Chapter 17: An Honorable Duel

Jia Yuan snapped out of his bitterness and said, “Fine, I

guess I’ll have to make do with these swords. I still didn’t really like the

weight of the last one though, so lets keep looking.”

“Alright then. Did you feel that the last sword was too

light or too heavy?”

“Hmm, I’ve only ever used a wooden sword, so it was a little

heavy for me.”

“Alright, so I guess you’re looking at something that has

some wind stones along with some fire stones…”

“Aha, you’re in luck. This right here is a hand and a half sword

made out of 70% rare fire tones and 20% rare wind stones. The last 10% is some

other metals to increase flexibility, just like the sword we tried out earlier.”

“The wind stones are lighter and also improve the speed of

the sword. However, you’ll lose a bit of the fiery aura. Also, as a fire

practitioner, the wind aura gained from the wind stones will go to waste. As

such, swords like this one aren’t really popular… but if you want a light sword

without sacrificing the structure of the sword, this will probably be your best

bet.”

Jia Yuan took a moment to think about the situation. In all

honesty, this sword was probably the best for Jia Yuan. What the weapon

specialist said was true. For any other martial cultivator, training in more

than one element was out of the question. After all, Jia Yuan was the only one

in possession of a Song of the sword element.

However, Jia Yuan could just train in the wind element in

the future, at which point this sword be of better use to him than any sword

that only contained stones of a single element.

“Can I test the balance of it?”

“Go right ahead.”

Jia Yuan reached out with his right hand and gripped the

sword tightly. He then unsheathed the sword and swung it with some rigid,

jagged cuts. He then relaxed his grip a bit and performed some wide slashes as

well as some more intricate maneuvers.

He was rather delighted this new sword. The balance was

exquisite, and he was able to wield the sword as he wished. Furthermore, it

wasn’t too heavy for him.

Finally, he settled into the first stance he had seen on the

scroll housing the Song of Swords. He then performed the four stances without

fault, and then sheathed the sword.

“I’ll take it.”

“Alright, then. Hey, Guo Shi, come over here. This guy..er,

this esteemed customer wants to buy this sword.”

“Thank you sir, I will bring sir Jia Yuan to the boss.”

Guo Shi led Jia Yuan to the top floor of the building. They

soon arrived in front of a giant set of double doors, over ten feet tall and

teen feet wide. The most marvelous thing about the doors, is that they seemed

to be made from solid gold.

Guo Shi knocked on the door and said, “Sir, this is Guo Shi,

with an esteemed customer who wishes to buy a sword from the 4th

room.

An aged voice sounded from within the room. “Come in.”

The doors opened, and Guo Shi motioned for Jia Yuan to

enter.

After entering the room, Jia Yuan saw that despite the

absurdly ornate doors leading to the room, the inside of the room was rather

bare. The only redeeming quality of the room was that it was big. Inside, a man

stood over a table with an axe on it. He walked around the table, gazing at the

axe.

As the man saw Jia Yuan enter, he looked up and saw the

sword in Jia Yuan’s hands. Then he saw the mysterious getup Jia Yuan was

wearing, and his eyes showed a sharp curiousity.

“Ah, quite the interesting sword. Come in, come in. Now,

would you be up for a spar?”

“Ah, sorry?” Jia Yuan was quite surprised. After all, why would this old man in charge of this prestigious Guild Hall want to spar someone like him?

“I like to have a spar with the people who buy weapons from

our guild. If the customer wins, they can receive an additional 20% off of the

purchase. That sword in your hand costs 7 thousand large fire shards. With the

10% off from receiving the black and gold Currency Card, it will cost 6700

large fire shards. If you spar against me and win, it will be a total of 30%

off, so it will only cost you 4900 large fire shards.”

“Of course, I’ll lower myself to the level of cultivation

that you are currently at. If I go over that, I will admit defeat. Oh, and

obviously, I will make sure to not harm you in any way. The duel will end once

someone’s weapon is sufficiently close to someone’s fatal point.”

Jia Yuan was slightly skeptical, but didn’t see what the

catch was. As such, he readily agreed. “Sure. Should we go outside?”

“No need. This room should be able to handle any fighting we

do. Now, what level of cultivation are you?”

“…”

Jia Yuan was rather unwilling to reveal his level of

cultivation, but the lure of an additional 20% discount was just too juicy for

him to ignore.

“I’m at the 3rd level of Absorption.”

“Not bad, not bad. Hmm… Okay, I have lowered my cultivation

to that of the 3rd level of Absorption as well. Now, come at me!”