Chapter 119: Sword Shopping
Bald Flood Dragon stood to ask his guest to stay. “Master Zhou, there’s no rush, why not stay awhile and have a drink? Or could it be you find out fare unsatisfactory?”
“How could I? It’s just that I have another important matter to attend to tonight. I will come back and invite you all to a banquet at a later date.” Eagle Talon Zhou Cheng poured a bowl of wine as he said this and raised it to Wenchang. “Tonight, Master Sima of King Yama Gully in Baocheng has sent for me. I must feign civility and see him. Perhaps tomorrow if I am free I can call on you, brother, and in the future…”
Bald Flood Dragon’s expression turned frosty and he cut in, “Master Zhou, are you friends with King Yama Incarnate Sima Qi?”
Eagle Talon Zhou Cheng shook his head with a wry smile. “No! Last year he caused some trouble in this prefecture and we had it out. Then later on Frosty Sword Tang Yi of Northwest Escort Agency stepped in to mediate, and we dropped the matter unsettled.”
“Then, then why did he send someone to invite you over?”
“Apparently, a resigned official by the family name of Shi is taking his family over the gallery roads into Sichuan. They want to squeeze some profits out of them, so they sent someone to me hoping no one from Hanzhong prefecture will show up and give them a hard time, and they promised…”
Wenchang became more and more alarmed as he went on, but he remained calm. He interjected, “Master Zhou, does this resigned official by the name of Shi happen to be the former vice commissioner of the right in Xi’an prefecture?”
“Most likely. Brother Cai, do you know about this?”
“Of course I know. Master Zhou, how are you planning to respond?”
Eagle Talon Zhou shook his head, smiling wryly. “As long as Master Sima doesn’t do anything in this prefecture then I can’t do anything about it. Even if I wanted to, I lack the ability.”
“Master Zhou, what is your view on this matter?” Wenchang asked. He was making up his mind, devising a plan.
But he knew there would be trouble in the days to come. He would have to show himself. The road ahead for the Shi family was an arduous one.
Eagle Talon Zhou hmphed. “If Master Sima is in the area killing and pillaging, I’m not keen to look for trouble. Besides, who made this Shi fellow become a high official of the imperial court? That’s enough as it them.”
Wenchang’s eyes flickered. “Is the messenger from King Yama Gully still here?”
“Still at my home. Eh? Brother Cai, do you and the Shi family…”
“Please tell the messenger that Vice Commissioner Shi is my quarry, The Fugitive’s. If anyone tries to interfere, heads will roll. I’m going by ancient road through Yegu and along the gallery road to Baocheng. I plan to wait on the road to Sichuan to strike. Unless Sima Qi is looking for trouble, tell him to keep his hands out of it.”
Eagle Talon was taken aback. “Shit! They’re planning to strike at noon tomorrow and take the prisoners and plunder back to King Yama Gully. Won’t it be too late to tell the messenger now?”
Wenchang pushed his chair back and stood up and said to Bald Flood Dragon, “Brother Ling, can you have someone get my pipa and 100 taels of silver. I must leave at once. Quick!”
“Brother Cai, it’s fifty miles or more from here to Baocheng,” Eagle Talon Zhou said. “You’ll never make it.”
“I’m going to King Yama Gully,” Wenchang said directly.
“Please listen to me. I will send someone at top speed to report back, while you, Brother Cai, if you travel twenty miles every double hour you can reach the ambush spot first. That’s better than going to King Yama Gully, which is swarming with men. Getting in there will be easy, but not getting out!”
“Where is the ambush spot?”
“Thirty miles or more to the north of the city at Bao River Gorge. The gallery road is in good condition, but it’s still dangerous. There’s a precipice on one side and falling rocks on the other. It’s easy to find, Cao Cao once wrote “Falling Rock” on the cliff face, so you won’t need to ask for directions.”
The terrain was flat from Hanzhong to Baocheng. Baocheng was the center junction of the southern gallery road. The ancient Yegu path to the northeast converged there as well. The terminal point of the ancient road was Bao Valley fifty miles north of the county. King Yama Gully was behind that on the southwest face. From the south it was only ten miles or so to the ambush spot. The others had likely already prepared to settle down there. Wenchang hurried along. He had to get there first.
It was a good thing he had went to Hanzhong. If he had not run into Bald Flood Dragon he would have regretted it for the rest of his life. Never in a million years did he expect someone was planning to attack the Shi family on the road.
He reached Baocheng at daybreak. In two double hours he had gone sixty miles nonstop. He was fast alright, but also a bit tired.
King Yama Incarnate Sima Qi was pretty much one of Black Flag Sovereign’s diehard followers. Warrior God had told him the gist of it, so Wenchang was worried.
He relaxed once he reached Baocheng. He could make it the thirty miles or so in half a double hour if he really needed to, and there was still a lot of time before noon. He had made up his mind to slaughter King Yama Incarnate. Showing his might right away would make the journey much easier.
He was wavering a little. No one could openly step out and aid the Shi family. If he did then they would wonder why he followed them all this way before striking, since attacking them would be such an easy thing for him.
Who cares! he thought. I’ll deal with that when the time comes. Maybe I can fake an injury and find some excuse for why I couldn’t strike right away. Ah! I need to find a weapon first.
Baocheng was a city of the plains, wild, open country. Looking north, there were endless tall mountains ten miles or so away. On the plains, wheat billowed and swayed. To the east was Bao River, rolling its way south.
This was the ancient hometown of the seductress Bao Si of old. It was said that Baocheng had some of the prettiest women in the world, and so on.
The county town was not big, and across from Bao River was the foot of mountains. There were actually many indigenous mountain dwellers here, and there was a wooden bridge that was convenient for visitors, and so the city and the county were pulled together into one administrative region.
Wenchang went to the north avenue. In the distance he saw a smithy with an eye-catching signboard. On it were carved the words: “Baocheng Blacksmith. Specializing in tillage implements, horseshoes, and finely crafted and polished weapons and concealed implements.”
On either side of the main entrance was pasted a half of a couplet written in bold cursive script, which together said: “World-famous Craftsmanship, Number-one in Hanzhong”. It was a bold statement.
In the front part of the blacksmith shop were shelves of goods, and the forge raw materials area were in the back.
On the right side facing the street, there was a smelting furnace with leather bellows puffing, coals blazing, and a mastersmith bare to the waist along with a young man were using a large and small hammer to beat out a large iron harrow. The mastersmith held the rapidly cooling implement in his tongs and he dipped it in a clay-water mixture to quench it, steam billowing out of the bubbling white froth with a sizzle.
Wenchang wore a simple azure robe with a small bag slung under his arm as he strode in through the doors. He was proud by nature and big and tall in stature, not a common-looking fellow. The cloth of his robe could not conceal his heroic spirit. The shopmaster had sharp eyes. He came forward to greet him with a smile. “You’re here early, sir, please come in and have some tea.”
Wenchang cupped a hand over his fist in greeting. “Excuse me, I would like to purchase a sword. May I take a look around?”
Yes yes, please sir, have a look at our wares. Do you want one forged?”
“No, I’m on my way somewhere. I need one ready-made.”
The shopmaster went to the weapons rack and turned and sized up Wenchang, then with a faint smile, he refrained from selecting a sword from hanging from the rack and instead opened a tall cabinet door to the side and gestured to it. “Sir, select any you’d like and see if any is suitable. These are all well-tempered steel of the highest quality. The lightest is six catties and four ounces. The heaviest is nine catties and nine ounces.”
The sword of six catties and four ounces had a thin, narrow blade, useful only for light and quick strikes. It would be impractical for parrying. Usually famous masters used this kind of sword. The sword of nine catties and nine ounces could be used to ward off common hard implements, requiring forceful thrusts and vigorous strikes. Mostly it was seasoned sword experts who used these. But in general, even a third-rate character liked to use the lighter six-catty sword because he lacked arm strength, and he could also assume the name of a famous person. All he needed to do was frighten or intimidate an ignorant, amateur fighter, and he’d be all set.
There were over a dozen swords in their scabbards in the cabinet. One of them was artistically ornamented. Skarkskin scabbard in a gold plated case chased with cloud patterns. The upper part of the handguard was a semicircle, and the lower part projected outward, making it convenient for hanging. Silver inlay threaded around the hilt, and the pommel was an engraved cloudhead in bronze with a big red tassel hanging from it. It came with a silk and sinew strap for affixing it to one’s waistband.
Another sword next to it was in an ebony scabbard covered in snakeskin, the skin mottled and worn in places, exposing the wood underneath. It was hideous. The chape of the scabbard was bound in some sort of ordinary bronze, and the handguard was an eight-petal lotus design that curved inward, also made of ordinary bronze. In other words, it could slip another blade, but couldn’t hang it up. The hilt was made of the same strange metal, like iron but not, like bronze but not. It had been engraved after casting, engraved into the shape of a bizarre tail and a six-legged thunderbird. The strange tail shape had bizarre grip indentations so that it could be held from either side. The cloudhead pommel had no tassel. It was really shabby.
Wenchang looked them over briefly, then reached out and took the ancient sword. The shopmaster chuckled and shook his head. “Many masters have selected that piece of scrap iron, only to put it back down, disappointed. Odd.”
Wenchang thumbed the leafspring and the sword popped loose silently right into the palm of his hand. He started at first, then thought, Heavens! Excellent craftsmanship. The maker of this sword was extraordinary.
He drew the sword from the scabbard without a sound. He didn’t need to look at it to say, “The throat and inner clip are both pure gold.”
“Ah, sir, so you noticed!” the shopmaster said, amazed.
Wenchang ignored him and carefully inspected the blade. The blade was shabby. It was mottled and the blued steel was gray in places, corroded so that it looked like frogskin. What kind of sword was this? But it was heavy in his hand, not less than ten catties.
He flicked it and it gave back a muffled sound, not at all like the twang of metal. He was a weapons expert, so he couldn’t help but wonder at it. For a sword this heavy, it must not be corrosion!
“Ooh! Odd!” he mumbled to himself.
He flicked it a few more times and thought for a moment. He harnessed his qi and squeezed the blade with two fingers, putting internal force into the blade. Soon, he felt his fingertips were sliding. he loosened his grip and looked. Strange! The corrosive spots were still there, same as before, but he felt his heart jerk.
He smiled and nodded and held the blade close to his ear and harnessed his qi and gave it another good flick.
To others it sounded muffled like before, but it resounded like thunder in his ear.
“May I ask where this strange sword came from?” he asked.
A woodcutter found it on Southern Dipper Mountain in Gucheng County to the east of here. He sold it to me for scrap. It looked so different from modern swords, so I held onto it and put it here for customers to look at.”
“How much?”
“What? You want to buy it, sir?”
“Yes.”
“Sir, you really want to buy this useless sword? To slaughter chickens? Hahaha!” The shopmaster couldn’t stop laughing.
“How much.” Wenchang’s face was expressionless.
“You really want to buy it, sir?”
“I never joke.”
“Okay! I bought it for 100 coppers. Take a look and tell me what you think, sir.”
“Give me an exact figure.”
“One tael of silver,” the shopmaster said seriously.
Wenchang took out five ingots of silver, each worth ten taels, and put them in the shopmaster’s hands, then he lifted his waistband, revealing the leather belt underneath, and unfastened it and looped the sword through it. “That’s fifty taels. Thanks.”
The five or six shop assistants, as well as the shopmaster, stood there dumbfounded. Wenchang went to the furnace and very patiently heated up the blade in the fire. As he waited, he asked the stupefied shopmaster, “I know about Dipper Mountain. Does anyone here know it?”
The shopmaster said mechanically, “How could I not? There are many caves above and below there. It’s said to be a cultivation site for ancient immortals, and one can frequently see strange white deer appear there. But it’s just rumors. Who’s ever seen an immortal?”
Wenchang kept nodding his head as he said, “There are five caves above and below. One goes to Kunlun, another to Longshan, one to Wudang, one to Qingcheng, and one goes to Chang’an. Heheh! Of course that’s a myth. There’s no legendary thousand-year toads in those caves. They say that they look like a thousand-year-old toad, but no one’s ever seen one. But there’s a lot of frogs there, and there are many myths about it because the mountain was recorded in Daoist scriptures. Throughout the ages there have been Daoist cultivators who have lived in seclusion there. It’s not unusual that there would be some Daoist cultivators there with Daoist weapons. If I guess correctly, this sword was left behind in the mortal world by an ancient cultivator when he became an immortal. Discarded among so many toads for so long, it became stained with toad venom, and thus took on this strange appearance.”
“That’s some story, but it’s really difficult to believe.”
“Heheh! I hope I’m right so that I didn’t just waste fifty taels of silver. Fifty taels is enough to buy two good swords.”
“Do you regret it, sir?” The shopmaster clutched the silver ingots and backed up.
Wenchang went to the anvil and laughed. “Shopmaster, you are the one who will regret it.” He laid the sword on the anvil and struck it five times. The sixth time it clanged like a dragon’s moan and small flecks of metal oxide scale flew off. The sound was booming, loud enough to make one’s stomach drop.
The blued steel shone, the blade iridescent with hints of green. It gleamed and flickered, reflecting a cold, eerie light. The twang of the blade was like the sound of distant thunder.
There was a shink and a corner of the anvil was lopped off by Wenchang’s sword. The green light quickly drew back, and Wenchang used some mystical handwork to toss the sword back into the scabbard without a sound. He roared with laughter. “This sword has a name engraved on it. It’s called Jasper Dragonslayer. It can’t cut through stone or pierce bronze, it’s not invincible, but no mystical blade will be able to damage it. Use one catty of strength and it will increase its might one-tenth. Use your full force and it can damage iron and peel copper. Hahahaha! Thanks, see you later.” And he flew out of the shop.
Chapter 119: Sword Shopping
Bald Flood Dragon stood to ask his guest to stay. “Master Zhou, there’s no rush, why not stay awhile and have a drink? Or could it be you find out fare unsatisfactory?”
“How could I? It’s just that I have another important matter to attend to tonight. I will come back and invite you all to a banquet at a later date.” Eagle Talon Zhou Cheng poured a bowl of wine as he said this and raised it to Wenchang. “Tonight, Master Sima of King Yama Gully in Baocheng has sent for me. I must feign civility and see him. Perhaps tomorrow if I am free I can call on you, brother, and in the future…”
Bald Flood Dragon’s expression turned frosty and he cut in, “Master Zhou, are you friends with King Yama Incarnate Sima Qi?”
Eagle Talon Zhou Cheng shook his head with a wry smile. “No! Last year he caused some trouble in this prefecture and we had it out. Then later on Frosty Sword Tang Yi of Northwest Escort Agency stepped in to mediate, and we dropped the matter unsettled.”
“Then, then why did he send someone to invite you over?”
“Apparently, a resigned official by the family name of Shi is taking his family over the gallery roads into Sichuan. They want to squeeze some profits out of them, so they sent someone to me hoping no one from Hanzhong prefecture will show up and give them a hard time, and they promised…”
Wenchang became more and more alarmed as he went on, but he remained calm. He interjected, “Master Zhou, does this resigned official by the name of Shi happen to be the former vice commissioner of the right in Xi’an prefecture?”
“Most likely. Brother Cai, do you know about this?”
“Of course I know. Master Zhou, how are you planning to respond?”
Eagle Talon Zhou shook his head, smiling wryly. “As long as Master Sima doesn’t do anything in this prefecture then I can’t do anything about it. Even if I wanted to, I lack the ability.”
“Master Zhou, what is your view on this matter?” Wenchang asked. He was making up his mind, devising a plan.
But he knew there would be trouble in the days to come. He would have to show himself. The road ahead for the Shi family was an arduous one.
Eagle Talon Zhou hmphed. “If Master Sima is in the area killing and pillaging, I’m not keen to look for trouble. Besides, who made this Shi fellow become a high official of the imperial court? That’s enough as it them.”
Wenchang’s eyes flickered. “Is the messenger from King Yama Gully still here?”
“Still at my home. Eh? Brother Cai, do you and the Shi family…”
“Please tell the messenger that Vice Commissioner Shi is my quarry, The Fugitive’s. If anyone tries to interfere, heads will roll. I’m going by ancient road through Yegu and along the gallery road to Baocheng. I plan to wait on the road to Sichuan to strike. Unless Sima Qi is looking for trouble, tell him to keep his hands out of it.”
Eagle Talon was taken aback. “Shit! They’re planning to strike at noon tomorrow and take the prisoners and plunder back to King Yama Gully. Won’t it be too late to tell the messenger now?”
Wenchang pushed his chair back and stood up and said to Bald Flood Dragon, “Brother Ling, can you have someone get my pipa and 100 taels of silver. I must leave at once. Quick!”
“Brother Cai, it’s fifty miles or more from here to Baocheng,” Eagle Talon Zhou said. “You’ll never make it.”
“I’m going to King Yama Gully,” Wenchang said directly.
“Please listen to me. I will send someone at top speed to report back, while you, Brother Cai, if you travel twenty miles every double hour you can reach the ambush spot first. That’s better than going to King Yama Gully, which is swarming with men. Getting in there will be easy, but not getting out!”
“Where is the ambush spot?”
“Thirty miles or more to the north of the city at Bao River Gorge. The gallery road is in good condition, but it’s still dangerous. There’s a precipice on one side and falling rocks on the other. It’s easy to find, Cao Cao once wrote “Falling Rock” on the cliff face, so you won’t need to ask for directions.”
The terrain was flat from Hanzhong to Baocheng. Baocheng was the center junction of the southern gallery road. The ancient Yegu path to the northeast converged there as well. The terminal point of the ancient road was Bao Valley fifty miles north of the county. King Yama Gully was behind that on the southwest face. From the south it was only ten miles or so to the ambush spot. The others had likely already prepared to settle down there. Wenchang hurried along. He had to get there first.
It was a good thing he had went to Hanzhong. If he had not run into Bald Flood Dragon he would have regretted it for the rest of his life. Never in a million years did he expect someone was planning to attack the Shi family on the road.
He reached Baocheng at daybreak. In two double hours he had gone sixty miles nonstop. He was fast alright, but also a bit tired.
King Yama Incarnate Sima Qi was pretty much one of Black Flag Sovereign’s diehard followers. Warrior God had told him the gist of it, so Wenchang was worried.
He relaxed once he reached Baocheng. He could make it the thirty miles or so in half a double hour if he really needed to, and there was still a lot of time before noon. He had made up his mind to slaughter King Yama Incarnate. Showing his might right away would make the journey much easier.
He was wavering a little. No one could openly step out and aid the Shi family. If he did then they would wonder why he followed them all this way before striking, since attacking them would be such an easy thing for him.
Who cares! he thought. I’ll deal with that when the time comes. Maybe I can fake an injury and find some excuse for why I couldn’t strike right away. Ah! I need to find a weapon first.
Baocheng was a city of the plains, wild, open country. Looking north, there were endless tall mountains ten miles or so away. On the plains, wheat billowed and swayed. To the east was Bao River, rolling its way south.
This was the ancient hometown of the seductress Bao Si of old. It was said that Baocheng had some of the prettiest women in the world, and so on.
The county town was not big, and across from Bao River was the foot of mountains. There were actually many indigenous mountain dwellers here, and there was a wooden bridge that was convenient for visitors, and so the city and the county were pulled together into one administrative region.
Wenchang went to the north avenue. In the distance he saw a smithy with an eye-catching signboard. On it were carved the words: “Baocheng Blacksmith. Specializing in tillage implements, horseshoes, and finely crafted and polished weapons and concealed implements.”
On either side of the main entrance was pasted a half of a couplet written in bold cursive script, which together said: “World-famous Craftsmanship, Number-one in Hanzhong”. It was a bold statement.
In the front part of the blacksmith shop were shelves of goods, and the forge raw materials area were in the back.
On the right side facing the street, there was a smelting furnace with leather bellows puffing, coals blazing, and a mastersmith bare to the waist along with a young man were using a large and small hammer to beat out a large iron harrow. The mastersmith held the rapidly cooling implement in his tongs and he dipped it in a clay-water mixture to quench it, steam billowing out of the bubbling white froth with a sizzle.
Wenchang wore a simple azure robe with a small bag slung under his arm as he strode in through the doors. He was proud by nature and big and tall in stature, not a common-looking fellow. The cloth of his robe could not conceal his heroic spirit. The shopmaster had sharp eyes. He came forward to greet him with a smile. “You’re here early, sir, please come in and have some tea.”
Wenchang cupped a hand over his fist in greeting. “Excuse me, I would like to purchase a sword. May I take a look around?”
Yes yes, please sir, have a look at our wares. Do you want one forged?”
“No, I’m on my way somewhere. I need one ready-made.”
The shopmaster went to the weapons rack and turned and sized up Wenchang, then with a faint smile, he refrained from selecting a sword from hanging from the rack and instead opened a tall cabinet door to the side and gestured to it. “Sir, select any you’d like and see if any is suitable. These are all well-tempered steel of the highest quality. The lightest is six catties and four ounces. The heaviest is nine catties and nine ounces.”
The sword of six catties and four ounces had a thin, narrow blade, useful only for light and quick strikes. It would be impractical for parrying. Usually famous masters used this kind of sword. The sword of nine catties and nine ounces could be used to ward off common hard implements, requiring forceful thrusts and vigorous strikes. Mostly it was seasoned sword experts who used these. But in general, even a third-rate character liked to use the lighter six-catty sword because he lacked arm strength, and he could also assume the name of a famous person. All he needed to do was frighten or intimidate an ignorant, amateur fighter, and he’d be all set.
There were over a dozen swords in their scabbards in the cabinet. One of them was artistically ornamented. Skarkskin scabbard in a gold plated case chased with cloud patterns. The upper part of the handguard was a semicircle, and the lower part projected outward, making it convenient for hanging. Silver inlay threaded around the hilt, and the pommel was an engraved cloudhead in bronze with a big red tassel hanging from it. It came with a silk and sinew strap for affixing it to one’s waistband.
Another sword next to it was in an ebony scabbard covered in snakeskin, the skin mottled and worn in places, exposing the wood underneath. It was hideous. The chape of the scabbard was bound in some sort of ordinary bronze, and the handguard was an eight-petal lotus design that curved inward, also made of ordinary bronze. In other words, it could slip another blade, but couldn’t hang it up. The hilt was made of the same strange metal, like iron but not, like bronze but not. It had been engraved after casting, engraved into the shape of a bizarre tail and a six-legged thunderbird. The strange tail shape had bizarre grip indentations so that it could be held from either side. The cloudhead pommel had no tassel. It was really shabby.
Wenchang looked them over briefly, then reached out and took the ancient sword. The shopmaster chuckled and shook his head. “Many masters have selected that piece of scrap iron, only to put it back down, disappointed. Odd.”
Wenchang thumbed the leafspring and the sword popped loose silently right into the palm of his hand. He started at first, then thought, Heavens! Excellent craftsmanship. The maker of this sword was extraordinary.
He drew the sword from the scabbard without a sound. He didn’t need to look at it to say, “The throat and inner clip are both pure gold.”
“Ah, sir, so you noticed!” the shopmaster said, amazed.
Wenchang ignored him and carefully inspected the blade. The blade was shabby. It was mottled and the blued steel was gray in places, corroded so that it looked like frogskin. What kind of sword was this? But it was heavy in his hand, not less than ten catties.
He flicked it and it gave back a muffled sound, not at all like the twang of metal. He was a weapons expert, so he couldn’t help but wonder at it. For a sword this heavy, it must not be corrosion!
“Ooh! Odd!” he mumbled to himself.
He flicked it a few more times and thought for a moment. He harnessed his qi and squeezed the blade with two fingers, putting internal force into the blade. Soon, he felt his fingertips were sliding. he loosened his grip and looked. Strange! The corrosive spots were still there, same as before, but he felt his heart jerk.
He smiled and nodded and held the blade close to his ear and harnessed his qi and gave it another good flick.
To others it sounded muffled like before, but it resounded like thunder in his ear.
“May I ask where this strange sword came from?” he asked.
A woodcutter found it on Southern Dipper Mountain in Gucheng County to the east of here. He sold it to me for scrap. It looked so different from modern swords, so I held onto it and put it here for customers to look at.”
“How much?”
“What? You want to buy it, sir?”
“Yes.”
“Sir, you really want to buy this useless sword? To slaughter chickens? Hahaha!” The shopmaster couldn’t stop laughing.
“How much.” Wenchang’s face was expressionless.
“You really want to buy it, sir?”
“I never joke.”
“Okay! I bought it for 100 coppers. Take a look and tell me what you think, sir.”
“Give me an exact figure.”
“One tael of silver,” the shopmaster said seriously.
Wenchang took out five ingots of silver, each worth ten taels, and put them in the shopmaster’s hands, then he lifted his waistband, revealing the leather belt underneath, and unfastened it and looped the sword through it. “That’s fifty taels. Thanks.”
The five or six shop assistants, as well as the shopmaster, stood there dumbfounded. Wenchang went to the furnace and very patiently heated up the blade in the fire. As he waited, he asked the stupefied shopmaster, “I know about Dipper Mountain. Does anyone here know it?”
The shopmaster said mechanically, “How could I not? There are many caves above and below there. It’s said to be a cultivation site for ancient immortals, and one can frequently see strange white deer appear there. But it’s just rumors. Who’s ever seen an immortal?”
Wenchang kept nodding his head as he said, “There are five caves above and below. One goes to Kunlun, another to Longshan, one to Wudang, one to Qingcheng, and one goes to Chang’an. Heheh! Of course that’s a myth. There’s no legendary thousand-year toads in those caves. They say that they look like a thousand-year-old toad, but no one’s ever seen one. But there’s a lot of frogs there, and there are many myths about it because the mountain was recorded in Daoist scriptures. Throughout the ages there have been Daoist cultivators who have lived in seclusion there. It’s not unusual that there would be some Daoist cultivators there with Daoist weapons. If I guess correctly, this sword was left behind in the mortal world by an ancient cultivator when he became an immortal. Discarded among so many toads for so long, it became stained with toad venom, and thus took on this strange appearance.”
“That’s some story, but it’s really difficult to believe.”
“Heheh! I hope I’m right so that I didn’t just waste fifty taels of silver. Fifty taels is enough to buy two good swords.”
“Do you regret it, sir?” The shopmaster clutched the silver ingots and backed up.
Wenchang went to the anvil and laughed. “Shopmaster, you are the one who will regret it.” He laid the sword on the anvil and struck it five times. The sixth time it clanged like a dragon’s moan and small flecks of metal oxide scale flew off. The sound was booming, loud enough to make one’s stomach drop.
The blued steel shone, the blade iridescent with hints of green. It gleamed and flickered, reflecting a cold, eerie light. The twang of the blade was like the sound of distant thunder.
There was a shink and a corner of the anvil was lopped off by Wenchang’s sword. The green light quickly drew back, and Wenchang used some mystical handwork to toss the sword back into the scabbard without a sound. He roared with laughter. “This sword has a name engraved on it. It’s called Jasper Dragonslayer. It can’t cut through stone or pierce bronze, it’s not invincible, but no mystical blade will be able to damage it. Use one catty of strength and it will increase its might one-tenth. Use your full force and it can damage iron and peel copper. Hahahaha! Thanks, see you later.” And he flew out of the shop.
