Zhang Hanyu hopped toward his target step by step. A loud sound was heard each time his foot landed as though a drum was beaten. The closer he was, the higher the pressure he gave out.
He looked hideous and the hostility in his eyes was substantial.
Since he had been protected by his family since young, this was his first time suffering such a heavy loss. In fact, there was an indescribable fear at the bottom of his heart. 'How did that fella activate the Military Fire so quickly? If he's so gifted, he might become like Old Craftsman in the future.
'A person like that is going to be a huge problem to those he considers an enemy. If that's the case, I should just kill him before he develops.'
Zhang Hanyu held his short sword tightly. He did not pick it up to boost his courage, but instead, he was planning to throw it like a dagger if he had the chance to.
Under his uncle's guidance, he learned the martial art to use hidden weapons. Although he could not go against warriors who had plenty of experience from war, if he aimed at a timid fellow who trembled in fear easily, he could shoot and not miss.
Nevertheless, the pain in his leg distracted him. The moment he thought about his injury, he gritted his teeth and swore to himself that he must kill Ou Yangming to vent his anger.
He could not be bothered about how he would clean up the mess after and did not think about how he could make sure that nobody would notice him.
Slowly, Zhang Hanyu arrived beside the pile of abandoned weapons, then he heard a vague breathing sound.
He sneered. "Fella, why don't you just show yourself and die!"
Subsequently, he saw a figure jumping out from behind the pile, then a white light was seen as the person slashed something at him without warning.
Though his leg was injured, it did not affect his sight. Hence, he noticed that the figure was Ou Yangming, the coward, and he was holding a broken saber.
Yes, a discarded weapon that was half-broken and missing the tip.
Perhaps Zhang Hanyu would be afraid if Ou Yangming was holding a brand new military saber, but since it was just a broken saber, he made little of it.
He instantly deduced that the fellow picked up a broken saber to put up a desperate fight.
Feeling scornful, he raised his short sword to face Ou Yangming.
If Ou Yangming were to escape right away, Zhang Hanyu would have killed him, but he decided to play with him since he was bold enough to face the fight. Countless torture methods crossed his mind at that moment. He would first pick out the tendons from Ou Yangming's limbs, then remove his vocal cords, so as to make him die a torturous death.
Upon thinking about this, the immense pain on his leg felt as if it had been reduced significantly.
He could somehow picture Ou Yangming shrieking in pain from feeling more dead than alive, thus he became unusually happy.
"Ding—"
Finally, the short sword and the broken saber clashed in the air.
Subsequently, a loud crack was heard as the short sword broke, whereas the broken saber continued forward unobstructed, as though it had just sliced a thread of hair. It slashed down on the right side of Zhang Hanyu's neck, then his chest.
It was then that Zhang Hanyu's eyes and mouth became wide open. He stared at the broken sword in front of his chest, but could not even feel the extreme pain that he should have been feeling.
The only thing he felt was his power and his life leaving him quickly. When he wanted to raise his hands, it was to no avail no matter how hard he tried, and he could only stare at the broken saber that numbed him.
'Broken saber, a broken saber…
'This, is, a, f*cking… Broken saber!'
That was the last thought he had. Following that, his consciousness faded away, but even when he died, he could not comprehend why a broken saber had such strength.
On the other hand, Ou Yangming maintained the posture of slashing with the broken saber.
In actual fact, it was not a wise move, because humans or beasts could struggle desperately before dying. The most terrifying beast was one that was injured as it could likely perish together with its enemy when it struggled.
Nonetheless, Ou Yangming did not stay away because he could not do it, not because he was not willing to.
After the slash from his saber broke Zhang Hanyu's short sword and even cut his body, he was very calm and unperturbed.
It was definitely not the act of someone who had never seen blood.
However, he naturally behaved like that when his consciousness miraculously split into two.
When Ou Yangming wanted to withdraw his broken saber after his first attack so that he could take the opportunity to hit his enemy's head, an odd hot stream flowed from the saber into his body.
Therefore, his movement slowed down a little. Even though he could not understand why, he had a feeling that the hot stream would benefit him greatly.
At the next instant, he witnessed the frightening scene.
Under his broken saber, blood did not splatter everywhere.
Since it was a slash that stretched across the right side of Zhang Hanyu's neck to his chest, it would only be normal for blood to flow out. On the contrary, not a single trace of blood was seen, because all of it had been absorbed by Ou Yangming's broken saber.
The broken saber seemed to possess unbelievable magic power. Not only could it absorb blood, but it could also absorb flesh.
As such, Zhang Hanyu's body slowly shriveled in front of Ou Yangming's eyes.
Had Ou Yangming's consciousness not been split, perhaps he would faint upon seeing the fearsome scene. On the contrary, he just watched the change with widened eyes. It was as if the deflating body did not belong to a person, but was instead a human-shaped balloon with a hole.
In just the blink of an eye, Zhang Hanyu disappeared.
Some clothing fell along with a few items, but his body vanished. Not even a single thread of his hair or a piece of nail was left behind.
On the other hand, Ou Yangming glowed with health, was in high spirits, and was full of surging energy.
Actually, he was very much exhausted from the day. Under Old Craftsman's supervision and guidance, he had been using his Military Fire for the whole day. He did control himself, but it was inevitable for him to feel weary.
In addition, after Zhang Hanyu brought him there, he was forced to exert his potential during the life or death situation and used the fire a number of times within a short period.
The consumption rate was definitely unbearable for a person of his age, but he had no choice when his consciousness split.
It could damage his body due to the overuse, so much so that his core could be injured, and it might be hard for him to improve in the future.
For all that, nobody would believe that Ou Yangming's body was hurt at all.
His body seemed to contain inexhaustible power, and his eyes sparkled. Even when his vital essence was in the best condition, this had never happened before.
Ou Yangming actually had an urge to roar at that moment, but his consciousness was still split, which made his heart as cold as ice.
After taking a look around him, he activated his Military Fire again, and the broken saber in his hands became dull in a flash.
'Draw.'
He absorbed all of the saber's attributes without hesitation, turning it into completely worthless scrap metal, then he kicked the parts of Zhang Hanyu's broken short sword into two different piles of armor.
Since there were numerous discarded weapons around, it would definitely be tough to piece anything together. Afterward, he threw his broken saber away, then quickly left the armory with the clothes and items on the floor.
Zhang Hanyu was extremely careful when he brought Ou Yangming here, and Ou Yangming did the same when he returned to Old Craftsman's smithing workshop.
Fortunately, the sky was already dark, or Ou Yangming would not be confident about pulling it off.
Once he returned to the workshop, he tore the clothes into pieces, then threw them into the furnace.
Old Craftsman was the chief of Military Fire Blacksmiths, and although he had the Military Fire, it did not mean that he did not need a furnace.
As a matter of fact, he mostly used the furnace for the preliminary processing of certain materials.
Of course, it was also possible to process coarse ores through the Military Fire, but it would consume a substantial amount of physical power. Besides, the refinement of coarse ores was not done through fine control because it had to be processed for a long time.
Using the Military Fire to remove the impurities in coarse ores…
The people who were persistent in doing that were all dead, and there were no exceptions. They did not die from old age or stupidity, instead, they died from exhaustion.
Therefore, there was an exquisite furnace in the smithing workshop.
It was worth noting that Old Craftsman usually handled fine materials, whereas heavy works like preliminary processes were done by Ou Yangming.
Since he was familiar with the process, he quickly lit the furnace, then threw the items inside, which turned into ash right away.
When he used a long iron rod to stir the remains in the furnace, he found that even a celestial being would not be able to identify what was burned.
Throughout the process, Ou Yangming did not just idle his time away. He found some coarse ores in the workshop to refine them by throwing them into the fire until they softened, then he hammered them, and repeated the process.
Before this, he only burned the ores and left the beating part to Old Craftsman as he did not have enough strength.
However, his strength somehow increased a lot more, and sparks flew when he came down with the iron hammer.