“Huh? Owner Zhang’s blacksmith is closed, why hasn’t Senior Sister Ling’er come out?”
“I heard rumours that Owner Zhang and Senior Sister Ling’er were looking at each other affectionately, could it be…”
“Nonsense! Why would Senior Sister Ling’er fall for Zhang Zhi, a loser? I’m more handsome than him 10,000 times!”
“Retch…”
The cultivators outside the blacksmith failed to reach an answer, so they curiously stuck their ears by the door, attempting to find out what was going on inside.
However, what they heard shocked them, their faces were as pale as paper.
Han Ling’er said, “Woah! It’s so big! And hard!”
“Try to touch its head, this little guy will spit something out…” Zhang Zhi said.
“Ew! It’s on my hand! It’s so sticky and it smells disgusting!” Han Ling’er’s surprised squeal followed.
The cultivators outside the blacksmith filled the gap with their steamy imagination. A lot of them were furious when they heard it.
Han Ling’er was considered the goddess among the male disciples of Lingtai Sect, they would never allow someone like Zhang Zhi to ravage her like this!
The group started to knock on the door and shouted, “Zhang Zhi! You monster! Get out here!”
A while later, Zhang Zhi opened up the door and looked at the agitated cultivators with a confused look.
“What’s the ruckus about? We are closed.”
“Zhang Zhi, I used to respect you because you are a man of talents, I did not expect you to be this cheap and dirty! How dare you force out Senior Sister Ling’er to…to… do something so filthy! I’m punishing you on behalf of all of us!”
“I’m going to chop off your little weenie!”
The cultivators were at their boiling point, they drew their swords and tried to condemn Zhang Zhi for his actions.
Cheap? Dirty? Something filthy?
The terms confused Zhang Zhi even more. “What did I do?”
“You know what you did!”
“What is that big and hard thing that you are referring to!?”
It was then Han Ling’er heard the commotion going on at the entrance. She came out with a confused look and a little armadillo in her arms.
Zhang Zhi looked at the little armadillo in her arms and related it to what the cultivators were saying. He immediately knew what was going on.
He looked at the cultivators in disdain and said, “I found an armadillo in my shop just now, it’s big and hard because of its size and tough scales.”
The cultivators were stunned. They looked at the armadillo in Han Ling’er’s arms, it was indeed quite big.
Regardless, the cultivators continued in an angry tone, “Nonsense! What kind of thing will spit when you touch its head?”
“And what is that sticky thing that you got on Senior Sister Ling’er’s hands…”
“You jerk! Pervert!”
Zhang Zhi sighed. He took the armadillo from Han Ling’er and touched its head.
The armadillo looked like a sulking baby when touched and it started to spit, its saliva splashed on the guy who talked the loudest.
The cultivators were petrified. They looked at the armadillo in surprise and then shifted their attention to Han Ling’er. Everyone was embarrassed when they realized it was just a misunderstanding.
“Ahem… Well this is awkward. Oh, I think I need to go back to cultivating!”
“Wang, shouldn’t you be researching on how to increase the reproduction rate of spirit hogs via mating? Come, let’s have a talk…”
The cultivators laughed awkwardly before getting back in line in front of the blacksmith.
On the other hand, Zhang Zhi was wrongly accused because of their filthy imagination and he did not plan to let everyone off the hook.
He sighed and said, “Sigh. I’m so exhausted, I think I should close shop tomorrow.”
“Owner Zhang! You can’t!”
“Owner Zhang, I’m sorry! I’ll slap myself…”
The cultivators started to plead and beg but Zhang Zhi did not care about them, he closed the door once more.
Han Ling’er was stunned throughout the little misunderstanding. Even with her vast knowledge, she did not know what everyone was referring to, she could not hold back her curiosity and asked, “Zhang Zhi, what are you guys talking about just now? I didn’t understand a word.”
“Some kind of ‘martial art’.” Zhang Zhi did not know how to explain either, he simply brushed her off with a lame excuse and returned to restoration in the rear.
“What kind of martial art? Why haven’t I heard it before?” Han Ling’er was keen to learn new things, she looked determined to get to the bottom of this.
“It’s not something difficult. A normal man can take on five other men at once when mastered; an expert can take on ten other men when he mastered the art of using both hands…”
Zhang Zhi did not continue the embarrassing topic. He returned to his work and concentrated on restoration.
Han Ling’er found it lame. The so-called ‘martial art’ sounded a little bit lame as it only allowed a normal man to take on five others and an expert to take on ten when mastered. It was not something powerful or deep at all.
She then tossed the thought out of her mind and concentrated on watching Zhang Zhi work.
No matter how damaged the flying sword was, Zhang Zhi would spend an hour carefully grinding it and perfecting it since he had to make his customer’s money worth.
After he finished restoring all six flying swords, it was already midnight. Zhang Zhi kept the swords into the magic pouch and gave it to Han Ling’er.
“I’m sorry that you had to wait for me.”
“No, I am the one who should be sorry for making you work overtime,” Han Ling’er apologized. She then prepared to leave.
“Hold on.” Zhang Zhi held her back.
Han Ling’er flushed and her heart started to race. ‘Is he trying to tell me to stay because it’s getting late? What should I do? Father said a girl shouldn’t simply stay out…’
While Han Ling’er was thinking of a way to politely reject Zhang Zhi, he grabbed his coat and said, “I’ll walk you back and release this little guy back to the mountains.”
Zhang Zhi carried the sulking armadillo. The little guy must have lost its way while burrowing around and ended up in Zhang Zhi’s blacksmith. He decided to release it back to the wild otherwise it might end up as someone’s soup if caught, it was not easy for an armadillo to grow this big.
Han Ling’er felt slightly disappointed but she sighed a breath of relief and said, “Okay.”
The two of them came out from the back door. They walked side by side on the quiet and empty street in silence. They did not talk because they barely had any interaction before this, so there was not a common language between them.
Walking in silence felt awkward, so Zhang Zhi came up with an idea and decided to break the ice.
“The moon is beautiful tonight.”
Han Ling’er looked up but did not see anything bright. She felt strange. “There’s no moon tonight.”
“Then I’m sure you’ve never heard of the saying a girl is as beautiful as the moon,” Zhang Zhi exclaimed.
Han Ling’er chuckled.
The awkwardness between them vanished after Zhang Zhi broke the ice. Slowly, they started to talk about poems, writing, life, philosophy and all kinds of topics.
Zhang Zhi was not as quiet as he usually was, he even made Han Ling’er laugh a few times.
Truth be told, he was not flattering her on purpose, it was just that Zhang Zhi came to Lingtai Town alone and had no friends, it was rare for him to find a friend who could open his heart. He became quite a talker because of her.
When he found out that Han Ling’er’s mother died in the domain war, Zhang Zhi found a link to her. The war between the two domains broke many families and reaped many lives.
“What? The Soul-Gathering Banner of Lingtai Sect can revive someone?” Zhang Zhi was excited when he found out about the banner.
“As long as the body is kept intact, the banner can resummon the soul from the Netherworld. Unfortunately, the banner is damaged and has to be nourished for another 100 years for the next use.”
An intact body? Zhang Zhi was a little disappointed.
His parents were army blacksmiths, their bodies were not retrieved from the battlefield. He originally thought he could revive his parents with the banner but it seemed like it was not an ideal way.
The two of them fell into an awkward silence again.
The reason Han Ling’er told Zhang Zhi about the banner was because Zhang Zhi was the most talented blacksmith she had seen and if he could fish the artifact, no one would have to wait for another 100 years.
However, judging from how disappointed Zhang Zhi was, Han Ling’er knew it was a bit of a stretch. He might be talented but his skills were limited to flying sword artifacts.
Depressing thoughts swirled in their minds, silence took over and their pace slowed down.
A while later, Zhang Zhi regained his senses. “We are already at Lingtai Sect’s territory. We got so carried away that we forgot about the distance.”
Zhang Zhi’s armadillo spat its saliva furiously, as if it was complaining that Zhang Zhi forgot about releasing it even though they had walked past several mountains.
He smiled and put the armadillo down. “Silly boy, stop running into the town again.”
The armadillo then ran back into the shrubbs without hesitating and disappeared.
Even though Zhang Zhi was a scrooge in terms of business and a dull person when he worked, Han Ling’er knew that he was a kind person.
She was able to tell based on the release of the armadillo and along the way, he did not intentionally flatter her just to get on her good side.
“I’m going back, Zhang Zhi.”
Han Ling’er did not know whether Zhang Zhi did it on purpose or not but he walked her to the mountain entrance. Even though she was allowed to fly once she walked out of Lingtai Sect, Zhang Zhi’s goodwill of walking her back warmed her heart.
“Okay, be careful.” Zhan Zhi then prepared to leave.
It was then Han Ling’er opened her arms and jumped to Zhang Zhi.
Zhang Zhi was caught off guard. What happened?
He automatically opened his arms to hold her but she pushed him down to the ground.
Zhang Zhi fell on his backside with Han Ling’er on top of him. Just when he was about to tease her being an open-minded girl, he suddenly noticed several sabers flew across their heads.
If Han Ling’er did not push him to the ground, he might have ended up in two pieces.
Han Ling’er and Zhang Zhi locked eyes. She flushed before she swiftly turned around.
Flying Swan Sword was already in her hand.
She cautiously looked around the shrubs. “Show yourself! How dare you attack us within Lingtai’s territory? Come out and be apprehended!”
An evil cackle came from the forest.
Two ghastly-looking cultivators strutted out with big sabers on their shoulder.
“We’ve been camping here for days and finally we ran into a beauty!”
“Blood God Cult? What are you people doing in Lingtai Sect’s territory?” Han Ling’er bellowed as she furrowed her brows.
Zhang Zhi got up on his feet. He heard of Blood God Cult before, they were as powerful as Lingtai Sect but the base of both sects were tens of thousands miles away, why would the disciples of Blood God Cult be in Lingtai Sect’s territory?
They were definitely not here for sightseeing.
“We are the Ma Brothers and we plan to kill several lonesome Lingtai Sect disciples to earn credits, but now…”
The elder brother of the Ma Brothers licked his lips and said, “I’m going to take you back so that I can love you!”