Ying Bing knew that there was a divine weapon in Divine Blade Cave.
In fact, the reason she knew about it was also because of Elder Shang Wu.
When the Clear Abyss Sect fell, Elder Shang Wu had paid an enormous price to take up the Calamity Meteor Hammer.
Later, when Ying Bing went to the Central Divine Province, she had also seen several divine weapons no weaker than the Calamity Meteor Hammer.
But in the end, none of them had ever given her that feeling of boundless might.
That was right.
Even with her horizons, divine weapons were by no means common things.
Divine weapons stood a full two grades above Mystic Artifacts.
They were the ultimate manifestation of the forging arts—the ceiling that humanity could reach after exhausting every skill at its disposal.
And above that?
Those were Dao weapons, born by seizing the creation of Heaven and Earth and appearing in accordance with the times.
For example, the Seal of State and Nation held by the successive emperors of the Great Yu Dynasty.
That aside.
She remembered that in her previous life, the Calamity Meteor Hammer had had no owner.
Elder Shang Wu had barely managed to activate it once. After that fleeting appearance, both she and the hammer had vanished without a trace.
When she had just taken charge of Cassia Palace, she had also made inquiries about it.
But she had obtained only vague, hearsay-like information whose truth was impossible to determine.
"Elder Shang Wu... Hmm?"
The person opposite her did not answer for a long while.
When Ying Bing raised her head to look, she discovered that, at some point, Elder Shang Wu had lain down on the rocking chair and fallen asleep, even letting out evenly spaced little snores.
Before long.
"Roast lamb coming up."
Li Mo came out carrying the prepared lamb.
He placed it on the rack and began lighting the fire.
The young man's face was bathed in warm firelight.
That glow was also reflected in Ying Bing's cool eyes.
Could it... have something to do with him?
Back then, the Rosy Soul of the Nine-Colored Primal Phoenix had seemed especially fond of him as well...
"Give me a hand."
At that moment, the young man handed her a brush.
Ying Bing tilted her head slightly in confusion.
Li Mo brought over a clay pot, from which a rich, spicy fragrance wafted out.
Ying Bing understood.
He wanted her to brush the sauce over the lamb.
"This is my specially concocted soul sauce."
"Even Xi Yangyang would eat it and be silenced after one bite. I'm counting on you."
As he spoke, Li Mo slowly turned the roasting rack.
And so.
The Phoenix Heavenly Empress narrowed her eyes, her gaze rippling slightly.
In the end, she dipped the brush into the so-called "soul sauce" and began her first cooking experience in life.
Later, Little Li simply handed her the task of turning the roasting rack as well.
Before long.
The roast lamb began to sizzle and drip with oil.
Watching Ying Bing smear sauce over the lamb in the distance, her expression faintly serious, Little Li smiled inwardly.
When Ice Block cooks, she has a bit more of that human, everyday warmth. She isn't quite so cold and icy anymore.
"Perhaps one day, I can achieve fully automatic feeding for Ice Block?"
Little Li soon stopped thinking that way.
"What's that smell?"
Li Mo, who was preparing the side dishes, caught the smell of something burnt.
When he turned around, he found that the perfectly good lamb had suffered a catastrophe.
Half the lamb was burnt, while the other half was still raw.
The girl continued turning the lamb, seemingly completely unaware that anything was wrong.
Li Mo: "..."
He looked helplessly at Ying Bing, his gaze caught between laughter and tears.
No, sis, it's all burnt.
Why are you still roasting the burnt side like that?
Sensing his gaze, Ying Bing met his eyes with serene composure.
"What is it?"
She asked it with such righteous confidence.
All right.
Ice Block still had her flaws. For instance, in this life, she was basically destined to have no connection with the kitchen.
"I'll do it, I'll do it."
After finishing the roast lamb, which might have been breakfast or dinner, daylight had already filled the sky.
In the room.
"Master's meal earned me five hundred taels of gold? That's worth far more than that jar of Green Bamboo Brew."
"Ice Block's feedback is even more fragrant..."
Li Mo lay on the bed and, for once, took stock of his purse.
Eight Profound Crystals.
His gold had long since surpassed ten thousand taels.
Silver... He was too lazy to count it. He had silver ingots and banknotes alike, and counting them was simply tedious.
There were also a few valuable odds and ends.
He had all sorts of Six-Pattern Pills, ores, exotic flowers, and rare herbs.
"Dispel-Taint Pill. It can neutralize a hundred poisons."
"Wind-Summoning Rain-Calling Talisman? It can bring three days of heavy rain. I probably won't need it for now."
"Ancient Pine-Pattern Ring. It looks exquisite and grand. As a decoration, it's fine for raising my style a little..."
After spending nearly half an hour.
Li Mo finally finished sorting out his miscellaneous items.
Afterward, he entered the World Seed again.
Compared with when he had left, there had been some slight changes.
The area seemed to have expanded by several yards.
In front of the chessboard in the empty space, the Calamity Meteor Hammer hung upside down in silence.
Not far from the hammer, the Crimson Firmament Sword had shrunk into a corner, not daring to approach.
Buzz—
Sensing Li Mo's arrival, the hammer trembled twice.
The Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi was still there.
But it could no longer exert any oppressive force on Li Mo.
After all, he was the master of this place.
"Strength Beyond Measure."
Li Mo silently repeated the words in his heart.
Then he walked over and gripped the hammer's handle. To his surprise, he really lifted it in one pull.
It was effortless.
He could not even feel any weight.
If not for the joyful emotions transmitted by the Calamity Meteor Hammer, one might have thought someone had swapped out the divine weapon for a fake.
Whoosh—
Li Mo swung it twice.
At once, the fierce, baleful Weapon Slaughter Sharp Qi caused the winds and clouds in the Small World to change, as though Heaven itself had flown into a rage.
When the hammer came crashing down, it truly descended like a meteor striking the earth, carrying boundless might.
At that moment, he seemed like a deity who could make the heavens collapse and the earth split apart with every move.
In Li Mo's current understanding, Elder Han He counted as an extremely powerful existence.
He had a premonition.
Even the faintest edge of the hammer wind he now stirred up would probably be more than Elder Han He could withstand.
"As expected of a divine weapon."
"So this is its true power."
Li Mo let out a long breath.
The Calamity Meteor Hammer hummed incessantly, growing more and more excited. It seemed to have not been pushed to its limits in a very long time.
"Want... to go... out..."
In a daze.
Li Mo seemed to hear an immature voice.
Was it the Calamity Meteor Hammer?
He lowered his head and confirmed the source of the voice.
"Fight..."
He understood what the divine weapon meant.
It wanted to hammer something.
People, for instance. Strange beasts, for instance.
As long as it was not used to forge other weapons, anything would do.
Li Mo: "..."
I want that too.
Unfortunately, my strength won't allow it.
Buzz—
The Calamity Meteor Hammer felt somewhat aggrieved. Its feeble intelligence still could not understand overly complicated matters.
Why was its master sometimes strong and sometimes weak?
Why, when its master could clearly unleash its power to the fullest, would he refuse to take it out to play?
"When the time is ripe, I'll naturally let you shine brilliantly."
Li Mo soothed it softly.
After pacifying the divine weapon, he also began to think seriously.
"I already have a divine weapon hammer."
"Should I... go look for a hammer technique as well?"
Having experienced the might of a divine weapon, a trace of longing rose in Li Mo's heart.
As a swordsman, learning a few hammer techniques should be perfectly reasonable, right?
But among the investment rewards he had received, there truly were no martial arts related to hammer techniques.
"Right."
"Didn't the first place in the sect trial get to choose a martial art from the fifth floor of the Library of Scriptures?"
"I'll go take a look."
Thinking this, Li Mo restored the Small World, which had been left in disarray, then waved at the Crimson Firmament Sword in the distance.
"Come here."
Buzz—
The moment he spoke, the Calamity Meteor Hammer trembled twice, like a father disciplining a mischievous child.
Only then did the Crimson Firmament Sword slowly fall into his palm.
With the sword in hand, Li Mo left the World Seed.
He exchanged greetings with the half-dreaming Elder Shang Wu, then went out and headed toward the Scripture Pavilion.
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