Lord of Prayer - Chapter 236 - 172: Silver Serpent Spear
Chapter 236: Chapter 172: Silver Serpent Spear
The words “Extraordinary Armament” seemed to carry a magical quality, making the hearts of the old foxes in the room skip a beat.
An Ascender was a strategic asset for any clan. Only a family with an Ascender among its ranks could be called an “Ascender Clan” and command authority in various fields.
But awakening was a matter of opportunity, not something one could force. The Li Family had developed in Hong City for over a hundred years—a long history by any measure—yet in all that time, only eleven Ascenders had ever emerged from the entire family. Now, only two remained alive: Elder Li and Li Xiye’s Uncle Thirteen.
With Ascenders being so rare, the clan had to find ways to arm them and ensure their safety. And for the Ascenders themselves, the more Extraordinary Artifacts they possessed, the better. Besides the Ascenders, the top executives of the family’s corporation also needed protection from assassination by competitors.
Therefore, any Alchemist capable of creating Extraordinary Artifacts was a target that all major powers would spare no expense to win over.
Cooperating with one meant reaping enormous profits and benefits!
Li Rong suppressed his surprise and excitement, asking as calmly as possible, “Mr. Zhou, are you able to create Extraordinary Armaments?”
“You should be aware of my performance in the Alchemy competition,” Zhou Chen said, methodically peeling a lobster.
“We’ve seen the recordings of the Alchemy competition, so we naturally trust in your abilities, Mr. Zhou.” Li Rong took a sip of tea to calm himself and smiled. “However, if we are to make a deal, we must first inspect the product’s quality… May I ask what type of armaments you specialize in crafting, Mr. Zhou? That way, I can have someone prepare the necessary materials.”
“Melee weapons, like sabers, spears, swords, and halberds,” Zhou Chen replied. He could make other types of artifacts, but he was most proficient with melee weapons, which he could forge much faster.
“Excellent.” Li Rong nodded and gestured for the butler to prepare the materials. He then smiled. “Please, eat first, Mr. Zhou. I’ve already sent someone to notify Elder Li… By the way, how much do you know about our Li Clan?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Then why don’t you allow me to give you an introduction?”
Zhou Chen nodded. ’It would be pretty awkward to just eat without talking, after all.’
As the current leader of the Li Family, Li Rong certainly had his merits. He was well-spoken and elegant, and his words put people at ease. He also possessed the calm composure of a mature adult, making it easy to form a good impression of him. He snapped his fingers, and a servant immediately wheeled in a large screen to display a presentation.
“Over a hundred years ago, our ancestors founded the Li Auto Group. They assembled a team and, after several years of intensive research, applied Alchemy to the automobile manufacturing industry, enhancing vehicle performance in every aspect. Just two years after going public, the company was listed as a Fortune 500 enterprise.”
“Over the past century, the company has seen many ups and downs, even coming close to bankruptcy at its lowest point, but we always pulled through. For the last thirty years, the company has been in a period of steady growth. Our ranking on the list of global corporations climbs a few spots every year. Last year, we were ranked one hundred and ninety-ninth.”
As he spoke, he displayed the company’s financial report. The staggeringly large figures on it were dazzling—a clear demonstration of the Li Family’s power.
“Our latest product in development is an anti-gravity floating car, which we expect to officially launch in two months. This product is guaranteed to be a massive success, as we are the first company in the world to introduce an anti-gravity floating car…”
A rich heritage and a brilliant future—what could be more appealing?
Any normal Alchemist would probably be dying to cooperate with a major corporation of this caliber. The money would come rolling in, wouldn’t it?
A little over ten minutes later, just as Li Rong finished his introduction of the Li Corporation, an old man leaning on a cane and a man with a stubbled face walked into the banquet hall.
“Elder Li,” the crowd greeted the old man.
“Great-Grandfather, Uncle Thirteen,” Li Xiye also greeted her two elders while quietly eating her foie gras.
The old man nodded, then turned to Zhou Chen with a warm smile. “You must be Mr. Zhou. What matter is so specific that it requires you to seek out an old man like me?”
“Is everyone here a high-ranking member of the Li Family?” Zhou Chen asked.
“A few are not. The rest of you may leave for now.” Elder Li looked at several people at the banquet. As a shrewd judge of character, he could naturally tell that Zhou Chen only wanted to speak with the core members.
After the non-essential personnel had departed, Zhou Chen wiped his hands with a towel and looked at Li Rong. “Bring the materials in first… You, sir,” he said, turning to the stubbled man, “you have large palms, and judging by the distribution of your calluses, you’re skilled with melee weapons?”
Uncle Thirteen raised an eyebrow, a playful smile appearing on his face. “Are you planning to forge an Extraordinary Armament for me? I specialize in spears—long spears. Of course, I’m also quite fond of automatic rifles.”
Just then, servants wheeled in an Alchemy Workbench, while others brought in a cart with a Fireplace and another with Extraordinary Materials.
“A long spear, is it…” Zhou Chen wiped his mouth with the towel again, then stood and walked over to the workbench to select his materials.
“What’s your Extraordinary Ability?” he asked while picking out metals.
“…I call it ’A Little Happiness’.”
Uncle Thirteen coughed, looking a bit embarrassed. “It just lets me generate a single drop of Happy Water in a cup… I’m Tier Two now and have developed my ability, so I can generate a thousand milliliters of Happy Water at once.
“With physical contact, I can make the Happy Water manifest inside an enemy’s respiratory system, which has a suffocating and drowning effect.”
Zhou Chen looked up, staring at him in utter astonishment.
’What kind of bizarre superpower is this?’
“Pretty ridiculous, right?”
Uncle Thirteen seemed to have long since gotten used to this frustratingly awkward Extraordinary Ability. He forced a laugh and chuckled, “I have a friend who named his ability ’Shift the Laughter’—with the ’shift’ from ’to move’.”
“Whenever he laughs, he gets randomly teleported somewhere within a one-kilometer radius. And he’s someone with a very, very low bar for what’s funny, plus he’s incredibly unlucky. Since he awakened, he’s barged into women’s bathhouses and restrooms several times, and even fallen into a garbage dump and a septic tank…”
“Er…” Zhou Chen’s mouth twitched. He didn’t know what to say.
’All I can say is, that guy’s Extraordinary Ability is on a whole other level of ridiculous.’
“Ahem.” Uncle Thirteen coughed again, apparently used to throwing his friend under the bus to make himself look better. “That’s why I like using a spear. As long as I can poke someone, I can activate my ability. It might not be enough to drown them, but it can make an enemy suffocate for a moment, which is a fatal move in the middle of a fight.”
“I understand.”
Zhou Chen picked up two black Iron Ingots. A pale Furnace Fire ignited in his hand, and the surface of the ingots quickly turned incandescent red. A soft crackling sound followed as the outer layer of the metal sloughed off, and a pile of impure dust soon accumulated on the floor.
When he withdrew the flame, the two Iron Ingots in his hand had shrunk considerably, turning a deep, profound black. He had completed the refining and extraction process, removing the impurities from the metal and leaving only the purest part behind.
He set the deep black metal blocks aside and picked up a piece of Cold Iron Silver Mother, sourced from the Arctic Deep Sea. He began refining and extracting it as well. This metal possessed incredible toughness and offered superb Essence affinity.
Next, he selected a Crystal Core from an Extraordinary Serpent Creature, along with various supplementary materials.
Finally, he gathered all the materials together, enveloped them in his Furnace Fire, and began the forging process.
The metals melted into a liquid state, fusing with the broken-down materials and ultimately forming a ball of silvery-white liquid metal that floated in the air. With flames burning on his palm, Zhou Chen reached out and grabbed it bare-handed.
Between his five fingers, a metallic light bloomed. Inches of silver brilliance rapidly expanded from his hand as the liquid metal solidified into a straight shaft and a razor-sharp spear tip.
And just like that, in less than ten minutes, he had forged an Extraordinary Weapon with his bare hands, without even using the prepared, heated Fireplace.
Zhou Chen gripped the long spear and swung it a few times. A powerful gust of wind stirred, and the spear tip let out a clear, resonant hum that echoed throughout the banquet hall.
Even the worldly Elder Li was thoroughly stunned by this display. As for Uncle Thirteen, his face was flushed with excitement upon seeing the brand-new spear, and he was eager to get his hands on it.
Zhou Chen smiled and tossed the long spear to Uncle Thirteen. “Give it a try.”
Uncle Thirteen raised a hand and caught the spear’s shaft. He immediately began performing some flashy maneuvers with it right there in the banquet hall, his expression gradually shifting to one of delighted surprise.
As a veteran spear user, he could tell the moment he held it that this long spear was no ordinary item. Its hardness, toughness, and lightness far surpassed any weapon he had ever used. It also had an extremely high degree of affinity with Essence, and…
He channeled his own Essence into it. With a single thought, the next second, the straight silver shaft became as soft as a noodle, writhing and dancing in the air like a dazzling silver serpent.
“Is… is that still a long spear?” someone stammered in a daze.
“Of course it is! Why wouldn’t it be!?” Uncle Thirteen roared with excitement. This spear was perfect for him!
This incredibly tough spear, whose hardness could be changed at will, would allow him to wound opponents in unexpected ways. As long as he landed one sneaky hit, he could use it as a “medium” to activate his ability. Being forced into a state of suffocation or drowning during a battle was undoubtedly a death sentence.
After finishing his flashy display, Uncle Thirteen stared at the long spear in his hands, his eyes gleaming. “The quality is absolutely superb!” he exclaimed in amazement.
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP… Elder Li, still seated, began to applaud. “The younger generation is truly formidable,” he praised. “Mr. Zhou, tell us your terms. The Li Family will do everything in its power to meet them.”
Zhou Chen dusted the metal shavings from his hands, looked at Elder Li, and uttered three words:
“The Eternal Life Project…”
The moment he said it, the banquet hall fell into dead silence. Even Uncle Thirteen, who couldn’t bear to part with his new spear, looked up with a stunned expression.
Li Xiye had anticipated this. Zhou Chen had asked her many questions about Charles and Howard, so she had guessed he was investigating the Eternal Life Machine.
“You know about the Eternal Life Project?” Elder Li asked, surprised.
“You should all be aware of the energy wave that erupted in Hong City three days ago. That was caused by the activation of the Eternal Life Machine.” Zhou Chen observed everyone’s expressions and continued, “The Li Family has been funding the Eternal Life Project, so I want to know the details of the project. The more detailed, the better.”
“Xiao Ye, did you tell him?” a high-ranking family member demanded.
“It wasn’t hard to find out,” Zhou Chen shrugged. “Besides, you didn’t take any strict security measures. You even let Charles and the others conduct their research in a remote town. That suggests you weren’t very confident the Eternal Life Project would succeed either.”
Elder Li tapped on the armrest of his chair and asked in a low voice, “Are you with the Star Association?”
“You could say that, but I work alone.”
Zhou Chen gave an ambiguous answer and went on, “After the experiment ended, Howard was sent to the Star Association for treatment, and Professor Charles’s whereabouts are unknown… The number of Blood Race members in Hong City is increasing, and the Abyss Church has also emerged from the shadows. They all want to find Professor Charles.
“But Professor Charles has vanished as if from the face of the earth. So, if they can’t find Professor Charles, they’ll surely take a step back and go after Howard. But Howard is with the Star Association. If they have to take yet another step back…”
He chuckled playfully. “…that leaves the Li Family.”
The Blood Race, the Abyss Church… Just hearing those two names made everyone’s expressions turn grim. Neither of those factions was an entity they could hope to stand against.
“I want to solve this problem, so I need your cooperation. Tell me the details of the Eternal Life Project.”
Zhou Chen said, “I know the Star Association must have already paid you a visit. The Li Family would rather trust the Star Association than an Ascender of unknown origin. But more people means more power. Besides, this is a transaction. You’ll get five Extraordinary Armaments out of it.”
