Chapter 25: Psychic Weapon
The old man threw out a round shield and gave a soft shout: "Go!" The round shield immediately disintegrated, turning into countless palm-sized scales. These scales were evenly distributed, dispersed yet interconnected.
Immediately after, the countless scales transformed into countless flaming flying knives. Between them, there appeared to be countless energy threads connecting them, as if they were a massive formation, looking incredibly profound and mysterious.
"Gathering Fire Pillar!" A pillar of fire shot up into the sky. The flying fur beasts at the forefront were struck by the fire pillar and instantly turned into ash. Then, the single thick pillar of fire split into thirty-two smaller pillars of fire, scattering in all directions. Along the way, they cleared out all the flying fur beasts.
The pitch-black sky was instantly cleared of one-third of its occupants, allowing the blue sky and white clouds to be clearly seen.
Yang Tong, Feng Xiaobo, and the other students watched in stunned silence. What kind of attack was this? Wasn't this power a bit too overwhelming? He was especially shocked; everything that had happened over the past few days had completely shattered his perception of this world, making him realize even more clearly the vast difference between this world and Earth.
"Teacher Zhang, this..." Although Feng Xiaobo was considered knowledgeable among the students, that didn't mean he knew everything.
"That shield is a psychic weapon. Judging by its grade, it is at least close to a Grade Four spirit tool. That old man is one of the most respected Divine Sense Masters in our county, Great Master Zheng Xuan. That move is called Gathering Fire Pillar, and it is Great Master Zheng Xuan's signature technique. Its power is truly boundless," Zhang Tianming said with immense excitement.
He looked enviously at the weapon that could unleash such an ultimate technique. He thought to himself, 'spirit tool, so this is a spirit tool. Compared to these incredibly powerful weapons, the spirit-energy series of thermal weapons are convenient to use, but their power is far too inferior.'
"The psychic weapons used by Divine Sense Masters are the most expensive and difficult to develop among attack-type spirit tools of the same grade. Especially when it comes to custom-made psychic weapons, they require the material, attributes, size, and spirit-power patterns to be perfectly matched with the owner, and it is best to reserve enough room for upgrades." Zhang Tianming seemed quite knowledgeable about this and rattled off a bunch of theories. "Just that Dragon Scale Shield in Great Master Zheng Xuan's hand cost sixty million spirit coins!"
He was speechless. What was the concept of sixty million spirit coins? To put it this way, all the assets of his family combined amounted to at most over a million spirit coins, including their house, car, weapons, equipment, and all other supplies.
For Grade One and Grade Two spirit tools, daily-use spirit tools are the cheapest, ranging from a few tens to tens of thousands of spirit coins. Combat, defensive, and transportation spirit tools are more expensive, ranging from a few hundred to over a hundred thousand spirit coins. A single standard crystal stone is worth ten thousand spirit coins. It sounds expensive, but that is not the case; as long as the standard crystal stone is not completely consumed and turned into nothingness, it can be reused. If a family buys a few standard crystal stones and uses them in rotation, they can last for ten or twenty years.
The cost of living in Luoyu County is not high. For a family of three, if it is just for food, clothing, daily necessities, and transportation, it would cost at most two or three thousand spirit coins. If you think standard crystal stones are too expensive, you can choose to use beast crystals; that stuff has no cost.
However, living in a big city like Luoxing City would cost at least thirty thousand spirit coins a month. For a well-off family like his, their income from hunting beasts would be at most forty thousand spirit coins a month, and that is only if they are lucky. If they are unlucky, they might not even get ten thousand spirit coins. If they lived in Luoxing City, such an income would barely be enough to get by, but there would be no savings at all. If any accident happened, the entire family would collapse.
In short, for him, sixty million spirit coins was an astronomical figure.
However, you get what you pay for. Under the slaughter of the Dragon Scale Shield, the four Gathering Fire Pillars completely cleared the beast swarm in the sky, leaving countless beast crystals falling to the ground.
"Come, collect the beast crystals and hand them over to Great Master Zheng Xuan," County Magistrate Yan Huo ordered loudly.
Immediately, several hundred experts at Apprentice Level Nine jumped down from the city wall.
"No need. Donate them to the government. I hope we can beat back the beast swarm this time," Zheng Xuan shook his head and refused.
County Magistrate Yan Huo didn't say much. He knew that most of these beast crystals were low-grade, low-tier or low-grade, mid-tier goods. It was normal for a dignified Divine Sense Master like Zheng Xuan to look down on them, so it would be better to use them as energy for the city defense formation.
"County Magistrate, I am tired. I am going back to rest. If you need help, you can look for me at any time," Zheng Xuan withdrew the Dragon Scale Shield, a look of exhaustion appearing on his face.
"Very well, Great Master, please go and rest." Yan Huo also knew that a large-scale, high-damage ultimate technique like Gathering Fire Pillar required a tremendous amount of spirit power. It would be strange if Great Master Zheng Xuan wasn't tired after unleashing four Gathering Fire Pillars in one go. Yan Huo looked at the Dragon Scale Shield with some envy and said somewhat self-deprecatingly: "No matter how I look at Great Master's Dragon Scale Shield, I admire it. Even the Fire-Tip Spear and the Silver Holy Spirit Clothing I possess combined do not equal half of Great Master's Dragon Scale Shield."
"Psychic weapons are indeed expensive. When I had it crafted back then, I exhausted all my savings and even went into significant debt," Zheng Xuan laughed heartily. He jumped onto his flying vehicle and waved his hand, saying, "I shall take my leave first." With that, he shot into the sky and disappeared from sight shortly after.
After the swarm of flying fur beasts was cleared, people began to walk out of the bunkers and started to clean up the beast corpses and bloodstains on the city wall.
"Alright, students, your task is complete. Now, your task is to distribute supplies," Zhang Tianming and several other martial arts instructors from the school gathered together to announce.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief in unison, though they were still mentally exhausted.
"How do you feel, Yang Tong?" Zhang Tianming suddenly turned his head and asked.
"It's okay. I've grown this big, but this is the first time I've witnessed such a massive scene. I'm a bit tired," he answered truthfully. "County Magistrate Yan Huo and Great Master Zheng Xuan are so strong."
"Hehe, only by knowing the gap can you clarify your goals. You must be confident that you can definitely achieve awakening. No matter what, you must possess self-confidence, and no matter what difficulties you face, you must not give up. I remember my teacher saying this to me in the past, and now I give these words to you," Zhang Tianming said earnestly. "I have been a martial arts instructor for over a decade, and among all the students I have seen, you are the most ordinary yet the most extraordinary one. I believe your future will definitely be extraordinary."
After ruminating on these words, he nodded heavily. He sighed inwardly, thinking that this Teacher Zhang was indeed a rare and excellent teacher who was strict and never sloppy when it came to teaching elementary students and building a solid foundation. If he were to truly achieve something in the future, the foundation training from these six years would definitely be a crucial link.