As the time for the Po Yuan Sect election drew closer, countless independent cultivators of weapon techniques rushed over, and the entire Dinghai City became more and more lively.
When the day of the election came, Ye Su and his companions rushed into the city to the voting point set up by Poyuan Gate. The road was crowded with people. Before they even got close to the street, they could no longer squeeze.
"Line up, everyone line up." A man in a gray-green Taoist robe shouted to the many weapon refiners who came from behind, "If you want to send your own magic weapon, line up first!"
"Is this an outer disciple of Poyuan Sect?"
"Gray-green in color, with no embroidered fire hand on the chest, it can only be from the outer sect."
Ye Su followed the crowd and stood up. Hearing the discussion of the two people in front of him, he turned around and asked his fellow apprentices to stand behind him: "The voting point should be in front."
They stood there for half an hour, following the team which moved very quickly, but still could not see the established delivery point.
At this time, a tall and strong man in a gray-green Taoist robe came from the front and kept taking out various boxes from his Qiankun bag and distributing them to the weapon refiners in line. After a while, he finally walked in front of Ye Su and said, "One box contains two medium-grade spirit stones, and a piece of paper is included for you to write down the usage of the magic weapon."
"Two mid-grade spirit stones, robbery?" Xia Er asked reflexively. A few months ago, they had to spend a thousand low-grade spirit stones sparingly. If they hadn't earned some spirit stones during this period, wouldn't they have even had the chance to deliver the magic weapon
The tall and strong man in a gray-green Taoist robe said impatiently, "Two mid-grade spirit stones in exchange for a chance for you to enter the Poyuan Gate is already a great gift from heaven. You can take it or not, but I warn you in advance that if you don't have a unified box to store your magic tools, you will be automatically eliminated when the selection comes."
Ye Su stopped his fellow apprentices, took out eight mid-grade spirit stones, and handed them to the tall and strong man in the gray-green Taoist robe: "Please give me four boxes, two large and two small."
"Remember to write your name at the end." The other party took out four boxes engraved with numbers and gave them to them. After saying this, he continued to walk back.
Xiyu looked back at the endless line behind him and said, "After holding this event, Poyuanmen might even make a profit."
"This paper is actually just ordinary paper." Xia Er opened the big box and took out a piece of white paper. "Two mid-grade spirit stones, at least you have to give us a pen."
Hardly had he finished his words when a vendor from nearby came over, hawking brushes and ink, apparently very familiar with the process.
Ming Liusha rejected the approaching vendor and turned to look at Ye Su, "Master, sister, pen."
Ye Su took out a pen and ink from his Qiankun bag. Because he had drawn too many talismans, the bristles on the brush were now loose and almost bald, but it was still strong enough to write a few words.
"It's just to write about the function of the magic weapon, so ordinary white paper is enough." Ye Su handed the pen to Ming Liusha and glanced at the team in front. She discovered one thing just now, that all of these casual cultivators were well dressed. Nowadays, as long as they were a weapon refiner, they would probably be richer than the Qianji Sect.
"Hurry up and write." Xiyu urged Ming Liusha who was holding the pen motionlessly.
"Go now." Ming Liusha dipped his pen in the ink in Ye Su's hand and picked up the pen to write.
The magic weapon he refined was called the Lotus Hairpin, and the hairpin flower was a two-inch lotus with two stems. Every time the hairpin turned, a lotus petal would break away and fly in the direction of attack. As for Xiyu and Xia Er, they refined swords in a proper manner.
When a few people had finished writing and put their magic tools into the box, they moved forward a large distance. After more than half an hour, they finally saw the voting point.
In front of a five-meter-long table sat a woman in dark green Taoist robes, who looked to be in her thirties. There was a cluster of fire embroidered on her chest, with a hand facing upwards in the fire. This was probably the so-called "Hand in Fire" symbol of the Po Yuan Sect. Next to her stood a young man wearing the same Taoist robes.
There were two rows of sword cultivators standing around them, wearing the same dark green clothes, but without the logo of the Hand in Fire. They should be the sect protection team of the Po Yuan Sect, here to maintain order.
The number of people in front of Ye Su gradually decreased, and soon it was her turn.
"Give me the box." The young man standing opposite the table said to Ye Su.
Ye Su was about to hand it over, but when the other party saw her face, he suddenly withdrew his hand.
The woman sitting there also noticed the young man's strangeness and looked up and asked, "Fang Xiu, what's wrong?"
The young man turned his head to look behind her, and indeed saw Ming Liusha and his men. He frowned and looked at Ye Su: "Aren't you talisman masters? Why are you joining us in Poyuanmen's fun?"
Ye Su was very sure that she had never seen the person opposite her. She turned around and whispered to the junior brothers and sisters who came over: "Do you know him?"
Seeing several people shaking their heads in unison, Ye Su had an idea in her mind. They didn't know each other, but they thought they were talisman masters. That meant they had seen her selling talismans somewhere.
She raised her eyebrows slightly: "Before coming here, I had never heard that Po Yuan Sect's competition did not allow weapon refiners who could draw talismans to participate."
Fang Xiu: “…” That day, he and his junior fellow apprentice saw this person competing with the talisman master of the Five Elements Sect. Although this person seemed to have some skills, he subconsciously disliked her.
"Can you draw talismans?" The woman took out the Suhui Jade Plate and fiddled with it for a while in front of Ye Su. After making sure her face was recorded, she said, "Poyuan Sect doesn't have such rules. Anyone who can refine a weapon can come and participate in the competition."
“Elder, this is inappropriate. This person…” Fang Xiu looked at these people with displeasure and wanted to say something.
"Okay." The woman interrupted Fang Xiu, stood up and took the box from Ye Su's hand. "Go ahead. Three months later, any capable weapon refiner can come to our Poyuan Sect to participate in the preliminary examination."
After Ye Su and the others had their appearance recorded and the jade cards taken away, the female elder sitting at the table looked back at the inner disciples who were still indignant and said, "What does it have to do with you that they can draw talismans? Why are you so angry?"
"Disciple feels that their behavior is arrogant and they might cause trouble after coming in." Fang Xiu frowned.
The elder of Poyuan Sect smiled and said, "So, you already think they can pass the election?"
Fang Xiu said categorically: "It's impossible, their magic weapons must not be very good." How could someone be good at drawing talismans and refining weapons
The female elder had always been helpless with this disciple's temper: "Continue to collect the magic tools."
…
As soon as Ming Liusha squeezed out of the crowd, he said a long paragraph: "Just because he can draw talismans, he won't let us participate in the election? He doesn't even look at himself. His face is as big as a basin, but he has a pointed face and monkey cheeks. His nose is as big as a garlic. He is short and stout, and he is covered in dark green skin. He is simply a □□ spirit in the world."
Ye Su: “…”
Although the man named Fang Xiu did have a thin face and a big nose, his facial features were actually quite regular and could not be called ugly.
But she was used to it. Ming Liusha usually spoke word by word, so slowly that it could drive people crazy. But when it came to the critical moment, he started scolding people as fluently as a storyteller under a bridge.
He used to scold the disciples of Wuyin Sect a lot. He is the most important human mouth cannon output machine of Jiuxuan Peak of Qianji Sect.
"I thought he had discovered our identity as Qianjimen." Thinking of this, Xiyu still felt a lingering fear. "Fortunately, the elder agreed to give me the jade token."
Ye Su said casually: "Maybe they don't like each other. The person who will make the selection will be the elder of Poyuan Sect, and the disciple will not be able to make the choice."
As the few people walked and talked, Xia Er frequently turned his head to look at the shops on both sides. Apart from the material shop, he had not really seen any other places.
Ye Su glanced at his junior brothers and sisters. Although the other two did not show it as obviously as Xia Er, they also showed curiosity in their eyes. They had been in Dinghai City for three months, living in a dilapidated temple outside the city all day long. The only best thing they had eaten was the buns sold by the vendors at the city gate.
The refined magic tools and talismans were sold for a lot of money, but the bulk of it was sent to Qianji Sect. The materials were also bought back so that the younger brothers and sisters in the sect could get the materials for practice. The few of them tacitly agreed not to spend many spirit stones and did not come to the city for a stroll.
"I have already cast the magic weapon. There is nothing else to do. I can go for a walk." Ye Su took out twenty medium-grade spirit stones. "This is our task today."
The eldest sister had spoken, and the three of them stopped suppressing their emotions and started looking around.
After Ye Su returned from exchanging half of the lower-grade spirit stones, Xi Yu followed behind her and asked quietly, "Big Sister, if we spend forty spirit stones today, how much money will we have left?"
All the spirit stones were in Ye Su's hands. The ones they had on them had long been used up when they were refining weapons.
Ye Su stretched out a finger, and before Xiyu could react, she took it back: "There are still so many."
None
After Xiyu understood what she meant, she immediately pulled Ye Su and said, "Big Sister, how about we just forget it?"
"You can earn more money after you spend it." Ye Su grabbed a handful of spirit stones and gave them to her. "We will have more spirit stones in the future, as long as we can become a powerful weapon refiner."
Ye Su had absolute say among them. At her signal, the group went shopping everywhere. Twenty middle-grade spirit stones were more than enough to buy some interesting little things, unless they were going to buy some magical tools or secret manuals.
They strolled along until the sun went down, then they walked into a restaurant and had a delicious meal.
"This is too expensive." Xia Er burped, "A plate of venison costs two mid-grade spirit stones."
"It's a spirit deer." Xiyu said, holding a cup of tea, "After eating it, some spirit energy flows through the abdomen."
Ming Liusha was a little distracted, and said slowly: "I want to know what it feels like to practice in a place with abundant spiritual energy."
"There will always be such a day." Ye Su laughed, "Qianjimen is still waiting for us to grow stronger."
The four of them raised their teacups together and drank it all.
…
Break through the Yuan Gate.
After the voting was over, the elders began to select qualified magical instruments, and thus selected a thousand instrument refiners to enter the Po Yuan Gate to take part in the preliminary examination.
This task is so simple that it can basically be completed by inner disciples. After all, independent cultivators have no master to guide them, and the quality of the refining books circulating on the market varies greatly.
However, in order to avoid objections, the selection task was still completed by the elders, and the inner disciples watched from the side. They were also responsible for using the Suhui Jade Plate to record the selection process to prevent anyone from being dissatisfied afterwards.
The elders didn't even need to look at the paper in the box to see through the secrets of many magical instruments. Some magical instruments were so powerful that they could not withstand even a single drop of spiritual power and shattered on the spot.
The elders tried various magical instruments numbly, resulting in any magical instrument that was slightly innovative making them excited for a long time.
"Brother, how many magical instruments are there in total for selection this year?" A young-looking inner sect disciple asked the young man next to him while adjusting the angle of the Suhui Jade Plate.
"Eighteen thousand four hundred and seventy-two pieces." Fang Xiu sneered, "It's hard for the elders to choose a thousand not-so-bad waste magic weapons from these nearly twenty thousand waste magic weapons."
"Three people become a master, perhaps some of their skills are worth learning." Quan Jiaying said seriously.
Fang Xiu turned around and said, "Junior brother, you have been busy refining equipment recently, so you may not know some things. Do you still remember those people who were selling talismans on the street before?"
Quan Jiaying thought for a moment and said, "Selling talismans? Those people who competed with the outer talisman masters of the Five Elements Sect?"
"That's right." Fang Xiu thought about what happened that day and felt it was ridiculous. "Junior brother, they actually came to deliver magic tools. A group of talisman masters also think they can refine tools. It's ridiculous."
Quan Jiaying frowned upon hearing this. Thinking about it this way, those people did underestimate the difficulty of refining equipment: "Brother, they can't be selected. They will naturally retreat when they hit a wall. Don't worry about it."
Fang Xiu's resentment subsided a little: "That's true. We don't know what kind of rubbish those people have created. It might be among those broken magic weapons."
The two were still talking when a loud noise suddenly came from the area where the magic weapon was being tested, scaring all the sleepy people.
"What a great sword!" the elder who was testing the weapon shouted. He carefully examined the blade and said, "Hey, there are actually two rare wind patterns engraved on the blade?"
Several elders looked at the marks made by the knife and became very excited for a moment, and they all gathered around to take a look.
"This knife is quite powerful to be able to cause such great damage."
"It seems you also understand wind patterns?"
"Don't you think this wind pattern is familiar?"
"Jiaying was obsessed with this kind of wind pattern for a while." Rong Chuqiu walked over and took a glance and knew it. She turned around and waved to Quan Jiaying, asking him to come over, and her eyes inadvertently glanced at the pile of boxes on the ground.
The numbers engraved on some of the boxes looked very familiar. Aren’t they the boxes of the four people who were almost rejected by Fang Xiu that day
Rong Chuqiu looked around and found three boxes with familiar numbers... The only box without a visible number was the opened box under the feet of the Elder Sword Tester.
She was stunned and bent down to close the big open box on the ground. Sure enough, it was the remaining one.
"Elder." Quan Jiaying and Fang Xiu both came over, with the Suhui Jade Plate still open.
Rong Chuqiu stood up and pointed at the knives in the hands of the other elders: "Jiaying, come and see if the wind pattern on the blade is the same as the one you carved before."