"Brother Zhuang, what's going on?"
Hearing the commotion inside, the monkeys outside rushed in. Seeing Huangfu Yun with a flushed face holding a sword, they immediately moved a chair and stood in front of Zhuang Rui.
"Monkey, it's alright, it's alright. You can go out now. Brother Huangfu is just a little agitated..."
Zhuang Rui was both amused and exasperated by the monkey's actions and quickly tried to explain. Judging from the monkey's expression, it was as if it was about to smash the chair at Huangfu Yun.
"Oh, Brother Zhuang, just call me if you need anything..."
Although monkeys are timid, they are surprisingly reliable when it matters. After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, he hesitated for a moment, glanced at Huangfu Yun, put down his chair, and went out. However, he was still worried and stayed at the door.
"Brother Zhuang, I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry, I lost my composure, I really lost my composure..."
The monkey's entry had startled Huangfu Yun out of his shock. He carefully placed the sword on the table, but his eyes remained fixed on the bronze sword.
"Brother Huangfu, did you see those two characters? What do you read them?"
Although Zhuang Rui guessed that the characters were bronze inscriptions from the Yin-Shang period, he had only studied seal script and knew nothing about scripts from before the Qin Dynasty.
There are very few people in this world who can understand that writing system; you could probably count them on one hand.
"Huh? Bro, what did you say? How do you pronounce those two characters?"
Huangfu Yun was still a little distracted and paused for a moment after hearing Zhuang Rui's words.
"Yes, you're an expert in swords and knives. How exactly do you pronounce those two characters?"
Not only Zhuang Rui, but Zhao Hanxuan was also full of curiosity. Everyone has had a hero complex at some point. Not to mention Zhuang Rui, even Comrade Zhao had read Jin Yong's martial arts novels back then and longed for the legendary divine weapons.
Upon hearing this, Huangfu Yun smiled wryly and said, "Brother, you think too highly of me. I'm not even a half-baked expert in swords and knives, let alone an expert in ancient writing. How could I possibly recognize these two characters..."
You don't know him either?
Zhuang Rui was taken aback upon hearing this. After exchanging glances with Zhao Hanxuan for a moment, he said, "Then please ask Master Ge to take a look. He's a seal engraver, so he should have a deep understanding of characters..."
"Xiao Zhuang, these two characters should be bronze inscriptions from the Yin-Shang period, also called bronze script. Although I know that, I haven't studied it in depth. As for how to pronounce these two characters, this old man doesn't know either..."
After Master Ge came in, he carefully examined the two patterns that resembled characters with a magnifying glass, but he didn't recognize them either, which made Zhuang Rui and the others feel slightly disappointed.
"Never mind, I'll trace those two characters down later and then have someone take a look at them..."
Zhuang Rui shook his head helplessly, but immediately became excited again. He rushed out into the shop, plucked a hair from the monkey's head, and before the monkey could react, Zhuang Rui had already darted back into the inner room.
"You really want to try?"
When Zhao Hanxuan saw Zhuang Rui's childlike behavior, he realized that the boss in front of him was just a young man in his twenties. Huangfu Yun, on the other hand, went over with great interest and helped Zhuang Rui pick up the bronze sword, placing it with the blade facing up in front of Zhuang Rui.
The monkey's hair wasn't short, about five or six centimeters long. Zhuang Rui placed it on the blade of the sword. The hair didn't break, but when Zhuang Rui blew a strong breath onto the blade, the hair instantly split into two and floated to the ground from the blade.
"Even a blown hair can break it!"
For a moment, the room fell silent, and the three of them breathed heavily. This unknown bronze sword was definitely no less than the legendary swords like Gan Jiang and Mo Xie, and might even be more powerful.
"Brother, how much did you pay for this sword?"
Huangfu Yun suddenly remembered this question and asked it with a dry throat.
"I bought it together with that ring-pommel sword; the two together cost 1200 yuan..."
Zhuang Rui's words made Huangfu Yun and Zhao Hanxuan roll their eyes. This was practically a free gift. Putting everything else aside, just based on the sharpness and age of this sword, it would fetch at least 30 million at an auction house.
"By the way, how is this sword at cutting iron? Shall we try it out and see if it can cut through metal?"
Zhuang Rui was also greatly stimulated at this moment, like someone who didn't know martial arts but got a divine skill manual, he was so excited that he couldn't control himself.
“Modern forged ironware certainly won’t work, but we could try with some copper coins. The sword unearthed in Longquan could slice through seven copper coins without a scratch…”
Huangfu Yun shook his head, not really approving of Zhuang Rui's approach. If the blade of the bronze sword were damaged, it would be irreparable.
"Alright, let's try with copper coins then..."
Zhuang Rui knew that modern ironware was made of alloys and contained steel, so copper coins suited his taste perfectly. He quickly called the monkey and asked him to go and buy some copper coins.
Chapter 613 Resolute and Decisive
You might not find anything else in Panjiayuan, but when it comes to copper coins, you can definitely find them by the ton. No matter whose stall it is, they will have some copper coins for sale.
This is mainly because copper coins were the most widely circulated currency in ancient China. The number of copper coins in existence is too large, and apart from some rare copper coins, ordinary copper coins are not very valuable. There are not many counterfeit ones either. The monkey went out for only five or six minutes and then ran back to the shop with a handful of copper coins in his hands.
Hearing that the boss had acquired a sword that could cut through iron like mud, the monkey went into the room and refused to leave. Even the only employee in the shop kept peeking into the room, wanting to see it for himself.
"Alright, come in and take a look. Just stand at the door and keep an eye out for anything..."
Zhuang Rui felt incredibly relieved today, and immediately called the shop assistant over. The antiques and jewelry in the shop were all locked up, so there was no fear of them being stolen.
"Brother Huangfu, how many should we set out for the first time?"
The copper coins found by the monkey are the most common Qianlong Tongbao coins. Emperor Qianlong reigned for more than 60 years and then served as the retired emperor for several years, so the copper coins discovered during the Qianlong era are the most numerous and widely circulated.
The monkey found fifty or sixty of them; it's unclear whether he bought them or asked someone for them.
"How about we try it with paper first? We don't want to damage this precious sword..."
Huangfu Yun was a sword enthusiast, and his starting point for the experiment was to ensure that the sword would not be damaged. Therefore, he suggested that the experiment be conducted using paper first.
"OK!"
Zhuang Rui nodded. The monkey, with its keen eye, ran to the outer room and found a colorful book introducing the Four Treasures of the Study, about seventy or eighty pages long. Zhuang Rui glanced at it and noticed that the paper was quite stiff, so it wouldn't be bad to try it out first.
Zhuang Rui placed the book on the table, took a deep breath, raised his right hand high, and slashed down fiercely at the pages. A flash of cold light appeared, and the blade had already cut into the pages.
"Quickly, check if this sword is damaged..."
The most nervous person in the room was Huangfu Yun. His first concern was not how many layers of paper had been cut, but whether there were any broken parts on the blade.
"It's nothing, nothing at all..."
Zhuang Rui pulled the sword out of the book and examined it under the light. The part where the blade touched the book was intact and no different from the rest of the book.
"Brother Zhuang, you cut fifty-eight sheets of paper! Wow, that's really impressive. If you used that to chop someone up, one blow would break their bones..."
The monkey picked up the book on the table and opened it. Zhuang Rui's sword strike had sliced through fifty-eight sheets of paper, and even the bottom seven or eight sheets had deep sword marks. If Zhuang Rui had used a little more force, he probably could have cut them in half.
"Come on, let's cut a copper coin..."
Seeing the sword's power, Zhuang Rui's confidence soared. He immediately took out five copper coins and placed them on the table. However, after placing them, Zhuang Rui thought for a moment and then took out three more copper coins and placed them on top of the table.
Zhuang Rui had previously heard Huangfu Yun mention that the Longquan sword that had been unearthed once cut through seven copper coins with a single strike, and he was somewhat unconvinced and wanted to break that record.
"Let's put five in first..."
Huangfu Yun was a little worried.
"It's alright, it's only eight!"
Zhuang Rui shook his head. He had a feeling that it shouldn't be difficult to break through these eight copper coins with one sword, but the difficulty lay in the wrist strength and eyesight. He had to cut the exact spot without missing a beat.
After arranging the copper coins, Zhuang Rui stood in front of the table, took a deep breath, and stared intently at the top of the stack of copper coins. He raised his right hand high and gripped it with his left hand. Although the sword hilt wasn't long enough, this way he could exert more force.
After gesturing with the raised sword towards the copper coins a few times, Zhuang Rui raised his hands high, slowly inhaled, and when his chest could no longer hold his breath, he held his breath, exerted force with both hands, and chopped down hard on the stack of copper coins.
Not only Zhuang Rui, but everyone in the room dared not breathe loudly, for fear of disturbing Zhuang Rui, and their eyes were all fixed on the raised bronze sword.
Zhuang Rui used almost all his strength in his hands to chop down with all his might. This time, no one could even see that cold glint. They only saw a blur before their eyes, followed by a crisp sound. When they looked at the table again, there were scattered copper coins everywhere, some of which had fallen to the ground.
The bronze sword in Zhuang Rui's hand was deeply embedded in the square table, almost half of the blade cutting in. When Zhuang Rui first raised his hand, he couldn't pull it out.
Although the bronze sword was sharp, Zhuang Rui was still very careful, moving it back and forth and up and down for a while before finally taking it out.
Zhuang Rui held the blade up to his eyes and saw that the area where it had come into contact with the copper coins and the table was only slightly brighter due to some scratches. The blade was not warped or damaged at all, which made Zhuang Rui breathe a sigh of relief and relax.
The monkey picked up a copper coin that had been split in two from the ground and excitedly shouted to Zhuang Rui, "It's broken! Brother Zhuang, it's broken! You're really amazing! Hey, if this happened in ancient times, you'd be a great hero..."
"Hero? More like a shrimp. Alright, monkey, stop talking nonsense and hurry up and find all the copper coins. See if there are any that haven't been cut open..."
Not only were the monkeys searching, but Zhao Hanxuan and the others were also using powerful flashlights to search in places where the light couldn't reach. The room wasn't very big to begin with, and a few minutes later, 16 copper coins that had been split in half were placed on the table.
"Is this... real?"
Everyone stared at the copper coins, almost unable to believe their eyes. The legendary divine weapon was right before their eyes.
It should be noted that even modern weapons made of alloys, let alone weapons forged thousands of years ago, might not be able to slice through eight copper coins with a single sword strike. The bronze sword in Zhuang Rui's hand at this moment seemed to carry a touch of mystery to everyone.
Zhuang Rui meticulously polished the bronze sword, then, noticing the eager gazes of the crowd, said, "Alright, everyone get back to your work. Old Zhao, find me a box; I'm going to put this sword away..."
In addition to selling the Four Treasures of the Study, Xuanrui Zhai also sells scrolls. These are in two-meter-long boxes, which are readily available. Zhao Hanxuan quickly took one over, and Zhuang Rui carefully placed the bronze sword inside. However, he did not notice that Huangfu Yun's eyes were practically glued to the box as well.
"Brother, Brother Zhuang, this sword, this..."
Seeing that the sword was out of sight, Huangfu Yun became anxious and grabbed Zhuang Rui. However, he was too excited and his words were a bit incoherent, leaving Zhuang Rui confused. He asked, "What's wrong, Brother Huangfu? Do you happen to be interested in the sword?"
"Nonsense, of course I'm interested, is that even a question?"
Huangfu Yun glared at Zhuang Rui with annoyance. People are all about fate. Although the two had only known each other for a short time, they got along like old friends.
"Sigh, it's interesting, but I can't afford it, brother. If your bronze sword were to go up for auction, it would definitely cause a huge uproar. If its age could be determined and its lineage found, I estimate its price would be over 200 million!"
"What? It can cost that much?"
Zhuang Rui was startled upon hearing this. He had thought the sword was worth at most 30 to 50 million, but he hadn't expected that his valuation was still too low.
"What's 200 million? If it's a famous sword recorded in history, it could easily cost 300 to 500 million..."
At an auction in the United States last year, a dragon-shaped sword once used by Emperor Qianlong was sold for the equivalent of 70 million RMB. However, in Huangfu Yun's opinion, that imperial sword is far inferior to the one in Zhuang Rui's hands, both in terms of archaeological and practical value.
"Damn, this thing's too hot to handle, I need to get home right away..."
Zhuang Rui really had this thought in mind. This thing was so valuable that he wanted to put it in his treasure room as soon as possible so that he could feel at ease.
"Brother, I have a favor to ask, what do you think..."
Seeing Zhuang Rui about to leave, Huangfu Yun became anxious and grabbed Zhuang Rui, saying, "I have two or three days left before I go to England. Before I leave, I want to know the exact origin of this sword. Brother Zhuang, could you let me trace those two characters first?"
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Rui pondered for a moment and said, "How about this, I'll call my advisor, and if he has time, we'll go over now..."
Zhuang Rui also wanted to find out whether this sword was a legendary weapon that had left many legends in history. After hearing Huangfu Yun's request, he immediately thought of Professor Meng.
Zhuang Rui knew that Professor Meng was not only a leading figure in the field of archaeology, but also unparalleled in the study of ancient Chinese characters. He had presided over the excavation and collation of oracle bone inscriptions on many occasions. The two characters on this sword should not be difficult for Professor Meng.
"Okay, okay, let's go there now..."
Huangfu Yun was overjoyed. He really had no intention of keeping the sword for himself, because he didn't have that much money, but he did want to know the origin of the sword.
"Wait a minute, let me make a phone call first..."