Chapter 143: Perilous Circumstances! (1/2)
“Lord Huang, this isn’t ‘Mirage Dragon’. There are many brothers watching here! Please show some self-respect!”
At this moment, Li Lin suddenly spoke up.
His words immediately sent a wave of shock throughout the crowd, and even Zhao Fengchen was taken aback as well.
“Li Lin, how dare you speak to me like that!”
Huang Xiaotian glared at Li Lin frostily. He didn’t expect that a mere gate commander like Li Lin would dare to criticize him before so many people.
“Lord Huang, I’ll repeat myself. This isn’t Mirage Dragon, and if Lord Huang intends to cause trouble, I’ll have to ask you to leave!”
Facing Huang Xiaotian’s ferocious glare fearlessly, Li Lin repeated his words.
In the hall, the two commanders beside Zhao Fengchen stood up to persuade Li Lin to step down. Making an enemy out of Huang Xiaotian wasn’t a wise decision.
However, Zhao Fengchen shook his hand and stopped them.
Zhao Fengchen had yet to recover from his surprise, and he stared at Li Lin deeply. Many thoughts flashed through his head. He had investigated Li Lin’s background, and he could tell many things from it.
There was a fundamental flaw in Li Lin’s personality—cowardly. The fact that he had remained as a section commander in the North Gates for more than a decade spoke a lot.
Thus, Zhao Fengchen didn’t bear much expectations of Li Lin. He felt that promoting him to one of the lower tier commanders should be more than sufficient to repay the favor.
Yet, this ‘cowardly’ Li Lin actually dared to talk back to Huang Xiaotian before so many people. This was beyond his imagination.
Looking at Li Lin, Zhao Fengchen suddenly noticed some changes in him.
“Seems like he’s really different from before!”
Zhao Fengchen’s eyes rippled, and new thoughts about Li Lin abruptly sprouted in his head.
“How dare a small commander like you talk back to me!”
Huang Xiaotian’s eyes were cold as though the winter frost. If looks could kill, Li Lin would have died countless times then. Huang Xiaotian never held back against those who dared to offend him in his face.
However, Huang Xiaotian didn’t make a move in the end.
“Hmph! You’re just a trash who climbed to this seat because of a woman! I’ll let you off on Duke Jiu’s account!”
Pah! As though a flash of lightning, Huang Xiaotian’s hands swiftly darted toward the Death’s Abyss in Li Lin’s hands and grabbed it.
Boom! Before Li Lin could react, he was already jolted backward by a massive force. He staggered many steps backward before he managed to steady himself. Li Lin’s face turned completely red.
Even within the Imperial Army, Li Lin could be considered as an expert. However, he was still far from matching up to those of Huang Xiaotian’s caliber.
Even though Huang Xiaotian lost to Zhao Fengchen eventually, he still became the number one expert beneath that of the three Great Marshals in the Imperial Army.
How could Li Lin possibly be a match for him!
“Brothers, I am not here to settle my private grudge. The reason why I am here is because I can’t tolerate these fellows deceiving the money of our brothers!”
With just a few simple movements, Huang Xiaotian stole the Death’s Abyss from Li Lin’s hand easily. Grabbing the hilt with his right hand, he slowly turned it around the hall.
A cold gleam shot across the air, causing the crowd to feel dizzy-headed. However, Huang Xiaotian glanced at the Death’s Abyss disdainfully, as though this wasn’t a precious sword but a worthless lump of metal.
“Huang Xiaotian, what do you intend to do?”
Zhao Fengchen uttered coldly.
“Hmph, haven’t I spoken of my intentions already? I can’t stand you all deceiving our brothers, so I came to expose you all!”
Huang Xiaotian turned around to look at Zhao Fengchen and sneered coldly. A grand disposition shrouded around him, capturing everyone’s attention.
“‘The tougher the weapon, the easier it breaks’, Zhao Fengchen and Li Lin, surely you two should know this logic! Any weapon that’s longer than three chi will break easily, and the even more so the longer it is. That’s the reason why very few swordsmiths craft swords longer than three chi. Even four chi is a rarity in the market! Yet, what’s with this seven chi weapon? Do you take everyone for fools?”
(3 chi -> 1m| 4 chi -> 1.33m| 7 chi -> 2.33m)
Huang Xiaotian bellowed loudly, and a huge commotion broke out in the hall.
Everyone here had come for the name of the Wootz steel. Given that Zhao Fengchen was here, and it hadn’t been long since the weapon was unveiled, none of them had truly considered this problem.
As soon as Huang Xiaotian brought up this problem, everyone came to a realization. Indeed! The tougher the weapon was, the easier it broke. Even though the crowd here didn’t know much about swordsmithing, this was common sense.
This was also the reason why no one forged weapons longer than four chi in the Central Plains, with the exception of spears, halberds, and those of that kind. However, this kind of weapons were mainly designed for the battlefield, and they weren’t really valuable. There were many of such weapons in the Great Tang’s military armory. If one broke, they could just grab another one.
However, swords and sabers were different. No one wanted to buy sword or saber that could break easily.
“Lord Huang’s words make sense.”
“Indeed, this saber is a little too long!”
…
The Imperial Army commanders nodded in agreement. Initially, they were displeased by Huang Xiaotian’s abrupt appearance, thinking that he was here to get back at Zhao Fengchen.
But at this moment, they suddenly felt that his words were logical.
“Hmph!Hmph!”
Raising Death’s Abyss high in the air so that everyone could get a good look, Huang Xiaotian observed the expression of the crowd and sneered coldly within.
On the other hand, Zhao Fengchen and Li Lin’s faces darkened.
As Wang Chong’s Wootz steel sword played a pivotal role in Zhao Fengchen defeating Huang Xiaotian and becoming the new marshal, he subconsciously trusted Li Lin and Wang Chong.
On the other hand, Li Lin fully trusted Wang Chong because the latter was his nephew
Thus, the both of them unknowingly neglected the fundamental flaw of a long saber. Upon hearing Huang Xiaotian’s words, they suddenly realized the problem with it as well.
A tough sword being brittle was common sense, Huang Xiaotian wasn’t being completely unreasonable.
“Li Lin…”
Zhao Fengchen’s first thought was to question Li Lin of it, but as soon as this thought appeared in his head, he immediately held himself back. It was too late to ask about it, especially before such a huge crowd.
Besides, if something was wrong with the sword, before such a huge crowd and under Huang Xiaotian’s interference, their reputation would immediately drop into the gutters.