Commanding Wind and Cloud

"Very strong, because one of the bandits was our Sixth Leader." Hayen Brianna wore a sullen face, "He had the ability to kill the Tenth Leader within the blink of an eye. However, this time, he was killed by someone else, who chopped down his head with one attack! Judging from his corpse, he died before he could even respond to this fatal attack."

How was this leader who had the ability to kill the Tenth Leader with one attack killed by someone else in a split second! Qian Jin felt desperately curious about this killer!

"This is not the whole story. It’s said that the Demons have dispatched a group of Dark Soldiers into the frontier to search for you, on hearing this, the Zence Empire also sent a group of Black Dragon Guards into the frontier area, making the place much more turbulent than before." Hayen Brianna shook her head, "The frontier used to be tumultuous, and the chaotic situation now has been further intensified, especially with the occurrence of the person who killed our Sixth Leader. It can be seen from the signs on the spot that he was fighting on his own while the other ten people were watching and then separated in different directions. I wonder whether they have come here to catch you, or to kill the Dark Group."

Qian Jin frowned, and then bent over again while searching the surroundings, "A dozen people? The odds of running into them are small, whether they’re here to look for me or the Dark Group."

"The frontier is so boundless! And the chances of them finding each other are more than small." Standing in the rainstorm in the frontier, Fabreidis held his Skyreed Sword from which translucent raindrops were drooping down. He then slightly raised his head to look afar through the rain, and said feebly, "Where on earth is Qian Jin?"

Against the rain, several shadows appeared rushing at Fabreidis from different directions. Approaching their master, they placed their fists on their chest, "Master, we haven’t found him."

Fabreidis uttered a sigh, "let’s wait for the other people."

Another shadow showed up amidst the rain.

Looking at the warrior who had run to him, Fabreidis asked, "Have you found him?"

"I found it!" Qian Jin shouted out of ecstasy at the sight of the huge sword carved from stone, which was about the height of a normal man.

The huge sword carved from bluestone was giving out a sense of olden thickness, as it had witnessed the vicissitude of the secular world for ages.

Looking at the stone sword stabbed into the ground, Hayen Brianna couldn’t feel anything special about it as it was nothing but an ordinary piece of carving work to her. She wondered why Qian Jin was so sure of its uniqueness.

"Could this only be a coincidence?" Qian Jin took out his palm, touched the huge stone sword softly, and then paced around in frowning, "I’ve seen a lot of stone carvings, but it is my first time seeing such a fine piece of carving like this."

"A fine piece of carving?" Hayen Brianna got closer to the stone sword and started examining it carefully. However, seen from her eyes, its carving technique wasn’t of high quality, and no peculiar or distorted configuration was found on it which could mark it as a piece of artwork for the nobilities. Any stonemason in Zence Empire would be able to make a carving of the same level as it, if not better than, wouldn’t they?

Qian Jin raised his eyes, had a glance at Hayen Brianna and smiled faintly. In view of carving skill, this stone sword was just a piece of work made by a stonemason apprentice; while with respect to artistic beauty, it wasn’t worth even one coin. But from the perspective of forging, it was extremely unique.

Whether in the Zence Empire or the Demon Lucifer Empire, delicate appearances had been a uniform pursuit of making stone carvings.

However, this piece of carving harbored no sense of aesthetic beauty at all, given its crude carving technique. Anyone would deem it as a frustrating piece of stone carving.

But seen from sword casting, this piece of carving was of an extraordinary level! Qian Jin rested his jaw in his palm, deep in meditation. In line with the books about forging he had covered at Blake’s, this sword was of a paramount level with respect to proportion, though it was just a piece of carving!

Every weapon followed some fixed rule of proportion. That was, no big change in proportion would be made into it, regardless of its size. Unless some strong warriors desired it for exerting their power to the greatest and hired a Forge Master to tailor a weapon best suitable for them, the vast majority of weapons were of standard proportion.

To many warriors, the swords are different only in their weight and length, instead of proportion. And only those Forge Masters who are really proficient in forging keep a keen eye on the different proportions of the swords and are acutely susceptible to such nuances.

Perfect proportion! Qian Jin looked at the stone carving and sighed gently, thinking that it was definitely of consummate proportion! Only a Forge Grandmaster could forge a battle blade made of metal like this! Ordinary Forge Masters were incapable of handling the proportion in such a meticulous way.

"As a stone carving, this sword is not delicate in carving technique, but in proportion between the different parts of its body." Qian Jin chuckled and said to himself, "It’s abnormal, quite abnormal. It took me so long to have discovered the unusual proportion of this stone carving. If Blake knows this, I bet he will sneer at me and teach me a lesson."

Hayen Brianna looked into Qian Jin in a puzzled manner, feeling it weird for him to be talking about the proportion of the stone carving. Does he have a taste for stone carvings?

Qian Jin fastened his waist belt with his hands, squatted by the stone sword in a horse-riding posture, opened his arms, embraced the sword and tried to pull it up from the ground!

Puff...

The body of the stone sword was pulled up from the ground a few inches, stirring up bits of wet muds to jet out.

Hayen Brianna looked at Qian Jin blankly. The exploding force of warrior power was indeed strong, yet it generated more destroying power than brutal force. This stone sword seemed to weigh more than five or six hundred pounds, and given the truth that it had been buried underground for ages, it might have been deeply rooted in the earth. It required at least one thousand and five hundred pounds’ of brutal force to pull it from the ground, didn’t it?

Was this guy a Barbarian? Hayen Brianna looked Qian Jin up and down and found no strange patterns typical of the Barbarians on his face, but blue veins bulging from his forehead.

Qian Jin fastened his entire body’s muscles for generating power, feeling that the strength he had exerted this time might have reached two thousand and five hundred pounds. Were it not for his experience of soaking in the strange lake of Four Seasons Valley for the past two years, he couldn’t have accumulated the strength needed for pulling it up with his bare hands.

Puff puff puff...

The stone sword was pulled up from the ground little by little. Qian Jin walked several steps holding it around his arms and then fell it down on to the ground with full strength.

Bang! The stone sword collided with the ground fiercely, by which strips of fracturing patterns appeared on its body. Walking up to it, Qian Jin kicked on the rips of the sword, and then the entire sword was ruptured, turning into dozens of stones.

Clank...

The tranquil Ruins City was filled with the clear crashing sound of metal.

Hayen Brianna looked at the half-round metal piece rolling out of the crevices of the sword, and turned her eyes to Qian Jin, feeling desperately astonished!

No one could have counted that a stone sword, which stood as an eyesore, having nothing special to attract people’s attention, harbored a half-round piece of metal after being pulled out from underground by brutal force and thrown onto the ground again.

"Incredibly, there is something in it." Qian Jin flicked away the dust on his body, squatted down and picked up the metal, "I just wanted to try my luck, but it turned out that I am really fortunate."

Hayen Brianna came up to observe the half-round metal piece in Qian Jin’s hand, and found that it was a wrist shield with a diameter of one inch...no! It was only half of an entire wrist shield!

It ought to be a round-shaped wrist shield, but now only half of it remained as if it had been chopped apart by some edgy weapon from the middle, or the one who made this wrist shield only completed half of the entire work.

Qian Jin rubbed the wrist shield held in his hand with his finger, gently, to feel the components of it. He then harshly twisted his brows and wore a puzzling look, as is felt like alloy. It seemed to be the perfect integration of several types of fine metal after being forged into Purified Iron essence!

However...Qian Jin uttered a sigh gently because the mixing of these metals made it difficult to tell what types of fine metal they truly were, let alone separating them for reuse. This quintessential work made from a dozen or dozens of types of metal had already become a seamless integral, whose forging technique was exclusively rested with a real Master!

Qian Jin moved his forefinger along the rim of the wrist shield. The moment he touched the straight-lined edge of the wrist shield, Qian Jin slightly quivered his finger, contracted his pupils and released a beam of cold light filled with surprise was exuding, "This is..."

It was chopped apart! It was not a half piece of wrist shield made due to the insufficiency of materials, but was cleaved by some sharp weapon!

What weapon was this, so sharp and so solid? Qian Jin lowered his head at the smooth cutting section of the wrist shield but found no traces of crevices. It was formed as if by cutting butter with a hot knife.

The wrist shield was fabricated by ace forging technique and the perfect integration of a dozen types of advanced metal essences! Qian Jin guessed that even if used the Zhanmadao forged by himself and his strongest warrior power of Level 9 Demon Fighter to chop this wrist shield, he’d most trigger some dazzling metal sparks, instead of leaving any colliding traces on its surface.

Chop it apart by one attack? Qian Jin shook his head, wondering what the weapon was that had chopped it apart. Even if that weapon was firm enough, it couldn’t be torn apart that easily without sufficient warrior power, right? After all this shield was of an ace level!

"What’s this?" Hayen Brianna pointed to the back side of the wrist shield, "It looks like a map."

Qian Jin hurriedly turned the wrist shield back, and looked at the carving patterns on it carefully, "It should be a map of the sea, where these dots represent an island, however..."

Hayen Brianna raised her head and replied, "It seems to a half of the map."

Qian Jin nodded his head, and examined the map carefully, trying to find out the similar marks he had seen in other maps before.

As a shield forged by integrating a dozen types of advanced metal, there was a map of the sea carved on it. Any normal person would have recognized the huge value of this map.

Having examined it and comparing with the sea maps in his mind for more than ten minutes, Qian Jin didn’t find out anything similar between them. The sea on the east and south side of the Zence Empire was extremely boundless, whose area was said to be bigger than the sum of the land areas of the Zence Empire, the Demons, and the Barbarians!

It was difficult to find the marked places on the map when you were traveling on the vast sea, let alone holding just half of the entire map.

"What should we do with this half shield?" Qian Jin forced a smile, twirled the half shield in his hand and looked to Hayen Brianna, "Will you mind me taking it away?"

"Of course not." Hayen Brianna opened her arms, "It was found by you, so you can naturally take it."

Qian Jin kept twirling the half shield and found one part’s absence on its inner side. If this lost part could be made up for, it could still function as a wrist shield, though it would still be an incomplete one.

"You can buy a new one." Hayen Brianna suggested.

Qian Jin chuckled and kept shaking his head. Even half of the wrist shield harbored compelling defending force! Nothing could cause any mark on it, including his Zhanmadao forged by purified iron! And those eerie patterns on the surface of the shield weren’t as simple as they looked to be, but somehow resembled the runes he saw in the [Endless World].

If the patterns on the half shield were real rune inscriptions, this wrist shield of the warrior weapon level was at the same time a piece of magical equipment! And it had mysterious power!

"Shall keep searching?"

Hayen Brianna walked toward other stone carvings in front of Qian Jin and patted on each carving she came across.

Qian Jin tucked away the wrist shield and observed the surroundings, "If we can find the other half of the wrist shield, I can piece them together. Thus we will not only find the remainder of the sea map but also unravel the strange patterns on the shield."

Rows of stone carvings were pushed to fall down on the ground, turning into numerous stone pieces in the silent tidy Ruins, yet no hidden object was discovered anymore.

After smashing the last sculpture, Hayen Brianna lost all interest in searching for the treasures. She waved to Qian Jin and left.

Sitting in the debris of the fragmented stones, Qian Jin observed the half wrist shield he got. Given the forging proficiency, Qian Jin figured this must be produced by at least a Forge Grandmaster. Even if he owned these metals, he wouldn’t be able to forge such a fine shield.

"How could such a strong shield be chopped apart?" Qian Jin yawned and stretched his legs, "I really want to see the weapon that chopped apart this shield and the warrior using this weapon."

Qian Jin opened his warrior dimension, placed the shield in it, stood up to stretch his limbs and hurriedly walked away. Having spent such a long time searching for treasures, he figured that it was time to enter the endless world.

The more turbulent the frontier, the greater power one needed to protect himself. No one could say for sure that he wouldn’t run into the Dark Group after leaving this place.

In accordance with the Dark Groups’ habitual practices, in the case of a casualty of a Two Star, they would appoint a member to take the revenge as per the fighting scenes on the spot, and that might not be a Three Star. Theoretically speaking, they would dispatch a Four Star or someone above. And even if Qian Jin had the flying knives as the trump card, he might not be guaranteed a victory in the fight.

The village in the endless world was as tranquil as before. Qian Jin raised his head, looking at the Enlak’s Warrior Power House. After a short hesitation, he sighed and gave up the idea of going there for a challenge, as he hadn’t really mastered the fighting techniques he obtained last time, though he had already kept them in mind.

"I should first go to the West Mountain, find the Lava Wolverine and get some Hundred Years Aged Ice-iron." Qian Jin cupped his chin in his palms and headed for the village, "Alright, I shall tour around the Tri-headed Raid Tiger Wind-fire Copper to fetch some Wind-fire Copper."

"Tri-headed Raid Tiger...en...that is a problem." Qian Jin patted his head, "It remains uncertain as to whether I defeat it. Though they are not as ferocious as Demon Uyeha Spider, they are after all advanced Demon Beasts."

The minute Qian Jin walked out of the village, he suddenly poked out his arms and pounced forward, by which the head of a Tri-head Raid Tiger which was about to conduct a sneak attack at Qian Jin was broken apart. Its huge body flopped to the ground and stopped moving after convulsing for a short while.

"You so much trouble. Every time I kill you, you will show up again the next time I come to the village, just like the Lave Wolverines and Tri-headed Raid Tigers who will be brought to life shortly after they are killed." Qian Jin waved his arms, "So I have to practice [Land Tearing Chop] more. The book says that a move of the Land Tearing Chop is like a saber and will slice the enemies apart. However, I just chopped down the wolf’s head just now."

Walking into the bushes of a grown man’s height, Qian Jin saw a dazzling light reflected by a sword approaching from underneath, of which the coldness made the weeds to defoliate and flutter in the air.

"It’s you again!"

Qian Jin lifted his leg and kicked on the head of the swordsman who was about to carry out a sneak attack. After smashing the swordsman’s head, he picked up the steel saber on the ground and walked further into the bushes. He then casually flung the saber to his right side, after which two bleeding heads were stirred up to fly out of the grasses.

Familiar! Too familiar! Walking out of the bushes he was way too familiar with, Qian Jin was suddenly awakened.

The enemies Qian Jin ran into on his way from the village to the bushes kept invariable. Qian Jin could say with sheer confidence that he could immediately finish off such enemies even when he was closing his eyes.

However, as long as he walked out of the bushes, the things he used to be familiar with would become mystical, as they could take on the shape of decadent swordsmen, beasts, Demon Beasts and so on.

Sometimes they would be lovely rabbits, welcoming him with their innocent big red eyes. Sometimes they would be atrocious Demon Beasts of more than one variety!

Qian Jin could still remember that one time he walked out of the bushes, he saw some thirty Centaurs extending their warmest "welcoming" ceremony by standing in a neat row, growling loud and swinging the big iron spikes which were even larger than their arms like windmills.

One Centaur was not worth mentioning, neither were three or five of this species who held iron spikes in their hands. However, the "welcoming" ceremony given by thirty Centaurs was beyond Qian Jin’s capabilities, in which case he had to turn away and flee.

Walking into the West Mountain, Qian Jin raised his head, cast a look at the towering mountain and quickened his pace. "There should be a mountain headquarters somewhere not far from here. Bypassing it may cost more time than jumping into it directly..."