One word was enough to wake her up from her dream, and the genius school beauty was completely smitten!

Chen Family, Quiet Room.

After returning home, Chen Ruoxi did not even have time to change out of her plain dress, which was stained with cold air, and immediately rushed in here.

Her heart was filled with unprecedented excitement and anticipation!

She looked at the short sword in the Refining Cauldron, its spiritual light dimmed due to failure, took a deep breath, and forced her wildly beating heart to calm down.

A failed product no longer had any value.

With a wave of her hand, she took a piece of jet-black mysterious iron, the size of a fist, from her Storage Ring.

This was the highest-quality piece of Artifact Refining Materials she possessed.

In the past, she could not bear to use it at all.

But now, she had a sense of confidence she had never felt before!

"Essence blood as the guide..."

She muttered to herself, recalling every word Lin Ke'er had relayed.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, she pressed her fingers together like a knife and gently sliced across her fair finger.

A drop of crimson essence blood, radiating a faint, lustrous glow, seeped out from the wound.

She carefully dripped this essence blood onto the piece of mysterious iron.

Sss—

The moment the essence blood made contact with the mysterious iron, it made a faint hissing sound.

It was as if a red-hot branding iron had been plunged into ice water.

A strange feeling of a Bloodline connection instantly surged into Chen Ruoxi's heart.

She could feel a faint, tenuous connection establishing itself between her and the mysterious iron.

Success! The first step was a success!

Chen Ruoxi was ecstatic, but she dared not slack off in the slightest.

She immediately sat cross-legged, formed a seal with her hands, and the obscure and complex "Spirit Condensing Incantation" from the illustrated manual of heavenly craftsmanship appeared in her mind.

"Spirit Condensing Incantation, nourish..."

Her Divine Thought, like an invisible, warm stream, slowly poured into the mysterious iron.

Following the method Lin Yuan had described, she added a few century-old Spiritual Plants that matched the attributes of the mysterious iron as "nourishment."

Then came the long, monotonous process of nourishing it.

One day. Two days. Three days.

For three full days and nights, Chen Ruoxi did not sleep, rest, drink, or eat.

All of her focus was immersed in that piece of mysterious iron.

Finally! On the morning of the third day, the moment the first ray of sunlight shone through the window lattice into the Quiet Room!

Hum—

The mysterious iron in her palm suddenly emitted a clear, resonant hum!

A faint yet incredibly clear fluctuation, filled with the aura of life, radiated from within the mysterious iron!

An Artifact Spirit! It was the fluctuation of an Artifact Spirit!

Chen Ruoxi snapped her eyes open, and in those cold, clear pupils, an unprecedented, dazzling light erupted!

She held the mysterious iron, which was radiating a warm aura, and felt the fluctuation of the newborn, naive Artifact Spirit that was filled with dependence and closeness toward her.

The shock in her heart was like a monstrous wave, almost completely drowning her reason!

Success! She had really succeeded!

The Bottleneck that had plagued her for countless days and nights had been... broken so easily!

And all of this was just because of a casual piece of advice from that man!

Lin Yuan... This name, once again, was deeply branded into the deepest part of her Soul, like a mark.

That man was not only unfathomably powerful, like a god or demon.

Even this profound Dao of Artifact Refining seemed like a child's game in his eyes!

A casual piece of advice had solved the urgent problem that she, this so-called "Genius" of Artifact Refining, had been unable to figure out despite thinking about it a hundred times!

This level of accomplishment... this vision... had already far exceeded her imagination!

The gap between her and him was, in reality, ten thousand times greater than she had imagined!

...

A few days later. At the entrance of the Lin Family Manor.

Lin Ke'er was once again carrying a pile of Formation Materials, preparing to go out.

As soon as she stepped out, she saw that familiar figure again.

Chen Ruoxi, she had come again.

But this time, there was no longer the hesitation and unease on her face as before.

Replacing it was a heartfelt, hard-to-conceal joy and... reverence.

"Sister Chen!"

Lin Ke'er ran over happily.

Her gaze was immediately drawn to the piece of mysterious iron that Chen Ruoxi was holding in her hands.

That originally unremarkable piece of mysterious iron was now emitting a faint spiritual light, as if it had life.

"Wow! Sister Chen, you succeeded!"

Lin Ke'er noticed the change at a glance and let out an exclamation.

A heartfelt smile appeared on Chen Ruoxi's pretty face, and she nodded.

"Mm, thanks to you."

"Hehe, it's mainly because my brother is amazing!" Lin Ke'er lifted her chin proudly.

Then, her big, sparkling eyes rolled around, and suddenly, it seemed like she thought of something.

In her eyes, instantly, countless little stars appeared!

"Sister Chen, you're so amazing! Then... can you help me refine a 'nine dragons bagua mirror'?"

"I was recently reading a very ancient book on Formations, and it said that this Magic Treasure is super powerful! Not only can it assist in setting up Formations and amplify the power of the Formation many, many times, but it can also provide early warnings of danger!"

Lin Ke'er's face was filled with expectation and longing.

However. The five words "nine dragons bagua mirror" struck Chen Ruoxi like a bolt from the blue!

She was completely stunned.

nine dragons bagua mirror?! That... that is a legendary Heaven Rank peak-grade Magic Treasure!

According to ancient records, to refine this mirror, one needs to collect the essence blood of nine different types of primordial Divine Beasts!

It also requires using ten-thousand-year mysterious crystal as the mirror body, and tempering it with the Nine Heavens divine fire for eighty-one days!

More importantly, one must master the long-lost Divine-Grade Artifact Refining technique—the "Nine Dragons Return to One"!

Any one of these conditions, to her at this moment, was like a fantasy!

Never mind refining it, she had only ever seen the names of those Materials in books!

With her current strength, to challenge a Heaven Rank peak-grade Magic Treasure?

This wasn't just overestimating her own capabilities; it was pure delusion!

But... when she saw Lin Ke'er's eyes, filled with innocence and expectation, without a trace of Impurities.

She couldn't bring herself to say the words of refusal.

She didn't have the heart to let this cute little girl, who had helped her so much, show a look of disappointment.

After a long silence, Chen Ruoxi finally, slowly and solemnly, nodded.

"Little sister Ke'er."

Her voice carried a hint of determination that she hadn't even realized herself.

"The difficulty of refining this Magic Treasure is very, very high, and the Materials required are also extremely precious."

"With Sister's current strength, it is far from being possible."

"But..."

She looked into Lin Ke'er's eyes and, word by word, made a promise.

"I will work hard! I will do my best to improve my strength!"

"When one day I can master Heaven Rank Artifact Refining techniques, I will definitely! Definitely refine it for you!"