Zhang Fei - The Abandoned Son

After he returned to their residence, Zhang Fei immediately gathered several women and beasts who possessed light and wind elements in the Cloud Mansion, and he taught them the method to master the light and wind laws.

The light element possessors are Liu Qingyu, Ru Xue, Xu Ling'er, and Chu Xing.

The wind element possessors are Qing Yi, Mu Lingshu, Lin Dong'er, Mei Xiang, Zefyr the wind fairy, and You Bai the wind weasel.

As for his women with the fire element, Zhang Fei had long taught them the method to learn the fire law given to him by Feng Yao, and all of them had mastered it at the initial stage.

Zhang Fei's first clone also taught his partners, who possessed both elements, about their laws. Meanwhile, his second clone taught both methods to his family members and the families of all his wives. Naturally, he did not forget the people from the Yin-Yang Pavilion Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect, and all of them were truly delighted with his treatment of them.

After they had understood both methods, Zhang Fei asked them to try to study the laws of the two elements themselves. He immediately went out of the training space to meet Liu Hua and the Wen Twins, who were preparing the signboard for their restaurant. Meanwhile, his first and second clones went straight to the forest to kill beasts, and he let his third clone take care of the other daily quests later.

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"Do you like it?" Liu Hua immediately inquired as Zhang Fei arrived beside them.

"The combination of black, red, and white is very nice, so I like it." Zhang Fei then questioned the Wen Twins. "Are the five of them ready?"

"Yes." Wen Xuan was the first to answer. "They have been training very hard since we left for this realm, and they have also perfectly adapted to eight times gravity, so they will be fine when they stay in the capital."

"Are we going to start our operations directly, Fei?" Wen Yuan asked.

Zhang Fei shook his head. "For the time being, I want the five of them to acclimate themselves to the situation in the capital. They can begin by memorizing all the important locations in the capital, and I want them to gather information about all the important figures, regardless of whether they support or oppose the kingdom."

"Does that mean you will side with the kingdom?"

"Haha." Zhang Fei laughed before rubbing Wen Xuan's cheek. "Do you think I'll side with them? Xian Feng and his family are indeed good, and they've helped us a lot. However, I don't want to side with anyone because this realm is more complicated than in our realm, especially with so many kingdoms here. Although the situation in the capital seems calm, I'm sure there are many rats hiding in it, such as Lian Jishun and the five guards from the alchemy union. They might not have made any moves yet, but they might be planning to overthrow the royal family, and war could break out at any time in this kingdom. I don't care about their affairs, and our safety is the most important thing to me. That's why I want us to be independent, and the demon fox group will be the watcher, so I can immediately take action if danger threatens us."

Since there were no kingdoms in the Sky Jade Realm, the Wen Twins had no understanding of the situation and relationships between the kingdoms. However, they had heard from the earthlings that there were countless kingdoms there in the past, and they thought that Zhang Fei would be more knowledgeable about all of that, so they immediately agreed with him.

Liu Hua suddenly asked Zhang Fei. "When are you going to bring the rest of the demon fox group here? We are about to start our operation, so I think you can bring more of them, especially since they still have to train in your training space first before they can carry out tasks in this realm."

"Well, that's true." Zhang Fei then asked Mei to open the gate leading to the Sky Jade Realm. "Let's go; we will choose twenty of them for now, and they will immediately start their training."

Immediately, the four of them returned to the Sky Jade Realm and made their way to Hua Luo, where Liu Hua selected the twenty best women among them. After that, Zhang Fei sent them into his training space, and he asked the Wen Twins to guide them in their training.
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As planned, Zhang Fei only took Liu Hua and the five members of the demon fox group to the capital, leaving them in the restaurant with Zhu Yan after he put up the signboard.

After that, Zhang Fei headed to the commerce district to visit Fa Zhan, who had been waiting for his arrival for a week. He immediately handed an invitation to the old man. "Senior, my restaurant will open in three hours, so you can go there directly at that hour, and I have prepared a special place for you."

Fa Zhen nodded before handing him a storage ring, and Zhang Fei immediately checked the contents, which were materials for creating formations in his residence and training space. "They are indeed materials for creating basic and intermediate arrays, but their quantity is quite a lot, and the total is five hundred million bronze coins."

'Hey! Their prices are much cheaper than if I bought them in the Sky Jade Realm.' Zhang Fei immediately paid Fa Zhen the amount. "Then, what about your promise, Old Man?"

Fa Zhen's lips twitched after Zhang Fei mentioned that. "After I taste your restaurant's dishes, you can lead me directly to your residence, and I will set up a protective array there."

"In that case, I'll go to see Old Gang now, he just informed me that he's already returned to the capital."

"Hmm?" Fa Zhen raised his eyebrows. "Do you know Gang Zhishou?"

Zhang Fei nodded to the old man. "I want to learn about blacksmithing, and Old Gang is willing to help me with that. In fact, he has already imparted his blacksmithing technique to me, and I have already mastered the basics."

"All right, you can go now, and I will wait for you in your restaurant." As he watched Zhang Fei leave his shop, Fa Zhen pondered quietly. "How did that brat manage to win Xian Feng's attention? He even sent Yang Caojing to me and asked me to install the best protective array for his residence, and he also has a relationship with Old Duan's best disciple."

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A while later, Zhang Fei arrived at the blacksmith shop and noticed Gang Zhishou's gloomy expression. "What happened, Old Gang? Is there anything wrong? Why are you so gloomy?"

"Nothing happened." Gang Zhishou then sighed softly before telling Zhang Fei about the blacksmith union and the match with the blacksmiths of the Divine Flame Realm.

Zhang Fei himself had not started his path in the blacksmithing, so he did not have much information about it or the people in the field. "Are their abilities higher than yours, Old Gang?"

"Yes." Gang Zhishou nodded in response. "Those people are the best blacksmiths in the middle realms, and the people from the blacksmith union often prioritize them, so I'm not sure we can beat them."

"A collusion and nepotism, huh?" Zhang Fei was naturally not surprised by that, especially since such things were too common in all countries on Earth. "Old Gang, I believe you shouldn't dwell too much on them, and instead, focus on putting in your best effort to win the competition. As long as you've done your best, it doesn't matter if you lose because they cheated, and it won't lower your pride as a blacksmith."

"Yeah." Gang Zhishou then asked him. "How was your training with the 1000-pound hammer? How was your understanding of the basics of forging techniques?"

"I'll show it to you." Zhang Fei immediately took out the 1000-pound hammer and swung it with ease, causing Gang Zhishou's eyes to widen in shock. "I initially felt heavy when lifting it, but after swinging it for a few days, I quickly got used to it, and I have also grasped all the basics of that technique."

"Do you really understand all the basic techniques?" After Zhang Fei nodded, Gang Zhishou immediately led him to his forging room. "Show me your fire control."

Zhang Fei immediately reached out to the forging furnace and used his fire element, which shocked Gang Zhishou again. "Old Gang, I've been used to controlling my fire for a long time, so this isn't too difficult for me. Furthermore, blacksmithing and alchemy share a similar approach to controlling fire, and I am an alchemist."

Gang Zhishou turned to Zhang Fei with a silly look, causing him to laugh. "Are you really an alchemist? Since when did you become one?"

"Haha." Zhang Fei laughed while rubbing the back of his head. "I became an alchemist a week ago, and I am still an apprentice alchemist. However, I have been practicing my fire control since I started my cultivation path, so I can understand the degree of fire heat that I should use in blacksmithing and alchemy more easily."

"I see." Gang Zhishou nodded in understanding. "You're right, there are similarities between alchemy and blacksmithing in terms of controlling fire. However, you will frequently use extremely high heat for forging, particularly because most metals have a high resistance to fire. If the fire is too weak, tempering some of the metals will be difficult. Meanwhile, different levels of heat are required when concocting pills, particularly because each herb has a different resistance to fire."

"Some herbs need low heat, some need medium heat, and some others need high heat."

Gang Zhishou then took out his last hammer, which weighed 2000 pounds. "I know this hammer is still too heavy for you, but I want you to start trying to lift it. If you can swing it before the competition, I will take you to watch it, and you will meet many talented young blacksmiths there."

"When will the competition take place?"

"In two months."

Zhang Fei then held the hammer handle. "I don't really want to show it now, Old Gang. However, I'm really interested in the blacksmithing competition, and I want to participate in it. For that, I have to first step into the field of blacksmithing, so I'll show it to you now."

"What-" Gang Zhishou swallowed his question back as he froze in his spot, especially since Zhang Fei was able to lift the 2000-pound hammer. He was even more shocked as soon as he started swinging the hammer, and he didn't even break a sweat doing it. "How... how can you lift such a heavy weight with your current body cultivation level?"

Since he still regarded Gang Zhishou as an outsider, Zhang Fei naturally wouldn't tell him the truth. "Honestly, I started tempering my body long before I became a body cultivator, and I achieved this by lifting various weights. In addition, I tempered my body using various types of beasts' blood, which has made it much stronger than other body cultivators at my level.

"What kind of beasts' blood did you use to forge your body?"

Zhang Fei shook his head at Gang Zhishou. "I don't know because my master in body cultivation prepared it for me, and she didn't tell me what kind of beast blood she used."

"She? Is your master really a female body cultivator?"

Zhang Fei then told him. "My master is Hong Xinxin, but you may not be familiar with her name, as she prefers to spend her time in her training place rather than appearing in public."

Gang Zhishou nodded repeatedly. "You're right; I've never heard of her name, but my sister disciple may have heard of it. Do you really want to participate in that blacksmithing competition?"

Zhang Fei immediately put on a determined look. "Old Gang, I want to forge weapons and equipment for my family, so I have been looking forward to becoming a blacksmith for a long time. However, I have never forged any equipment before, so I want to start learning how to do so. I plan to participate in the competition once I am truly ready."

Hearing that, Gang Zhishou immediately took out a metal from his storage ring, and he right away heated up his forging furnace. "This thunderstrike alloy is the easiest material I have, and I will show you firsthand how to forge a weapon using it, so you should pay close attention to the manufacturing sequence."

"Yes."

Gang Zhishou immediately heated the alloy inside the forging furnace after it reached full temperature, but he only did this for a few minutes because the alloy's fire resistance was weak, causing it to soften quickly.

Gang Zhishou immediately picked up his hammer and began to forge the alloy, while Zhang Fei continued to watch from the side with great seriousness, especially considering his lack of experience in blacksmithing.

In the process, Gang Zhishou heated the alloy a few times as he continued to hammer it until it became a sword blade, neither too thick nor too thin. Once he had hammered it enough, he immediately dipped it in special water to dissipate the heat faster, and he began to sharpen the edges until they were really sharp. Of course, the process didn't end there; he polished it with a special liquid to make it shiny enough, and he also used several materials to make the handle.

In just an hour and a half, Gang Zhishou had finished forging the sword, but his expression looked disappointed because the material and shape were nothing special compared to the other swords he had forged. "You can't use this sword for fighting because the material is too ordinary, but it's enough to teach you the basics of blacksmithing."

"Let me see it, Old Gang." Gang Zhishou immediately handed the sword to Zhang Fei, but it broke when he tried to bend it. "Haha! I didn't expect this sword to be this weak, and it broke immediately even though I didn't use much force."

Gang Zhishou then took out some of the alloy and handed it over. They told Zhang Fei. "You can try to forge your first sword using these alloys, and I will teach you how to forge weapons with better materials after you successfully forge one."

"Old Gang, I think I'll do it later." Zhang Fei immediately put away those alloys. "Today is the opening day of my restaurant, and I want to invite you to eat there. I dare to guarantee that you will like the dishes cooked by my chef friend."

Gang Zhishou was surprised to hear that, but he immediately agreed, so Zhang Fei swiftly led him to his restaurant. On the way there, they saw many guards running around announcing the opening hours of the restaurant, and they did so under Xian Xianqin's orders.

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When they arrived there, many people had already gathered in front of the restaurant, and they were neatly lined up because many guards were blocking them from approaching the building before the opening.

"Old Fa?" Gang Zhishou was surprised by Fa Zhen's presence there. "Do you also know Zhang Fei?"

Fa Zhen nodded to Gang Zhishou. "I know him because he came to my shop to buy materials for making formation arrays, and he invited me here to taste his dishes. However, I didn't expect that you also knew him, and you even taught him about blacksmithing."

"I met him when he was looking for forging materials in my shop, and I could see his enthusiasm for blacksmithing, so I decided to teach it to him." Gang Zhishou immediately turned to Zhang Fei. "Are you also a formation array master?"

Zhang Fei smiled and nodded to Gang Zhishou. "Before I learned alchemy and blacksmithing, I had already learned about formation arrays, but I was still a beginner in that field."

Seeing and listening to the three of them, the crowd seemed curious about Zhang Fei's identity. After all, they knew that Fa Zhen and Gang Zhishou were difficult to approach even by the royal family, but he could be so familiar with the two of them, leaving them wondering.

A guard suddenly shouted from a distance. "Move! Make a way for Emperor Xian and Empress Shi!"

- To Be Continued -