406: The exquisite Great Sun Flying Boat

The military force in Old Four's hands was far stronger than most armies Liu Xuan had seen at the Black Leopard Fortress.

This was because the army established by the Liu Family was not an ordinary one, but an elite force that required Spirit Stones to train and maintain.

Nominally, they were the army of the Southern Courtyard of the Beast Taming Sect, but in reality, they were the private army of the Liu Family.

The Liu Family not only paid the soldiers and Cultivators a set military salary but also provided them with loans and equipped them with many standard Magical Artifacts, Talismans, Medicinal Pills...

The Liu Family Army, the Liu Clan Merchant Alliance, and the entire Liu Family were all very busy. Only Liu Xuan had nothing to do. Apart from offering a few opinions when occasionally hearing reports from women like Xiao Ran and She Xiaorong, he basically didn't manage anything else.

Liu Xuan indulged in the lap of luxury every day. When bored, he would go check on the Pill Refining Tower and the Artifact Refining Workshop. When annoyed, he would return to the Red Pine Sect to accompany those cute little ones. When tired of that, he would go find his Revered Master Shen Yunshu, or go to the Peach Blossom Sect to deal with that vixen, Peach Blossom.

His greatest worry in life was how to play and enjoy himself tomorrow—life was boundless joy!

This was how one cultivated the path of immortality!

'Refining the heart within the Mortal World, guarding one's nature amidst the filthy world, replacing the Heavenly Dao with one's own heart, and breaking all laws with one's own law—this is also a Heaven-Defying path to the heavens!'

Others cultivated by adhering to desires, keeping a clear mind, and resisting the Heart Demon. Liu Xuan cultivated by following his true heart, delving into the filthy world, and facing the Heart Demon directly. The paths were different, but both were legitimate paths of immortal cultivation.

"Husband~"

"Have you rested enough? It's my turn now."

The soft, sweet call of his Junior Sister interrupted Liu Xuan's train of thought. After swallowing a bottle of Beast Pill, he turned over and replied:

"Coming, coming!"

...

Zhengqi Tower.

While Liu Xuan was diligently cultivating, something related to him was happening at the imperial palace of True Lord Haoran.

A thousand-foot immortal palace floated above the clouds, where Spiritual Qi condensed into clouds and evolved into various mysterious patterns.

On the rooftop terrace.

An old man wearing wide-sleeved Daoist robes with his hair tied up casually was playing a game of chess against an elegant middle-aged man.

"Fellow Daoist Haoran, your Talisman Dao has improved again. This old man is impressed, truly impressed!"

The elegant middle-aged man was none other than True Lord Haoran. They were playing a game of Dao Derivation Chess, a deductive game designed based on Formations, mainly played by Cultivators who had mastered immortal cultivation techniques.

"Fellow Daoist Qingwei is not bad either. My Talisman Dao has a slight advantage in Dao Derivation Chess, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to win against you."

The Fellow Daoist Qingwei mentioned by True Lord Haoran was the old man opposite him. This person was a Fourth-Tier Artifact Refining Master, a level half a step higher than True Lord Haoran.

Any Cultivator who mastered immortal cultivation techniques could play Dao Derivation Chess, but Formation Masters of the same level had the advantage, followed by Talisman Revered Masters, and then Artifact Refiners and Alchemists.

Having won against Zhou Qingwei, True Lord Haoran was very happy. He waved his hand to reset the chessboard and asked with a smile:

"Weren't you bitterly cultivating at Tiangong Immortal City in the Central Plains? Why did you suddenly run here to me?"

Zhou Qingwei had also once been a Disciple of the Southern Courtyard of the Beast Taming Sect. Later, he entered the Gentlemans Academy at the Main Mountain. Because of his extremely high talent for Artifact Refining, he was recruited by Tiangong Immortal City in the Central Plains.

True Lord Haoran and he had once been good friends. Although they didn't see each other much later, they had always kept in touch. The relationship had faded a bit, but the friendship remained.

Tiangong Immortal City was the Holy Land for all Artifact Refiners in the Central Plains. The Artifact Refiners who entered it were arrogant and generally would not go out unless they had cultivated to the point where they could go no further, let alone run to such a remote place as the Southern Frontier.

"I have recently been refining a special Spirit Treasure and need to collect a large amount of Resentful Qi and Evil Qi. Since you are conducting the Pioneering War here, neither of these two things is in short supply."

He took out a Magic Treasure jade bottle and handed it to True Lord Haoran, "I ask for your help with this matter, Fellow Daoist. There will be a generous reward upon completion."

Zhou Qingwei was not telling the truth. It was just some Resentful Qi and Evil Qi; the Central Plains was vast and rich in resources—what did it not have?

The main reason he ran so far in person was that he was poor—he had no money!

For a dignified Fourth-Tier Artifact Refining Master to have no money sounded absurd, but that was the fact.

Learning Artifact Refining was too expensive!

Especially in a Holy Land for Artifact Refining like Tiangong Immortal City, buying Legacy of Artifact Refining required money, using Advanced Artifact Refining Workshops required money, and attempting to refine high-grade Spirit Treasures required even more money...

Of course! As long as he was willing to shift his time and energy from improving his skills to making money through Artifact Refining, he could quickly accumulate a large amount of wealth.

Moreover, his poverty was only relative. It was just that it couldn't support his unbridled learning of high-grade Spirit Treasure refining. Compared to most Nascent Soul True Lords, he was considered filthy rich.

This time he ran to the Southern Frontier, on one hand, he wanted to buy some cheap supplies while the Pioneering War was ongoing; on the other hand, he had been studying Artifact Refining for too long and wanted to relax.

True Lord Haoran took the jade bottle and smiled: "It's just a small matter, easily done, easily done."

The two chatted while playing chess. True Lord Haoran was interested in Tiangong Immortal City, and Zhou Qingwei was interested in the Pioneering War. The more they talked, the more congenial they became, and both felt they had gained a lot.

After playing a few more rounds, a great sun flying boat flew over from the distance and stopped under the sea of clouds. True Lord Haoran suddenly thought of the interesting Disciple he had recently taken in.

"Fellow Daoist Qingwei," he looked at the great sun flying boat below and asked: "What do you think of that Flying Boat?"

Zhou Qingwei followed True Lord Haoran's gaze, his Divine Thought piercing through the cloud of Spiritual Qi to see the great sun flying boat.

A tier 2 medium grade Flying Boat?

He looked puzzled, not knowing what True Lord Haoran meant. Was a tier 2 medium grade Flying Boat worth his comment?

"Ordinary, it's just..."

"Wait!"

The chess piece he was about to place suddenly paused, and his confusion deepened as he looked down.

"What's wrong?"

True Lord Haoran also looked confused.

This Disciple, Liu Xuan, clearly possessed extremely high talent in Talismans, yet he suddenly became a Third-Rank Alchemist and was distracted by doing some Artifact Refining.

He had made a name for himself in all aspects, so much so that even he didn't know which aspect Liu Xuan was most talented in.

He asked Zhou Qingwei to look at the great sun flying boat just to see how talented Liu Xuan was in the Dao of Artifacts.

If he was just an ordinary Genius, he would send someone to persuade Liu Xuan to focus on Alchemy and do less of other unnecessary things when he had time.

Looking at Zhou Qingwei's expression, could it be that Liu Xuan's talent for Artifact Refining was also peerless?

"Wonderful!"

"Wonderful!"

"Truly wonderful!!"

Zhou Qingwei threw away the chess piece in his hand, completely attracted by the great sun flying boat below.

"What an exquisite design! Judging from various details, this Flying Boat was not formed in one piece, but by refining parts first and then combining and smelting them!"

He looked appreciative and praised: "To be able to perfectly fuse so many flawed parts, the Artifact Refiner who refined this Flying Boat is at least a Third-rank Mid-grade, or even a Third-rank High-grade."

"What a pity!"

After the praise, he shook his head in disappointment, "Although exquisite, this method of refining is taking shortcuts and makes it difficult to ascend in the Dao of Artifacts. It should be something that Artifact Refiners with no future in some Artifact Refining Sects would do."

"I heard that there is a Qiding Sect under the Azure Profound Sect that has some tricks. I didn't believe it before, but it seems I underestimated the heroes of the world."

The Southern Courtyard of the Beast Taming Sect did not have such a Legacy of Artifact Refining. Zhou Qingwei thought the great sun flying boat was purchased from the Qiding Sect.

True Lord Haoran was stunned for a long while before tentatively asking, "Fellow Daoist Qingwei, based on your knowledge, is it possible that this Flying Boat was refined by a Second-Rank Artifact Refiner?"