Of course, I sucked at this, so I ended up needing to ask Elder Tie Jiang for help. The old dude had already repaired his battle-automata by the time I approached him, but while he was more than happy to help me with my Castellax battle-automata, he couldn"t help me with Snow Aegis.

"This is a little too complex." He frowned as he inspected it, and then stared at me. "You are better off asking the person who created it for help."

"I was the one who created it…" I muttered. Tie Jiang snorted.

"I don"t doubt that, but you obviously had help from other people. Ask them. I"m afraid I"m not familiar with the workings of this Spirit Shield, and it will save you more time if you approached the people who helped you directly."

To be honest, Tie Jiang was more than capable of repairing it, but because he was unfamiliar with Snow Aegis"s systems and mechanisms, it would take up a considerable amount of time. And given the state of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect after the botched invasion a few weeks ago, he would much rather invest his time in helping the sect repair weapons, equipment and other artifacts that he was much more familiar with.

"Well…" I hesitated for a moment, and then lowered my head. Recalling the person who helped me forge Snow Aegis brought a sharp pain to my chest. "She"s no longer around."

Tie Jiang must have detected the emotion in my voice, for he swiveled around in concern and fixed a concerned stare on me.

"Don"t tell me…the person who helped you was Qi Hong?"

I nodded dumbly, unable to choke the words out.
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"I"m sorry." Tie Jiang paused for a moment, his silence hanging heavily in the air. "I still can"t believe it. That she"s gone."

After a while, he took a deep breath and straightened himself.

"If that"s the case, I can inspect it for a bit, but I won"t promise anything. In the best case scenario, I would most likely need a month or two before I can repair it."

"Okay." I nodded, and then frowned for a second. "Hmm, maybe I can ask Sect Leader for help. He did help me modify Snow Aegis once."

"Sect Leader modified this Spirit Shield?" Tie Jiang raised an eyebrow, and then harrumphed. "If that"s the case, you should approach him instead. He undoubtedly would be more familiar with the workings of your Spirit Weapon than I would be."

"Sorry."

"No need to apologize." Tie Jiang waved me away. "Leave your battle-automata with me." he cringed when he saw my attempted repairs and shook his head in disapproval. "d.a.m.n, you really didn"t learn anything I taught you, did you?"

"Sorry. I tried." I shrugged helplessly. Tie Jiang merely scowled.

"Not good enough. Anyway, away with you. I"ll be done in two days."

"Thank you!"

Bowing gratefully, I then left Tie Jiang"s workshop and proceeded toward the grand pavilion that served as Zi Shou De"s residence.

At least that was my intention, but I remembered that the sect leader was a busy man. I couldn"t just drop in on him without an appointment, so I stopped, whipped out my smartphone and sent him an email requesting for a meeting.

While I was on my way back to Wu Ling Academy, I surprisingly received a near immediate answer.

"Oh! Nice timing! I was going to contact you and talk to you anyway. Come on anytime now!"

Staring at the email, I sighed in relief, and did a 180 degree turn before proceeding up Flame Volcano.

The Blood Blades guards at the entrance immediately let me in when they saw me.

"Fei Wu!"

"Oh, hey!"

"Hey, guys!"

I waved at them and returned the friendly greeting. Unfortunately, palace security was not my division, so I wasn"t a.s.signed such duties. I was probably cla.s.sified as a frontline warrior, rather than a sentry or guard.

Especially in light of my services during that last war…

"I"m due for an appointment," I told them. One of the guards nodded.

"Yeah, Sect Leader has already informed us." he jabbed a thumb into the hall. "Head on in."

"Thanks."

Stepping through the entrance, I followed the ma.s.sive corridor and pa.s.sed through the somewhat empty grand hall. Before, there would be a bustle of activity, but with the sect"s numbers reduced through attrition and battle, there were less servants and administrative drones than before.

Suppressing a shudder at the memory, and trying not to recall the dreadful experiences of the war, I hurried toward Zi Shou De"s office. Reaching the ma.s.sive, luxurious mahogany doors, I took a deep breath and rapped my knuckles against the polished surface.

Even though the manor was bereft of personnel, it – along with all the residences, buildings and structures atop Flame Volcano – had been virtually untouched by the war. There was no sign of damage, no trace of destruction – if I hadn"t pa.s.sed through the construction machine-laden s.p.a.ce of Tushan City and the devastated area of the outer sect district, I wouldn"t have thought that the sect had been through such a vicious war.

"Come in."

Upon hearing Zi Shou De"s voice, I then slowly pushed the door open. As expected, the sect leader was waiting at his desk, busily signing off contracts or reading reports before making whatever decisions he needed to.

But when I entered, he stopped and placed the doc.u.ments he was reading aside. Looking up with a smile, he gestured for me to take the seat in front of me.

"Sit down. Relax." He unscrewed the cap of a bottle. "Drink?"

"No thanks." I swallowed and declined politely. "Uh, you said something about wanting to talk to me, Sect Leader?"

"Yes, I did." Zi Shou De nodded as he capped the bottle after pouring himself a drink. He took a sip and then placed the cup back down on the table to stare at me. "But first…you mentioned something about needing my help with repairs."

"Yes, sir." I produced Snow Aegi and placed it on my desk. "My Spirit Shield was damaged during the fight a few weeks ago. I have been trying to repair it, but I was unable to restore it fully." I hung my head in shame. "Sorry."

"You"re not a proper blacksmith, so it"s fine." Zi Shou De chuckled. "You"re a member of Blood Blades. It"s understandable if you lack skills in smithing, but you"ve more than proven yourself in combat already." He took my Snow Aegis. "Leave this to me. I"ll get it repaired in three days."

"Thank you, Sect Leader."

I bowed politely again. Zi Shou De waved my grat.i.tude away.

"It"s nothing. It"s only natural, after you helped us out so much."

"I was only doing my duty as a member of the sect."

"A duty that quite a few people shirked from." Zi Shou De turned and glared out of the window. He was most likely referring to Pang Feng, Pang Yun and the others who ran away and abandoned the sect when it was nearing its demise. "As I said, the core of the sect should comprise of people with loyalty, courage and tenacity. Talent is good, but all the talent in the world is useless to us if you abandon us in our hour of need."

I said nothing. Probably because I agreed.

"Make sure you have taken all your things out of your Snow Aegis," Zi Shou De reminded me as he turned around. "I recall you were using it as your storage device as well."

"I already did." I didn"t tell him that I felt pain in my chest when I drew out the black sword that Tang Qi Hong lent me during that last battle. Now I would never be able to return it to her, and her adopted mother promptly told me to keep it when I tried to return it to her adopted family almost immediately after the war ended.

"Good." Zi Shou De placed the miniature Snow Aegis on his desk, on top of a leaf of doc.u.ments.

I raised my eyebrow at that. Apparently he was prioritizing my stuff over reading reports and other administrative duties. Then again, it was pretty well known that Zi Shou De hated all the administrative stuff and paperwork, and preferred to spend his time tinkering in the workshop, so I guess it wasn"t surprising that he was enthusiastic about the prospect of having something to take his mind off the tremendous amount of paperwork.

"As for why I called you here…" Zi Shou De steepled his fingers and stared at me seriously. "I wanted to consult you regarding the matter of the Sunburst bomb."

"Oh…"

I gulped, remembering the apocalyptic damage that my Sunburst bombs had wrought over Tushan City and the outer sect district.

"Sorry."

Zi Shou De gave me a strange stare. "Why are you apologizing?"

"For blowing up the city…"

"Heh!" Zi Shou De chuckled and shook his head. "No one"s blaming you for that, son. If you hadn"t blown the invading sects up, all of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect would be dead right now. You did a great job, if anything."

He actually wanted to give me a medal for that, but when I told him that everyone deserved a medal, he decided that it wasn"t worth the ha.s.sle. He did try to reward all the survivors in various ways, as well as compensate the dead.

Even though we were hurt badly, our wealth remained untouched. Best of all, the thirteen sects who invaded us had to pay us reparations and compensation for their unlawful invasion, so we didn"t even have to pay for the repairs and restoration of our city out of our own pocket. Gotta love all these laws when they work in your favor.

After this, the first ten sects were definitely in the red, and probably would be dissolved because they had neither the manpower nor resources to maintain their sects. They deserved it, to be honest.

"Then…about the Sunburst bombs…"

Gulping, I considered the meaning of Zi Shou De"s words. If it wasn"t to criticize me for the overwhelming destruction I had caused, then it could only mean one thing.

"That"s right." Zi Shou De must have read my expression, for he nodded. "Are you willing to build a few more Sunburst bombs?"

Blinking at that, I slowly nodded. "I don"t mind, but…"

"But…?" Zi Shou De raised an eyebrow.

"Is it necessary?" I swallowed. "With all respect, Sect Leader, we have already defeated the enemies. And if it"s to sell to other sects…I"m not sure I"m comfortable with the idea of giving other people access to such destructive power."

"Hmm…" Zi Shou De leaned back in his chair as he pondered over my statement thoughtfully. "You are right, of course. And it"s not as if we are in any real need of money. It would be foolish indeed if we give our opponents the means to destroy us." he nodded in agreement. "We can"t just carelessly sell these to anyone."

I sighed in relief. I didn"t want some trigger-happy sect to purchase the Sunburst bombs and then launched it on an innocent city, or start apocalyptic wars on an unprecedented scale where sects would literally be nuking each other into oblivion. While the idiots who did the nuking deserved to die, the countless innocents caught in the fighting certainly did not deserve to be drawn into such a horrifying conflict.

"But as for your first question…yes, it is necessary."

"…eh?"

I stared at Zi Shou De in confusion. The sect leader sighed as he rested his chin on his hands, and looked at me sadly.

"The demonic sect are on the move. After the immense damage that the Martial Arts Alliance suffered with regards to this failed invasion, they seek to take advantage of their momentary weakness and are stirring in the outskirts of the city. The Royal family has intensified Imperial Guard patrols and tried to reinforce vulnerable areas of the empire, but they can"t be everywhere all at once. And with the Martial Arts Alliance weakened, the demonic sects are exploiting this opportunity to rampage. Already the cities under the protection of the Seven Valley Sects have fallen victim. The Imperial Guard has been sent to reclaim the Seven Valley Province, but the demonic sects wisely withdrew before the imperial forces could reach them."

"So we need the Sunburst bombs to fight the demonic sects?" I asked.

"Essentially, yes." Zi Shou De nodded. I could tell that he didn"t like the idea, but the alternative was to let the demonic sects walk over us, and that was arguably a worse fate. At least the Sunburst bombs promised a quick death.

I hesitated for a few moments, and then sighed heavily. I never would have thought that my whimsical desire to invent such a terrifying weapon would lead to such heavy repercussions in the future. Nonetheless, now that I had set us on this path, there was no turning back.

"I understand. I will start building a few. However…" I clenched my fists firmly. "Nine-Tailed Fox Sect will monopolize them. I do not want other sects to be able to buy them, if that"s all right with you."

"You"re the inventor. The patent and all the rights to the Sunburst bomb lie with you." Zi Shou De smiled in approval, as if he had antic.i.p.ated my response and was proud of it. "I will be sure to inform anyone seeking to purchase the Sunburst bombs of your decision."

"Thank you, sir." I paused for a moment. "But if they need our help…if they need the Sunburst bombs, they can approach us and make a request. I will be more than happy to cooperate and lend them my help. But I will not sell them the bombs."

"That"s good enough." Zi Shou De grinned jovially. "Even if they don"t like it, they will have to deal with it. Their lives depend on you, after all."

*

After that meeting, I returned to the dorm room in Wu Ling Academy. Stepping through the door, I shut it and locked it before heading to my room.

Quite a few artifacts and items were spread all over my room. Like I told Zi Shou De earlier, I had removed my possessions from Snow Aegis before handing it to him for repairs. Having antic.i.p.ated that the repairs would take days, if not a week, I couldn"t just leave all my stuff inside it and pa.s.s it to Elder Tie or Sect Leader Zi.

I would still need to use many of my items over the next few days.

One of them stood out, catching my attention the moment I stepped into my room and turned on the lights.

It was the black and gold sword that Tang Qi Hong had lent me during that final battle atop the plaza, while I was fighting Heavenly Way Sect"s Jiang Jun Hao. The hilt was obsidian, and the blade was as black as night, while both were embroidered in elegant gold.

Taking it up, I observed it closely. This was the first time I actually had a good look at the sword that was Tang Qi Hong"s final gift to me. Over the last few weeks, I had just left the sword inside my Snow Aegis"s spatial storage, because it would pain me evey time I looked at it. The sword reminded me too much of Tang Qi Hong.

But now, I realized that I would have to confront my past. Without Snow Aegis to shield me visually from the black and gold sword, I would be forced to look at it whenever I returned to my room. Whether I liked it or not, that was how things were.

I closed my eyes slightly when I felt tears welling up, then forced them open to take another good look. Tracing the blade, I caught sight of the characters near the guard.

"Shadow Fox," I whispered. So that was the name of this sword. Closing my eyes, I took another deep breath to steady myself.

After a while, I opened my eyes to study the intricate design and patterns on the sword. I recognized the craftsmanship of Tang Qi Hong. This was certainly a sword forged by her, and it was of extremely high quality. As expected of Tang Qi Hong. She really was a genius at this.

Since Zi Da Ji told me to keep the sword, I might as well treat it as a momento from Tang Qi Hong and use it in a way to make her proud of me. Holding the black and gold sword high up, I infused it with qi and marveled at the way it responded.

"Yeah, this is really an excellent sword."

Shadow Fox will definitely pair well with my Azure Lotus Sword.

Putting it down, I then proceeded to prepare for the next day"s cla.s.s, as well as arrange to return to my workshop the next day.

I was going to be pretty busy forging the next batch of Terminator Profound Bombs…ahem, I mean Sunburst bombs.

*

Three days later, I strode out of my workshop with a cough. Glancing at the Sunburst bombs I had just crafted, I then went to reclaim my Castellax battle-automata from Elder Tie before proceeding to Zi Shou De"s office to retrieve my Snow Aegis.

"Here are the Sunburst bombs," I told the sect leader after lugging a huge crate filled with them. I had to be careful – I didn"t want any of them going off while I was carrying them around. Never mind one bomb, the explosion would trigger the remaining bombs and set of a powerful chain reaction that multiplied their combined explosive power by several times, just as what we witnessed with the seven Sunburst bombs I detonated a few weeks ago.

"You"re pa.s.sing them to us?" Zi Shou De asked, astonished. I frowned.

"Who else am I supposed to pa.s.s them to? Or am I supposed to carry them around on my own?" I shrugged. "Well, I have one or two with me, but I don"t want to be a walking nuke, if you get what I mean."

"Ah…yeah. It is a good idea to place it with the sect for safekeeping." Zi Shou De nodded thoughtfully. "You have a point. If people know you"re walking around with such powerful Spirit bombs, they"ll certainly try to attack you and steal the bombs from you."

"I would just blow them up," I pointed out. Zi Shou De smiled wryly.

"Are you going to blow yourself up along with them?"

"…ah." he had a good point. Unless I didn"t mind diving straight into mutual destruction, I would hesitate using the Sunburst bombs at such pointblank range.

"Well, leave these with us." Zi Shou De nodded. "I"ll go with your intentions and forbid anyone from selling them for now."

"Thank you." I breathed a sigh of relief. "I"ll leave these with you then."

"Gotcha." Zi Shou De then picked up his phone and called a couple of staff to come ferry them away. A contingent of Blood Blades also arrived. I made to join them, but Zi Shou De held me back.

"Your duty lies elsewhere." He grinned and pa.s.sed my Snow Aegis back to me. "Right, I fixed it. Added a few new things too, while at it. I guess you could say I upgraded it."

"Thank you very much!" I stared at Snow Aegis, astonished. Even though I had yet to activate it, I could already sense that it was somewhat different. It was emanating a more potent aura from before, causing an indescribable sensation.

"No problem. It"s only natural, after you built all that." Zi Shou De patted my shoulder while gesturing toward the crate of Sunburst bombs. "Be careful!" he called out to a nervous staff who was trying to handle the volatile weapons.

The pale man nodded. Evidently he knew the power of the Sunburst bombs, having witnessed them during that invasion.

"I should be handling them," I said and moved forward, but Zi Shou De held me back again.

"No. you should be returning to school." He frowned. "I heard that you skipped cla.s.ses for a few days just to build these. That won"t do. You"re still a student of Wu Ling Academy. Don"t let your grades suffer, and make sure you graduate properly."

"Yes, sir."

He got me there. Saluting, I then left the office and returned to my dormitory in Wu Ling Academy, because I had left all my homework and a.s.signments there.

A few hours after I left, the sect discipes of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect who had remained in the main sect grounds continued to maintain, repair and produce Spirit Armaments in order to restore the sect back to full battle readiness, or to resume business again.

However, amidst the bustle, a single person"s shout cut through the busy air and drew everyone"s attention outside.

"Look at the sky!" Di Xuan, the inner sect"s senior disciple, suddenly pointed toward the bright, blue sky and yelled. His voice was filled with wonder.

The inner sect discples, despite being busy with their various tasks, momentarily abandoned their charges and stepped out of their workshops. The elders joined them shortly after, mesmerized by the sight.

Elegantly flitting among the clouds was an extremely beautiful b.u.t.terfly that resembled Mothra, but thankfully was several times smaller. Still about the size of a car, though, which made it a little creepy. Its ma.s.sive wings flapped, gleaming with a myriad of colors, the wingspan being about nine meters long.

Riding on top of the brilliant and vivid b.u.t.terfly was a single girl who was dressed in an extravagant pink dress of different hues, and for some reason had an enormous lotus flower-shaped hairclip that was perched on the right side of her head, like a typical anime character. Nonetheless, she still resembled a G.o.ddess descending from the heavens, causing all those who laid their eyes on her to be mesmerized and charmed.

Behind her gigantic b.u.t.terfly was a couple of helicopters, filled with militia from the Song Clan. What, did you think she would behave like a certain fictional idiot and casually fly into the middle of a poisonous bog, right into enemy territory, all by herself without escorts or a bodyguard detail? Okay, this wasn"t a poisonous bog, but it was still regarded as enemy territory somewhat. But in the original story, the author made her out to be some big shot of extremely high status, yet she just stupidly flew into a poisonous bog on a b.u.t.terfly all on her own without any guards, escorts or servants. Like…come on, even if she was powerful, that made no sense.

"A Flowing Cloud Rainbow b.u.t.terfly! That"s a Rank Five Spirit Beast!" the Chief Great Elder, Luo Zhi Chang, exclaimed.

"Eh? I thought it was Mothra," muttered one of the sect disciples, who had just watched G.o.dzilla: King of Monsters a few months ago.

"Get ready!" Jing Wei shouted to his fellow Blood Blades sentries, and they all formed a thick wall before the approaching Flowing Cloud Rainbow b.u.t.terfly, which hovered to a stop in front of them.

"Someone contact Sect Leader," Luo Zhi Chang hissed. He had the feeling that whoever this young woman was, she wasn"t someone simple.

Only someone of Sect Leader Zi"s status would be able to deal with her on equal grounds…