The Xiao clan warrior returned to the inn the next evening, dragging his weary body, and inevitably received another scolding from Lu Hong.
Three days later, the weapon Lu Hong needed was finally forged and completed, and the blacksmith owner personally delivered it to his door.
Since the day Lu Hong thoroughly defeated Lei Jinjin, his reputation had completely taken off in Nansha Town. To make ands for past mistakes, the blacksmith owner also had his apprentice work overti to hastily forge ten fine longswords.
These ten swords were a notch above the ones Hai Ge had exchanged for with a hefty sum of gold, which only intensified Hai Ge’s resentnt. If looks could kill, the blacksmith would have died eight hundred tis over.
The blacksmith owner, however, was worldly and had skin thick enough to be impenetrable; he completely ignored Hai Ge’s murderous gaze, leaned in close to Lu Hong with a grin, and asked, "Brother, are you satisfied with the sword?"
Lu Hong lifted the heavy sword—it was significantly heavier than before, but still within an acceptable range. What captured Lu Hong’s attention the most were the array patterns, etched with great precision on the blade. As the power of his blood and qi surged into it, the patterns emitted a faint red glow, like a demonic eye opening, which was astonishing.
"Not bad at all, you’ve worked hard, boss," Lu Hong said, extrely pleased. This formation was one that he was most familiar with from his ti forging divine swords in the Eternal Continent. Its use was simple: to store a large amount of blood and qi.
With Lu Hong’s once expansive ridians and constitution, the pattern would not be of much use to him, but things were different now. His body after transmigration was of only average strength, and his blood and qi were no longer as boundless as the sea. Therefore, the inscribed array patterns could significantly enhance his endurance, and if he used the Bloodthirst Skill, the patterns could also help him share the burden, reducing the possibility of his body exploding. If anything were to explode, the sword would go first.
"Since brother is satisfied, I can rest easy," sighed the blacksmith with relief, then stood up to take his leave.
With the weapon in hand, it was ti to return.
After much thought about the impending beastn war, Lu Hong decided not to participate for the ti being. There were countless places to level up by fighting; there was no need to gamble with his life on such a perilous battlefield, particularly in a war led by those from the Heavenly God Realm.
If he caught the attention of a Heavenly God, death was almost certain.
Hai Ge also agreed with Lu Hong’s decision, perhaps with a sign from Lei Sai. After a brief discussion, the group decided to leave that day, rushing back to the Xiao clan as quickly as possible, not knowing whether the clan had remained safe during their absence.
"Should we say goodbye to the saint?"
Lu Hong glanced at Hai Ge, "Forget it, I don’t want that girl following around."
Hai Ge nodded, settled the bill at the front desk, and the group left Nansha Town, retracing their journey back.
No sooner had they left the boundaries of Nansha than they heard the sounds of intense fighting.
The power of thunder and lightning wildly surged through the valley, making it hard not to take notice.
Lu Hong hastened to the front to find Lei Jinjin, accompanied by dozens of guards, engaged in a fierce battle with Gui He.
Their teacher-student separation had not been long, but Gui He’s progression was visible to the naked eye. Even surrounded by Lei Jinjin and the guards, he was effortlessly evading, making use of the innate gifts of his turtle clan, without a scratch on him, and even seed close to breaking through the encirclent.
"A beastman?" Upon seeing Gui He’s ferocious skills with the sword, Hai Ge imdiately moved to assist Lei Jinjin.
"Co back!" With quick reflexes, Lu Hong pulled Hai Ge back.
"Young clan leader, don’t stop , ah, that beastman’s swordsmanship is exquisite; he will surely be a formidable enemy to our Human Race in the future."
"Enemy, my ass," snickered Lu Hong with a chuckle. "That’s my disciple."
"What?!" Hai Ge and the other Xiao clan warriors were dumbfounded; their young clan leader had taken a beastman as a disciple?
Lu Hong channeled his blood and qi, and punched fiercely towards the center of the battlefield.
Accompanied by an eruption of blood and qi, both sides of the skirmish swiftly retreated to dodge the attack.
"Hey! What are you ssing around for?!" Lei Jinjin, upon seeing it was Lu Hong, couldn’t help but curse, "Didn’t you see I’m dealing with a beastman here?"
As for Gui He, upon recognizing his master, Lu Hong, he imdiately knelt with joy and kowtowed, "Disciple pays respects to Master!"
"Heh, get up, get up," Lu Hong said with a smiling face as he helped Gui He to his feet. "These formalities are not our style as master and student."
"Thank you, Master!"
The scene of master and disciple recognizing each other made Lei Jinjin and the guards’ jaws drop in amazent.
"You’ve taken a beastman as a disciple?!"
"What, is that not allowed?"
"That... is he performing the inherited skills you’ve obtained?!"
"Nonsense, what else would I teach him?"
"You... you... you, you, you!" Lei Jinjin beca more and more angry, and finally shouted in rage, "You traitor of the Human Race, I must kill you!"
Imdiately, Lei Jinjin gathered the thunder around her body and bombarded Lu Hong.
Lu Hong certainly didn’t indulge her. With his Heavy Sword unsheathed, a river of blood cascaded down from the sky, swallowing all of Lei Jinjin’s skills without splashing a single drop of blood.
Lu Hong spoke, "Why can’t I take an orc as an apprentice?"
"Don’t you know what the orcs have done to our Human Race?!"
"Of course I know."
"And you still take them as apprentices?!"
"My apprentice doesn’t eat human flesh; he is an orc that doesn’t eat humans."
"That’s still not okay!" Lei Jinjin was still unwilling to budge.
Lu Hong looked at the furious woman in front of him and sneered, "Do I need your permission to take on apprentices as Xiao Zheng?"
This question indeed stumped Lei Jinjin. Yes, Xiao Zheng taking on apprentices was none of her business indeed.
"Anyway... anyway, it’s just not okay." Unable to defeat him in battle and lacking a solid argunt, Lei Jinjin resorted to the special privilege of a woman, making a nonsensical fuss.
Unfortunately for Lei Jinjin, Lu Hong had no interest in her and wasn’t swayed by this tactic. He simply uttered a word: "Scram!"
"I... I... I, I, I." Lei Jinjin was both anxious and angry, yet eventually, she cald down to retort, "I won’t leave."
"You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to, I will," Lu Hong said, then got up and left with Gui He, Hai Ge, and the others.
"Don’t go!" Lei Jinjin hurried after them.
"Why are you following ?!"
"I’m not following you. This road isn’t yours; I can walk however I want to walk. It’s none of your business!"
"Fine, as you wish."
Having won the verbal spat with Lu Hong, Lei Jinjin’s mood imdiately surged, and she hopped and skipped along the way, unable to contain her happiness.
Following the path, the group successfully passed through the Bowang Mountain area, nearly alarming the orc sentinels at one point, but managed to get through unscathed thanks to Gui He’s intervention.
With so scares but no actual danger, they arrived at Lian Nan Lake.
Unlike before, the lake now seed to have gone through a catastrophe. Traces of battle were everywhere, with trees and rivers destroyed by powerful magic, even the terrain had slightly altered.
Hai Ge’s expression turned sowhat grave, "It seems a great battle took place here."
"And it must have been a battle between orcs and elves," Gui He continued the analysis, "This is Viscount Sis’s territory, and he has a strong army. The only way Lian Nan Lake could be devastated like this is if it happened during a roundup of high elves."
"High elves? Are you sure?" Lei Jinjin expressed her doubt. Through their journey together, Lei Jinjin had gradually shifted from an initial hostility towards Gui He, realizing that he was an orc unlike the others. Though they hadn’t beco close friends yet, at least the hostility was gone.
"I’m sure," Gui He nodded, "I once had the fortune to witness the fox clan strongn organizing a hunt of high elves. Every move made by those high elves brought about a monstrous elental power; whether it was great fires, floods, or bone-scraping gusts of wind."
Based on Gui He’s description, Lu Hong also roughly estimated the strength of the high elves, likely around the Third Transition, just below a Heavenly God, who could be considered a local power.
After a round of discussion, Lu Hong said bluntly, "All this talk, I just have one question, can any of you guess how much combat power Sis has left now?"
"This... Clan Leader, aren’t you putting us in a difficult position?" Hai Ge clapped his hands, "We haven’t seen the battle, how can we guess?"
Unlike Hai Ge, Gui He was trying hard to think about the question Lu Hong had thrown out and said, "The losses should not be too big."
"Give your reasoning."
"To deal with high elves, sending ordinary soldiers would certainly be insufficient. So once Sis discovered traces of high elves, he would surely report this up the chain at breakneck speed. The Triceratops clan is the closest to Sis and they wouldn’t sit by and watch high elves roam freely in the orc territory. So, the main force dealing with the high elves should be the Triceratops clan, not Sis."
Lu Hong nodded, quite satisfied with Gui He’s answer. This apprentice of his was turning out to be more and more to his liking!
Since Sis probably didn’t suffer heavy losses, they’d let him off for now. When the Xiao clan grew stronger, they would return to claim his dog life.
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