“Many thanks for Brother Zha Gu’s help!” Yang Kai cupped his fists.
Zha Gu waved his hand, “Brother Yang is too polite, you deserve that Spirit Fruit.”
Yang Kai said, “Now that my Small Universe has been repaired, it will be convenient for me to refine Brother Zha Gu Treasure Armour. Are you ready?”
Zha Gu replied, “I’ve prepared some materials, but I don’t know if they’re enough for you.”
Saying so, he handed over a Space Ring and Yang Kai took it. After probing it with his Divine Sense, he found that there were quite a few good things inside this ring, all of which were rare materials and ores.
“Is that enough? If it’s not enough, I’ll look for more,” Zha Gu asked eagerly.
“It’s enough,” Yang Kai put away his Space Ring, “I’ll begin refining the Treasure Armour for Brother Zha Gu now. Please don’t disturb me during this time, I’ll inform you when I succeed.”
Zha Gu quickly retreated.
When he was cultivating the Artifact Refining Dao in Blue Sky Pass, Yang Kai had also refined some Treasure Armor, but in Chai Hao’s opinion, none of them were useful. After all, their grade wasn’t high enough, if the Human Race soldiers were to wear these armors to the battlefield, it would be irresponsible.
However, things that weren’t of much use to the Human Race were good things for the Black Ink Clan.
As such, Yang Kai didn’t need to refine anything extraordinary; all he needed to do was ensure that the quality of the armor was not inferior to the Great Halberd. With his current attainments in Artifact Refining, this guarantee can still be satisfied.
Refining the Great Halberd took three months, but refining a new piece of Treasure Armor only took Yang Kai two months.
The reason why the time is shorter is that his Small Universe is perfect again, which let him utilize his own strength more smoothly, allowing him to achieve twice the results with half the effort. Secondly, his Artifact Refining Technique was also rapidly improving.
Although he had cultivated Artifact Refining Technique for ten years in Blue Sky Pass, ten years was still too short for an Artifact Refiner to fully mature.
During these ten years, Chai Hao had taught Yang Kai everything he knew about Artifact Refining until he was unable to teach him anything.
This didn’t mean that Yang Kai’s attainments in Artifact Refining had already reached Chai Hao’s level. For a Grandmaster like him, it was impossible to achieve this without spending several hundred years studying.
However, Chai Hao couldn’t teach Yang Kai any more things, Yang Kai already knew what he knew. As for how much Yang Kai could use his Artifact Refining Dao, that would depend on his own growth.
This kind of growth required constant refining of artifacts.
So when it came to refining the Treasure Armour, Yang Kai’s skill in Artifact Refining was slightly higher than before, after refining the Treasure Armour, he had grown.
In the end, the quality of the Treasure Armour he refined was clearly higher than that of the Great Halberd. It was covered in a faint glow and was obviously extraordinary.
Summoning Zha Gu with his Divine Sense, Zha Gu couldn’t wait to put on this Treasure Armor and found that it was extremely close to his body. The armor covered his chest and abdomen, as well as the vital spots on his back, making his already burly figure appear even more imposing.
The more Zha Gu looked at it, the more satisfied he became, and he couldn’t help smiling happily.
Coupled with this Treasure Armor and the Great Halberd, Zha Gu felt that his strength as a Feudal Lord had increased by thirty to forty percent.
In the past, when he had encountered the Human Race’s Seventh Order Open Heaven, he had been no match for them in a one-on-one fight. Now that he had these treasures in his hands, Zha Gu felt that no matter which Human Race’s Seventh Order Open Heaven was in front of him, he would be able to pierce it with his halberd.
As it turned out, the improvements brought about by the Human Race’s artifacts were actually so great! Zha Gu couldn’t help feeling somewhat uneasy. On the battlefield, it was basically only possible to see the power of the Human Race’s artifacts. Most of the Black Ink Clan’s forces were barehanded, so it was no wonder the Black Ink Clan had lost so many battles. It was all because of the lack of artifacts.
If they could use their artifacts to equip the Black Ink Clan army, how could the Human Race be their opponent?
“Is Brother Zha Gu satisfied?” Yang Kai suddenly asked.
“I’m satisfied, I’m satisfied!” Zha Gu couldn’t help nodding, his mouth almost cracking from laughter.
“Fortunately this Yang does not disappoint!” Yang Kai slowly stood up, “Now that this matter is settled, I will take my leave.”
Zha Gu was startled, “Brother Yang, where are you going?”
Yang Kai replied, “Naturally, I’m going back to the Territory Lord’s ancient castle. I’ve been out for some time now and came here for the Profound Female Spirit Fruit. Now that I’ve obtained what I wanted and helped Brother Zha Gu refine a set of artifacts, it’s time to go back.”
“No hurry, no hurry!” Zha Gu quickly stopped him.
Yang Kai looked at him in confusion, “Is there anything else, Brother Zha Gu?”
Zha Gu hesitated for a moment before saying, “Brother Yang, before you came to find me, didn’t you want me to teach you a way to make money? After thinking about it carefully, I now have an excellent way to make money.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help laughing, “Brother Zha Gu, are you talking about helping the Black Ink Clan refine artifacts?”
“That’s right!” Zha Gu nodded seriously, “Brother Yang’s craftsmanship is impeccable. If you could help the Black Ink Clan refine artifacts, you would definitely be able to earn a lot of black ink coins. Wasn’t that your original purpose for coming here?”
Yang Kai waved his hand and said, “Helping Brother Zha Gu refine artifacts is for the sake of the Profound Female Spirit Fruit. Now that my Small Universe is perfect again, there is no need for me to continue. Refining artifacts is too time-consuming, so this Yang’s focus on the Martial Dao is more important. If I follow the Territory Lord in the future, I will be able to help on the battlefield.”
Zha Gu shook his head and said, “Brother Yang’s words are incorrect. What you cultivate on your own is the strength of a single person. If you can help the Black Ink Clan refine artifacts, you will be able to increase the strength of many people. This is also helping the Territory Lord. Moreover, I believe the Territory Lord would be more willing to see the latter situation.”
“Even so, I…”
“Brother Yang, even if you want to cultivate, you should have enough resources. Do you have any cultivation resources on hand?”
Yang Kai opened his mouth and looked like he was at a loss for words. After a long time, he finally said, “No.”
“That’s right,” Zha Gu said sincerely, “You humans have a saying, if you want to do good work, you must first sharpen your tools. If you want to cultivate, you naturally need to purchase a large amount of cultivation resources, but you don’t have any black ink coins on hand, so what should you do? If you help others refine artifacts, you will naturally receive a large amount of compensation.”
The corners of Yang Kai’s mouth twitched slightly, “Brother Zha Gu is truly knowledgeable, even able to casually speak the Human Race’s proverb.”
Zha Gu smiled and said, “I heard all of this from my old Black Ink Disciple, but Brother Yang, everything I said came from the bottom of my heart, I’m not trying to harm you.”
“Naturally…” Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as he sank into contemplation.
Zha Gu said, “Is there a need to consider this? If Brother Yang is willing to help refine artifacts, I can find a way to help you. Not to mention anything else, I know quite a few Feudal Lords, I’m sure they’re interested in artifacts.”
Yang Kai hesitated, “But I’ve already left the ancient castle for a long time, if I don’t go back, I’m afraid Lord Gui Liao will blame me.”
Zha Gu said, “You are the Territory Lord’s Black Ink Disciple. Without the Territory Lord, who can control you? Even Lord Gui Liao can’t.”
“So it’s like that…” Yang Kai wore a look of excitement, “If it’s as Brother Zha Gu said, I’ll help those Feudal Lords refine artifacts and the materials will be provided by them, what kind of fee should I charge?”
Zha Gu casually replied, “It’s absolutely not a problem to collect ten thousand black ink coins for a single artifact.” Seeing his straightforward answer, it was obvious he had been considering this matter for a long time.
Yang Kai was slightly startled. This Zha Gu was too black-hearted. He thought he didn’t know the purchasing power of the Black Ink Coins, when he was with Angry Flame, Yang Kai had some understanding of the Black Ink Coins. According to his estimations, if one were to exchange Black Ink Coins with Open Heaven Pills, one Black Ink Coin could be exchanged for ten thousand Open Heaven Pills.
Ten thousand black ink coins was a hundred million Open Heaven Pills, a full set of Sixth Grade resources.
Of course, because no one had ever used black ink coins to exchange for Open Heaven Pills, there was definitely some error, but it wasn’t much worse.
Yang Kai naturally didn’t care about a set of Sixth Grade resources, but for a Feudal Lord who didn’t have his own territory, it was still quite valuable.
Although he knew this in his heart, he pretended not to know, “What can I buy with this ten thousand black ink coins?”
Sure enough, Zha Gu said solemnly, “A set of Sixth Grade cultivation resources!”
Yang Kai sucked in a breath of cold air, obviously shocked.
Zha Gu earnestly persuaded, “This is a good deal. As long as Brother Yang helps others refine some artifacts, you won’t have to worry about your future cultivation.”
Yang Kai decisively said, “This is a good deal!”
Seeing that Yang Kai had been persuaded, Zha Gu immediately laughed, “Does Brother Yang agree?”
Yang Kai nodded, “How can I not agree to such a good deal? However, if I want to refine artifacts, I will need to borrow the power of the Earth Fire from Brother Zha Gu. In addition, I will need Brother Zha Gu to help me contact those Feudal Lords. After all, I’m just a Black Ink Disciple, so it’s a bit inconvenient for me to do so.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle these matters for you,” Zha Gu said, acting like he was the leader of the pack.
Yang Kai naturally wasn’t blind and immediately said, “How about this, in the future, Brother Zha Gu and I will split the profit from the Artifact Refining equally.”
Zha Gu was startled, “That won’t do, there’s too much, you’re the one who’s contributing to the Artifact Refining process, and the Earth Fire is inexhaustible. I’m not worthy of 50%, I’ll just take 30%.”
'Making me think i earn more!' Yang Kai was a bit surprised, but he didn’t bother trying to persuade him, simply nodding slightly, “If that’s the case, then it’s settled?”
“Deal.” Zha Gu nodded firmly.
The man and the Black Ink Clan exchanged a glance and smiled, seemingly in cahoots.
Since the negotiations had been settled, Zha Gu immediately took action and arranged for Yang Kai to rest in the fort before ordering his subordinates to leave the castle, leaving in all directions.
Three days later, Yang Kai, who was meditating, suddenly sensed the aura of a Black Ink Clan’s Feudal Lord approaching from a great distance and quickly arrived in front of Zha Gu’s ancient castle. After landing, Zha Gu’s Black Ink Clan subordinates led him inside.
The arrival of this Black Ink Clan Feudal Lord was only the beginning. In the next half a day, more Feudal Lord arrived from all directions. Yang Kai roughly counted at least a dozen of them.
He knew that these people were all invited by Zha Gu, so it seemed that Zha Gu’s connections here were quite good.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Martial Peak