Prince Wu Xiuying passed a few lanes until he arrived at the address Chaoxiang had gotten.
The crowd had decreased there, but he could guess why was this lane suffering the lack of people. It was truly warm near this area.
The blacksmith was cleaning his sweated face when the young man entered the shop store and watched the metals. Picking one of the daggers, he watched the sharp tips.
As the blade made love with the top of his forefinger, blood popped out.
'Why doesn't the curse work when I am tempted to hurt myself? That witch! She must be punished too.'
"These are made of perfect steels coming from Xin mines.'
The Blacksmith man with a ragged voice and Di accent declared.
The Prince's face twitched in mystery. At one glance, he could say that this man was a privileged blacksmith. But why did a man from Di reach up here?
"Are you from Di reign?"
Cleaning his face from the sweat, the man dropped the towel away and approached him, "I am from Xin province, the borders with Di."
The prince nodded, the zone had belonged to his land once.
Wu Xiuying brought out the low-quality metal and showed it to him, "do you know where this comes from? I bought this last week but you see, I wasted my money on such useless steel." He lied.
The man frowned, "ah, people buy this for is cheap and has a beautiful design. It comes from another continent overseas. So many people die because of this."
He didn't even bother to touch it. "Do you want good steel, take a look at those, however, Sheed land has decent steel, why are you seeking here?"
The prince smirked, mimicking that accent had brought advantage and seemed this man had heard it before.
"Yes, but I prefer lightweight. Our steels are a bit heavy, decreasing the speed of moves."
"But the cut that they make is deeper."
The man smiled, walking to a wall, he grabbed a sword that was forged in Sheed. It was big and heavy.
"See, I received this as a gift."
He handed the sword to him, and the prince held it and swung it when the man saw the merchant's sword.
"Yours has the same forge! It seems one person had beaten it."
The prince nodded, this blacksmith was from Sheed and had made his high-quality weapons. He learned this language through that man.
"Yes, he made sure I will travel safely."
The blacksmith pointed out to the table and asked him to have his seat.
"Here is warm, please have a cold drink with me. I would take your order."
He got what he wanted, this man liked the people of Sheed and it could give him benefits.
Taking their place, the man poured a drink for him.
"About that steel, there is a merchant I know, he is trading that steel. I will give you the address. I'd be happy if someone gives them the lesson not to spread this trash."
He laughed then made his drink one shot.
The prince took one sip of his drink and scanned the man, those hands, the way he held that sword correctly like it was his child, this man tasted war, he had carried swords and swung them. Not a regular blacksmith, certainly, not!
"I would gladly send out my complaints, as you mentioned such low-quality weapons can take lives easier."
The man shook his head, "nowadays, people shove the honor away and do everything for the sake of coins and power. Rumors are saying that a royal is behind this however, there was one before."
The prince tilted his head, this conversation was getting warm.
"A royal? What happened to him?"
"It was the former prime minister and the current king executed him."
The prince nodded, it was the same story master Qin told him. And that prime minister was the main cause of war between Di and Mei lands. While his head was down, inside the reflection of the huge steel that the man had put beside him, he discovered motions, shadows that were shifting fast.
His eyes rolled on the man who was keeping his gazes on another side.
"Is someone seeking you?"
He asked.
"It must be related to last night's fire, I caught the assassin for the princess." His tone was low.
The man laughed loudly, "so that is why you need good weapons."
In the meantime, both of them bolted up and dodged the poisonous snowflake-like daggers that flew to them.
The man bared his huge sword off the sheath and it cut the air as if he was dancing with a feather, he pushed all of the blades away and now all of them cut the wooden pillars.
The prince drifted up to the air and landed on the edge of a revetment wall outside.
His sword was nude and exposed twinkling stars. Two of the raiders seized for him and two more killers attacked the blacksmith.
Blades clanked and one of them received a deep cut on the arm from the prince, retreated, and warped it.
"You have no guts to expose your faces. How miserable."
The prince mocked, his eyes caught the badge of the dragon head skeleton.
"Really? For a merchant, you are too skillful."
The prince kicked away his attack and turned on the edge of the roof, swinging up in the air he took out his hand fan, and blades flattered outside as if wild eagles.
"An Elite master!"
The daggers dove inside them who attacked and couldn't win against the speed of the small sharp blades.
"This is frustrating."
The prince jumped down to the ground.
The blacksmith came out, and two of the other assassins followed him.
The prince discovered blood that was dragged on the ground, looking back he saw Zhang Bo and aunt Gu Ju. She was wounded, it seemed one of the blades this raider had tossed marked her arm.
His lips twitched up, "you dare hurt her!" He hated that she was always under bullies and his sword moved in his hand, "I take your arm off your body in retribution of either scar on her."
He rushed forward in a blink as if a ghost won a match with the wind.
A second later, a hand rested on the ground and the man was screaming out of pain, blood spraying the ground.
'I might not be able to kill you, but I will make sure you will be disabled to hold the blade.'
His heart was pounding fast, the curse was stinging him inwardly and his skin sweated but he sustained it.
The assassins attacked him, and the blacksmith sealed their way, he had to kill tonight, the merchant sounded ill as his face turned pale.
After showing off his skills, he got tired and separated his huge sword into two, in a blink he passed them all and they fell to the ground, dead. But not alone he finished it, the merchant didn't draw back and assisted him.