Chapter 38: The Way of Artifact Refining

The next place was still in the Taoyuan mountains, about seven miles away from Xingde Mountain, in a canyon.

"To the northwest is Five Thunder Mountain, to the southeast is Wang Yue Mountain. This valley goes east, which is the main road to Dongting..." Standing at the mouth of the valley, Xingde Jun pointed to both sides and introduced them to Liu Xiaolou.

Just as he was speaking, several people came down from both mountains, following the mountain road eastward, preparing to leave Taoyuan. When they saw Xingde Jun and Liu Xiaolou, they asked: "Are you also driven away by the Qingyu Sect?"

Xingde Jun kept a cold face and didn't speak, but Liu Xiaolou took the conversation: "Are you all?"

As more people gathered, these few complained one after another: "Damn! The people of the Qingyu Sect should all die!"

"What does it have to do with them? Not letting us make a living here?"

"The Zhou family was robbed, it wasn't us who did it. I heard about it and rushed over, wanting to get a share, but it had already been robbed, I didn't make it! Now it's good, I didn't get any benefits, and I suffered for nothing. It's so unjust!"

"Taoyuan doesn't let people live, where else can we go?"

"Where else can we go? Everyone go back to their hometowns."

"Alright, where is your hometown? I'm not going back. There's no way to live if I go back."

"Good, you're welcome. I'm from Heishan. Brother, you can come to Heishan, let's plan a big event together..."

"Heishan?"

"North Cliff of Heishan."

"North Cliff? Do you know the Thousand-Faced Butcher?"

"Yo, after talking for a long time, we're actually one family! Butcher Brother is my brother, although not blood-related, he's closer than a real brother..."

"Closer your mother! Big Hips, Crazy Man, let's fight together!"

"Hey... why are you fighting? Brothers, what are you saying? Ouch..."

"Go back and ask that butcher, you'll know. Beat you up first to vent my anger, then take you to the North Cliff of Heishan to settle the account with him and return my sister!"

At the mouth of the valley, flying swords and long knives danced together, water arrows accompanied fireballs, and it immediately turned into a mess.

Liu Xiaolou hurriedly pulled Xingde Jun and left, quickly drilling into the valley. Xingde Jun looked back while sneering: "This bunch of wild cultivators!"

Liu Xiaolou rolled his eyes and thought: "Isn't this very normal?"

The forest and vines in the valley were dense and difficult to walk. Liu Xiaolou used his sword to hack out a small path in front and arrived in a pile of chaotic stones.

Xingde Jun pointed to one of the large stones: "Move it away."

After the large stone was moved away, a cave appeared underneath, very narrow.

"What kind of mine is this?" Liu Xiaolou asked curiously.

"This is not a mine, this is an ancient tomb," Xingde Jun said, leaping in.

Down in the earth cave, he lit a fire starter. In front of him was a tomb passage three zhang long. Following the tomb passage inward, a stone room appeared, with a stone coffin parked in the center of the stone room.

"When I discovered this place, the burial items had already been stolen, and there were no corpses, only the mercury in the coffin remained. Perhaps the grave robbers couldn't take it away."

Liu Xiaolou approached the coffin and saw that it was filled with a thick layer of silver liquid. He probed it with his sword, causing a slight ripple. It was indeed mercury.

"I heard that mercury can protect the corpse from decaying. Is it true?"

"It is indeed so, but it requires a lot of mercury. Ordinary people can't get so much. The tomb owner was probably a great hero and scholar back then."

"So it's cheap for us."

"Mercury can protect spiritual power from gathering and not dispersing, and it is indispensable when refining artifacts. But remember not to have too much; it is important to be light, thin, and even. Most artifact refiners in the world always think that the more they add, the more they can lock the true qi from dispersing. In fact, that is a fallacy. If you add too much, the artifact will lose its agility and only remain clumsy."

This was another secret of artifact refining. Liu Xiaolou hurriedly remembered it.

Xingde Jun took out a small bamboo tube and let Liu Xiaolou take a tube of mercury from the stone coffin.

Afterward, the two of them mined realgar, saltpeter, and other things in various places, and the sky turned dark.

Xingde Jun, however, had no intention of returning to the temple, but took advantage of the night to leave Taoyuan with Liu Xiaolou and headed east. Occasionally, they would deviate from the direction to go to some wild mountains or some deep stream, mining the necessary items.

He told Liu Xiaolou that the materials needed for artifact refining are ever-changing, but some of them are needed by the vast majority of artifacts, namely the Five Metals and Eight Stones.

The Five Metals are gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin. The Eight Stones are cinnabar, realgar, mica, malachite, sulfur, rock salt, orpiment, and saltpeter. Each metal and each stone also has different types and distinctions, and their effects are vastly different. The artifact refined will exhibit the characteristics of the quality of the materials used.

The determination of its quality must begin with its color, hardness, weight, and purity, ultimately classifying it into the Five Elements.

And the essence of artifact refining is the refining of the Five Elements.

Walking and talking along the way, Liu Xiaolou listened intently, asking questions from time to time, and before he knew it, he had learned until dawn.

The path of artifact refining is broad and profound; even Star Dejun himself said that what he taught was actually just the way of array plates in artifact refining, but even so, it left Liu Xiaolou dizzy and confused, knowing the 'what' but not the 'why.' This is not a task for a single day or night; it can only be learned slowly and repeatedly.

While learning, Liu Xiaolou also realized Star Dejun's painstaking efforts; Star Dejun was passing on his own secret artifact-refining techniques, likely as a way to repay the favor. This made Liu Xiaolou very happy, and he became even more diligent in his studies.

Fortunately, the Three Mystical Scriptures technique includes a method for refining Illusory Fragrant Tendons, and Liu Xiaolou had spent many years of hard work on this; many things were interconnected, so his learning feedback was very agile, leaving Star Dejun with an excellent impression.

Before he knew it, he suddenly saw a vast expanse of blue waves ahead, with dozens of fishing boats hoisting their sails, casting nets to catch fish on the water; this was their arrival at Dongtinghu.

There is a large island in the center of the lake, but it cannot be seen from the shore because Dongtinghu is too vast. That invisible large island is Junshan, one of the world's blessed lands, and also the location of the Green Jade Sect's mountain gate. Liu Xiaolou gazed into the center of the lake, filled with longing.

Following the lakeshore southward, they circled around a large loop, then left the shore and traveled more than twenty miles to the northwest, where they saw a mountain villa with heavy tiles and overlapping eaves.

Star Dejun stopped advancing, led Liu Xiaolou into a nearby forest, and took out dry rations to fill their stomachs.

Liu Xiaolou asked, "Senior, have you been watching that villa just now?"

Star Dejun said, "This is the Zhou family's mountain villa."

Liu Xiaolou was surprised: "The one that was ransacked a few days ago? It doesn't look as wealthy as the Zhang family's mountain villa in Xiangnan."

Star Dejun said, "Are you talking about Zhang Xianbai's Brocade Screen Villa? The Zhou family's villa has a much deeper foundation than Brocade Screen Villa, and the experts and cultivators in the villa are not comparable to those at Brocade Screen Villa. Aside from Zhang Xianbai, Brocade Screen Villa has no other good hands, but the Zhou family's current generation has three great experts, two of whom reached Foundation Establishment long ago and are inner sect disciples of the Green Jade Sect."

Liu Xiaolou glanced at Star Dejun and probed, "Senior's injury is..."

Star Dejun nodded: "It was here that I was injured."

Liu Xiaolou was overjoyed: "So Senior also accepted the Heroic Invitation! Or perhaps, Senior is the one who issued the invitation? I wonder about you and Wang Laoda..."

Star Dejun was stunned: "What Heroic Invitation? What Wang Laoda?"

Seeing that he was not pretending, Liu Xiaolou quickly changed the subject: "Senior said there are no good people in the Zhou family, so why come here? Could it be that the Zhou family has treasures for artifact refining? Is Senior trying to follow the example of the heroes from a few days ago... no, follow the example of those thieves, and break into the mountain villa again?"

Star Dejun shook his head: "Coming here this time is just on the way; the main thing is still to mine materials in the vicinity. However... since we are here, do me a favor and lure Luo Luo Niangzi Zhou Qi over from the villa."

Liu Xiaolou was stunned, then smiled: "So that's it. Senior, rest assured, this is something I am quite good at. Does this Luo Luo Niangzi Zhou Qi have any cultivation? What is her cultivation level?"