Inside the gambling den run by the Night Raid in Jinling City, a middle-aged man with a small mustache listened to his subordinate’s report, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“The head hallmaster? The third hallmaster? Two dead, the second hallmaster missing — with those two vacancies, should we appoint new hallmasters?” a masked man in black asked deferentially.

“An outsider is still an outsider,” the mustached man replied coolly. “If they can’t even handle such a small problem, then what’s the point of replacing them?”

He then asked, “What about that young man who ran off with the gambling house’s money — have you found out where he went?”

“No,” the subordinate answered. “It seems he wasn’t carrying any ordinary treasures or spiritual artifacts, and whatever he did have appeared to be of quite high quality. While we were tailing him, he seemed to sense our presence and deliberately shook us off.”

“A space-type treasure, then?” The mustachioed man squinted, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. “Anyone who possesses such a treasure can’t possibly be of low status. Yet, as far as I recall, there isn’t a single long-famous Divine Transformation-realm cultivator who fits the image of that carefree young master flaunting billions of spirit stones. Could it be… he’s a newly ascended prodigy?”

He waved his hand dismissively. “If you can’t track him down, forget it. Just remember his face and pass it to the Dark Hall. Have their hallmasters memorize it.”

The masked man in black received the order and instantly vanished from the spot. Matters involving the Night Raid — especially anything concerning the Dark Hall — were secrets no outsider could possibly know.

Wang Li was merely the hallmaster of the Bright Hall.
The Dark Hall consisted of the die-hard disciples personally raised by the Night Raid — their most loyal and deadly followers. Though nearly all were cultivators at the Divine Transformation (Hua-Shen) stage, their average strength far surpassed that of the Bright Hall’s hallmasters.

As for the four great helmsmen who stood above them all — they were true members of the Night Raid itself.

The little-bearded man picked up the monthly turnover report of the gambling den and examined it carefully.
“It seems that young man who came out of nowhere has already helped us hit this month’s target.”
His lips curled slightly. “Looks like we’ll have to speed up our pace of harvesting fat sheep.”

Meanwhile, far away, after leaving the Lin family, Lin Mo had been searching for the entrance to the Demon Realm.
He had thought it would be simple — just capture a few monster beasts and interrogate them to learn its location.

After asking around along the way, Lin Mo found that every lead fell flat: the beasts he questioned were either captives, too dim-witted, or had never once set foot in the Demon Realm.

At an inn in Yunxi City, he rubbed his temples, a faint headache creeping in. Long ago, once humans discovered how to forge master-pet pacts, both righteous and demonic cultivators scrambled to claim their own spirit pets and mounts to boost combat power. Some great demons taken alive refused to become human spirit-pets or mounts; rather than be bound, many chose to self-detonate. In that period, the demon race suffered grievous losses. As a result, their overall strength waned, and the entrance to the Demon Realm was hidden ever more deeply.

At his side, the Liuli Sword chimed in, “Master, Xiao Li thinks you could take a look at the Dazhou Mountain Range.”

“The Dazhou Mountains?” Lin Mo’s eyes brightened. It really was a good idea. Back when he’d still been the senior brother of Qingzhu Peak, he’d often hunted there—though, with his cultivation far weaker than it is now, he could only linger on the outer fringes. The deeper one went into Dazhou, the more numerous—and the stronger—the monster beasts became. Who knows, a trip there might even bring an unexpected surprise.

“Sharp as ever, Xiao Li. That’s exactly the reminder I needed.”

Being praised, the sword-spirit within the Liuli Sword felt a surge of joy. After following this master for so long, she’d come to admire Lin Mo’s strength completely. Sensing his mood, the blade trembled and let out a soft hum.

“Is it necessary to get so nervous?” Lin Mo chuckled.

“It is!” the Liuli Sword answered. “This is the first time Master is ‘testing’ Xiao Li.”

Since returning from the Demon Realm, their surface-level exchanges had grown fewer, yet each time he wielded the Liuli Sword, their deeper communion only intensified. The Liuli Sword could feel Lin Mo’s emotions at every moment; when he used her now, they had nearly reached a realm of true mutual accord. She could already be considered his sword-spirit in the fullest sense.

All traces of Zhu Shiyao’s former imprint had been scrubbed away; the blade had almost completely reshaped itself to belong to Lin Mo.

He lightly stroked the Liuli Sword, spirit qi skimming along its edge as he fell into thought. The sword trembled unconsciously, and a peculiar notion bubbled up from its core: Does Master… also want to do those intimate things with Little Li? Still, being touched like this by Master feels really nice…

“Mm—there, there—no, not there…”

While the Liuli Sword’s mind was being filled with such stray thoughts, Lin Mo was thinking about something else entirely: at present, the Liuli Sword was still only a spirit sword of artifact grade.

Before he reached the Divine Transformation realm, it had indeed been suitable. But now that he was Divine Transformation especially after that battle against the Meiyan Demon Lord Lin Mo could clearly feel the Liuli Sword beginning to lag behind. With repeated use, he could sense the sword stubbornly forcing itself to accept his spirit energy.

He even worried about damaging it and often held back when striking. A middling Divine Transformation sword cultivator might barely make do with an artifact-grade spirit sword. But Lin Mo’s power far exceeded others of the same realm—and he alternated between spirit qi and demonic qi. That was like subjecting the blade, now to searing heat, now to killing frost; even an immortal-grade spirit sword would struggle to endure such treatment.

In that light, it was remarkable the Liuli Sword had kept pace until now—holding up even in the Demon Realm against true demons in their Merged-Body stage. Yet just moments ago, when he caressed the blade and probed its state with spirit qi, what he sensed was… not encouraging.

In plain terms, its durability had become very low.
Even so, Lin Mo couldn’t bear to see the Liuli Sword damaged.

As he pondered, the thought slipped out of his mouth before he realized it:

“Maybe I should consider changing swords…”

At those words, the Liuli Sword — which had just been happily basking in his touch — froze. Its voice trembled, full of hurt:

“Your Highness… Master… why would you abandon Little Li?”
“Wuwuwu… Little Li must have done something wrong. I’m so stupid… I don’t even know what made you upset. But Little Li will change—will change! Please, Master, don’t abandon me, okay?”

Lin Mo said nothing.

Liuli’s grievance swiftly turned into fiery indignation.

“I knew it — you really are a demon! From the very beginning you tricked Little Li into following you, always using strange methods to threaten me! Little Li has fought by your side for so long… and sure enough, men are all scoundrels — once they’re bored, they just throw you away!”
“I should’ve known this would be the result!”
“Wuwuwu—everything I gave you was for nothing!”

Lin Mo couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the melodramatic sword spirit’s performance, thinking silently to himself:

“So it’s this noisy, quarrelsome side of you that really fits you. To be honest… I might even like you better that way.”

Even the Liuli Sword herself seemed confused by his reaction.

“Master, are you really going to abandon Little Li? If you don’t love me, then please—don’t hurt Little Li!”

Lin Mo flicked the sword’s blade lightly and smiled.

“What are you thinking? I never said I’d abandon you. I’m just worried your body won’t be able to withstand my attacks — I don’t want to end up breaking you.”

“That’s why I need a temporary substitute, at least until you can be upgraded in quality.”

With that said, he fell silent, mulling over the problem. How could he help the Liuli Sword advance her grade?

He did have the refining skill he’d extracted from the system, but his proficiency level wasn’t high, and he’d never actually practiced the craft before. In truth, he had no idea where to even begin.

It seemed he would have to find time to visit the Ling Sword Sect.
After all, that was the foremost sect on the sword path — the number-one Immortal Sect of Sword Dao.
When it came to the art of forging and refining implements, their mastery was surely unmatched in the cultivation world.
If anywhere knew how to enhance the Liuli Sword’s quality, it would be there.

“Really?”
“Master, you won’t abandon Little Li, will you?”

Lin Mo smiled faintly and asked in return,

“Do you really see me as such a cold, heartless person?”

The Liuli Sword faltered, sounding ashamed.

“Master, that’s not what I meant…”

Seeing the blade’s body bend slightly, looking for all the world like a little girl blaming herself, Lin Mo laughed softly.

“Alright, don’t beat yourself up. Come on — help me pick out your temporary replacement.”

“Then Master, you mustn’t choose another spirit sword that already has a sword-spirit!”

The Liuli Sword’s tone turned anxious and aggrieved.
Lin Mo could only shake his head with a helpless smile.

“Your possessiveness really isn’t small…”

He chuckled again.

“But for me — one sword is enough.”

Before setting out for the Dazhou Mountain Range, Lin Mo toured the Treasure Pavilions of several nearby cities twice over.
Since there were no auctions being held, the finest swords in stock were only of spirit treasures or magical-treasure grade.
As for immortal-grade artifacts, those appeared only rarely — and only at major auction events.

Money wasn’t an issue for him now. He swept through several Treasure Pavilions, buying up their best spirit treasures swords — nine blades in total, all without sword-spirits.

When he reached the borderlands of the Dazhou Mountains, Lin Mo already knew the outer routes like the back of his hand.
The oppressive might of his Divine Transformation realm cultivation radiated outward, and the surrounding beast-monsters didn’t dare draw near.
Even from a great distance, they instinctively circled away from him.