Death Around The Corner

The poor guy could not hold back his emotions anymore. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he grabbed Zhang Zhi by the hand, "Owner Zhang, I know you are trying to help me but that's enough, just give me back the sword!"

He tried to take the sword away from Zhang Zhi but Zhang Zhi held it tightly.

Zhang Zhi looked straight into Li Xingchen's eyes as he wiped the blood off his mouth, he said. "Bring me the broom and dustpan."

The poor guy failed to understand Zhang Zhi but he did as told nonetheless. He quickly brought the broom and dustpan over.

Zhang Zhi took a deep breath to ease his injuries before he swept the high-tier spirit stone and the pouches into the dustpan. He brought the dustpan to the entrance and tossed it out like garbage.

He then turned around to Li Xingchen and said fiercely, "Garbage should be thrown outside, where it belongs!"

"Yeah! Good one!" 

The crowd could not hold back their emotions anymore, they cheered and applauded Zhang Zhi for his courage and was impressed by his integrity.

Li Xingchen finally felt something different in him because for all the years that he had his title with him, no one dared to oppose him.

He glared at the cheering crowd, silencing them with a stern gaze before he said to Zhang Zhi, "Very well, you've made me mad."

"Likewise. From this moment onwards, you are blacklisted and are not allowed to set foot in the blacksmith forever!" Zhang Zhi bellowed.

Li Xingchen reacted fiercely at those words. In his eyes, Zhang Zhi was just a puny blacksmith of Qi Refining stage yet the blacksmith had the guts to shame him again and again.

He grabbed his sword and the intimidating aura of Peak Foundation Building surge to the sky.

Zhang Zhi might only be a Veteran Qi Refining cultivator but he did not step back. He took the talisman that he got from Han Ling'er and unleashed the power of a Golden Core in response to Li Xingchen's pressuring aura.

The crowd was terrified. They actually thought Zhang Zhi was going to die but when he revealed the talisman with the power of a Golden Core, they were in awe. 

While being shocked that Zhang Zhi was no ordinary blacksmith, the crowd swiftly stepped away from the conflict, they did not want to be caught in between.

Li Xingchen knew that the talisman contained the power of a Golden Core but as a Peak Foundation Building and Semi-Golden Core himself, he was not afraid.

"You are asking for it!" Li Xingchen drew his sword, which felt like the galaxy had gushed out from his pouch.

Zhang Zhi also activated his talisman, the terrifying power of a Golden Core burst from the talisman in response to Li Xingchen's vast and powerful strike.

Right before the two forces clashed, an elderly man appeared out of thin air in between them. He extended his hands at both fearsome forces and held them tightly with his palms.

Both the talisman's power and Li Xingchen's sword were negated by his bare hands.

"Elder Wu!" One of the crowd recognized the elderly man that appeared out of thin air and cried out in shock.

Zhang Zhi had heard of the name before, he immediately knew who the elderlyman was.

Elder Wu was the Golden Core expert that governed Lingtai Town!

Even though Zhang Zhi felt it was a waste after using the talisman like that, he sighed a breath of relief. The Golden Core talisman was his only trump card that could rival Li Xingchen and if it did not work, he would probably be dead.

Moreover, Elder Wu governed Lingtai Town fairly, he would surely ensure Zhang Zhi's safety.

Zhang Zhi stood down but not Li Xingchen, he fused with his sword right after losing the first strike and went for Zhang Zhi's life again. He tried to ignore Elder Wu's existence but the elder/y man bellowed, "How dare you!"

A golden hand appeared in the air and slammed Li Xingchen, forcing him out of his fusion state with his sword into an ugly state.

Li Xingchen was forced on his knees, his hair was messy and blood was oozing out from his mouth. Even though he was already a Semi-Golden Core, the difference between him and a mature Golden Core expert was huge, hence the ugly defeat.

"Li Xingchen, you disobey the sect rules. You are hereby punished to repent on your mistakes at Repentance Cliff for three months!" bellowed Elder Wu as he announced Li Xingchen's punishment.

Li Xingchen clenched his teeth in anger, he stared at Elder Wu fiercely and shouted, "Elder Wu, three months later, I will ascend to full Golden Core and will surely return the shame and insult I've received today!"

He then turned around, trying to leave the place. When he walked past Zhang Zhi, Li Xingchen said, "No matter how useful you are, if you are not useful to me, you will end up dead. Three months later, I will kill you."

"Likewise." Zhang Zhi replied briefly to state his resolution. Even though he got on Li Xingchen's bad side without really knowing why, he did not regret his actions. Holding on to his principles was not a mistake.

He knew power spoke louder than words in the cultivation world. Without actual power, holding on to principles tightly might not be a good idea but he chose to go against Li Xingchen. 

He did it because he had the system inside him and the system had endless potential.

Three months later, Zhang Zhi believed that he could surprise the arrogant Li Xingchen.

"Arrogant!" In Li Xingchen's eyes, Zhang Zhi was already a dead man. He shook his sleeves and left using his flying sword.

"Flying is prohibited in Lingtai Town!" 

Elder Wu was known for his strictness in adhering to the rules, no one should be above the rules. A giant golden hand appeared in the sky and wanted to slam Li Xingchen down, but Li Xingchen accelerated and slipped past the hand through the seam before disappearing into the sky.

Elder Wu dissolved his spell with a stiff look. Ever since he started governing the town and adhering to the rules, he had never let anyone who broke the rules slip from his hand.

Now, Li Xingchen had slipped away right in front of his eyes. His failure to strike Li Xingchen down made him furious, he transformed into a stream of golden light and went after Li Xingchen.

The crowd was in awe of Li Xingchen's strength as the scene unfolded before their eyes. Even a Golden Core elder failed to keep Li Xingchen down on the ground, as expected of the No.1 of the inner disciples.

The crowd also strongly believed that Li Xingchen would ascend to full Golden Core in three months.

Zhang Zhi's integrity was awe-inspiring but unfortunately, in the cultivation world, power triumphed over everything. He was already dead because he had offended Li Xingchen.

With that thought in mind, the group looked at Zhang Zhi with a pitiful gaze. Everyone acknowledged that Zhang Zhi was a smithing genius but throughout history, many geniuses died before they could do something huge because they failed to read the situation carefully.

Zhang Zhi smiled when he saw the bitter look on the crowd, they looked like they were holding back a thousand words. He said, "Now that the troublesome guy is gone, business continues."

The crowd chuckled helplessly. They had no idea whether if Zhang Zhi was being bold or dumb. 

Some of the individual cultivators gave Zhang Zhi a big thumbs up and said, "Owner Zhang, you've earned my respect! I'll respect nothing except your integrity!"

The poor guy believed that it was his fault that Zhang Zhi offended Li Xingchen, he went up to Zhang Zhi and said, "I'm sorry Owner Zhang, it's my fault."

"What did you do?" Zhang Zhi rolled his eyes white at the poor guy before he took the flying sword to the rear.

Zhang Zhi's words left the poor guy stunned for a while before he clenched his fists tightly and looked at Zhang Zhi with a blistering hot gaze. He swore that he would cultivate with everything he had just so he could lend a hand to Zhang Zhi in opposing Li Xingchen in three months time.

'Owner Zhang might only be a Qi Refining cultivator but he's bold enough to oppose Li Xingchen! I'm already a Foundation Building cultivator, what am I afraid of!? I can't step back like this!'

Zhang Zhi concentrated on refining. He had no idea that his words had somehow planted a strong seed in the poor guy's heart.

After the refinement, the poor guy received the mid-tier flying sword from Zhang Zhi's hand under the crowd's envious gaze. He sized it up for a moment before he looked at Zhang Zhi with a grateful look, "Owner Zhang, I, Huang Dou, will never forget what you did for me!"

Huang Dou left right away after he said his thanks, he was determined to get stronger in three months.

Zhang Zhi did not realize the poor guy's determination, instead he found the name quite amusing.

"Huang Dou? Soybeans? Soybeans that can be grinded into soymilk? Interesting name." (TN: Huang Dou shares the same pronunciation with Soybean in Mandarin.)

The other cultivators in the shop believed Zhang Zhi's days were limited but they were not as brave and determined as Huang Dou to try to help him. Everyone started to count the days and how many swords could he refine in three months, they hoped they could make it before that ominous day.

All the cultivators stayed back with different intentions, some of them asked Zhang Zhi to restore their swords even though their swords were completely fine.

It was said that Zhang Zhi's maintenance of the sword could increase at least 10% of the sword's power. 

There were also others who stayed back to chit-chat with Zhang Zhi, hoping that they could be chosen by Zhang Zhi.

A few days ago, Zhang Zhi was rather casual in doing business but now with the increased number of customers, everyone of them swarmed the place just to make him remember them. It started to feel troublesome.

In the end, Zhang Zhi said, "Anyone who wants to refine their sword has to line up. For restoration you can just walk in."

The cultivators believed it was a good idea. They pushed each other just so they could get the earliest spot and in the blink of an eye, a long line appeared in the blacksmith.

Zhang Zhi was rendered speechless, "Today's quota is finished, there's no use for you to line up now."

"I'm lining up for tomorrow!"

"I'm lining up for the day after tomorrow!"

"Me too!"

The cultivators smiled and said in once voice.

Zhang Zhi turned a blind eye at their reaction but since the long queue occupied half of the blacksmith, it has become crowded. He said with a frown, "If you want to queue, be my guest but do it outside, don't come in here and disturb my business."

Several cultivators wanted to complain but those who were lining up behind quickly ran out of the blacksmith and lined up in a new queue. 

The queue was reshuffled and those who were once in front were thrown to the back of the new queue.

Zhang Zhi continued working until sunset. 

It was time to close shop. After he tidied up everything in the shop and wanted to close the door, he noticed a long line outside his blacksmith, which shocked him.

There were only five to six people at first, but now, the line had grown into at least 20 people.

"I'm closing shop. Why are you people still here?" asked Zhang Zhi as he did not have the heart to make them wait outside.

The meditating cultivators opened their eyes and shook their heads, "Owner Zhang, just do whatever you want. We are meditating quietly here, we can even discuss cultivation methods with each other, it's all good out here."

"Fine." Zhang Zhi did not know what to say since they were doing this out of their own will.

The shop was closed and Zhang Zhi went to cook dinner. 

After dinner, he laid down on his bed and started to think about what happened earlier in the day.

He concentrated on smithing during the day, therefore the matter with Li Xingchen slipped his mind. Now, while he was off work, he had to think of a way to overcome the problem.

"System, what is my mission progress now?" Zhang Zhi's only hope of surviving after three months was the Forging System. Completing missions and gaining experience to rank up his cultivation level was the quickest way possible.

"Reputation: 213/1,000."

Zhang Zhi sighed at the report. It has been a few days and his reputation had been crawling. Even though he had 10 days to complete the mission, the pressure from Li Xingchen felt like a sword at his neck, he had to come up with a way to hasten the process.

Unfortunately, being anxious could not help his reputation.

It was then that an idea popped in his mind. Other than completing the mission, he had another way to boost his cultivation level in a short period of time: search for the system loophole.

The last time he found the loophole, the system rewarded him with a rank up.

As long as he could find seven to eight loopholes, he would be able to ascend to a Golden Core expert and would never have to be afraid of Li Xingchen anymore.

However, after a whole night of thinking, Zhang Zhi failed to find any loopholes, so the matter ended without an end.

After he fell asleep, the news of Zhang Zhi opposing Li Xingchen spread like the plague within Lingtai Sect