Ouyang Mu heard this and shook his head.
"Too low a price?" Mo Hua asked.
"No, no," Ouyang Mu hurriedly replied, "When I craft artifacts for others, itâs usually forty merit points, and sword casting is just sixty. A hundred merit points is too much. My experience is shallow, and my skills are roughâIâm not worth that much."
Ouyang Mu glanced at Mo Hua and said somewhat embarrassedly:
"Brother Mo, Iâll just charge you sixty as well. Iâll craft eight... no, nine spiritual artifacts to pay off my debt."
Mo Hua was taken aback.
Heâd haggled with plenty of people before, but encountering this reverse-negotiation was a first for him, leaving him momentarily disconcerted.
"Then itâs settledâeight spirit swords!"
Mo Hua replied with a cheerful smile.
He stuffed the spine bone of the Flame Demon Wolf into Ouyang Muâs arms, making it impossible for him to refuse, and said:
"Thatâs decided then. You hold onto this spine bone for now. Next month on the off-day, find me in the mountains, and Iâll tell you which sword to forge."
After saying this, Mo Hua waved his hand and left.
Ouyang Mu remained in place, clutching the fresh wolf demon spine bone, still carrying the residual warmth of fire. His heart, too, was warmed by a blaze of gratitude.
This Brother Mo, truly, is a great good person!
Ouyang Mu gazed at Mo Huaâs gradually retreating silhouette, his heart filled with gratitude.
...
Soon, a month passed.
On the off-day, Mo Hua again made his way to Refining Demon Mountain.
As promised, Ouyang Mu was waiting for him there.
Currently, he carried a debt of five hundred merit points, feeling the weight of pressure bearing heavily on his shoulders. He didnât want to disappoint Mo Huaâs generosity in giving him the Flame Demon Wolfâs spine, so he was eager to do something for him.
"Brother Mo, what sword do you want me to cast?"
Mo Hua handed over his pre-prepared sword-casting diagram to Ouyang Mu.
Ouyang Mu received it, took just one glance, and said:
"Brother Mo, this sword design is quite strange... itâs not shaped like a regular spirit sword, is it?"
Mo Hua thought to himself, as expected of someone from Taiâa Sectâhe saw through it in an instant.
"This sword is indeed a bit out of the ordinary," Mo Hua nodded and replied.
Ouyang Mu kept looking at it, muttering under his breath:
"Its exterior is similar, but its internal structure is different..."
"The materials seem a bit cheapânot very sturdy."
"Thereâs space left for a formation inside, but this seems... not the typical reinforcement or sharpening formations used for regular spirit swords?"
Ouyang Mu gestured with his hand over the sword diagram, suddenly exclaiming in surprise:
"... Itâs a sword formation!"
"The sword formation isnât internally sealed; the swordâs design is open source..."
...
Muttering to himself, Ouyang Muâs expression darkened, becoming despondent as he said: "Brother Mo, I canât craft this kind of spirit sword..."
"Whyâs that?"
Ouyang Mu explained: "This isnât a standard spirit swordâit doesnât use typical formations but sword formations."
"Sword formations arenât something Iâve learned yet. Only after joining the Inner Gate and signing a Death Oath will the sect teach them."
"Currently, the Elders and Instructors only teach the purely artifact-refining techniques outside of sword formations, like the Taiâa Sword Casting Skill."
"No problem," Mo Hua replied, "you donât need to worry about the sword formationâjust focus on crafting the sword itself."
"Oh."
Ouyang Mu nodded.
He had no idea how Brother Mo intended to address the sword formation issue.
From his impression, the Taixu Sect didnât seem to have any special legacy regarding sword formations either.
Even if there were, it wouldnât be taught now anyway.
However, Ouyang Mu was polite enough not to pry further.
Purely casting the sword, without involving the sword formationâeven if its design was a bit unconventionalâwasnât difficult to accomplish.
Ouyang Mu studied the sword diagram Mo Hua had provided several more times.
Mo Hua keenly observed his reactions and suddenly asked, "Little Wood, what do you think of this sword diagramâs design?"
Ouyang Mu froze, "What do you mean by what I think?"
"Well," Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, "howâs the quality? Are there areas that need improvement...?"
Ouyang Mu was about to respond but hesitated and cautiously asked instead:
"Brother Mo, who designed this sword diagram?"
Mo Hua blinked and vaguely replied:
"I asked someone within the sect... a Foundation Establishment Middle Phase junior brother whoâs somewhat knowledgeable about artifact refining to design it..."
Ouyang Mu breathed a sigh of relief and began to critique:
"Itâs a complete mess."
Mo Hua felt a small pang in his heart.
He had carefully crafted this sword diagram after consulting numerous spirit sword blueprints and incorporating sword formations, "meticulously" designing it.
Only to have Little Wood condemn it as "a complete mess"...
Ouyang Mu didnât notice Mo Huaâs expression and continued, "It should be the work of an amateur... not a total amateur, more like someone half-knowledgeable, half-competent..."
Mo Huaâs eyelid twitched as he took a deep breath and said, "Then tell me, how should it be adjusted?"
Ouyang Mu, fully engrossed in the topic, immediately took out paper and pen and began drawing modifications for Mo Hua on the spot.
"First of all, the materials for the spirit sword arenât ideal."
"Spirit swords belong to the Golden Series, so using materials from gold-series monster beasts is generally correct. However, some of these materials have poor fusion compatibility and are bad at conducting spiritual power."
"Furthermore, with Five Elements Generation and Restraint, there is both âRestraintâ and âGeneration.â"
"For gold-series spirit swords, itâs not always necessary to use entirely gold-series materials. Within the Five Elements, Earth generates Gold, so incorporating certain earth-series monster beast materials could have an eye-catching effect..."
"Thatâs the issue with materials. Next is the design."
"The shape of this spirit sword clashes."
"For spirit swords meant for close combat and killing, the materials need to be rigid, the blade sharp, striving to cut through hair and slice iron as though mud..."
"If itâs more focused on Sword Qi attacks, the sword body should be lighter, and the spiritual power conduction must be excellent..."
"This sword is heavy, yet the materials are subparânot hard enough, and the spiritual power conductivity is also poor..."
"As for the sword formation segment, although itâs open source, judging by the formation medium layer left inside, this sword formation and this spirit sword have zero compatibility."
"The sword is just a sword, and the sword formation is just a sword formationâthey have nothing to do with each other."
"This simply wonât work. Only when the sword weapon is compatible with the sword formation will the swordsmanshipâs full potential be unleashed..."