17 BROKEN SWORD
Yue family was a vast power and they had their own commercial businesses. This also included their own auction halls and shops.
The Yue Weapon Tower was one such business. It dominated the weapons-market in the whole Yue City and was the primary choice for anyone that wanted to buy high quality and powerful weapons.
Weapons were divided into four grades: mortal, spiritual, holy and divine. Each grade further divided into 3-tiers: low, mid and high.
...
Yue Huang stood before Weapon Tower, wearing a black changpao and having his jet-black long hair tied together, letting them droop down till his waist. His gentle smile and his beautiful looks garnered the attention of the passerbys.
Without hesitation, Yue Huang stepped forth into the tower. After which he was immediately greeted by the sight of a huge luxurious hall and all kinds of wealthy-folks that were looking around to choose the weapons of their choice.
"Hello Young master, my name is Xu Lei. How can I help you?", a young woman stepped forth and welcomed Yue Huang.
All customers to the Yue Weapon Tower were of definitely rich backgrounds and couldn't be neglected. Hence there were many servants ready to tend to each customer, Xu Lei being one of them.
"I want a spiritual grade weapon.", Yue Huang nodded and said.
"Please follow me to the third floor. There would be a variety of spiritual weapons to choose from.", Xu Lei said before escorting Yue Huang to the third floor.
Yue Weapon Tower was divide into three floors depending on the quality of the weapons and their price.
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Stepping onto the top-most floor, Yue Huang saw a luxurious hall that was made up entirely of white jade, along with and jade pillars engraved with life-like drawings of red-dragons that seemingly wound around the pillars.
"How beautiful.", Yue Huang couldn't help but mutter when he looked at those drawings.
Xu Lei smiled gently and spoke, "A few years back, a master artisan was impressed by our services and in return he drew out this drawing on our jade pillars."
" Oh-", Yue Huang said as he nodded gently. He looked seemingly knowledgeable but there was a question in his mind, [What is a 'master artisan' exactly?] but he didn't want to spoil his rich-young master-like image so he just went with the flow.
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Xu Lei then led Yue Huang to the reception where he was greeted by an old man in grey robes.
After hearing out from Xu Lei what the customer wanted, he said, "Young master, we have all kinds of spiritual weapons. Could you specify which type of weapon you would like? "
" I want a sword! ", Yue Huang said.
" Follow me. ", The old man smiled as he led the two into one of the rooms behind him.
...
*Swoosh*
Strong air blew onto Yue Huang's face the moment he entered the room. Strong sword aura filled the room and one could hear the rattling of swords.
"A-as expected of spiritual weapons!", Yue Huang said with a poker face trying to not-look like a bumpkin. This was the first time he was seeing a spiritual weapon, let alone a whole room full of them.
"Yes, yes.", The old man laughed out seemingly buttering up to Yue Huang and he then pointed out towards six swords that were suspended in air at the opposite wall of the room. They were constrained by black-chains and held together in one-place. The rich sword aura and rattling sounds of the sword came from here. Just one look was enough for Young Huang to know that these were peerless swords.
The old man continued on and explained, "These swords are of the highest quality within the Weapon Tower and they are very close to being mid-spiritual weapons!"
" Starting from the right, The Earth Slicer, is made from the bones of a deceased Earth Dragon which is known for its strong defense, it is definitely a good weapon of choice for those that excel in defending techniques. Next is the Red Jade Sword, made entirely from rare red jade and cast in molten lava for an year, it is definitely a top weapon of choice for martial artists that practice fire techniques. "
" Then comes the Black Nix Sword... "
Yue Huang was hearing out the old man with interest when he suddenly chanced upon a sword, or rather a broken-sword at the corner of the room. It looked as if it had been discarded.
This raised Yue Huang's curiosity, [In a room full of spiritual swords, what is a broken sword doing here?]
Yue Huang got interestingly curious to the point he ignored what the old man was blabbering and he made his way to the broken sword.
.
Lifting up the broken sword, Yue Huang carefully observed the sword. It was more of a one-third sword, as the upper and middle-portion of the sword were missing. Looking at the clean cut around the blade, Yue Huang speculated that the sword might have been cut by another sharper sword.
[Oh, there is something inscribed onto this sword.], Yue Huang noticed the words: "One Sword" inscribed on the sword blade.
"So this sword is called 'one sword'? what a strange name..", Yue Huang muttered.
.
It was only at this moment did the old man noticed that the Young master beside him had already ran off to the corner of the room and was no longer listening to his explanation about the six swords.
Although the old man felt humiliated, being a person of trade, he kept mum and walked towards Yue Huang.
"Young master need not waste his time on that broken sword. There are other better swords here that Young master can look through.", The old man said.
Yue Huang nodded, but still felt curious about the sword, "Why is a broken sword kept in a room meant for spiritual grade swords?"
"cough* cough*, That is... although this sword is broken, it is still a spiritual grade sword or rather, barely a spiritual grade sword. ", The old man explained, at the same time he felt embarrassed. Yue Weapon Tower was known for their quality weapons in Yue City, having such a 'broken sword' in a room meant for spiritual swords... was indeed embarrassing.
"I see.. ", Yue Huang nodded and decided to leave the sword by the corner. He was only interested in it for a while, after which he lost his interest in the sword.
After all, he had come here to buy himself a good sword, not some broken sword.
