"The key to the treasure vault on Sacred Descent Mountain is held by the mistress of the Sykes Family—that is, our Holy Cult's Saintess."
Daniel Shan continued, "All of our Holy Cult's finances are managed by the Sykes Family, with every asset passing through their hands. If the Cult Master wishes to access the vault this time, the key must be retrieved from the Saintess. Once we take out the heavenly treasures stored inside, forging eight thousand sword embryos won't be difficult—the foundry can manufacture sword blanks at incredible speed!"
The Sykes Family is a prestigious clan within the Cult of the Heavenly Demon, and the Saintess is traditionally chosen from their line. This generation’s Saintess is Serena Yunxiang, meaning the vault key is currently in her possession.
Quinn Shepherd found Serena Yunxiang, who was startled: "Forging eight thousand swords for a Sword Pill! That’s so many—can the Cult Master even lift it?"
Quinn’s face darkened; he was, in fact, worried that he might not be able to carry a Sword Pill forged from so many flying swords.
Serena Yunxiang caught his expression and smiled sweetly. "You’re the Cult Master and Holy Teacher—naturally, the heavenly treasures in the vault should be used for forging your spirit weapon. But all these treasures were accumulated by our disciples over many years. With the recent disaster relief, we spent all our funds to help those in need, and now the vault is empty. If another emergency arises, the cult may be left without enough money to respond."
Quinn laughed, "I understand your predicament. I still have a million Everpeace Coins on hand—why not donate them to the Holy Cult? You can use them for emergencies."
Serena Yunxiang was overjoyed, laughing, "A million Everpeace Coins is a lot, but with a million disciples, each would barely get a single coin. Since the Cult Master is forging a Sword Pill, there’s no need to keep the Grand Guardian’s Sword anymore…"
Quinn’s face turned black. He took off the Grand Guardian’s Sword and handed it to her.
Serena kindly reminded him, "It seems you still have other treasures in your Glutton Dragon Pouch, like the Thousand-Banner Pagoda. Those could help fill out the vault…"
Quinn took out the Glutton Dragon Pouch and retrieved the Thousand-Banner Pagoda and the Scorched-Tail Zither. Suddenly, he grew alert: "Wait a minute—I'm only forging a single Six Directions spirit weapon. Why do I have to hand over Cult Master–level treasures? The value isn't even close! Saintess, are you trying to fleece me?"
Serena Yunxiang sneered, "Cult Master, the treasures in the Holy Cult’s vault are enough to forge a dozen Cult Master–grade artifacts! If you use these treasures for a single Sword Pill, we can’t just empty out the vault all at once, can we?"
Quinn thought it over and realized she had a point. He reluctantly handed over the Cult Master–level treasures from his Glutton Dragon Pouch. Most of these had been looted from the treasure vault of Loulan Golden Palace, so he didn’t feel too much regret.
"Cult Master, you still have those world pearls from the Qu Mountain God Temple in your pouch, don’t you?"
Serena Yunxiang’s eyes sparkled. "There are three thousand of them!"
Quinn’s face darkened. "Saintess, this is all I have!"
Serena Yunxiang laughed, "You’re the Holy Cult Master—I’m not taking these treasures for myself, just storing them in the cult’s vault. They’re all yours, aren’t they? Our Sykes Family only manages the wealth—it’s a thankless job, really. We can look, but not use; no matter how many treasures we store, they still bear your Keane surname."
Quinn had to admit she made sense, though something still felt off. Nevertheless, he handed over the three thousand world pearls.
Serena peeked into his Glutton Dragon Pouch and said, "And those two big eye-pearls…"
"No way!" Quinn’s face turned ashen; he felt a murderous impulse.
Serena Yunxiang probed, "About that Dragon-Qilin of yours, Cult Master..."
Quinn let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "If you can afford to feed it, you can take it away."
Serena quickly laughed, "I'm just joking, Cult Master. That glutton is better left with you—even the Patriarch wouldn't take it, said it eats too much. I'll have my Sykes family elders fetch the treasures from Sacred Descent Mountain for your sword forging."
Quinn stood there with his limp Glutton Dragon Pouch, face dark, feeling as if he'd been stripped bare by this little fox.
This woman has fallen into the money pit. I can't win against her. I need to bring Lynn in to oversee the finances soon, or the Saintess will skin me alive and suck me dry! Cult Master Quinn thought darkly.
Serena ran to the side and produced a mirror, which floated in midair and spun twice. Another mirror appeared within it, and behind that, an old woman asked, "Saintess Serena, what do you need from me?"
Serena explained Quinn's sword forging plan, saying, "The Holy Cult Master is about to forge a spirit weapon—this is no small matter. Grandmother, please send the finest materials from the vault to the foundry in Fang Prefecture."
The old matriarch frowned, "The Sykes family never does losing trades. The Cult Master is still young, his cultivation is low—why waste the finest treasures on him now..."
"But we’ve made a profit!"
Serena then displayed the trove she’d just coaxed out of Quinn—the Grand Guardian’s Sword, Thousand-Banner Pagoda, priceless zither, world-pearls, and other treasures. The old grandmother’s eyes lit up, exclaiming, "So many cult-master-grade treasures! Serena, you truly know how to run the household! Good, good, you’re definitely my student. You didn’t learn from your aunt—she spends money like water, never keeps accounts, a total spendthrift!"
She was talking about Granny Sue—Granny Sue never cared about money, always buying only the most expensive things, never the right ones.
Grandmother Sykes said, "The very finest sword-forging materials are extremely heavy—a piece the size of a fingertip can weigh dozens of jin. The vault doesn’t have enough for eight thousand swords; at most, we could forge twenty-seven town-protector-level swords, each weighing around ten thousand jin."
"What about the next tier down?" Serena asked.
The old matriarch replied, "Even the next tier wouldn’t be enough—at most, it could forge a hundred flying swords."
Serena frowned, "And the tier below that?"
"That tier is Cold-Iron Essence, Mysterious-Gold Essence, and Mysterious-Copper Essence. There’s more than enough for eight thousand swords."
Serena said, "Then please bring all the top and second-tier materials, and use Mysterious-Gold Essence to make up the rest. The best can be used for sharpening the spirit swords."
Grandmother Sykes eyed her suspiciously, "Mysterious-Gold Essence is three times heavier than Cold-Iron Essence. Why use Mysterious-Gold instead of Cold-Iron?"
(This chapter isn’t finished yet~.~ Please click the next page to continue reading!)
Serena gave a sweet smile. The old matriarch in the mirror rolled her eyes, "You little minx, up to your tricks again. Be careful—the Cult Master might not be able to lift it and will spank you! I’ll send the materials to Yong Province. Have that bandit Vance bring a boat over to pick them up."
Serena agreed and spun the bronze mirror backwards twice; the mirror within the mirror vanished.
Two days later, Vance Skyler returned by boat from Yong Province, delivering the sword-forging materials Quinn needed. The foundry in Fang Prefecture immediately became busy again.
Forging sword embryos isn't complicated—it's just shaping the initial sword form. Still, each embryo had to be refined and hammered hundreds or thousands of times.
The finished sword embryos were flat bars; to turn them into real swords, Quinn had to personally grind and temper each one, over and over.
Quinn hefted one sword embryo, his expression sour. Serena came over, feigning concern: "Cult Master, what’s wrong?"
"It’s a bit heavy."
Quinn grumbled, "It’s two or three times heavier than I expected—each sword is about three hundred jin. After forging into a Sword Pill, eight thousand swords..."
Serena burst out laughing, "You asked for the very best materials, of course they’re heavier! The edge-steel this time is even finer than what the Emperor gives to his top ministers—harder, sharper, and tougher to forge! With such craftsmanship, you could just throw the Sword Pill without any sword technique and crush a whole crowd!"
Quinn replied darkly, "First I have to be able to throw it at all—eight thousand swords..."
Serena was delighted, "I’ve heard that when refined to the extreme, a spirit weapon’s weight can be light or heavy at will. You’re a forging grandmaster, Cult Master—you’ll definitely get your Sword Pill to that level!"
Quinn turned and walked off with the sword embryo, muttering obscure forging proverbs—something about 'a hundredfold forging for divine craftsmanship' and 'strength to pull up mountains.'
Serena blinked, feeling quite satisfied.
In the foundry, Daniel Shan wanted to stay and watch Quinn forge, but Crown Prince Luther had to visit other prefectures for governance work. Daniel assigned Heaven-Craft Hall disciples to help, then left with the Ministry of Works officials to follow the prince.
With the Heaven-Craft Hall disciples assisting, Quinn forged at a decent speed. But crafting all eight thousand swords to perfectly match his spirit weapon’s form was still a monumental undertaking.
Especially since the heavenly materials Serena brought were so high-grade, refining them to 'size and weight at will' was exhausting. Quinn had to repeatedly imprint spiritual marks and runes into each blade, and after months of work he’d slimmed down considerably.
Lynn Ling and Serena stayed to help. The two girls learned many forging techniques from Quinn, adding top-grade materials to their Nine-Dragon Armament and Thousand-Silk Thread, raising both weapons a tier.
Quinn finished seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine swords. The final blade would be the mother sword at the core of the Sword Pill—only the finest material would do, or it couldn’t command the other child swords.
To forge the mother sword, Quinn racked his brains. He reserved the very best material—a fist-sized chunk of metal he’d never seen before, weighing ten thousand jin. Serena said it was a heaven-fallen object from beyond the world.
But this chunk was only enough to forge the blade and body, not a complete mother sword.
Quinn took out a broken sword from his Glutton Dragon Pouch—a relic from Loulan Golden Palace. Serena hadn’t extorted it away, thinking it worthless because it was broken.
Quinn held the unknown metal in one hand and the broken sword in the other, sizing them up. Suddenly, with a metallic clang, the sword and the metal chunk were drawn together, colliding!
The change took Quinn completely by surprise. The broken sword blazed with light, and golden radiance streamed from the fist-sized metal, sword-flows swirling in the air, forming huge circles that enveloped Quinn at the center. Dazzling brilliance flooded the foundry, pouring out through doors and windows, blindingly bright!
A constant ringing sounded as the light from the metal circled and struck the sword’s blade, each impact numbing Quinn’s arm.
After countless collisions, the metal chunk crashed to the ground and crumbled into gray ash, scattering everywhere.
But the broken sword in Quinn’s hand now shone brilliantly—it was no longer broken.
The sword had absorbed the metal’s gold-essence, regrown its edge, and was completely renewed!
Strange vein-like patterns, writhing like dragons and snakes, glowed along the blade, then dimmed. Quinn still caught the two characters formed by those lines.
"Worryless!"