Chapter 14: Beginning the Sword Formation Refinement

He Zhi had long made up his mind not to directly communicate with these cultivators, lest they discover the real world—that would be a huge problem.

"Perhaps the Grand Elder is at a critical juncture in his cultivation and has no time to spare."

"The sword formation matter concerns the sect's safety. Should we just begin refining it, and then apologize to the Grand Elder when he emerges from seclusion?"

The Sect Master waited for a reply that never came, so he cautiously probed.

After a long while, He Zhi still didn't respond.

The Sect Master felt slightly relieved. Although the Grand Elder hadn't agreed to refine the sword formation, he hadn't opposed it either.

Then let's begin!

In truth, this was a rather bold move.

After all, He Zhi was now the Grand Elder. Using resources to refine a sword formation without the Grand Elder's consent—

Wasn't that disrespecting the Grand Elder?

The Sect Master didn't really want to do this either.

But for the sect's safety, he had no choice.

After all, it had already been a month since the Blood Yin Sect's attack, and back then, half a Foundation Establishment expert had escaped to report back.

The demonic cultivators of the Blood Yin Sect could launch another attack at any time.

The Sect Master and the others couldn't place all their hopes on He Zhi—they had to find ways to improve their own strength.

And this sword formation was one of the fastest methods to boost their combat power.

"Now that's more like it. Don't ask me about everything."

Outside the screen, He Zhi watched the Sect Master make his decision and felt satisfied.

This was what a qualified Sect Master should be like. If you have to ask permission for everything, what's the point of having you?

Besides, He Zhi didn't understand anything about refining sword formations. What use would asking him be?

After the Sect Master and the others made another round of requests at the Elder Hall entrance, they didn't wait for a response and headed together toward the storage room.

Get the materials and start refining!

But along the way, the Sect Master kept his brow furrowed.

"Sect Master, if the Grand Elder holds us accountable later, we'll all apologize together."

Seeing the Sect Master's worried expression, Yan Yu and the others tried to comfort him.

"No, this decision was mine alone. If the Grand Elder holds anyone accountable, it should be me."

"I'm not worried about the Grand Elder's accountability. I'm worried that we don't have enough materials to refine the sword formation."

The Sect Master shook his head.

So that's what he was worried about—the material problem.

Qingxuan Sect wasn't wealthy to begin with. Where would they find so many materials for the sword formation?

"Materials are indeed a problem..."

Yan Yu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators fell silent upon hearing this, frowning.

Soon, everyone arrived at the storage room and took inventory of the materials needed for refining flying swords—Black Iron, Cold Iron, Flame Steel, and so on.

In the end, they found they only had enough to refine about thirty-some flying swords.

But for the Sect Master and the others to refine a complete sword formation, they needed at least seventy-two swords to have significant power.

They did have plenty of ordinary hundred-refined steel.

But no matter how much ordinary steel they had, the flying swords refined from it would just be for show.

Using sword flight to chop tree branches would be fine, but wanting to use them in combat was pure fantasy.

"Sigh, let's just refine thirty-six flying swords. For the rest, we'll make do with steel swords."

"It's better than nothing."

After taking inventory, the Sect Master sighed.

What else could they do?

So the Sect Master and the others took out the materials, went to the alchemy room, lit the furnace, and prepared to begin refining.

Refining magical artifact flying swords required at least reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage and possessing divine sense to control the fire.

So the Sect Master and the others would have to work hard themselves.

Soon, scorching earth fire rose from beneath the alchemy room. The entire room glowed crimson red—it looked hot just watching.

The Sect Master and the others were all drenched in sweat, their hair singed.

If they hadn't protected themselves with magic power, they would have been roasted alive by now.

This showed how fierce the earth fire was.

"This is really hard work."

He Zhi watched the Sect Master and the others refining flying swords with pained expressions and sighed inwardly.

Moreover, He Zhi had just learned from their conversation that all this hard work was essentially futile.

Without enough materials, the number of flying swords they could refine would be insufficient, and the sword formation would just be for show.

But even if it was just for show, the Sect Master and the others pressed on without hesitation. It was better than nothing.

"So poor."

He Zhi felt that Qingxuan Sect seemed to be as impoverished as himself.

Then He Zhi frowned.

How could such a sect, poor as a church mouse, support his cultivation?

He Zhi had Five Element Spirit Roots—the worst aptitude possible.

For him to cultivate immortality, the cost would be extremely high.

Qingxuan Sect was so poor they could barely support themselves. How could they support He Zhi?

"I must solve this problem."

He Zhi understood that he had to solve Qingxuan Sect's resource problem and help them develop.

Only by developing and becoming strong could they support him.

But how to solve it?

He Zhi pondered deeply.

After a long while, inspiration suddenly struck.

"In the cultivation world, I get enhanced. From an ordinary person, I become a powerful Core Formation combatant."

"So what would happen if various items from the real world were brought into the cultivation world?"

"Last time when I attacked, my strength was so fierce, yet the clothes on my body didn't suffer any damage. Could it be..."

"Let me find something to test it."

He Zhi had an idea.

He searched around his room for a while and found a small bundle of thin wire under his bed.

Each piece was only as long as a chopstick, very thin. Hundreds of them were bundled together into something as thick as an arm, heavy in his hand.

This seemed to be something used for tying rebar at construction sites. He didn't know when it had ended up under his bed.

"This wire..."

Seeing this item, He Zhi seemed to recall something.

His heart warmed, and he smiled faintly.

He remembered now—this wire was something his sister had picked up before.

His sister had been very obedient since childhood. To help with household expenses, she often went out to pick up waste paper, bottles, and scrap metal by the roadside, then sold them to recycling stations.

His sister never spent the money she earned from collecting trash carelessly—she always gave it to He Zhi to keep.

This wire was probably something his sister had picked up before and forgotten under the bed.

"Little sister..."

He Zhi looked at the wire and smiled, then pulled out one strand and held it in his hand.

Then He Zhi moved the game perspective to Qingxuan Sect's storage room.

In a compartment of the storage room, some steel ingots were placed.

These items were the lowest-grade materials in the cultivation world.

Qingxuan Sect collected these iron materials to forge some crude magical artifacts for newly initiated ordinary disciples.

Anyone with even a bit of cultivation wouldn't use such materials to forge magical artifacts.

As for those precious materials like Black Iron and Cold Iron, they had all been taken by the Sect Master and the others to refine the sword formation.

He Zhi looked around, picked up a palm-sized steel ingot with one hand, and held the wire in the other.

Then he lightly scraped the steel ingot with the wire.

Hiss!

A soft sound.

The steel ingot broke in response, the cut surface smooth as a mirror.

And the wire showed no damage whatsoever—it wasn't even slightly bent!

He Zhi now had confidence.

Then he suspended the wire above a steel ingot.

He gently released it, letting it fall freely under gravity.

This time, there wasn't even a sound.

Under the force of gravity, the wire directly pierced a small hole through the steel ingot and fell somewhere unknown.

"Cutting through iron like mud..."