"Carefree?"
Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly. He looked again at the patterns on the sword, but the two characters "Carefree" were no longer visible, as if the flowing patterns just now were merely an illusion. However, this was not an illusion—the two characters "Carefree" had indeed appeared!
"Could this sword named Carefree be related to the Land of Carefree?"
He fell into deep thought. Could the Carefree Sword have originated from the Land of Carefree?
But why did it become a broken sword?
And why did the broken sword restore itself when it encountered this unknown metal?
All of this seemed like a predetermined fate, destined for the broken Carefree Sword to fall into the hands of the Loulan Golden Palace, destined for the Heavenly Demon Cult to obtain that piece of metal, destined for Qin Mu to steal the broken sword from the Loulan Golden Palace, destined for Qin Mu to bring that extraterrestrial metal into collision with the broken Carefree Sword, and destined for the Carefree Sword to be restored to its former glory!
Too many coincidences—it could no longer be considered coincidences, but rather a force that brought about this convergence.
"Sister Xiang, that metal came from beyond the heavens? When did it arrive?" Qin Mu asked.
Si Yunxiang was also stunned by this turn of events, unable to speak for a moment. After a while, she came to her senses and rolled her eyes at him: "It came from beyond the heavens, but exactly when it arrived, I'm not sure. I'll need to ask my grandmother to look it up. And don't call me Sister Xiang so intimately—I might think you're all sweet talk on the surface but secretly planning to do me in."
Qin Mu replied awkwardly: "Then please, Holy Maiden, investigate the origins of this metal."
Si Yunxiang took out the bronze mirror, turned it twice, and a mirror-within-a-mirror appeared. Grandma Si appeared on the other end. After Si Yunxiang made inquiries, Grandma Si exclaimed: "There's such a thing? Wait a moment, let me check. This kind of divine metal is usually recorded in the archives."
After a short while, Grandma Si returned with a ledger and said: "This is extraterrestrial divine metal that appeared sixteen years ago. The records state that in the winter of sixteen years ago, a divine light streaked across the sky and fell into the Nether Valley. Disciples of the cult went to investigate, with dozens killed or injured, and they recovered this piece of divine metal, presenting it to the treasury."
"Sixteen years ago?"
Qin Mu was slightly startled. It had been fifteen years since Grandma Si had picked him up, and this divine metal used to repair the broken sword had appeared in the winter of sixteen years ago—very close to the time he was found.
"Then were there any people from the Loulan Golden Palace nearby at that time?" Qin Mu asked quickly.
Grandma Si looked at him in surprise and said: "How did the Cult Master know? The Nether Valley is located behind the Duck Tongue area in front of Qingmen Pass. At that time, our cult disciples were guarding Qingmen Pass. When the extraterrestrial divine light flew in, our disciples saw it and immediately entered the Duck Tongue area. The barbarian Di Kingdom's border fortress on the opposite side also had great shamans and shaman kings from the Loulan Golden Palace guarding it, and they also went to explore. Our cult lost a Hall Master and dozens of cultivators, while the Loulan Golden Palace also suffered heavy casualties. I heard the situation was quite tragic. After they obtained this divine metal, they suffered heavy losses and had to withdraw from the Nether Valley. The great shamans and shaman kings of the Loulan Golden Palace seemed to have obtained a broken sword..."
Qin Mu's heart surged with emotion. So that was it!
Both the broken sword and the divine metal dated back to sixteen years ago. The divine metal obtained by the Heavenly Demon Cult and the broken sword obtained by the Golden Palace were actually two parts of a whole—only when these two treasures were brought together could they become complete!
The Nether Valley of the Great Ruins!
"I must go there to see for myself!" he secretly vowed.
Grandma Si said: "The Nether Valley in the Duck Tongue area is very dangerous. Later, the cult sent several search parties, but it was too perilous inside, so they retreated without venturing deeper."
Qin Mu thanked the old lady. Although Si Yunxiang was the Holy Maiden and the mistress of the Si family, this old lady was the actual controller of the Si family and held an extremely high position in the Heavenly Demon Cult. She had once been the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Demon Cult herself, before passing the position to Grandma Si.
Si Yunxiang put away the bronze mirror and glanced at the sword in his hand: "Great Cult Master, this sword of yours..."
Qin Mu quickly tightened his grip on the Carefree Sword and said warily: "This is the mother sword of the sword pellet. I can't give it to you."
Si Yunxiang chuckled: "I wasn't asking for it. I was just wondering if, after all that time and effort, your sword pellet has been forged."
"A sword pellet—the word 'pellet' means it's spherical. To merge thousands of swords into a perfect sphere requires extremely strong mathematical ability. The curvature at the base of each sword hilt divides a sphere into eight thousand identical sections, each exactly the same, requiring precision to the point of blur!"
Qin Mu said with considerable pride: "My mathematics has always been excellent."
Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang both curled their lips in unison.
Qin Mu laughed heartily, gripped the Carefree Sword, and channeled his qi into it. Instantly, the mother sword resonated with the other seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine son swords. The sharp swords whistled through the air, and in an instant, the workshop was filled with flashing sword light, dancing across the sky.
Qin Mu shook the sword, and countless sword lights whistled toward him, clanging as they collided, with sword lights disappearing one after another.
Qin Mu's face grew increasingly flushed. He grunted, his thighs trembling, his arms shaking as well.
Suddenly, the stone slabs beneath his feet shattered, and both his shoes were crushed.
Even more sword lights flew in. With a thunderous boom, Qin Mu vanished, pressed down into the earth, creating a large hole in the workshop floor!
Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang were horrified and rushed forward, shouting: "Quick, help him!"
The other disciples of the Heavenly Craft Hall hurried over. From underground came rumbling vibrations—the sword pellet was so heavy that it was pressing Qin Mu deeper and deeper into the earth. Based on the vibrations, he had already sunk three to five zhang underground.
Just as everyone was about to dig him out, Qin Mu's muffled voice came from below: "I'm fine, it's just that the sword is too heavy. Stand back!"
Everyone quickly dispersed. From the large hole, countless flying swords erupted like a fountain. Eight thousand swords danced in the air, then clanged as they embedded themselves in the ground, their hilts swaying.
Qin Mu leaped out from the hole and landed on his feet, though his legs were still trembling and his complexion was not good.
He shook the sword again. Swish, swish, swish—countless flying swords flew toward him. But this time, Qin Mu had learned his lesson. He stood on the mystic iron blocks piled in the workshop, sword points facing downward, and the eight thousand swords merged together to form a sword sphere.
Just as he had described, the bases of all these sword hilts could indeed combine into a large sphere—a perfect sphere, with only a margin of error at the level of blur.
However, this sword pellet was unexpectedly large, about one zhang and eight or nine feet in diameter.
"Such a large sword pellet is quite rare..." Ling Yuxiu walked around the sword sphere, looking up at it and unable to suppress a smile.
"Small!"
Qin Mu channeled his power, and the enormous sword pellet began to shrink slowly. When it had shrunk to its minimum, it was still three chi in diameter.
Qin Mu's qi had been pushed to its limit, his face flushed red with exertion, but he still couldn't shrink it further.
In fact, all eight thousand of his flying swords could already be shrunk to about an inch in size, but because there were so many swords, forming a sword pellet still resulted in a large size.
"I haven't been refining it long enough. It still needs constant nurturing and tempering. If I could refine them to be as thin as silk threads, then the sword pellet could be reduced to the size of a pigeon's egg. But for now, that's not possible. Fortunately, my swords have another form."
Qin Mu exhaled a turbid breath, gripped the hilt of the Carefree Sword with both hands, and spun it suddenly. The seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine swords in the pellet instantly expanded outward with a clang, each flying sword floating in the air with its point directed toward the center.
He channeled the Carefree Sword again, and the flying swords shot toward it one by one, buzzing as they collided with the Carefree Sword before vanishing into the mother sword.
The collisions grew faster and faster, with more and more flying swords disappearing in the air.
Everyone gasped in surprise. Qin Mu was now using a different method of forging the sword pellet.
There were two types of sword pellets. The first was the merged pellet, where the flying swords' points faced the center to form a sphere. This method required high mathematical proficiency and was commonly used by sword sects of the Daoist tradition.
The second method was the mother sword swallowing the son swords, collecting all the swords into one. This was mostly a forging method of the southern sword sects.
The second method required the mother sword to be tempered to extreme flexibility. After collecting all the son swords, one could simply rub the blade between both hands to form the sword pellet, with lower mathematical requirements.
Both methods had their advantages. Sword pellets forged by the first method were easy to use in sword techniques, allowed for quicker attacks, and could instantly form sword formations.
The second swallowing method could channel the power of all the son swords into the mother sword, unleashing exceptionally powerful force.
These two forging techniques were incompatible—one could only use one of them.
Yet now, Qin Mu had used both methods simultaneously, and it had actually succeeded. What an extraordinary feat!
"Second in the world at forging—truly well-deserved."
Si Yunxiang sighed: "I really want to see what the world's number one forging master's techniques are like..."
Qin Mu had only collected about two thousand swords before feeling overwhelmed, unable to lift his arm. Consecutively channeling so many flying swords had also depleted his qi entirely.
He quickly stopped collecting swords, shook the Taotie bag, and countless flying swords filed into it one after another.
Although the sword pellet had been forged, because it was so large and heavy, his only option now was to use the Taotie bag as a sword pouch to store the flying swords. Otherwise, a three-chi diameter sword pellet would be too shocking to reveal, and he couldn't even lift it.
"I was originally a little envious of the herding boy's sword pellet, but now I don't have a shred of envy left."
Ling Yuxiu stifled a laugh and whispered: "His spirit weapon is fine, but he can't use it."
Si Yunxiang nodded: "Even if he could lift it, he'd run out of qi after just a few uses."
Qin Mu tied the Taotie bag to his belt. Although the Taotie bag could negate geomagnetic forces, it wasn't made from genuine Taotie skin, so some geomagnetic force still affected the flying swords inside. The bag weighed over a hundred jin, causing his pants to keep sliding down.
The Great Cult Master, dark-faced, untied the Taotie bag, found some gold thread to make two straps for it, and wore it on his back like a small backpack.
"Pa!"
A crisp sound rang out. Si Yunxiang, face red, rubbed her buttocks. Just now, Qin Mu had seized the opportunity to give her a slap on the rear—probably because the Great Cult Master knew she had tampered with the forging materials, making the flying swords so heavy.
Ling Yuxiu looked over in surprise but didn't ask further: "My brother has been gone for several months. I'm afraid he's already patrolling the Southern Borderlands. Should we go now?"
Qin Mu shook his head: "I won't go see the Crown Prince. Qingmen Pass is north of the Great Thunderclap Monastery, not far from here. I want to go to the Nether Valley."