[You have successfully upgraded the Demon Slaying Sword to the top-grade of the Profound Level using Qiling Iron, Profound Gold Stone, Divine Iron, Red Heaven Gold, etc. Your understanding of the Forging Path has improved during the forging process. Forging experience +220.]

The prompt from the Destiny Panel arrived. Shen Mo glanced at it and then stopped paying attention.

"CLANG!"

As he poured a strand of Mana into the Demon Slaying Sword, the sword emitted a bright, lustrous glow, and its sword light became sharper!

Not bad. What I need to do now is nurture it properly and see if I can awaken an Artifact Spirit within the sword, upgrading it to a Spiritual Level Flying Sword.

The secret of how Spiritual Artifacts awaken an Artifact Spirit is profound, and they cannot be easily forged. Even a Grade IV Forgemaster, who might possess a Secret Technique capable of awakening an Artifact Spirit within an artifact, would still largely depend on luck. Perhaps out of ten forged Spiritual Artifacts, only one might give birth to an Artifact Spirit. The other nine would fail, and their grades would plummet drastically. Those who can stably forge Spiritual Grade Artifacts must have already reached Grade V in the Forging Path.

I'm afraid one wouldn't be able to find a single Grade V Forgemaster throughout the entire cultivation world of the Red Flame Country.

Hence, most Spiritual Artifacts are carefully nurtured by their owners, their quality improved bit by bit until an Artifact Spirit is born within them, thereby upgrading them to Spiritual Artifacts. This was the very path Shen Mo had chosen.

In fact, with his current attainments in Forging, it was quite difficult for him to forge a top-grade Profound Level Flying Sword. This time, he had taken a shortcut! Building upon the sword body and inscribed runes crafted by a Grade IV Forgemaster, he had gradually replaced the original, less outstanding spiritual materials. This was how the Demon Slaying Sword had been successfully upgraded to the top-grade of the Profound Level!

Fortunately, his Forging attainments were already not far from Grade III. In a few more days, he could begin to search for the necessary spiritual materials to upgrade all the magic artifacts he possessed to the top-grade of the Profound Level.

Besides Spirit Gold, Shen Mo had also acquired several Thunder Killing Pearls from the Tian Family. However, he planned to exchange the Demon Slaying Merits earned from his service in the Defense Division for more Thunder Killing Pearls. Then, in one go, he would upgrade the remaining few Dao Swords to high-grade.

After stowing away the Demon Slaying Sword, Shen Mo summoned the Flawless Dharma Eye, suspending it high above Hongye City. His field of vision instantly became vast and expansive.

On all four sides of Hongye City's walls, cultivators from the Defense Division stood guard. One of the Qi Gathering Realm cultivators on a section of the city wall was, surprisingly, Tao Dong, the head of a cultivating family he had previously helped. After his name was cleared of injustice, he had immediately joined the Defense Division. Now, he wore the Defense Division's badge around his waist and collected their monthly salary. This monthly salary was more than fifty percent higher than what the Tian Clan had offered.

There were many small families in the city like the Tao Family who had no businesses; they naturally did not need to pay any resources to the Defense Division. After registering with the Division, if they performed their duties diligently, they could even earn a considerable reward! As for the other smaller immortal sects and cultivating families that had paid the supplementary Spirit Stones, they also sent many disciples to register, evidently hoping to recoup some of their expenses from the monthly salaries.

Shen Mo welcomed this enthusiastically. This is the normal operating model for the Defense Division. It collects cultivation resources from factions with numerous businesses and then channels these resources back to those cultivators from these factions willing to register and contribute to the Division. In this way, a positive feedback loop is formed, allowing those dedicated to slaying demons to grow ever stronger.

Besides Qi Gathering Realm cultivators like Tao Dong, each side of the city wall was also manned by cultivators at or above the late-stage Body Tempering Realm. Additionally, squads of armored soldiers dispatched by the Red Flame Country's Imperial Court patrolled the city. They cultivated martial techniques from the military and could, at best, maintain order and deter ordinary secular villains. If they were to truly battle Heavenly Demons, they would only become food. The real fight still relied on cultivators!

His vision extended further outwards. The large towns surrounding Hongye City also had Defense Division cultivators stationed on guard. These market towns had substantial populations, and any lapse in vigilance could potentially allow a Third-order Heavenly Demon to emerge. Therefore, whenever the Defense Division had spare manpower, they dispatched cultivators to replace the defenders originally arranged by the local cultivating families. Further out, cultivators patrolled Great Path checkpoints, as well as mountain villages and wilderness settlements, on an irregular basis. If any trace of a demon was discovered, cultivators would be mobilized to go and eliminate it. This meant Shen Mo no longer needed to constantly expend his mental energy and Mana to meticulously monitor all directions with the Flawless Dharma Eye.

At this moment, Shen Mo's gaze fell upon an area outside a valley. Chen Mengze, Xu Tong, and several other registered cultivators of considerable realm were gathered there. They were in the process of surrounding and killing a Demon-corrupted cultivator!

This demon head seemed to have fled from elsewhere and was still injured. Passing by the outskirts of Hongye City, it had chosen this desolate valley to recuperate, preying on the surrounding creatures. Many demonic beasts in the mountains, as well as mortals who had entered the mountains for hunting or gathering firewood, had fallen victim to it. After patrolling cultivators discovered these anomalies, they immediately reported their findings. This led Chen Mengze and the others to mobilize, cornering the demon head within the valley.

The one corrupted by this demon was a disciple from a minor immortal sect, proficient in Formations. Seeing the numerous cultivators who had come to kill it, the Demon-corrupted disciple had quickly retreated into the valley, relying on a Formation it had previously set up to obstruct their siege.

"You all attack the Formation from the outside!" Xu Tong declared. "I'll go in and see if I can break it from the inside, coordinating our efforts!" Then, he strode boldly into the valley. He was confident in his strong vitality and the protection offered by his Suanni Armor, so he didn't fear the killing power of the Formation. The others advised him to be more cautious and patient, suggesting it wouldn't be too late to enter the valley after they had collectively broken the Formation. However, Xu Tong paid them no heed and plunged headfirst into the trap.

"BOOM!"

The Formation activated, and raging flames instantly engulfed Xu Tong. Witnessing this, Chen Mengze and the others dared not delay. They promptly unleashed their offensive measures, attacking the Formation in unison with their magic artifacts, magic, and talismans.

「 」

By the time Shen Mo landed before Chen Mengze on his Thunderstroke Sword, the mutated Heavenly Demon had already been blasted to smithereens by the group. The others were unharmed. Only Xu Tong had a large portion of his hair and eyebrows singed. His Suanni Armor was also covered in scorch marks!

Seeing Shen Mo arrive, Xu Tong gave an embarrassed smile and said, "Fellow Daoist Shen must find this amusing. I didn't expect the Formation set by such a low-cultivation demon head to be so potent."

An Elder from the Thriving Gold Sect, at the Qi Gathering Realm, gathered the remains and belongings of the mutated Heavenly Demon and presented them to Shen Mo. Then, he sneered at Xu Tong, "You iron toad, you were nearly roasted into a cooked toad. Didn't you recognize that this demon head was originally a disciple of the Lifeless Sect? With such poor judgment, you deserved to be burned!"

The Thriving Gold Sect had always been at odds with the Gold Toad Tower. If not for the demon disaster suppressing their conflict, it's likely only one of them would have remained standing outside Hongye City by now. Humiliated by the Thriving Gold Sect Elder, Xu Tong's face darkened, and he immediately retorted.

Shen Mo paid them no mind and began inspecting the demon head's belongings. Apart from a few Spirit Stones, most items were Formation-related magic artifacts. Shen Mo actually knew a little about the Lifeless Sect. He knew this immortal sect was renowned for its Formations; indeed, the Mountain Protection Arrays of many smaller immortal sects were designed and set up by the Lifeless Sect.

If this demon head had been left alive to rendezvous with other Heavenly Demons... it would undoubtedly spell disaster for many smaller sects and families.

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