Chapter 34

When he closed his eyes and opened them again, three years had passed.

As the saying goes, fairy palaces enter dreams, and a hundred years of cultivation pass unnoticed.

Cultivation is like this: for great cultivators, even a hundred years is no more than the duration of a single retreat.

But for a boy like Yulou, three years is enough to shed his childishness.

Over the three years, Qing Xi Fang seemed unchanged; Gao Jian, who once served the leopard as a dog, never followed his master Jiang Jiang Baobian away, but instead became a provisional disciple under the new Garrison Cultivator.

Though this world lacks the tale of the traitor who served three masters, Gao Jian's reputation as a two-master servant remains legendary.

Yet outsiders' cold glances and disdain could not touch Gao Jian's 'power'.

After leaving Fu Yuan Ju, Yulou ran straight into Gao Jian, who was leading a law enforcement patrol and harassing an elderly cultivator.

Yulou said nothing, merely nodded calmly at Gao Jian in greeting.

Wang Xianmao once intervened to help Gao Jian, and in return, Gao Jian had watched over Yulou and his brother—though it was better than nothing, it might yet prove useful.

"Yulou, the day after tomorrow I'm taking a concubine; remember to bring your brother."

Gao Jian was warm, extending the invitation himself.

He held such concubine ceremonies every year—it was a special form of collecting protection money.

But if Yulou came, he naturally wouldn't have to pay.

Moreover, Gao Jian didn't keep the protection money himself—beyond Qing Xi Fang's established Red Lantern system, there was another set of regulations belonging to the Garrison Cultivator.

"Do you have spirit rice?" Yulou stopped and asked with a smile.

Yulou was the type who never took a loss; hearing his question, Gao Jian wasn't angry.

"Haha, if you bring me gifts, I'll let you sit at the head table."

The man named Gao wouldn't make things hard for himself—he calculated everything clearly.

Face is face, favor is favor, spirit rice is spirit rice; no one comes to eat for free.

"Alright, Yu'an eats a lot—don't be stingy then, Elder Gao."

Amid Yu'an's puzzled gaze, Yulou and Gao Jian exchanged pleasantries until they were both exhausted.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Gao Jian promised eagerly.

As the two brothers walked away, Gao Jian's smile slowly vanished, returning to his fierce, cruel expression; he glared at the pinned cultivator and barked.

"Five spirit stones for entry fee—be sensible. Don't tell me a Qi Condensation Stage Five cultivator has no five spirit stones."

"I paid yesterday—I have an entry token, and isn't the entry fee just one spirit stone?"

"Yesterday was yesterday, today is today—five is the penalty for not having today's entry token. Pay up!"

"He's already courting death."

As they moved farther from Gao Jian, Yulou murmured.

"How so?" Yu'an frowned.

"Jiang Jiang Baobian abandoned him—that means Gao Jian has no chance of Foundation Establishment; his Qi Condensation path must be wrong."

Now he's frantic, squeezing spirit stones from wandering cultivators, trying to hoard resources for Foundation Establishment.

But acquiring Foundation Establishment resources by purchase requires at least fifty thousand spirit stones; even my master spent years and still couldn't gather them all—how could Gao Jian possibly collect enough by squeezing pennies from wandering cultivators?"

Yu'an did the math and felt Yulou had miscalculated.

"He extorts five spirit stones from one wandering cultivator, ten a day—that's fifty a day, nearly twenty thousand a year, enough for Foundation Establishment in three years."

Yulou smiled, stepped into Hua Feng Ju, and left only these words hanging in the air.

"You mean he likes to eat alone?"

Yu'an slapped his own head in frustration and followed Yulou into Hua Feng Ju.

Yu'an was imaginative indeed.

Gao Jian collects twenty thousand spirit stones a year?

Anyone hearing that would think he's the Garrison Cultivator!

"Sister!"

Seeing Sister Ningyao at the door, Yu'an straightened his posture involuntarily.

Zhong Ningyao pointed toward the back chamber and said gently.

"Go in quickly—today is your crucial day; your brother has already entered."

Yu'an nodded and invited.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems—by the way, tonight we're planning to visit the Ghost Market; want to come with us?"

Hearing that Yulou and Yu'an were going to the Ghost Market, Sister Ningyao was tempted, but she shook her head.

"My father won't let me go..."

Yulou and Yu'an had at least grown up on Wang Family Mountain and lived in two places in their lives.

Zhong Ningyao had grown up entirely in Qing Xi Fang; Master Hongmei feared for her daughter's safety and never allowed her to step beyond Qing Xi Fang's borders.

"I see... then, Sister, I'll go in now."

This fool Yu'an chatted for two sentences and had no idea how to continue.

"Do your best—you're the best!" Zhong Ningyao said.

Yu'an walked into the back chamber with a dumb grin; Hongmei saw his expression and grew furious.

You brat—if you weren't my disciple, do you think I wouldn't beat you?

"Stop grinning and come over here!" Hongmei snapped.

"Due to your magic power limitations, you Qi Gathering Stage alchemists can only forge Low-Quality artifacts—but that doesn't mean you can only learn to forge Low-Quality artifacts.

Artifact forging follows patterns; in my view, Low-Quality and Mid-Quality differ little—it's merely a matter of spiritual flame control and forging skill.

Today, you two will each use Rank 9 Ink Jade and Rank 9 Blood-Soaked Purple Copper as base materials to forge Mid-Quality artifact cores.

Regarding the prohibitions, you only need to refine three layers of basic prohibitions into it, but leave enough room for later refinement.

The reason the ink-jade oil beads I gave you, including that tortoise shell, were so easy to refine later is precisely because I left room for subsequent refinement of prohibitions when I first refined them.

Now each of you pick one spiritual material, then begin."

Yulou left the ninth-grade ink jade for Wang Yuan, and took the blood-soaked purple copper for himself — this one was harder.

Beyond grade, spiritual materials of the same grade and type can also differ in special properties.

Purple copper is originally a ninth-grade spiritual metal, but after being processed with the blood of a special yao beast or other indescribable spiritual blood, it becomes blood-soaked purple copper.

The specific special effects vary according to the type of spiritual blood and the method of processing; this step is called bestowing nature.

Bestowing nature — this special method of handling spiritual materials is also the most crucial part of the Dao of Refining inheritance, a treasure that even the great sects like Zhaodengda Sect are reluctant to transmit to outsiders.

For example, when a cultivator with a wood spiritual root needs an offensive magic treasure made of spiritual metal or spiritual iron, they can choose spiritual materials that have been bestowed with wood nature as the base material, greatly increasing compatibility during use.

But correspondingly, for every advantage gained, one must bear the corresponding cost — the refining difficulty of bestowed-nature spiritual materials is also much higher.

This is also why Yulou took the initiative to choose the blood-soaked purple copper.

"Wang Yuan, have you decided how to refine this ink jade?"

Red Brow looked at the ink jade in Wang Yuan's hand and asked in a solemn voice.

Yulou he wasn't worried about — this child was like a monster; after only three years of study, his attainment in the Dao of Refining was already comparable to his own self back when he had studied for seven or eight years.

Wang Yuan, already at the fifth layer of Qi-Drawing, probed this ink jade with his magic power, and after a long while, looked toward his master and asked, full of anticipation.

"Master, may I refine ink-jade oil beads?"

Yulou's ink-jade oil beads, his tortoise shell — Wang Yuan had studied them plenty.

If he refined ink-jade oil beads, he was confident that, while refining three layers of prohibitions into it, he could leave room for seven more layers of refinement.

Red Brow took a deep breath.

Calm, calm, calm!

"Do I look like an ink-jade oil bead to you?

Just refine a jade axe — only refine the axe-blade portion, and this time remember to leave the hole for the axe handle!"

"Yes, Master!"