Chapter 54 - 53: Choosing a Saber in the Armory

Chapter 54: Chapter 53: Choosing a Saber in the Armory

Zheng Jun realized he had fallen into a Demon Barrier earlier by taking these three hundred County Soldiers too seriously. They weren’t his hand-picked confidants. At best, they would follow his basic orders; expecting them to fight to the death for him was impossible. Cutting off everyone’s source of wealth right out of the gate would only make him public enemy number one. Instead, he needed to focus on cultivating his own inner circle. For instance, the seventy-three men who had died in battle left seventy-three vacancies. Filling those empty slots was the perfect opportunity to plant his own trusted men.

Seeing Zheng Jun speak this way, Yang Jun breathed a sigh of relief. "Captain, please rest assured. When the military purchases Pills like the Qi Storage Pill and Blood Nourishing Pill, there is a discount. It only costs eighty taels!"

He hadn’t expected such a good deal. Hearing this, Zheng Jun replied, "Then use the remaining twenty taels to get me three Blood Nourishing Pills."

Even with a channel discount, one Blood Nourishing Pill cost eight taels. Three pills would be twenty-four taels, exceeding the budget by four taels. Yang Jun opened his mouth to object but quickly reconsidered, keeping his thoughts to himself. He figured that an extra four taels was fine, as long as it didn’t stir up any trouble.

"Captain, we will take our leave."

The officers retreated. Sitting alone in the main tent, Zheng Jun began to think. Would he be caught embezzling funds from phantom soldiers and then held accountable? If it was really as Yang Jun had said—that the Military Departments across the entire state were doing it—then he didn’t need to worry too much. The higher-ups would take the heat first. At worst, he could imitate Liu Bang, flee into the Great Black Mountain, and wait for the world to plunge into chaos once the old Emperor died. Based on the current situation, the old Emperor might even die before the matter was ever exposed.

Zheng Jun had already sensed something amiss. Although he didn’t know how long high-level Martial Artists could live, the Great Zhou had already existed for eight hundred and sixty-nine years. Adding the time the Divine Martial Emperor spent conquering the realm and his life experiences before that, he had to be over a thousand years old by now. He probably wouldn’t live much longer. Therefore, if anyone wanted to be a die-hard loyalist to the Court, they were fooling themselves. He had to plan for the future, for himself.

Even Cai Xun harbored treasonous thoughts, speaking of ’future great events’. To put it bluntly, everyone understood exactly what that meant. Zheng Jun felt it was best to take the opportunity to reap some benefits for himself. Only by raising his own Martial Arts Realm would he have any future to speak of. However, right now, as the Captain of the Black Mountain Guard and the commander of the county’s military forces, wouldn’t it be a bit of a waste of his position if he didn’t do something?

After pondering for a moment, Zheng Jun suddenly noticed the saber and sword he had casually placed on the large desk. The sword was a Military Officer’s Ceremonial Sword. From the hilt to the scabbard, it was exquisitely decorated, projecting an aura of solemn dignity. But the sword’s quality was subpar. Zheng Jun weighed it in his hand; chopping down two or three people would chip the edge. It wasn’t a good weapon. All the money had been spent on its appearance. As for the Ceremonial Saber, it went without saying. He went through one every five days.

"Phew." Exhaling sharply, Zheng Jun stood up decisively from the main seat. He took off his cloak-like outer garment, placed it on a chair, and quickly left for the armory.

"Captain." Upon seeing Zheng Jun, the soldiers guarding the armory immediately saluted with clasped fists, their attitudes respectful.

"Mm, open the armory. I need to take inventory," Zheng Jun requested with a nod.

Hearing his words, the County Soldier didn’t ask any questions. He simply opened the heavy doors and led Zheng Jun inside. A squad of ten guards was stationed within. Seeing Zheng Jun enter, they hurriedly saluted as well. Zheng Jun nodded repeatedly, looking like an official inspecting the grassroots. Inside, rows of weapon racks filled the warehouse, neatly categorized into sabers, spears, swords, and halberds. Spears and poleaxes clearly made up the vast majority.

Zheng Jun casually picked up one, weighed it in his hand, and put it back. He asked, "Are there any Ceremonial Sabers?"

"Yes, please come this way, Captain." Without any hesitation, the armory guard led Zheng Jun to a rack filled with Ceremonial Sabers. "Captain, the Ceremonial Saber is also known as a long saber or an Imperial Saber. Generally speaking, it’s the standard weapon for the Imperial Guard and the Garrison Command’s Government Office. Our Military Department indeed has relatively few of them. They are all right here."

Nearby, an elderly Warehouse Official chimed in, "My lord, there are a total of seventy-three Ceremonial Sabers. Among them, sixty-four are lower-grade sabers, and nine are upper-grade sabers." ℯ

"Nine upper-grade sabers!" Zheng Jun nodded and looked toward the specified section, immediately spotting nine weapons that were completely different from the rest. Most of them were produced by the official craftsmen of the Great Zhou Court. Only three were unique, and one of them even had a scabbard wrapped in animal skin.

"My lord, these six were commissioned by the Garrison Command and forged by our Pingzhang Commandery’s Fire Copper Blacksmith Shop. They are uniformly made of Black Silver Iron and Jade Gold Ore, tempered by a thousand fires. They are genuine Upper Grade fine sabers." The old Warehouse Official seemed to know these weapons like the back of his hand. He eagerly introduced them to Zheng Jun, "These six sabers are backup weapons left here by the Commander of the Garrison Command. If you wish to use them, you’ll need to submit a written request to the Garrison Command’s Government Office..."

It was too troublesome. Zheng Jun shook his head and asked, "What about the other three?"

The Warehouse Official continued, "One is a saber confiscated from the Qingshui Gang a few days ago, along with five thousand taels of silver. I don’t know the material, but it can indeed shatter steel and snap swords. It’s an Upper Grade fine saber. I heard it was the saber the traitor Zhang Ni used for his daily practice.

"As for the other two, one was forged from a broken saber found on the Black Mountain. The other belonged to an Outer Gang Martial Artist from Beirong seventy years ago. He got lost in the Yan Mountain range, walked the wrong way, and ended up all the way here in Black Mountain County. He killed several Crew Leaders and slashed the County Magistrate at the time. Finally, he was collectively subdued and executed. This is the saber that Beirong barbarian used.

"It should be a saber lost on the front lines by an Imperial Guard in the Imperial Presence, which was then picked up and used by this barbarian; or it was an imitation of the Imperial Guard’s Imperial Saber made by Beirong. The material is extraordinary."

Hearing this, Zheng Jun nodded slightly and said, "Fetch that Beirong barbarian’s saber. I’ll use this one!"

The six standard sabers belonged to the Garrison Command’s Government Office, and Zheng Jun couldn’t be bothered to write a request slip. Of the remaining three, the broken saber was naturally the worst choice. As for the other two, either one was fine with him. But having just killed Zhang Qingyu, using his saber would seem too ostentatious. So, he decided to go with the Beirong saber from seventy years ago.

"Yes, sir!"

Later, on the training ground, a wooden dummy stood before him. Zheng Jun drew the saber and struck. With just one Chop, he cut through the wood like a hot knife through butter, and the blade remained completely undamaged. Seeing this, Zheng Jun was quite satisfied with his new weapon. The exterior animal skin scabbard, in particular, gave him a sense of wildness.

"Not bad. It’s a good saber!"

With this weapon in hand, Zheng Jun felt his strength rise to a new level, giving him an unstoppable edge. Having obtained a new saber, however, made him want to practice his Saber Technique even more. After some thought, he decided to quickly finish paying off his Hard Qi Skill. Otherwise, being stuck at this bottleneck indefinitely would become a problem. But having these County Soldiers and constables, who hadn’t even reached the Blood Refining Realm, assist him in his practice was too slow. It barely yielded any progress.

After much deliberation, Zheng Jun suddenly thought of someone else. Someone who could be of great help to him. Xu Tianfang! Only his strength was just right—not so formidable that Zheng Jun would need to go all out, but definitely not some street-level trash. Only in this way could he speed up his repayment progress.

Putting it like this might be quite hurtful to Xu Tianfang, but for the sake of his grand Martial Arts plan, Zheng Jun could only apologize to him in his heart. It was time to head out and challenge the dojo!