Chapter 83 Black Gold and Black Iron, Retire from the Underworld

Li Ming had also been troubled by the issue of weapons before. Although he didn't want to compromise, he didn't expect that the specifications could be so high that he could directly ask the Sword Casting Valley to forge them.

It's a pity that the system has not directly rewarded any magical weapons, at most only materials, otherwise it wouldn't be so troublesome.

In this world, the craftsmanship of the Sword Forging Valley is the best known choice.

Li Ming was thinking about how to express his gratitude to Ouyang Shi.

After all, although Ouyang Shi said that he was returning the favor, it was impossible for him to really let the other person work for nothing, so he had to show his appreciation.

However, the people in the Sword Casting Valley have extremely high standards and have seen all the good things. When they go out into the world, basically everyone will give them face, and they really don't look down on ordinary things.

While Li Ming was thinking, Zhu Ting next to him curled his lips.

"Of course. I owe my senior brother a favor, so it's better to repay it as soon as possible... Otherwise, he might be captured and imprisoned by some organization one day, and we won't be able to find him by then."

Zhu Ting is talking about things that are not related to the topic.

Yue Qing suddenly stood up from the chair as if his sore spot had been touched.

"Zhu Ting, I think you are looking for trouble on purpose!"

Zhu Ting shrugged: "Just telling the truth."

Why are they arguing again?

Everyone present felt helpless.

Rumor has it that Zhu Ting is a very Buddhist person and rarely gets angry with others, otherwise he would not have become close friends with Lu Xiaofeng.

But he didn't expect that when he and his senior brother Yue Qing met, the two of them were like enemies and kept arguing with each other.

Li Ming had no choice but to come out and smooth things over, and finally managed to stop the two men.

Li Ming quickly changed the subject: "You two have come from afar, I'm sure you must have had a hard time, so please stay at my martial arts gym. I'll have someone prepare a banquet to welcome you."

Li Ming said this and called his disciples over to make arrangements.

Both of them came here for their own business, so of course we can't let them live outside.

Anyway, the main part of the martial arts hall had been almost renovated and the guest rooms were vacant, so two rooms were quickly cleared out for them.

There are many people in the martial arts school, and they already have their own kitchen.

At the beginning, there were not many people in the martial arts hall, and everyone ate from a big pot.

Some time ago, we invited our own chef, who has excellent skills, so preparing the banquet is a piece of cake for us.

As a result, during this period, Xiaomi, the beggar at the door, had good meals every day, and even the number of people going to Tongfu Inn decreased.

However, Li Ming himself was more accustomed to it. He would hang out at Tongfu Inn when he had nothing to do and get closer to Bai Zhantang, Guo Furong and the others.

Originally Li Ming wanted to entertain the two of them first, but Ouyang Shi didn't waste time and stood up.

"Master Li, we are all family, and we don't have so many rules in Sword Forging Valley, so there's no need to bother. Can you take me to see the materials we need first?"

When Ouyang Shi talked about this, his face was full of excitement and he seemed a little impatient.

It seems that Ouyang Shi is also a person who is extremely passionate about the field he is good at, otherwise he would not be so active.

Li Ming repeatedly gave in, and seeing that the other party was indeed more interested in the materials than in being entertained, he no longer insisted.

Soon, Li Ming took Ouyang Shi to the newly built warehouse of the martial arts hall.

Yue Qing and Zhu Ting also followed, but the two still didn't get along, and they walked in separate directions.

They are obviously middle-aged people, but they still act like children and get angry.

Soon, we arrived at the warehouse.

This place had been renovated by Yue Qing, and several rooms had been completely closed. However, Li Ming still pulled the trigger and the two doors slowly opened.

"Not bad, not bad. There are secret mechanisms buried in the secret. If an outsider enters without knowing the secret, he will suffer. It seems that Senior Brother Yue's skills are still not bad."

Zhu Ting walked along, marveling at the sight.

He could basically figure out most of the mechanisms set up by Yue Qing after observing for a while.

"But..." Zhu Ting changed the subject.

"It's a bit outdated and not as good as my recent works."

This one sentence almost ignited Yue Qing's temper again.

Fortunately, Li Ming had already brought three people to the shelf where several weapons were stored.

Ouyang Shi rushed over first, and after seeing several weapons, he nodded with satisfaction.

The Rouyun Sword and Lengyue Sword are both excellent in terms of both materials and craftsmanship.

But Ouyang Shi was obviously more interested in the bloody knife.

He immediately picked it up in his hand and looked it over carefully.

The blade is light and thin, but that does not affect its toughness and sharpness at all. There is a blood mark on the back of the blade, from beginning to end.

Especially the material of the blood knife caught Ouyang Shi's attention.

To be honest, this kind of material is still very rare. At least with Ouyang Shi's many years of experience in the Sword Casting Valley, he has never seen it before.

"It's really a good thing!"

Ouyang Shi sighed while holding the knife.

He had also heard that this blood sword was the sect's treasure of the Blood Sword Sect of the Great Snow Mountain. It had been passed down for three generations. He never expected that it would fall into Li Ming's hands.

After observing them all, Ouyang Shi half pondered and half talked to himself and said: "If these weapons are used as raw materials, I should be able to forge a generally good sword..."

Before he could finish, Li Ming suddenly interrupted him.

"By the way, Mr. Ouyang, don't worry, I have something else here."

As Li Ming spoke, he took down a dark object that looked quite heavy from another shelf.

"This is……"

Ouyang Shi looked at him with confusion at first, but as Li Ming approached, he soon stared at him.

"Is this black gold and black iron?"

Ouyang Shi put the bloody knife aside, walked over excitedly, and stared at the piece of iron in Li Ming's hand.

Li Ming nodded and handed the thing to Ouyang Shi.

After the other party took it, he looked at it carefully with a look of surprise on his face.

He had seen black iron before. It was a precious treasure for forging weapons. If an ordinary weapon could be added with one or two taels of black iron, it would immediately become a sharp weapon that could cut through iron like mud.

Ouyang Shi had only seen small pieces of black iron in his daily life.

And this black gold black iron is even more precious. It is not as heavy as ordinary black iron. Instead, it is much lighter and has stronger properties in all aspects.

If you get closer, you can feel the distinct coldness from it.

Even Ouyang Shi couldn't even imagine having such a large piece of black gold and iron!
So much so that he held the lump of iron in his arms, refusing to let go for a long time, and studied it up and down over and over again.

This was beyond Li Ming's expectations.

This piece of black gold iron was obtained by Li Ming after he saved up attribute points for a long time some time ago and then gritted his teeth and endured the pain to participate in a gold lottery.

Also obtained were several unique alchemy techniques of Xiaoyao Qixue, as well as some other rare materials, but none of them were related to forging.

Li Ming knew that black gold and black iron were precious, but he didn't expect it to be so precious that even Ouyang Shi from the Sword Casting Valley couldn't let it go.

"Master Li, do you really want to use these materials?"

Ouyang Shi asked expectantly.

"If I can, of course."

After receiving Li Ming's affirmative answer, Ouyang Shi became even more excited and said "OK" several times.

Being able to handle such a large piece of black gold and iron is already a very valuable experience.

What's more, according to the default unspoken rules, he can actually gain a lot of benefits in the process of forging weapons.

Apart from anything else, just the scraps of black gold and black iron would be a considerable fortune if he kept any of them.

If it is sold, or simply broken up and melted into some weapons and then put on the market, it will attract a lot of people in the world to fight for it.

In the world of martial arts, a magical weapon, like a precious elixir, is equivalent to an extra life at a critical moment.

Not to mention, it is a masterpiece of the Sword Forge Valley. Relying on its reputation, it can easily make a lot of money.

However, Ouyang Shi is not that superficial, and he does not care much about material things. He is more motivated by love.

In his eyes, black gold and dark iron are better than any vulgar yellow or white things.

However, Ouyang Shi still chose to make it clear.

"Master Li, if you have any other needs, you can tell me, an old man, and I can help you cast them. I don't want anything else in return. I just want you to give me a small piece of this black gold iron scrap."

Li Ming is not a stingy person. Since the other party made such a request, there is no reason for him to refuse. He nodded and agreed immediately.

Of course, after the other party said that, Li Ming would not really just give some leftovers and be done with it. He still had to give the rest as a thank you, not a bit less.

Li Ming will also treat Ouyang Shi and Zhu Ting well during their stay in the martial arts hall.

After all, there are countless powerful forces out there who want to invite these two people to their homes, but cannot.

With this black gold and black iron, things become simple.

There is no better material than this, and Ouyang Shi decided on the spot to use this as the main material for the next casting.

At the same time, the materials of the blood knife were also refined and integrated into it.

After looking at it for a long time, Ouyang Shi reluctantly put the things back. As soon as he left the warehouse, Ouyang Shi took the initiative to ask to start as soon as possible.

However, the casting site became a problem.

When Ouyang Shi started work, he naturally had extremely strict requirements for various conditions, which were not something that an ordinary small workshop could meet.

Originally, Li Ming was thinking that there were several blacksmith shops in Qixia Town, and if things didn't work out, he could rent one of them.

But Yue Qing immediately patted his chest and said that he would take care of it all.

In his planning and design, he had originally planned to set up a foundry on a small piece of land outside the town.

It's now halfway built.

There was no choice, Ouyang Shi had to agree to wait for a while.

He and Zhu Ting temporarily stayed in the martial arts hall.

Seeing that Zhu Ting also had the audacity to stay, Yue Qing was furious. On the way back, the two of them couldn't help but quarrel again.

But Li Ming also saw it.

Zhu Ting and Yue Qing, both have sharp tongues but soft hearts. Although they seem to be at odds with each other, they actually still cherish each other's friendship as fellow students for many years.

Zhu Ting didn't just come to visit because he had nothing to do. Most likely, he wanted to see his senior brother who had been missing for a long time.

Li Ming could also vaguely guess that the court did not hold Yue Qing accountable for any responsibility in the previous fake silver note case. It was not only because of the importance it attached to Yue Qing himself, but also because of Zhu Ting's influence to some extent.

After a lot of work, Ouyang Shi and Zhu Ting were finally settled, and Li Ming felt relieved.

In the following period of time, Yue Qing accelerated the construction of the martial arts school's foundry workshop, and in just half a month, everything was ready.

Ouyang Shi, who couldn't wait any longer, immediately started to make the sword.

As a result, Li Ming couldn't sit still anymore.

He often stayed with Ouyang Shi, helping him to fine-tune the details of the weapons to be cast in order to fully meet Li Ming's requirements.

During this period of time, the person who was the most idle was Zhu Ting.

He had nothing to do and was not interested in martial arts, so he just walked around the martial arts gym with his hands behind his back every day.

He observed Yue Qing's designs intentionally or unintentionally, and made some comments from time to time.

This made Yue Qing extremely angry, and the two quarreled several times over this matter.

In the end, maybe Zhu Ting had seen too much and was itching to do it, so he drew a few design drawings and made a bet with Yue Qing that they would each be responsible for a part of the construction, and then they would see whose work would be better.

When Li Ming was told of this decision, he was filled with surprise and joy.

"Can such a good thing happen?"

He readily agreed.

Yue Qing alone is powerful enough, and now there is Zhu Ting, who is known as the best craftsman in the world, and all the cheap things are from his martial arts school. Of course, Li Ming couldn't ask for more.

Just like that, the two courtyards of the martial arts school inexplicably became the chessboard for the competition between Zhu Ting and Yue Qing.

In order to surpass the other, both of them tried their best, and the structure they designed was of much higher quality than before.

In the martial arts hall, the other disciples were not affected too much and were practicing martial arts step by step.

Nowadays, there are more than a dozen disciples in the post-natal realm in the martial arts hall.

Normally, Li Ming often asked Lin Pingzhi to compete with them to test their strength.

These disciples in the acquired realm are not as good as those in the innate realm when taken individually.

However, when they formed the Tiangang Big Dipper Formation, they could easily unleash a strength far beyond their usual capabilities, and could even deal with several Xiantian realm masters at the same time.

The power of the formation also made Li Ming feel more at ease.

At least these disciples will have strong self-protection capabilities if they go out to nearby places in the future.

In addition, now that the martial arts school's foundry workshop has been established, there are usually some disciples with limited talent in martial arts who show considerable interest in casting.

Although Ouyang Shi is usually busy forging weapons for Li Ming, when he has free time, he will forge some ordinary things to practice.

Seeing that these disciples were interested, he would give them some guidance from time to time.

Although it was just a casual act, this opportunity was extremely valuable.

Not everyone is qualified to receive guidance from the Sword Forging Valley Master.

Before long, these disciples in the martial arts school made rapid progress and were able to forge some simple weapons independently, which was considered an additional skill.

Seeing this, Li Ming spent money to buy a lot of casting materials through Wanli Trading Company so that they could practice.

With this convenience, it didn't take long for the weapons of the disciples in the martial arts hall to be updated and generally made of fine steel.

Even the weapons on the weapon racks in the training ground were replaced.

It gives the martial arts hall a brand new look.

The days passed slowly and the weather grew colder.

The trees near Qixia Town gradually withered, the fallen leaves drifted away, and there was a lonely atmosphere.

The amount of water in the Xiliang River has also decreased, and the number of ships coming and going has also decreased a lot, and it is no longer as lively as before.

But the town of Qixia was not affected too much.

Public security is getting better and better, and there are more and more businesses, forming a virtuous circle.

So much so that warriors passing by would tend to choose to settle down in Qixia Town.

You can not only enjoy the richer services here, but also get a close look at this magical martial arts school that has been making headlines recently.

Escort teams and caravans passing through nearby would also choose to pass through Qixia Town and rest in the town.

Because everyone knows that there is a Grandmaster here who is powerful enough to kill the Blood Knife Ancestor, and no one will cause trouble here, so they feel much more at ease.

Once you arrive at Qixia Town, your safety is basically guaranteed.

In this way, the existence of Li Ming and Qianming Martial Arts School has invisibly brought more visitors to Qixia Town, which is equivalent to more income.

Make the business of the whole town more prosperous.

Tongfu Inn has not been idle for a long time. It is basically busy from morning to night every day, and the business is many times better than before.

That day, as soon as Li Ming walked in from outside, Guo Furong mysteriously pulled him to the long elm table.

"Master Li, you are going to be famous!"

"Ok?"

Li Ming didn't understand what she meant for a moment.

I was still thinking in my mind, wasn’t I famous a long time ago?
But then he saw Guo Furong slap a newspaper in front of him.

"Master Li, please take a look. Jianghu Monthly has opened a special column for you, and they also said that they will send someone to interview you."

"Why is it this unscrupulous tabloid again?"

Li Ming felt a little helpless.

I just glanced at the title and it tasted familiar.

It’s just that the title suddenly took a 180-degree turn from the previous slander against itself to unbridled flattery.

Finally, he added that he would send someone to interview him and get into the inner world of this mysterious museum owner...

What a mess!

Li Ming was too lazy to pay attention to such eye-catching and sensational behavior.

But it seems that everyone in the inn is very interested in these things.

"Master Li, why don't you consider this? Jianghu Monthly still has a great influence outside. We can't let this opportunity go easily!" Guo Furong advised.

Lu Xiucai also nodded and continued, "Not bad, not bad. If you accept their interview, it might help further improve the reputation of your martial arts school and also be good for your business."

Bai Zhantang couldn't bear it anymore, so he threw the towel on the table and spoke up to stop them as he passed by.

"Don't worry about it. Do you think Mr. Li is short of business now?"

"That's true..."

When talking about this, several people nodded.

Qianming Martial Arts School really has no shortage of business!
Nowadays, the threshold for entering a martial arts school is constantly raised, and the review is strict. It has reached the point where you may not be able to make money even if you have the money.

Guo Furong poured tea for Li Ming and wanted to continue persuading him.

Li Ming did notice some of the content published on the back of Jianghu Monthly and flipped it over to take a look.

"Liu Zhengfeng, are you going to retire?"

Several familiar keywords come into view.

Isn’t this Liu Zhengfeng from the Hengshan School?
——That is, Mo Xiaobei’s elder.

Seeing that Li Ming noticed the news, the enthusiasm of several people in the inn faded a lot.

"Yes, this hero Liu Zhengfeng is Xiaobei's uncle in terms of seniority! He also sent us a letter some time ago, saying that he wanted to retire from the martial arts world and no longer care about the grudges in the martial arts world."

Bai Zhantang explained, but then he put on a rather worried expression.

"Master Li, you don't know that retiring from the underworld should be a good thing. You can quit the underworld and go home to enjoy your old age."

"But the situation of the Five Mountains Sword Sect is rather special. Alliance Leader Zuo is very powerful, so he may not allow this matter to proceed smoothly..."

When he thought of this, Bai Zhantang's face was filled with worry.

(End of this chapter)