Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron

"Thanks for your hard work."

Lu Qingfeng carried the alchemy furnace in his hand, preparing to return and test its effects.

Over these eight years, all his achievements in artifact refinement had gone into this alchemy furnace. Now that it was finished, it was time to return and inspect the results.

He headed toward the exit of the artifact workshop.

Passing one spot, Lu Qingfeng could not help stopping.

Bang!

Clang!

Klang!

Rhythmic hammering rang beside his ears, filled with a strange cadence.

Looking closely, he saw a forging platform in the center of one of the artifact workshops. A bare-chested, burly man held a hundred-kilogram iron hammer high in his hands, striking away without pause.

He looked rough and wild, but every blow landed with pinpoint precision, like Zhang Fei doing embroidery!

The iron hammer danced in his hands with the delicacy of an embroidery needle.

Lu Qingfeng was drawn into this strange rhythm.

An outsider might not have noticed, but he could just barely see that with every hammer blow from the burly man, the artifact on the forging platform underwent considerable changes.

The big hammer changed to a small hammer, and the small hammer changed to a big hammer!

As they alternated, the artifact was continuously cooled in icy spring water. Relying on only a few hammers, the man actually carved out all the patterns and designs on the artifact.

Lu Qingfeng watched, utterly absorbed.

Only when the burly man stopped and placed the fully forged sword into the icy spring did Lu Qingfeng come back to himself amid the sizzling sounds.

The burly man had already noticed him and was walking over.

"Old Lu, here to forge an alchemy furnace again?" Zhang Zong walked up to Lu Qingfeng, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked casually.

"Yes. It's finished." At that, Lu Qingfeng raised the alchemy furnace in his hand.

The man before him was the owner of this Seven Mysteries Artifact Workshop and one of the two vice presidents of the Yuanyi Guild, Zhang Zong.

Lu Qingfeng's study of artifact refinement naturally required practical training. Thus, the only artifact workshop in the Yuanyi Guild—the Seven Mysteries Artifact Workshop—had become a place he frequented over the past few years.

Over time, Lu Qingfeng had grown as familiar with Zhang Zong as he was with Wang Tao and Yue Ran, the two top alchemy apprentices!

"Not bad, not bad."

A trace of astonishment flashed through Zhang Zong's eyes as he took the alchemy furnace from Lu Qingfeng. Before long, the alchemy furnace changed size as he pleased, spiritual energy surged, and flames flickered.

Zhang Zong was testing it.

A moment later, the astonishment in Zhang Zong's eyes deepened. "I never thought that aside from your outstanding talent in alchemy, Old Lu, you'd possess such ability in artifact refinement as well!"

"Big Brother Zhang, you flatter me."

"I think Big Brother Zhang's artifact-refining technique just now was the truly incredible thing!"

Lu Qingfeng offered a modest reply before praising him.

"That was the Wind-Thunder Hammer technique. I studied it for decades before barely reaching the entry level." Zhang Zong answered casually, his attention still on the alchemy furnace refined by Lu Qingfeng. "Old Lu, how did you think of changing the arrangement of those groups of talismans? That alteration was simply marvelous! It was practically the finishing touch, raising an utterly ordinary alchemy furnace by at least one grade in an instant!"

In artifact refinement, Zhang Zong considered himself the number one person in the Yuanyi Guild.

Yet today, Lu Qingfeng's work had dazzled him.

"It was just a flash of inspiration. I originally thought it would fail, but I didn't expect the final result to be pretty good." Lu Qingfeng smiled.

Naturally, he would not say outright that it was the result of strengthening it with experience points!

"A flash of inspiration..."

Zhang Zong could not help nodding.

Artifact refinement truly required inspiration much of the time. When inspiration struck and everything fell into place, one could perform far beyond one's usual level!

"Looks like you really do have a talent for artifact refinement. If Boss Mu finds out, he probably won't come bother me anymore." Zhang Zong smiled at Lu Qingfeng.

Mentioning Mu Yuanyi, Lu Qingfeng smiled as well.

Over the past few years, he had divided his attention to artifact refinement and had not put much effort into refining various low-level pills. This had dealt a heavy blow to Mu Yuanyi's plan to make low- and mid-level pills produced by Yuanyi its flagship products and seize the pill market.

Mu Yuanyi had sought Lu Qingfeng out for heart-to-heart talks more than once, urging him to devote all his energy to alchemy. But Lu Qingfeng let it go in one ear and out the other. He agreed verbally, yet the next day he still plunged into the Seven Mysteries Artifact Workshop without fail.

This had also caused Zhang Zong no end of trouble from Mu Yuanyi.

After chatting with Zhang Zong for a while about the insights of artifact refinement, Lu Qingfeng returned to the Black Sand Alchemy Room.

After eight years, the Black Sand Alchemy Room now had six low-level alchemy apprentices, forty-two alchemy apprentices, and its sole high-level alchemy apprentice—Lu Qingfeng.

"Master."

"Elder Lu."

Every apprentice who saw Lu Qingfeng upon his entry into the alchemy room respectfully saluted him.

Lu Qingfeng nodded slightly and walked straight to his own fourth-rank alchemy room.

The alchemy room was simply arranged. In the center stood a fourth-rank talisman artifact–grade alchemy furnace, while various bottles, jars, and processed medicinal ingredients were scattered around it. A meditation mat lay to one side, where Lu Qingfeng could sit and recover his qi after refining pills, or cultivate.

"Let's take a look at this Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron first!"

Lu Qingfeng placed the alchemy furnace he had been carrying—the Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron—on the ground. He pressed both hands against it, and inner breath surged forth.

In an instant.

Spiritual light flickered across the Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron. It suddenly expanded, stopping only when it reached the height of a person.

"The size-changing talisman array is stable!"

Lu Qingfeng slapped the wall of the Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron with one hand and sent another stream of inner breath into it.

With the Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron at the center, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth faintly converged. Lu Qingfeng had yet to reach the Foundation Establishment stage of Qi Guiding, so he could only sense it roughly.

The next moment—

Bang!

A wisp of flame ignited between the cauldron's three legs. The flame was scarlet-red, and its temperature was far from low.

"The spiritual-energy-gathering talisman array is stable!"

"The red-flame-generating talisman array is stable!"

Lu Qingfeng moved his hands away. The scarlet flame beneath the cauldron continued burning. Though it flickered unsteadily, it never went out.

"Success!"

Lu Qingfeng's brows lifted as he beamed, overjoyed.

The Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron had originally been a first-rank talisman artifact–grade alchemy furnace composed of nine talismans. Lu Qingfeng had spent several hundred experience points to strengthen its artifact-refining method five times.

The nine talismans, originally scattered and disordered, had instantly been optimized into three groups of three, forming three talisman arrays.

While its stability had greatly increased, its spiritual-energy-gathering and flame effects had likewise improved tremendously.

Although it was merely a first-rank talisman artifact containing nine talismans, in reality, even many second-rank talisman artifacts containing more than thirty talismans were far inferior to it.

That was the reason Zhang Zong had been so amazed.

"Because of material limitations, there is a limit to the number of talismans a talisman artifact can contain. If that limit is exceeded, the material will be unable to bear the burden and collapse, causing the artifact refinement to fail. The better the material's quality, the more talismans it can accommodate, and the greater the power and quality of the resulting magical artifact will naturally be."

"A good artifact refiner and a good artifact-refining method can arrange talismans rationally within ordinary materials, allowing those talismans to display their greatest effects even when the material can contain only a limited number of them."

"Strengthening the refining method of the Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron through the Evolving Method follows precisely this principle."

Lu Qingfeng stroked the Scarlet Flame Alchemy Cauldron.