King Yong Nian placed a great deal of trust in his advisors.
The advisor group had analyzed that the newly ascended human Great Grandmaster was strong indeed, having been seen executing another Great Grandmaster immediately post-breakthrough.
King Yong Nian already felt immense pressure, withstanding the forces of two Great Grandmasters with his army at full strength.
Now, with another Great Grandmaster emerging within the territory of Shuzhou, he needed to make a careful decision on how to face this development.
And as those from Spirit Sword Valley had analyzed:
How could he rest easy while others slept soundly on the couch beside him?
First and foremost, he needed to find this Great Grandmaster; he wouldn’t rest easy until then.
Moreover, the advice from his advisors to avoid provocation was driven more by the intent to recruit this Great Grandmaster.
The advisors held his strength in high regard.
The remaining seven Great Grandmasters were a different concept from other Grandmasters entirely.
Their combat capabilities far surpassed those of ordinary Grandmasters.
The advisors knew this, and their final advice, despite recognizing the strength of this newly ascended human Great Grandmaster, was to try and win him over.
After much contemplation, King Yong Nian gathered some people to discuss and finally made a decision.
“Seek out powerful Grandmasters within the entirety of Shuzhou territory and investigate secretly.”
Once everyone had left.
King Yong Nian sighed and said, “I hope you have the good sense to comply, otherwise…”
He would have no choice but to kill one to warn a hundred.
Even if they didn’t accept recruitment, they had better accept the restrictions obediently.
…
Shuzhou stirred with unrest due to the emergence of a Great Grandmaster.
The whole of Shuzhou seemed to come alive once more.
However, Yongfeng County Magistrate Yi An was somewhat troubled.
He had already collected quite a few ores, most of which were rare.
Unfortunately, that important person had not visited again.
This left him feeling very insecure!
The Seventh-Grade Martial Artist sent by King Yong Nian sensed Yi An’s unease and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
“I just feel uneasy!”
“This is almost one of the safest places in Shuzhou, why are you uneasy?”
Yi An analyzed seriously, “Think about it, isn’t the safety of the three counties due to that great person’s influence?”
The Seventh-Grade Martial Artist nodded.
“Exactly, I should have told you before, that great person came looking for me, asked me to collect ores, said he would come back to collect them, but it has been a year or two now, and he still hasn’t come. Has he already left? Speaking of which, that great person hasn’t shown up in a long time either.”
This was the true source of Yi An’s anxiety.
If that great person left the three counties, the security there would be nothing more than a reflection in the water.
The Seventh-Grade Martial Artist understood.
Even though he was a man of King Yong Nian, he now stayed within the three counties and naturally hoped they could remain peaceful.
“From what you say, this seems quite serious. How are the ore preparations?”
“Prepared quite a lot, mostly special ores.”
And just at that moment, a voice suddenly appeared.
“Really? Can you show them to me?”
Yi An and the Seventh-Grade Martial Artist looked up together.
Then they discovered that someone had appeared in the room, wearing a familiar mask.
“My lord!”
Yi An immediately stood up and approached.
They were just talking about him, and suddenly there he was.
The Seventh-Grade Martial Artist also instantly realized something and stood up as well.
For someone to appear so quietly, without even being noticed, one could imagine the formidable stature of this person.
“You said you’ve prepared the ores, right?”
The person that came was none other than Wang Sheng.
He had used Plum Flower Step with Instant Teleportation for an even more secretive approach, hence no one was alerted.
His purpose for coming this time was clear; he needed time to develop the Iron Ore mine, so he came first to reap obfuscation benefits from Yongfeng County.
The Yongfeng County Magistrate hadn’t disappointed him.
In the storage location of the county town, there had already been a significant stockpile of Iron Ore, as well as a considerable amount of special ores that were recorded as required by mechanisms, including the Silver Essence Iron that the Flying Sword had absorbed before.
Conversely, the regular Iron Ore was the least.
“Where did you get these from?”
Such a vast quantity of special ores wasn’t something a county magistrate would normally be able to procure.
Yi An dared not conceal and spoke, “They were given by my superior, the Prefecture Master.”
Though still officially a county magistrate, since he governed over three counties, many were willing to make connections with him.
Thus, he easily obtained some ores.
One county isn’t enough, but a prefecture might be a different matter. Although three counties are adjacent to one another, they belong to different prefectures.
Yongfeng County belongs to Anyang Prefecture, while the other three belong to Qingjiang Prefecture.
Originally, it would have been impossible for the same County Magistrate to manage them, but since these three counties are special, such a situation has arisen.
Yi An thus had two superiors.
This would normally be an unfortunate affair, but since it involved the management of three counties, it turned out to be a stroke of luck.
He wrote letters to the two Prefecture Masters, and both were willing to assist him.
Therefore, he had access to so many metal ores.
“These ores all come from legitimate sources and are all given to you as a token of gratitude for your protection.”
The first time he received ores, he still accepted payment; later, thinking back on it, he wished he could slap himself several times. How could he have accepted money?
Therefore, there was no way he could accept money this time.
Upon hearing this, Wang Sheng didn’t refuse either. If others wanted to give, why should he refuse? He was not someone who would resent such gestures.
He hadn’t reached the level of being meticulous about the causes and effects of his actions, and even if he had, it would be the people of the three counties who owed him, not the other way around.
Thus, he accepted these items quite naturally.
“Many thanks. Please help to collect some more.”
Unless his Flying Sword couldn’t absorb any more ores, he would continue to collect them.
As usual, the ores were delivered to the outskirts of the county town; only this time, without Da Bai, Wang Sheng directly used his Divine Thought and the Flying Sword Divine Power to transport all the ores back to his stronghold.
This was an intentional arrangement by Wang Sheng to train his Divine Thought.
After he left, Yi An returned to the government office, letting out a long sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness that esteemed figure was present. Now I can rest assured.”
The Seventh-Grade Martial Artist’s expression was similar, but his eyes held a hint of envy and fear.
“He appeared in the room without my noticing at all, feeling even stronger than you described. Could he be the Great Grandmaster that’s been widely spoken of recently? All the signs match!”
As the County Magistrate responsible for managing four counties, Yi An was naturally aware of the recent rumors about the Great Grandmaster.
“Whether he is or isn’t, all that matters is knowing that he is far more powerful than us. From what I understand, this person seems to dislike exposure, so it’s better for us to stay well-behaved.”
Yi An was quite sober-minded, evident from his observations of the esteemed figure’s conduct.
Therefore, he only provided what was needed and never asked any questions, nor did he indulge in unnecessary conjecture.
After hearing this, the Seventh-Grade Martial Artist closed his mouth as well.
If before he obeyed because of King Yong Nian’s orders, now it was because of his admiration for Yi An’s capabilities.
Sometimes he pondered how such an extraordinary person could be content staying in a small county town; calling it a waste of talent was an understatement.
Since Yi An had said as much, there was no need for further discussion.
…
After Wang Sheng returned to his stronghold with all the metal ores, he continued the ritual refining of his Flying Sword.
Furthermore, for the next two months, each day brought a large amount of processed iron ore, which he assigned to Yue to forge into Blood-forged Steel before offering it to the Flying Sword for refinement.
Finally, after a month and a half, the Flying Sword, having absorbed an innumerable amount of Blood-forged Steel, ceased to take in any more.
“Has it reached its limit?”
After absorbing for an entire night and still finding Blood-forged Steel remaining, Wang Sheng knew this was not the norm; he always prepared a fixed amount, which used to be wholly absorbed. Now, the surplus indicated a limit had been reached.
However, whether the limit pertained solely to Blood-forged Steel or to all metal ores required further testing for clarity.
Eventually, it was proven that the Flying Sword had only reached the absorption limit for Blood-forged Steel.
It would still absorb ordinary iron ore for its own improvement.
Of course, the gains from ordinary iron weren’t as significant as those from the metal ores and Blood-forged Steel brought back from Yongfeng County, but there were limits too.
Although it absorbed more than the Blood-forged Steel, the actual enhancement was less.
After three months in total, the Flying Sword ceased absorption of both Blood-forged Steel and iron.
Clearly, both had reached their limits.
But the results of these three months were not inconsiderable.
Firstly, the Flying Sword itself, having absorbed so much iron ore, seemed to develop a kind of skill.
When he wielded the Flying Sword, a simple slash—without the use of any powers—could unleash a wave of Sword Qi composed of Qi Blood Power.
This Sword Qi was incredibly potent. According to Wang Sheng’s estimation, even a Martial Artist of the second or third grade could easily slay any Martial Artist below the Grandmaster Level if caught off guard with it.
“The effect of Blood-forged Steel?”
Since the Sword Qi was composed of Qi Blood Power, Wang Sheng made this conjecture.
Although such Sword Qi wasn’t of much use to Wang Sheng himself, it signified the unlimited potential of the Flying Sword.
With sufficient metal ores, Wang Sheng couldn’t even guess at the limits of the Flying Sword.
In fact, he felt that for the Blood Locust King to use such an object as a clone was somewhat wasteful.
Of course, this was just his own opinion, for few could resist creating a fighting force at the Great Grandmaster Level—after all, a Great Grandmaster represented the pinnacle of combat prowess.
Now, Wang Sheng was even more eagerly anticipating whether the Blood Locust King might use a similar clone again. When it came to the raw materials for the Flying Sword, one could never have too many.
“I hope the Blood Locust King doesn’t disappoint me!”
Wang Sheng murmured to himself, the first time he had ever longed for a thing.
Naturally, he would not go out in search of the Blood Locust King. Compared to taking the initiative, he preferred to be passive, after understanding his opponent’s situation.
And since the Refining stage was not yet complete and the Flying Sword Divine Power had yet to be fully researched, there was still much for him to improve upon.
“My power is still somewhat lacking!”