478: Chapter 477 The Repair Hall's Trump Card

Time passed swiftly during cultivation. One hour vanished in the blink of an eye.

As the light from the hovering bronze token gradually dimmed, the silver waterfall pouring down from the dome dissipated, and the skylight closed again with a dull thud.

The Immortal Cave returned to the soft glow of the night-luminescent pearls.

Su Ming slowly opened his eyes. In the depths of his pupils, a blinding flash of interwoven silver and blue light vanished in an instant.

He exhaled a breath of stale air, which surprisingly condensed into tiny ice crystals in mid-air, landing on the bluestone floor with a crisp sound.

"What pure Star Power."

Su Ming clenched his fist, feeling the spiritual energy within his body, which was now more than twice as refined as before, and a satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

Just one hour of star radiance infusion was worth a month of his usual arduous cultivation. At this moment, he was truly only a layer of paper as thin as a cicada's wing away from the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment; as long as he wished, he could break through at any time.

He looked down at Shadow beside his leg.

The little fellow was clearly stuffed as well; its petite belly was bulging round, and it was lying on Su Ming's Daoist robe, letting out satisfied burps. The feathers on its body had become even more deeply blue and lustrous, and even the few stiff feathers at the tips of its wings had become as hard as refined steel.

"Nineteen hours of stock remaining." Su Ming carefully tucked the tower token away against his body, as if looking at a rare treasure. "It is enough for me to steadily push my cultivation to the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment before entering the Secret Realm, and perhaps even refine Shadow's Bloodline."

However, before that, he still needed to handle some accumulated worldly affairs.

Su Ming stood up and flicked his finger. Shadow, with perfect tacit understanding, transformed into a streak of black light and landed steadily on his left shoulder.

"Let's go to the Outer Sect and check on the Repair Hall."

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the ancient trees, casting dappled shadows on the bluestone steps.

Su Ming was not wearing the dazzling purple robe that symbolized his status as a True Disciple of the Formation Peak, but had instead changed into the common gray attire of an Outer Sect Disciple.

He knew very well that in the eyes of the Outer Sect Disciples who were unaware of the inner situation, a True Disciple who suddenly struck it rich would only attract unnecessary jealousy and trouble if he were too flamboyant.

Keeping a low profile is always the best rule for living a long life.

Shadow stood obediently on his shoulder, its small head turning from time to time, its golden eyes observing the scenery along the way with a touch of curiosity.

The man and the bird followed the winding mountain path, arriving at the Outer Sect area unhurriedly.

Before even approaching the Repair Hall, Su Ming heard a rhythmic and dense sound of hammering and the sizzling of spiritual energy from engraving Array Patterns.

Turning a corner around a mountain pass, the scene before him made Su Ming involuntarily raise an eyebrow.

Was this still the dilapidated courtyard he had originally taken over?

The current Repair Hall had expanded to more than twice its original size. The originally weed-choked open space had been leveled into a plaza paved with bluestone. On both sides of the courtyard, two spacious and bright, huge workshops had been added.

Inside the workshops, a long workbench, similar to an assembly line in the mortal world, ran through them.

A dozen or so young apprentices wearing uniform clothing were bowing their heads, working on the assembly line with extreme focus. Some were responsible for refining Materials, some for engraving base patterns, and others for filling in spirit sand; the division of labor was clear, and their movements were extremely skillful.

In the center of the plaza, a very conspicuous figure was pacing back and forth.

Wang Defa was shirtless, revealing his oily, bulging flesh. He arrogantly held a Spirit Plant used for refreshing the mind in his mouth, and in his hand, he carried a large iron hammer engraved with reinforcement runes.

He looked just like a supervisor for a landlord in the mortal world, his large, bell-like eyes staring intently at the techniques of the apprentices, occasionally letting out a loud, rough roar.

"Old Six! Your 'Spirit Gathering Pattern' is drawn like a dog's scratch! Didn't you see the spiritual energy flow was broken? Redo it!"

"Zhang Asheng, pack up this batch of repaired Formation Plates; the people from the Artifact Hall are coming to rush the order this afternoon, don't dawdle!"

Su Ming watched this scene, a trace of a smile flashing in his eyes.

Although Wang Defa had mediocre Aptitude and was even a bit mercenary, he was indeed a rare talent when it came to management and execution.

"Hall Master!"

Before Su Ming had even walked into the courtyard, the sharp-eyed Wang Defa spotted the flash of gray robes.

He acted as if he had seen his own father, throwing down the iron hammer and scrambling over to greet him. Because he ran so fast, the pile of flesh on his face bunched up, and he was smiling so hard his eyes disappeared.

"Hall Master, you have finally come down the mountain! Everyone has been waiting for you!" Wang Defa, acting like a sycophant, grabbed a corner of Su Ming's robe, almost kneeling down to kowtow on the spot.

Su Ming nodded slightly and casually found a stone stool in the courtyard to sit down. Shadow jumped agilely from his shoulder onto the corner of the stone table, staring coldly at the fat man in front of him.

"How is the situation in the Hall recently?" Su Ming asked in a calm tone.

Hearing this, Wang Defa's spine straightened instantly. He looked left and right with extreme vigilance, then leaned in to Su Ming's ear, intentionally lowering his voice, but the fanaticism in his tone could not be hidden at all.

"Hall Master, business is incredibly good!" Wang Defa rubbed his hands in excitement. "Ever since you set the rule for 'Standardized Customization,' the reputation of our Repair Hall has completely spread throughout the Outer Sect and even the Inner Sect! Now, not only the Spiritual Plant Garden and Spirit Beast Peak, but even those arrogant Sword Cultivators from the Heavenly Sword Peak are specifically requesting the Sword Formation Plates repaired by us."

He swallowed and held up four thick fingers: "Not counting the Materials piled up in the warehouse, the Contribution Points we can use in our account have already exceeded four hundred thousand!"

Four hundred thousand Contribution Points. For an Outer Sect Menial Worker organization, this was an astronomical figure that would make people green with envy and drive them crazy.

But to Su Ming, his heart remained completely calm. After all, compared to the ten thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones that the Grand Elder had casually tossed to him, these four hundred thousand Contribution Points could only be considered a considerable amount of wealth.

However, he knew very well that this was the Foundation for his foothold at the bottom of the Sect, and it was also his most stable card for obtaining conventional Materials.

"However..." The fanaticism on Wang Defa's face suddenly faded, and the flesh on his face knotted together, appearing somewhat hesitant and resentful. "Hall Master, the tree that stands above the forest will be destroyed by the wind; recently, someone has been sabotaging us from behind."

Su Ming tapped his fingers lightly on the table, not appearing surprised: "People from the Artifact Hall?"

"How did you know?" Wang Defa's eyes widened, and then he spat fiercely. "It is those bastards from the Artifact Hall! They are jealous of our profits and have been crazily poaching our people in the dark recently. Just the day before yesterday, they offered double the compensation and poached the two most skilled apprentices on the assembly line!"

Wang Defa grew angrier as he spoke: "Although these two people leaving won't cause our assembly line to paralyze, this has set a terrible precedent. Now the apprentices in the Hall are restless, and many are privately discussing the compensation at the Artifact Hall. If this continues, the skilled workers we have trained will sooner or later be poached empty!"

"Do you know who is behind this?" Su Ming's gaze grew a bit colder.

"I haven't caught any solid evidence, but even with my toes, I can tell it must be that Steward Sun from the Artifact Hall!" Wang Defa said through gritted teeth. "Last time you made him lose face, this grudge is set in stone. He is trying to pull the firewood from under the cauldron and cut off our Foundation!"