Li Mo gave it everything he had.
The good news was that he really had managed to move the Calamity Meteor Hammer.
The bad news was that he could only shift it by a hair.
And that was only because the Calamity Meteor Hammer had deigned to lower itself and cooperate with him.
That tiny movement was probably the divine weapon borrowing his strength to move itself.
"This hammer isn't even that big, but it's terrifyingly heavy."
"I can easily carry the Spine-Back Turtle now. My strength must be well over ten thousand jin."
Li Mo let up and sighed ruefully.
Fortunately, he'd never planned on lifting the thing by himself.
If he could lift it.
The divine weapon wouldn't have been left at the bottom of Divine Blade Cave, where sunlight never reached.
No matter.
He still had a cheat.
"World Seed."
"I can now draw on a small portion of its power and channel it into myself."
"It won't last long. I have to move fast..."
Li Mo hadn't come alone.
Behind him stood an entire world.
Though it had only just been born, fragile and chaotic.
It was still a world.
Crack, pop—
The instant he channeled the power of the World Seed into himself,
his bones crackled like beans frying in a pan. His qi and blood surged and roared within him, while thirteen main meridians swept through him like furious dragons.
A boundless, surging force, as if it would never run out, flowed through his body.
Li Mo even had the absurd feeling that if Divine Weapon Mountain had a ring he could grab onto, he could hoist the entire mountain onto his shoulders.
"Up!"
Boom—
The hammer's ring rang out, a hundred times louder than before.
The Calamity Meteor Hammer.
After hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years, it was once again clasped in someone's hand.
For just an instant.
Li Mo hurriedly stowed it inside his Small World.
Then, as if all his strength had been drained away, he collapsed onto the ground. He didn't even want to move a finger, and simply let sweat pool around him.
"Thank goodness... Thank goodness divine weapons don't count as living things."
"Otherwise, I really wouldn't have been able to use the Small World to store it."
"I actually picked up a divine weapon!"
Little Li's chest heaved like a bellows, and stars flashed before his eyes.
All sorts of chaotic thoughts kept bubbling up.
The aftereffects of using power that wasn't his were brutal. If he'd kept it up for even one more breath, his body might have started to fall apart.
But in the end, he'd succeeded...
Li Mo's consciousness faded. All he could feel now was a wave of sleepiness washing over him.
Just as he was about to drift off,
he heard a sharp, hoarse cry.
Somehow familiar...
Was that Elder Han He?
Night fell.
Divine Weapon Peak, the elders' quarters.
Iron ingots and half-finished weapons filled the place. It was less an elder's residence than an armory.
"Where's the hammer?"
"Where is the ancestral weapon of Divine Weapon Peak?!"
Looking at Little Li, who lay unconscious and snoring, Elder Han He paced back and forth in disbelief.
Usually so steady, he now looked utterly at a loss.
"Stop muttering."
"You're going to drive me crazy."
Shang Wu crossed her legs, a glimpse of leg visible beneath her palace robes. Resting her chin on one hand, she said:
"Tsk, you rotten disciple. Sleeping like the dead when you promised to make a whole roast lamb today..."
"How can you still be thinking about food at a time like this?!"
Elder Han He was so furious that he trembled all over.
"That's a divine weapon! Divine Weapon Peak got its name from it! If it vanishes without a trace, I'll have no face to meet our founding patriarch in the afterlife, even if it kills me!"
If Shang Wu hadn't been there, he would have shaken Li Mo awake already.
"Since no one can use it, it was just gathering dust where it sat."
Shang Wu narrowed her eyes, displeased.
"And another thing: if you're going to talk, talk normally. Why are you shouting so loudly? What, you think I'm deaf?"
Elder Han He: "..."
What on earth had he done in his past life to deserve running into this pair of master and disciple in this one?
"Mm... Hm?"
Just then,
Li Mo, who'd been asleep in bed for most of the day, yawned as if he were waking up.
He slowly opened his eyes.
A huge old face was right in front of him, its eyes bloodshot.
Little Li jolted, nearly throwing a punch.
"Elder Han He, why are you leaning in so close? You nearly scared me to death."
"I scared you? You nearly scared the soul out of me!"
Elder Han He was so angry he laughed, then asked urgently:
"Tell me, where's the hammer? Where's the founding patriarch's hammer?!"
"Ahem!"
Shang Wu clenched her fist and deliberately cleared her throat.
The meaning was clear: You're talking to someone under my protection. Watch your volume.
Elder Han He wanted to curse.
What, you'd made the lifeblood of Divine Weapon Peak disappear, and he was still supposed to give you a smile and good service?
But he also knew that getting worked up wouldn't help.
Han He did his best to ask in a gentle tone:
"Disciple Li, when you went to the bottom of Divine Blade Cave, did you see a hammer?"
As he spoke, the old man gestured with his hands:
"About this big..."
"I saw it."
Li Mo nodded obligingly.
"Where is it? Where did it go?!"
Elder Han He's speech sped up.
"It's gone."
Little Li spread his hands.
"Gone?!"
Elder Han He's vision went black.
Li Mo nodded, then added:
"When I went down to the bottom of Divine Blade Cave, I did see the hammer you mentioned, Elder."
"Out of curiosity, I went over and touched it. Then it disappeared."
"It seems... I stored it in a Sumeru Object."
Li Mo left out a few details.
And he'd replaced "Small World" with "Sumeru Object."
That was right. This world had things like storage bags, collectively known as Sumeru Objects.
For example, his beautiful master's wine gourd was one of them.
Of course, these things weren't as common as cabbage, unlike in certain novels.
The way of space was among the most mysterious of paths.
Only peerless experts who excelled in it could carve out space from rare materials.
As a result, Sumeru Objects were exceedingly rare.
Aside from Shang Wu, none of the peak elders had such high-end goods. The Sect Master was the only one in Clear Abyss Sect who owned one.
"Your inheritance isn't bad, disciple."
Shang Wu's almond eyes gleamed.
"A Sumeru Object?"
Elder Han He stood rooted to the spot.
Instead of answering his questions, this only gave him more.
For instance, how had Li Mo gotten close to the Calamity Meteor Hammer?
And how had he stored it away?
No matter how powerful a Sumeru Object was, it couldn't store something its owner couldn't lift.
"Doesn't that settle the matter?"
Shang Wu rubbed her chin, making a well-reasoned case:
"The hammer must have recognized him as its master."
"It's a divine weapon, after all. Maybe it weighs nothing to its master but weighs ten thousand jun to everyone else, right?"
Li Mo: "??"
It did sound pretty reasonable.
But the Calamity Meteor Hammer didn't seem to have that property.
Suddenly, Little Li noticed his beautiful master wink at him.
Li Mo caught on at once:
"Mm, it didn't feel that heavy when I touched it."
"Can you take it out now?"
"As you can see,"
Li Mo said with a bitter smile, shaking his head. "When I stored it away, I felt a violent jolt in my mind and almost lost consciousness. I'm afraid I won't be able to take it out again for a while."
Shang Wu smiled sweetly. "So, we need to let my disciple get some proper rest. If his mind is damaged, hmph, he might not be able to take it out for the rest of his life."
The master and disciple were singing the same tune.
"It recognized him as its master..."
Even with his vague suspicion confirmed, Elder Han He still felt his heart crack.
The divine weapon that no one had been able to move since the founding patriarch had been hauled off by someone from another peak.
A Blood-Qi Realm cultivator, no less!
His feelings were a tangled mess, and there was nothing he could do about it.
The founding patriarch had indeed left no relevant records. What Shang Wu had said really was plausible.
The hammer was no longer at the bottom of the cave.
Her explanation could just barely pass muster.
Plausible or not,
who knew if it was what had really happened? It was all down to your word!
After thinking it over, Elder Han He said:
"Since that's the case, he can stay at Divine Weapon Peak until he takes the divine weapon out."
Before you continue