Chapter 299 Ring Domination
Ou Yangming curbed his thought and left the smithing room with a faint smile, then he headed toward the main hall. He was secretly mad. ‘It wasn’t my fault anyway. I just saw something I shouldn’t, and I don’t know how those items could be used, so why am I feeling guilty…’ Nonetheless, Ou Yangming failed to encourage himself no matter how hard he tried. Before he entered the main hall, he shook his head and sighed. ‘Being a man is tiring.’
The Smithing Hall was not much different from when he left before this as many people gathered and conversed with each other. Nevertheless, when Ou Yangming entered the main hall, he sensed that the noise was reduced by a whole level.
Moreover, almost everyone was looking at him.
Ou Yangming looked around but Feng Guangyuan was nowhere to be found. He figured that the master either accepted the task because he could not stand the itch, or he left already.
Yi Yucheng nodded at Ou Yangming from the crowd, and he cast a questioning look at the young fellow. Ou Yangming could not help but laugh, then he flashed a bright smile and lifted his head proudly. Master Yi’s eyes lit up as he instantly understood what Ou Yangming meant, so he gave the young fellow a thumbs up from afar. Being an Advanced Blacksmith as well, it was natural that Yi Yucheng understood how difficult Ou Yangming’s task was.
At the very least, nobody in the capital could guarantee that he or she could complete the task successfully.
Even so, the task was smoothly accomplished by Ou Yangming. It did not matter if he was truly skillful or succeeded out of luck; it was enough to leave everyone in awe.
Ou Yangming arrived under the blackboards and looked up to find his next task.
A middle-aged man approached him and noted carefully, “Master Ou, you completed your previous task, so here’s your reward and the proof for 4,000 Prestige Points.
When Ou Yangming lowered his head to look, he noticed a tray in the man’s hands. A banknote was placed on it, as well as a row of red items, which looked like chips.
Ou Yangming was utterly shocked when he picked up the banknote because it was worth more than 30,000 taels.
The young fellow knew he was smithing a divine weapon for the imperial family’s favored daughter, and judging from their foundation, he was sure they would not reward him stingily. Despite that, the amount still exceeded his expectations.
As for the red chips on the tray, they were custom-made items for the Myriad Treasure Meet, which represented Prestige Points that were sought by the different forces.
Ou Yangming nodded and instructed, “Please send these proofs of prestige to the Yi Pavilion.”
“Yes,” the man responded to him with respect. Once Ou Yangming completed the seemingly impossible task, he gained more respect from everyone. He kept the banknote and focused on the smithing tasks once more. Before long, he picked a new special task.
Ou Yangming had no choice because while the normal tasks were not difficult, the Prestige Points that were rewarded were too disappointing.
On the contrary, while the special tasks were tricky, the Prestige Points that came with successful tasks were addictive.
This time, he chose a smithing task where he had to layer attributes, and it was publicly acknowledged as an extremely tough task because the patron requested the layering of five attributes on a piece of Fine Grade equipment.
The highest withstandable limit for a piece of High Grade equipment was quadruple-layering, whereas a piece of Fine Grade equipment could be layered six times. That said, the layering of five attributes was incredibly difficult, let alone the layering of six attributes.
Even among the many formidable Superior Blacksmiths, Master Jin Shengjie was the only one who was confident about accomplishing it.
Therefore, the task was specially made for Master Jin Shengjie. In other words, the patron could not get Master Jin’s help through normal means, hence he used this method to draw the master’s attention and to fulfill his wish.
Needless to say, he paid a huge price too because the reward of 1,500 Prestige Points was not a small offer at all.
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However, given that Master Jin Shengjie was studying the way to smith a magic tool, he could not come to the Smithing Hall, so nobody accepted the task even though it was listed.
Who knew, Ou Yangming was immediately interested in the task, and he took it up cheerfully because he was certain that the 1,500 Prestige Points were already in his hands.
Just as he was going to follow a servant into a smithing room at the back to meet with the patron, loud cheers were heard outside. The noise was so thunderous that everyone in the Smithing Hall could hear it clearly.
Everyone looked at each other as they did not know what happened.
Someone ran in abruptly and shouted at his partner, “Big Brother, quickly come out to take a look! Zuoqiu Hongyuan from Huangsha County dominated a ring!”
The people in the main hall fell silent for a while before they got into heated discussions as though the water was boiled. “Dominated a ring? It’s still early, yet someone dominated a ring already?”
“Zuoqiu Hongyuan from Huangsha County? He’s the number one genius between Huangsha County and Feiya County!” “Hehe, ring dominations usually happen on the last day or 3 days before the last day in the past. The young people now are truly presumptuous; they start to dominate rings on the first day.”
Lively discussions filled the air, which was an entirely different atmosphere from before.
When someone started walking outside, he was like a wind vane, which attracted more people to follow suit. It only took a brief moment for the crowded main hall to have a few people left inside.
The sensation from the ring domination was far more attractive than the Smithing Hall.
Ou Yangming’s eyelids twitched, and he casually asked, “What’s a ring domination?”
The servant behind him laughed and responded, “Master Ou, since you’re a blacksmith and not a martial artist, it has nothing to do with you.”
“I suppose the ring domination is related to the Martial Arts Battle?” Ou Yangming chuckled.
“Master Ou, I’m sure you saw ten rings at the square before you came in?” The servant asked softly after some thought.
“That’s right.” Ou Yangming nodded and added, ‘I didn’t just see them; I went on one of them already.’
“The Martial Arts Battle’s victor is chosen from the winners of the rings, but there aren’t many people who are actually qualified to fight. Some superb powerhouses are too impatient to wait, so they’ll dominate one of the rings on the last day of within 3 days of the Myriad Treasure Meet.” The servant looked envious as he continued, “Once someone dominates a ring, he or she is challenging everyone. No matter how many people go up to the ring, he or she will have to accept the challenge unconditionally until the opponent is defeated or they successfully defend their rings.”
Ou Yangming’s heart rate increased, and he took a deep breath. He felt an upsurge of boiling heat flow from his body, and it seemed like it was going to gush out of his body.
Nonetheless, he had tempered his self-control countless times, so he trembled slightly and suppressed the feeling.
He unknowingly stopped walking and asked, “Has anyone succeeded in the past?”
“Of course!” The servant laughed. “Without absolute confidence, how can one have the guts to dominate a ring? But… Ah, Zuoqiu Hongyuan from Huangsha County is being too presumptuous to announce a ring domination on the Myriad Treasure Meet’s first day. Hehe, it’s a magnificent feat that has never happened before!” “Oh, it truly is a magnificent feat…” Ou Yangming mumbled, then he suddenly turned around and walked outside.
The servant was startled, so he called out to him right away, “Master Ou, what are you going? The smithing room is here!” Ou Yangming yelled without turning back, “I know where the smithing room is, but I’ll come back after I witness the feat!”
The servant was shocked. He would have cursed out loud if an ordinary blacksmith was being so unrestrained, but he dared not respond to an Advanced Blacksmith like that. As such, he could only smile bitterly and hoped that Ou Yangming would return as soon as possible.
Ou Yangming flashed and walked at an average speed among the crowd.
Although some people obstructed his path, he could easily slip through like a slippery fish by shaking his body. If someone forcefully stopped Ou Yangming, he would also go between the gaps through leveraged force. Soon enough, he arrived at the square.
Ten rings were situated here, but nine of them were empty at the moment because everyone was attracted to only one of the rings.
An intense fight broke out between two people in the ring. One of them was around He Liangce’s age as he seemed to be around 27 years old, while the other person was a martial arts powerhouse in his thirties or forties.
Ou Yangming was sharp-eyed, so he could instantly tell that they were both Yang Grade powerhouses.
It was normally rare to see a fight between Yang Grade powerhouses, but it was common here.
After watching quietly for some time, Ou Yangming was certain that the young man would be victorious. It was because the young man left adequate leeway each time he attacked and was obviously using leveraged force too, thus he did not consume much energy. Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows a little because while the other people could not tell, everything was clear to him.
Not only had the young man comprehend the integration of Heaven and man, but he also had an exceptional way of executing the state.
Perhaps the young man was not as capable as He Liangce, but his extreme application of nature could allow him to shine under special circumstances.
“Zuoqiu Hongyuan is powerful indeed; he’s going to defeat his opponent.” A cold voice was heard not far from Ou Yangming.
Ou Yangming grinned. “You have a good eye, Young Lady Wu.”
Before his voice died away, Zuoqiu Hongyuan tugged at and hurled his opponent out of the ring.
Cheers echoed inside and outside the square.
Following that, Wu Hanning slowly stepped forward and glanced coldly at Ou Yangming. For some reason, the young fellow felt guilty again, and he flashed a silly smile at her. “Did you see it?”
“What? Ah… Zuoqiu Hongyuan is remarkable indeed!”
“Hmph!” Wu Hanning scoffed and secretly cursed at him for being a hypocrite, then he gracefully went forward.
Ou Yangming was surprised. “Where are you going?” Without looking back, Wu Hanning replied to him, “Since Zuoqiu Hongyuan can dominate a ring, how can I show a weak impression?”
Ou Yangming shuddered at once. He felt as though he was struck by lightning because he could not suppress his surging heroic spirit anymore.