417: Zhou Qingwei's doubts

"Senior!" Liu Xuan cupped his hands and said helplessly, "How exactly do you want to discuss this?"

Liu Xuan had important matters to attend to every day; where would he find the time to discuss Artifact Refining? If not for Zhou Qingwei's status as a Nascent Soul True Lord, he wouldn't have bothered to pay him any mind.

"This old man has heard that the great sun flying boat is crafted right here in the Liu Family Artifact Refining Workshop in Great Sun City. Little Friend Liu, would you allow me to observe you crafting one?"

Observe the crafting of a great sun flying boat?

Doesn't he understand business secrets? How could he just let someone watch?

'Forget it. It's just a tier 2 medium grade Flying Boat; surely Zhou Qingwei wouldn't care for it. I might as well let him watch.'

"No problem!" Liu Xuan said politely, "It is this Junior's honor to receive guidance from a Senior."

Liu Xuan gestured toward the Artifact Refining Workshop and led Zhou Qingwei flying toward it.

An Yunmiao pondered for a moment, instructed the fatty to guard the city, and also flew toward the Artifact Refining Workshop.

The Artifact Refining Workshop.

Zhou Qingwei had only just stepped inside when his brows furrowed slightly. The layout here looked similar to an ordinary Artifact Refining Workshop on the surface, but upon closer inspection, the difference was like heaven and earth.

Every Artifact Refining Workshop he had ever seen, regardless of size, consisted of independent systems internally, capable of supporting multiple Artifact Refiners crafting simultaneously.

The Liu Family Artifact Refining Workshop was different. Although it was divided into individual areas, Zhou Qingwei always felt that the entire Artifact Refining Workshop was a single entity.

'Why does this Artifact Refining Workshop seem... seem as if it is a Magic Treasure itself?'

Zhou Qingwei also noticed an anomaly: the blazing sun created by the Formation above the Artifact Refining Workshop. The aura contained within felt very familiar, as if it were the Great Sun True Fire from the high-grade Artifact Refining pools in Tiangong Immortal City.

"Little Friend Liu, your Artifact Refining Workshop is somewhat unique. May I ask which sect it comes from?"

He pointed at the bright, blazing sun in mid-air and asked, "And this Fire Gathering Formation actually carries the aura of Great Sun True Fire. Rare indeed!"

"Unique?" Liu Xuan feigned an ignorant expression. "I just messed around with it myself; there is no sect involved."

"As for this Fire Gathering Formation," Liu Xuan looked toward the blazing sun in mid-air and explained, "I once accidentally obtained a wisp of fire seed, so I carefully cultivated it inside a cauldron Magic Treasure. I'm not sure if it is actually Great Sun True Fire."

The real Great Sun True Fire was on Liu Xuan's Golden Core; what was cultivated within the Great Sun City Formation was merely the outer flame. Liu Xuan was not afraid of anyone figuring it out.

Even if Zhou Qingwei were to go to the Pill Refining Tower to inspect the purple poison cauldron, the Great Sun True Fire inside was at most at the tier 3 level, and it lacked sentience.

Messed around with it! No sect?

Zhou Qingwei smiled and shook his head. "Although this Artifact Refining Workshop is small in scale, it is quite methodical. Little Friend Liu, you are not being honest!"

Arriving at the core Artifact Refining pool in the center of the Artifact Refining Workshop, four Flying Boat prototypes were suspended within the golden flames, along with one that only had half a hull. A group of Artifact Refiners were carefully assembling it with a pile of parts.

The crafting process of the great sun flying boat was much more spectacular than Zhou Qingwei had imagined. He could tell that the great sun flying boat was crafted via assembly, but he had not expected Liu Xuan to be crafting them in batches directly.

It was not that Zhou Qingwei had never seen a crafting process where large Magical Artifacts were disassembled into parts; in Tiangong Immortal City, there were some profit-seeking Artifact Refiners who would learn this opportunistic technique.

However, disassembly-style Artifact Refining increased the difficulty and was extremely prone to failure, causing losses. It was generally only used for crafting low-grade Magical Artifacts.

Apart from earning a few more Spirit Stones, this Artifact Refining technique offered no progress in Realm for the Artifact Refiner, as they would be focusing on low-grade Magical Artifacts for long periods.

In Tiangong Immortal City, the disassembly-style Artifact Refining technique was recognized as a minor path; some even criticized Artifact Refiners who studied this method as unworthy of the title of Artifact Refiner.

Zhou Qingwei had never seen such pure disassembly-style Artifact Refining as in the Liu Family Artifact Refining Workshop. The entire Artifact Refining Workshop was a cohesive whole, all serving the central Artifact Refining pool, pursuing not the comprehension of the Dao of Artifact Refining, but only extreme efficiency.

"Is this how you craft artifacts?" Zhou Qingwei pointed at the few Flying Boat prototypes being nurtured in the flames, his eyes wide.

"Is there a problem?" Liu Xuan asked in confusion.

"Of course there is a problem!"

"If you craft artifacts like this, how will your Artifact Refining level improve? This type of Artifact Refining technique is merely at the level of a trick. If you spend your energy on it for a long time, you will never be able to comprehend the true Dao of Artifact Refining."

"Senior Zhou!" Liu Xuan spread his hands helplessly and explained, "I have already told you before: I have no interest in Artifact Refining; I just want to earn some money. What does it matter whether my level improves or not?"

Zhou Qingwei looked deeply at Liu Xuan. After a good while, he nodded slowly. "This old man understands. Please, go ahead and craft one for me to see."

"Alright!"

Liu Xuan came to the edge of the central Artifact Refining pool, waved his hand to signal the Artifact Refiners in the workshop to withdraw, and then released his Divine Sense to take over the Formation.

"Hum~"

The gentle golden flames suddenly shone brilliantly, and the temperature rose sharply. A layer of bright golden light covered the four assembled great sun flying boat prototypes.

"This is..."

Zhou Qingwei's old eyes widened even further. Liu Xuan was not crafting one; he was crafting four simultaneously!

Completing the crafting of four tier 2 medium grade Flying Boats at the same time did not just increase the difficulty fourfold; it was at least ten times, several dozen times harder!

He had previously pondered the crafting process of the great sun flying boat. Crafting four simultaneously—'Could I do it?'

'I could do it, but it would require spending some time to figure it out, and I would likely have to fail a few times first.'

Zhou Qingwei pondered secretly in his heart; the more he thought about it, the more incredible he felt it was.

He could see clearly that Liu Xuan was only using the techniques of a Second-Rank Artifact Refiner, and had only released a portion of his Divine Sense. Yet, for such a high-difficulty Artifact Refining method, he was so nonchalant!

'If I didn't use Nascent Soul Divine Sense, to achieve his level, I would need at least over a year of specialized practice.'

'This level of Artifact Refining accomplishment is at least top-tier tier 3. No! It also requires touching upon a trace of the essence of the Dao of Artifact Refining, and long-term study of this specific type of Flying Boat crafting to familiarize the crafting process to the point of instinct.'

'That's not right! Liu Xuan is young; to have such high Artifact Refining accomplishment, he must have studied the Dao of Artifact Refining diligently.'

'If he studied the Dao of Artifact Refining diligently, it would be impossible for him to focus his energy on crafting just this one type of Magical Artifact—the great sun flying boat. How can these two things be satisfied simultaneously?'

While Zhou Qingwei was confused and puzzled, Liu Xuan had already controlled his Divine Sense to engrave dense runes onto the Flying Boats. Many parts gradually melted and then underwent Fusion with other parts.

Liu Xuan's Divine Sense Origin was powerful, and he was skilled at multitasking. Crafting four great sun flying boats simultaneously was not difficult for him. Usually, to save time, he would craft seven or eight at once, and he could even divide his attention to play small games with the two children, Xin Ci and De Ming.

Artifact Refining and Alchemy—these two jobs, which appeared to be mentally draining, were treated by Liu Xuan as relaxing pastimes, enjoying that Concept of mental tranquility.

For instance, going to work: if you have to go every day and must complete certain tasks, it feels like torture.

But if you are the boss and going to work depends entirely on your mood, then you will feel that work is actually a form of enjoyment.