Chapter 450: What a rare guest~

Jiang Ke’er didn’t immediately propose the three conditions—she said she’d save them for tomorrow.

Pei Min felt that he wouldn’t be able to sleep well tonight. He’d probably be on edge the whole night.

Who knew what that demon would do to him next?

Screeeeeech—

With a piercing braking sound, the flying sword came to an abrupt halt above the medical hall.

Jiang Ke’er turned back with a bright smile, then kicked the exhausted Pei Min off.

Pei Min couldn’t help but let out a scream as he fell flat on his back.

Luckily, it wasn’t too high, or he’d have definitely broken his tailbone in that position.

“Good disciple, don’t forget to come to class on time tomorrow morning~”

Screech—screech—screech—

Jiang Ke’er stepped on her flying sword and left stylishly.

She flew back to the blacksmith shop.

The blacksmith shop was deserted. Qiao Xiaoxian still wasn’t there.

She hadn’t returned since the day she went out to sea.

But Jiang Ke’er wasn’t worried. Qiao Xiaoxian kept in touch with her every day, and the contract allowed her to stably sense her condition.

Qiao Xiaoxian said she’d found something interesting and would be a few days late. When she came back, she’d give Jiang Ke’er a surprise.

Jiang Ke’er said she was really looking forward to it, and she also had a big surprise for Qiao Xiaoxian—money!

This was money she’d earned fair and square!

Yeah, only she could shoulder the family’s financial burden. She was the real head of the household~

Lying comfortably in front of the blacksmith shop, Jiang Ke’er was already dreaming of a beautiful future.

But she wouldn’t pocket the money directly. It wasn’t suitable for personal use either.

After all, the villagers had also taken on risks because of her. If she kept all the money for herself, she wouldn’t be able to face her fellow townsfolk in the future.

Being ostracized and ignored was a minor issue, but if something unexpected happened, everyone would be after her head.

Then not only would the peaceful, warm atmosphere disappear, but her plan for a secluded vacation would obviously be ruined. She’d have to start over with a new identity.

To make her life more comfortable, she decided to invest the money.

Making money from money and perfectly washing it clean—that was the reasonable path to wealth!

She would invest the money in the entire Small Fishing Village!

Her first goal was to develop the fishing village, broaden the villagers’ horizons, improve their ideological quality, and raise their living standards.

She would turn it into one of the hub towns in the southeastern region of the Tang Empire.

Once all these goals were realized and the Small Fishing Village officially stood tall on the land of the Great Tang as a famous and influential major city…

Then there would be an endless stream of people coming to her to fix their hoes~

“Ahaha, I really am a money-making genius!”

Many years later, after Qiao Xiaoxian had given birth to many of her children…

She could proudly say to the kids: “This is how Daddy built everything from scratch. Yes, starting from nothing is that simple. All you need is a little effort and perseverance (blah blah blah, omit three thousand words of chicken soup)…”

And under a tree nearby, Qiao Xiaoxian would look at her with adoration and tenderness, thinking to herself— As expected of Jiang Ke’er, the truly manly head of the household!

Just thinking about it was exhilarating!

“Hey, are you closed?”

Jiang Ke’er snapped out of it and jumped off the bench. “No, no, what do you need repaired?”

“My kitchen knife is dull. Can you sharpen it?” The visitor waved the blunt knife. “How much?”

“Five Spiritual Dust!”

“That’s too expensive,” the person said with a troubled face. “That’s enough to buy a new one. Can’t you make it cheaper…”

Jiang Ke’er shook her head. “The labor cost and material wear alone are more than five Spiritual Dust. And this is because I just opened the shop, running a promotion at a loss to build up business…”

“Forget it, I don’t want to go to the market to buy one. Just sharpen it.” The customer casually placed the kitchen knife on the blacksmith shop’s table. “Make it as sharp as possible!”

“Sure thing~ Don’t worry, it’ll be razor sharp!”

They were from the same village and knew each other well, so there was no need for a deposit. The customer put down the knife and left.

Jiang Ke’er decided to do a good job on this order.

She took the knife into the newly opened 30x speed training space and began repairing it with great care.

Sharpen? In Jiang Ke’er’s opinion, simply grinding the blade couldn’t save this knife anymore.

It needed a complete overhaul, just like how she’d fixed the hoe last time.

Clang clang~ Clang clang~

The crisp hammering sounded for seven days and seven nights.

Not until dawn, when Pei Min came to the courtyard for class, did Jiang Ke’er leave the training space.

Just then, the customer from last night also came to pick up the knife, seemingly in a hurry.

“Is the kitchen knife ready?” the customer asked anxiously.

“All done, all done,” Jiang Ke’er said, quickly pulling out the knife.

The customer saw the knife and froze.

He couldn’t even recognize it at first glance.

When he’d brought it in, the back of the blade was rusty, the edge was crooked and full of nicks, and the wooden handle was greasy with cracks all over.

But now…

The gleaming blade had faint forging patterns, the edge was straight as a sword, and the handle—made of some unknown material—was engraved with beautiful anti-slip silver patterns.

“You… took the wrong knife, didn’t you?” he asked hesitantly.

“No mistake. From yesterday to today, you’re the only order I had.” Jiang Ke’er smiled, then pulled a sheath she’d made last night out of her bag. “This knife is too sharp for an ordinary sheath to hold it. I’ll throw in this sheath for free.”

The customer took the knife.

Even with the sheath on, he could clearly feel how light it was—much lighter than before.

When chopping meat fillings, he’d never have to worry about muscle soreness from frequent swings again.

Even though he wasn’t an expert, he could tell it was a great knife, at least much better than his old one.

But “too sharp for an ordinary sheath to hold it”…

Small-town blacksmiths always liked to be mysterious and brag, he guessed.

Oh well. After all, who doesn’t dream of forging a legendary weapon?

It wasn’t her fault she ended up as a blacksmith in a backwater like this. She must have tried hard—just lacked talent.

The customer shook his head and smiled. “It’s just a kitchen knife. No need to make it sound so mystical… but thanks! This money was well spent!”

“You’re welcome~”

Jiang Ke’er collected the five Spiritual Dust and put them into the genuine Storage Bag at her waist.

“If I need anything else, I’ll come find you.” The customer put away the knife, turned, and hurried off as if he had something urgent to do.

Jiang Ke’er didn’t think much about it. She just felt cheerful.

Ah, what a wonderful day.

Having business felt great.

She returned to the courtyard.

Pei Min was standing there with a complicated expression.

Though he’d been exhausted yesterday—both physically and mentally—he still couldn’t sleep.

But the reason he couldn’t sleep wasn’t worry about today’s request from Jiang Ke’er.

It was because he’d been trying to recall all the strange things that had happened and looking for answers.

And he’d failed.

All these events were too bizarre, too world-shattering.

He’d also considered the possibility that a super-strong expert was hiding nearby and had orchestrated everything.

But everything around him couldn’t be explained by just “strength.”

Even an Immortal might not be able to do these things—like the instant recovery of his Dantian Atrophy, or the inexplicable cross-level challenge.

So, maybe he really had gone crazy?