“I’ll tell you when you become an Artifact Refiner.” Huang Guiren usually didn’t keep anything from Qian Duoduo, but this time he held back.
“It seems he doesn’t quite believe in me. Not that he doesn’t believe in me as a person, but that he doesn’t believe I can become an Artifact Refiner. He doesn’t know that I never Cultivated before, but now I’m at Qi Condensation Level 3, almost Level 4?”
Qian Duoduo took out the Jade Slip of the Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining from his Golden Toad and slapped it in front of Huang Guiren. “Look, what’s this? Elder Tian Shu of the Artificer Hall personally gave it to me.”
Huang Guiren took it, flipped through it with his Spiritual Awareness, and then took out a Jade Slip from his Storage Pouch, handing it to Qian Duoduo. “What do you think this is?”
“Oh, no way, is it also an Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining?”
Qian Duoduo took it and carefully flipped through it. The content was indeed identical to his, both were Volume One!
“As far as I know, any Disciple who visits the Artificer Hall for the first time will have an Elder come out and give them a copy of the first volume of the Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining.”
Huang Guiren’s words woke Qian Duoduo from his dream of becoming the greatest Artifact Refiner.
However, Qian Duoduo felt that Elder Tian Shu was telling the truth and wasn’t just stringing him along.
“After giving the book, they let you study it. Once you’ve memorized everything, you go to Wanjin Pavilion to take an assessment?”
Huang Guiren nodded. “That Elder told me the same thing.”
Qian Duoduo’s heart sank a bit further. “If I pass the assessment, I get the second volume and become a Qi Apprentice?” He didn’t give up and continued to ask.
“Yes, yes, yes. First you become a Qi Apprentice, then an Apprentice, and then a First-Grade Artifact Refiner.”
In Refining Spirit Sect, Artifact Refiners were extremely scarce.
To attract Disciples within the Sect to learn Artifact Refining, the Artificer Hall had come up with many methods, and giving out books for free was one of them.
“Did you get the second volume?” Qian Duoduo scrutinized Huang Guiren, truly afraid he would pull it out. If he did, Qian Duoduo’s heart would be completely cold.
“No. This Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining makes me sleepy as soon as I open it; I can’t read it at all. I only take it out when I can’t eat enough or sleep, using it as a sleeping pill.”
Huang Guiren was a little embarrassed. He couldn’t even eat enough, so how could he have the leisure to ponder the Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining?
His words made Qian Duoduo laugh.
“Compared to him, I’m different. I can spend a whole day in the artifact materials area, and reading this Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining, I find it incredibly fascinating, becoming more energetic the more I read.”
Books can be given to everyone, but not everyone loves to read them.
After parting ways with Huang Guiren, Qian Duoduo returned to his small courtyard, placed his token on the Spiritual Platform, and saw that his balance was only a little over eight thousand.
He had to be frugal with his money; drinking Spiritual Qi like water, as he used to, was definitely out of the question now.
Qian Duoduo was sighing in his heart when his balance suddenly changed, increasing by five hundred.
Today was the day for distributing Cultivation fees. Huang Guiren should also have received five hundred gold coins, so his food and drink were temporarily not an issue.
Sitting on the Spiritual Platform, Qian Duoduo thought it over and over, setting the Spiritual Platform to the lowest setting, ten gold coins per hour.
It was just like the first time Qian Duoduo sat on the Spiritual Platform. The poor had their own way of living.
After lighting a Concentration Incense, Qian Duoduo opened the Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining, determined to begin studying this classic that everyone in the Sect possessed.
There were ten thousand types of spiritual plants, categorized into four main types. Each spiritual plant was divided into six parts: root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, and seed…
Every time he looked at a type, Qian Duoduo would wonder what fun things he could create if he used it for Artifact Refining.
If he couldn’t figure it out, he would ask Liu Boli.
At this moment, Liu Boli was secretly pleased.
The predicament of being penniless had forced Qian Duoduo into the Dao of Artifact Refining, and he even aspired to become the greatest Artifact Refiner. This was much better than Liu Boli having to make Qian Duoduo do it.
Now, all he had to do was consistently maintain Qian Duoduo’s enthusiasm for Artifact Refining.
When his mood was good, his temper was good. Qian Duoduo would ask at any time, and he would answer at any time.
He answered so smoothly that it made Qian Duoduo ponder, thinking he needed to come up with some strange questions to stump this old Artifact Refiner. The more he pondered, the happier Liu Boli became…
About ten days passed in a flash. After flipping through the Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining several times, Qian Duoduo felt he had a better grasp of things and decided to go to Wanjin Pavilion to inquire about how difficult it was to become a Qi Apprentice.
Early that morning, Qian Duoduo pushed open his courtyard gate and found a path leading towards Mengyuan River, with a familiar figure busy at work.
This person was, of course, Huang Guiren. He was moving stones scattered among the grass, one by one, to pave a path about two feet wide.
Seeing Qian Duoduo approach, he stopped to explain, “The riverbank has abundant Spiritual Qi, and it’s free.”
“And there are fish, shrimp, Spirit Turtles, and frogs.” Qian Duoduo understood Huang Guiren. The riverbank was a treasure trove for Cultivation and a source of food. When Qian Duoduo ran out of money, he would do the same. He casually praised him a few times and then left.
He neither told Huang Guiren what he was going to do nor warned him about the mermaids downstream.
Wanjin Pavilion was where the Sect bought and sold artifact materials, located between Wen’an Peak and Jianjian Peak, south of the Mission Hall.
After walking for more than half an hour, Qian Duoduo saw ten golden pillars in the distance. He had arrived at Wanjin Pavilion.
Below these ten golden pillars was Wanjin Pavilion’s grand plaza.
Each golden pillar was magnificent, tens of zhang high, piercing straight into the clouds, with red patterns flickering on their surfaces.
One pattern represented an Artifact Refiner’s mark. The patterns were arranged neatly from lowest to highest.
Disciples who came here to take the assessment, if their performance was excellent, could leave their unique pattern on the golden pillar.
One golden pillar recorded the assessment for one volume of the Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining. The better the score, the higher the pattern was placed, and the larger the pattern.
Conversely, it was placed lower, and the pattern was smaller.
Those who dominated the very top of the golden pillars were called Pillar Chiefs. Those who could become Pillar Chiefs were invariably the top Artifact Refiners in the Sect.
Arriving at the base of the golden pillars, Qian Duoduo looked up, admiring these varied patterns, his heart filled with admiration.
Even though the golden pillars were tens of zhang high, each only displayed one hundred patterns.
Even though Refining Spirit Sect was a ten-thousand-year-old grand Sect, there were only one thousand patterns on the golden pillars.
Behind these patterns were all academic elites like Jin Buhuan, and specifically, academic elites among Artifact Refiners!
Some patterns were even repeated. This meant that one person had ranked among the top one hundred in assessments for different volumes!
More and more Disciples gathered in the plaza, some for assessments, others like Qian Duoduo, just watching the excitement.
Qian Duoduo circled a few golden pillars and indeed found several repeated patterns.
Among them, what surprised Qian Duoduo the most was a Fire Phoenix pattern, which was the Pillar Chief on six golden pillars.
This Fire Phoenix, shaped like a ball of flame, truly exuded immense power!
Passing the assessment was not easy, becoming a Pillar Chief was even harder, and for this Fire Phoenix to become a Six Pillar Chief was as difficult as ascending to the heavens!
As Qian Duoduo sighed in his heart, overwhelmed by the pressure, he completely lost the courage to go to the Wood House behind the pillars to take the assessment.
Suddenly, the surrounding crowd surged, and many Disciples shouted, “They’re here, they’re here!”
The sound waves were like a tide, and the human wave surged forward.
Following their eager gazes, Qian Duoduo looked south and saw a red long rainbow approaching from a distance.
That long rainbow was a red long sword, and on it stood a blue-robed woman.
This woman was under twenty years old, with fiery red long hair, unbound and unstyled, like a wisp of flame dancing in the air. Her eyebrows were curved, and her skin was as smooth and flawless as porcelain.
“Senior Sister Cao…”
“Don’t push. Even if you push to the front, Senior Sister won’t spare you a glance.”
“Senior Sister is challenging the seventh volume today. If she gets first place again, she’ll be a Seven Pillar Chief.”
“What’s a Seven Pillar Chief? Senior Sister Cao takes the ancients as her rivals, aspiring to become a Ten Pillar Chief, setting an unprecedented record for Refining Spirit Sect, and proudly entering the Inner Sect!”
The Disciples around Qian Duoduo were either gasping softly, staring blankly upwards, or debating in low voices.
From their words, Qian Duoduo learned.
This Senior Sister Cao was named Cao Yueying, and she was that Fire Phoenix. She was not only the Chief Disciple of the Xiongjin Mountain Palace Lord but also a rare Artifact Refining Genius within the Sect, an extremely rare Fire Spirit Body.
Although her Aptitude was high, she was extremely low-key, starting from Sect handyman, then Outer Sect Disciple, step by step, to temper her Heart-Nature.
She was single-mindedly ambitious, but because of her exquisite beauty, she was unfortunately hailed by the male Disciples in the Sect as the “Head of the Four Phoenixes of the Sect.”
These Four Phoenixes were Fire Phoenix Cao Yueying, Phantom Phoenix Nangong Nizi, Ice Phoenix Yu Yixiang, and Jade Phoenix Wang Meiruo.
Thinking of Yu Yixiang, who almost poked Qian Duoduo’s eye out with a silver sword, Qian Duoduo secretly thought that the nickname of Ice Phoenix was quite fitting.
As he was thinking wildly, a huge force surged from behind, almost knocking Qian Duoduo to the ground.
When he regained his footing, Qian Duoduo saw Cao Yueying had already landed at the base of the golden pillar in front of him. She walked with a purposeful stride, without looking left or right, entered a row of Wood Houses behind the golden pillars, chose one at random, and walked in.
