Chapter 177 Elder Universe
Old Craftsman and Ni Yunhong were holding an ore each in the Ni residence’s smithing workshop as they used their tricks to inspect the ores’ properties. They were very much far in age, but they had their strong points in smithing art. The longer the old man and the young master held the ores, the more elated they looked.
Ou Yangming was not surprised at all when he saw their expressions.
This was because he was also moved by the ores’ properties when he first stumbled upon them.
The fact that the Black Magic Crawlers could not cause much damage to the ores with their sharp mouthparts proved that the ores were exceptionally rare.
When Ou Yangming later smithed the pieces of equipment in the cave, he experienced deeply the mightiness of the materials. He did not know where exactly the materials came from, but he knew very well that they were his only chance of smithing pieces of extraordinary equipment.
old Craftsman and Ni Yunhong put down the ores after a long time, and they nodded as they looked at each other.
The old man lamented, “I really didn’t expect such wonderful materials to exist in the world. The Ni family is truly an influential clan in the prefecture, and I’m in awe of your profound background.”
“Hehe…” Ni Yunhong smiled gently but seemed to be in a daze.
‘Since when our clan’s treasure house has these great materials? Why didn’t I know of this?
‘Hmm, I’ve gone to the Land of Inheritance once with the great ancestors, but I’ve never seen these ores when I was in the secret room.’
old Craftsman looked at Ou Yangming and asked sternly, “Young fella, how confident are you if you use these ores?”
“100%,” Ou Yangming answered without any hesitation.
In actual fact, he had already smithed two equipment sets with these ores, hence he was naturally confident.
The old man was shocked. “Can you really smith magic tools?”
Ou Yangming quickly flinched and smiled apologetically. “Old Man, I was talking about Fine Grade equipment!”
old Craftsman glared at him snappily. “If you can’t even smith a Fine Grade with this material, are you even a blacksmith?”
That being said, Ou Yangming was unbothered. Without enough ability, even if he had the best materials, he could not smith a piece of Fine Grade material.
“Brother Ou, what exactly is the name of this material?” Ni Yunhong finally asked after he hesitated.
Old Craftsman questioned as he was startled, “Isn’t this material from your clan? Why are you asking the young fella?”
‘Sh*t,’ Ni Yunhong thought to himself, but before he could come up with an explanation, Ni Yinghong said with a sweet smile, “old Man, these materials have been piled up in my clan’s treasure home for years, and they haven’t been touched for a long time. It was until Brother Ou saw them that they were finally retrieved. Since Brother Ou has such discerning eyes, he should know the background of these ores.”
On the other hand, Ni Yunhong kept nodding because the explanation was reasonable, and he felt relieved.
Nonetheless, Ou Yangming spread out his hands and responded, “I know these stones are great materials, but I have no idea about their background either. If I were to unleash the full properties of these ores, it’s best to get to the bottom of it.”
Ou Yangming had a vague feeling that the ores were not simple at all, and they might be related to the Ni family’s ancestor.
Nevertheless, the Ni family’s Three Great Ancestors seemed to avoid the topic of their ancestor as taboo, thus Ou Yangming dared not casually ask them about him.
Ni Yinghong’s eyes wandered about as she asked, “Do you really want to know?”
“Of course. If I know the ores’ background and features, it’ll be extremely helpful for me to smith magic tools,” Ou Yangming answered without any delay.
“Okay, I’ll help you once for the sake of the magic tools.” Ni Yinghong sighed. She moved her wrist to retrieve two small ores, then she waved her hand at him. “Come with me.’
wa
Ou Yangming followed her with a bright smile as he was overjoyed.
Ni Yunhong shook his head and thought, ‘Younger Sister, is it for the sake of the magic tools or for him?’
Old Craftsman asked in confusion, “Young Master Ni, where did they go?”
“They went there.” Ni Yunhong fixed his gaze in the distance while he pointed at the sky then at the ground.
“It’s actually him. He and Young Lady Ni are…” Old Craftsman’s eyes glowed.
“A master and an apprentice.”
old Craftsman was dumbfounded. He finally understood why Ni Yunhong and his younger sister were so doted on in their clan. It looked like the reason was closely related to their relationship with that person.
After leaving the Ni residence, Ni Yinghong wrinkled her nose a little and questioned, “Who encouraged you to find my master?”
Ou Yangming was taken aback, but he quickly said, “Nobody…”
“Hmph, if nobody did, you wouldn’t have acted so obviously earlier.”
‘Did I overdo it just now? Why didn’t I feel like I did…’ Ou Yangming rubbed his nose.
Ni Yinghong asked, “Was it the three great ancestors?”
Ou Yangming smiled bitterly. This lady is too smart. I can’t hide anything from her.’
Despite that, Ni Yinghong suddenly grinned. “Looks like the great ancestors are really worried about you, but even if they didn’t ask, I would’ve brought you to meet my master too.”
“Why?” Ou Yangming was surprised.
“Because of the governor!” Ni Yinghong sighed. “You offended Governor Deng Xiyuan. Although he’s a fake Supreme Great Ancestor, he’s one of the top-notch powerhouses, after all. If he wants to cause trouble for you, there’s nothing you can do.”
She continued after she glanced at Ou Yangming, “But if my master is fond of you, as long as he says something about it, Deng Xiyuan wouldn’t dare to plot anything against you.”
Ou Yangming was secretly grateful. ‘She’s really looking out for me.’
Subsequently, he went forward to hold her soft hand as he could not hold back.
Ni Yinghong swung his hand lightly and blushed as she scolded him softly, “It’s broad daylight, are you seeking death?!”
Ou Yangming laughed and let go. “Okay.” “What do you mean by okay?” Seeing as ou Yangming replied to her so simple-mindedly, Ni Yinghong had a bad feeling about it.
“Nothing.” Ou Yangming smiled with narrowed eyes. “I won’t do it under broad daylight anymore.” Ni Yinghong was stunned at first, but her face and ears quickly turned red, and she wanted to kick the flirt away. However, on second thought, Ni Yinghong was reluctant to do it. She began to daydream and indulge in wild, fanciful thoughts.
She glared at Ou Yangming, but her eyes were not quite threatening.
As they bickered throughout their journey, they finally arrived at a residence.
Ni Yinghong suppressed her expressions as soon as they arrived and looked extremely stern. Being influenced by her, Ou Yangming kept a straight face too and guessed that Elder Universe was an old-fashioned and stern person.
It was evident that Ni Yinghong was a regular visitor because nobody stopped her when she entered
She led Ou Yangming to the backyard, where they set foot on farmland.
Ou Yangming could not help but have a weird feeling when he saw the farmland in the courtyard.
This building was definitely located at the center of the prefecture, and every inch of the land was worth an inch of gold. That said, someone actually opened up a vegetable farm here. It would not be strange if the farm was a small one, but Ou Yangming could tell at one glance that it occupied more than 7 hectares of land.
Based on the vegetable farm alone, Ou Yangming figured that Elder Universe was not someone to be messed with.
When Ni Yinghong arrived at the vegetable farm, she only took one look before she walked into the farm from the embankment. Ou Yangming dared not react slowly, so he quickly followed suit. Even he did not have the guts to fool around at that point.
After a brief moment, Ni Yinghong stopped in front of an old farmer, and she kneeled respectfully. “Master, I brought someone to meet you.”
Ou Yangming was dumbfounded, but he immediately recalled that the fearsome elder was at the peak of Extreme Grade, and the elder might be an old-fashioned person. Therefore, Ou Yangming kowtowed as well regardless of his willingness to do so. “Greetings, master.”
The old farmer turned and looked at them strangely, then he suddenly laughed. “Haha, my good apprentice, when did you become so polite?”
Ou Yangming was struck dumb, and he somewhat realized that something was off.
Ni Yinghong jumped up and smiled sweetly. “Master, when was I ever impolite?”
Ou Yangming noticed that her lower garment was not stained with dirt at all, then when he looked at his legs, he finally understood that he was tricked by the lady. The old farmer laughed and said, “Young fella, get up.” Ou Yangming smiled embarrassedly and stood up. After having kneeled on the muddy ground, the bottom part of his long robe obviously became dirty.
He cast a hateful glance at Ni Yinghong and thought, ‘I’ll teach you a lesson when we go back.’
Ni Yinghong looked at him disdainfully as if she was responding to him, ‘Sure, if you can do it.’
The old farmer suddenly spoke, “My good apprentice, I know why you’ve come.
“Master, how did you know?” Ni Yinghong was surprised.
“I have the ability to know the past and the future by calculating with my fingers. Hehe, you have a long way to go if you want to hide something from me.” Ni Yinghong asked as she was dubious, “Master, how about you tell me about it?” The old farmer pointed at Ou Yangming. “You came because of him.”
“I wouldn’t have brought him here if it doesn’t have anything to do with him.” Ni Yinghong was displeased.
“Hmm, then I guessed it right!” The old farmer stroked his long beard and expressed confidently, “You’re in love with this young fella, and you’d like to be partners, but the people in your family objected to it, so you’ve come to ask for my support. Hehe, if I ignore your request, are you going to elope with him?”
Ni Yinghong. “…?” Ou Yangming. “…?”