"Little San, you're being a bit of a cheat," Ye Yin said, giving Tang San a look.
Tang San replied, "Yin Ge, you said I had three chances. I just used all three chances at once. You can also use three chances at once. No, you only have two chances left now. You can use both chances at once."
Ye Yin shook his head and chuckled. "No need. Little San, I'm not saying this to be mean, but how can your big thing compare to my small thing? I only need one attack to win."
Tang San's first crossbow bolt lost all its momentum after penetrating two tree trunks and was firmly embedded there. Immediately following, the second crossbow bolt began to exert its power, carrying the will of the first crossbow bolt to charge forward! The third, the fourth! Then it stuck in the fifth tree trunk and stopped moving. Finally, only the last one remained, the third crossbow bolt. "Burn! My little cosmos!" It also penetrated two tree trunks. All three crossbow bolts combined only penetrated six tree trunks.
Tang San fell silent.
Ye Yin patted Tang San's shoulder. "Little San, what did I tell you? Your thing isn't good enough. It's far from comparable to mine. Your three attacks combined aren't as good as my one attack." A notification appeared.
[Resentment from Tang San +50!]
Tang San looked at the Godly Zhuge Crossbow in his hand, feeling for the first time that this item was so useless. The accumulated knowledge of so many seniors of the Tang Sect actually couldn't compare to Yin Ge alone. It was simply too useless!
"Yin Ge, does your thing have a name?" Tang San asked. "What is it called?".
Ye Yin patted his chest. "Of course it does! It's called the Upgraded Zhuge Divine Crossbow!" Another notification appeared.
[Resentment from Tang San +70!]
Tang San: "..." Tang San didn't know what to say. As excited as he had been just a moment ago, he was just as suppressed now. He had been utterly crushed.
"Sigh, Yin Ge, I'm going back to cultivate," he said.
Ye Yin called out, "Don't go, Little San! Aren't you going to compete some more? If you have more chances, maybe you still have a tiny chance to win. Even if you never win, your Godly Zhuge Crossbow might still have some special aspects that are stronger than mine. It can't be that it's inferior to mine in every aspect, from size, quality, power, to range, right?".
A final notification appeared.
[Resentment from Tang San +80!]
Tang San didn't speak. He just silently provided Ye Yin with resentment, and the amount he provided kept increasing.
"Sigh," Ye Yin sighed, expressing deep regret that he couldn't continue competing with Tang San. "Never mind, I'll just continue researching other Hidden Weapons."
Days passed one by one. Ye Yin had forged several more upgraded weapons: Sleeve Arrows, Tight-Backed Flowery Crossbow, Flying God Claw, and Mother-Child Soul-Chasing Life-Taking Gall.
The Upgraded Sleeve Arrows were like an exoskeleton armor covering the forearm, providing not only offensive power but also defensive capabilities. The Upgraded Tight-Backed Flowery Crossbow could fire an explosive bolt with astonishing power, filled with gunpowder that would detonate upon impact. The Upgraded Flying God Claw had a longer range and also came with powerful penetrating ability, even capable of fanning out to shoot nine Flying God Claws at once. The Upgraded Mother-Child Soul-Chasing Life-Taking Gall had higher attack power, and the child gall would cause a first round of attack upon impacting the mother gall, concealing the mother gall's second round of attack.
Moreover, for anything that could explode, Ye Yin had created special versions. For example, the bursting stinky tofu version, which, once it exploded, would definitely splash all over you. There were also surströmming versions and "Oli Ge" versions, each packed with essence. The more people, the more outrageous the lethality. Ye Yin's favorite was the "Oli Ge" version, purely for psychological torment.
Ye Yin forged many Hidden Weapons. Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's levels finally broke through. One broke through to level 40, the other to level 30, both needing a spirit ring. Although one needed a third spirit ring and the other a fourth, the age of the spirit rings they needed was quite similar, both requiring four to five-thousand-year-old ones. In fact, the spirit ringZhu Zhuqing needed was even older because Ye Yin had helped Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, and Xiao Wu elevate their first spirit rings to the thousand-year level. This made Dai Mubai and the others very envious, wondering why they weren't women. That way, Ye Yin could help them raise the age of their spirit rings, too.
"Since both of you need a spirit ring, then tomorrow we will head to the Sunset Forest, the closest to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, to acquire suitable spirit rings for you," Flender immediately announced. "Tomorrow will still be your training. We teachers will minimize our intervention as much as possible, testing your team's coordination ability. This is different from combat; what you need is capture. Capture is much more difficult than killing."
The next morning, the Shrek Academy group prepared to go out. The eight people had already formed their formation. Flender, Zhao Wuji, Li Yusong, Lu Qibin, and Shao Xin were all in position, just waiting for Yu Xiaogang.
"Why hasn't Xiaogang arrived yet?" Flender frowned. "He's not someone who would be late. Is he still sleeping at this hour? Tang San, go see what's going on with Xiaogang? Why hasn't he come yet? We can't just leave without Xiaogang".
Tang San nodded, just about to head to Yu Xiaogang's dorm, when he saw Yu Xiaogang running over, looking excited.
Flender was a bit displeased. "Xiaogang, what's wrong with you? Why are you late? We've been waiting for you here for five minutes. Five minutes per person, for ten people, that's fifty minutes".
Yu Xiaogang didn't care what Flender was saying. He just shouted excitedly, "I did it, I did it!".
Flender was even more confused. "What did you do?".
Yu Xiaogang looked like he was having a fit, acting crazy. "My spirit power broke through to level 30! Last night I ate a can of surströmming, and luck came my way. I suddenly felt the bottleneck of level 30 loosen, and after cultivating all night, I successfully broke through to level 30! Perfect, now I can also get a third spirit ring!".
Flender's face broke into a smile; he was genuinely happy for his old friend. "Then congratulations to you! Breaking through to level 30, that's been your lifelong pursuit!".
----------------
You can read advanced chapters here: patreon.com/GregariousLion