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

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  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!”