Lucas stared at Qian Jin with suspicion, secretly wondering what was going on today. After the attempt on his life failed a few days ago, the boy had been acting extremely low-key and cautious. Why was he showing up so flamboyantly today? Did he know who hired assassins? If so, he shouldn't have come! Merely to take over the Franklin Blacksmith Shop? But Franklin shouldn't be a fool. The top blacksmith at Lucas’s Blacksmith Shop was only a Second-Tier Blacksmith, and the shop's centerpiece would certainly not be a Second-Tier weapon. Wouldn't showing up like this just bring him embarrassment?

"Third..." Lucas hesitated slightly, confirming that Qian Jin wasn't planning any tricks, before saying, "Since you claim all the weapons and equipment here are shoddy goods, I'll give you a chance! Come and prove they are shoddy! Then, I can give you a chance!"

"Fine! I was waiting for you to say that!" Qian Jin raised the wooden box holding the cleaver, flipping it so the cleaver tumbled out towards the ground. He reached out and snatched it mid-air.

A cleaver! The surrounding crowd froze. This young man comes here to challenge the shop, and all he brings is a kitchen cleaver? Has he lost his mind?

Roars of laughter erupted instantly from the crowd, with many people literally weeping with mirth. They had seen people challenge martial arts halls before, but never one who challenged a blacksmith shop armed with a mere kitchen knife!

"This cleaver..." Lucas's eye twitched repeatedly, his face devoid of any humor. As a blacksmith, even an amateur could tell there was something unusual about this cleaver.

"Today, I just casually picked up a cleaver from the Franklin Blacksmith Shop, the one they use for chopping vegetables," Qian Jin said, smiling at the visibly distressed Lucas. "I will cleave through every single weapon and piece of equipment in your shop to prove that this blacksmith shop always sells inferior goods and deceives people!"

As the words fell, observers saw a dazzling flash of blade light within the shop. Qian Jin hadn't even poured much Jin into the blow. The Iron Essence forged cleaver struck a Second-Tier Battle Saber, sparking a few stray embers. After a sharp metallic clang, the Second-Tier Battle Saber was cleanly severed.

The previous uproarious laughter abruptly ceased, leaving everyone staring blankly at the half-section of the blade that had fallen to the floor.

The cleaver won? The cleaver actually defeated the battle saber? A cleaver used by housewives for cooking? It had severed a battle saber meant for killing wild beasts?

With the might of a single blow, Qian Jin stomped his feet hard, twisting his powerful core to swing his body around as he lunged toward a weapon rack, slashing horizontally with the cleaver! Wherever the blade flashed, there was the sound of metal colliding, leaving behind a row of swords and sabers cut clean in half.

One cleaver! Ten swords and sabers snapped in a single sweep!

The onlookers’ mouths gaped open wide enough to fit a fist. No one could have imagined that this conspicuously appearing young man, armed with a kitchen cleaver, would proceed to wreak havoc upon Lucas’s Blacksmith Shop.

Qian Jin unleashed the full speed of a Ninth-Level Warrior; his pace was far beyond what ordinary blacksmiths could intercept. They couldn't even manage to rush forward and block the weapon racks in time. The cleaver in his hand moved like a sickle harvesting wheat, leaving only scrap metal in its wake.

In just a few quick bursts, over forty weapons in the room were cleaved apart by the cleaver. Lucas’s face had darkened as if ink had been spilled upon it.

Lucas stared hatefully as the cleaver smashed through a composite shield of iron and wood, his hands trembling uncontrollably. A cleaver! How could this be a cleaver? This boy had certainly spared no expense for this disruption; he must have paid a hefty sum of gold coins to have a weapon forged in the shape of a cleaver!

In a mere dozen seconds, Lucas sensed that some of the onlookers by the doorway were beginning to believe the shop truly sold substandard goods—products that couldn't withstand even a kitchen cleaver.

"Stop!" Lucas roared, "Stop!"

"You say stop, and I stop?" Qian Jin deftly dodged an employee’s lunge and cleaved through another shield. "Didn't you want me to prove it? I’m proving it for you. Unless you admit these are all junk."

"Nonsense!" Lucas shouted in exasperation. "You got some kind of superior weapon somewhere, disguised as a mere cleaver! You wanted to see our most expensive weapons, right? Fine! I’ll get them for you now!"

Lucas stamped his foot and headed upstairs, ignoring the destruction Qian Jin was causing. Since he couldn't stop the damage, he would retrieve his treasured armaments!

Qian Jin paid Lucas no mind. His goal today was to collect some initial interest and severely damage the reputation of Lucas’s Blacksmith Shop. These weapons all required cost to forge; destroying them all would make Lucas suffer a significant financial loss.

Thump-thump-thump...

Urgent footsteps echoed on the wooden stairs. Lucas descended from the upper floor, holding a long, narrow wooden box with both hands.

Crack... Crack...

Lucas looked at the weapons in the main hall, nearly all of which had been cleaved by Qian Jin, until his teeth ached with hatred.

"You are ruthless!" Lucas gasped, his chest heaving violently. "When I break your cleaver in a moment, I will go and cleave apart every weapon in your Franklin Blacksmith Shop!"

Qian Jin smiled, watching Lucas, feeling a subtle, satisfying surge of revenge. Today, he would ruin his business first, pushing Lucas to become even more impulsive and focus all his attention on assassination attempts. That way, he might very well dismiss the bodyguards who shadowed him day and night.

In the past few days, Qian Jin had secretly observed Lucas, seeking an opportunity to kill him and eliminate the threat of further assassination attempts. However, he found Lucas extremely cautious. After the first attempt failed, he hadn't immediately sent more assassins, but instead hired several bodyguards to stay close, remaining hidden inside the blacksmith shop.

To charge into the blacksmith shop at night to kill him? Setting aside the lack of suitable weapons at the time, just getting in would likely result in casualties. Wealthy men always liked to install secret passages in their homes. If the bodyguards could just delay him slightly, allowing Lucas to escape, killing him later would be even harder.

Bows and arrows? Qian Jin had considered this method, too. While he could score a perfect bullseye when shooting practice targets, it didn't mean he could kill a person with one arrow. Moreover, a good bow was hard to find, and building one himself, based on Blake's documentation, would take at least a month.

After careful consideration, Qian Jin decided the best approach was to force Lucas’s hand! By destroying all his weapons with the cleaver and ruining his blacksmith shop, Lucas would be compelled to spend money hiring assassins again. That would be the time when his personal guard would be at its weakest.

: I almost forgot the second update yesterday; I only remembered after seeing a comment from a friend in the review section. After updating, I couldn't sleep before going to bed. I wasn't like this before; I used to split updates just for member clicks.

Call it self-reflection or whatever you like. Anyway, I’ve decided to hell with member clicks, to hell with click data. Starting today, all future chapters will be uploaded in one go.

Tonight at midnight, I will release a new chapter again—well, not just one chapter, but two consecutive updates. F