"Three investment rewards at once?"
Little Li was surprised and thrilled.
The rewards he'd gotten from Ice Block this time seemed not only high in quality, but satisfying in quantity, too.
For a moment,
Li Mo could hardly keep up.
As expected, Ice Block's jade legs were the best to cling to.
Tomorrow, he absolutely had to treat Ice Block to a good meal as a reward.
"Let's look at them one by one."
Li Mo turned his gaze to the first reward.
[Gilded Heavenly Book Seal]: "Can raise the grade of any martial art up to and including a divine art."
"It can even raise the grade of a divine art?"
Little Li sucked in a breath, utterly ignorant of the world.
To be honest, he'd only ever heard of divine arts and the like.
The Clear Abyss Sect had a history stretching back ages, and its founding patriarch had even come from the Central Divine Province. Yet the highest martial art in the sect was only an unparalleled art.
Mastering an intermediate martial art was enough to make someone a powerhouse in Purple Sun Prefecture.
Mastering a superior martial art was enough to found a sect.
That was right.
Nowadays, as long as Little Li's cultivation caught up, his Fire Crane Thousand Feather Sword Technique alone would make him a well-known expert throughout a prefecture.
As for divine arts...
Li Mo had only heard a storyteller speak of a powerhouse called Thousand Forms Martial Venerable, who had fled to the Eastern Wasteland Domain a hundred years ago carrying a divine art.
It had drawn countless powerhouses from beyond the domain, who had descended upon the land. Local sects like Clear Abyss hadn't even been qualified to get involved.
Even the Great Yu Heaven Seeking Guard had personally entered the fray.
In the end, no one knew whose hands the divine art had fallen into.
As far as he knew, divine arts were the pinnacle of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
Anything above a divine art?
That was completely beyond Li Mo's imagination.
"It's a pity I don't even have a divine art right now. I'll save it for later."
Li Mo's heart raced, like a poor man who'd suddenly stumbled upon a chest of gold bars.
Gold bars were all well and good, but he couldn't take them out and spend them just yet.
The best martial art he had right now was only an unparalleled art.
Using the Gilded Heavenly Book Seal on an unparalleled art would be a complete waste.
"There should be something in the Heavenly Book Seal that can upgrade an unparalleled art."
"Then I could first upgrade it into a divine art..."
"And besides, 'mere divine arts'—Ice Block might drop one for me whenever she feels like it."
Little Li had always been good at keeping his spirits up.
He'd read so many novels in his past life. Even if he'd never eaten pork, he'd seen pigs run.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
Li Mo looked at the next reward.
[World Seed]: "A nascent Small World, currently in a primordial, unformed state. It will gradually grow and develop along with its host's strength, and may one day evolve into a true, vast world!"
A vast world!
Those five words alone said everything about its worth.
Li Mo was genuinely a little stunned this time.
Wait, he'd only just started practicing martial arts.
And already, the standard for his future was shifting toward Pangu opening heaven and earth?
The World Seed would grow stronger as he did.
And as the Small World grew stronger, it would in turn nourish him.
In the end, the world would be me.
In his world, the very concept of strength or weakness would no longer matter.
He would be the Heavenly Dao; he would be the sovereign. With a single thought, he could turn heaven and earth upside down, shift the stars, and move the constellations.
"The boundless Nine Heavens and Ten Earths began as a World Seed, too."
"Did it expand naturally, or did it grow by relying on someone?"
Li Mo's thoughts wandered, and he couldn't help making the connection.
All right, this wasn't something he could investigate for now.
From what he could sense, his Small World wasn't even a seedling yet.
"Claim it."
The instant the thought crossed Li Mo's mind,
the surroundings shifted like ripples on water.
In a daze, he saw countless colors surge, recombine, and change, forming a strange and dazzling spectacle.
In the blink of an eye, all those colors vanished without a trace, leaving only an endless void.
When he came to his senses, he found himself standing in a pure white space.
Boundless white mist stretched in every direction.
The space beneath his feet had already been opened up, but it was only about the size of a basketball court—several times smaller than Autumn Water Pavilion.
But this space belonged entirely to him.
"Sword, come!"
Li Mo's expression turned solemn as he casually beckoned.
At once, a divine sword flew in from who knew where, its aura sharp and its edge gleaming.
Dressed in white as snow, he looked every inch a peerless swordsman.
Suddenly, he let out a shout:
"Sword Opens the Heavenly Gate!"
Countless streams of Sword Qi surged skyward, sweeping across heaven and earth.
Ahem...
If you ignored the fact that this "heaven and earth" only stretched a dozen or so yards in every direction, that sword strike had been pretty cool.
"Being a swordsman is awesome."
"If only I could pull off that move outside, too."
Little Li sighed.
His talent for swordsmanship hadn't changed at all. His show-off personality had simply kicked in, and this world was playing along...
"This place still looks a little too empty."
"I'll spruce it up a bit."
Li Mo felt a sudden urge to decorate his private space.
Ten minutes later.
Drawing on every scene he'd ever accumulated from reading novels, Little Li had given the place a makeover.
Pavilions and towers now stood on the previously bare ground, all crystalline and translucent, radiating understated class.
Among them were an ancient well, a Chessboard, a pill furnace... and a whole host of other extraordinary objects.
Li Mo even wanted to add some exotic flowers and plants.
Unfortunately...
"Looks like I can't create life just yet."
Li Mo realized.
Even as the sovereign of this world, there were things he couldn't do.
Creating life, for instance.
"I can bring living things in from outside, though."
"But they can't be stronger than me."
"And for now, I can't take anything I create inside out with me."
Li Mo fiddled around for a while, learning a little more about the Small World.
Late at night.
His consciousness withdrew from the World Seed.
Li Mo glanced at the moon outside.
He estimated that he'd spent an hour inside, and about the same amount of time had passed outside.
Mm, for now, time flowed at about the same rate in both worlds.
"Oh, right. There was one more reward."
He'd been having so much fun just now.
Li Mo had nearly forgotten the last reward.
[Formless Glazed Mask]: "Can assume countless forms and block all methods of detection."
The description was brief and to the point.
Li Mo took it out at once.
It was a mask made of glazed metal.
After putting it on, he looked at himself in the mirror and saw that his entire bearing had changed.
If he changed his outfit, too,
he wouldn't even recognize himself behind the mask.
Take bearing, for instance.
But if he wanted, wearing the mask could make him seem unfathomable.
Not only could he change his bearing; he could change the mask's appearance, too.
Whoosh—
The next instant,
the Formless Glazed Mask transformed into a Dragon Head mask.
Whoosh—
The Dragon Head turned into a chubby, adorable pig-head mask.
"I can change my voice, too..."
As soon as Li Mo spoke, his voice became deep and resonant.
He nodded in satisfaction.
Then he refocused and began practicing.
By the afternoon,
just as Li Mo was about to eat and then open his eleventh meridian, a visitor arrived at Autumn Water Pavilion.
Elder Han He, an old acquaintance.
"Why didn't Li Mo and Ying Bing go to Divine Weapon Peak today?"
As soon as the old man came in, he frowned and questioned Shang Wu.
"What would they go to Divine Weapon Peak for?"
Shang Wu was lounging comfortably in a rocking chair, sunning herself. She casually picked at her ear, not paying the matter much attention.
"They placed in the top three of the sect trials!"
The old man Han He grumbled.
Why could every inner sect disciple go to Divine Blade Cave to choose a weapon?
Because nearly everyone who made it into the inner sect had earned a decent result in the sect trials.
That also won them a chance to enter Divine Blade Cave and choose a weapon.
Of course, as the top three, they'd earned more than that. The sect was busy these days, so some of the rewards hadn't been handed out yet.
"Seems like something like that happened."
Shang Wu tilted her head, remembering.
Elder Han He couldn't be bothered to say more to her. Seeing that Ying Bing and Li Mo were both there, he said,
"Come along. Follow this old man to Divine Weapon Peak."
"Elder Han He, I have a request."
Ying Bing suddenly spoke.
"Go ahead."
Han He stopped just as he was about to turn around.
Normally, there was no need for a peak master like him to personally notify disciples.
He'd come himself only because Ying Bing was a treasured jewel of the sect.
Naturally, he had to take her wishes into consideration.
Ying Bing said, "I'd like to postpone the trip to Divine Blade Cave for a few days."
"Why?"
Ying Bing glanced at Li Mo and said softly, "I feel that my swordsmanship can still improve. Then I'll be able to get a better weapon."
"Such a thing... wasn't entirely impossible."
Han He raised an eyebrow, seemingly quite surprised by the progress in her swordsmanship. He then nodded and said:
"That will naturally work, but it can only be delayed by three days at most."
"Three days from now, Divine Weapon Peak will enter the season when the earthfire raged most fiercely throughout the year. Divine Blade Cave will no longer be accessible."
"This disciple understands."
Three days.
Ying Bing was confident she could raise Li Mo's attainments in swordsmanship by another level.
By then, earning the recognition of a renowned weapon would not be difficult.
Before you continue