Chapter 35

Spirit fire is essential for forging, and Yulou skillfully added peach wood spirit charcoal to the forging furnace.

Beside him, Hongmei sat on a chair, silently watching the two brothers work in tandem.

Without forging Pearl-Shaped artifacts, reshaping ink jade requires spirit water; Wang Yuan swiftly went to the stream called Qin Yun Qing Xi behind the courtyard and fetched a basin of spirit water.

"Begin now—the spirit fire's temperature is just right," Yulou reminded.

Wang Yuan took a deep breath, tossed the ink jade into the forging furnace, then used his qi to draw some spirit water and poured it into the furnace's water trough for later use.

He skillfully followed the forging methods he'd learned over the past three years, carefully controlling the spirit fire as he began refining the ink jade.

But soon, Wang Yuan's expression turned strange.

"Master, something's wrong," Yulou also noticed the issue.

The reaction between the spirit water and the ink jade's spiritual nature didn't match past experience—this piece of ink jade Wang Yuan was refining seemed flawed.

Hongmei rose and took control of the forging furnace and spirit fire, using his spiritual sense to examine the ink jade.

"No problem... wait—no! It's not the ink jade's fault!

Damn it, Jiang Bao left, and this new guy's even worse—this beast actually diluted the spirit water with plain water!"

How vile could the garrison cultivators sent by Hong Deng Zhao possibly be?

Hongmei's answer: Don't insult beasts!

"What do we do now?"

Not just Wang Yuan—even Yulou was stunned.

The Hong Deng Zhao disciples' greed was truly disgusting: Huafeng Mansion paid everything it owed every year, handing over hundreds of spirit stones, yet the garrison cultivators still kept finding ways to squeeze more.

Too vile!

"Do nothing!" Hongmei snorted, manipulating qi to sweep the water Wang Yuan had brought—plain water separated out from the spirit water.

"Continue. Here, take back control."

Wang Yuan, drenched in sweat, resumed forging, while Yulou turned to their master and asked:

"Won't they fear someone reporting this?"

Hongmei replied with a dark expression.

"Hmph, Jiang's ancestral patriarch is a disciple of a Jin Dan True Person, at the Purple Mansion realm.

This Mu Chunze? His master is also a Purple Mansion cultivator.

Do you think these garrison cultivators are just pocketing spirit stones?

No—they're here on official missions. Who dares speak up?

Besides, Hong Deng Zhao's Merit Hall has drained the surplus wealth of all cultivators in this region; naturally, this Mu family must scrape the land even harder."

At this, the two fell silent, watching Wang Yuan forge in quiet.

Half a quarter-hour later, sweat-soaked Wang Yuan finally completed the ink jade axe.

On the palm-sized blade, three layers of basic sealing arrays had been forged in—durability, control, and power amplification—making it a low-quality artifact.

"Acceptable. Though only six layers of refinement space remain, it's at least entered the realm of Mid-Quality artifacts."

Hongmei examined Wang Yuan's ink jade axe and gave his judgment.

Mid-Quality artifacts require nine to seventeen sealing layers; the ink jade axe had barely entered the threshold.

But Wang Yuan was only at Qi Gathering Stage Five—this result was already impressive.

Then Hongmei turned to Yulou and warned:

"Yulou, your turn. This blood-soaked purple copper is infused with the spirit blood of a Ren Water Poison Frog—it carries water nature, with traces of metal and water duality. How confident are you?"

Playing with the blood-soaked purple copper in his hand, Yulou replied modestly:

"I'll do my best."

Beside him, Wang Yuan had already fetched another basin of spirit water from Qin Yun Qing Xi, watching his master with hopeful eyes, silently urging him to finish the water fix so his brother could begin forging.

"Good. I'm looking forward to it," Hongmei smiled.

Yulou remained calm, studying the blood-soaked purple copper for a long time before finally placing it into the forging furnace.

The peach wood spirit fire burned fiercely; Wang Yuan, covered in soot, watched as the scorching flames licked the purple copper inside the furnace—under the influence of spirit fire and spirit water, its spiritual nature quickly reached peak activity.

Yulou selected several other auxiliary materials from the storage rack and added them one by one into the furnace.

Wang Yuan recognized the pattern—this was the formula for a purple copper sword!

"You're forging a flying sword?" he exclaimed.

"Quiet!" Hongmei snapped.

Wang Yuan scowled: When I was forging, you two chatted freely—but now that he's forging, I'm not allowed to speak?

Master, I'm your disciple too!

Feeling the changes in the purple copper, sweat began to bead on Yulou's forehead.

The strength of purple copper differs from cold black iron: cold black iron is one of the rare heavy-hitting base materials among the Nine-Tier Spirit Materials, producing artifacts with exceptional offensive power.

But purple copper excels in high qi conversion efficiency—the purple copper beads Zhong Ningyao gave the two brothers could be used as remote artillery platforms to cast spells during combat.

Yet the form of a purple copper sword means it cannot merely serve as an artillery platform—that would be pointless; you'd just forge it as a purple copper bead instead.

A purple copper sword is about breaking spells!

When an opponent's spell flies toward you, you simply launch the purple copper sword to slash through it—consuming only three parts of your own qi to sever a spell fueled by ten parts of theirs.

You gain a decisive advantage in a single exchange!

But forging a spell-breaking purple copper flying sword is extremely difficult; halfway through, Yulou realized he'd overreached.

He activated the Jade Ruyi in his mind—the Jade Ruyi now held a small vial of Jin Guang.

Watching Yulou, drenched in sweat, Hongmei grew tense.

He knew Yulou was barely holding back the turbulent spiritual nature of the purple copper—its high qi conversion rate came with unique instability; purple copper was far harder to control than ink jade, and prone to violent explosions.

At this moment, Hong Mei's mood was complex; he hoped Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou could refine a Purple Copper Magic Sword, after all, he had taught Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou for several years.

But he also secretly harbored a thought that Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou would fail in his refinement; after all, if Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou could forge a Mid-Quality Artifact-grade Flying Sword at sixteen, how would Hong Mei, who only forged his first Mid-Quality Flying Sword in his forties, face himself?

Therefore, the realm where a disciple need not be inferior to the master, and the master need not be superior to the disciple, is not something just anyone can easily achieve.

Before the artifact furnace, Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou gritted his teeth and made a dangerous decision; the Purple Copper Magic Sword was definitely impossible to refine, and using the Jin Guang from the Jade Ruyi would be useless.

He mobilized his spiritual power and directly discarded one-third of the molten Purple Copper, leaving two-thirds to continue refining.

With the quantity reduced, Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou successfully suppressed the surging spiritual nature within the Purple Copper!

The Jin Guang of the Jade Ruyi was consumed rapidly, while Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou's Artifact Crafting Method was steady and fast.

The speed and accuracy of refining the prohibitions also improved greatly, greatly.

Hong Mei exhaled, and his tense nerves relaxed.

He did not believe two-thirds of a block of Purple Copper could refine a Mid-Quality Artifact; a Mid-Quality Artifact required at least nine layers of prohibitions, and if the artifact base material was too small, nine layers could not be refined into it.

But Hong Mei was not happy either; instead, he felt some regret.

Refining a Mid-Quality Flying Sword at sixteen; if Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou could do it, it would actually be quite good.

But soon, his expression became Solemn again.

Because, under Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou's control, the 'Flying Sword' in the furnace was taking shape rapidly.

But as the shape of the artifact became clearer, it looked less and less like a Flying Sword.

Was he... trying to refine a Copper Cone?

No, it wasn't a cone either!

What was that?

Why was it flat?

Did he intend to refine a Copper Mirror?

Under the same mass, excessively pursuing surface area in artifact refinement would lead to insufficient durability in the refined artifact.

But if the surface area was insufficient, the number of prohibition layers in the artifact could not be raised high.

Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou chose to refine the remaining Purple Copper into a flat Copper Mirror, abandoning durability!

Adopting an extreme method to achieve maximum functionality!

The thin Purple Copper Mirror could achieve the maximization of prohibition layers while abandoning artifact durability.

From Flying Sword to Copper Cone, from Copper Cone spreading out into a Copper Mirror, Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou had Hong Mei pulled and tugged until he was numb.

Finally, when Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou presented the Purple Copper Mirror to Hong Mei, Hong Mei did not know what to say.

"This... never mind. A Ren Water Purple Copper Mirror with dual Jin and Water natures. Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou, you have great ideas."

Examining the Purple Copper Mirror in his hand, Hong Mei was somewhat speechless.

Three layers of prohibitions were also refined inside, but Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou, with his exquisite level in the Dao of Refinement, had left at least ten layers of refinement space; this was already a Premium Quality Mid-Quality Artifact embryo.

Looking at the Copper Mirror his elder brother had refined, Wang Yuan comforted himself that he was merely lacking a Fire Spirit Root; later, when refining artifacts with the Earth-Storage Method, he would definitely refine better than Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou.

"This is the first Mid-Quality Artifact you have refined. Half-step Mid-Quality is also Mid-Quality. Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou, give it a name," Hong Mei said.

Seeing Seeing Seeing Wang Yulou thought for a moment and said.

"Just call it the Ren Water Magic Mirror. It is just... its current situation is too awkward, having no effect at all. May I ask Master to step in and refine it slightly?"

This mirror focused on functionality, but currently, with only three layers of prohibitions, its functionality could not be highlighted at all; in other words, it was currently useless.

"Never mind. Wang Yuan, give me your Ink Jade Axe; I will refine both of them together.

Being able to refine Mid-Quality Artifacts means your level in the Dao of Refinement is sufficient; next, you should learn refinement and power enhancement."

Taking the Ink Jade Axe, Hong Mei looked at the two youths.

"Come earlier tomorrow; I will take you out of Qing Xi Fang to learn how to use the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to amplify the power of artifacts."