Meanwhile, bizarre occurrences unfolded one after another across the Divine Light Sect.
Two Qi Refinement disciples were sparring with swords.
Suddenly, both of their swords tore free from their hands and began clashing in midair on their own.
The spectating disciples stared in stunned silence.
"Ye Buxiu and Li Fan were hiding their strength all along! To master Sword Kinesis at the third layer of Qi Refinement... how terrifying! Such youths must not be allowed to grow... bah, I mean, they are destined for greatness!"
In the sparring ring, Ye Buxiu froze, and Li Fan was equally dumbfounded.
When on earth had they learned Sword Kinesis? How come they had no idea?
As everyone was gasping in amazement, a loud shout suddenly boomed from the sky.
"After it, quick! My pill furnace ran away, and there's a batch of pills inside!"
Looking up, the crowd saw a streak of flowing light across the firmament—it was indeed an alchemy furnace.
As though afflicted with some terrible madness, the furnace darted wildly across the sky, hopping and bounding along.
And that elder was madly giving chase behind his own furnace.
Before anyone could process this, they witnessed even stranger sights.
"Holy crap, my sword ran off!"
"Aaagh, my silver! Why is my silver flying into the sky?!"
"Ah! The hairpin I was going to gift to Martial Mother, why did it fly into the sky too?!"
Countless metal objects soared into the heavens at this moment.
As if struck by sudden delirium, they zipped and darted erratically through the air.
This spectacle drew the attention of numerous elders.
Many elders who had been in seclusion emerged one after another.
It was not that they wanted to end their seclusion; rather, several treasures in their storage bags had inexplicably broken free and flown out.
True Monarch Kumu stood upon the clouds as several elders flew up beside him.
From high in the firmament, they looked down over the Divine Light Sect, their expressions varied and strange.
The Divine Light Sect right now was like a wild dance of demons.
Countless metallic implements had taken to the sky, leaping and scampering about aloft.
And the varieties of metal items were bizarre and eclectic.
"My iron hand! Why have you abandoned me?!" a one-armed man wailed, tears streaming down his face.
"Holy hell, a dildo made of Innate Flame Iron?! Which junior sister is that wild?!"
"Whose golden underpants are those?! So flirtatious!"
"Did our magical artifacts gain sentience and rebel?"
The disciples below were utterly shocked and buzzed with heated discussion.
They couldn't begin to fathom what on earth was happening.
On Seven Colors Peak, the cleaver watched the magical artifacts careening across the sky with boundless envy.
With a quick thought, it slipped its bonds and sneaked out into the air.
Anyway, everyone's gone mad.
If a normal cleaver like me blends in, surely nobody will notice, right?
Above the clouds, several elders stood behind the Sect Master of the Divine Light Sect, their eyes filled with perplexity.
"Sect Master, this is truly bizarre," a white-bearded elder said. Just a moment ago, he had been meditating when he felt a draft between his legs—his undergarments had flown away.
Those undergarments were a defensive artifact he had spent a sizable fortune to forge, embedded with many precious metallic treasures.
And yet, up and away they went without warning.
The other elders looked at the chaotic spectacle below in dumbfoundment.
To varying degrees, all of them had been affected by this incident.
The Sect Master's divine sense spread outward at that moment, seemingly searching for something.
Unfortunately, he found nothing at all.
"Most likely, a metal-attribute supreme treasure has emerged, bringing about this situation," True Monarch Kumu, the Sect Master of the Divine Light Sect, delivered his deduction.
Hearing this, the elders' breaths quickened.
A metal-attribute supreme treasure emerging!
Alas, no matter how hard they looked around, they couldn't spot where it was.
Meanwhile, on Seven Colors Peak, Jiang Lingsu hurried outside Qi Yuan's courtyard, yelling, "Eldest Martial Brother, something terrible has happened!"
Qi Yuan leisurely woke up and rubbed his drowsy eyes. "What is it?"
"Your pet—that kitchen cleaver—has become a spirit!"
"Huh?" Qi Yuan blinked. "Oh, got it."
The knife had already awakened sentience; wasn't that basically becoming a spirit anyway?
Wasn't this completely normal?
What was there to make a fuss about?
He prepared to head back inside and continue sleeping.
Seeing Qi Yuan so calm, Jiang Lingsu was dumbfounded.
She had already noticed that a metal-attribute supreme treasure seemed to have appeared in the Divine Light Sect, causing all metal-attribute treasures to run amok.
Seeing Eldest Martial Brother sleeping soundly, she had deliberately tried to startle him.
Who knew Eldest Martial Brother wouldn't take the bait at all?
Feeling baffled, she urged, "Eldest Martial Brother, go take a look! Your pet and all the other artifacts are dancing in the sky!"
Hearing this, Qi Yuan finally looked seriously toward the distant sky.
One glance, and he froze.
The sky was densely packed with magical artifacts and all sorts of random odds and ends.
There were also cultivators chasing after their own artifacts, only to be led around in circles and thoroughly mocked by them.
Among those artifacts, Qi Yuan also spotted the knife's figure.
At this moment, the knife was perched atop an alchemy furnace, bouncing around randomly.
Seeing Qi Yuan's reaction, Jiang Lingsu was quite smug. "Eldest Martial Brother, do you see now? Your knife has gone crazy."
Qi Yuan glanced behind Jiang Lingsu. "Still better than your thatched cottage collapsing."
He was quite the sycophant toward the rich lady, but sometimes poking fun at her was necessary to deepen her impression of him.
Jiang Lingsu puffed up with anger, hands on her hips, her chest heaving.
Indeed, with the metal-attribute frenzy, the Mountain-Anchoring Rod she had used to anchor her thatched cottage had flown off, and the cottage had collapsed straight down.
Qi Yuan smiled even wider. "Now that you have nowhere to sleep, the wooden bench in my room is still reserved for you, Junior Sister."
"Is this how Senior Brother covers for his junior sister?"
"I'll pad Junior Sister's bench with some dried straw."
After bickering for a couple of sentences with Jiang Lingsu, Qi Yuan began strolling down the mountain.
"Aiya, to think that just taking a nap would cause such a huge mess."
He looked at his hand.
He sensed what seemed like a trace of golden blood circulating within.
After achieving five-element perfection, he had received the gifts of the Five Ancestors.
His Qi Refinement had undergone a change.
The qi of the five elements was replacing his original, ordinary Qi Refinement qi.
Right now, the first to complete the transition was metal.
The other four were also currently undergoing the changeover.
"Doesn't that mean there will be four more disturbances in the Divine Light Sect in the future?"
Qi Yuan felt a bit guilty.
He looked toward the sky. There were far too many things up there.
Bizarre and variegated.
Among them were many items sufficient to cause social death for a cultivator.
Like the golden underpants, or the dildo.
Those items had no owners chasing after them.
Qi Yuan appeared among the crowd.
Immediately, quite a few people noticed him.
Presently, the chief disciples of the Divine Light Sect's various peaks were away; Qi Yuan was the only one still on his peak.
"Greetings, Eldest Martial Brother!"
"Eldest Martial Brother, are you here looking for your pet? I saw your cleaver earlier, right on top of that pill furnace."
"What pill furnace? It's right over there!"
Everyone looked over: unnoticed by anyone, the knife had already landed not far from Qi Yuan.
"Too bold. Sneaking out behind my back while I was sleeping." Qi Yuan cast a glance at the knife, while also sweeping his gaze over the magical artifacts in the sky.
For some reason, a notion popped into his head.
If he wished, he could secretly sabotage these artifacts.
Could it be that after achieving five-element perfection, he gained the ability to manipulate metal?
Although it was not true, complete metal control, and the higher an artifact's rank, the weaker his sabotaging effect would be, this was already terrifying.
After all, during battle, circumstances changed in an instant.
If a magical treasure upon which one relied for their very life suddenly malfunctioned, the repercussions would be catastrophic.
Setting that thought aside, Qi Yuan called out, "Knife, get over here, quick!"
The knife paused.
It wanted to return, but feared blowing its cover, so it remained still.
Seeing this, the nearby junior brothers and sisters chuckled. "Eldest Martial Brother, your pet knife is also infected by the metal-attribute frenzy; it can't help itself. You should wait until the commotion ends before looking for it. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators—and even Origin Core elders—couldn't recapture their artifacts when they stepped in."
Turning a deaf ear, Qi Yuan walked straight toward his cleaver.
Seeing this, the other junior brothers and sisters shook their heads one after another.
They said nothing more.
It was hardly a secret that Eldest Martial Brother had a few screws loose.
Let him be.
Failing to catch the kitchen cleaver wouldn't hurt anyone; he'd just waste a bit of effort.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, however, Qi Yuan walked up to the cleaver, reached out his hand, and muttered, "Disobedient thing. As punishment, you're grounded for three days."
Saying so, he grabbed the knife in one swift motion.
And in that very instant, as if time had frozen, all the magical treasures in the sky ceased their frenzied dancing and flew back toward their respective masters.
No one paid Qi Yuan any further mind.
Even those who noticed simply thought it was a coincidence.
"Is it over?"
"Waaaah, my iron hand, you're finally back!"
"My sword! My sharp sword!"
With their treasures returned, people were overjoyed.
Others, however, wore expressions of utter disgust and rejection.
"Don't come over here! I don't know you!"
"You've got the wrong person! I'm not your master!"
Those shouting these words drew quite a few stares.
In particular, the owner of the dildo turned out to be an elder, making several disciples gulp in shock.
No wonder it was crafted from Innate Flame Iron.
Some celebrated, while others were humiliated.
Then, someone suddenly exclaimed in delight, "My magical treasure got stronger!"
"Holy crap, the grade of my broadsword actually went up a notch!"
Everyone realized that after the wild dance of the artifacts, their magical implements had all strengthened to varying degrees.
The elder who had kicked away the dildo heard this, quietly cast a dao technique, and sneakily fished it back.
The upheaval in the Divine Light Sect had temporarily calmed, yet the commotion and chatter continued unabated.
Qi Yuan, meanwhile, stealthily slipped back to his peak.
At that moment, Dong Xian clutched his Profound Sky Treasure Ruler, his eyes filled with curiosity. "Elder Qi, what on earth happened just now?"
Elder Qi's hoarse voice transmitted into his mind: "Likely a metal-attribute supreme treasure has appeared. Or perhaps... well, the second possibility is impossible, so there's no need to tell you."
Hearing this, Dong Xian paused.
"Where is this metal-attribute supreme treasure?" Dong Xian asked with anticipation.
He longed to obtain that metal-attribute supreme treasure.
"If I am not mistaken, it is likely... the kitchen cleaver in Qi Yuan's hand."
"What?" Dong Xian was utterly dumbfounded.
The kitchen cleaver in Senior Brother Qi Yuan's hand was actually a metal-attribute supreme treasure?!
"That cleaver is extraordinary. I fear that if a Qi Refinement cultivator wields it, they could kill Foundation Establishment cultivators. If an early Foundation Establishment cultivator wields it, they could slay late Foundation Establishment cultivators, or even..." Elder Qi sighed with emotion as he spoke.
Such a supreme treasure was exceptionally rare; he had never expected to witness one in a backwater place like Great Shang.
Upon hearing this, Dong Xian's eyes gleamed. "It's that powerful?"
Didn't that mean if he secured Senior Brother Qi Yuan's assistance, his odds in the Dragon Contention would increase several-fold?
However, Senior Brother Qi Yuan was not easy to sway.
His only obsession was games.
Games? Dong Xian pondered whether he should offer Eldest Martial Brother the game he had treasured for years and never dared show anyone.
That was an out-of-print edition!
A banned item!
Completely unobtainable on the market!
"Once I become Crown Prince, why the hell would I play games? Aren't real women so much better!"
Dong Xian gritted his teeth and resolved to find a time to gift the game to Senior Brother Qi Yuan to cultivate their rapport first.
As for the Dragon Contention, he would naturally have to sway him with other genuinely valuable offerings!
Chapter 63