Second Rank Treasure Artifact

Second Rank Treasure Artifact

At the entrance of Sha Diao Artifact Refining Workshop, Xu Fan hung up signs for repairing and custom-making Treasure Artifacts.

In Zhenhai City, there was a Commercial Street. Sha Diao Artifact Refining Workshop sat in its most bustling district, with a daily rent of 200 Spirit Stones.

Inside the Artifact Workshop, Xu Fan and Sha Diao drank tea and discussed the Dao. Whenever the conversation reached an itch-scratching point, the two burst into hearty laughter.

"Junior Brother Xu, how wonderful it would have been if I'd met you earlier. I've refined artifacts for more than ten years, and only now have I found a kindred spirit." Sha Diao spoke sincerely. He had possessed a talent for Artifact Refining since childhood, and was later accepted as a disciple by an Inner Sect Artifact Refining Grandmaster Elder. From then on, there was no stopping him.

He had discovered that, when it came to Artifact Refining, not one of the Heavenly Gate Sect's younger generation could put up a fight.

"Senior Brother Sha's talent in Artifact Refining truly earns my admiration," Xu Fan praised. Yours was talent; mine was cheating. It didn't affect their mutual appreciation.

At that moment, a Golden Core Cultivator entered the shop.

"Can you help refine a net-type Magic Treasure here? It would be best if it could be a Second Rank Treasure Artifact." The Golden Core Cultivator stated his request as soon as he entered. He had discovered that there were many Golden Core and Nascent Soul Stage Demon Beasts in the nearby seas, so he wanted to hunt down a batch.

"Do you have the materials?" Sha Diao asked blandly. He remained cool and indifferent toward unrelated people.

"I've prepared them: Thousand-Soft Steel, the silk sac of a Nascent Soul Stage Water Dragon Spider, Golden Silk Soft Cloth, and Spirit Rhinoceros Crystal."

The Golden Core Cultivator listed a string of materials.

"You've prepared quite thoroughly. Junior Brother Xu, how do you think this should be refined?"

"Thousand Soft Steel, the silk sac, Spirit Rhinoceros Crystal, Thunder Gold Stone, and Thorn Heart Wood. Those are enough." Xu Fan considered it for a moment. To make a fishing net, those materials were sufficient.

"Leave these things here. Come collect it tomorrow. The refining fee, along with some leftover scraps, will be 50,000 Spirit Stones. Pay a deposit of 10,000 Spirit Stones first." Sha Diao looked at the Golden Core Cultivator. A Second Rank Treasure Artifact was merely ordinary work for him.

"Fine. I'll come collect it tomorrow."

The Golden Core Cultivator did not waste words. After leaving the deposit and materials behind, he departed.

"This Senior hasn't even stated his requirements yet." Xu Fan looked at the pile of materials on the Table.

"For an unconventional Treasure Artifact urgently needed like this, it's enough to preserve its most basic power." Sha Diao did not care. With these materials, it would already be good enough if he could guarantee a Second Rank Treasure Artifact.

"Add a little more material into it, and we can each split 20,000 Spirit Stones." Sha Diao said with a smile.

Xu Fan froze, then looked at Sha Diao. "That much? Is that the going rate?"

He had not expected a simple Treasure Artifact like this to earn so much.

"It's definitely more expensive than in the Heavenly Gate Sect. The Cultivators on the Floating Sky Vessel are all fat cats. If we don't fleece them, who will? They might earn this little bit of money back in the blink of an eye."

"Fine."

Looking at the pile of materials, Xu Fan said, "Senior Brother Sha, how should we refine it?"

"That's easy. I'll handle the material processing and preliminary refining. You only need to inscribe the Array onto the Treasure Artifact."

"I'm not as good as you at Rune Arrays. We'll divide the work reasonably. Refining this Treasure Artifact will only take half a day."

As he spoke, Sha Diao put away the pile of materials and headed toward the Artifact Workshop in the rear courtyard.

"Junior Brother Xu, watch the shop for now. I'll call you once I've finished the first step."

Xu Fan looked at the bustling street outside and the Cultivators coming and going, suddenly feeling as though he were doing business in the mortal world.

"For a net-type Treasure Artifact, just turn it directly into an electric net. There's no need to add any flashy bells and whistles." Xu Fan thought it over. Life detection, ocean current sensing, spiritual energy capture—none of those were necessary. Of course, that was excluding the ones he refined for himself.

Just as Xu Fan was considering how to inscribe the Rune Array, a slender figure walked in.

"Excuse me, can you repair a Pill Refining Furnace here?" A soft, sweet voice with a trace of syrupy warmth rang out.

Hearing the voice, Xu Fan looked up and saw a Beauty who seemed to have stepped out of a Jiangnan water town. She wore a blue-and-white porcelain-patterned long dress, her figure slender.

Why were there so many beautiful women who refined pills?

"Are you a Pill Refiner?" Xu Fan asked with a smile. So long as there was no deep exchange, most men tended to be rather patient with beautiful women.

"Mm. When I boarded the Floating Sky Vessel, I brought a spare Pill Refining Furnace. The first one exploded, and this remaining one exploded yesterday too. There's a crack in it."

"So I wanted you to see whether you could help repair it." Little Beauty looked at Xu Fan with hopeful eyes. If this Pill Refining Furnace exploded too, she would not be able to take on missions aboard the Floating Sky Vessel.

Xu Fan narrowed his eyes. Sometimes, merely listening to a voice was a kind of enjoyment, especially such a soft and sweet voice.

"Let me take a look at your Pill Refining Furnace first."

After taking the Pill Refining Furnace Magic Artifact, Xu Fan could tell with one glance that the Little Beauty before him was still a pill refining apprentice. This Pill Refining Furnace was only slightly better than the one he had bought at the beginning.

"50 Spirit Stones. I'll repair it for you," Xu Fan said. Business was business. Even if the person before him was a beauty, they were still discussing business.

Little Beauty's eyes lit up. She could afford 50 Spirit Stones, so she immediately took out 50 Spirit Stones and placed them on the Table.

"When the Floating Sky Vessel was collecting small ore veins, take out the leftover scraps allotted to you. I'll use them to repair it."

Thus, another pile of fragments appeared on the Table.

Xu Fan directly suspended the Pill Refining Furnace Magic Artifact in mid-air. A fire-element Spirit Stone turned to powder, and the surrounding fire-element spiritual energy surged at once.

A flame appeared beneath the Pill Refining Furnace and began refining it.

Another Spiritual Fire ignited. Xu Fan casually selected several pieces of Spirit Ore from the pile of scraps and tossed them into the Spiritual Fire. Then a spiritual energy hammer appeared and began tempering the Spirit Ore.

Xu Fan handled all this with practiced ease, as though a university student were solving elementary school problems—effortless and unhurried.

The worshipful gaze of the Little Beauty beside him pleased Xu Fan greatly, and he thought of directly strengthening her Pill Refining Furnace a little while he was at it.

The Pill Refining Furnace Magic Artifact softened under the Spiritual Fire. Xu Fan erased the Runes within it, then, under his control, the Pill Refining Furnace fused with the already-tempered Spirit Ore Liquid.

Xu Fan casually drew thirty-six Runes in the air and merged them into the Pill Refining Furnace.

After shaping and recoloring it, a pink Pill Refining Furnace shrank and landed in Xu Fan's hand. This Pill Refining Furnace had essentially been reforged and strengthened once more.

After this round of modifications, this Pill Refining Furnace's value had at least doubled.

"Your 50 Spirit Stones weren't wasted, were they?" Xu Fan held the pink Pill Refining Furnace in his palm before Little Beauty and said with a smile, his tone rather flirtatious.

A flush instantly spread across Little Beauty's face. Shyly taking back the Pill Refining Furnace Magic Artifact, she ran outside like a flower butterfly.

"Hey, you haven't taken your materials yet!" Xu Fan called out. Those things were worth quite a few Spirit Stones.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Xu Fan's voice, Little Beauty ran even faster.

An Ice Crystal Mirror appeared before Xu Fan, reflecting his utterly ordinary face.

"Am I that scary?"