The dark, primitive hammer hung upside down in silence at the boundary between ice and fire.
It was roughly three hundred paces from the cave entrance.
"Whew..."
Li Mo exhaled a breath of white air, his head drenched in sweat.
He had walked a hundred paces, and his whole body was already pouring with sweat. Even the bones inside him were trembling with an itchy sensation.
He was exhausted, but the light in Li Mo's eyes burned brighter and brighter.
As the divine weapon tempered his bones, he could feel his blood and qi growing stronger with every step, while his physique was being honed into something even more powerful.
In the short distance of a hundred paces, he had actually opened another meridian.
Thirteen meridians.
For an ordinary martial artist, twelve meridians was already the limit. At that point, they would begin refining blood into qi and transforming force into breath.
Li Mo had already completely surpassed the Blood-Qi Realm.
And yet.
His advance was still far from over.
A hundred and forty paces.
"The pressure is getting stronger and stronger."
Li Mo found every step increasingly difficult. His physical body had reached its limit.
Fine bloodstains faintly appeared across his skin.
He had already done everything he could to use the Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body method to reduce the damage inflicted by the Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi.
But a divine weapon was still a divine weapon.
"Fortunately, I still have some martial insight left."
"Otherwise, I'd have to stop here today..."
Li Mo still wanted to give it a try.
But the moment he took another step forward, the pressure of the Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi came crashing in from all directions.
Blood immediately seeped from the fine wounds. His body showed faint signs of collapse, and he hurriedly retreated.
"Fine, I'm done struggling."
Little Li sighed after realizing just how formidable it was.
It wasn't that he wanted to give up.
Reality simply wouldn't allow anything else.
No matter how hard he worked, he couldn't obtain a divine weapon through effort alone.
"Let's start with twenty years."
With a thought, Li Mo chose to comprehend the Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body.
[Ten years of martial insight successfully injected.] [First year, after observing the divine weapon 'Calamity Meteor Hammer,' you gained a deeper understanding of body tempering and began pondering the purpose of the Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body.] [Eighth year, you finally comprehended the Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body to perfection.] [Tenth year, you began exploring the mysteries of body tempering and attempted to pursue the transformation realm...]
After ten years of insight, his comprehension of the Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body had directly reached perfection.
No, to be precise, it had taken eight years.
Little Li covered his face, once again coming to terms with reality.
The superior sword technique had been taught to him personally by Ice Block.
He had practiced the secret body-tempering method himself.
Yet the former had consumed several times more martial insight than the latter.
"Fine."
Li Mo activated the Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body at the perfected realm.
In an instant, the berserk Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi surging from all directions became far more docile.
He advanced toward the Calamity Meteor Hammer with even greater determination.
One step, two steps...
Ten steps, a hundred steps...
In the blink of an eye, he was only about fifty paces from the boundary between ice and fire.
Just as Li Mo stepped within fifty paces—
Boom—
A hammerblow like rolling thunder exploded.
The Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi surged violently once more.
It was as if he had entered a whirlpool in the water, enduring countless torrents battering him every moment.
"No wonder the Calamity Meteor Hammer can forge Mystic Weapons."
"If this hammer came crashing down, even famous weapons probably couldn't withstand it."
Li Mo felt as though he himself were a blade being tempered by the divine weapon's hammer.
The founding patriarch of Divine Weapon Peak had certainly been a powerful expert.
At the very least, his attainments in body tempering were beyond reproach.
No wonder Elder Han He had simply left this hammer lying at the bottom of Divine Blade Cave.
He probably wanted to use it as well, but lacked the strength to do so...
"Even experts of the Divine Observation Realm might not qualify to stand before the hammer."
"What kind of powerhouse could wield it as easily as an arm?"
Li Mo stopped thinking about it.
I'll comprehend it first, out of respect.
His martial insight poured toward the perfected Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body.
[First year, after observing the divine weapon, you gradually understood the true meaning of transforming the body into a weapon and began to release Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi from your own body.] [Third year, the Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi within you could already resonate with the divine weapon's Weapon Slaughter Qi, complementing and supporting each other.] [Twelfth year, you finally reached perfection within perfection. Your understanding of this technique was no inferior to that of its creator.] [Comprehension complete. The Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body has reached the transformation realm!]
Twenty years in total.
From great accomplishment to the transformation realm.
Li Mo's brows rose slightly, and he was somewhat surprised.
What surprised him was that reaching the transformation realm had taken so little insight.
After being battered by sword techniques for so long, he was actually a little unaccustomed to it.
"Transform the body into a weapon."
Li Mo murmured softly.
In the next instant, his body began radiating the Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi that had previously been used to temper his physique.
It was not particularly strong, only slightly sharper than an ordinary weapon.
Compared with the Calamity Meteor Hammer, it was the difference between a firefly and the bright moon.
The Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body was a secret technique, and one he had already comprehended to the transformation realm.
That meant four ounces could deflect a thousand pounds!
The pressure instantly weakened considerably. Li Mo could even follow his own will, bearing as much or as little of it as he desired!
Li Mo covered the remaining fifty paces in great strides.
In the blink of an eye, he was standing at the boundary between ice and fire.
Only now did he have the time to examine the divine weapon carefully.
The hammerhead and handle appeared to be one seamless whole, as if formed by Heaven itself.
The front of the hammerhead was square, while the back tapered to a point.
Square like a great imperial seal—plain, yet ingenious.
Pointed like strange rocks battered by startling winds—an uncanny work of nature.
One side was for hammering weapons; the other, for hammering people...
Li Mo put away that dangerous thought.
"I don't know why you called out to me."
"But since you chose me, I'll take you away today!"
He extended his hand and gently gripped the hammer's handle.
Boom—
It was as though primordial chaos had first split apart and a comet had crashed into the earth. The sound shook his mind like thunder.
Li Mo's consciousness went blank, and his hand nearly went slack from the impact.
I can't let go!
He clenched his teeth.
The thirteen main meridians he had opened were completely mobilized at that moment.
Every ounce of strength in his physical body was squeezed out.
The Calamity Meteor Hammer had already been remarkably cooperative with Little Li.
It actually shifted ever so slightly under the strength of someone in the Blood-Qi Realm.
Rumble...
In an instant, the earth shook and the mountains swayed.
The entire Divine Blade Cave trembled violently.
What trembled was not only Divine Blade Cave.
Divine Weapon Peak trembled as well.
"The earth is moving! The earth is moving!"
"Is Divine Weapon Peak going to collapse?!"
"Stop talking nonsense. The earth veins must be erupting ahead of schedule."
"Wasn't there usually a few days of dormancy? Today is only the first day!"
"Run!"
Everyone still inside the cave turned and sprinted wildly outside, not even daring to look back.
Fortunately, most people had already finished choosing their weapons.
"Teacher, what happened?"
Xiao Qin had left long ago, but he still had not seen Li Mo come out after all this time.
The voice of the Thousand Forms Martial Venerable also grew solemn.
"This cave shouldn't collapse."
"But that is... the aura of a divine weapon?"
Xiao Qin did not understand what this meant.
But hearing the gravity in his teacher's voice, he could not help growing worried.
"Master! Junior Brother Li is still inside."
Murong Xiao could no longer sit still, but at that moment, the entire Divine Blade Cave was filled with formidable pressure.
"As expected, it's him..."
Elder Han He's expression shifted.
He had already harbored his suspicions.
When the patriarch's weapon had stirred last time, he had faintly guessed that it was related to Li Mo.
But he had never expected the Calamity Meteor Hammer's disturbance to become this violent!
An almost absurd thought surfaced in his mind.
Could it be... that it's about to acknowledge him as its master?
"Hey, old man."
"You'd better keep your word about what you said earlier."
Shang Wu folded her arms, her almond-shaped eyes narrowing like a fox that had successfully stolen a chicken.
"If he can truly move it, why not let him take it away?"
Elder Han He's eyelids twitched. He swept his sleeve and strode into Divine Blade Cave.
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