Chapter 8

Ye Liuyun immediately signed a cooperation contract with Liang Xue.

He also added a clause to the contract that all commissions from the elixir trades would be credited to Yu Er, as a thank‑you for her procurement assistance.

Yu Er was so grateful she almost knelt to thank Ye Liuyun. Just this single deal earned Yu Er a commission of over a thousand crystal coins, enough for an ordinary family to live on for several months. And there will be more in the future!

After the elixir transaction, Ye Liuyun asked Yu Er to fetch paper and a pen to write down the ingredients and quantities he needed.

The ingredients Ye Liuyun listed included those for forging a Gu Yuan Dan, as well as those for making healing, detoxifying, body‑refining elixirs and liquid medicines, making it impossible to infer the Gu Yuan Dan formula. So he wasn't worried they would figure it out.

Buying these ingredients cost him only sixty thousand crystal coins, leaving him with eighty thousand crystal coins still in hand.

When he was about to leave, Yu Er escorted him out of Wanbaoge and, fearing Ye Liuyun didn't know the significance of the Zi Card, specifically told him, "Young Master, even the heads of the Great Clans in Fengyang City aren't entitled to possess this Zi Card!"

"Huh?" Ye Liuyun was startled, not expecting the Zi Card to be so valuable.

"Besides discounts, what else does this card do?" he asked hurriedly.

"This card can be used in all businesses under Wanbaoge, and it also lets the various Hall Masters assist you three times! As for anything else, I'm not sure. When you have a chance later, you can ask the Young Master!"

Yu Er's knowledge was limited, but even the information she provided was enough to catch Ye Liuyun's attention.

Having Hall Masters assist you three times is equivalent to three life‑saving chances!

He tucked the Zi Card away, thanked Yu Er, and then returned to the Ye Clan.

Inside Wanbaoge, Alchemist Lu asked Liang Xue in confusion, "Young Master, I heard Ye Liuyun is a good‑for‑nothing in the Ye Clan, and these elixirs aren't even high‑grade. Giving him the Zi Card seems to overvalue him, doesn't it?"

Liang Xue retorted, "Can a good‑for‑nothing cross the Third Layer Realm to wound Mo Tianyi? Can a good‑for‑nothing forge a lost‑tech elixir?"

Liang Xue's two sentences left Alchemist Lu speechless.

She then snorted coldly and said, "You violated Wanbaoge's rules for treating customers; go take your punishment yourself!"

"Yes!" Alchemist Lu dared not speak further and obediently stepped back out.

Liang Xue turned to the elder behind her and asked, "Xu Bo, isn't my younger brother's Soul stronger than mine?"

"Indeed! But he doesn't seem to know how to use it. It must be innate, never cultivated," the elder known as Xu Bo answered, bowing.

Liang Xue hummed, then ordered, "Have someone keep an eye on my brother's situation and inform me at any time!"

"Yes!" Xu Bo replied, then stepped away…

Although Ye Liuyun's yellow‑tier supreme elixir was hidden in his bosom and not taken out, Liang Xue's Divine Sense had already detected it, merely without exposing it.

Ye Liuyun, carrying a huge bundle of ingredients, walked back cheerfully, feeling his steps much lighter!

"Ha ha, I've found a path to riches! No more worries about elixirs from now on!"

From this elixir deal, Ye Liuyun netted over eighty thousand crystal coins!

But he also felt he was carrying too much, too conspicuous.

"I need to forge a Storage Ring for myself!"

He knew Feng Wanru already had a Storage Ring that could hold a lot of items.

So he searched his mind for information and indeed found a method to forge a storage space, and it wasn't difficult.

"Another path to wealth discovered!"

Ye Liuyun was once again excited, immersed in it.

Storage Rings are rare items in Fengyang City. Those who can wear a Storage Ring are at least seasoned elders or heads of the major Great Clans. Hence the price is naturally steep.

Ye Liuyun kept thinking about forging a Storage Ring, so much so that after he entered the Ye Clan, the disciples' gazes toward him changed, but he didn't notice.

After defeating Ye Tao, he became famous in the Outer Residence, yet he himself felt nothing.

Back in the Back Hall of the Instrument Hall, he immediately found Feng Wanru and asked, "Auntie, I want to forge a Storage Ring; do you have any space‑nest wood and Boundary‑Crossing Stone?"

Feng Wanru casually took out a piece of wood and a stone and tossed them to Ye Liuyun.

"You really do have them!" Ye Liuyun exclaimed, then teasingly asked, "Auntie, what treasures are inside your ring? Let me see them!"

"Dream on!" Feng Wanru gave him a cold stare and ignored him.

The two weren't far apart in age and often bickered, which added a lot of fun to otherwise dull days.

Next, Ye Liuyun first swallowed a top‑grade yellow‑tier Gu Yuan Dan and began cultivating.

But he found the elixir required hardly any effort to refine; it was easily absorbed.

Using the energy contained in the elixir, he condensed more than ten True Qi Seeds within his Physical Body.

Seeing that refining the elixir cost him little energy, he simply took another pill, then produced a fire‑control Formation Plate, an elixir furnace, and several metal ores, and began forging the Storage Ring.

He didn't have a dedicated forging cauldron, but thought the elixir furnace and the instrument furnace were similar enough to serve.

For his first forging, he dared not use many materials, only ordinary raw iron, and after refining added a bit of space‑nest wood.

Unexpectedly, it forged smoothly.

But because the nest wood was scarce, the ring's internal space was only one zhang square, unable to hold much.

He wasn't satisfied with this prototype and planned to keep it for sale!

As for the Storage Ring he would use, he decided to forge it anew, this time incorporating a Boundary‑Crossing Stone.

The main function of the Boundary‑Crossing Stone is to link the ring's interior with external space, allowing living things to be stored inside the ring.

For raw material, he didn't choose ordinary raw iron but used a black‑gold ore that his aunt had given him.

Thus the refining and purifying took much longer, but the ring's spatial capacity increased greatly.

Then, he used his Soul to shape the refined black‑gold into a ring form, gradually melding in the space‑nest wood and Boundary‑Crossing Stone.

After that, he employed Divine Sense to engrave defensive runes and owner‑recognition runes onto the ring, so that in battle the ring wouldn't be damaged when struck, and others couldn't open it.

Ye Liuyun performed each step with great care.

By ten minutes past midnight, the ring was complete! Its internal space spanned ten zhang square, comparable to a small treasure vault!

Ye Liuyun couldn't wait to use Divine Sense to bind the ring to himself, excitedly stuffing anything he encountered inside. He didn't even leave out the Metal Puppet.

When he tried to store his massive blacksmith's hammer, he suddenly froze.

"This hammer, I know it like the back of my hand! If I use it in battle…"

Thinking of this, he hoisted the great hammer, applied true qi, and swung it, making the hammer whoosh in the wind.

The great hammer is already heavy, and with Ye Liuyun's current strength, each strike lands with far greater power than his Nine-Layer Wave.

"Sure enough, the Hammer Technique my aunt taught me for forging works perfectly against an opponent—both offense and defense. It's truly a complete martial skill method!"

He had originally worried that during the Clan Competition he might be crushed by someone using high-level martial techniques. Now that he has this Hammer Technique, he can look down on any Ye Clan disciple's methods.

Even if he faces an opponent wielding weapons, he need not fear being at a disadvantage.

Now that he possesses high-level martial techniques and weapons, the only thing left is to raise his realm.

As for the Soul, he found that after refining a weapon, his Soul, though a bit fatigued, becomes somewhat stronger afterward.

It seems that both weapon refinement and pill alchemy, since they heavily drain the Soul, also serve as a kind of training for the Soul.