Volume 1: Spring in Wulong Town Chapter 135: Equality, Voluntariness, and Friendly Negotiation
It’s time to replace Tang Xiaotang’s one-star long sword.
It just so happened that Jubao Pavilion was closed to visitors, so Tang Zheng simply went to Bailianfang to pick out a two-star long sword and gave it to Xiaotang.
Tang Zheng didn't see Lu Huang, Mo Feng came to receive him.
After Tang Xiaotang showed her identity badge and completed the handover procedures, she received the sword forged by the famous master of Bailianfang, which she had never dared to dream of before.
The pitch-black straight knife, paired with Xiaotang's hunting suit and high ponytail, makes her look even more youthful like the wind.
The two did not return to Tangjiabao immediately, but continued to head towards Jinshan River in Wuqing Mountain.
Tang Zheng entered the water holding the water-avoiding bead and began to practice Chongguan.
The first stage of the championship, the second stage of the championship...
Compared to the opening move which only consists of one section, it is obviously more difficult to place the crown perfectly underwater.
Tang Zheng's control over star power continued to rise to higher levels as he practiced martial arts.
Three days, five days, seven days...
The star power in Tang Zheng's body has hardly improved at all.
However, his proficiency in martial arts was far beyond what it had been before.
Not to mention the second parts of Chongguan, Yuxi, Yangxiao and Henmie, even the two new moves "Dust" and "Cloud Moon" added in the second volume of Dagger Techniques can be perfectly connected with this set of skills.
Unfortunately, the Cold River Sawtooth Sturgeon never appeared before his eyes again...
Although the children of Tangjiabao did not know why Luo Fei did not make any preparations for the upcoming gambling, someone still delivered meals to the river every day to fully support Tang Zheng's funny training method.
Every day, Tang Zheng is improving his control over martial arts.
Every day, the place where he practices is also changing...
Keep going deeper and deeper, and keep entering the water area with the fastest flow rate.
Until they reached the mouth of the mountain river, where the water was the deepest, the flow was the fastest, and the water conditions were the most complicated, almost all of Tang Zheng's martial arts could be performed in the extreme underwater environment as smoothly as on land!
His control over star power has almost more than doubled!
"Huh——" Tang Zheng suddenly emerged from the bottom of the water, and the last water-repellent bead had just been used up.
The underwater training can now come to an end!
Tang Zheng moved like a dragon entering the water. He swam freely on the surface of the river while performing a series of dagger-like martial arts.
However, he still felt that there was something missing compared to the dagger in the hand of the stunning beauty in his dream...
"I won't think about it for now." Tang Zheng shook his head, returned to the shore, and practiced the second volume of the Dagger Technique again.
The tide of stars surges...
A crucial ray of star power enters the body.
With a loud bang, Tang Zheng felt the Tianji Star shine, and the second life palace seemed to have widened a lot!
"Intermediate two-star level!" Tang Zheng took a deep breath and finally gathered a thousand strands of two-star star power.
Although it took several days slower than the speed of cultivating star power with all his strength to successfully advance to the middle level of two stars, Tang Zheng clearly felt that his control over the two-star star power was no longer what it used to be.
I have no regrets about this choice.
A tall building starts from the ground, and laying a solid foundation is the most important thing!
After all, this is not like the previous life, where there is still a dear system classmate who can provide point reset services, or, if it really doesn't work, you can simply delete the account and start over...
"Master, are you going back to Tangjiabao now?" Seeing that he had finished his practice early today, Tang Xiaotang quickly handed him a dry blanket.
"No, let's go to Bailianfang." Tang Zheng smiled, "I want to talk to Luo Fei about how to compete in public casting."
"Ah! Have you thought about it?"
"No, no, no, of course I'm not the only one who has made this decision. I will negotiate with him in a friendly manner based on the principle of equality and voluntariness..."
"Really?" Tang Xiaotang looked at Tang Zheng, but she didn't see any sincerity of "equality, voluntariness and friendly negotiation" on his face.
…
Lu Huang was still studying the blueprints in seclusion, and was even re-practicing some of the more challenging array carving techniques. Tang Zheng did not disturb him and went straight to find Luo Fei.
Whenever you see Luo Fei, he always has the same thing in his hands - food.
"Well, being fat is a life attitude." Tang Zheng no longer paid attention to Luo Fei's body shape, and smiled and called out: "Hey, Master Luo Fei, you are busy eating!"
"I..." Luo Fei quickly put down the food in his hand, "You're here?"
Luo Fei also knew that Tang Zheng would not come to him for no reason.
Since he came to find him, it must mean that he has already decided on the form in which their public casting at Wufeng Tavern will be conducted!
However, Luo Fei was not worried at all.
He has a superior background, a passion for casting since childhood, and unremitting efforts. His hard power gives him absolute confidence, so even if Tang Zheng piles up money, he is fully confident that he will not lose to him.
As for the rules...
He didn't take it to heart.
Tang Zheng also noticed the other party's indifference, and narrowed his eyes: "Looks quite arrogant... OK, how about we set the rule that... you can't cast with your hands?"
"What?" Luo Fei jumped up. " How can you make such a rule?"
"How could I decide? Am I not still discussing it with you?"
"How can we discuss this? You might as well just say that I won't forge anything..."
"..." Tang Xiaotang's eyelids kept twitching, and she was completely speechless to Tang Zheng.
“Hahahahaha…” Tang Zheng laughed loudly, “Don’t you look like you don’t care what rules I make?”
"..." Luo Fei blushed.
Of course, he calmed down a little and knew that Tang Zheng was just joking with him and it was impossible for him to really come up with such a rule - there was nothing to compare it to, and even if Tang Zheng won, it would just be a joke.
However, Tang Zheng's joke made Luo Fei put away his contempt and said seriously: "Okay, then tell me, what are your plans for our bet?"
Tang Zheng smiled and held up three fingers.
The flesh on Luo Fei's face twitched: "You want three taels of Fu Bi Broken Chen Stone? Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! Don't push your luck!"
Tang Zheng's face fell. "Oh my god, can you please pretend like this? The stakes have already been set, and I'm now telling you the rules of the public casting competition!"
Luo Fei blushed again: "You...just say it nicely, hold up three fingers, who knows what you mean!"
"Of course it means... there are three rules !" Tang Xiaotang understood it all. "Is it difficult to understand?"
"..." Luo Fei felt a deep malice.
Tang Zheng failed to show off and could only hold up another finger and start from the first point.
Luo Fei also became more serious and listened carefully to what Tang Zheng said.
"First, I'm going to introduce the concept of step points. That is, the casting steps will be split into two steps and one result. The two steps will account for 40 points each, and the finished product will account for 20 points. The steps and results will be scored separately, and the scores of the three will be added together. Whoever has the higher score will win!" Tang Zheng proposed the concept of taking an exam.
“Okay.” Luo Fei was a technical geek after all. Although he had never heard of the concept of “step division”, he understood it immediately after listening to it only once.
"Secondly, I plan to set the two steps before the finished product as: 40 points for materials, 40 points for controlling the fire, and then 20 points for the final product..."
"No." Luo Fei objected as soon as he heard it. "Although my fire-controlling skills are definitely better than yours, and the final product is definitely better than yours, you omitted key steps such as carving the formation, which should not be ignored!"
"I have only been learning casting for more than a month. How many years have you studied it? How dare you include engraving arrays in the steps?" Tang Zheng mocked him.
"Then... we need to revise it as well. Regarding the materials, we definitely cannot compare the preciousness of the materials. If we have to compare, we should compare the processed materials to see which one is better or worse. Otherwise, do you have the nerve to do that?"
The two of them were like the aunties in the vegetable market, which made Tang Xiaotang stunned.
Every time you speak, I keep asking "How can you excuse me?" Where is the atmosphere of "friendly negotiation"?
However, after arguing for a long time, the two finally decided on the details of the competition.
Wufeng Tavern, open casting, two 40-point steps, 20-point finished product, full score 100, the winner is the one with the highest score, Lu Huang and the guests present have the right to score...
"What about the third point?" After the discussion, Luo Fei, who is a tech geek and sensitive to numbers, couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you hold up three fingers at the beginning?"
"Oh..." Tang Zheng smiled, "Third point, a fair complexion can hide all ugliness, but being fat can ruin everything - you should lose weight!"
"Fuck! You look down on fat people!" Luo Fei was angry.
Tang Zheng took Tang Xiaotang away from Bailianfang and went straight back to Tangjiabao.
However, compared to Tang Zheng's joy, Tang Xiaotang was even more worried...
In her opinion, Tang Zheng had no chance of winning any of the three competition items he proposed!
As for material processing, even if Tang Zheng used money to buy the best materials, his processing technology would definitely not be as good as Luo Fei's. Luo Fei's score would definitely be higher.
Not to mention controlling the fire. Luo Fei started playing with foundry furnaces when he was very young. I'm afraid his first toy was a foundry furnace, while Tang Zheng may not even be able to tell the difference between the different types of foundries. How can they be compared?
As for the finished product…
Although the steps do not include engraving the formation, the finished product of the engraved formation is definitely incomparable to Tang Zheng!
Tang Xiaotang had no idea how Tang Zheng could win this bet with Luo Fei.
"Are you worried about me?" Tang Zheng asked with a smile as he watched Tang Xiaotang go silently all the way.
"Hmm..." Tang Xiaotang nodded.
"Don't worry. No matter how much I eat, I won't become as fat as Tilapia..."
"..." Tang Xiaotang opened her mouth and wanted to bang her head against the wall. "Who would worry about such an insignificant thing?"
