Chapter Twenty-One: Dagger

  "My foster father has given me an order, I must go." Fu Ning said with a smile.

  Yang Yunqiu was taken aback and didn't say anything more. Fu Ning wasn't someone who would listen to advice either, but the doll chimed in excitedly: "Brother Qiu, you should come with us too, and also go back to the base to wrap up the aftermath. Who knows what's going on at the base right now."

  For a doll, its base is its body, and they are inseparable.

  Yang Yunqiu did not speak, in fact he didn't want to go back to the Savage Forest again, that place brought him a great deal of darkness.

  Just tempering his mind and concentrating his spirit, facing the things he feared was also necessary. He would have to return to the Savage Forest one day.

  The sky is bright.

  Changsu Town has always been an ordinary and quiet town. The recent bustle has made the residents somewhat unaccustomed to it.

  Yang Yun led Fen Ning to a small food stall on East Street. The stall had no name and no sign, but it was clean and the food was fresh.

  Two people each had a bowl of porridge, savoring it carefully. On a winter morning, having a hot bowl of rice porridge to warm the belly made their whole body feel comfortable and relaxed.

  "Guo Yu, Guo Xiaoge, be kind and return my 10,000 gold coins first. If you don't return the money, I won't have enough to turn around, and our family's old store might not even be able to open."

  Yang Yunqiu raised his head and saw the third son of the Guo family, with a suit of armor in his arms, sitting in the wine shop opposite him, drinking and boasting with his gang.

  Miss Fang from the Nan Street grocery store was also there, and she anxiously begged him with a worried face: "Guo Yu, your family is the richest in Changsu, with mountains of gold and silver that will never be used up. One million gold coins are just a drop in the bucket for you, can't you show some compassion and pay me back?"

  If it weren't for the fact that she was really in a difficult situation, and also felt that this matter was just a small thing for Guo Yu, she wouldn't have really lost face and persisted in entangling herself.

  "Can't you see I've just bought a suit of armor and I'm short on cash? I'll pay you back when I have the money, not before."

  He carelessly pushed Fang Danni away, carefully stroking the silver half-body armor: "Look at this color, look at this quality, it's really worthy of Master Mofi Mo's craftsmanship, even if Su Zheng and personally forged a treasured sword, cutting my treasured armor would still leave a mark."

  Several friends around him who got along well with him followed suit.

  "Not to mention in Changsu Town, even in Tianyuan City, it's also one of a kind. Brother Guo is blessed."

  "That's right, that's right." A drunkard who had been drinking since early morning and reeked of alcohol shouted, "If you ask me, the best armor is still made by Master Mo, absolutely the best in the world."

  They made a big fuss, and Fang Dama was pushed open, with a helpless face, walking to the door and sitting on the stone steps, silently shedding tears.

  The tavern owner was also helpless.

  Changsu Town is a small town, and most of these business people know each other. The tavern owner had some dealings with Fang Damao before, and couldn't help but sigh, saying in a low voice: "Ah, Fang Damao, you're also confused, what kind of person is Guo Yu, don't you understand? How could you lend him money?"

  "Alas, if it weren't for Ah Mao getting injured the day before yesterday, and the medicine being too expensive, our family really can't afford it. I truly didn't plan on making him pay me back this money."

  Half a month ago, a group of slave traders brought in a little girl, wanting to sell her to the Yanxiang Building.

  What is the Yanxiang Building? It's said that all the girls in this brothel are lifted up, and if you become a courtesan of the Yanxiang Building, you'll be dead within two or three years. That's perfect! Gu Yu also took a liking to this woman, but the slave trader was asking for an exorbitant price, wanting 30,000 gold coins, which he didn't have on him.

  Miss Fang thought that the girl following Guo Yu, although not a good choice, was still better than falling into a brothel, so she lent him 10,000 gold coins to make up for the payment.

  She wasn't recklessly benevolent either. The folk customs of Changsu Town were simple and honest, but also rough, with every household being not well-off, and very few people would be kind-hearted.

  She had also fallen into a brothel for two years when she was young, but fortunately met a good man who redeemed her and married her, so that she could live a stable life until now. Now, seeing the girl who might encounter the same thing, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic, and for a moment, she felt a pang of compassion.

  Ten thousand gold coins is already a large sum for her, and it's really not easy to take out.

  Guo Yu and his gang were proudly boasting about the precious armor they had bought back from Tianyuan City for 100,000 gold coins, but the other party's wife pretended not to see or hear them.

  Fu Ning furrowed his brow.

  His ears were extremely sensitive, and although they were not close, what happened on the other side was still clearly transmitted to his ears.

  This Guo Yusheng is quite good-looking, tall in stature, but there's a black mole at the corner of his mouth, which makes his whole face look unpleasant.

  Fu Ning sat upright and proper, this kind of person would naturally not put someone like that in his eyes, even if he were to reason with him for a moment, he would probably feel dirty himself.

  Yang Yunqiu slowly and carefully finished the rice porridge in her bowl, sighed and said: "I've lost my appetite... Little Mei, come here."

  The woman chef wiping her hands on her apron leaned in close, and Yang Yuna raised her head to whisper something in her ear.

  The woman boss immediately smiled and lightly picked up her own chopper for chopping bones, a bone scraper with a missing edge, and a vegetable knife from the counter, and handed them to Yang Yunqiu.

  "This is all given to you now, don't forget, you have to return two new ones to me, and the quality can't be mediocre."

  Yang Yunqiu shrugged, holding the knife in his hand and weighing it, then took out a small, unknown magic array. He rummaged through his pockets for half a day, but couldn't find an energy stone. After thinking for a moment, he simply grabbed Pei Ning.

  "Lend me your Scarlet Flame for a bit."

  Fu Ning was taken aback, "Chi Yan?"

  "Alright, put your Scarlet Flame into the formation diagram of my spell array."

  Yang Yunqiu said it lightly, as if it were just a casual matter of asking a friend to pour him a first cup of water.

  Feng Ning's eyes sparkled, and she actually stretched out her hand, from which a cluster of white flames flew out of her palm, and in the blink of an eye, they gently floated into the formation.

  That glow isn't bright, and outside you can't even feel any heat, but this thing can turn a person's skull into ash in one second.

  The beautiful lines of the array flashed, and the white flames disappeared instantly.

  Yang Yunqiu's eyes lit up: "It's really someone who can use their body as a furnace, refining the crimson flames for their own use. No wonder your flying container was destroyed so badly."

  He flicked his wrist, made a knife flower, and inserted the deboning knife into the array diagram with a reverse hand. The iron knife suddenly twisted, Yang Yunqiu lightly rotated it, pulled out the knife again, and tapped her fingers while pulling out the knife. By the time the knife left the array diagram, it had become a hemp rope shape, very fine, about the length of a forearm, and looked quite beautiful. The twisted texture on the knife body also seemed like flower patterns.

  Yang Yunqiu looked him up and down, furrowed his brow: "Although it's not something good, but giving it to a scoundrel for free is too wasteful, after all, it has been used on Chi Yan."

  He raised an eyebrow and with a few swift chops, split the other kitchen knife open, leaving only a thin strip, resembling a dagger.

  People on this side are busy, and the voices from the wine shop are still coming out continuously.

  Guo Yu drank wine while shaking his head: "If you ask me, Mo Fei's armor is still the best. I heard that she once casually made a shield, and it actually broke Su Zheng and Eleven's treasured swords into three pieces each. From then on, Master Su of the Tian Gong Workshop avoided Mo Fei by a wide margin."

  He spat out stars, his words had just fallen, when he suddenly heard a faint laugh coming from outside, the laughter was clear and not very loud, but it was deafening.

  Guo Yu's face changed, and he looked up to see that he obviously didn't recognize Yang Yunqiu or Fu Ning, but a few hints of disgust appeared on his face.

  He looked up and down a few times, seeing that Pei Ning's outfit was also very shabby, the disdain in his eyes grew thicker.

  "Hey, isn't this the young master of the Yang family? How come, now your family is so poor that you can't even afford to open a pot, and you can't even eat rice, only able to drink a mouthful of porridge. Ah, don't say I'm not taking care of you, brother, we still have half a plate of roasted meat left, take it and eat it, don't be polite."

  Yang Yunqiu didn't get angry either, and smiled: "You say, your armor is worth 100,000 gold coins?"

  Guo Yu rubbed the glittering golden armor with satisfaction, laughing loudly: "That's not fake, Master Mo personally made it, 100,000 gold coins, that's a favor from the boss to me."

  "Do you know what origin this dagger has?" Yang Yunqiu raised the dagger made from a kitchen knife and smiled.

  Kuo Yu was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing: "Who knows what that black thing of yours is, could it be a fire poker?"

  He and his friends burst out laughing together.

  Yang Yunqiu silently waited for them to finish laughing, then shook his head: "Superficial, this dagger of mine is a natural product, I dare not say it can break through the world's best armor, but breaking your precious armor will be no problem."

  "What? You think that thing of yours can break my treasured armor? It's duller than a chopping knife... If it really could, I, Guo Yu, would kowtow and call you 'young master'."

  Yang Yunqiu shook her head: "You want to be a grandson, I'm afraid that if I were your grandfather, I would be skinned and beaten by my parents."

  "I'll bet on it, if my dagger can truly break your treasured armor, you'll return the 10,000 gold coins to Madame Fang and also give her the female performer that she saw back then, the one you bought from the human trafficker."

  Guo Yu raised an eyebrow, and his interest was piqued: "What if it can't be done?"

  "Can't, then I'll let you handle it."

  Kuo Yu's eyes lit up, and he suddenly stood up, carrying his own armor, letting a few friends help him, dressing neatly, then step by step walked out of the wine shop.

  He walked very slowly, and it was indeed because of the weight of this treasure armor. As he walked, he shouted: "Come on!"

  Before he had even finished speaking, he clenched his fist and struck Yang Yinqu's face with great force, as if he harbored a deep grudge.

  Yang Yunqiu smiled and lightly raised her hand, only to hear a "ding" sound. Guo Yu stumbled backward, his armor shattered into four or five pieces, scattering all over the ground.

  Thud, Guo Yu sat down on the ground, his eyes wide with fear and his body trembling uncontrollably.

  Yang Yunqiu slightly raised an eyebrow: "Is my dagger good?"

  "......Alright, alright." Gu Yu muttered to himself in a daze.