Chapter 353 - Ninety-one Percent

Although Yuanen Yehui only had three soul rings, she was a force to be reckoned with. In fact, with her two great martial souls, the likelihood of her strength surpassing the four-ringed Wu Siduo’s was high.

“Let me think about it first. If we’re looking for someone from our class, then Wu Siduo, Luo Guixing, Xu Yucheng, and Yang Nianxia each fit the bill. But if we want someone from the second grade, then our choice is cut short to only Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu.”

This event was a rare opportunity that would be packed full of new experiences. It was set in stone that the four teammates from the original class zero would be going together. For the last three spots on their team, however, Tang Wulin would choose from a pool of six people.

After mulling it over some more, he was hit with a sudden idea, his eyes lighting up.

However, he didn’t voice it for now.

“Captain,” whispered Xu Xiaoyan. “Actually, I don’t really want to ask for help from people in our class.”

Tang Wulin looked at her in bewilderment. “How come?”

“Everyone in our class is competing against each other, and at the end of the academic year, ten percent of the class will be expelled. I don’t want to reveal the spirit soul I obtain or my Starwheel Ice Staff so early. Besides, we can do the tower attack whenever we want. I don’t want to put myself in a disadvantageous situation before the end of the term.” Due to Xu Xiaoyan’s weakness in one-on-one combat, she had to be especially prudent, hiding several tricks up her sleeve.

Tang Wulin nodded. “That makes sense. Then we’re down to only Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu. We’re still missing one person. It’s fine though, I have someone in mind. If he’s up for going, then he’ll be a major asset to our team.”

“Who is it?” Xu Xiaoyan asked curiously.

Taking care to look for eavesdroppers, Tang Wulin whispered a name to his companions. As the words left his lips, Xu Xiaoyan’s eyes glistened and Gu Yue and Xie Xie gestured their approval.

“Alright, now I’ll see if I can persuade Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu.”

“Mn. Okay.”

☀

Tang Wulin banged on the door.

“Who is it?” Yue Zhengyu called out from inside.

“It’s me!”

Yue Zhengyu opened the door, still wearing his pajamas, eyes full of sleep. He stifled a yawn. “Why are you bugging me so early in the morning? What do you want?”

“I have something I want to talk with you about.”

“Fine. Come on in.” Yue Zhengyu ushered Tang Wulin into his room. The difference between his current attitude and yesterday’s was day and night.

“So, how did the appraisal go?”

Yue Zhengyu rolled his eyes. “Just how greedy do you think I am!”

Tang Wulin chuckled. “What? You’re a scion of the Holy Angel clan. Why would I be afraid of you stealing from poor little me?”

Yue Zhengyu’s laugh was sharp as a knife. “I see now. Wulin, shouldn’t we be good brothers to each other?” As he said this, he moved to wrap his arm around Tang Wulin’s shoulder.

Tang Wulin sidestepped in one fluid motion, dodging the incoming physical contact. His plan to reveal his status as a fifth-rank blacksmith yesterday had worked out perfectly, minus Xie Xie getting the wrong idea. With the mishap fresh on his mind, Tang Wulin was desperate not to act in a way that would birth a new misunderstanding. His reputation couldn’t take another hit.

“If you have something to say, then say it. Don’t go groping me.” Tang Wulin glared.

Taking a step back, Yue Zhengyu said, “Alright, so it’s like this. I had your jade silver appraised and I found out its harmony rate is really high. Ninety-one percent! Are you sure you’re the one who forged it?”

Tang Wulin nodded. “Of course.”

“Then can you forge more metals with the same quality?”

“How would I know? The harmony rate is affected by my mood that day, the quality of the metal, and all sorts of other tiny factors. Do you have any idea how hard it is to forge spirit alloys?”

Yue Zhengyu let out a dark laugh. “Of course, of course. That’s good then. I want to order a large batch of jade silver from you, but they must have at least a ninety percent harmony rate. You can set the opening price, contribution points or spirit items, you name it. How does that sound?”

“You’ll let me set the opening price?” He stared at Yue Zhengyu, eyes wide.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I’ll have to think about this. But even if I do agree, I can’t guarantee success. It’s too hard to forge alloys with above a ninety percent harmony rate. I don’t have the money to buy all the raw materials either.”

“I’ll supply you with the raw materials.” Yue Zhengyu fired back, flaunting his riches.

“I’ll trade the spirit item you asked for the other day for your piece of jade silver. I’ll also put down a thousand kilograms each of high-grade heavy silver and magic silver for you to forge into jade silver. But you’ll have to sign a contract that stipulates any pieces above a ninety percent harmony rate will be sold to me. We can discuss a price later. How about it?”

“Things are a bit more complicated than that,” Tang Wulin countered. “I’ll trade you the jade silver now and we can discuss the price for the future jade silver later on.” Although that piece of jade silver was very valuable, it was only thousand refined. Its price would skyrocket if it were spirit refined. That said, it was about as valuable as the meteoric iron he had sold Yue Zhengyu in the past, definitely worth a two-thousand-year spirit item.

“Alright, the heavy silver and magic silver will be delivered to you within three days.” Yue Zhengyu said without missing a beat, a twinkling light in his eyes.

Unknown to Tang Wulin, Yue Zhengyu had his family’s butler test the jade silver immediately the day before. When the results came back as a ninety-one percent harmony rate, the butler could not believe his eyes. Not even their clan’s Saint Blacksmith could forge an alloy with such a high quality!

Moreover, their clan’s Saint Blacksmith wouldn’t bother to forge for the clan’s younger generation. The Holy Angel clan’s rules were strict, and unless one reached a certain level, the support given by the clan would be very limited. All the children in the clan had to claw their way up by their own efforts.

As a result of the clan rules, Yue Zhengyu had learned to take full advantage of every resource available to him since childhood.

The reason he was so interested in the jade silver was because it was highly compatible with his martial soul. Jade silver amplified the elemental and physical attributes, both of which the Holy Angel martial soul was concerned with and balanced. Despite not being a top-grade metal, it was the perfect material to make his two-word battle armor. Of course, that was assuming it was spirit refined.

The harmony rate of an alloy was significant because for every five percent above sixty, it was possible to reforge the alloy with an additional metal.

It was common knowledge the more metals an alloy consisted of, the stronger it was, assuming the ratios were correct.

An alloy with a ninety-one percent harmony rate allowed for six reforging attempts! The success of future reforgings was anyone’s guess, but this piece had six tries to succeed. This was why it was so valuable.

Jade silver with a sixty percent harmony rate was nowhere near the price of the spirit item Tang Wulin wanted. His jade silver with the ninety-one percent harmony rate, however, was a priceless treasure well worth Yue Zhengyu’s offer, even if it was only thousand refined.

While Tang Wulin had his schemes, Yue Zhengyu wasn’t sitting around twiddling his thumbs either.

With the matter settled, Tang Wulin flashed Yue Zhengyu a pleasant smile. “Zhengyu, I need your help with something else. If you agree, I’ll give you the other piece of meteoric iron.” As stingy as he was, Tang Wulin knew how to treat his best clients.

“What do you need?’ Yue Zhengyu asked.

“Are you familiar with the Spirit Pagoda’s spirit soul tower?”

“Of course I know. Are you going to do the tower attack? Aren’t all your soul rings already thousand-year?” Yue Zhengyu asked, puzzled. Since Tang Wulin had a purple spirit soul, he had automatically obtained his third soul ring when he made his breakthrough. For the time being, he had no need for another spirit soul.

“It’s not for me, but my friend. She’s also a working student and her name’s Xu Xiaoyan. She’s ready to get her third ring, but needs another spirit soul to do so. You’re strong. Will you lend us a hand?”

“No problem!” Yue Zhengyu answered in delight. “I’ve been wanting to exercise my body.”

Tang Wulin chuckled. Achieving his goal, he casually tossed the promised piece of meteoric iron to Yue Zhengyu. “I’ve paid you now, so make sure you get me my spirit item. As for the jade silver matter, let me try it out first. We can discuss a price when I actually manage to forge another one of that level.”

Yue Zhengyu was powerful. Although he wasn’t quite Yuanen Yehui’s match, he didn’t fall too short of her. The Holy Angel martial soul combined high offense, support, and control into one deadly package. The Fallen Angel didn’t lose out to the Holy Angel in terms of offense or control, but wasn’t able to provide support to the vast majority of soul masters.

After leaving Yue Zhengyu’s room, Tang Wulin glanced at the door leading to Yuanen Yehui’s chambers. In his moment of hesitation,, he decided not to disturb her. Their paths crossed every morning anyway, courtesy of busy student life, and they attended classes in the same building. There was still time to talk to her later