An eye closes, an eye opens, and three years slip away.
As the saying goes, majestic towers of immortal realms enter one's dreams, and a century of cultivation passes without notice.
Such is the nature of cultivating immortality. For grand cultivators, even a century is rely the span of a single closed-door ditation.
But for a youth like Yulou, three years are more than enough to shed his naivety.
Over the past three years, Clear Stream Market seed largely unchanged. That beast Gao Jian, who acted as a dog for the beast Jiang Baobian, had ultimately not left alongside his master. Instead, he had taken up a position under the tutelage of the newly appointed Town Guardian Cultivator, continuing to serve as a nad disciple.
Though this world lacked the classic historical tales of a thrice-born servant serving three masters, Gao Jian's exploits as a servant of two masters were still legendary in their own right.
Nevertheless, the cold stares and disgust of outsiders did nothing to diminish Gao Jian's power.
As Yulou stepped out of Fortune Source Residence, he ran straight into Gao Jian leading a law enforcent patrol. The brute was currently making things difficult for an independent cultivator who looked quite advanced in years.
Yulou remained silent, his expression perfectly calm as he nodded to Gao Jian, offering a brief greeting.
When Wang Xianmao had stepped in to help Gao Jian out of a tight spot back then, the return investnt was Gao Jian's look-out for the two brothers. Though it was better than nothing, it still held so potential utility.
"Yulou, I am taking a concubine the day after tomorrow. Rember to bring your younger brother along," Gao Jian said warmly, taking the initiative to extend an invitation.
He hosted a similar ceremony every single year, which was essentially a unique thod for collecting protection fees.
Of course, if Yulou went, he naturally wouldn't have to pay a single coin.
Furthermore, Gao Jian didn't keep the protection fees entirely for himself. Outside of Clear Stream Market's inherent Hongdengzhao managent system, there was another administrative layer belonging to the Town Guardian Cultivator.
"Will there be spirit rice?" Yulou halted his steps and asked with a slight smile.
Yulou was a person who hated taking losses. Hearing his question, Gao Jian didn't take offense either.
"Haha, if you guys bring a gift, I'll let you sit at the high table."
The man surnad Gao was no fool either and calculated his margins clearly.
Face was face, favor was favor, and spirit rice was spirit rice. No matter who ca, they couldn't just eat for free.
"Very well. Yu'an eats quite a lot, so you can't be stingy when the ti cos, Senior Gao," Yulou responded, engaging in a back-and-forth banter that left him thoroughly exasperated, all while Yu'an watched with a bewildered expression.
"Rest assured, rest assured," Gao Jian promised readily.
Watching the two brothers walk into the distance, the smile on Gao Jian's face gradually faded, returning to its usual vicious state. He glared at the pinned independent cultivator and barked, "Five spirit stones for the market entry fee. Smarten up, and don't tell a fifth-layer Qi Refining cultivator doesn't even have five spirit stones."
"I already paid the fee yesterday, and I have the market entry slip! Besides, isn't the entry fee only one spirit stone?"
"Yesterday was yesterday, today is today! The five stones are a fine for not having today's entry slip. Pay up, quickly!"
—
"He has already found his own path to death," Yulou murmured in a low voice once they were far from Gao Jian.
"How can you tell?" Yu'an asked, confused.
"Jiang Baobian didn't want him, which proves Gao Jian has no inherent possibility of achieving Foundation Establishnt. It's highly likely that sothing went wrong with his thod of Qi Refining.
Right now, he's madly squeezing spirit stones out of independent cultivators to amass a fortune for his own Foundation Establishnt resources.
But buying those resources outright requires at least fifty thousand spirit stones. Master has spent so many years preparing, yet his own preparations are still incomplete. Does Gao Jian honestly believe he can scrape together that much by taking loose change from independent cultivators?"
Yu'an did the math in his head and felt that Yulou's calculations were slightly off.
"If he extorts five spirit stones from one independent cultivator, and targets ten people a day, that's fifty spirit stones. In a year, that's nearly twenty thousand stones. He could achieve Foundation Establishnt in three years."
Yulou smiled faintly as he stepped into Forge Peak Residence, leaving only a single phrase drifting through the air.
"Are you suggesting he loves to keep all the profits for himself?"
Slapping his own forehead in frustration, Yu'an followed Yulou inside.
Yu'an was truly daring to dream.
Gao Jian making twenty thousand spirit stones a year?
Anyone who didn't know better would think he was the Town Guardian Cultivator himself!
—
"Senior Martial Sister!" Yu'an greeted as he spotted Senior Martial Sister Ningyao upon entering, his posture straightening by a fraction for so unknown reason.
Zhong Ningyao pointed toward the back hall of Forge Peak Residence and said gently, "Go on inside quickly. Today is a critical day for both of you. Your brother has already gone in."
Yu'an nodded and extended an invitation, "Don't worry, there absolutely won't be any issues. Actually, we're planning to check out the ghost market tonight. Would you like to co along?"
Hearing that the two brothers were heading to the ghost market, Senior Martial Sister Ningyao felt a bit tempted, but she still shook her head.
"My father won't let go."
Yulou and Yu'an had at least grown up on Wang Family Mountain and had lived in two different places throughout their lives.
Zhong Ningyao, however, had been raised in Clear Stream Market since childhood. Householder Redbrow feared for his daughter's safety and had never permitted her to take a single step outside the market boundaries.
"Ah, I see... Well, Senior Martial Sister, I'll head inside first," the silly boy said, running out of things to say after just a few exchanges.
"Good luck, you are the best!" Zhong Ningyao encouraged.
Yu'an walked into the back hall with a foolish grin. When Redbrow saw his expression, a surge of irritation imdiately welled up inside him.
'If this brat wasn't my disciple, I'd give him a good thrashing!'
"Wipe that smile off your face and get over here!" Redbrow scolded.
"Bound by the limits of your spiritual energy, you artificers at the Qi Drawing realm can at most refine low-grade magical tools. However, that doesn't an you can only learn the refinent techniques for low-grade tools.
Artifact refining always follows specific patterns. In my eyes, there is very little difference between low-grade and dium-grade. It is ultimately just a matter of spirit fire control and refinent proficiency.
Today, the two of you will use ninth-grade black jade and ninth-grade blood-infused purple copper respectively as base materials to refine the core structure of a dium-grade magical tool.
As for the restrictions, you only need to integrate three layers of basic restrictions, but you must leave ample room for subsequent refinent.
The reason my Black Jade Oil Bead and that turtle shell were so simple to upgrade later on was precisely because I had already reserved space for future restriction layers during the initial crafting phase.
"Now, each of you choose a piece of spiritual material and begin."
Yulou left the ninth-grade black jade for Yu'an and took the piece of blood-infused purple copper for himself—this one was far more difficult.
Aside from their basic grades, spiritual materials of the sa rank and category could possess distinct properties.
Purple copper was originally a standard ninth-grade spiritual tal. However, after being treated with the blood of specific spirit beasts or other indescribable forms of spiritual blood, it transford into blood-infused purple copper.
The exact special attributes would vary depending on the type of spiritual blood and the specific preparation thods used. This particular step was known as Imbuing Nature.
Imbuing Nature, this specialized thod of treating spiritual materials, was the most critical aspect of an artificing path heritage. It was the kind of valuable technique that even grand sects like the Hongdengzhao were unwilling to share with outsiders.
For instance, when a wood-attribute cultivator required an offensive magical tool forged from spiritual tals, they could select a base material that had been Imbued Nature with wood attributes, thereby vastly improving their compatibility when using the item.
Correspondingly, whatever advantages were gained ca with an equal cost; the difficulty of refining materials that had undergone Imbuing Nature was significantly higher.
This was precisely the reason Yulou had taken the initiative to select the blood-infused purple copper.
"Yu'an, have you thought about how you're going to refine this piece of black jade?" Redbrow asked in a stern voice, looking at the stone in the boy's hands.
He harbored no worries regarding Yulou. That child was practically a monster; after studying for a re three years, his attainnts in the artificing path were already comparable to his own after seven or eight years of practice.
Yu'an, who had already reached the fifth layer of the Qi Drawing realm, probed the black jade with his spiritual energy. After a long silence, he looked toward his master and asked with an expression full of anticipation, "Master, can I refine a Black Jade Oil Bead?"
Yu'an had spent a significant amount of ti studying Yulou's Black Jade Oil Bead and his own turtle shell.
If he were to refine a Black Jade Oil Bead, he felt confident that he could successfully imprint three layers of restrictions while preserving enough space for seven more layers of future refinent.
Redbrow took a deep, heavy breath.
'Calm down, calm down, calm down!'
"Do you think I look like a Black Jade Oil Bead?
Refine a jade axe. Just the blade section, and rember to leave a proper socket for the handle this ti!"
"Yes, Master!" Yu'an replied instantly.
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