Commanding Wind and Cloud

Lucas was very confused when he took another look at Qian Jin. He thought to himself, “What is going on today? This kid has always been careful and low-key, so why is he being so upbeat and arrogant today? Could it be that he knows who is behind the assassinations? If so, it doesn’t make sense for him to be here! Could it be that he wants to help Franklin Blacksmith Shop take over my shop? Franklin shouldn’t be that dumb; he should know that although the best blacksmith at Lucas’ Blacksmith Shop is a Level 2 Blacksmith, the most expensive and precious item here isn’t just a Level 2 Weapon. If he came to me like this, isn’t he trying to make himself look bad?”

“Third...” Lucas hesitated a little. After making sure that Qian Jin couldn’t pull off any tricks, he said, “Since you just said that all the weapons and items here are inferior, then I will give you an opportunity! If you can prove that these items are inferior, then I will let you see the most precious item that we have!”

“Great! I was waiting for you to say that!” Qian Jin grabbed the wooden box that held the kitchen knife and pulled open the lid. As the kitchen knife fell out of the box and towards the ground, Qian Jin reached out and grabbed onto the handle of the knife.

“Kitchen knife!” The spectating crowd was stunned. “This young man is here to make trouble, but he only bought a kitchen knife after all this build up? Is he dumb?” they thought.

Loud laughter instantly exploded from the crowd and filled the hall. Some people laughed so hard that they were tearing up. They had seen people trying to cause trouble before, but they hadn’t see people trying to cause trouble with a kitchen knife.

“This kitchen knife...” Lucas’s eyes twitched; there wasn’t any smile on his face, nor was there any laugher coming out of his mouth. As a blacksmith by profession, he could see that this kitchen knife was unique and strange compared to the unprofessional outsiders who could only see the surface.

“Today, I randomly grabbed a kitchen knife from Franklin’s Blacksmith Shop that was used for cooking.” Qian Jin smiled as he looked at Lucas whose face was turning ugly, “I will chop through all the weapons and items in your blacksmith shop to prove that Lucas’ Blacksmith Shop has always been selling inferior products to cheat people out of their own money!”

As soon as he said that, the crowd saw an eye-piercing light reflecting off the edge of the knife quickly flash through the hall! The kitchen knife made from Purified Iron struck a Level 2 Battle Blade. After a few sparks popped up and a metal colliding noise, the Level 2 Battle Blade was chopped in half. Qian Jin didn’t even inject any of his warrior energy into the knife.

The laugher that filled the room instantly paused as the crowd was stunned as they saw the top half of the battle blade drop onto the floor.

“The kitchen knife won? The kitchen knife actually won against the battle blade? The kitchen knife that housewives use to cut vegetables chopped through the battle blade that warriors use to fight demon beasts?”

After the first strike, Qian Jin stomped his feet on the ground as he lowered his center of gravity. Under the lead of his strong waist and the boost coming from his lower body, he suddenly charged to a weapon rack and swung the kitchen knife horizontally and chopped at the weapons forcefully! Tink! Tink! Tink! Wherever the knife went, there were loud metal colliding noises, and the knife left behind a full rack of swords and battle blades that were chopped in half by the neck.

One kitchen knife! It chopped ten weapons in half with just one strike!

No one knew when, but the crowd had their mouths opened so wide that they could probably fit their fist into it. They had never expected that this young man who appeared arrogant would take a kitchen knife to wreck Lucas’ Blacksmith Shop this badly.

Qian Jin fully unleashed his Level 9 Warrior’s speed. He was so quickly that ordinary blacksmiths couldn’t stop him. At the same time, he didn’t given them the chance to block the weapon racks with their bodies. The kitchen knife in his hand was like a sickle in a farmer’s hand. He cut through the weapons as if they were wheat on the field. Wherever the knife went, the only things that were left were scraps.

With only a few quick strikes, there were more than forty weapons that were chopped down by the kitchen knife. Lucas’ expression was extremely ugly, as if someone had spilled ink on his face.

Lucas stared at the kitchen knife that chopped through a shield made from combined Miowood Iron. His hands couldn’t help but to shake. “Kitchen knife! How is this a kitchen knife? This kid is really willing to spend money to cause trouble for me. He even spent a huge sum of gold coins to find someone to forge a weapon with the appearance of a kitchen knife!” he shouted in his mind.

In just over ten seconds, Lucas could already feel that the spectators at the doorstep had started to believe that his blacksmith shop was selling inferior items, since they couldn’t even take a single strike from a kitchen knife.

“Stop!” Lucas yelled. “Stop!”

“You think I will stop just because you said so?” Qian Jin dodged an employee as he chopped through another shield. “Didn’t you ask me to prove it? I’m proving it to you right now! I won’t stop unless you admit that all these items are of inferior quality.”

“Bullshit!” Lucas shouted angrily. “I’m not sure where you got this top-tier weapon that looks like a kitchen knife. Didn’t you ask to see our most expensive weapon? Fine, I will bring it to you right now!”

Lucas stomped his feet and walked up the stairs. He didn’t try to prevent Qian Jin’s actions anymore. Since he couldn’t stop Qian Jin, then it would be better for him to bring out the weapon that he treasured.

Qian Jin didn’t care where Lucas went. The reason why he did this was to take some interest from the principle that Lucas owed him, and damage Lucas’ Blacksmith Shop’s reputation as much as he could. Also, all these weapons had costs associated with their forging process. He wanted make Lucas lose a ton of money by chopping them up.

Deng, deng, deng...

Heavy footsteps came from the wooden stairs. Lucas came from upstairs while holding a slim and long wooden box in both of his hands.

Quack... Bang...

Lucas was biting his teeth so hard that he almost broke them as he saw almost all the items in the demonstrating and selling hall were chopped in half by Qian Jin.

“Great! You sure have the guts!” Lucas took many fast and short breaths. His chest moved up and down rapidly. “When I chop your kitchen knife in half later, I will go to your Franklin’s Blacksmith Shop and cut all the weapons and items there into scraps as well!”

Qian Jin smiled as he stared at Lucas. He felt a vague thrill from the bottom of his heart as he completed a part of his revenge. He was determined to destroy Lucas’ business today and make him become more impulsive so he would focus all of his effort on the assassination. If this happened, he would very likely dispatch a few of his bodyguards that guarded him day and night to the assassination operation.

During the last couple days, Qian Jin had closely observed and monitored Lucas for his revenge. He really wanted to kill and eliminate this threat who could try to kill him any second. However, he discovered that Lucas had been very careful; after the first assassination operation failed, Lucas didn’t send more people to assassinate him. Instead, Lucas hired a few bodyguards to protect himself and didn’t even leave his blacksmith shop for the past couple of days.

As for rushing into the blacksmith shop at night to kill Lucas? Besides not having the appropriate weapon, it would be hard to kill Lucas even if he got inside successfully. People with money loved having secret passages in their homes. If the bodyguards bought Lucas some time, it would be easy for him to escape; it would be even harder to kill him later.

Arrows? Qian Jin had thought about this as well. Although he could hit the bullseye every time, that didn’t mean that he could kill a person with a single arrow. On top of that, a good bow was hard to find. What if he wanted to forge a bow himself? According to Blake’s book, it would take at least a month.

After everything was considered, Qian Jin felt like the best method would be to pressure Lucas! After using the kitchen knife to chop all of his items into scraps and destroy his blacksmith shop, Lucas would be pressured into spending more money and hiring more people to plan another assassination. That would be the moment when he had the least guards, and his defense would be the weakest.