403: Chapter 397 Inquiry 403: Chapter 397 Inquiry Chen Hai opened his suitcase, sifted through a few clothes, and took out the Hongming Blade, which was wrapped in one of the shirts.
When it had originally emerged from the ancient tomb, everything had seemed novel to the Hongming Blade.
It had watched the “Calabash Brothers” repeatedly, over and over for several times.
Maybe because the novelty had worn off, afterward it mostly remained silent, except for its daily need for Blood Food.
When leaving the Capital City for Xiangjiang, Chen Hai had specifically bought a whole pig farm to feed it.
Plus, while in Shen City, it had even devoured a living person.
According to the agreement Chen Hai had made with it, they didn’t need to offer Blood Food for a period of two to three months.
Kept in the suitcase all this time, the Hongming Blade had sunk into deep silence.
Chen Hai was naturally pleased to see this.
In this era, it was somewhat conspicuous to carry a blade every day and wander around the streets with it.
Even though Chen Hai had connections and a background, doing so would still inadvertently invite some unnecessary trouble.
This time, he did not bring the Hongming Blade with him to Conggui Mountain.
Otherwise, it would have made it much easier to deal with those two Rat Demons.
“Hongming, Hongming…” Holding the blade, Chen Hai tentatively called out several times.
Unfortunately, all his efforts were in vain.
The Hongming Blade, mired in silence, seemed not to hear him at all and completely ignored him!
Master Hongming was truly Master Hongming, loyal only when fed.
Without food, it probably didn’t even recognize Chen Hai.
“Time to eat, Hongming, I bought ten pigs especially for your Blood Food.”
“If you’re not interested, I’ll just send the pigs to the slaughterhouse…” Chen Hai had no good solution for dealing with this Master.
Furrowing his brow and pondering for a while, he directly addressed Hongming, saying,
“What, ten pigs?”
“Kid, are you deceiving me?
You’re a bit stingy, offering ten pigs as Blood Food out of nowhere?”
As soon as Chen Hai’s words fell, Hongming’s arrogant voice immediately resounded in his mind like a pompous note.
Despite acting silent, the blade seemed to not be completely ignorant of the external world.
Previously, when Chen Hai had called it, it didn’t respond, maybe because it saw no benefit in doing so.
“Ten pigs mean ten pigs.
When have I ever gone back on my word?”
“Of course, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
You can’t just enjoy those ten pigs without giving something in return.”
“I’ll ask you a very simple question.
If you can answer it, those ten pigs will just be your reward!”
Chen Hai, with a hint of cunning, posed his proposal to Hongming.
“Kid, Master Hongming is well-versed in astronomy above and geography below, famously broad in knowledge.”
“Just try to challenge me!” When Hongming spoke, it sounded almost annoyingly arrogant.
Regardless of time or place, its haughty and narcissistic nature seemed never to change.
Trying to stump it would actually be quite easy for Chen Hai.
He could just pick some difficult mathematical problems, and Hongming, for all its efforts, would likely be unable to solve them.
Of course, if that were to happen, according to Hongming’s temperament, it might either flip the table or just pretend to be dead.
Waking it from its silence—if that turned out to be the result—was certainly not what Chen Hai intended.
“With your vast knowledge, do you know what this piece of beast skin is?” Pointing to the mysterious piece of beast skin in his hand, Chen Hai asked smilingly.
Besides the ancient, time-worn aura emanating from the beast skin, which made him feel a bit palpitated, he couldn’t detect any magical properties.
Since Hongming was born from the same forge as the Xuanyuan Sword, it must also have originated in ancient times.
Given the possible proximity in their eras of existence, Chen Hai naturally thought of Hongming when he could not fathom the origin of the hide.
For this reason, the ever-curious Chen Hai had awoken the Hongming Blade from its slumber.
Even if the Hongming Blade knew nothing about the hide, at most it would just be a waste of a few pigs.
Being fairly wealthy, Chen Hai naturally didn’t mind this small cost.
What if he could actually get some clues about the mysterious hide from the Hongming Blade?
Wouldn’t that save him a lot of effort!
“This thing seems a bit familiar?”
“This hide must come from some exotic beast.
I still remember, someone using me had once slain several of this kind of beast.”
“The era seems quite distant.
Boy, give me a moment to think…”
After only a brief silence, the Hongming Blade’s response echoed in Chen Hai’s mind.
Summoning Hongming, he did so with the mindset of a last resort.
Receiving such an answer from Hongming, Chen Hai said nothing, but his heart was already overjoyed.
Not wanting to interrupt Hongming’s contemplation, he remained silent and waited patiently for the final answer.
“Hai, Hai…” Suddenly, a knocking sound arose.
Following that, his father, Chen Zhonghua’s voice also clearly reached Chen Hai’s ears.
Feeling a bit helpless, Chen Hai put away the unknown hide and returned the Hongming Blade to his suitcase.
He walked a few steps to the door, unlocking and opening it.
“Boy, you’re at home with the door locked?
What are you up to?” Chen Zhonghua poked his head in and looked around Chen Hai’s room with suspicion as he spoke.
If he didn’t know his son had a girlfriend and was already engaged,
seeing Chen Hai in his room with the door locked during the day, he might really suspect his son was up to something shady…
“Dad, didn’t you go out to play chess?” Instead of directly answering his father’s inquiry, Chen Hai asked a question.
“Playing chess is just for fun, it’s not like it can be eaten!”
“Don’t you know what time it is?”
“Your mother was worried that you hadn’t had lunch, so she specifically asked me to check on you!” Chen Zhonghua explained earnestly.
It was nearly two in the afternoon, and the grocery store had already prepared the food.
He had come back for lunch himself, prompted by his wife, Jiang Meixian, to remind his son that it was time for lunch.
In the past, as soon as he finished eating, Chen Zhonghua would likely have headed back to the chess stand.
“Dad, I’m not hungry, I already ate something outside!”
Chen Hai casually responded.
His mind was all on the origin of the hide; how could he be in the mood to think about eating!
“You’ve already had lunch?
Well then, I just came to check on you!”
“Young man, you should be more lively, can’t always be cooped up in your room.”
“When you have time, you should go outside more often, see more, soak up some sunlight…”
Nodding his head and giving Chen Hai a few words of advice, Chen Zhonghua walked back towards the front door with his hands behind his back, swaying slightly.
Today, his chess playing was excellent; he beat a chess friend whom he had never beaten before.
That person had even agreed to continue the match later, and Chen Zhonghua was thinking of playing on, hoping to utterly defeat him.
Since his son Chen Hai had already eaten lunch, he of course wanted to hurry back to the chess stand.
Seeing his father stepping out and closing the door behind him, Chen Hai quickly went back inside the room, opened his suitcase again, and took out the Hongming Blade.