127: Self-taught refining

Peaceful days are often short-lived.

After only two days of researching the Myriad Paths Yin Yang Dual Cultivation Art, Xiao Qingyuan had to quickly get busy again, so he once again went alone to Spoon Mountain to enter seclusion.

Since he had already decided to research Artifact Refining, he naturally had to put other matters aside for now.

The little fat rat was dead drunk. Although Xiao Qingyuan really wanted it to spit out the Spirit Stones it had eaten, he didn't bother with it for the time being.

He let it stay drunk, so the little thing wouldn't try to run away.

Xiao Qingyuan saw its extraordinary nature and planned to contract it as a Spirit Beast later.

The other person who was unconscious was the Old Eunuch Li Wencai.

He was still in a "coma" to this day. Xiao Qingyuan saw through his feigned unconsciousness but didn't intervene, trusting that his grandfather could handle him.

Anyway, he wasn't important.

With all these matters combined, his grandfather was clearly the busiest during this period.

He had to supervise Wei Tao and the others in mining, and also delve into the Blood Rain Technique for farming.

Fortunately, the Xiao Clan Immortal Family had recently recruited quite a few Qi Refining Stage - Mid Phase Cultivators as offerings. Their job was to cultivate fields using the common Spirit Rain Technique.

Moreover, after Xiao Tianheng, his grandfather, had used up most of the beast blood essence from Xie Sandao's three brothers, he finally succeeded in mastering the Entry-Level Blood Rain Technique.

Now, he watered the spiritual fields with the Entry-Level Blood Rain Technique once every three days.

Xiao Qingyuan could even clearly feel that, under the enhancement of the Blood Rain Technique, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi around the underground Spirit Eye became increasingly dense.

Especially his hundred acres of high-quality spiritual fields.

After Xiao Qingyuan once again threw fifty thousand Spirit Stones into the spring eye in one go, he could clearly sense that something was amiss.

Combining internal and external factors, these Spirit Eyes were actually attracting the remaining Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

It was possible that millennial stone milk could truly be cultivated artificially.

The only drawback was the excessive consumption of Yao Beast blood essence.

The existing stock clearly couldn't last much longer.

After a period of busy work, his father had also completed his administrative duties, and his fief was stable.

After entrusting other miscellaneous tasks to the team of assistants he had trained, he was also ready to lead people to open up a new city.

He had urged him several times, but he had always put him off.

This was also his father's way of protesting to the imperial court: You want me to reclaim wasteland?

Then our Xiao Clan Immortal Family will, as you wish, conquer a vast territory!

So, this time, he was taking five thousand of the most elite Martial Artist guards, as well as five Qi Refining Stage - Mid Phase Loose Cultivators newly recruited by the Xiao Clan Immortal Family, and fifty Qi Refining Stage - Early Stage Cultivators, to clear out Yao Beasts, level the land, and was full of fighting spirit, intending to build Kaiyuan City.

To carve out a new world for the Xiao Clan Immortal Family in the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range.

Xiao Qingyuan saw all of this.

He truly couldn't bear to stop him.

So he simply gave him a list.

It was Hong Tiexian, Hei Lian, Hong Lian, and Xiao Yuanlian, four second-rate immortal clans, as well as thirty respectable third-rate immortal clans.

Xiao Qingyuan planned to recruit them as subordinate immortal clans in the name of a Foundation Establishment Immortal Clan.

These were all people he had investigated who had no connection with the Prefectural City Martial Guards and had not harbored any ill intentions.

He would let his father negotiate with them.

After dealing with these people, he would no longer prevent him from going out to strive and explore.

Xiao Yance heard this, full of confidence, and readily agreed.

It was naturally good to have more helpers.

Moreover, this was not a difficult matter.

After all, generally speaking, once one achieved Foundation Establishment, the entire Yang Valley would implicitly belong to the Xiao Clan Immortal Family.

Therefore, it wouldn't take his father long to do these things, at most about a month.

So he had to refine the first second-rank Magic Treasure within this month.

Then, he would enter the mountains to hunt second-rank Yao Beasts and obtain their hides.

He would then draw second-rank Talismans for his father's self-defense.

Only then could he ensure everything was foolproof.

"Hoo..." Xiao Qingyuan took a deep breath, glanced at the slaying immortal gourd, which still showed no activity, and forced himself to compose his mind.

First, he poured all the market resources he had seized from the Mo family's rogue Cultivators into this underground space.

Then, he took out all sorts of Artifact Refining Materials, piling them into two small mountains in the empty stone chamber.

Neither these Magical Artifacts nor the Materials were particularly high-quality.

The truly good stuff came from the second-rank Storage Pouch seized from Mo Wendao.

This contained the true essence of Qingshan Market, much of which could be used to refine second-rank Magic Treasures, and he had temporarily put it away.

Before long, Xiao Qingyuan sat cross-legged on the ground, closing his eyes.

He had inherited many Artifact Refining Legacies from the market, and Xiao Qingyuan had assimilated all of them.

These Artifact Refining techniques were varied.

There were niche Artifact Refining Legacies similar to the Water Refining Method, textile-based Artifact Refining Legacies, and also very orthodox conventional Artifact Refining methods.

It could be said that Xiao Qingyuan's theoretical level in the Dao of Artifact Refining was already quite rich.

However, with less than a month's time, even with the assistance of his spiritual eyes and the once-evolved Spirit Communication Flame, Xiao Qingyuan still lacked the confidence to complete the refining of a second-rank Magic Treasure within a month.

Therefore, his only chance was to refine one-time burst-type Magic Treasures!

For example, one-hit kill Mysterious Thunderbolts, Thunderbolt Bombs, or yamas summons.

These belonged to the niche among the niche.

They required extremely low Artifact Refining technique.

The large number of first-rank items he practiced with could also be given to his father for self-defense, which would be useful for pioneering.

Aside from not being as cost-effective as Talismans, their effects might even far exceed them.

Aside from requiring the consumption of magical power when activated, which was very unfriendly to Qi Refining Stage Cultivators, there were basically no other obvious drawbacks.

They could often be decisive at critical moments.

As for the issue of wasting Materials, Xiao Qingyuan glanced at the two large piles in front of him.

Heh!

Anyway, these Magical Artifacts couldn't see the light of day and were destined to be melted down sooner or later.

So, it wasn't a problem at all.

No sooner said than done!

Xiao Qingyuan activated the Formation to its maximum.

Not to protect himself, but to protect the surroundings.

With a thought, a mysterious deep purple flame, flickering with starlight, appeared in his palm, burning gently and quietly in the Void Realm, appearing somewhat beautiful.

As the flame appeared, the surrounding temperature also surged, easily reaching the minimum standard for a second-rank Magic Treasure, and this was only the effect of Xiao Qingyuan's simple activation.

This was the Spirit Communication Flame, yet it was not the Spirit Communication Flame.

One reason was his three-colored exquisite heart; when he broke through to Foundation Establishment, this spiritual flame within his heart also underwent some transformation.

He gained many benefits.

As for the starlight on it, it was influenced by the process of absorbing the power of heaven and earth when his Lifebound Treasure was born.

Xiao Qingyuan wasn't quite sure what was going on.

In any case, it further enhanced its quality.

Allowing him to complete basic Artifact Refining without relying on earth fire or even a Refining Cauldron.

Immediately after, he pointed a finger.

Several Magical Artifacts of various styles were all drawn to him.

Then, using the spiritual flame in his hand, he calcined them little by little, restoring them, and quickly turning them into clumps of raw metal Materials.

Time passed bit by bit.

This step proceeded extremely smoothly. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Xiao Qingyuan had already melted the first batch of Materials.

Then the second, the third... his technique became smoother, and his efficiency rapidly increased as he became more familiar with the flame.

This was the advantage of melting Magical Artifacts; these Materials were already relatively pure.

He only needed to release his Divine Sense and use the separation technique from the Artifact Refining Legacy to re-separate the clean Materials.

The efficiency was actually much higher than starting from Ore.

Xiao Qingyuan kept his spiritual eyes open throughout, observing the hidden Talisman patterns and their influence on the power of heaven and earth while melting the Magical Artifacts.

His three-colored exquisite heart operated at full power, as if he could see the process of these Magical Artifacts being refined.

He was like a shriveled sponge, rapidly absorbing the Artifact Refining knowledge he discovered within it.

Until three days later, the pile of "small mountains" of metal Magical Artifacts completely disappeared. By this time, around Qingyuan, new piles of various metals, neatly categorized, had reappeared, astonishing in value.

However, although this process was incredibly smooth, Xiao Qingyuan's expression still involuntarily became solemn.

Because the more he learned about Artifact Refining, the more he discovered that this craft was not so simple.

In fact, in some respects, the difficulty was no less than Alchemy, which had deterred him.

First, there was the quenching problem...