Ning Tao immediately closed the door once he returned to his room and opened that wooden box. Taking fragments of the flying sword out of the box, he pieced them together one by one.

A total of 58 fragments were pieced together to form a complete flying sword. Near its hilt was an engraving of its name: Pokong. It was slightly longer and broader than normal swords. Its body was relatively flat and did not have any fullers.

It was his first time seeing a flying sword. Ning Tao was very excited, even though it was a flying sword pieced together from pieces. However, he knew very clearly that even if he could fully repair this flying sword, he himself would not be able to use it. He could only use the flying sword created by himself. Yet until now, neither the good-evil tripod nor Scriptures & Scrolls Store had given him any spells regarding the making of flying swords.

Speaking of the good-evil tripod, Ning Tao was suddenly reminded of something. He opened the small medicine chest and took out the ledger of bamboo slips.

The content in the ledger: “Rent collected. The Sky Clinic is upgraded this month. The next rent collection day is in 29 days and 22 hours. The rent next month is 8,000 points of good-evil rent. The balance is 12,517 points of good-evil rent.”

8,000 points. Even though there were still over 12,000 points left in his account, Ning Tao still felt huge pressure when seeing the value “8,000”. He could not help but ponder over a question. Chen Pingdao did not have to upgrade for 2,000 years, yet he had to do so every alternate month. Could it really be for the volleyball-sized inner core he had?

This was really a path of no return.

After he spaced out for a while, Ning Tao’s emotions were collected. Chen Pingdao did not have to upgrade for two thousand years and had managed the clinic until it was on the verge of shutting down. Thus it seemed unfair to him that the clinic upgraded every alternate month after he had taken over. However, he had received benefits from the clinic which were unimaginable to Chen Pingdao. Ladder under Feet, Cat Claw Punch, Powerful Tolerance to Beating, “Your Text”, Heavenly Gem Magic Garment, Hundred Steps Flying Needle Method, pre-school scalpel method, and more. His methods of earning treatment fees were far more than Chen Pingdao. He dared to swear before Reverend Miexin to dismantle Emei Sect’s Mahavira Hall. These were all built upon the rent he had paid.

The way of Heaven rewards hard workers. There was no better phrase to describe this. He practiced the ways of Heaven. The more hardworking and diligent he was and the more treatment fees he earned, the greater the rewards he would receive from the way of Heaven.

With that, Ning Tao was relieved. He placed the ledger back into the small medicine chest then tore off a blood lock prescription slip and opened the convenient door. He returned to the Sky Clinic and took out the rotten broken tripod to fix the flying sword back inside the room in Emei Sect. This process only took about tens of seconds so he did not have to worry about being discovered at all.

He would not be touching that blood lock on the roof beam.

Ding dong, ding dong…

Pieces of the flying sword were dumped into the rotten broken tripod, but when a third was poured, Ning Tao stopped and poured the rest back into the wooden box and proceeded to fix it.

Reverend Miexin wanted to talk only after he had fixed the flying sword. He did not have any bargaining power at that point, so how was he able to bargain? But it would not have been effective if he had bargained his way through back then. Thus he had taken the flying sword pieces with him and left. He had only fixed one-third of it in order to let Reverend Miexin see the results, and thus, he would gain the edge in bargaining.

When it was approaching noon, Ning Tao left the room with a broken sword in his hand and performed a sword dance in the courtyard. He was actually doing it randomly, brandishing the sword to the left and right then poking it around. There was no art in it at all.

There were initially no nuns in the courtyard but somehow someone had seen him and ended up attracting a group of nuns to the courtyard in no time.

“His sword dance is so ungraceful.”

“Could it be some remarkable sword skill?”

“I think it is the Liangyi sword skill of Wudang Sect.”

“How could their sword skill be so ungraceful?”

“He looks so strong.”

“Do all men look like this?”

“You’re overthinking. This one is a good-looking one. Most don’t look good.”

There was a buzz among the nuns as they discussed among themselves. Ning Tao’s arrival had given them much to talk about.

Ning Tao stopped and lifted the broken sword high above his head, facing the side engraved with words toward the spectating nuns.

A nun looked at the broken sword in Ning Tao’s hand and something suddenly occurred to her. She pointed out alarmingly, “Isn’t that Pokong, the treasured magic tool of Emei Sect?”

“Aiyo! It really is Pokong!” A young nun shouted.

“It’s said that this flying sword can fly you to the moon!” An elderly nun exclaimed.

Ning Tao was shocked. Only large nations had the ability to send astronauts to space. But was it not too exaggerated that a flying sword could do the same too? Even though he did not believe it, the words of the elderly nun had made him more determined to own a flying sword. He had even grown a crazy idea of wanting to ride on this flying sword to go take a look at the moon!

“Why is our Emei Sect’s flying sword with him?”

“Right, why is it with him?”

“I’ll go report to master…” A little nun turned to run away.

A faint smile formed on Ning Tao’s lips. It was exactly what he wanted, otherwise he would not have acted like a monkey in this courtyard.

Yet at this time, that elderly nun who said Pokong could take one to the moon, said, “Legend has it that there really is a Guanghan Palace on the moon and master’s wish is to go look for Fairy Chang’e’s Guanghan Palace.”

Ning Tao was feeling a mess. It was already ridiculous to say that the flying sword could reach the moon, yet now you were saying Reverend Miexin wanted to search for Chang’e’s Guanghan Palace on the moon. Was this not ridiculous?

If there were really Guanghan Palace on the moon, then why had Hua Country’s, the United States’, and Russia’s astronauts and rovers on the moon not managed to find it?

“Wait…” Ning Tao suddenly thought of something. He hinted, “If the flying sword could fly, then it should be able to fly to the moon in theory. Ordinary humans only need to wear spacesuits in order to survive on the moon. Practitioners only have to deal with the issue of breathing, pressure, and temperature, then they would be able to survive on the moon. As for Guanghan Palace, it could be the abode of a certain practitioner…”

It was unbelievable at first, but with this analysis, Ning Tao realized that he had gained another bargaining chip.

“What are all of you doing here? Go help out in the kitchen.” Ci’en walked over with nine nuns following behind her, the ones who were making a Nine-Heavens Sword Array at the entrance.

This time, the nine nuns were not holding wooden swords, but real swords.

The group of nuns was dismissed and left hurriedly.

Ning Tao raised the short knife above his head, acting like he was carefully observing it, yet he was staring at the entrance to the room out of the corner of his eye.

Reverend Miexin was also here.

Ci’en walked over quickly. She tried to suppress her excitement, pretending to be calm; she said, “Patron Ning, why is only half of it fixed?”

Ning Tao put down half of the flying sword and said slowly, “I had to use my own spiritual material to fix your flying sword. I had to use a considerable amount and now I have no more. How do I fix it?”

Ci’en said, “How much more spiritual material do you need? Feel free to say it.”

Ning Tao said, “I will give you a list.”

Ci’en looked at the half of the flying sword in Ning Tao’s hand and revealed a concerned expression, “How about you tell me now? And I’ll go prepare them now.”

Ning Tao said calmly, “Why the rush?”

Reverend Miexin approached him, staring intently at half the flying sword in Ning Tao’s hand.

Ning Tao replied politely, “Oh, Reverend Miexin is here too. I did not see you. I was impolite.”

Reverend Miexin stretched her hand out. “Let me have a look.”

Given that part of Pokong had been restored so quickly, she did not care about blathering with Ning Tao.

Ning Tao then gave half the sword to Reverend Miexin and said, “Do you want the rest?”

Ci’en furrowed her brows, “Patron Ning, what do you mean?”

Ning Tao shrugged. “I don’t have other intentions. The flying sword is yours, not mine. I’m using my spiritual materials to help you fix it. You didn’t even thank me yet you’ve brought these nine nuns here. You’re probably preparing to snatch the flying sword from me once I’ve fixed it, am I right?”

A glimpse of light flashed past in Ci’en’s eyes and she said, “Don’t you spout nonsense. This is a Buddhist grounds. How would we do anything like that?”

Ning Tao smiled, “How difficult is that? You can always find excuses. I believe you’ll find excuses for snatching the thing.”

Ci’en was going to say something before Reverend Miexin side-eyed her, shutting her up.

Reverend Miexin said, “Ci’en, take them away.”

“Yes.” Ci’en led the nine sword-wielding nuns away.

Reverend Miexin continued looking at the sword while saying, “There’s not a single crack and its spiritual energy had significantly increased. How did you do it?”

Ning Tao said, “I depend on this skill for my livelihood. If I told you, is your Emei Sect going to provide for me for the rest of my life?”

Reverend Miexin raised a brow. “This is the grounds of Buddha. Refrain from speaking recklessly!”

Ning Tao sneered, “Buddhist grounds? Do you dare tell me you did not have the intention of snatching the flying sword given that you had brought nine of your sword-wielding disciples here?”

Reverend Miexin did not admit but did not deny as well. She simply looked at Ning Tao.

Ning Tao said, “I’m not going to blather with you anymore. I’ve fixed the sword to this state. If you want me to finish fixing it, then you’ll have to bring spiritual materials for it.”

Reverend Miexin said without hesitation, “No problem. I will make Ci’en prepare them.”

Ning Tao said, “Finish listening to me first. That’s not a condition. It’s what you should do. I only have one condition. You know what I want. Give me that skull fragment and tell me what happened back then.”

Reverend Miexin said, “What if I reject?”

Ning Tao smiled lightly, “Then no problem, goodbye.”

He left instantly.

“Stop!” Reverend Miexin called for Ning Tao.

Ning Tao paused in his tracks and revealed a grin, but when he turned around, there was not a sign of a smile on his face.