Chapter 296 — The Form of Spirit-Transformed Blades
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The vital essence flying toward that orb of light revealed sword-pattern sigils. Stream after stream of vital essence light merged into the orb, like flying swords continuously entering a sword pellet.
A sword pellet is not a pill, but a sword—dozens, hundreds, even thousands of swords refined into one.
Thus the essence of a sword pellet is still the sword.
When the Six-Realms Spirit Treasury gestates a sword pellet primordial weapon, vital essence in the form of flying swords flies in from all directions, inserting themselves together to form a pellet shape. Sword-shaped vital essence is also called sword essence. Only when all the sword essence has merged into the sword pellet form can one forge one's own sword pellet—and the number of flying swords within the pellet must equal the number of sword essences.
Refining a sword pellet means refining swords to a state finer than a needle, then refining them into pellet form. Therefore, when refining a sword pellet, each sword must be tempered to the level of size at will—a most difficult feat.
Hence sword pellets command a high price. Many divine ability users often substitute a sword case instead. A sword case can store fewer flying swords, and its refinement requires beast bone containing Taotie bloodline to expand the internal space—its price is also quite high.
The Grand Academy provides each of its students with a sword case, spending no small sum from the national treasury every year.
Truly wealthy Grand Academy students would often invite famous masters and craftsmen to forge sword pellets for them. Thus a sword pellet was also a symbol of status.
"So my primordial weapon is a sword pellet. Though sword pellets are difficult to refine, refining one is not all that hard."
Shen Mu felt not the slightest sense of how valuable a sword pellet was. After all, back in Hidden Remnant Village, Granny Zhu's shoes under her bed had them scattered everywhere, and a few had even been eaten by chickens.
More terrifying still, the Silent Craftsman had a whole chest of sword pellets, heavy as a mountain.
Moreover, having studied forging under the Silent Craftsman, refining a sword pellet was laborious for him, but not difficult.
However, within his Six-Realms Spirit Treasury, sword essence was still continuously merging into that orb of light. Shen Mu did a count, and his face turned somewhat green—the sword essence that had merged into the orb numbered as many as five thousand!
In other words, he would have to refine five thousand flying swords to forge his own sword pellet.
Not only that, but sword essence continued to fly in, indicating more than five thousand flying swords.
It was not that he worried about lacking money to refine the sword pellet primordial weapon—he never worried about money. What he worried about was the weight!
Even if several thousand flying swords were refined very small, their weight would not change. Refining so many flying swords into a small pellet would make for an extremely considerable weight!
The flying swords of Jingping Kingdom were graded into nine ranks. A ninth-rank sword weighed two catties—the lowest grade, forged from common iron, a weapon for ordinary people. Yet even a ninth-rank sword, refined into a sword pellet, would weigh ten thousand catties!
Moreover, the better the flying sword, the heavier it often was. A second-rank flying sword often weighed hundreds or thousands of catties. Only first-rank flying swords—the swords worn by first-rank court officials, such as Shen Mu's Chubao Sword—were light in weight.
The Chubao Sword was forged from the finest materials under heaven by the greatest sword-forging masters. Only a dozen or so were ever made. Even if Shen Mu wished to refine a sword pellet like it, he lacked such quantity and quality of materials.