Hunter Thirty-One and Zhengang were constantly striving to improve their forging craftsmanship. The two rough blanks they had hammered out already boasted exceptional form—wild, unbridled, and saving Wei Yuan quite a bit of effort.
Wei Yuan first expended five thousand strands of azure qi to raise the quality to desolate steel, then spent another two thousand strands to further refine it within the desolate steel stage. Finally, he cast in the karmic luck of Hunter Nine and Hunter Thirty-Five. With a single fall of his hammer, immortal music swirled around the rafters.
Waiting in the outer courtyard, the smile on the market master's face instantly froze. He rose to his feet almost unconsciously, listening intently to the lingering immortal music. As he stood lost in thought, the doors to the central hall swung open. Wei Yuan emerged carrying a tray and said, "Have a look and see if these meet your expectations."
The market master looked toward the tray, his hands trembling slightly, no longer able to maintain his composure.
Within the arrowhead swam a spirit fish, trailing sparks in its wake.
The dagger's edge was divided into three sections like massive sawteeth, its profile vicious and terrifying. Inside sat a web-spinning spider, resting motionless within its web.
The market master's eyes fell upon the spirit fish's fiery trail, completely unable to tear his gaze away. "T-this... how can there even be a fish?"
"May every year have sur—" Wei Yuan blurted out halfway before promptly catching himself, changing his words: "Any ensouled creature under heaven, so long as this old man has laid eyes upon it, may well emerge beneath my hammer. Naturally, this cannot be done without sacrificial power."
"A fish, a fish..." the market master muttered repeatedly. Only after a good moment did he snap back to his senses, saying at once, "This fish is worth two thousand jin! While insect spirits inside daggers are common, a spider counts as premium among insect spirits. This dagger can be priced at five thousand jin. A total of seven thousand jin of nether iron—what do you say, Grandmaster?"
"That works." Wei Yuan had incurred virtually no cost, as the karmic luck had come from the shamans anyway, so there was naturally no reason to refuse.
"I'll have it delivered immediately!"
In barely any time, several Power Shamans came over carrying crates of desolate iron. Seven thousand jin of desolate iron only amounted to three or four small chests.
Yet porters continued to arrive in an endless stream. The market master said, "I took the liberty of gifting Grandmaster a full set of tools for imbuing sacrificial power—ninety-nine pieces in all."
The market master's gaze held a suggestive glint, wearing an expression of "we both know what's going on."
Wei Yuan, however, had no idea, but could only pretend he understood and shared a knowing belly laugh with the market master.
The market master had already tucked the two pieces of gear away with the utmost care, after which he departed in a hurry.
The installation and testing of the new tools was a noisy affair that dragged on for several hours before it was finally finished. The entire right courtyard had been converted into a facility for imbuing sacrificial power, with a small altar erected in the center where sacrifices could be offered to obtain sacrificial power.
Once all outside shamans had left, Wei Yuan called Hunter Thirty-One and Zhengang over and asked, "Speak up, what do the two of you make of this?"
The two fellows genuinely had no idea what Wei Yuan was asking. What did they make of it? Their minds were completely blank—what thoughts could they possibly have?
Their thinking was simple and pragmatic: now that they had managed with great difficulty to latch onto such a thick thigh, they didn't need to have ideas of their own, and it was probably best they had none at all.
Wei Yuan was truly exasperated by their lack of ambition. After coaxing and nudging them patiently through several rounds of questioning, Zhengang finally managed to say, "I truly never expected that you're also a Sacrificial Shaman!"
Unfazed, Wei Yuan asked, "What of Sacrificial Shamans? I never displayed any methods, so how can you be sure I am one?"
"Among us Power Shamans, Sacrificial Shamans capable of handling sacrificial power are exceedingly rare to begin with. That crawler in the shop slacks off, plays tricks, and has a rotten temper, yet he's still worked there for decades. Even if he's the absolute bottom of the barrel among Sacrificial Shamans, he's still a Sacrificial Shaman, and in all these years they haven't found a second. A real Sacrificial Shaman wouldn't deign to come here in the first place."
Wei Yuan probed a bit further along those lines, and combining that with his past experience, he finally understood the situation.
Sacrificial Shamans were Shamans specialized in handling sacrificial power; high-ranking ones could preside over sacrifices.
Unleashing great curses with sacrificial power was easy—any Dharma Idol could do it. But offering sacrifices to Heaven and Earth to obtain sacrificial power was exceedingly difficult; it had to be presided over by a Sacrificial Shaman. Otherwise, not only would one fail to obtain sacrificial power, but one might even bring down heavenly tribulation.
Among the various divisions of the Shamans, the number of Sacrificial Shamans varied. Anyone among the Dao Shamans with a modicum of talent could basically serve as a Sacrificial Shaman. There were also some among the Nether Shamans and Spirit Shamans; only among the Desolate Shamans were Sacrificial Shamans exceedingly rare.
Seeing how adeptly Wei Yuan handled sacrificial power, the market master had assumed Wei Yuan was an incognito Sacrificial Shaman who had ended up stranded here, which was why he had worn that knowing look of "I get it."
Having grasped the truth of the matter, Wei Yuan wasted no more time and resumed researching sacrificial power to avoid exposing himself.
Now having four portions of sacrificial power to compare against, the pace of research accelerated dramatically. Moreover, the market master had gifted a full set of tools, and studying them also allowed him to understand sacrificial power from another angle.
Inside Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness, over a hundred more miniature Wei Yuans were added to analyze these tools from every aspect. With this, his research into sacrificial power progressed by leaps and bounds, soon yielding an initial breakthrough.
Sacrificial power resembled a mixture of karmic luck, malice and hatred, karmic debt, and the power of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. Compared to the four portions of pure sacrificial power, the portion Hunter Nine had provided was heavily burdened with malice and karmic debt, which accounted for half of it. The power of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth made up only twenty percent, with the remainder being karmic luck.
In the pure sacrificial power, by contrast, malice and hatred were faint, karmic debt accounted for only ten percent, the power of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth reached fifty percent, and the remaining forty percent was karmic luck.
With this result, how the sacrificial power in Hunter Nine's possession had come about became readily apparent. Some shaman must have conducted a private sacrifice to obtain it. As for the sacrifices, they had likely been forced to the altar, which was why the malice and karmic debt were so heavy.
Having determined the composition of sacrificial power, Wei Yuan could use it in place of karmic luck for forging. Thus, Wei Yuan selected four premium arrowheads, expending a full ten thousand strands of azure qi to elevate the quality of the desolate steel as far as possible. Only when it could be upgraded no further did he raise his arm and bring down the hammer!
Immortal music lingered in the air, one tune among them split into two stanzas.
By then, within the four arrowheads were a spirit hare, a cricket, a green spirit bird, and a desert venomous scorpion with a flaming stinger. Each of the four pieces of divine iron was distinct, and the desert scorpion possessed an advanced spirituality, only slightly inferior to the lizard ablaze from head to tail.
This venomous scorpion arrowhead was worth at least three thousand jin of desolate iron, while the other three arrows were standard goods worth a thousand jin of desolate iron each.
Wei Yuan stared at the four arrowheads, deep in thought as an idea gradually took shape. He then summoned Hunter Thirty-One and Zhengang, instructing them to forge standard iron boxes measuring one foot on each side, requiring their exteriors to look completely identical. He then breathed a Desolate Roar over the arrowheads to seal their spirituality, placed them into the iron boxes, and welded them shut.
The next morning, the market bell tolled, marking the start of a new day for the shamans. Even before the bell rang, many shamans were already waiting outside Wei Yuan's courtyard, waiting for the doors to open.
To their surprise, when the doors opened, there was only a single shelf in the courtyard, bearing four identical iron boxes. Wei Yuan then appeared and declared, "Each of these four boxes contains an arrowhead of Great Desolate Divine Iron, but every one is different. Even this old man no longer knows which one is inside which box. Each box is fifteen hundred jin of desolate iron. Pick for yourselves, and may fate decide!"
The shamans exchanged glances. Though fifteen hundred jin of desolate iron was a bit steep, Great Desolate Divine Iron gear was rare—something one could stumble upon only by sheer luck. Right away, a War Shaman at his wit's end, much like Hunter Nine had been, charged forward, dropped a bag of desolate iron, and took an iron box.
In his haste, this shaman opened it on the spot right after taking it, pulling out an arrowhead containing a spirit hare. He hesitated a moment before saying, "It actually suits this shaman quite well—not a loss."
Seeing that it indeed produced a piece of Great Desolate Divine Iron gear, the remaining shamans instantly grew restless. An exceptionally burly shaman beat the rest to it, tossing over a chest and sweeping up all three remaining iron boxes.
Without another word, he opened them all in front of the crowd, taking out an arrowhead from each.
The instant he laid eyes on the flaming sand scorpion, the shaman froze in shock, followed by a burst of wild laughter: "Ahahaha! It really is Great Desolate Flame Divine Iron! With this luck of mine, I'll definitely slaughter in all ten directions!"
Chapter 881