Scolding Him Is Enough

Chapter 27: Just Scold Him

Yang Xingming was a bit speechless. Why was he being lectured now?

But he couldn't argue with Chen Xingfeng, so he obediently watched Ning Ri's technique. The more he watched, the more he marveled—

Good, this kid is really good!

Yang Xingming was a little different from Luo Ke.

Luo Ke was a core member of the Golden Strategy Immortal Sect and was quite obsessed with recruiting people. However, Yang Xingming's identity was merely a guest elder of the Xi Family and Xi Yuan's Guardian. He didn't care whether Ning Ri joined the Lingxi Immortal Sect or not.

He just felt that he had done a good job building good karma with Ning Ri earlier.

Meanwhile.

Jin Le and Liang Shuyou's faces had turned ashen.

How are we supposed to refine anything like this?!

They also understood that the essence of this artifact refining task was to gain Chen Xingfeng's appreciation.

But now...

Chen Xingfeng, let alone appreciating them, was practically forgetting who they were.

On the other hand, Jiang Wen wasn't thinking that much. He hurriedly focused his attention and concentrated on secretly learning Ning Ri's artifact refining skills...

He felt that the effect of Chen Xingfeng's explanation and secretly learning Ning Ri's artifact refining skills was about the same.

However, Ning Ri's techniques exuded a sense of "the great way is simple." The incantations weren't complicated, but Jiang Wen knew—

I can watch it all, but I can't do any of it right.

Thinking of this, he inwardly gasped—

No wonder the rumors in the Cultivation World say that anyone allowed to roam by the Heaven Defying Sect is no ordinary person. This Ning Ri is a perfect example of that...

No wonder Elder Yang Xingming thinks so highly of Ning Ri.

At this moment, Ning Ri noticed everyone's gazes were focused on him, and he couldn't help but feel anxious—

Why are you looking at me? There's nothing written on my face.

Hurry up and refine artifacts!

He needed more people to refine artifacts so he could figure out the rules of his Panel.

Thinking of this, Ning Ri couldn't help but sigh. The Spiritual Energy around him flickered slightly, giving the impression of exhaustion. Then, he found the right moment, slowly interrupted his artifact refining, placed the melted iron water aside, and began to rest.

He wanted to pretend he had no more Spiritual Energy and needed to rest, creating an illusion so that others would stop looking at him and quickly go back to refining artifacts.

But he couldn't be too exaggerated, so he could only act. After all, others would understand.

The moment Ning Ri stopped refining, Jin Le and Liang Shuyou breathed a sigh of relief, and the thought arose in their hearts—

Now that's more like it!

When they had seen Ning Ri's cultivation earlier, they had predicted that his cultivation wouldn't last that long. Even with the six-hour grace period, Ning Ri would have to stop and rest from time to time.

See, they were right!

Thinking of this, these two who had just been thoroughly demoralized couldn't help but feel a bit of joy and superiority—

No matter what, their cultivation was much stronger than Ning Ri's, so they wouldn't even be unable to maintain artifact refining.

Then, the three of them continued to refine artifacts...

As soon as they started, Ning Ri's heart leaped with joy.

Skill points are increasing again!

At this moment, Xi Yuan asked Ning Ri with concern, "Big brother, are you okay?"

Ning Ri smiled, "Don't worry, big brother is fine. You refine your things."

"Okay!" Xi Yuan nodded seriously and began to melt materials as well.

As soon as Xi Yuan joined the artifact refining ranks, Ning Ri noticed that the speed of skill point increase seemed to be faster...

Seeing this, he couldn't help but think—

Could it be that with [Heavenly Craftsman], the more people refine artifacts around me, the more my skill points increase?

Just then.

Chen Xingfeng suddenly said in a deep voice, "Ning Ri."

Ning Ri immediately asked, "Master Xingfeng, what is it?"

As soon as he responded, Ning Ri's expression sank—

Because he noticed the skill points had stopped increasing. Everyone else had stopped refining artifacts because of Chen Xingfeng's words.

Chen Xingfeng looked at Ning Ri. His expression couldn't be described as kind, but his words were full of praise: "You picked a good time."

"When it comes to artifact refining, many people know how to start, but not how to stop."

"When stopping artifact refining, the artifact fire, materials, and runes will all exert a certain degree of backlash. Many people rely on their cultivation to forcefully endure it, but over time, they will suffer hidden injuries. For example, the erosion by earth fire, which is common among artifact refiners, comes from this."

"The three of them just did that. They forcefully stopped twice, and the artifact fire backlashed a bit, but because their cultivation was strong, they didn't care."

"But you did very well. Neither the counter-shock nor the backlash could affect you. Your fundamentals are indeed very solid."

As soon as these words were spoken, the sense of superiority that Jin Le and Liang Shuyou, who had just been put down in front of everyone, had felt instantly vanished without a trace...

"No way, you can praise this too?!"

They had expected Chen Xingfeng to praise someone, but the protagonist of the praise wasn't Ning Ri, it was Xi Yuan.

"Isn't that to be expected?"

"He's at the eighth stage of Qi Refining at ten years old, can refine pills, and can refine artifacts. Isn't it normal for him to be praised?"

But they didn't expect Ning Ri to be the one praised.

And because Chen Xingfeng's words made a lot of sense, they had no way to tell if Chen Xingfeng was being serious or just forcing the praise...

At the same time, Jiang Wen didn't care about being put down. He quickly took notes—

"Resting at the right time... can also be praised."

Ning Ri chuckled dryly, "Haha, thank you Master Xingfeng for the praise. But this junior was just stumbling upon it. I'm still a beginner in artifact refining and still need to learn a lot."

As he spoke, he muttered to himself—

If you want to praise me, could you pick another time and let the other three continue refining first?

Chen Xingfeng ignored Ning Ri's humble words and said directly, "There's a place in the Craftsmanship Tower specifically for storing my artifact refining insights, called the [Artifact Heart Pavilion]."

"Would you like to go in and take a look?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the other three instantly showed expressions of envy, jealousy, and surprise...

Master Xingfeng is this good to Ning Ri?!

Ning Ri's eyes immediately lit up—

Holy crap!

He wants to let me in?

Then this is truly like a mouse entering a rice bin, eating it all!

It's like getting stock from the source factory!

However, Ning Ri didn't get too happy too early. Everything in this world has a price. "Master Xingfeng, this junior has long admired your [Artifact Heart Pavilion]. However, I cannot accept rewards without merit. This junior hasn't done anything, yet I'm receiving such a great gift for nothing. I am truly humbled."

He neither refused nor agreed.

Hearing this, Xi Yuan scratched his head—

He doesn't quite understand, because he's still a child.

But he felt that Ning Ri clearly wanted to go, so why did his words come out like this?

If you think this book is good, to avoid losing it next time, please remember to add it to your bookshelf.

Chen Xingfeng heard Ning Ri's words and chuckled. This kid is quite cautious, afraid he's setting a trap, huh?

Ning Ri was afraid Chen Xingfeng would ask him to pay a price he couldn't afford, so he wanted to ask the price first. His unspoken meaning was—

If your factory is cheap, I'll buy stock. If it's too expensive, I'll just find pirated copies later. Anyway, the Panel doesn't care if you read the official or pirated version; it can cultivate with both. So, strictly speaking, the Panel is the true cultivator of both official and pirated content.

Chen Xingfeng said solemnly, "If you want to enter the Artifact Heart Pavilion, it's very simple. Just curse Mo Cuidao in front of me, and I'll open my Artifact Heart Pavilion for you to see."

"Mo Cuidao won't know about this."

Ning Ri: "..."

The mountain bandit elder has been kind to me...

This...

I just want to get some stock, it can't be that serious, right?

Do you guys have a huge feud?

Just then.

Yang Xingming transmitted his voice, "They are fellow disciples. They can't stand each other. You don't need to worry about their relationship."

He didn't suggest whether Ning Ri should agree or not, he just informed Ning Ri of their relationship so Ning Ri would have a better understanding.

Upon hearing this, Ning Ri was surprised—

So the two of them are fellow disciples with a bad relationship!

Speaking of which, judging by the artifact refining styles of these two, one can lead the sect to produce artifact refining puppets and disciple tokens, while the other built the magnificent Craftsmanship Tower.

Their styles are quite conflicting. He felt it was indeed difficult for these two not to have any friction.

Several thoughts flashed through Ning Ri's mind. At the same time, he said to Chen Xingfeng, "Master Xingfeng, let's forget about this matter. All my skills were taught by Elder Mo."

Even if Yang Xingming hadn't reminded him, he would have refused Chen Xingfeng. However, now that he knew Chen Xingfeng and Mo Cuidao were fellow disciples, he felt more settled—

No matter what, these two shouldn't be mortal enemies. And the Heaven Defying Sect sends people every year... This indicates that there's no major problem, and it at least won't affect me.

Chen Xingfeng didn't show any particular expression. He just said lightly, "Alright."

Ning Ri then immediately began his "rest."

After confirming that he wouldn't be assassinated by Chen Xingfeng because of Mo Cuidao, he finally felt at ease.

As for Chen Xingfeng's feelings, he didn't care.

Constantly guessing others' feelings would lead to internal exhaustion, which was unnecessary.

Seeing Ning Ri refuse Chen Xingfeng and then close his eyes to sit back down, the three members of the artifact refining trio exchanged bewildered glances. For a moment, the entire refining room fell silent. Immediately after, they busied themselves...

They weren't clear about the relationship between Chen Xingfeng and Mo Cuidao, only knowing that Ning Ri had rejected Chen Xingfeng. If they didn't get busy now, things would become awkward.

Ning Ri rested for a "long time," about eighty breaths, and then he opened his eyes--

The pupils of his eyes still flickered with the light of others' artifact fires.

He looked at the panel invisible to others, where the Free Skill Points had remained stagnant since just now, stubbornly stuck at the number [107].

Ning Ri watched the others still melting materials, their techniques unchanged from before, and thought, the other variables hadn't moved, but they just weren't increasing anymore...

Why?!

He reviewed his thoughts. When he first entered the refining room, he had 7 points.

After increasing, it became 107 points.

A total increase of 100 points!

And then, it stopped!

What was so mysterious about the number 100?

Ning Ri thought for a moment and suddenly remembered that the skill points for [Heavenly Craftsman (Incomplete)] were exactly 100, weren't they?

At this thought, Ning Ri quickly organized his current two deductions.

First, when someone was refining artifacts around him, the skill points for [Heavenly Craftsman (Incomplete)] would increase.

Second, the increase in skill points was limited by the skill points of [Heavenly Craftsman (Incomplete)].

Thinking this, Ning Ri felt a bit melancholic--

He hadn't learned any artifact refining techniques for the Foundation Establishment stage yet. [Heavenly Craftsman (Incomplete)] was restricted to the Qi Refining stage, leaving him with nothing to learn. This made it impossible to verify if his hypothesis was correct.

But, it didn't matter...

Ning Ri stared at the "107" Free Skill Points, feeling extremely excited.

With this, it would be as easy as pie to perfect his Lightning Control Palm and Qi Refining Art.

His [Heavenly Defying Soul Splitting Technique] could also continue to gain points rapidly, allowing him to test the ceiling.

Coming to the Craftsmanship Tower this time was indeed the right decision!

One hundred skill points could save him 50 hours of sword practice, saving so much time, it felt great!

Next.

Ning Ri got up and resumed artifact refining.

He planned to complete this task as quickly as possible. After that, he would obtain the Foundation Establishment Cultivation Methods, then find a place to claim he had a fortuitous encounter and "luckily" became a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Finally, he could return to the Heaven Defying Sect to learn Foundation Establishment techniques from Elder Mo to verify his thoughts.

As long as he could figure out the knack for earning skill points with [Heavenly Craftsman (Incomplete)], achieving immortality would be as easy as flipping his hand!

Then, Ning Ri began to continue melting materials.

What Chen Xingfeng wanted them to refine was a complete set of Qi Refining magic treasures, essentially a full-body armor.

However, this armor was clearly designed for a youth and had an overall light and elegant feel, unlike the heavy armor of many soldiers. Therefore, Ning Ri wouldn't need to melt a large amount of materials.

Relying on his "incredibly solid" basic skills, he finished melting all the materials in half an hour.

He even took a few breaks during this time.

But even so, his speed was still significantly faster than others!

When Ning Ri finished, Jin Le and Liang Shuyou had completely given up on comparing themselves to Ning Ri--

This guy was simply a monstrous prodigy.

There was no point in comparing oneself to a prodigy.

After melting the materials, the next step was to "carve formations" within the liquefied ore. Carving formations meant engraving runes into it, so that when it solidified, these runes could exert their deepest effects.

Carving in "water" was extremely difficult. Those without sufficient divine sense and spiritual energy control could not do it at all. Generally, one had to reach the Foundation Establishment stage to accomplish this. Therefore, most Qi Refining stage cultivators couldn't come to the Craftsmanship Tower to participate in tasks requiring the refinement of a complete set of Qi Refining magic treasures.

But Ning Ri was different.

At this moment.

His eyes were focused, his fingers together, a faint blue light emanating from their tips. He then lowered them into the molten iron and began to draw, as if creating talismans...

Flowing smoothly, completing in one go, without the slightest hesitation, his movements were so fluid it was astonishing.

Ning Ri's effortless performance left everyone in silence: "..."

Can you please not be so smooth, big brother? Are you Qi Refining stage three, or am I?

While the artifact refining trio watched in silence, Yang Xingming watched with delight.

The better Ning Ri performed, the more it reflected his good judgment, and he was naturally happy.

Halfway through his joy, Yang Xingming glanced at Chen Xingfeng, his expression suddenly changing—

Because he found Chen Xingfeng's face looked as if he had seen a ghost.

At this moment, Chen Xingfeng's eyelids twitched, and his heart was filled with shock—

This kid knows all of Mo Cuidao's heaven-defying tricks?

Is this really something a Qi Refining cultivator can learn?!

Did I really make a mistake?!