This blacksmith looks super trustworthy. He’s full of muscles, and he totally looks like someone who’s done backbreaking labor all his life. Those other blacksmiths manning the counter were so scrawny and pale; it’s obvious their heat hasn’t been exposed to any heat in a long time. Mhm. Eh? Never judge a book by its cover? What does this have to do with that? These are blacksmiths, not books. Anyways, this man said he could fix Durandal!

“Do you mind?”

Hmm? “What do you mean?”

“Are you going to let go?”

The blacksmith was holding Durandal by his weapon body’s melted blade. And I was holding Durandal by the hilt. If I don’t hold onto Durandal, how do I know I’ll get him back? Exactly, I can’t be completely sure! Only by holding his weapon body will I be sure he’ll never leave my side. “Can you fix him like this? You’re a great blacksmith, right? One or two hands holding onto a hilt shouldn’t be an issue.”

The blacksmith stared at me. “I heard rumors the sect master was deranged, but I didn’t think they’d be true.”

Sect master? That’s me! Wait a second. “Deranged!? Who’s deranged!?” If this wasn’t the only blacksmith who had a chance at fixing Durandal, I wouldn’t mind teaching this man’s face the meaning of deranged with my fist. Hmph! “Look, do you want to get paid or not? You fix Durandal. I pay you. Simple, yeah?”

“It sounds really simple when you say it like that,” the blacksmith said and let go of Durandal’s blade. “However, let’s see what you can pay me upfront. I have to be thoroughly motivated to put in all my effort. There’s many ways I can fix your item spirit, some ending up weaker than he is now.”

“Uh….” What do I have to pay this guy with? I gave Ilya most of my stuff…. Wait a second, do I even have to pay people? Aren’t I the sect leader? People should be doing things for me for free! “Can you think of doing this as protection fees? You fix Durandal. I protect you. Yeah?”

“I don’t need your protection,” the blacksmith said and crossed his arms over his chest. He leaned back, even though he was sitting on a bench, and crossed his legs before putting another piece of straw into his mouth. “I have everything I possible want and need. People used to grovel before me to even inspect their weapons. Who do you think you are?”

Do I hit someone who’s going to fix Durandal…? What if I force him to fix Durandal, but he botches the repair on purpose and Durandal dies for real? Then I’ll have to beat him to death, but beating him to death won’t bring Durandal back. Gah, where’s Ilya when I need her? Wait! Wait one dang second! Why don’t I ask Ilya to fix Durandal for me? She makes weapons out of people’s corpses all the dang time! If she can make sky-realm-ranked weapons with a snap of her fingers, and she can turn that furry man’s body into an immortal-ranked hammer, why can’t she fix Durandal?

“Hello? Are you listening?”

Ah? Oh, right, I was still here. “Shut up for a second.” Hmm, I really don’t see why Ilya can’t fix Durandal…. If she could, why didn’t she offer to fix him when she saw how melted he was? She must’ve known I was going to repair him. Does that mean she can’t fix Durandal? But Ilya can do anything…. Gah! This is making my head hurt! That settles it; I’ll go to Ilya right now and ask her. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere, got it?”

Alright, Ilya’s lab is over … there. Mhm. It’s really easy to remember where Ilya’s lab is. It’s the one place I can go to have all my problems solved. Of course my tail will remember something like that! “Ilya!”

“What is it?”

Eh? Am I interrupting something? Ilya seems to be…. “Are you cooking?”

“What? No. How does this resemble cooking at all?” Ilya frowned. She was sitting over a lump of meat. Mm. I’m pretty sure that’s a lump of meat, and there’s its skin over there.

“It does look like cooking, Auntie Ilya.”

Ah! “Sophia! Come here. Give Mommy a hug.” I need one, mhm. After hurting my head by thinking so much, hugging Sophia cures my headache just like that. Ah, she’s the best. “You agree, right? It does look like cooking.”

“I’m preparing Kuang Feng’s body,” Ilya said. “I have to separate his skin from his flesh, his flesh from his bones. This is the process I have to go through to make weapons. You want your hammer, don’t you?”

Huh…. Who knew making weapons was so much like cooking? “Can I make weapons too?” If this is anything like cooking, then I’ll be a genius at it! “It looks pretty easy!”

Ilya stared at me. Then she stared at me some more. “Well, it’s not too difficult. You want to watch?”

“Yes!” Maybe I’ll discover a new way to make food by watching Ilya work. Isn’t this some kind of enlightenment or something or other in cultivation? An epiphany! That’s it. I’ll watch Ilya work, and my cooking skill will reach new heights! Ah? I’m forgetting something? Hmm…. It really does feel that way, but learning more about cooking is definitely important. Could it be more important than the thing I’m forgetting…? Uh…. Durandal! “Wait. Ilya, can you fix Durandal’s weapon body? I think he’s breaking apart.”

“I’m not a blacksmith. I conscripted a whole lot of them, most of them master blacksmiths capable of forging sky-realm-ranked weapons.” Ilya was talking while smashing the lump of meat on the ground with a knife. “Have you tried asking them?”

“I have!”

“And? They couldn’t fix him?”

“Uh, one of them said he could, but I wanted to see if you could fix him first.”

“…Why?”

“Because you’re Ilya, and you can do everything!”

Ah!? Did someone just steal my line? It was Sophia!? “That’s right! Because she’s Ilya, and she can do everything!”