All supreme sharp weapons consist of four supreme refinement materials, all four of which were extremely rare to find. Even the ordinary among them are very were rare. The four supreme materials were Black Aurum, Darksteel, Sea Mother and finally, Snow Spirit Spider Silk. The four were equally difficult to find. The Black and White Reflection described the four as so: too long, too expensive, too spread out, too difficult respectively.
Black Aurum was a strange stone that turned to gold after being left to precipitate over ten thousand years approximately, which earned it the description of "too long".
Darksteel was a miraculous type of gold that was believed to fall from the sky. Although they claimed that you could only pray that you find it, there was some that circulated on the market. Having said that, the price would leave one's jaw on the ground. One or two bits would be enough for one to live a palatial life till the day they died.
Sea mother was a metal that was hidden at the bottom of the sea. Given the sheer size of the sea, searching for it was no different to searching for a pin under the sea.
Celestial spider silk was labelled as "too difficult". Searching for the rare material in harsh conditions on the peak was difficult in and of itself. On top of that, one must bear in mind that they were no ordinary spiders. An adult snow spider was gigantic - relatively speaking. They grew to roughly the size of a puppy, not to mention that they were extremely poisonous. As such, even snow spirit spider silk contained a lethal poison. If one were to risk their life to locate a snow spirit spider's nest, only to end up being bit, you'd still hear about their story in the village within the vicinity. Due to how harsh and difficult it was to procure it, it became the highest-ranked material among the four.
If you must compare, the most common two were black aurum and darksteel. Although one must wait a long time for black aurum, the reality was that Earth had existed for hundreds of millions. Black aurum was hidden deep underground, but it was possible to find if one was to approach it with an appropriate method. As for darksteel, spend enough money and time, and you'd be able to find enough for a blade.
The reason Golden Crow Moon Eater, the blade to rule the world, became one of the supreme weapons was because it was crafted with splendid craftsmanship using black aurum and darksteel. Crafting the body itself carried its own risk. Sometimes, even if one had gathered the required materials, they'd still be susceptible to losing a part. Had Gold and Silver Sect not had blacksmiths under their banner and a top-tier weapon refiner, not even Gold and Silver Sect would've been able to forge the blade despite their wealth.
Mount Hua's patriarch's Beyond the Heavens Edge was another weapon in the category. The blade was refined with rare stones. How else would it have been so sharp and possible to be wielded lightning fast?
As for sea mother and snow spirit spider silk, those were rare enough to be considered mythical.
Once Tang Ye recalled how rare snow spirit spider silk was, he looked down at the container in hand. He weighed it again, but perceived it to be heavy enough to rip his arm off his shoulder this time. With sweat collected on his forehead, he asked, "You mean to say that this container is filled with snow spirit spider silk?"
Given the rarity of snow spirit spider silk, if he was holding a container full of it, then it actually could be more valuable that the imperial jade seal.
"Didn't I already answer that?" replied Hongjiu, throat dry due to giving so many explanations. He rolled his eyes. "It's not snow spirit spider silk, but celestial spider silk."
Worry began to tighten its hold Tang Ye. He glanced over to the smug Jin Wangsun.
Jin Wansun took out his item from the gold container and allowed the Emperor's examiners and the prime minister to inspect it. Jin Wangsun had "haughty" written all over his face. He had no clue how valuable Tang Ye's item was. The old prime minster and examiners frowned when they saw Jin Wangsun's item, and then carefully inspected it. Nobody knew if they discovered anything, but there was one thing that was certain: once they were done, they were going to go Tang Ye, when he still had no idea what he was holding.
Tang Ye began to panic. "What exactly is celestial spider? Stop playing guessing games with me."
"Celestial spider and snow spirit spider are actually one and the same; it's just that they've lived for a long time," answered Hongjiu. He then lowered his volume. "A celestial spider is a snow spirit spider that has lived for over a thousand years, has a physique that's tougher than a fierce warrior and is larger than an ape. What's most terrifying about it is that a celestial spider… develops intelligence over time. It learns to lure people and animals into its nest.
Senior Brother once personally went to Heavenly Mountain and found its nest. It took him an entire month to kill the nest's King. Its cave was littered with corpses. The one he killed had already developed intelligence on par with a human being."
Hearing the story had Tang Ye's hairs stand erect. He had heard rumours of the snow spirit spider. The rumours of it described it as an incredibly tough and fierce beast. Had another heard Ming Feizhen actually entered a nest and came out alive, they would've labelled it a ludicrous story.
"Senior Brother took all of the spider silk in the cave that day. He then asked a refiner to make the container in your hand."
Tang Ye was absolutely speechless. Never did he imagine Ming Feizhen would mindlessly pass something to him so valuable as if he was throwing rubbish out.
"Because of the lethal poison in the large volume of celestial spider silk from that day, Senior Brother doesn't thoughtlessly bring it out. Hence, he puts them all in the snow spirit container."
Both Tang Ye and Hongjiu fell silent after Hongjiu finished. The only voices were the occasional, "This is rare, indeed," from the examiners.
"… How about we run?" Tang Ye finally suggested. He passed the container to Hongjiu. "Sell this, and then go find a place to raise cattle."
Hongjiu rolled his eyes. "You think you could sell it? Who would be able to afford it? Plus, where would you house so many cattle?"
"If we can't raise them… we'll start a beef hot pot restaurant."
"God, cut the bullshit, will you?! Listen, kid, your good looks won't stop me from skinning you!"
"Then, what can we do? This container's contents are too expensive; we can't give it to His Majesty, can we?"
Even Tang Ye instantly made the same decision when he learnt of its value. Besides the question of whether or not Ming Feizhen would be willing to give the Emperor an entire container of celestial spider silk, the Emperor might not even accept it.
After mulling for a brief moment, Tang Ye suddenly had an idea. "Let's split it into a smaller portion and give His Majesty just s portion…"
"Didn't I just tell you that it's impregnable against fire and water and can't be cut with metal or iron? What are you going to split it with? Let me tell you this: my shifu once had someone hold out a small string, which he then tried to cut with our sect's divine weapon. He slashed it seventeen times consecutively, and you know what? The one holding the string was injured severely, but not even a mark was left on the silk."
Tang Ye frowned. "How are you so sure? That's a random instance."
Hongjiu thundered, "Random my foot! I was the one who held the silk!"
"…" Hopeless, Tang Ye asked, "What do we do…?"
Hongjiu had nothing he could do, either. He never imagined Ming Feizhen would offer celestial spider silk. The sun would rise from the other side if Ming Huayu didn't raid the imperial palace for it if they actually handed it to the Emperor. Actually, that'd only be the start of the disaster. Ming Huayu would definitely take it another step and mercilessly rob the national treasury as interest. Then, he'd groped some maid's buttocks before finally being satisfied enough to leave. If he did that, they'd have made themselves the imperial court's enemy!
When they glanced over, they saw Jin Wangsun's smug look again as he flaunted the item in his gold box. Jin Wangsun laughed. "I sincerely look forward to seeing the looks on your face in a moment!"
Tang Ye and Hongjiu responded in unison. "We really look forward to seeing the look on your face, too…"