Realms In The Firmament

Besides… the spear was for his future father-in-law.

This act perfectly described; ‘fertile soil never went to the fields of strangers’ [1].

Ye Xiao felt happy about it.

“Well… If you really like it…” The shopkeeper thought for a while and said, “750 thousand silver bars. What do you think?”

The shopkeeper was obviously raising the price.

Ye Xiao knew it as well. The spear might not be ordinary, but for the weapons in the market, the prices of the best ones were no higher than 50 thousand.

Although that spear was far better than those weapons, the price should not be above 500 thousand!

The difference of ten times had reached the limit!

It should be stated that spending 500 thousand for just a spear… would be simply squandering money. A weapon with its spirit broken wasn’t worthy of that.

In Ye Xiao’s estimation, the spear was only worth about 250 thousand. That was already an exaggerated price.

The shopkeeper knew that Ye Xiao had sharp eyes, yet he still stated a price like that. He had felt uncomfortable because Ye Xiao would have the needles and knives for free, so he intended to earn some money from the spear!

He looked at Ye Xiao with a smile. Apparently, he was waiting for Ye Xiao to bargain.

[The price must have scared the guy. He will either be angry or talk a lot to bargain. If he really wants it, it will surely take me a long time to finish the deal. However, he spent nothing and took two weapons from me…

Even though the needles and knives are defective and nobody ever wants them, they are still the last pieces of the great master. He wouldn’t dare to bargain drastically for the spear, would he?

No matter what price you make, I will at least gain some profits. That will fix my loss.]

“A fair price.” Contrary to the shopkeeper’s expectation, Ye Xiao agreed without hesitation, “750 thousand, right? That’s it then. I will take it!”

The shopkeeper was shocked and skeptical, because he couldn’t truly believe what he had just heard.

He never thought that there was a fool like this guy in the world. Not even in his dreams.

A spear, which was slightly better than average quality, was priced for 750 thousand silver bars! The guy didn’t even bargain, he just agreed without any hesitation!

However, he didn’t know that from the moment he spoke out the price of 750 thousand, he had already lost the opportunity for the Divine Arms Mill to truly rise in the Land of Han-Yang!

Ye Xiao always discriminated between love and hate. He paid debts with gratitude to friends, and with savagery to his enemies.

The reason why he hesitated when they were talking about the needles and knives was because he was thinking about whether or not to accept them. And, he finally chose to accept the needles and knives. That meant that he owed a favor to Shen Lian-Zi and also agreed to his request.

He had decided to keep an eye on the Divine Arms Mill. If they behaved themselves, he wouldn’t mind helping them truly rise or taking them under his protection once he became strong enough.

However, he wouldn’t mind it if he was to return the favor with money. That would reduce a lot of extra efforts on his side.

A favor was the debt that was the most difficult to pay!

If it was possible to return a favor with money, it was the best bargain!

For Ye Xiao, money was the cheapest thing after all.

To end the connection with 750 thousand silver bars, that was really the best bargain!

He discriminated between love and hate indeed, yet he was not a stubborn man.

Even so, if the Divine Arms Mill had troubles in the future, Ye Xiao would offer his help.

However, it would only be similar to that of the departed master’s last words… only a ‘favor’!

Then he could comfort his heart by having the debt paid.

He took out some notes and counted 750 thousand silver bars worth of money. He gave the notes to the shopkeeper with pleasure and relief, and then reached his hand to pick up the spear. He said, “I hope we can see each other again.” Then he turned and left.

The shopkeeper held the stack of notes and watched Ye Xiao’s back. He didn’t feel happy about earning a lot. Instead, he felt like he had done something terribly wrong…

However, that feeling just flashed away. After that, what he could feel was only the great pleasure of gaining so much money!

[Yah hah hah. Wealth!

I gained over 650 thousand by selling only a single spear… With that material and quality, counting in all the extra cost, the spear costed me no more than 100 thousand…]

Ye Xiao walked out the shop with the spear in hand. He casually swung the spear and split it into three parts. One part was the spearhead while the others were only metal sticks.

There were two sets of circular joints to reconnect the three parts. The spear could easily be rejoined with a sound of ‘ka’. It was tightly joined and was able to bear all kind of strikes. As long as the strikes were below the strike-resistance threshold of the spear, the joints could handle them well…

There were some light patterns on the spear emitting a sense of coolness. Ye Xiao knew that there must be some Wind Copper mixed into the spear during the tempering. It allowed the spear to absorb the sweat in the hands during the fight.

This design prevented the spear from slipping in the user’s hands and causing mistakes. Besides, it made the spear extremely comfortable to hold. That was really an original and convenient idea.

Two small words were engraved on the sphere.

‘Hundred Fights!’

It weighed 78 kilograms!

Looking back to the entrance of the Divine Arms Mill, Ye Xiao showed a indescribable smile on the corner of his mouth. He then left with big strides, holding the Hundred Fights Spear.

…

Ye Xiao didn’t go home immediately. He called a carriage and went to the Palace of Hua-Yang with the spear.

He packed the three parts of the spear with a big cloth bag and with the bag in hand, he spoke his name in front of the Palace of Hua-Yang.

Besides delivering the spear, he naturally had another purpose here.

…

Prince Hua-Yang was having a meeting with his men discussing the war affair in order to make a military strategy.

Although the royal decree hadn’t been made yet, Prince Hua-Yang knew that his presence in that battle was unavoidable this time.

At the moment, it was already the last part of the meeting. Prince Hua-Yang said, “… HA HA. All these years, our passion for fights has never fallen. Since so, when the decree arrives, you and I, my friends, let’s fight side by side in the battlefield once again!”

Everybody stood up with respect, “We will follow the great Prince Hua-Yang to sweep the battlefield!”

Prince Hua-Yang laughed loudly with a great heroic spirit.

At the moment, someone reported, “The son of the General Ye Nan-Tian, Ye Xiao, asks for admittance.”

“The son-in-law comes to see his father-in-law. We shall not disturb you of enjoying your harmonious family relationships.” The guys scattered while laughing and joking.

In the battle or the war camp, Prince Hua-Yang had strict enforcement of orders and prohibitions. But personally, he never went about with his head high in the air to his men. They were like brothers to him and they always talked freely. Usually, they were not scared of him. When there was a chance to make a joke on him, they would certainly do it.

Prince Hua-Yang laughed, “You bastards never let go of the chance… All right. Off you all. Let me be clear. When the day comes, if any of you is left behind… You know what will happen!”

The guys all laughed and left right away.

Prince Hua-Yang then changed his expression and said, “What reason does the guy come here for? Take him to the reception room.”

And then he walked to the reception room himself with vigorous strides.

In fact, Prince Hua-Yang was not so happy about his daughter’s marriage.

He only had one child, yet she was going to marry such a worthless jerk…

If he gave no concern about the fact that Ye Nan-Tian had saved his life… If he hadn’t suggest this engagement with a whim that day, he wouldn’t have been driven mad by the little foppish fool of the house of Ye in the recent years…

Prince Hua-Yang was known as the No.1 general in the Kingdom of Chen, the War God of the Kingdom. No one was able to challenge his position.

That was acknowledged by all the people in the kingdom!

However, only Prince Hua-Yang knew in his own heart. To command an army in a battle, to devise military strategies, to fight in the boundless battlefield… In any aspect, he was inferior to Ye Nan-Tian…

But Ye Nantian had always remained obscure. It was even a bit scary how he had maintained such a low profile. He never initiatively revealed anything about himself…

“A great man like Ye Nan-Tian, how can he have a son like Ye Xiao. That is really ‘a hero father has a stupid son’… Damn it!” Prince Hua-Yang held his forehead because of headache and murmured.

He had decided the marriage because he had thought that ‘a tiger father would not beget a dog’ [2]. Yet he had never thought that the man who was both brave and resourceful would actually have such a worthless son…

Now it was too late for regret.

…

“What are you here for?” Prince Hua-Yang was indifferent. His squared face showed no emotions.

Prince Hua-Yang looked down upon Ye Xiao from the bottom of his heart, but a general should stay calm and collected all the time. He should never show his anger from the heart and he should be indifferent to everything.

This was Ye Xiao’s first time to see Prince Hua-Yang, his future father-in-law.

Princess Hua-Yang, wife of Prince Hua-Yang was also sitting in the room, looking up and down at her future son-in-law.

She saw that Ye Xiao behave well. He didn’t looked like the foppish lad as the rumor described. And she found that he had a pretty face, acted elegantly like a young spark. She already had a favorable impression of him.

“Nothing important actually.” Ye Xiao smiled and said, “I heard that the battle is in the south and the capital is in disturbance because of that… I am afraid that the good days are about to end.”

Prince Hua-Yang looked at his future son-in-law and spoke blandly, “There is war in the south. The court and the public are in turbulence… I am afraid this has nothing to do with you.”

His words were rather straight, even dismissive. He was obviously satirizing that Ye Xiao was a stupid black sheep who knew nothing about hardships of the people and was only seeking fun and fooling around in his own life.

“How does it have nothing to do with me? It definitely has something to do with me. A great serious thing.” Ye Xiao spoke seriously, “As long as you leave for battle, my good days in the capital will end…”

Prince Hua-Yang couldn’t help but scornfully laugh, “It turns out you know about this point. You are slightly better than those who are worse than dog shits.”

“I also know that if anything unlucky happens to you, my days will be far worse.” Ye Xiao continued speaking ‘seriously’.

…

—————

[1] ‘fertile soil … of aliens’ (肥水不流外人田) means one should not leave the benefits to the strangers.

[2] ‘a tiger father would not beget a dog son’ (虎父无犬子) means there will be no laggard among the children of a brave or talented men.

3rd guaranteed chapter of the week

Editors: Alpha, Arch