333: Chapter 333 You keep refining, I'll just watch.

Xu Ruyu went around the thatched cottage and arrived at an open space in the back.

The open space wasn't large, about three or four zhang square, surrounded by emerald bamboo, quiet and elegant. In the center of the open space stood a solitary stone chamber.

The stone chamber wasn't large, looking only about two zhang square from the outside, built entirely of a dark green stone material, with no extra decorations on the surface, only two simple and ancient characters carved above the stone door—"Artifact Refinement Hut."

Xu Ruyu stood before the stone chamber, took a deep breath, and reached out to push open the stone door.

Behind the door was a set of stone steps leading down, so deep that its end was unknown.

On the walls on both sides of the stone steps, some crystals emitting a soft light were embedded, illuminating the path ahead.

He walked down the stone steps, descending about a hundred steps, and the view before him suddenly opened up.

This was a massive underground Artifact Refining Room, a full hundred zhang square, with a high vaulted ceiling embedded with countless glowing crystals, illuminating the room as bright as day.

Various Artifact Refining facilities were neatly arranged in the room—in the very center was a massive Earth Fire Furnace, the furnace fire burning vigorously and emitting scorching heat.

Against one wall were several rows of tall material racks, filled with various categorized Artifact Refining Materials, ranging from the most basic refined iron and Red Copper to rare Star-Patterned Steel, Moon-Essence Stone, and even several pieces of unknown Ore emitting a seven-colored aura; everything was there.

On the other side were various forging tools—hammers of different sizes, various shapes of pliers, files, and carving knives, as well as several precise measuring instruments, many times better than the crude tools in the Fire Cloud Cave.

Xu Ruyu was dazzled by the sight, his heart filled with wild joy.

This was a true Artifact Refining Holy Land!

He couldn't wait to walk over to the material racks and begin selecting the Materials he needed.

According to last night's analysis, the strength of Wind Copper was insufficient and could not withstand the energy explosion within the compression chamber of the "poqi type i". He needed to switch to a metal with higher strength, while its toughness and spiritual conductivity were also not lacking.

His gaze swept across the material racks and soon locked onto several pieces of dark silver metal with a cold, ghostly luster—Profound Iron.

Profound Iron was a common material for refining Medium Grade Magical Artifacts; its strength far exceeded Wind Copper, and its spiritual conductivity was also decent, though its weight was slightly heavier.

But as the material for the barrel and compression chamber, being a bit heavier actually helped with stability.

He picked out a few more pieces of Cold Iron, a small piece of Star-Patterned Steel (for key energy nodes), and some auxiliary Materials, carrying them to the workbench beside the Earth Fire Furnace.

Just as he was preparing to begin smelting, a cold voice suddenly came from behind him:

"With these scraps of Materials, what kind of good thing can you refine?"

Xu Ruyu was startled and whipped around.

He saw that the Taihao Clan had stood behind him at some unknown time, her arms crossed, looking at the Materials he had selected with a critical gaze.

"Senior, you... why are you here?" Xu Ruyu was a bit nervous. This person could turn hostile at any moment.

"This is my Artifact Refining Room, I can't come?" The Taihao Clan rolled her eyes at him. "Stop the nonsense, you do your refining, I'll just watch.

If the thing you refine doesn't catch my eye..."

She gave a cold smile, her gaze with a pointed look at his nether regions.

Xu Ruyu felt a chill in his crotch and subconsciously squeezed his legs together.

"Senior! This Junior will definitely give it my all!"

He hurriedly promised.

The Taihao Clan snorted and said no more, walking to a stone stool to sit down and crossing her legs, adopting a posture of "I'm just watching you to see what tricks you can play."

Xu Ruyu took a deep breath, suppressing the nervousness and that inexplicable trace of chill in his heart, and began to focus intently on Artifact Refining.

Step one: smelting the Profound Iron.

He activated the Earth Fire Furnace, adjusted the flame size, and placed a piece of Profound Iron into the furnace.

This time, he didn't foolishly burn it dry like he did in the Fire Cloud Cave; instead, following the method in the "Elementary Explanation of Metal and Stone" he had studied these past few days, he first used True Qi to lay a protective energy film on the surface of the Profound Iron to prevent the high temperature from damaging the Materials' internal structure.

The Taihao Clan watched from the side, the corners of her mouth curling into a slightly mocking arc.

"You've learned to be clever, knowing to use the 'Spirit Protector'. However, with your crude technique, it would be a miracle if you could actually protect it."

Xu Ruyu turned a deaf ear and focused on the Profound Iron in the furnace.

When the Profound Iron was red-hot and began to soften, he quickly removed it with pliers, placed it on the anvil, and swung the forging hammer to begin forging.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The sound of the hammer echoed in the empty Artifact Refining Room.

The Taihao Clan watched his hammer technique, her brow furrowing slightly.

Still so crude.

It completely lacked the smooth and flowing rhythm of a traditional Artifact Refiner; it was just brute force smashing.

But strangely, the landing point of his every strike was extremely precise, as if it had been measured with a ruler beforehand, hitting exactly the required position.

"Hmph, just brute force," the Taihao Clan thought to herself.

Xu Ruyu was completely unaware, putting all his mind into the Profound Iron in his hands.

He wanted to forge this piece of Profound Iron into a straight tube with uniform wall thickness. This required extremely fine control.

He would forge for a while, then stop to measure the thickness and diameter with Calipers, and then record the data on beast-hide paper.

Reheating, then forging, then measuring.

And so it repeated.

The Taihao Clan initially watched coldly from the sidelines, but gradually, her brow furrowed deeper.

What is this kid... doing?

How can anyone refine an artifact like this? Forging depends entirely on feel and relies on years of accumulated experience; who would measure after every single strike? Isn't this a waste of time?

But soon, she discovered a fact that surprised her—despite Xu Ruyu's crude hammer technique, under his repeated corrections with this " Stupid method," that Profound Iron tube actually gradually straightened, and its wall thickness became more and more uniform.