Chapter 27: The First-Rank Refining Room

After leaving the academy, Li Luo did not hurry back to the old residence, but instead headed straight for the Xiyang House.

The guards outside the Xiyang House had long grown accustomed to Li Luo, who had been showing up here frequently lately, so after a brief bow, they let him pass freely.

Stepping into the Xiyang House, which was filled with a faint fragrance, Li Luo's spirits lifted slightly. His recent studies had made him increasingly interested in the profession of a Material Refiner.

"Hehe, the young manor lord has been coming to the Xiyang House quite often lately." Just as Li Luo was thinking about the first-rank Spirit Water Wonder Light he had been practicing, a sudden laugh rang out from the side.

Li Luo turned his head and saw Zhuang Yi, the vice president of the Xiyang House, looking at him with a smile.

"I heard the young manor lord awakened a fifth-rank water phase?" Zhuang Yi asked, seemingly curious.

Li Luo had been practicing refining techniques at the Xiyang House for many days now, and news of his fifth-rank water phase had long since spread.

Li Luo gazed at this vice president of the Xiyang House who had thrown in his lot with Manager Pei Hao, gave a slight nod, and said, "I'm learning refining techniques from Sister Yan Lingqing."

Zhuang Yi smiled and said, "Vice President Yan is a top student from the Sacred Mystic Star Academy, and her skills are certainly not lacking. However, she is a bit inexperienced. If the young manor lord truly wishes to learn, I, though unworthy, could also offer some guidance."

Li Luo smiled. Zhuang Yi's sudden kindness left him unsure whether the man wanted to keep him under surveillance to report his exact situation to Manager Pei Hao, or genuinely wished to guide him.

But between Jiang Jiang Qinge's close friend and this vice president who had sided with Manager Pei Hao, Li Luo's choice was obviously not a difficult one.

So he shook his head and said, "I think Sister Yan Lingqing is pretty good. If I need anything in the future, I'll come find Vice President Bei then."

"What a pity." Zhuang Yi sighed, sounding genuinely regretful.

Li Luo said no more and was about to leave, when he suddenly thought of something and said, "Oh, Vice President Zhuang, I heard from Sister Yan Lingqing earlier that materials in some of her refining rooms sometimes run short. I understand material procurement is under your purview, so could you make sure to replenish them in time?"

At these words, Zhuang Yi furrowed his brow and said, somewhat troubled, "Young manor lord, this isn't my doing. It's just that material procurement can sometimes be troublesome, so occasional shortages are perfectly normal. Of course, since you've brought it up, I'll pay more attention to this in the future."

Facing the man's seemingly respectful yet actually somewhat careless excuse, Li Luo said nothing, only gave him a deep look before brushing past him and walking away.

Zhuang Yi watched his retreating figure, the smile on his face gradually fading.

"Vice President, who would have thought this young manor lord would suddenly awaken a fifth-rank phase. What a surprise," a subordinate loyal to him whispered beside Zhuang Yi.

"Most likely the two manor lords left him some rare heavenly treasure. Using such a treasure on him is truly a waste," Zhuang Yi said flatly.

"But it's only fifth-rank in the end, nothing too outstanding. If this young manor lord wants to rise, it won't be that easy."

He waved his hand and said, "Pass this information along to Young Master Pei Hao."

"Also, the matter of taking back control of the First-Rank Refining Room should be pushed forward. That woman Yan Yan Lingqing is becoming more and more of an eyesore."

"Yes!"

When Li Luo stepped into the First-Rank Refining Room, he saw it divided into dozens of compartments separated by crystal walls, with a figure busy at work behind each one.

Among them, Li Luo also spotted the tall, slender Yan Yan Lingqing. She wore a long coat, her hands tucked into her pockets, her expression cold as she surveyed all around.

At that moment, she had stopped in front of a crystal wall, watching indifferently as a first-rank Material Refiner completed the refining of a Spirit Water Wonder Light.

Under Yan Yan Lingqing's gaze, the young first-rank Material Refiner grew somewhat nervous, then took a slender crystal needle from the side. The needle bore precise gradations.

This was a quenching-testing needle. As the name implied, it was used to check what level of quenching force the finished Spirit Water Wonder Light had achieved.

The crystal needle was inserted into the bottle of Spirit Water Wonder Light, and the gradations on it began to climb steadily from low to high.

Finally, it stopped at the four-tenths-six position.

Seeing this, Yan Yan Lingqing said coldly, "A Spirit Water Wonder Light with this level of quenching force, if put up for sale, would only tarnish the Xiyang House's reputation."

The first-rank Material Refiner hung his head in dejection.

But Yan Yan Lingqing showed no mercy. She said sternly, "In your refining just now, you made no fewer than four mistakes. The White Leaf Fruit wasn't modulated with enough heat, the Moonlight Extract was too thick, the smokeless water was too thin, and during the final harmonization, your water phase power didn't meet the saturation requirement."

"Refine it again."

With that, she turned and walked away, her cold gaze sweeping over the many first-rank Material Refiners in the room. Every one of them fell silent as cicadas in winter, burying their heads and focusing intently on their refining.

Yan Yan Lingqing adjusted her silver-framed glasses, her pretty face cold. Clearly, she was very dissatisfied with the results of these first-rank Material Refiners.

A hint of irritation flickered in her eyes. Although she had come to help hold down the fort at Jiang Jiang Qinge's request, she was ultimately an outsider parachuted in. When it came to reputation within this branch, Zhuang Yi was indeed stronger than her.

This Xiyang House branch was divided into three refining rooms, from first-rank to third-rank, with each level responsible for refining Spirit Water Wonder Lights of different grades.

Thanks to Jiang Jiang Qinge's appointment, Yan Yan Lingqing had taken control of the first-rank and second-rank refining rooms the moment she arrived. However, the third-rank refining room remained firmly in Zhuang Yi's grasp.

The two sides had been engaged in open and covert struggles over control of these refining rooms for a long time. After all, whoever controlled the refining rooms controlled most of the Material Refiners. For the Xiyang House, whose sole purpose was refining Spirit Water Wonder Lights, Material Refiners were undoubtedly its most important asset.

But recently, Zhuang Yi had clearly grown restless. He had begun making moves on the First-Rank Refining Room, using as his pretext that a disciple he had trained had refined a first-rank Spirit Water Wonder Light reaching a quality of five-tenths-six.

This quality was considered top-tier among the first-rank Spirit Water Wonder Lights produced by the Xiyang House. So Zhuang Yi used this as his reason to widely spread the claim that Yan Yan Lingqing was not adept at guiding first-rank Material Refiners. This had recently caused some wavering among the first-rank Material Refiners in the Xiyang House.

If this situation continued, Yan Yan Lingqing felt the First-Rank Refining Room might truly be taken from her by Zhuang Yi.

Even though she had the support of Jiang Jiang Qinge and Cai Wei, as long as Zhuang Yi hadn't made any overt mistakes, they couldn't just kick this old Xiyang House veteran out directly. Doing so would instead cause some unrest within the Xiyang House, which would affect the refining of Spirit Water Wonder Lights, and the only loser would be the House Luolan Manor.

Feeling irritated, Yan Yan Lingqing merely glanced at Li Luo as he walked into the refining room, with no spare energy to say anything.

Li Luo, however, was quite casual about it. He walked straight to an unused refining booth, where a pretty young woman whispered, "Young manor lord, you're here."

Li Luo smiled and nodded in response. While organizing the materials on the refining table, he casually asked in a low voice, "Sister Sister Yinghua, does Vice President Yan seem to be in a bad mood?"

The young woman he called Sister Sister Yinghua stuck out her tongue and said, "We've all been scolded all morning."

Then she briefly explained the whole story.

After listening, Li Luo finally understood. So it was about the First-Rank Refining Room. This was indeed no small matter. If Zhuang Yi truly succeeded in his bid, it would deal a massive blow to Yan Yan Lingqing's reputation, causing her voice in the Xiyang House to gradually diminish.

Thinking of this, Li Luo frowned. He certainly didn't want to see that happen. After all, this Xiyang House branch contributed about half of the House Luolan Manor's annual income in Tianshu Prefecture, and right now he was in desperate need of large funds. If any problems arose here, it would undoubtedly have a huge impact on him.

Most importantly, Zhuang Yi was Manager Pei Hao's man. Given that Bai Yanlang's temperament, he might even swallow this Xiyang House branch whole.

But there was no point in thinking about that now, so Li Luo turned and laid out a page of first-rank formula blueprints called "Emerald Spirit Water" on the table, then took out various configuration materials and began his practice for the day.

Two hours of practice slipped by quietly. Just as Li Luo's refining was becoming increasingly skillful, the door of the First-Rank Refining Room was suddenly pushed open. Everyone's hands paused, and they saw a group led by Zhuang Yi pour in.

Their mere bearing made it clear they had come with ill intent.

(I made a mistake. This vice president should be called Zhuang Yi. The earlier "Bei Yu" was the original name from when I was writing the draft. I thought it didn't sound good later and changed it, but didn't expect some leftovers to slip through.)

(End of chapter)