Nightfall

A New Weapon and A New Apprentice

The light was being cast on the vines, which were not dense but had many gaps. It was refracted by the small leaves and its brightness changed. Then, it became a completely different scenery.

Ning Que expressed his most sincere gratitude to his Senior Brothers and asked them to stay for dinner. However, all of them made fun of this invitation.

They laughed and said that, although he was living on the edge of the cliff, he was just a miserable prisoner instead of a hermit. Why did he behave like a host?

Senior Brothers looked like messy laborers. They waved goodbye to him, leaned against the cliff beside the stone path, rubbed their sore necks, and marched down the hill moaning.

Sixth Brother had to finish the work of refurbishing the huts, so he stayed a little longer. When the setting sun had gone down, he packed up and got ready to leave.

As they were saying their farewells, Ning Que asked his Sixth Brother about the matter that he had entrusted to him several days ago.

The Sixth Brother answered, “It’s not difficult to cast your three knives into one. Actually, I have finished the design and arranged the process. However, in order to meet your requirements, the blade of the new knives may be too heavy. Thus, we can’t use the ordinary materials but a special material called Ball Toner. The imperial court has sent people to dig it out in the southern mines. They will return next month.”

He calculated the time and then said, “If the materials are available, I can finish it before summer.”

After leaving Min Mountain for the City of Wei, the three slender podaos had always accompanied him. With the podaos, Ning Que had killed so many of the Horse Gang; with the podaos, he safely entered into Chang’an from the frontier fortress; and with the podaos, he survived the fight of Spring Breeze Pavilion and returned back to the Wilderness.

During a series of fights in the Wilderness, Ning Que was disappointed to find that the three podaos could not provide him with steadfast confidence and the strongest support in the battles against cultivators. On the contrary, they had become a drag on him.

At present, the most powerful weapons he had were the Primordial Thirteen Arrows and the Fu paper. Fourth Brother and Sixth Brother had repaired the Primordial Thirteen Arrows perfectly for him. However, he still wanted to have a melee weapon. Based on his experience and emotion, the knife was his first choice.

A few days ago, Ning Que solemnly handed over his three podaos, which he regarded as partners of his life, to his Sixth Brother and asked him to cast these three podaos into one. This requirement was not compliant with the standard of smelting and casting in all respects, and seemed to be too simple and boring.

Therefore, he had little expectation on this matter. But he also held a ray of hope in the depths of his heart. Now, he was greatly surprised and delighted to hear what the Sixth Brother had said.

He knew that, even though the Sixth Brother was reticent on the outside, he had a fire-like passion from the inside and knew that he had a pure spirit tempered into steel, so he would not say something that was uncertain.

The Sixth Brother looked at Ning Que and asked simply and honestly, “Does Younger Brother still need me to do anything?”

“I can’t wait to see the knife that you made for me. I wonder what it looks like. That is all I care about.”

Ning Que said with a smile. Seeing Sangsang standing under the vines, suddenly he remembered something and raised his brow slightly.

When he and Mo Shanshan were on the bank of the Daming Lake in the Wilderness, they could not defeat the Tao Addict, Ye Hongyu. Especially when Ye Hongyu summoned the fish from deep in the water, which cast a shine in all its splendor and lit up the verdant valley and quiet lake, it occurred to him that he did not even dare to try to fight with her.