"Hmm..."
Narrowing her eyes at the materials before her, Su Min silently calculated their worth.
"Still not enough. Not enough to refine my weapon to the next tier. A high-grade Yellow-tier Life-bound Spirit Treasure would still be a significant boost, though".
Two or three days had passed since the meeting. Everyone knew the grassland army was marching south, but mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops wasn't something that happened overnight. It would take time. For now, at least, the battle wasn't imminent. Still, Su Min was preparing. The more trump cards and methods she had, the better.
She had turned her attention to refining her Life-bound Spirit Treasure. Unfortunately, the armor she had forged earlier had consumed a staggering amount of resources, nearly exhausting her entire supply. The materials she had used to craft weapons for the three youngsters had all been provided by Prince Yong.
Even the young prince had led dozens of men to slay a Qi Refining demon just to gather more. Yet despite all that, Su Min still didn't have enough materials to refine her weapon. Her Life-bound Spirit Treasure possessed a unique trait: it could continuously evolve in grade.
That came with both good and bad news.
The good news? It wasn't picky about materials.
The bad news? The quantity it demanded was absurd.
"Should I go out and search for more materials? If I can refine my weapon to the level I need, my chances of victory will be much higher."
As she pondered, she stared at the materials in her hand. The armor had definitely been worth the cost, but she still needed more.
Knock, knock, knock—
A sudden rapping at the door interrupted her thoughts.
"Come in."
She casually stored the materials away before speaking. The door opened, revealing Sect Leader Mo standing somewhat awkwardly outside. He hesitated for a moment, since stepping into a young woman's private quarters felt inappropriate, but when he finally entered, he froze. Su Min's room was startlingly bare. There were no decorations, no ornaments, and no personal items, nothing that suggested a woman lived there.
In truth, this wasn't unusual. Considering the caves, stilt houses, and deserts she had lived in before, Su Min had long since stopped caring about comfort. When she saw him enter, she politely poured him a cup of tea.
"Danxian, I'd like to request a weapon, one suited to my hand."
Sect Leader Mo didn't waste words. Over the past few days, he'd sparred with the three youngsters. Under equal conditions, his decades of experience allowed him to overpower any one of them. But the moment they wielded their weapons?
He'd been forced to flee. There was simply no contest. Now that he'd reached the Qi Refining stage, ordinary weapons shattered the moment he channeled spiritual energy into them. His swordsmanship was rendered useless. So he'd gone to Prince Yong, hoping to commission a weapon from Su Min.
Unfortunately, Prince Yong couldn't help him this time. Su Min's services were expensive—and the three weapons she'd forged earlier had already drained a significant portion of his material reserves. Besides, this was Sect Leader Mo's personal matter.
Prince Yong wasn't going to pay for it. He had already given the man a pill, and anything more would be excessive. Still, since he needed Sect Leader Mo on his side, he had offered a piece of advice: "Don't waste time talking. Just throw materials at her."
"Did Prince Yong not explain my terms? Also, I don't have materials on hand right now."
Su Min wasn't refusing outright, nor was she lying. Her remaining stockpile was a mix of random parts that couldn't form a complete weapon. What she could make depended entirely on what he could provide.
"Of course. Over the years, our sect has accumulated some reserves. Please take a look, Danxian."
With that, Sect Leader Mo removed a ring from his finger and placed it before her.
"Oh?"
Su Min's lips curled slightly at the sight.
A spatial ring.
Unlike artifacts, these weren't particularly difficult to forge. She had made quite a few herself. Still, it was mildly surprising to see one in his possession.
"Tsk. Prince Yong must've treated you well. This is one of my 2×2×2 models, crafted in the past few months." She picked up the ring and examined it closely before continuing, "Now, let's see what materials you've brought. First, tell me your elemental affinity and preferred weapon type. I need to know if anything's missing."
"Sword. Lightning."
"Mn. Alright. Come back in three days."
After a brief mental calculation, Su Min nodded.
"Thank you, my lady!"
Sect Leader Mo's face lit up with excitement. He bowed deeply before hastily taking his leave—though not without a slight twitch in his cheek. "That was our sect's entire savings over the past few years!"
Unlike Prince Yong, who controlled vast merchant networks, his sect's resources were limited. But materials were just materials. Without a skilled craftsman, they were useless.
"Now I've got enough."
Once he was gone, Su Min smirked.
"I'll forge his weapon first. The rest of the materials will go toward refining my own. A high-grade Yellow-tier should last me until the Golden Core stage. Earth-tier weapons require far rarer and much greater quantities of materials, and even with Nanming Lihuo, my current cultivation wouldn't be enough to smelt those."
The difference between alchemy and artifact-forging lay here. Alchemy was about precision and complexity, while artifact-forging demanded raw power. Without sufficient flames, one had to rely on brute cultivation. A Golden Core cultivator could forge a Yellow-tier artifact, but by that point, they'd have no use for one.
Fortunately, forging wasn't as meticulous as alchemy. Any fire-aligned cultivator could do it with enough control.
"Time to get to work. For his weapon, I'll only need about thirty percent of these. The rest are mine."
Closing her eyes, Su Min summoned her flames. The temperature in the room rose sharply as she tossed the ores into the fire. Common spirit iron. Rare thunderclap ore. She molded them together, shaping the molten mixture into a blade—simple, crude, but brutally effective.
As for its effect?
Pure elemental enhancement.
Soon—
[Thunderbrand Sword (Mid Yellow-tier)]
Enhances lightning-based techniques.
"Reaching the late Qi Refining stage really speeds things up. Well, I've still got two days left, so I might as well refine my own weapon now."
Su Min smirked again. The path of cultivation was expensive. Her current equipment had already drained both Prince Yong and Sect Leader Mo's factions dry. Not that she'd ever tell them the truth, that for every weapon she forged, she kept seventy percent of the materials. They probably suspected she took more than necessary.
But how much more? That, they'd never know.
And the excess?
Well. Consider it her fee.