Chapter 123 The Old Man in the Ring

With a "beep," Fang Zhuo's account displayed a notification that fifty spirit stones had been spent.

Fang Zhuo wasn't worried about Fang Lieyang at all. Instead, he leisurely turned his head to observe whether the ground was sturdy enough.

Even a single strike from a god-level weapon would be enough to destroy a training scarecrow, let alone the bullet which is infused with the spiritual power of the innate secret technique, the Immortal Embryo. The artifact would amplify this spiritual power exponentially.

Dark lines began charging from the magazine of the musket, and within milliseconds, the lines instantly spread to the muzzle.

The spiritual energy mixed with the pure flames bursting from the gun barrel, and every second the fire pillar was interacting with each other. In an instant, the flames sucked up all the air in the entire simulated battle hall, causing everyone present to feel a sudden pause in their breathing.

Accompanied by the shocked scream of the female teacher beside her, more than twenty scarecrows instantly turned into a large pile of ash.

The powerful bullet didn't stop after passing through the scarecrow; its remaining kinetic energy was enough for it to continue impacting the energy-absorbing wall that the school had specially prepared for simulated battles.

The entire wall trembled twice, causing the ground of the tall building to shake slightly.

Then the tall energy-absorbing wall disintegrated instantly, like a car body being hit at high speed, leaving only a crumpled lump of energy-absorbing material in place.

On the other side of the wall, a simulated combat activity for senior students was being held. Sixteen- or seventeen-year-olds and their parents were watching Fang Lieyang, who was holding a gun, with utter shock.

Both halls were filled with the smell of burnt materials. The scarecrow initially had some ash left, but after being exposed to the high temperature for a few milliseconds, it disappeared completely without leaving a trace.

Fang Lieyang stood there blankly, examining the muzzle of the gun with a puzzled look.

He clearly remembered that his father had contacted a Transformers-themed toy factory for him, and the factory was filled with all sorts of mechanical toys. The old factory manager with the yellow beard even gave him two whole bags of building blocks before he left. How could this toy gun be so powerful?

Is there something wrong with some part of the process?

Could it be that the old man with the yellow beard sent the wrong item? If he finds out, will he ask Dad to make up the difference...?

The first to react in the entire hall were the group of children surrounding Fang Lieyang:

"Holy crap, Yangyang, your musket is amazing!! Which factory did your dad order it from? It must have cost a fortune."

"This musket is even more powerful than the blue-quality magic weapon in our school history museum. You're hiding your skills, kid. You're secretly keeping it from us guys, aren't you?"

"Lieyang, your dad is amazing! He actually managed to find a way to customize such a high-level magical artifact... I definitely can't afford it. When will you take us to your house for a visit? Please, please, please!"

"Here's twenty spirit stones, I want to be the first to touch it!"

"Lu Yao, you just made the bet with Brother Yang yourself, so why aren't you kneeling on the ground barking like a dog now?"

"Yeah, yeah, you're a year older than us, you have to accept the consequences of your bet, you know?"

The children, while criticizing the little egret demon, surrounded Fang Lieyang, chattering amongst themselves.

Upon seeing this, the female teacher quickly stepped forward and adjusted the muzzle of the gun to a secluded spot to prevent the weapon from accidentally injuring the children and parents. In reality, she also took the opportunity to touch the texture on the gun itself amidst the chaos.

Although the children didn't understand, she, a teacher who taught in aristocratic private schools, knew perfectly well what was going on.

A weapon with such destructive power must be at least a level 14 or higher divine artifact. Such a high-level divine artifact is so expensive that it can cost as much as the tuition fees of an entire class of children for several years.

What exactly is the background of Fang Lieyang's parents?

Although the parents of aristocratic private schools are all wealthy and noble, isn't this one a bit too expensive?

She opened her contact list, found the profile picture of a blue sky and white clouds, and sent the other person another message:

[Yangyang's parent, when would you be able to come? The event has already started!]

"Teacher, I'm sorry to have caused trouble for the school. Just send the list of damaged items to my email later, and my assistant will handle the subsequent compensation."

As soon as Fang Zhuo appeared at the door, he felt that most of the people in the simulation classrooms on both sides were staring at him.

The teacher gaped in shock, so astonished she couldn't even utter a sound.

She suddenly felt her phone getting hot.

The parent who had been urging the other party to come to the simulated battle activity these past few days was actually Sect Master Fang?!

No wonder you were late; you must have gone to participate in the competition. That's definitely more important than the Parent-Child Day activities. No, it's much more important.

The six-person rule is indeed true. In fact, it doesn't even need to be six people. It turns out that Sect Master Fang is a parent of one of her students. Suddenly, she felt that her network of connections had become much more valuable.

Ignoring the astonished gazes of those around him, Fang Zhuo took two steps forward and picked up Fang Lieyang:

"Are you alright? Next time, don't put your fingers so close to the gun barrel."

As he spoke, he slipped the ancient black iron shield ring, a reward from the arena competition, onto Fang Lieyang's thumb.

A soft thorn extended from the inner ring and drew a little blood. After the magical artifact quickly recognized its master, a faint black shell appeared on Fang Lieyang's body. Then the shell disappeared, as if it had merged into his body.

The students in the class couldn't recognize this ancient artifact yet, but the excitement of the students' parents was palpable.

The parents at the aristocratic private school were all highly skilled, and all of them recognized the ancient magical artifact. Even those who couldn't recognize the artifact themselves had all watched the live broadcast of the arena finals in the desolate hill, and no one would be unfamiliar with Fang Zhuo.

The parents who were closest had already stuffed their business cards into Fang Zhuo's hand. Some people took out printed resumes from their bags on the spot, while others simply ran to the printer in the next classroom to print their resumes on the spot.

Parents gathered from all directions, so Fang Zhuo had no choice but to temporarily put Fang Lieyang down and exchange simple pleasantries with them.

Bai Lu Xiao Yao's parents were so frightened that their hearts were pounding. They quickly pushed their son and said, "Apologize now."

Seeing the look of fear mixed with respect on her father's face, Bai Lu Xiao Yao's body reacted faster than her brain. She knelt down in front of Fang Lie Yang with a snap and barked "Woof woof woof" seven or eight times.

"Woof woof woof woof woof woof, you won this round. I'm sorry, I will never mock your weapon again, and I will never provoke your classmates again. I was wrong this time, please forgive me."

"Rise." Fang Lieyang maintained his composure in front of his underlings, but inwardly he was flustered, his thoughts drifting away.

The anxiety that had always been in my heart was temporarily amplified by my father's arrival.

He was so conflicted that his right hand fingers were tightly clenched together.

In fact, ever since his father became rich, the seed of doubt in his heart has never been dispelled. On the contrary, it has intensified over time. The ridicule from netizens back then kept him up for several nights.

He had truly endured several years of hardship with his father. During those years, his father would often come home excitedly, saying that he had discovered some opportunity to get rich quick. Once, his father even brought home 20,000 to 30,000 spirit stones.

But this excitement rarely lasts long; every penny spent in the barren hills comes at a price.

The worst time was when my father didn't come home for six whole days. Law enforcement officers came to our door to post notices saying that my father had been administratively detained for deliberately extorting money from others by listening to his coworkers' instigation.

Later, my father took out a loan and gave the junior manager 40,000 yuan, which barely allowed him to keep his job after being released from the detention center.

Although they enjoyed more than four months of good times this time, and Dad seemed to have become more mature and stable than before, his past experiences taught him to always be prepared for the worst, as Dad might end up back in jail again any day.

While sitting in the activity room letting his friends line up to touch the guns, Fang Lieyang's gaze kept glancing at his father.

At that moment, Dad was surrounded by more than 30 parents, almost all of whom were holding a document that looked like an IOU, and everyone looked very excited.

Although he couldn't hear the specific content of their conversation, Fang Lieyang instinctively felt a sense of unease.

Over the past few months, by taking exams for his classmates, he had accumulated several dozen spirit stones and some medicinal materials. He also carefully kept the money his father transferred to him.

Even if Dad gets arrested this time for crimes like fraud or loan sharking, with these savings, he won't have to go to the garbage dump to fight dogs for food anymore.

"Why do you look so serious? What are you thinking about?"

Fang Zhuo finally managed to escape, greeted the teacher, and took Fang Lieyang's hand, leading him out of the classroom.

Why didn't you take out your gun immediately?

"The reason I gave you these custom-made weapons is so you can use them anytime. Just make sure they don't hurt anyone, so don't be reluctant to use them."

Fang Lieyang weakly protested, "No..."

Fang Zhuo put the child on the flying sword and continued to ask, "You thought that was a toy gun?"

Fang Lieyang nodded and showed his father the photos he had taken at the toy factory.

Fang Zhuo looked down.

The old man surnamed Bai from the Weapon Refining Sect was also quite adept at flattery. He probably knew that a child of about ten years old was coming, so he decorated the entire Weapon Refining Sect like a Disneyland.

The surface of the forging furnace was temporarily transformed into a yellow mechanical shell in the style of Bumblebee, all the mixers were replaced with robotic arms, and hundreds of Transformers toys, the favorite of boys of this age, were placed on the wall.

The entire forging workshop was covered with the same carpet as the most popular cultivation animation in the wasteland, and a large number of balloons were floating in the air, making it look truly dreamlike.

No wonder kids think the Weapon Refining Sect is a toy factory.

Even disciples of the Weapon Refining Sect who were away on business trips would probably be stunned when they returned.

Bai Fu was quite creative in this regard, truly deserving of being the head of a sect.

Fang Zhuo patted the child's head: "You'll know whether this is a toy gun or not later."

"I'm quite busy and can't stay by your side all the time. I'll take you somewhere later and hire a free tutor for you. You'd better listen to Grandpa from now on."

Fang Lieyang's current bone age is fourteen years old. According to the original plot of "The God of Loans", it is time for him to fall off the cliff and find the ring in the stream below.

In the original story, Fang Lieyang was driven to the brink of suicide by debt collectors from a microloan platform. He barely survived the ordeal in the water before finally managing to find a ring.

The ring contains the soul of a reclusive master of the Qingyun Sword Sect, the kind of old man often found in rings in Long Aotian novels.

This reclusive master is nearing the end of his lifespan, and his physical body is extremely weak. As a result, he can only stay in his cave for long periods of time, using his eyes to control the screen to browse forums, watch live streams, and occasionally listen to his disciples' reports. He even has difficulty getting out of bed and walking around.

The only chance for the Sword God to continue breaking through to the next level is this ring that was lost in his early years.

As long as the junior bound to the ring successfully breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, the energy accumulated in the ring will be enough for the Sword God to live healthily for another three hundred years, thus giving the Sword God himself the opportunity to continue cultivating upwards.

The old man in the binding ring is a very important part of the original plot, and will become the key to Long Aotian's breakthrough from Qi Refining to Nascent Soul.

Fang Zhuo certainly wouldn't let her son miss this opportunity, nor did she intend to let the child wander around in the rushing stream like an otter.

He sent a brief message directly to the old man from the Weapon Refining Sect: [Deer Cry Mountain awaits you. Bring a magic weapon; we need your help to drain a stream.]

Bai Fu: [Simple, how deep is the stream?]

Fang Zhuo: [It's over four meters deep, and the section of the river that needs to be cleared is over one hundred meters long.]

Bai Fu: [...? You call this a stream?]

Fang Zhuo didn't waste any more words with the cunning old man: [Five million spirit stones]

Bai Fu: [Let's get to work! Let's get to the river dredging project! Wait for me!]