kai impolitely asked to bring these fruits back with him, because he was able to discern the meaning of this action.

Why would Yang Kai want to bring these fruits back with him?

Clearly he was going to offer them to his master as filial piety!

This only served to further confirm Qian Tong’s suspicions that there was a profound Artifact Refiner behind this young man.

“Elder Qian mentioned a moment ago that you had been eagerly waiting for my return, yes?” Yang Kai asked while taking out the seven newly refined artefacts from his Space Ring.

Qian Tong stared with wide eyes, his breathing becoming a bit heavier each time Yang Kai took out another artefact.

By the time all seven pieces had been laid on the table, Qian Tong’s look had already become a bit agitated.

He was able to tell that the ores Yang Kai purchased during his previous visit were used to refine these artefacts, yet it had only been a trivial two months and the result was seven Saint King Grade artefacts! This fully demonstrated just how powerful the Grandmaster behind this youth was!

Even if Grandmaster Ge Lin had acted personally, it would have been impossible to refine so many superior artefacts in such a short period of time.

Taking a deep breath, Qian Tong restored the smile to his face and said, “Waiting for these artefacts was just one matter, in fact, this old man was waiting for you personally, en, how should I address you?”

“Yang Kai.”

“This old man is Qian Tong, presumably you already knew that though, if you don’t mind, may this old man address you as Nephew?”

Yang Kai nodded casually, given Qian Tong’s age and status, him addressing Yang Kai as Nephew wasn’t unreasonable.

Qian Tong smiled wider and continued, “Nephew Yang is a young man of great talent, at such an age, nearly reaching the Saint King Realm, such aptitude is worthy of praise…”

Saying so, Qian Tong carefully observed Yang Kai’s reaction.