The rag picking sister turned out to be a weapon refiner

"I suddenly had an idea. I think Second Senior Sister would be more suited to soft weapons, preferably ones that can attack and defend." The temperature in the cold pond was getting lower and lower. To divert her attention, Hu Xingtong had to think of something else. And this thought actually gave her some design inspiration.

This type of weapon seems to exist. In the illustrated guide to Qimen weapons, there seems to be a weapon called a dragon head stick, which is a soft weapon. The description says it's about two meters long, with a flexible rope attached to one end and a dragon head and a spike at the other. It can be swung, danced, extended, or retracted, and can be long or short, single or double, and used for both hard and soft purposes, which fits your idea perfectly.

"Tsk, it seems like I can give it a try now. Hey, wait a minute, I saw the Ice Spirit Grass!" While thinking, Hu Xingtong suddenly noticed a few ice-blue strip-shaped plants floating not far in front of him. At the same time, the system and the scanning eye gave feedback at the same time.

[It is indeed Ice Spirit Grass, but be careful, there is a different kind of spiritual energy fluctuation nearby.] The system reminded him, and Hu Xingtong was also on guard. In the novels he had read before, the protagonist usually encountered a powerful monster while picking important spiritual herbs, and then fought the monster and finally won by a narrow margin.

But Hu Xingtong did not intend to win by chance. She needed to stay in good condition so that she could refine weapons for her second senior sister and find a way to win the bet.

His spiritual consciousness dispersed at this moment. Hu Xingtong summoned Qing Huanjian and stood not far from the Bingling Grass. He looked around vigilantly, not daring to miss any movement.

At that moment, the space before them seemed to ripple slightly, a tiny ripple forming in the cold pond's waters. Then, the ripple rapidly expanded, as if something were about to break through the water from the depths. Hu Xingtong's nerves were strained to the limit. She gripped the Qing Huan sword tightly, the tip of the sword lightly tapping the depths of the cold pond, ready to respond to any crisis.

"Xiao Wuzi, can you scan what that thing is and see what level of monster it is?" Hu Xingtong ordered in a deep voice. At the same time, her eyes were sharp, trying to use the scanning eye to penetrate the layers of ripples and capture more information.

The system responded quickly, analyzing the data: [Be careful. Preliminary assessment: This is a water-type demon beast. Its physical level is estimated to be around the Lihe realm. Considering the unique environment here, there are certain environmental bonuses, and its actual combat power may be improved.]

While Hu Xingtong wasn't completely invincible, the Lihe Realm monsters were certainly not easy opponents to deal with. Furthermore, her primary mission at the moment was to gather Ice Spirit Grass and find the entrance to the secret realm, rather than engaging in a battle with the monsters here. This would not only waste her time searching but also potentially put her entire journey at risk.

Just as Hu Xingtong was thinking about countermeasures, a strong light suddenly burst out from the center of the ripples. A monster covered with ice-blue scales and shaped like a carp broke out of the water. Its huge body twisted and circled in the air, and its eyes were as cold and ruthless as ice, staring directly at Hu Xingtong.

"It seems there's no way to avoid it," Hu Xingtong sighed inwardly, then adjusted her breathing, surging her spiritual energy as she prepared to fight. She knew that once the battle began, it would have to be resolved quickly to avoid further trouble.

"Sword Song of Killing!" Hu Xingtong shouted softly, and the Qing Huan Sword in his hand instantly turned into several sword shadows. The blood-red sword energy surged, attacking the monster from different angles, trying to disrupt its rhythm with a quick attack.

The monster was obviously no ordinary creature. It flashed its body and dodged all the sword shadows at an incredible angle. At the same time, it spit out a ball of cold and frosty breath from its mouth and headed straight for Hu Xingtong.

Hu Xingtong dodged the frost breath with a narrow escape, but the biting chill still made her heart shudder. She knew that such a battle could not last long, and she had to find a flaw as soon as possible and defeat the enemy with one strike.

Just as the two sides were in a stalemate, an idea suddenly flashed through Hu Xingtong's mind: "If I can use the power of the cold pond here, perhaps I can increase my chances of winning."

Thinking of this, Hu Xingtong stopped defending blindly and took the initiative to attack. The Nine-Gold Cold Star Fire surrounding his body immediately intensified. The unique icy aura of the Cold Star Fire, along with the extreme cold air in the cold pool, merged with his own spiritual power to form an even more powerful force.

This power lingered on the tip of Qing Huanjian, carrying with it strange ice and fire, rendering the surrounding environment distorted and gorgeous. At the same time, a sharp and icy light and shadow burst out from Hu Xingtong's eyes. As the Qing Huanjian danced in his hand, the first move of Yingzhen Sword was shot out directly. This time, Hu Xingtong learned from his experience and adapted the sword moves based on his years of reading novels, fusing his spiritual consciousness with the sword moves. At the same time, he communicated with Gu Xunzhou to control the sword moves, turning the original fixed trajectory of the sword moves into an attack that can automatically aim at the target. Then, a strange scene happened.

The monster saw the sharp sword blade flying towards it and dodged it, but the sword blade seemed to have eyes and chased its butt and turned straight in front of the monster's own eyes. Then, Hu Xingtong seized the moment when the monster was stunned and followed the same method, swinging out a few more sharp sword blades. The sword cultivator's moves are not about quantity but quality, not to mention that Hu Xingtong's sword moves are weird and have their own characteristics. In this way, each sword move with great power will aim at different positions of the monster to attack. Although it consumes some spiritual consciousness, it greatly reduces Hu Xingtong's attention.

So, taking advantage of the moment when the monster was in a panic, Hu Xingtong used a killing sword song and directly released the third style of killing sea that he had just comprehended. For a moment, the entire cold pool was instantly covered with red, as weird and bloody as a bloody purgatory.

"Ah--" After a wail, blood spurted out of the monster's body. After struggling for a while, the monster finally turned over on its belly and began to fall.

[Xingxing, catch it!] The system's voice rang in Hu Xingtong's mind.

Hu Xingtong subconsciously obeyed and did as he was told, using his spiritual power to support the monster's body, and then approached carefully.

"This monster..." The scanning eye could not provide any information about the monster. Hu Xingtong was puzzled. Logically speaking, the scanning eye he made was formed by stealing information from the game Delusion Cultivation. As long as the monster appeared in the game settings, it should be scannable.

[The game's mini-world is inherently self-contained. It's normal for you to be unable to locate some hidden monsters; they belong to the unknown realm.] The system explained, while simultaneously providing Hu Xingtong with all the information about the monster. It continued, "This monster is likely an ordinary carp that grew in a cold pond. This is why it has a powerful body but no spiritual combat abilities. To put it bluntly, it's unintelligent. However, its skin and flesh are both valuable, and the most important thing is its meat. Collect it, and after cooking it, it should taste like salmon in your real world."

"Is this true? Is there a substitute for this? If I eat it raw like salmon, will there be parasites or something?" Hu Xingtong was a little excited and a little worried. She was excited because it was the first time she had the chance to taste food from her hometown after traveling through time, but she was worried because her good habits in the real world prevented her from eating raw or cold food. To avoid parasites, she only ate many foods fully cooked.

"I feel like you're a bit paranoid. You're a cultivator now. If that parasite had the guts to enter your body, it would have been automatically refined by your body the moment it entered." The system mocked him while also offering an explanation. Hu Xingtong was delighted to hear this and immediately stored the monster's massive body into his magical storage treasure.

Then he looked around again and made sure there was no danger before picking the few Ice Spirit Grasses in front of him and putting them into the system backpack.