The Attack of the Wastrel

Rong Yuan came over to prevent Gu Lingzhi from completing her task too quickly. He never thought that Gu Lingzhi would be so quick and capture a beast so easily without harming a single hair on it.

“…Yes, you can leave now.” Rong Yuan was extremely unwilling to sputter out these words. Gu Lingzhi was always able to let him taste the feeling of defeat.

Gu Lingzhi felt like a kite that was just cut free as she left Rong Yuan’s side. Assuming the identity of the Black Thorn, she hurried to the Town of the Brave in a good mood. As it was still early, Gu Lingzhi was lucky enough to finish and win three consecutive battles.

After her three battles, Gu Lingzhi saw that the time was still early and decided to head to the Store of Many Treasures.

Qin Boyu had instructed the helpers in his shop to take special care of Gu Lingzhi. As soon as she stepped into the store, she was brought to the meeting room on the fifth level.

Qin Boyu was mildly surprised to see Gu Lingzhi while the sun was still up in the sky and a kind smile lit up his face.

The Black Thorn was not only someone that the Third Prince favoured, she was also a friend of the first mistress of his clan. He could not help but feel proud that he recognised her talent earlier on before she became famous. Thankful for the relationship they had built, the Store of Many Treasures was now able to sell numerous weapons suitable for Martial Students.

“Lady Black Thorn, it’s so rare that you’re here early.”

Gu Lingzhi laughed lightly, “I’ve been lucky today. Shopkeeper Qin, I made a new batch of weapons these past few days, would you like to see if you want any?”

A Spiritual Sword resembling a water snake then appeared in Gu Lingzhi’s hands.

A smile tugged at Qin Boyu’s lips. Although he had already mentally prepared himself to lower his expectations regarding the appearance of the weapons Gu Lingzhi made, he was still taken aback when he saw the sword that she had made this time.

“What is special about this weapon?”

As he said this, Qin Boyu took the sword and assessed the internal qualities of the sword by directing a bit of his spiritual energy in it. What he found surprised him.

This was a high grade Yellow-Level Spiritual Sword!

Just a month ago, Gu Lingzhi had just started learning how to create a middle grade Yellow-level Recording Crystal. In such a short span of time, she was already able to create a high grade Yellow-Level Spiritual Weapon. How would this make other Weapon Forgers look?

Looking at the shape of the sword in his hand, Qin Boyu consoled himself. Heaven was indeed fair; although she was gifted with such great talent she was also handicapped in other areas.

Seemingly not sensing the surprise of the shopkeeper, Gu Lingzhi chuckled, “This is the high grade Yellow-Level weapon that I created a few days ago. It is suitable for those that have reached the peak of the Martial Student rank as well as beginner Martial Practitioners. In addition to the basic properties, I added a property to help with spiritual control. It allows its wielder to spend a minimal amount of concentration to control the direction of the spiritual energy as it is directed out of the sword.”

Qin Boyu was once again surprised.

Although only a trained Martial Practitioner could direct spiritual energy out of an object, during the beginner stages, their control would still be unstable. With this additional property to help users control the direction of their spiritual energy, it would be extremely helpful. He sincerely praised Gu Lingzhi, “Lady Black Thorn, you have an extremely unique understanding of weapons. Compared to other weapons which can only increase the power of attacks or add additional attacking properties, an addition like this would have long-term benefits to its users, which is what Martial Artists need the most.”

Other than its appearance, he had nothing to nit-pick regarding the weapon Gu Lingzhi provided. Of course, it would be even better if Gu Lingzhi could teach him the method to make it.

Unfortunately, Gu Lingzhi was unwilling to sell her method regardless of whatever price he offered and he could only sigh in response.

“How many of these do you have? Would five thousand spirit stones for each of them be enough?” Qin Boyu stated his price after a long moment of consideration.

“Sure, Gu Lingzhi smiled, “Shopkeeper Qin has always been very fair with the prices. I have three of them on me. You should try to sell them first, if they can be sold, I will then make more of them.”

After some time, Gu Lingzhi was well aware that the appearance of her weapons was not the most appealing and thus, she did not make too many.

Guessing what Gu Lingzhi was thinking, Qin Boyu burst out in laughter, “Lady Black Thorn, you do not need to worry, although your weapons certainly look weird, its power is also much stronger than the ones in the market. In the eyes of those who value quality and power, they can overlook the appearance of the sword.”

Qin Boyu felt relieved as he said this. Initially, he was also worried that Gu Lingzhi’s weapons could not be sold because of their ugly appearance. However, he had underestimated his customer’s value for a powerful weapon. No matter how weird her weapons looked, they were always sold out in a short period of time. Her products were almost ‘limited edition’ at the Store of Many Treasures.

Leaving the store, Gu Lingzhi felt as if she was being followed.

In order to ditch her stalkers, Gu Lingzhi purposely went into a few different stores and walked around, trying to slip away. However, she was unable to lose them.

“I still lack experience,” Gu Lingzhi grumbled to herself after trying and failing a few more times to get rid of her stalkers. She raised her head and headed to the Royal School.

“Eh? Is she from the Royal School?” The person that was following Gu Lingzhi wondered. Even with the mask, they could tell that Gu Lingzhi was relatively young. With her talent, it would be weird if she was not from the Royal School.

“What should we do now? Should we follow her in?” one of the men asked.

The leader of the group pondered for a while before waving his hands, “Forget it, let’s continue next time. There are a lot of powerful people in the Royal School, it won’t be good if we get discovered.

Although he was unwilling to let Gu Lingzhi disappear, he had no choice but to retreat with his men.

On Gu Lingzhi’s side, she only thought about getting rid of her stalkers by entering the Royal School. She had completely forgotten that she was still assuming the identity of the Black Thorn.

Having only appeared two months ago, she had defeated numerous stronger opponents with only a Level Five Martial Student rank. After she became a Level Six Martial Student, she had defeated several of the Royal School’s Martial Students that were considered outstanding even for the Royal School. Along with her mysterious fighting style and relationship with the Third Prince, she was basically the most famous person in the capital right now.

With all these, the minute Gu Lingzhi entered the compound of the Royal School, everyone’s attention was on her.

“Look, it is Black Thorn!”

“It is her? What is she doing here? Is she a student from the Royal School?”

Waves of surprised shouts filled the air, attracting more and more students. Gu Lingzhi had absolutely no opportunity to change her identity. Therefore, Gu Lingzhi, who had finally resolved her stalking problem, was quickly faced with another problem.