Chapter 25: Phase Refiner

Five hours had passed by the time Li Luo finished reading all the books in front of him; he let out a long breath and twisted his stiff neck.

Yan Lingqing and Cai Wei were chatting softly nearby, but upon hearing the sigh, they stopped their conversation and looked over.

"Not bad, you still have some patience," Yan Lingqing commented indifferently, though it was clear she was fairly satisfied with Li Luo's performance.

To become a Phase Refiner, patience is a very important point, because they need to blend many materials together through repeated refinement, and the dosage of each must be extremely precise, allowing for not the slightest error; this point alone perhaps requires long-term practice.

Yan Lingqing stood up, came to the workbench, and beckoned to Li Luo, who hurriedly walked over.

On the workbench, a dazzling array of transparent crystal bottles were placed, filled with strange and peculiar materials.

"Refining Spirit Liquid and Light, simply put, is to follow a formula, fuse various materials together in perfect dosages, and use the characteristics between different materials to decompose the impurities contained within them; the final product formed is Spirit Liquid and Light."

Yan Lingqing took a crystal bottle containing a blue flower, the surface of which had ripples faintly spreading: "This is a Three-Leaf Water Flower."

Her slender jade hand gripped the crystal bottle and gave it a gentle shake, shattering the flower into powder; at the same time, Li Luo saw blue phase power rise from her body, flow along her arm, and surge into the crystal bottle, finally merging with the powder of the Three-Leaf Water Flower.

"When refining, we need to mobilize our own Water Phase or Light Phase power to fuse with the materials and enhance the characteristics they contain, but one must grasp the strength of the phase power input; if it is too strong, it will damage the materials, and if it is too weak, it will lead to a failure in the refinement."

As the Water Phase power surged into it, after a few breaths, Li Luo saw some deep blue and slightly viscous liquid gradually condensing inside the crystal bottle.

Immediately after, Yan Lingqing followed the same procedure, quickly blending about a dozen more materials, and finally, with extremely practiced movements, she poured them into each other in a specific order.

Half an hour later, these liquid materials were completely mixed together, and suddenly a violent reaction occurred, even beginning to boil.

"The next step will be the final one, and also a very important one; to fuse all these materials together, one needs a force to coordinate them. This force is one of the important factors influencing the degree of refining power the final Spirit Liquid and Light will possess."

"That force is called Source Water, or Source Light."

"In fact, simply put, it is the energy formed by highly condensing one's own Water Phase power or Light Phase power."

Yan Lingqing took a diamond-shaped crystal from the side, with a crystal jar hanging beneath it.

She held the crystal in her hand, and blue phase power was seen surging out and into the crystal; ripples vibrated in circles on the crystal, and a moment later, Li Luo saw a drop of deep blue liquid slowly drip down from the sharp point at the bottom of the crystal, falling into the crystal jar.

"This is a Phase-Gathering Crystal; its function is to highly condense one's own phase power to finally form Source Water."

Yan Lingqing dripped this drop of Source Water into the boiling crystal bottle, and suddenly a magical scene appeared: the boiling phenomenon instantly subsided, the chaos within was eliminated, and finally, a brilliant blue light erupted.

A vial of Spirit Liquid and Light was successfully produced.

Li Luo looked at the liquid emitting a blue halo in the crystal bottle and clicked his tongue in admiration.

"This is only a first-grade Spirit Liquid and Light, so it is very simple and not troublesome to refine," Yan Lingqing said nonchalantly; she herself was a fourth-grade Phase Refiner, so for her, a first-grade Spirit Liquid and Light was indeed just a casual task.

However, Li Luo had self-awareness; even though Yan Lingqing refined it without the slightest error, as smoothly as eating or drinking, he, having some understanding of the basic knowledge of Phase Refiners, knew that this smoothness was built upon countless failures.

Li Luo looked at the Phase-Refining Crystal and asked: "The quality of Source Water and Source Light can enhance the refining power of the finished Spirit Liquid and Light, so what does their quality depend on?"

Yan Lingqing said indifferently: "The strength of the quality of Source Water and Source Light depends only on the grade of one's own Water Phase or Light Phase; the higher the grade of the Water Phase or Light Phase, the better the quality of the Source Water and Source Light condensed."

"Therefore, people who possess high-grade Water Phases or Light Phases have a higher advantage when becoming Phase Refiners than ordinary people."

"Take Jiang Qing'e for example; if she were willing to become a Phase Refiner, then the Spirit Liquid and Light she refined in the future would have a refining power far exceeding that of others. But it is a pity that she has no interest in becoming a Phase Refiner, even though that Dean of the Phase Refining Institute at the Astral Sage College begged her earnestly for a full year..."

Li Luo nodded; Jiang Qing'e possessed the extremely rare ninth-grade Light Phase, which was indeed a heaven-sent condition, but her heart was not set on this, and she did not want to be distracted by being a Phase Refiner.

"Then what if she were to condense some high-quality Source Light for backup? Could that improve the refining power of the Spirit Liquid and Light produced by Xiyang House?"

Yan Lingqing shook her head and said: "Even for people with the same phase, the Source Water and Source Light they condense actually still contain different characteristics and subtle personal will. For example, the materials I spent half a day blending already contained my phase power; if I were to add Source Water condensed by another person at this time, it would cause a conflict, thereby leading to a failure in the refinement."

"However, there are indeed secret methods in this world that can refine some special Source Water and Source Light through unique techniques, thereby being used to improve the refining power of Spirit Liquid and Light. Those are called Secret Method Source Water and Source Light, but these are almost top-secret within every faction, and we at Xiyang House do not have them."

Upon hearing this, Li Luo could not help but be lost in thought. He was born with an Empty Phase, and even though he later refined an acquired "Water-Light Phase," the "emptiness" of his Empty Phase was preserved. Just as his phase palace could tolerate the erosion of impurities from countless Spirit Liquid and Light, the Source Water and Source Light he condensed from this should also possess this "empty" nature that could contain anything. Could this then be provided for other Phase Refiners to use?

Although his "Water-Light Phase" was currently only fifth-grade, the combination of the Water Phase and the Light Phase possessed a refining quality that was not as simple as one plus one.

Li Luo was confident that if it were just a simple comparison of the refining quality of phase power, his fifth-grade Water-Light Phase would likely not be weaker than a normal seventh-grade Water Phase or Light Phase.

And generally speaking, Phase Refiners who could possess a seventh-grade Water Phase or Light Phase were not common.

But there was no rush for this; he should wait until he had entered the path of a Phase Refiner and tried it out himself first.

While Li Luo's thoughts were turning, Yan Lingqing adjusted her silver-rimmed glasses and said: "If you really want to become a Phase Refiner, come here every day when you have time. I will teach you some basic things, and when you can independently refine a first-grade Spirit Liquid and Light, you will be a first-grade Phase Refiner."

"Then thank you, Sister Lingqing." Having achieved his goal for the day, Li Luo could not help but smile and thank her sincerely.

Yan Lingqing waved her hand in a cool and detached manner, put on her long coat, and pulled Cai Wei out of the refining room.

In the period that followed, Li Luo's life became plain, fulfilling, and regular.

During the day, he practiced at Nanfeng Academy, then returned to the old residence to cultivate for some time with the help of the Golden House, practiced some phase arts, and finally went to Xiyang House to begin learning how to become a qualified Phase Refiner under Yan Lingqing's guidance.

As for the first batch of fifth-grade Spirit Liquid and Light he had asked Cai Wei to purchase, it had also arrived, so he would also set aside time every day to absorb and refine some Spirit Liquid and Light.

As time passed, Li Luo could feel that he was becoming stronger with each passing day.

Until the day before the preliminary examination at Nanfeng Academy, Li Luo's phase power level finally stepped into the Sixth Seal as he had wished.

(End of chapter)