Chapter 60: Fiery Competition!
“Ah! ——”
The crowd screamed in shock. This move came too suddenly, and no one was able to react to the sudden twist in the situation.
“Not good!”
Wei Hao’s face went pale in astonishment. Just like what Wang Chong said, he sliced through the ‘metal mountain’ with a single blow of his sword. He didn’t expect that anyone would attack him.
Furthermore, the person possessed a higher cultivation than him. He wasn’t a match for him at all!
Weng!
In the blink of an eye, Wei Hao instinctively grabbed the sword with both hands and raised it above his head.
Klang!
The greatsword split in two, and the tip flew nearly ten zhang away!
“Impossible! I’ve been forging swords for nearly ten years, how could there be a stronger and sharper sword than mine!”
The full-bearded bulky man stared at the broken sword in his hands. He was clearly extremely agitated. Right after saying those words, he spurted a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground.
Wei Hao was stunned for a moment before he understood what was going on. The full-bearded bulky man wasn’t trying to have a go at him, but the Wootz steel sword in his hands.
“Hahaha! This is the sword my brother forged, the world’s number one sword! Who still wants to give it a try!”
After a moment of silence, Wei Hao suddenly turned around and lifted the Wootz steel sword high in the air with a proud expression.
Wei Hao’s heart had been leaping nervously for this duel. He was concerned that Wang Chong’s sword may not be able to match up to the others, and he would owe an astronomical debt as a result.
Wei Hao could never have thought that the sword his brother forged would be so formidable.
Despite the members from numerous swordsmithing clans, weapon shops, and workshop being present, not a single one of their swords were able to match up to his brother. In fact, even the savage-looking full-bearded man spurted blood out of anger, unable to believe that there could be a stronger sword than him in the world!
With such a person as his brother, Wei Hao felt incomparably proud.
“This is my brother! This is my brother! Did you see that, did you all see that?”
Wei Hao stood before the entrance of the Bluebottle Pavilion haughtily. If he could, he would make the entire world hear this words.
“Hahaha, is there still anyone else? If you won’t challenge me, I will challenge you all in my brother’s stead!”
Wei Hao laughed heartily. Then, he leapt to the second floor and using the railing as a stepping stone, he jumped straight up to the third floor.
“Not good!”
All of the faces of the swordsmiths who had brought their best swords to participate in the duel gamble turned pale upon realizing what Wei Hao was going to do.
“Wait a minute!”
“We admit our defeat!”
What a joke! Even the Zhang, Lu, Huang, Cheng Clans who had centuries of history behind them were unable to stand up to them, needless to say, small clans like theirs.
Even if they had lost in the duel gamble, they should at least protect their own swords!
Shua shua shua, they immediately charged forth to retrieve their swords, but they were too late. Klang! A cold gleam flashed across the air and the remaining dozen of swords was immediately cut into and fell onto the ground.
“Hahaha, I’ll see if you all dare to mock my brother again!”
Wei Hao did a flip and landed steadily on the railing. With the Wootz steel in his hands, he chuckled heartily.
In the past few days, Wei Hao had suffered the contempt, ridicule and mock of all these people. This chance didn’t come by easily, so he wouldn’t give up on it just like that.
“Wei gongzi, what’s the point of doing this? We’ve already admitted our defeat!”
An elder from a swordsmithing clan glanced at Wei Hao with an awful complexion. If it was anyone else, they would definitely step forward to teach him a lesson.
But Wei Hao was the son of the Duke of Wei. He was of noble birth, and they weren’t qualified to lay their hands on him.
“Why? Your heart aches for your sword? Hehe, I believe that you said that my brother was still a brat previously, am I wrong?”
Wei Hao snapped.
The elder’s face immediately darkened and he shut his mouth, saying no more.
“Haha, alright, Wei Hao, come here.”
Wang Chong beckoned him.
Just the reactions of those in the surroundings told Wang Chong that he had completely fulfilled his purpose for conducting this sword duel gamble.
Peng! Wei Hao leapt from the railing and landed on the third floor of the pavilion. A cold gleam shimmered from the Wootz steel sword in his hands. Everyone, except for Wang Chong avoided the cold shine of the sword as though it was a poisonous scorpion, staring at it fearfully.
Wei Hao’s sword was incomparably sharp. Since it was able to cut through a metal mountain of a human’s height, naturally, if it fell on them, they would easily lose a limb or two.
No matter how high their cultivation was, it was impossible for their bodies to be harder than metal.
Wang Chong smiled in contempt. The attitudes of those here differed greatly from before!
“Wang Chong!”
Wei Hao placed the sword back into the scabbard and returned it to Wang Chong. His respect for Wang Chong had already reached new heights.
Wang Chong had truly given him a pleasant surprise in the sword duel gamble this time.
If say, Wang Chong had earned Wei Hao’s trust when he offered him guidance that helped him to defeat Gao Fei at the Eight Gods Pavilion previously, then this sword duel gamble had made Wei Hao completely submit to Wang Chong in awe.
Back then, Wang Chong had bought the Hyderabad ores from the Sindhi monks at a price of 90000 gold taels, borrowed a sum of 1700 gold taels from Eight Gods Pavilion, and taking into account this sword duel gamble as well, if he had lost, he would have to shoulder a debt of several hundred thousands of gold taels…
All of the incidents that happened regarding this Wootz steel sword flashed across Wei Hao’s mind.
Wei Hao had to admit that his good buddy whom he had grown up with possessed a quality which he didn’t have. Whenever Wang Chong decided on a matter, the guts and determination he displayed far surpassed Wei Hao thought he could ever possess.
Wang Chong would never know that it was this instant which Wei Hao began to place his absolute trust in Wang Chong.
“Alright, everyone! The sword duel gamble has come to an end. There should be no intact swords now! According to the rules, everyone has to pay 1200 gold taels. I believe that given your standing and reputation, none of you will default on the payment, will you?”
Wang Chong turned around and scanned the surroundings.
Surprisingly, no one said anything. They were frightened of that teenage boy before them!
Rather, more accurately, they were frightened by the Wootz steel sword in his hands.
“Manager Luo, since you’re well-connected in the capital and you know a lot of different people, I will leave this matter to you. Please help me collect the bets!”
“Gongzi, rest assured. Leave this to me.”
A voice echoed from the corner, revealing a tinge of admiration.
“Wei Hao, let’s go! We shall celebrate today!”
Wang Chong chuckled. With a fling of his sleeves, he didn’t leave by the stairs. Instead, he leapt directly from the third floor of the Bluebottle Pavilion.
(Hehe, is the third level 6 meters or 9 meters away from the surface? I bet someone will definitely get the wrong answer. ^-^)
Behind him, Wei Hao chuckled and followed behind.
Boom!
Seeing Wang Chong leap from the third floor, the crowd outside the Bluebottle Pavilion immediately erupted into cheers.
“Look, that man has come down!”
“Excuse me, let me pass through… I can’t see anything!”
“Like I care! The Number One Sword in the World! … To think that it was crafted by such a young man! Truly, my worldly horizons has been expanded today!”
“You truly can’t judge a person by his looks. For such a young man to defeat so many prestigious and established clans, if not for the fact that I had witnessed it personally, I would never have believed it!”
…
All ridicule and mock had disappeared, replaced by a sea of praises. At this instant, the arrogant ‘fool’ from before has suddenly become an enigmatic expert.
Hearing those words, Wang Chong’s mood lifted. Without saying anymore, he walked toward the carriage parked outside along with Wei Hao.
“Wait a moment!”
From the Bluebottle Pavilion, upon seeing Wang Chong leaving, Zhao Fengchen immediately leapt from the Bluebottle Pavilion and landed softly on the ground. Then, he immediately rushed toward the carriage.
“Wang gongzi! I want to buy your sword! I’m willing to offer 20000 gold taels!”
Zhao Fengchen stretched out two fingers and said affirmatively.
Boom!
Upon hearing this voice, the crowd immediately broke into a commotion. 20000 gold taels! Someone was willing to purchase a sword for 20000 gold taels! It wasn’t 10000 gold taels, but 20000 gold taels!
It was even higher than Wang Chong’s final price!
Before the crowd could recover from their shock, another voice echoed from the top of the Bluebottle Pavilion.
“25000 gold taels! Wang gongzi, I am willing to pay 25000 gold taels for your sword!”
The words ‘25000 gold taels’, as though a gigantic boulder falling into an ocean, generated huge waves among the crowds. Wei Hao nearly staggered and fell to the ground.
Wang Chong had also stopped his footsteps.
‘25000 gold taels’, this was a price 5000 gold taels higher than the one listed previously. Upon hearing the voice, Zhao Fengchen’s face darkened. He turned over and saw a bearded Western Regions merchant leaping down from the Bluebottle Pavilion.
It was the Charax Spasinu merchant, Mosaide!
“Wang gongzi, please allow me to express my respect toward you. Your swordsmithing skills are profound and incredible, it is something which I’ve never seen before. If you can sell your sword to me, you will be my eternal friend!”
Mosaide placed a hand on his chest and bowed ‘earnestly’.
“Mad, this is madness! To pay 25000 gold taels for just a single sword! That’s money that’s enough for me to survive for ten lifetimes!”
“No matter how sharp the sword is, it shouldn’t be worth that much money!”
…
The crowd gathered outside the Bluebottle Pavilion were completely stunned by the prices offered, especially the weapon traders. They couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
They had worked in the weapon industry for their entire life, but they never knew that someone would be vying to buy a weapon that was valued at above ten thousand gold taels.
Equally shocked were the prestigious swordsmithing clan members, managers of the workshops and weapon shops. Clearly, they didn’t expect to see such a sight as well.
Even Huang Jiao, who didn’t have a good impression of Wang Chong, was stunned speechless.
25000 gold taels was a price beyond his recognition. He has never conducted a business of this scale before.
As for Cheng Youqing and the other swordsmithing clan elders, even though they didn’t say anything, their faces were grim. Currently, their attention was completely absorbed into the matter.
By instincts, they could feel that this sight before them was going to revolutionize the swordsmithing clans and the industry as a whole.
“Hehe!”
Mosaide’s body didn’t move at all, but his gaze had already taken in the reactions of the crowd around him. 25000 gold taels for a sword, these people must have thought that he was mad.
But only Mosaide knew how rare and valuable this opportunity was.
What Mosaide was seeing wasn’t a sword, but a swordsmithing technology that was beyond this era.
If he let this opportunity slip by him, he might regret it for his entire life. The value of this sword wasn’t something that could be measured with mere money.
“When our Charax Spasinu finally obtains this technology, you all will finally understand how wise my decision today was!”
Mosaide thought.
“30000 gold taels!”
Just when Mosaide had thought of the matter, a voice sounded by his ear, and its content rumbled in his ear as though thunder. Zhao Fengchen had upped his bid, increasing it to 30000 gold taels!
Even for Mosaide, his face couldn’t help but darken upon hearing the price offered.