Jie Shui opened the small cloth bag.
Inside was a wooden stick with wrinkled bark. It looked like it had just been snapped off a tree.
“This is a Magic Treasure Fragment your father borrowed. It possesses an incredible, overwhelming power, but it requires a spell to activate and can only be used one time… Trust your father. This time, it will definitely work.”
Ignoring Jie Shui’s frantically twitching mouth, Father Jie stuffed the crude-looking piece of wood into his son’s arms.
“The spell is — “
Perhaps fearing that speaking it aloud would accidentally trigger the stick, Father Jie used Secret Voice Transmission to tell him the spell.
Predictably, Jie Shui’s mouth twitched even harder after hearing it.
He had lost all hope in his father’s mental state, so he did not bother getting angry.
He simply replied listlessly, “Fine, don’t worry. I’ve got it.”
“Good!” Father Jie perked up. “Be sure to time it right.
This can save your teammates or yourself! Stay calm and wait for the most important moment!”
“Yeah, yeah… I know…” Jie Shui replied dismissively.
He would not actually treat a broken stick as an Assassin’s Trump Card.
This upcoming battle was dangerous and full of killing intent, where every second counted.
There was no time to play around with a piece of wood.
However, to comfort his father and get him to leave safely, Jie Shui solemnly tucked the stick away under his father’s gaze.
“Can you leave now? It’s dangerous here…” Jie Shui said helplessly.
“I have to stay and watch you because it’s dangerous,” Father Jie replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I’m your father!”
“Please just go…”
“I’m not leaving! What kind of father lets his son face death while he runs away? Who do you think I am?” Father Jie’s expression hardened.
“You’re my son. I’m staying to look after you!”
Jie Shui’s head throbbed.
He suddenly envied Gan Ruanruan and Jiang Ke’er’s freedom, but when he caught Gan Ruanruan in his peripheral vision, he saw deep envy and even a hint of jealousy in her eyes.
Jiang Ke’er was looking out the window with a melancholy expression, lost in thought.
It was as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head.
After a moment of silence, Jie Shui nodded heavily. “Thank you for coming to see the match for me and my friends. But I hope you will protect yourselves and stay safe.”
“Huh? What’s with the sudden change in attitude, kid?” Father Jie asked, confused.
“Also, truth be told, this match will be hard. We might all die,” Jie Shui said with a small smile. “I hope you won’t be too sad… And don’t forget to scatter our ashes in the East Sea.”
Father Jie looked at Jie Shui and stopped talking nonsense. He gave him a heavy pat on the shoulder.
“You’ve grown up.”
“Heh…”
“You have your own responsibilities and choices now. We won’t stop you, and we’re mentally prepared for the consequences,” Father Jie said with a relieved smile.
“Give it your best… Also, thank you to everyone who has fought alongside Jie Shui until today. The Jie family is always open to you.”
“Our place is a dump. Let’s not embarrass ourselves,” Jie Shui muttered.
“Bah! What do you know! The Jie family is the most amazing family in Shenzhou!” Father Jie snapped.
‘Here he goes again…’ Jie Shui felt a headache coming on.
“If you ever run into trouble in the future, remember to find me at the Jie family. I guarantee I’ll give you a surprise!” Father Jie promised solemnly.
“We will,” Jiang Ke’er agreed with a smile. She didn’t think she would actually need help, but she was curious about Father Jie’s stories of the Ancient God.
Once the match was over, if they were still alive, she might go take a look… Maybe she would find something unexpected?
“We’re leaving then!” Father Jie stepped outside the door.
“Stay safe.”
Jie Shui’s parents left.
Jie Shui felt a bit awkward. “Sorry about that…”
“Nothing to be sorry about. It’s good to have someone to collect our bodies if we kick the bucket,” Jiang Ke’er joked.
“But you did remind me — we really should prepare more for this match.”
“What kind of preparation?”
“The use of Talisman Craft is forbidden in combat, but normal magical artifacts and weapons are allowed. However, the quality of your gear is quite average. If we run into a wealthy Dao Seat from the Tribulation Immortal Hall, your equipment might break upon impact,” Jiang Ke’er said.
“We should visit the Auction House. Since we’re in the Imperial Capital of the Kingdom of Dasi, the largest trading hub in Shenzhou, let’s take this chance to buy some decent weapons. My treat!”
However, as soon as she said that, the other members of the Bagpipe Squad looked at her with strange expressions.
The atmosphere became awkward.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Well…” Gan Ruanruan tried to word it as gently as possible.
“Qing Yi, you might not have bought magical artifacts before, so you might not know… They’re actually very expensive.”
“Exactly. A useful Five-Grade or Six-Grade Magical Artifact can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of Magic Crystals,” Jie Shui said, pulling out his worn-out gloves.
“This Five-Grade gauntlet was something I won in a lottery at a Tool Refinement event. I just patched it up a few days ago using materials I earned from the matches… For ordinary Cultivators like us, a Five-Grade Magical Artifact is enough to last a lifetime.”
“Don’t worry,” Jiang Ke’er said, stuck between laughing and crying.
“We should buy what’s necessary. This match is important. It’s fine, I can afford it.”
“No, no, you really might not understand the market price for these artifacts,” A Miao chimed in.
He held out his hands, showing the rings on his ten fingers.
These rings were a Magic Cultivator’s magic-amplifying Power-Enhancing Artifacts, essentially their weapons. However, the rings were currently dull and the paint had long since peeled off. Even the Jade Crystals and Runes on them were chipped.
“I found these Five-Grade Magical Artifacts in a secondhand market before the Semi-Finals. The set cost 2,000,000,” A Miao said with a look of physical pain.
“We know you received a nice reward for being last year’s Cultivator of the Year in the Shenzhou Cup… But that reward is far from enough to buy a good artifact. Even if you could afford some secondhand Five-Grade or Six-Grade items, they wouldn’t really help us much now. It would just be a waste of money.”
“…Actually, I’m really rich,” Jiang Ke’er murmured in defense.
“We’ve known each other for a long time, Qing Yi. We’ve seen how frugally you live,” Gan Ruanruan smiled. “We all know where we stand, so don’t push yourself. It’s okay, we can fight with our current gear!”
“…But I really am very rich!” Jiang Ke’er added weakly.
“Alright, alright. We can browse the market, but let’s stop talking about such unrealistic things!”
“…”
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