Chapter 47: Kill Without Delay

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“What? Why don’t you go rob someone?” Sun Gongping widened his eyes. “It’s not like we won’t pay for weapons from the Forging Division. Why should we take care of your meals?”

“Great Divine Constable, do you understand what customized means?” Zhou Shu rolled his eyes.

“If you want Huben Sabers or Hundred Refinements Ring Pommel Sabers, or even Horse Slaying Sabers, it’s not a problem. You can just go to the Forging Division to buy them. Now, shouldn’t you pay extra if you want a customized weapon?

“I’m only asking for food and drinks. This is already a friendship price, okay?”

The Divine Constable Bureau was the same as Great Xia’s three armies. They could purchase weapons directly from the Forging Division. Naturally, there were certain procedures.

Under normal circumstances, they could choose whatever standard weapons they wanted from the Forging Division. However, the Forging Division would not specially develop standard weapons for them.

Customization services were available in the Forging Division as well, but they were only available to those qualified.

All ranked martial artists in Great Xia could ask the Forging Masters in the Forging Division to forge weapons, and the fees could be very different.

Thus, Zhou Shu’s words were completely reasonable. Even Sun Gongping could only roll his eyes at him.

“Then, when can you develop a weapon?”

“I can’t guarantee you that,” Zhou Shu said. “Perhaps a day, perhaps a month, or perhaps a year.”

“Do you think I’m a fool?” Sun Gongping said angrily. “Goodbye, I won’t see you again!”

Sun Gongping walked away in anger.

After walking away, he heard Zhou Shu shouting from behind, “Don’t forget to pay!”

He stumbled and walked faster.

Zhou Shu smiled as he rubbed his stomach and left the Drunken Immortal Inn in satisfaction.

…

“You mean you seized a list from a traitor?”

In the Huben Troops camp, other than the Huben Troops, the Divine Constable Bureau’s Ma Fengzhang and a few other divine constables were also here.

Cheng Yong was reporting the situation to Cheng Wanli.

“In other words, the enemy made such a big fuss just to regain the list?” Ma Fengzhang’s eyes shone as he pondered.

“And the list?” Cheng Wanli said.

“The name list is with that senior.” Cheng Yong looked guilty. He had forgotten to ask for the name list back then. Even if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to ask for it under those circumstances.

“You!” Cheng Wanli was furious.

Cheng Yong lowered his head in guilt.

“What kind of list is it?” Ma Fengzhang asked. “Have you seen the list?”

“It’s an assassination list,” Cheng Yong said. “At the time, I only saw a portion of it. I don’t remember everything. It’s an assassination list targeting the young talents of Great Xia. The talented martial artists and talented forgers are among them…”

Cheng Yong explained what he remembered.

Ma Fengzhang and Cheng Wanli looked at each other and saw the shock in each other’s eyes.

If it was just a list of Great Xia’s elites, they wouldn’t be too surprised. However, Cheng Yong said that there were also specific assassination methods.

Just based on what Cheng Yong remembered, the list included preparations done in advance for assassinations, as well as the hidden traitors around those people.

“The Huben Troops already killed so many traitors this time. I didn’t expect there to be so many more hidden ones,” Cheng Wanli muttered.

“This is unavoidable,” Ma Fengzhang said in a low voice. “Didn’t Great Xia also plant many spies in various countries? We won’t be able to get rid of all of them. Even if we kill them all, there will be new spies before long.

“If what Lieutenant Cheng said is true, many people are in danger. If we can’t get the name list, the consequences will be dire.”

Ma Fengzhang’s expression was solemn. There were many talented people in Great Xia. If they had to protect each and every one of them, even if the Great Xia Imperial Court could do it, how much manpower and resources would it take?

But if they left this issue alone, how many elites of Great Xia would die in the hands of their enemies?

To Great Xia, this was absolutely an unbearable loss.

Of course, they could also gather all the famous young talents of Great Xia together to protect them. But if that happened, it would affect the affairs of many of them. Furthermore, for how long would they need to protect them?

The best way was to find the name list and get rid of the traitors on it!

“Lieutenant Cheng, let me ask you. Did you see the person who saved you?” Ma Fengzhang asked in a low voice.

Originally, he only wanted to find the mysterious expert out of curiosity, but now, he had to find him.

This list would affect the fate of Great Xia in the next few decades!

“No.” Cheng Yong shook his head. “The senior’s face was covered.”

Ma Fengzhang sighed. The other party is indeed unwilling to reveal his identity.

It won’t be easy to find this person in the capital.

If such an expert wants to hide his identity, who can easily find him?

“General Cheng, we will split into two groups. The Huben Troops will continue to kill traitors. The Divine Constable Bureau will take action and try our best to protect all the known talents of Great Xia. I will enter the palace now and ask His Majesty for help—”

…

The 0th Workshop…

When Zhou Shu returned, the first batch of forged weapons had already been delivered.

Zhang Yibei, Sixth Brother Wu, and the rest did not disappoint. More than half of them had succeeded.

These Forging Apprentices could only forge once a day. If they succeeded, they would be able to forge a weapon. If they failed, they could only wait for tomorrow.

However, as there were 40 people forging together, if they succeeded once, they could produce 40 weapons.

This was also the benefit of unified forging.

There are two hundred Huben Sabers and one hundred Hundred Refinements Ring Pommel Sabers, but not a single Horse Slaying Saber has been forged.

Zhou Shu wasn’t too disappointed. The difficulty of forging the Horse Slaying Saber was higher than the first two, so it was normal that they didn’t succeed on the first day.

This time, in order to complete the mission, he divided Zhang Yibei and the others into several groups.

Ten of them were in charge of forging Huben Sabers. If they succeeded once a day, they would be able to forge 400 Huben Sabers in a day. Three thousand was no problem.

There were fifteen teams each in charge of the Hundred Refinements Ring Pommel Sabers and the Horse Slaying Sabers. The Hundred Refinements Ring Pommel Sabers required 1,000, while the Horse Slaying Saber needed 500.

Considering the success rate of forging these two weapons, Zhou Shu had placed most of his manpower on them.

There was still more than half a month left. Based on the current situation, completing the mission wouldn’t be difficult.

He put the weapons, as well as the Horse Slaying Sabers he had forged, into the storeroom.

More than half of the Huben Troops’ sabers have been destroyed. I’ll have to forge another batch to ensure that there will be a hundred Huben Sabers that I’ve forged out there.

I’m about to max out on the number of Horse Slaying Sabers. I wonder what the next weapon will be. Furthermore, the Horse Slaying Sabers haven’t completed any kills yet. I wonder what benefits I’ll get? Will it be a cultivation technique, saber technique, or something else?

Zhou Shu’s heart was full of anticipation as he decided on the next day’s forging task.

Replace the Huben Sabers and max out the Horse Slaying Sabers!

After returning to his room, Zhou Shu was about to go to bed when he suddenly saw the dirty clothes he had thrown in the corner.

The clothes he wore during the day had been stained with blood when he killed the men in black.

I almost forgot about this! Zhou Shu smacked his head and pulled out a bloody scroll from the pile of clothes.

Those men in black attacked Cheng Yong’s group for this, right?

Previously, he had conveniently placed this item in his pocket. Afterward, he had forgotten to return it to Cheng Yong. When he changed his clothes, he had casually tossed it here and simply forgot about it.

Out of curiosity, Zhou Shu opened the bloody scroll.

The scroll was made of silk, and the blood on it belonged to Cheng Yong or someone else. It had already been soaked.

He opened it and saw that it was full of words.

“Lu Wenshuang, the youngest daughter of the Lu family in Qingzhou of Great Xia. She broke through to the ninth rank at the age of nine, then she advanced one rank a year and became the youngest third-rank Grandmaster in the history of the land at the age of fifteen. There is hope for her to reach the first rank in the future. Ten years ago, Great Wei sent a girl into the Lu family, and she became Lu Wenshuang’s personal maidservant…”

Zhou Shu’s eyelids twitched. A fifteen-year-old third-rank Grandmaster?

Sun Gongping is only a ninth-rank martial artist at eighteen. How does he have the face to brag about being a genius?

Speaking of which, Lu Wenshuang’s personal servant is from Great Wei?

Zhou Shu had just heard the name of Great Wei not long ago. Great Wei was one of the ten nations on this land and was also an enemy of Great Xia.

They wouldn’t be so kind as to send a maidservant to a genius of Great Xia, right?

Zhou Shu continued reading.

“Shi Songtao, 28 years old, a genius Forging Master. At 25 years old, he forged a ranked weapon, the Songtao Sword. He became famous in one battle…”

“Mi Ziwen, 32 years old, a genius military strategist, suspected to be Meng Bai’s successor. His coachman is the son of the Minister of War of Great Wei…”

“…”

Zhou Shu was shocked as he continued reading.

On this list, it seemed that all the geniuses of Great Xia were recorded.

What’s the purpose of the details behind these geniuses’ names?

The son of the Minister of War of Great Wei came to Great Xia to be a coachman?

Why did Great Wei plant so many chess pieces around these geniuses?

Zhou Shu had seen spy movies in his previous life. No matter how dull his reaction was, even he could tell what was going on.

It was obvious that Great Wei had planted spies around these geniuses to deal with them.

The geniuses on this list weren’t ordinary people. If they all died, the geniuses in Great Xia’s would probably be all gone.

“Sun Gongping, 18 years old, the son of Great Xia’s Marquis Weiyuan. His talent in the Martial Dao is outstanding. In order to strengthen his foundation, his father suppressed his cultivation base for five years. Now, he has broken through to the ninth rank and is making rapid progress. Within ten years, he has a chance of reaching the third rank…”

At the end of the list, Zhou Shu saw a familiar name.

Sun Gongping is indeed a genius!

The son of Marquis Weiyuan? The young marquis?

No wonder he knows Yin Wuyou.

There’s more?

The words behind were soaked in blood and a little blurry.

Zhou Shu raised it up and carefully examined it for a while before finally seeing what was written on it.

“Zhou Shu, 16 years old, the superintendent of a Great Xia Forging Division workshop. From a humble background, he was once a Forging Apprentice in Great Xia’s Forging Division’s 97th Workshop. He independently forged the Huben Saber and created the Hundred Refinements Forging Technique to forge the Hundred Refinements Ring Pommel Saber and the Horse Slaying Saber. He was promoted to the superintendent of a workshop by the grand minister of the Forging Division. Suggestion: Kill without delay!”

A bright red cross mark appeared on Zhou Shu’s name. It was a shocking sight!