Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Successful Artifact Refining

The three Tribulation Cultivators each had a storage bag filled with a great number of Spirit Stones, totaling over three hundred Middle Spirit Stones, along with numerous sinister tools, poisoned flying knives, crossbow arrows, and hunting tools for setting traps. Clearly, these were the kind that frequently engage in killing and hunting.

Their appearance was a wake-up call for Li Mu. Selling Spirit Talismans at the Independent Cultivator Market drew too much attention, and he didn’t know how many people were envious of his business.

Today, three Tribulation Cultivators set their sights on him. Next time, what would it be, five? Ten?

Inevitably, there will come a day when he’ll face Tribulation Cultivators he can’t handle.

If he ever gets ambushed and killed, even his life would be gone, and the little Spirit Stones earned from the stall would belong to others.

Li Mu sighed and decided to give up the stall to continue living cautiously in the mountains, farming.

The more he harvested Spirit Plants from his farm, the stronger he became. Li Mu decided to wait until after achieving Foundation Establishment before considering earning Spirit Stones from a stall again.

Li Mu decided to visit the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion in a few days to bring the ordered refining furnace back to the mountain and then move forward with his intention to farm, without easily descending the mountain unless necessary.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

Li Mu discreetly went to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion to collect his items as promised.

After paying Lin Huirong the 180 Middle Spirit Stones as the final payment, Li Mu successfully acquired the Flame Sun Refining Furnace and stored it in his storage bag.

Seeing Li Mu collect the refining furnace and ready to leave, Lin Huirong hurriedly tried to retain him, “Mr. Li, our pavilion’s auction is about to start, don’t you want to participate?”

“Maybe next time! I don’t have enough Spirit Stones right now.” Li Mu smiled and politely declined.

During his stall days, Li Mu collected quite a few Artifact Refining Spirit Ores, but he couldn’t refine a set of Five Elements Second-Order Spirit Swords yet. However, he could refine a number of Tier One Spirit Swords.

Now that he had obtained the refining furnace, refining a batch of Tier One Spirit Swords was no problem. Since the Five Elements Sword Array couldn’t be formed, Li Mu decided to first practice the Seven-Star Sword Array, a set comprised of seven Tier One Gold Element Spirit Swords.

“Mr. Li, our pavilion’s auction only occurs once every three years. If you miss it this time, it will be a long wait until the next one!” Lin Huirong reminded Li Mu again in urgency.

Upon hearing this, Li Mu furrowed his eyebrows and hesitated.

However, when he thought about the potential appearance of numerous Tribulation Cultivators after the auction, Li Mu was suddenly reluctant to get involved in this risky matter.

As long as he continues farming and harvesting Plant Spirits, he could keep getting stronger. With such an extraordinary innate divine technique, Li Mu didn’t want to perish halfway before he had fully developed.

Therefore, Li Mu confirmed to himself that he must focus on staying cautious, avoiding participating in any activities that carry some risks whenever possible, and eliminate all risks.

Having firmly made up his mind, Li Mu decisively refused, “Then there’s no choice. I’m short on funds and cannot afford to spend on the auction. Maybe next time when I have the chance, Miss Lin, farewell!”

Having said this, Li Mu hurriedly departed from the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, not turning back even as Lin Huirong called out to him several times.

“Sister Lin, he’s one of your potential customers! Yet he leaves so decisively!” commented a female cultivator in a red dress, walking up behind Lin Huirong with disdain.

“I don’t know what agitated him. Clearly, he has the wealth of a Tier One Talisman Master and qualifies to participate!” Lin Huirong sighed in incomprehension, disappointed at losing a potential business.

Today, Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion was bustling, leaving Lin Huirong no time to sigh. She continued to entertain other customers with a warm smile.

____

Safely returning to Little Liang Mountain.

Li Mu finally relaxed, placing the Tier Two Flame Sun Refining Furnace into the Artifact Refining Room and embedding a Middle-grade Spirit Stone into each of the dozen Spirit Stone slots on the furnace.

As the Spirit Stones were embedded, Li Mu activated the Artifact Array of the refining furnace. With a ’boom,’ a high-temperature flame surged inside the furnace.

This high-temperature flame was the Flame Sun Spirit Fire generated by the internal Flame Sun Array of the refining furnace.

Depending on this Spiritual Fire, it became easy to forge Tier Two Spirit Ores, melting down the refining materials.

This Tier Two Flame Sun Refining Furnace, although quite useful, consumed Spirit Stones rapidly. Even with eighteen Middle-grade Spirit Stones, running the refining furnace round the clock would only last three to four days.

Now, with the refining furnace’s Flame Sun Array activated, it was consuming Spirit Stones. Li Mu dared not delay and began taking out twelve pieces of Tier One Profound Iron Ore to start the refining process.

The roaring flames illuminated the entire refining room, and the Profound Iron in the furnace gradually softened.

Li Mu used iron clamps to place the glowing Profound Iron Ore onto the forging platform, then picked up a hammer and began hammering. Each strike released spiritual power, infused into the hammer and smashed onto the Profound Iron, with sparks flying all around.

“Clang… clang…” With each strike, the texture of the red-hot Profound Iron gradually became more solid, constantly reducing in size.

After about half an hour, all the Profound Iron pieces had shrunk to about one-fifth of their original size.

Li Mu refined and purified twelve pieces of Profound Iron in one go, then placed these tempered Profound Iron refined ores into the refining furnace for one final firing.

Soon, the high-temperature Flame Sun Spiritual Fire of the refining furnace swiftly melted the twelve blocks into molten Profound Iron Liquid, which, under Li Mu’s control, slowly flowed out from the mouth of the furnace into a sword embryo mold.

Once the molten Profound Iron in the sword embryo mold solidified, Li Mu clamped it out with iron clamps and placed it back on the forging platform to continue hammering.

As his Artifact Refining Technique wasn’t recorded on the panel yet, Li Mu could only forge the sword embryo according to the contents recorded in the “Essentials of Artifact Refining.” He then attempted to inscribe the Artifact Base on the embryo, condensed the Artifact Pattern, and learned the Artifact Refining Technique.

Li Mu tightly gripped the Spirit Gathering Hammer, resembling a symbol brush, which was specifically used to forge the sword embryo and gather the Artifact Pattern for it during the refining process.

Following the key points recorded in the “Essentials of Artifact Refining,” Li Mu infused Gathering Spirit Power into the Spirit Gathering Hammer, and with each spirit-infused strike, he hit the Profound Iron Sword Embryo, causing the spiritual power to swiftly condense into an Artifact Pattern on the glowing red Artifact Embryo.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes, … Li Mu expended his Divine Sense and Spiritual Power, forging the Artifact Embryo again and again.

“Ding!” With a crisp sound, the Profound Iron Sword Body suddenly emitted a ray of Spirit Light, producing a faint sword hum.

Could it be successful?

Li Mu eagerly glanced at the virtual panel of the character.

[Ding, you successfully crafted a Tier One Spirit Sword, learning Artifact Refining Technique, Artifact Refining Proficiency +1.]

Noting the new prompt in the virtual log, Li Mu couldn’t hold back his joy. He mastered the Artifact Refining Technique in one try! It was worth the hefty price paid for this Tier Two Refining Furnace.

This artifact refining session made Li Mu notice the powerful auxiliary function that a strong Divine Sense had on the Artifact Refining Technique. His ability to learn it efficiently couldn’t be detached from the powerful Divine Sense brought by the Fourth-level Divine Tempering Technique.

With a strong Divine Sense, Li Mu could clearly ’see’ the flow of spiritual power and the condensation state of the spirit pattern while condensing the Artifact Pattern, greatly reducing difficulty and making it particularly easy to get started.

While refining Spirit Talismans, Li Mu also experienced the excellent auxiliary effect of a powerful Divine Sense.

Next time, when harvesting Wind Spirit Grass, the Quenching God Technique will undoubtedly be given priority.

Li Mu, delighted with the turn of events, made this decision from the bottom of his heart.

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