Chapter 65 – The Heavy Spear, Penetrating Rainbow
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When they entered the second floor, there was suddenly far less people. There was a huge space with only a few customers milling around. A pessimistic middle-aged man wearing a long, grey robe was sitting behind the counter drinking a cup of tea.
The sales clerk gave a respectful salute to the middle-aged man, then walked over and said a few words in his ear.
“Oh? This young hero must choose such a heavy spear?” The middle-aged asked with interest as he looked at Lin Ming, “How heavy a spear were you looking for?”
“800 jins.”
“800 jins?” The middle-aged man’s eyes flashed a glint of light. “An 800 jin spear would take at least 4000 jins of strength to use. Can you?”
Lin Ming said, “Even if I can’t freely wield it now, I will be able to later.”
“How bold! I will look for a spear for you.”
The middle-aged man stood up and moved to the side. A moment later, he returned, carrying a long wooden chest. Although he appeared as if he was taking light steps, Lin Ming discovered that every step the middle-aged man took on the wood paneled floor would cause a creaking sound. The wood panels were unable withstand the weight of the load that the man was carrying.
The wooden chest in his hands was clearly very heavy!
The middle-aged man placed the wooden case on the counter and flipped open the lid. Inside was an eight foot spear wrapped in a thick cloth.
The middle-aged man unraveled the cloth strip, suddenly revealing a dark purple shaft and a deep red spear head. On the dark purple shaft’s body was engraved two characters that were written in inscription symbols – “Penetrating Rainbow.”
The two plain words combined with the massive spear made it feel as if there was a boundless gas rushing out.
Good spear!
The middle-aged man said, “This spear is named the Penetrating Rainbow. Its shaft is eight feet long and the head is eight inches long. It is a half-treasure.”
“Mmm? Half-treasure?”
The middle-aged man said, “Only the spearhead is a treasure, the spear shaft is not, thus it is a half treasure.”
Lin Ming was suddenly enlightened. The crafting process that went into the spear shaft was complex; therefore it was too difficult to place an array on it. But the spearhead was the same as a sword or a saber, so it was easy to set an array on it and make it into a treasure.
But alas, it was impossible to connect his true essence through the spear shaft due to it lacking an array, so its power was greatly reduced.
The middle-aged man said, “Although the spear shaft is not a treasure, but if comparing the toughness, it could be equal to an ordinary human-step low-grade treasure.”
The difference between a treasure and an ordinary weapon was that that a treasure was inscribed with an array, and thus one could channel their true essence into it. It was not a fact that a treasure would be more durable or solid than an ordinary weapon.
This weapon could not concentrate true essence. During an actual fight, as soon as martial skills were displayed, the disparity between the two would be evident. The treasure would be a step more powerful than an ordinary weapon.
The middle-aged man continued, “This spear shaft was forged with dark purple elastic iron, and the spearhead was made from cloud vein wrought iron. Both sides of the spear’s edge have been mixed with profound gold and are incomparably sharp. The spearhead and spear shaft originally came as a pair, they cannot be separated. The total weight is 820 jins.”
Dark purple elastic iron?
When Lin Ming had attended the lecture, he had heard the elder talk about this strange metal. This wonderful metal was unmatched in weight and also had a high degree of elasticity to it. It was even used to make strong bows. With a bow made from it, combined with the sinews from a high-level vicious beast to make the bowstring, it could easily project an arrow 2000 steps away and pierce fine steel plates!
If this dark purple elastic iron was used to make a spear shaft, even the thick spear shaft would be able to bend into a half-moon and snap back with enough force to crack open a tree. If a martial artist with 5000 jins of strength shook it, even the light vibration from the oscillations alone could kill a person.
However, for all its thousands or tens of thousands of good points, dark purple elastic iron had to be hammered innumerable times during its molding in order to forge it. It was impossible to inscribe an array upon it, as an array could not be hammered. Therefore this metal could not be used to make treasure weapons.
Even so, dark purple elastic iron was cherished and loved by many refiner masters, because it was just too great and fitting a material to make a spear or strong bow with.
Lin Ming took this spear made from dark purple elastic iron into his hand. He shook it a bit, and all along the spear shaft it began to quiver. But the quivering was not too intense, because Lin Ming’s strength was insufficient and could not shake the dark purple elastic iron.
Even so, the middle-aged man was suddenly startled. This young boy! What an abnormal strength! If he could still shake the spear like that, his strength must not be less than 3000 jins! And he was only at the peak of the Second Stage of Body Transformation, what a good physique he had!
Lin Ming made a few spear movements with his hand. Even if he was able to raise a 820 jin spear easily into his hand, he could not wave it around with a high degree of fluidity. If he fought with such a weapon, even if Lin Ming had the ‘True Primal Chaos Formula’ supporting him, it would quickly exhaust his strength.
But Lin Ming did not worry. Soon he would break through his bottleneck, and this weight would be just right in his hands.
“How much is this spear?”
“9000 gold taels!”
9000… Lin Ming wasn’t too surprised. This spear was worth the price. The cloud vein wrought iron treasure spear head’s price was 3000 gold taels and the dark purple elastic iron spear shaft’s price was 6000 gold taels. Both of these prices were absolute bargains.
Lin Ming pulled out all the gold banknotes he had on him, and even the gold purple VIP card, and placed them on the counter. The Divine Weapon Hall was part of the Allied Trade Assocation, thus the VIP card could give him a 10% preferential discount benefit and cause the price to become 8100 gold taels. Even so, with all the gold Lin Ming had on his body, he was still missing 50 gold taels.
The middle-aged man saw this VIP card and his eyes brightened. “Young hero, are you someone from the Marshal Quarters?”
Lin Ming thought about it, hesitated, and said, “No, it’s just from my friend at the Marshal Quarters.”
Although Lin Ming lightly said this, the middle-aged man knew that this young boy was definitely some important personage of the Marshal Quarters; otherwise it would be impossible for him to have a VIP card, much less have one given to him. He said with a smile, “So that’s how it is. Since this young hero is an honored guest of the Marshal Quarters, for this spear, 8000 gold taels is good enough.”
“Many thanks.” Lin Ming was not too sentimental. 100 gold taels, was not much of anything, to either him or the Divine Weapon Hall.
The sales clerk bound the weapon in the cloth strip and placed it back inside the box. Lin Ming carried the box on his back, and after saying goodbye, returned to the back mountains.
The shaft was made from dark purple elastic iron, and the treasure-rank spear head was made from cloud vein wrought iron. Such a wonderfully superb spear, it simply made Lin Ming too excited!
After he arrived at the back mountains, he went to an open space. Because he was carrying a 820 jin spear, as soon as Lin Ming stepped on the grass with his feet, each step made a dent in ground.
Feeling a heavy pressure on his back, Lin Ming’s heart filled with a surge of heroic pride. He aimed at a big stone, and suddenly the spear cleaved downwards. There was only a ‘bang’ sound as that giant stone was immediately pulverized by the heavy spear. Because of the spear shaft’s elasticity, Lin Ming didn’t feel any intense shaking in his hand. This was an advantage of the dark purple elastic iron. If this was a pure darksteel spear shaft, then this vibration would cause his thumb and forefinger to be numb. If the rebound force were any larger, then maybe his entire hand would be numbed.
“Ha! What a good spear!”
Ling Ming recklessly waved the spear around. He didn’t know any spear techniques, and simply followed the same routine as his fist techniques. With an 820 jin spear in hand, his spear dance was a little haphazard. Lin Ming practiced for a quarter of an hour, and gradually felt his arm begin to swell, and his strength was somewhat weakening.
“This spear is heavy!”
At this time, in front of Lin Ming, a bright flame burst into life. Mmm? Sound transmitting talisman?