Reality's Shift, the Spiritual Tide About to Begin

(PS: The contract was supposed to be mailed when the book reached 200,000 characters, but I kept putting it off until now. Finally, the status has been updated.

To celebrate the new book's status change, there will be two updates today.

By the way, I originally wrote this book just for fun and self-entertainment. I casually wrote a chapter at noon and uploaded it under an alt account, never expecting it to get signed that very afternoon.

Since it's been signed, I'll write it properly. But I still need to update another book, and it'll be getting a major featured recommendation in the next couple of days, so this book can only maintain one update a day until it gets recommended. I'm truly sorry.)

Nanjiang.

A small city located along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, not too far from Emperor Mountain. With its abundance of forests and hills, its industry was not particularly developed.

Though the city was small, it had everything it needed.

After fifteen years of development, it now possessed everything other cities had.

For example, a cultivator's market.

Just as its name suggested, everything sold here was related to cultivation.

From the simplest cultivation-assisting equipment to special medicinal herbs and cultivation techniques, even prohibited items explicitly forbidden from sale—everything was available.

Li Hao walked down the street without drawing any attention.

He had come out this time for two reasons. First, he wanted to see what martial arts in the real world were like. Second, he wanted to buy some specialized weapons. The Artifact Control Art had evolved from Little Li Flying Dagger and had never strayed from its scope. Compared with clumsy, heavy weapons, flying daggers were the best companions for the Artifact Control Art.

However, the flying daggers used by Little Li Flying Dagger were not ordinary flying daggers.

The special structure of the daggers was also key to Li Xunhuan's ability to dominate the martial world. It ensured that, once thrown, the dagger encountered as little resistance as possible and fully exploited its speed advantage. Yet the flying daggers Li Hao required were somewhat different.

Divine Armament Workshop.

Ever since the spiritual energy revival, the enormous increase in martial artists had brought cold weapons, which had gradually faded from view, back into prosperity. For reasons unknown, the government had not restricted the development of cold weapons. Instead, it had loosened its restrictions.

Divine Armament Workshop was a chain store that had developed under such circumstances.

Its weapons were renowned throughout the country for their superior quality.

Of course, ordinary people mostly bought standardized weapons forged by machinery. Weapons personally forged by master craftsmen were not something ordinary people could afford.

"Sir, how may I help you?" A smiling young woman came forward.

Li Hao examined the dazzling array of weapons in the shop and said, "I need some flying daggers. Three inches seven fen long and as thin as cicada wings would be ideal."

The young woman looked slightly stunned and shook her head with a bitter smile. "Sir, I'm very sorry, but Divine Armament Workshop doesn't carry that type of flying dagger. We do have other varieties, though. Would you like to take a look?"

Li Hao frowned. "What procedures are needed for a custom order?"

A custom order?

The young woman discreetly glanced at Li Hao's clothes. Everything he wore together was worth no more than a thousand yuan.

Though she silently scoffed, she did not show it.

She said, "There aren't any special requirements for that. Customers can describe what they need in a weapon, and then our master craftsmen will determine the required deposit based on those specifications.

If the local craftsmen are not confident in producing the special weapon a customer needs, we'll send the order to our headquarters and have a master who specializes in that kind of weapon make it. Once the weapon is complete, we'll arrange delivery as quickly as possible, so it won't delay the customer from receiving it."

Li Hao gave a slight nod. "The flying dagger I need should be shaped like a willow leaf, without a handle. It should be three inches seven fen long, as light and thin as possible, but it must retain sufficient flexibility."

The young woman noted down Li Hao's requirements, then smiled. "Do you have any other requests, sir?"

Li Hao said, "I'm not skilled at forging weapons. Let the master craftsman take care of the rest as he sees fit."

"Very well, sir. Please come with me and wait in the VIP room for a moment. I'll bring the information to the master. Later, he may come personally to discuss the forging of your flying daggers with you. This is Divine Armament Workshop's materials catalog. It contains detailed records of the characteristics and prices of various materials. You can take a look."

The young woman led Li Hao to a private room on the third floor. Only after explaining everything did she leave.

Li Hao sat on the soft sofa and flipped through the various materials listed in the catalog, feeling as though ten thousand wild beasts were stampeding through his heart.

Even the cheapest materials were priced at ten yuan per gram, while the most expensive spiritual materials cost tens of thousands per gram!

What kind of concept was tens of thousands per gram?

If he wanted to forge a longsword using the best materials, wouldn't the material costs alone run into the hundreds of millions?

This was insane!

Li Hao was speechless. He had originally thought that the hundred-odd thousand yuan he had saved over the years would at least be enough to forge a few decent flying daggers. But after seeing the material prices, he suddenly realized just how poor he really was.

With this little money, if he used the best materials, he probably could not even buy a ring, much less a flying dagger.

Sigh, I wonder when some tech tycoon will join the group so I can borrow some money from the bank to spend.

Li Hao silently complained to himself when he suddenly heard a somewhat panicked cry from upstairs. "The spiritual energy tide is coming!"

The spiritual energy tide?

Li Hao's expression froze slightly, and confusion filled his heart.

He focused his mind, circulated his mana, and probed the activity upstairs.

Upstairs.

Two people sat facing each other across a tea table.

One had thick brows, large eyes, and a square face. His imposing demeanor needed no display. He was Zhao Yu, director of the Nanjiang National Security Bureau and also the deputy provincial governor of the Huizhou Martial Arts Department.

The Martial Arts Department was a new department established after the resurgence of spiritual energy, specifically responsible for handling most matters related to cultivators.

Opposite Zhao Yu sat Zhang Xu, the chief master of this Divine Armament Workshop.

He was also a Grandmaster-level expert, a rarity in the world.

What was a Grandmaster? An Innate expert.

Earth's martial arts were divided into four major realms: Body Tempering, Acquired, Innate, and Golden Core.

Though Zhang Xu was already past sixty, his beard and hair remained black as ink. His frame was even more burly and muscular than that of a young man; not even his loose white robes could conceal the bulging muscles beneath.

Zhang Xu's face was full of tension, and his voice was low. "A spiritual energy tide? The second wave of the world's transformation? Is that really what they said?"

Zhao Yu wore a bitter expression. "Even if I had a hundred times more courage, I wouldn't dare speak nonsense about something like this.

We thought the world's transformation had already completely passed, but the Prophet suddenly detected an anomaly some days ago. What we are experiencing now is merely a precursor to the true transformation—an omen before the storm.

The spiritual energy tide that will arrive soon will be like massive waves sweeping across the shore, spiritual energy impacts ten, even a hundred times more violent than those of today."

Zhang Xu's expression twisted, holding both delight and heaviness.

What delighted him was the imminent arrival of the spiritual energy tide. Martial cultivation would inevitably rise to a new level. The currently countable few Grandmasters and Great Grandmasters would surely spring up like bamboo shoots after rain in the future.

Yet that was also what weighed heavily on him. Though the world's transformation had brought welcome changes, it also carried many secrets unknown to ordinary people.

Aberrants!

Nonhuman creatures!

Along with the world's transformation, all manner of supernatural phenomena had appeared as well.

The most ordinary and common of them were the mutated beasts awakened and evolved from Earth's own creatures.

But besides these most common—and comparatively easiest to deal with—mutated beasts, there were many aberrants that even the Academy of Sciences could not explain.

Should another spiritual energy tide arise, Zhang Xu could not help but wonder whether this world would turn into a scene of gods and demons running rampant.