Chapter 1184: Zhang San and Li Si
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At this moment, there was a silhouette of an ancient black dragon above the middle-aged man's head along with 9,200 ancient horned dragons spiraling up there. They were vivid and lively, making a shocking visual impact.
"Seventh Level Martial Monarch Stage?" Duan Ling Tian was surprised. It had never crossed his mind that not only was that this man in front of him a grade one weapons craftsman, but he was also quite a formidable Martial Monarch.
"Looks like I've picked up a pot of gold today." With a jolt of his heart, a smile crept up the corners of Duan Ling Tian's mouth.
In the entire Ling Tian Sect, only Luo Ping, You Ping, and You An were on the Seventh Level Martial Monarch Stage and above. Even he himself was only on the Fourth Level Martial Monarch Stage.
Of course, that was only in reference to their cultivation base.
In terms of combat strength, even if Luo Ping joined forces with the You Brothers, they were no match for him at all.
However, a person who was at the Seventh Level Martial Monarch Stage and above was still a powerhouse no matter what. If he could join the Ling Tian Sect, he would definitely be a great help to the Ling Tian Sect.
"H-How did you do that?" The middle-aged man looked at Duan Ling Tian and could barely suppress the excitement on his face. The moment he recalled the scene earlier, he still felt like he was in a trance.
Duan Ling Tian looked into the eyes of the man with a calm expression. Instead of replying him, he asked him back, "Right now, are you willing to join the Ling Tian Sect?"
"I am! I am!" The moment Duan Ling Tian asked him that, he immediately nodded eagerly, not daring to show any hesitation at all.
What a joke!
Here was a person who could refine a grade one spirit weapon that gave a strength boost of 92% for goodness' sake!
Although he was one of the very best among the many grade one weapons craftsmen, there was no way for him to compare to this person in front of him at all.
Now, he had an opportunity to stay in the sect that this person in front of him was in and to obtain pointers from him. Of course, he would never let go of such a brilliant chance.
Well, unless he was a fool.
"Very good. Welcome to the Ling Tian Sect." After obtaining the middle-aged man's reply, a bright sunny smile flashed across Duan Ling Tian's face.
"Good day, Sect Leader. I'm Zhang San." Only then did the middle-aged man recall the identity of this person who fronted the Ling Tian Sect. Hastily, he bowed down to pay his respects and at the same time, he gave his own name.
Concurrently, Zhang San's heart was filled with bewilderment. He had already heard rumors that this purple-clad young man in front was Duan Ling Tian, the Sect Leader of the Ling Tian Sect.
Apart from that, he also heard that he was quite powerful.
Without using any spirit weapon, he was able to annihilate Yang Hong, the Peak Master of Yang Peak and the former Yin Yang Sect. Furthermore, he also killed the Zhou Clan grand elder who had a make breakthrough to the Ninth Level Martial Monarch in just a blink of an eye in the Ataraxia City.
Could such strength be labeled "weak"?
However, this was not the problem here.
What Zhang San could not accept was the fact that this Sect Leader of the Ling Tian Sect turned out to be actually a grade one weapons craftsman. Furthermore, he surpassed all other grade one weapons craftsmen!
"At first, I thought that he was a powerful Demon for having such immense strength with such a young appearance, but now that I look at it, he's actually a human! Or maybe, a Variant!" Zhang San speculated to himself.
It was almost impossible for a Demon to become a weapons craftsman, let alone a weapons craftsman who prevailed over all other grade one weapons craftsmen.
"Zhang San?" The moment Duan Ling Tian heard the man's name, he had a strange expression right away. It had never crossed his mind that an almighty Seventh Level Martial Monarch Stage powerhouse or a grade one weapons craftsman would actually have such a casual name.
"If we get someone else named Li Si who joins the Ling Tian Sect, you two can then partner up together," Duan Ling Tian joked.
Zhang San and Li Si.
It rolled off the tongue quite smoothly.
However, beyond Duan Ling Tian's expectations, the moment he said that, Zhang San's expression turned grave as he asked in shock, "S-Sect Leader, h-how do you know that I know Li Si?"
"Is there really a Li Si?" A twitch could be seen by the corner of Duan Ling Tian's mouth. He was just making a casual remark earlier.
"That's right." Zhang San nodded his head in all solemness. "Li Si is a guy from my neighboring village. That time, he and I partnered up to go pathfinding outside, and by lucky coincidence, we came across a fortuitous encounter. Ever since then, I became a weapons craftsman, and he is an alchemist," Zhang San finished in one breath.
"What grade is he?" Duan Ling Tian's eyes shone brightly as he asked curiously.
"A grade one alchemist!" Zhang San replied, "If that guy knew that there's somebody in the Ling Tian Sect who can refine a grade one pill with a purity of 91%, he'd definitely come here immediately. However, unfortunately, that guy is in closed-door cultivation now to strive to make a breakthrough to the Seventh Level Martial Monarch Stage. He said that he wouldn't come out until he's finally able to be on the same level as me."
When he reached the end of his sentence, Zhang San was somewhat helpless.
"Then, in this case, if he's come out of his closed-door cultivation, will he also be willing to join our Ling Tian Sect?" Duan Ling Tian's eyes lit up.
"As long as he can get some pointers from the grade one alchemist of our Ling Tian Sect, I'm sure he'd definitely come… Although that guy's level of medicine refinement is much stronger than most grade one alchemists, he has only managed to refine three pills with a purity of 85% and above in his entire life, and they were not all grade one pills," Zhang San answered with full confidence. When he reached the end of his sentence, he had deliberately introduced Li Si to Duan Ling Tian in detail.
"Three pills with a purity of 85% and above? Then, it seems like his medicine refinement level is pretty high… In this case, it looks like the fortuitous encounter that you guys went through together last time was not that simple." Duan Ling Tian took a good look at Zhang San. His wisdom and farsightedness seemed to be able to see through everything, so much so that Zhang San felt a chill running down his spine as he responded, "It's not bad."
"Rebirth Martial Emperor?" Duan Ling Tian suddenly asked and spat out these three words without warning.
"Ah!" The moment Zhang San heard of this, he cried out loud in a deep voice at once. With a bewildered expression on his face, he stared at Duan Ling Tian as though he was staring at a ghost. "H-How did you know?"
Zhang San believed that no one else would know about the place that he and Li Si had come across the last time because they had both sworn using the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation that they would never tell anyone else anything about that place.
However, he could no longer suppress his shock when he heard Duan Ling Tian.
The place he and Li Si had come across was left behind by a Martial Emperor whose honorific title was known as the Rebirth Martial Emperor. The place was a cenotaph. A cenotaph referred to the place a Martial Emperor casually left behind to pass on his legacy. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the place where he died.
Of course, if described using the Martial Emperor's words himself, it was merely a game that he had created out of boredom. Whoever could successfully pass the game would be able to gain quite a lot of benefits.
"It looks like you two must have found the cenotaph by the northern side of the Flowing Wind City," Duan Ling Tian remarked.
"H-have you been there before too?" Zhang San gasped sharply.
Could that be the reason this Sect Leader of the Ling Tian Sect possessed such powerful weapon refining method? Because he had gone there before?
That was right!
Just now, though the exquisite weapon refining technique that he displayed, Zhang San could still roughly see some of the trails of the weapon refining technique that he had mastered.
"No." Duan Ling Tian shook his head lightly.
"No?" It was apparent that Zhang San did not really believe him.
"You could say that I'm the successor of another generation of the Rebirth Martial Emperor. I know almost everything that he did. What he left behind at the cenotaph weren't many, but the fact that you made such achievements today is also quite hard to come by," Duan Ling Tian blurted out with a hint of compliment in his tone.
Just now, the reason why he had speculated that the fortuitous encounter that Zhang San and Li Si had come across was that the cenotaph that the Rebirth Martial Emperor had left behind was due to their achievements following that.
Of course, some other aspects contributed to it too.
Like just now, when he had just taken the foldable fan from Zhang San, he had noticed a familiar trace on it, but he was not too sure about it then.
"The successor of another generation… of the Rebirth Martial Emperor?" Zhang San's eyes narrowed. At the same time, he hastily bowed down towards Duan Ling Tian to show his respect. "Senior Brother!"
"Senior Brother?" Duan Ling Tian looked at Zhang San with a faint smile. "If I remember correctly, the cenotaph that the Rebirth Martial Emperor left behind did clearly state that whoever receives his legacy isn't considered as his disciples, didn't it?"
"Even so, I still regard the Senior Rebirth Martial Emperor as my master! Please forgive me for not knowing your identity earlier on, Senior Brother!" Zhang San replied, and at the same time, he bowed again. His tone was filled with sincerity.
Seeing Zhang San insisting on calling him Senior Brother, Duan Ling Tian did not say anything more.
Perhaps, Zhang San might be more obedient and stay at the Ling Tian Sect because of this. This was a good thing for him.
Suddenly, as though a pang of realization hit him, Duan Ling Tian asked, "Last time, you must've made the grade one spirit saber that could give a boost of 89% and appeared at the auction fair held by the Zhou Clan's Auction Square, didn't you?"
Even though he did not inspect that grade one spirit saber in detail, it was so rare to have a grade one spirit weapon that could give a boost of 89%! And how was it be possible for it to have been refined by just any grade one weapons craftsman?
Recalling the fact that Zhang San was the first to pay a visit to his sect, it was obvious that he must have come from nearby. Because of this, he guessed that the spirit saber had also come from Zhang San.
"Please excuse my poor product." Zhang San smiled awkwardly.
That day, although he was not at the Zhou Clan's Auction Square, he had heard that the grade one spirit saber that he had refined, which was also supposed to be the final item in the auction fair, had been replaced by two other items.
At first, he was a little pissed, but the moment he learned about the items being auctioned, he instantly lost his temper.
He had personally gone to the Zhou Clan to reaffirm it and after confirming that the grade one spirit sword that the Zhou Clan bid for could boost one's strength by 90%, he immediately rushed towards the Ling Tian Sect.
It never crossed his mind that the person who could refine such earth-defying grade one spirit sword in the Ling Tian Sect was actually Duan Ling Tian, the Sect Leader of the Ling Tian Sect himself.
What was more unexpected to him was the fact that just like him, Duan Ling Tian's master was the Rebirth Martial Emperor as well.
However, he was very clear that whatever Duan Ling Tian had learned was much more than what he had grasped.
This was evident when Duan Ling Tian refined the grade one spirit weapon that could give a strength boost of 92%.
"Then, does this mean… that what Li Si obtained is the Medicine Refinement Dao's legacy left behind by the Rebirth Martial Emperor?" Duan Ling Tian asked.
"Yes." Zhang San nodded.