Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 139 Mystery Cannot Save the Unlucky
"Junior sister, your spiritual power is limited, so the power of your punches is relatively small. But don't worry, as your cultivation level increases, this fist technique will become more and more powerful!"

Murong Ruyan, carrying the Thor, patiently instructed Zhong Hui.

【Thor】 is the 【Scaled Iron Hammer】 that Zhang Chengdao equipped for Murong Ruyan and that he drew. Because the name "Scaled Iron Hammer" was too awful, he specially changed it to "Thor"... It's better than calling it "Mjolnir".

Murong Ruyan really liked the name of the giant hammer because it sounded very imposing. Especially after Zhang Chengdao made up the story that it was the hammer used by "Thor" and was therefore called "Thor", Murong Ruyan became even more excited.

'That sounds way better than any of those "Egret Night Talks" nonsense!'

Murong Ruyan thought to herself.

The fact that Zhong Hui and Murong Ruyan ended up together was an unexpected turn of events.

Before the Great Lake existed, Chang Ping'an and Ye Shuyun would usually cultivate near the Spirit Pivot Pool on Spirit Medicine Peak. Murong Ruyan, not wanting to be with them, would meditate by the Peach Blossom Pool in the Peach Garden.

Once the large lake was built, everyone went there to cultivate. Murong Ruyan didn't want to join the fun, but the giant tree in the Peach Garden made her feel somewhat afraid—she always felt that the tree was almost demonic!
So, having no other choice, she went to cultivate by the Ling Shu Pool, where she bumped into Zhong Hui and Ye Hanxing, who had sneaked over in the middle of the night.

Contrary to the rumors of her fierce and menacing image, Zhong Hui and Ye Hanxing discovered that Murong Ruyan was actually very gentle, and...

"Senior Sister Ruyan is so beautiful!"

"I didn't even dare to breathe!"

Zhong Hui and Ye Hanxing huddled together, whispering to each other.

Murong Ruyan, who was far away and had heard the two whispering clearly because of her profound skill, held back for a long time, but finally couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips into a smile.

After the two finished their lunch and returned to meditate, Murong Ruyan specially gave each of them an iron sword.

"These are the iron swords that Ye Chengyu sells. They're just some junk that my master casually forged."

Murong Ruyan drew one of the iron swords, its blade gleaming coldly.

Zhong Hui stared at the blade, somewhat bewildered—this sword, even if it couldn't make it into the top ten of the world's most powerful weapons, would certainly be in the top hundred, making it a truly excellent sword!
And... Second Senior Sister, is it really appropriate for you to say that the sword forged by the Sect Leader is trash?!
Murong Ruyan, of course, noticed Zhong Hui's expression. She explained, "This is what Master said. These swords are fine for ordinary use, but they're not worth refining. They're all trash. So you can use them to practice first. Once your senior sister has prepared proper weapons, she'll give them to you!"

Zhong Hui asked incredulously, "Ah! Such a fine sword! How could the sect leader consider it trash?!"

Ye Hanxing also touched the sword, reluctant to put it down.

Murong Ruyan raised her chin and said, "Of course! Master wouldn't even bother keeping this kind of trash. He only let Ye Chengyu sell it at a low price so you could practice on it!"

Actually, it's not exactly cheap. It costs 100 low-grade spirit stones per weapon. If you take on commissions and work every day, it will take at least ten days to grind out one weapon!
Moreover, Zhang Chengdao's original words were clearly, "These are not very valuable items, they are all made from scrap materials, but I'll use them to practice."

……

Achoo!

Zhang Chengdao, who was meditating and playing Bubble Bobble and Snake by the waterfall, suddenly sneezed for no apparent reason.

Since reaching the Core Formation stage, apart from his sudden enlightenment at the Immortal Fate Assembly thanks to Huang Wu, which allowed him to break through to the second level, Zhang Chengdao has never broken through any other realms.

Therefore, he diligently played Bubble Dragon and Snake for a long time. However, over this long period of time, he clearly felt that his cultivation was becoming more and more advanced, but his realm was stuck at the second level of Core Formation, and there was no progress at all.

"Ugh……"

After playing Bubble Dragon and Snake all morning, Zhang Chengdao still saw no hope of making a breakthrough and gave up on his cultivation. Instead, he stared at the membership red envelope in his backpack and began to struggle with his thoughts.

To open or not to open, that is the question.

Is it better to silently endure the curse of bad luck, or to stand up against the vicious curse of only getting the right item after 30 pulls?

After hesitating for a while, Zhang Chengdao finally gritted his teeth and made up his mind: 'I'll open 3, leaving me with 25. If I save them up for another 5 days, I can get 30 pulls. If I don't get anything good, I'll never do it again...'

With that in mind, he opened the first member red envelope.

"Received 30 portions of [Beast Meat]".

Zhang Chengdao took a deep breath, casually scooped up some water from the waterfall beside him, washed his face, and then opened the second member red envelope.

"Received 10 servings of [Fried Tofu]".

After seeing what was revealed, Zhang Chengdao's defenses crumbled, and he thought to himself, "I refuse to believe that nothing will come out!"

Immediately, the third member red envelope was opened.

This time I did get something purple, but it was just a decorative item! It's completely useless!
Zhang Chengdao looked at the extra purple ornament in his backpack and felt like crying.

The purple ornament is called "Zhenlong Chess Game". As the name suggests, it is an ornament designed by the original game to pay tribute to Mr. Cha. It is a stone table with a Go game endgame on it, with black and white stones placed on the left and right sides respectively.

As a decorative item, it had a certain elegance in the original game, especially when placed alongside scenes or buildings like bamboo forests or academies; it looked quite beautiful, but...

But in reality, this thing seems to be completely useless!

A stone table? Where can't I get a stone table?!
And this broken Go set! I could buy a Go set anywhere else!

Despite his inner grumbling, Zhang Chengdao still set up the [Precious Chess Game], wanting to see what this material, which had taken up his lucky charm spot, was like in reality.

Unexpectedly, as soon as it was displayed, Zhang Chengdao sensed something was wrong.

The stone table itself is fine, nothing special, but the Go board on it is completely different from the thumbnail image of this ornament in my backpack.

Both the black and white chess pieces emitted a faint halo, resembling neither jade nor iron, clearly indicating that they were not ordinary objects!
Zhang Chengdao casually picked up a chess piece and touched it. It felt heavy in his hand and had a faint spiritual aura, truly living up to its name, "Precious Chess Game."

But wait, doesn't "Zhenlong" in "Zhenlong Chess Game" refer to the chess game itself? What does it have to do with the chess pieces?!
A question flashed through Zhang Chengdao's mind. He rubbed the cold chess pieces with his fingertips and suddenly recalled what he had seen last night.

His three apprentices...

It seems...it seems...they used chess pieces as weapons back then, right?
(End of this chapter)