56: Chapter 56 It's not that I didn't want to find you, it's just that your forging skills are really mediocre.

Gu Changming toyed with the night erosion in his hand appreciatively. With a light flick of his wrist, he performed a flourish with the blade.

The blade sliced through the air, trailing a faint, dark arc of light.

Then, with a thought, Gu Changming immediately tried the first trait mentioned in the prompt box.

Skill activated.

The Tang Dao in his hand seemed to suddenly lose its thickness, instantly becoming flat before transforming into a flowing black shadow.

Like a long, thin black snake, it wound its way around the back of his right hand. The shadow did not stop, quickly moving upward and disappearing beneath the cuff of his forearm.

To see it more clearly, Gu Changming pulled up his sleeve.

On the outside of his forearm, a Tang Dao tattoo emerged clearly. Its lines were simple and sharp, pitch-black throughout, as if it had been meticulously sketched with an ink brush.

He shifted his intent again.

The tattoo on his arm suddenly came to life, sliding across his skin like water, crossing from his right arm over his chest, and silently moving to his left arm.

With a slight flash of black light, the Tang Dao appeared out of thin air in his left hand.

This series of changes happened as smoothly as flowing water, all in the blink of an eye.

The surrounding crowd, which had been whispering, fell completely silent.

Eyes went wide, and faces were filled with shock and disbelief.

Gu Changming had expected their reaction. Currently, in the early stages, most people used weapons without special functions, which were at most just a bit sharper than previous ones.

They had never seen a weapon with special functions and traits like this, so such a reaction was normal.

As for this trait, Gu Changming was also quite satisfied.

For one, he no longer had to carry a blade on his back all the time. Secondly, hiding it within his body could truly have a miraculous effect in certain situations.

After turning the Tang Dao back into a tattoo hidden beneath his skin, Gu Changming turned to Qin Lie with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Not bad, this blade."

Qin Lie opened his mouth. Gratitude, relief, and the sense of finally succeeding after so many failures... a mix of emotions swirled within him, leaving him momentarily speechless.

"Yeah," he finally managed, nodding vigorously and squeezing out a short sound from his throat.

Gu Changming said no more and turned toward the wooden table in Qin Lie's shop where the finished weapons were displayed.

His gaze swept over several weapons, and then he spoke in a casual tone, "Will you give me another blade?"

Qin Lie was stunned for a moment. Although he didn't understand what Gu Changming wanted to do, he immediately nodded. "Yeah, take whichever one you like. You can take them all if you want."

Gu Changming's help to him was worth far more than a few blades.

With the display just now and the change in his own mindset, he wouldn't be the same as before.

"Just one is enough," Gu Changming said, picking out the most ordinary-looking dagger, only about the length of a palm, from the row of weapons.

The dagger's lines were simple, without any extra decoration, only wrapped with anti-slip cloth at the handle.

He took the dagger and turned back.

The crowd, which hadn't dispersed yet, watched him curiously, not understanding what he was doing.

Gu Changming walked straight toward the middle-aged stall owner who had repeatedly tried to solicit business and spoke mockingly earlier.

The stall owner was craning his neck to look inside. Seeing Gu Changming walking toward him, a flash of bewilderment and instinctive unease crossed his face.

Gu Changming stopped in front of him and, without saying a word, raised the dagger in his hand.

A cold, almost tangible faint killing intent radiated from him without warning. It wasn't intense, but it made the stall owner's scalp tingle and his back break into a cold sweat.

"Swish!"

With a flick of Gu Changming's wrist, the dagger traced a swift flash of cold light, slashing down toward the stall owner's head.

The stall owner's face turned pale. In his terror, he almost instinctively raised the broad-backed cleaver he had been holding to block over his head.

“Clang-crack!”

A piercing, crisp sound rang out.

The stall owner felt the weight in his hand lighten. Looking closely, his thick cleaver had been sliced clean through at the point of impact!

The cut was smooth as a mirror, and the front half of the blade fell to the ground with a "clatter." In his hand, only half of the broken blade remained.

Looking back at the dagger in Gu Changming's hand, the edge was perfectly intact, without even a single white scratch.

The stall owner's legs went weak, and he slumped to the ground, the broken half-blade slipping from his hand.

He stared wide-eyed at Gu Changming, all color drained from his face, leaving only the daze and lingering fear of a survivor.

Gu Changming spun his wrist, stowing the dagger, and said indifferently:

"See? I don't know why you kept pestering me. It's not that I'm not looking for you, it's just that your forging level is truly average. A big cleaver like this can't even compare to a dagger forged by someone else."

The stall owner sat on the ground, mouth agape, not recovering for a long time.

The onlookers were stunned at first, then gradually realized that Gu Changming was clearly standing up for Qin Lie.

But soon, they also came to a realization.

Even though Gu Changming was standing up for him, they had seen the act with their own eyes. A randomly picked dagger could cleanly slice through someone else's broad-backed cleaver, and then there was that mysterious Tang Dao that could turn into a tattoo...

The gap between Qin Lie's forging skills and those of the other blacksmiths in the camp needed no further explanation!

After a brief silence, someone moved first. A man wearing simple leather armor took the lead, pushing through the crowd to stand before Qin Lie.

"Little brother," he began in a polite tone, "the blades you forge here... like that dagger just now, how much do they cost?"

Once someone started, two or three more people immediately crowded around.

"Do you have short swords? Suitable for close-quarters use."

"I want to custom-make a straight sword that fits me. I'll provide part of the materials myself. How many points will it be?"

"Do you take armor repairs? My team just had a pauldron break yesterday..."

Inquiries rang out one after another, surrounding the still-dazed Qin Lie.

Gu Changming turned to look at the gradually surrounded Qin Lie, smiled, and didn't step forward again. He didn't make a point of saying goodbye either, but turned and walked out along the camp's slightly chaotic road.

He had only walked a dozen meters when hurried footsteps sounded behind him.

Gu Changming stopped and turned around. It was Qin Lie who had caught up, running a bit fast and slightly out of breath.

"Not doing business?" Gu Changming teased.

"Uh... let them pick first." Qin Lie smiled somewhat sheepishly. Once he caught his breath, he said seriously, "Thank you."

"For what?" Gu Changming shrugged. "You have the skill yourself."

Qin Lie scratched the back of his head, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Are you... leaving now?"

"Yeah," Gu Changming nodded.

"Can you... wait one more day?" Qin Lie asked urgently.

Gu Changming gave him an inquiring look.

"Before you go, I'll give you something," Qin Lie said with a smile.

Gu Changming's eyebrows twitched slightly. After a brief thought, he roughly guessed what the other party was going to give him.

When they were in the secret realm, the other party had mentioned obtaining some kind of blueprint.

He didn't say anything more, but reached into the inner pocket of his coat, fished out two shadow crystal cores, and tossed them casually toward Qin Lie.

Qin Lie scrambled to catch them. After seeing what they were, he quickly tried to decline. "No need, no need! I should be able to... borrow some points to buy crystal cores now."

After demonstrating his forging strength and Gu Changming's comparison of his dagger with others...

He knew he wouldn't lack customers in the future, so even if it was five hundred points, he could borrow it in a short time.

"Take them," Gu Changming said casually. "You know I'm not short of these things."

Two crystal cores would yield two items; he'd have one, and the other party could keep one.

...

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