Qin Mu had just noticed the appearance of the ore in the yard and guessed that it was just ordinary copper and iron ore. He walked to a more open area, scanned the Heavenly Mystery Tower with his divine sense, and selected a small number of stones that were different in color from the ore on the ground. He threw out seven or eight of them.
"Grandpa Wang, which of these ores is suitable?"
"Wow! This little guy has quite a few good things! This is black gold ore, this is red copper, and this is meteorite iron!" Grandpa Thirteen said with surprise as he looked at the ores Qin Mu took out.
Qin Mu couldn't distinguish between black gold and red copper, but he could tell it was meteorite iron; the surface of the ore was covered with honeycomb-like pits.
"Can these be used, Grandpa Wang?" Qin Mu asked.
"It's usable! We won't need this many to forge two."
"Then I'll trouble you to make a few more, Grandpa Wang. If one breaks, Brother Huaidao will have a replacement," Qin Yue said with a smile.
"You brat, are you saying that what I make is easy to break? If you don't want it, get lost!" Grandpa Thirteen was furious with Qin Yue.
"No, no, Grandpa Wang, of course it won't be bad. Lingyun was worried I'd lose it, and since I'm too far away from you, she didn't replace it," Qin Mu quickly said.
"Look at them, look at them! You brat, you can't even speak properly!"
"Hehe, yes! Grandpa Wang, you're right." Qin Yue said with a bitter face and a forced smile.
"Alright, I agree. You may leave now. Come back in three days to collect it!"
Grandpa Thirteen waved his hand like he was herding ducks, then squatted down to look at the ore and ignored them.
They exchanged a glance, and Qin Yue waved to Qin Mu, signaling him to leave.
"Phew!" As Qin Yue stepped out of the store, he let out a long breath and then looked back.
He acted as if there was a monster in the shop, which Qin Mu found amusing.
Are you that scared?
"You can't be afraid. You don't know how ruthless the old man is. When we were kids, we were naughty and he would catch us and give us a good beating." Qin Yue shook his head and sighed. As he spoke, his hand unconsciously reached for his buttocks, but then withdrew it halfway.
"The old man isn't that old, and he seems to have a very forthright personality."
"Not big? If I remember correctly, we celebrated his 80th birthday three years ago." Qin Yue said, his eyes wide.
"He's over eighty, you really can't tell. But at such an advanced age, isn't it a bit inappropriate for us to ask him to do things?" Qin Mu asked.
“It’s alright. Forging is Grandpa Wang’s hobby. If there’s good ore, he’ll do it even without being asked. The purpose of opening a shop there is twofold: first, to train apprentices, and second, it’s his personal hobby,” Qin Yue said, shaking his head.
"I see."
"That's right. With Grandpa Wang's help, you can rest assured. We'll come back to collect it in three days."
"Watch out!" Just then, Bu Fang grabbed Qin Mu and drew his sword to shield him behind him. Bu Mang followed suit, standing guard on the other side.
"What's wrong, Brother Bu?" Qin Yue asked anxiously.
Although Qin Mu didn't know why, he realized there was definitely something wrong since there was no one on the street. He flipped his hand and took out his sword.
"Come out! I can smell your stench from far away," Bu Fang said loudly with a mocking laugh.
Qin Yue's guards, of course, saw the reaction ahead and hurriedly followed, drawing their swords and scanning their surroundings.
"Hmph! I was trying to save some energy, but a blind man ruined it." Suddenly, a large group of people jumped out from both sides of the street ahead, led by a bald, burly man who looked at Bu Fang.
"Who are you people! How dare you attempt an assassination in the street!" Qin Yue pointed and shouted.
"It's an orc! Although they've concealed their identity, their stench is impossible to hide," Bu Fang sneered.
"You blind bastard! I'll smash your stinking mouth in a minute," another burly man cursed as he walked away.
"Send the signal!" Qin Yue ordered in a low voice. His guards behind him didn't waste any words either. With a flick of their wrists, they launched a hidden arrow into the sky.
To his disappointment, the hidden arrow he shot out sank like a stone into the sea, without making a ripple.
"It's no use, this place is already sealed off, just wait to die!"
"Enough with the nonsense, let's get them on their way." The bald, burly man with triangular eyes glanced at them and waved his hand angrily.
"Kill!" More than a dozen burly orc men charged forward, weapons in hand.
"Huai Dao, be careful!" Bu Fang flipped his hands, and a curved blade appeared, protecting him in front.
"Outrageous!" Qin Yue grabbed something from his robes and threw it forward. A ceramic object shattered on the ground, and an iron figure rose from the ground, slashing forward with a knife.
With a "thud!", one of the orcs charging ahead was caught off guard and had his arm severed by a single blow.
"Damn it!" Qin Mu cursed under his breath. He hadn't expected to encounter an assassin so soon after mentioning the assassination. However, he was quick with his hands, switching his sword from behind his back to his left, and a rabbit-hair purple bamboo brush appeared in his hand.
As his noble spirit was stirred, he wrote the Song of Climbing Youzhou Terrace in mid-air.
It was formed from the righteous energy within his body, and it was indeed much inferior to the secret manual. A platform appeared, with only nine guards: one halberd-wielding warrior and eight shield guards.
"I've been waiting for this move from you!" A burly man sneered, opening his mouth to spew out a plume of black smoke that swept towards Qin Mu and the others.
Before the black smoke even arrived, a strong, fishy stench filled the air, and Qin Mu quickly covered his nose.
"Be careful, this is the snake race, the black smoke is poisonous," Bu Mang warned, then his bloodthirsty aura suddenly surged outwards, forming a protective shield around him.
As cultivators, they possessed some protective measures. Qin Mu and Qin Yue quickly mobilized their righteous energy. Although they couldn't form a protective shield like the Bu Fang and Bu Mang brothers, they could still fill their skin to prevent external evils from invading.
They underestimated the black smoke. The shield guards below the stage were being continuously dissolved. Since they were formed from righteous energy, when they encountered the black smoke, it was like encountering sulfuric acid, making a sizzling sound.
Fortunately, the righteous energy was immense and unyielding, and the black smoke couldn't harm them for the time being. However, since they were a skill illusion, once they came out, they were like water without a source, while the black smoke continued to spew out.
The most formidable was Qin Yue, the Iron Man, whose body shimmered with an eerie light, completely ignoring the black smoke, and whose blade swung incessantly. It took six orcs, constantly maneuvering and fighting, to hold it back.
"Huai Dao, you all stay here. We'll go kill these bastards," Bu Fang said menacingly. He hated the snake clan to the core.
"No problem, we can hold out for a while!" Qin Mu nodded.
"Kill!" Bu Fang listened intently, then leaped into the air, his curved blade flashing a crimson light as he slashed at a snake-like creature.
Bu Mang followed closely behind, but he moved close to the ground. The two brothers, one above and one below, charged forward.
Qin Yue's two guards were much weaker. Knowing they were no match for him, they could only hold their swords and stand in front of the two men.
As Bu Fang and his brothers charged forward, Qin Mu ordered the halberd-wielding warriors to assist them. He then took a deep breath, picked up his pen again, and began writing about the hunt in Youzhou.
The aura of righteousness erupted once again, and in an instant, much of the black energy dissipated. However, since the orcs dared to come to assassinate, they were very well prepared. A large amount of mist appeared around them at some unknown time, and some ferocious beasts rushed out from the mist.
Wolves the size of calves and pythons as thick as buckets rushed toward the soldiers formed from the aura of righteousness.
"Brother Lingyun! Do you have any more Iron Men? Use two more!" Qin Mu asked, placing a hand on Qin Yue's shoulder. To be honest, every time he used his Righteous Qi to conjure soldiers for battle, the feeling of his body being completely drained was truly uncomfortable. But there was no other way; after all, with such a large amount of energy within him, how could he not feel anything when it suddenly erupted?
This flaw exists not only in Confucian cultivation but in any type of explosive attack. However, the deeper one's spiritual energy, the smaller the proportion consumed, and the more negligible the side effects become. Of course, this feeling is much better once one gets used to it, since it's just a bodily feedback and doesn't actually deplete the body.
"Nonsense, if I had any more, I would have used them already. This is my protective iron golem, stronger than the Mo family's mechanical puppet," Qin Yue said irritably. This thing was his trump card for protection, and each use required a beastman's inner core, which was quite a burden for him.
Of course, he wasn't angry at Qin Mu, but rather at the fact that a beastman had attempted to assassinate him at Juyong Pass, which was a complete disgrace to the Qin family.
"Is there any other way? Being trapped like this isn't sustainable! My shield won't last much longer," Qin Mu said, looking at the shield that was already beginning to melt.
"There's nothing we can do. This place is shrouded in an array. Unless we break the array with overwhelming strength, we'll just have to wait for the people outside to kill the people who set it up," Qin Yue said, shaking his head.
"Then we're doomed!" Qin Mu asked in surprise.
"Don't panic! We're on the street, someone will notice something's wrong soon," Qin Yue reassured him.
Qin Yue's iron man was incredibly powerful, having already slaughtered a whole host of ferocious beasts. The Bu brothers were equally formidable, having already claimed the lives of several snake-like creatures. However, the creatures surrounding the platform didn't seem to have decreased in number.
As time went by, the soldiers formed from the righteous spirit gradually dissolved, became illusory, and finally disappeared.
"You sons of bitches! You've forced me into this." Qin Yue gritted his teeth and cursed fiercely. After cursing, he took out a purple talisman from his pocket and spat a mouthful of blood onto the talisman.
"Break!" Qin Yue shouted, raising his hand to strike the talisman into the sky.
The purple talisman flew into the sky and immediately unleashed a tremendous power, causing the entire space to tremble. Then, all the black smoke and mist vanished.
With his vision wide open, Qin Mu was finally able to see his surroundings clearly. In the distance, there were pedestrians staring in disbelief. Qin Mu's protective golden platform had also dissipated in the tremor, and now, lying around him were more than a dozen orcs. Those holding broken poles were probably the ones who set up the formation, but now they lay on the ground, their fate unknown.
In front of Bu Fang and his brother was the bald man with triangular eyes, and three other people; they were all stunned by the sudden change, holding their weapons and on guard. The only one who was unaffected was Qin Yue's Iron Man, who killed a stunned orc with two strikes.
"Retreat!" shouted an orc with dreadlocks and a face covered in patterns in the distance, then turned and ran.
The bald, burly man now had many animal markings on his face. He glanced around with his triangular eyes, suddenly opened his mouth, and spewed out a cloud of black smoke. Then, ignoring the others, he leaped up, landed on the roof, and disappeared in a few flashes.
The other orcs tried to run, but it was too late. Guards carrying weapons rushed over from all sides, and many others set up crossbows.
This is why many people dare not cause trouble in the city. Although the individual soldiers guarding the city are not particularly strong, each of their squads is equipped with archers and crossbowmen, which is the most difficult thing to deal with.
With the Bu Fang brothers still chasing after them, now is the perfect time to strike a fatal blow when the enemy is down, and they don't want to miss this opportunity, especially since it's their enemy, the Snake Clan.
The battle ended quickly, with no one leaving any survivors. The orcs were either hacked to pieces or shot to death by arrows.
"Hmph! The Qin family's crossbows are specially made to deal with orcs, and they still dare to try to escape." Qin Yue said fiercely, still harboring resentment that the orcs dared to assassinate him behind closed doors. This was not only disrespectful to the Qin family, but also showed contempt.
"Is Huai Dao alright?" After eliminating the orcs, the Bu brothers quickly retreated and asked.
"I'm fine, Brother Bu, are you all alright?" Qin Mu asked with concern.
“We’re fine too! These few orcs can’t hurt us.” Bu Mang shook his head and said.
"It's good that you're alright! Let's go back first," Qin Mu said with a sigh of relief. Although he handled the assassination attempt calmly, the orc's escape left him feeling somewhat frightened. It made him realize once again how dangerous this world truly was. Since arriving here, the fighting seemed never to have stopped.
"Okay, let's go. The orcs won't dare to show their faces again," Bu Fang said, sheathing his sword.
"Brother Huaidao, you go back first. I need to investigate where these scum got in from," Qin Yue said through gritted teeth.
Qin Mu nodded in understanding. An assassination attempt had actually occurred inside Juyong Pass. If the Qin family didn't investigate thoroughly, they wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
"These orcs are truly brainless. They attacked without even investigating properly. Didn't they ever consider that the Qin family's direct descendant might have some trump cards up his sleeve?" Li Chengdao said angrily from a pavilion not far from the battlefield.
“It’s not their fault. After all, the opportunity is rare, and they can’t stay hidden in the city forever,” a middle-aged man next to Li Chengdao said.
"We originally planned to have the orcs kill those two guards before we came to their rescue, but now it's all fallen through. They're more trouble than they're worth," Li Chengdao said, his anger barely contained.
“Young master, don’t be angry. Even without Qin Yue, the orcs wouldn’t have succeeded,” the middle-aged man advised.
"Uncle Zheng, what do you mean by this?" Li Chengdao asked curiously.
"Our information was flawed. We only said that Qin Shubao's son had two guards, but we didn't know that these two were not ordinary guards," the middle-aged man said solemnly.
"who are they?"
"That blind man is called Bu Fang, and the other one is undoubtedly his brother Bu Mang. The two are Luo Yi's most capable subordinates, two of the Eighteen Riders of Yan Yun."
"The Eighteen Riders of Yanyun? Who are they? Are there really eighteen of them?" Li Chengdao asked curiously.
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