Artifact Refining Hall

A little over an hour later, the two appeared before a stone door. Qin Fengming calculated that they were now nearly twenty miles from the cave entrance. ... www..com ... The sheer depth made Qin Fengming feel somewhat oppressed.

Looking at the stone door before him, Qin Fengming noticed a faint, shifting colorful light flowing over it, as if some sort of restriction was in place. The youth then sent out a sound transmission talisman. Before long, the stone door slowly creaked open.

As the stone door opened, Qin Fengming immediately felt a wave of heat wash over him, almost unbearable. Only by rapidly circulating the spiritual energy within his body was he able to dispel this discomfort.

Focusing his gaze inside the cave, he saw a large, spacious hall. Around the hall were more than ten stone chambers, each with a thick stone door at its entrance, and each door seemed to have a restriction.

There was already a young man in a grey shirt in the hall. Using the Spirit Eye Technique to examine him, Qin Fengming found that the man had already reached the fifth level of the Qi Gathering stage.

Upon seeing Qin Fengming and the other person enter, the grey-shirted youth merely stood up, nodded slightly, and then continued organizing a pile of artifact refining materials on one side of the hall.

The senior disciple of the Liu clan whispered something, asking Qin Fengming to wait there for a moment, and then he also went to the pile of materials to search carefully.

After about the time it takes to eat a meal, the stone door of the largest stone chamber suddenly opened. Martial Uncle Fei, whom they had seen earlier, flashed into view at the entrance of the chamber.

"Nephew Disciple Qin, regardless of whether you like artifact refining or not, since you are here, you must diligently study the path of artifact refining. For the first ten days, I will find some materials and teach you the refinement techniques. If you cannot meet my requirements after a month, you will not be allowed to stay in the Artifact Refining Hall to help."

"If you meet my requirements, I will assign you tasks to refine materials each month. As long as you complete them, you can cultivate on your own. I will give you ten low-grade Spirit Stones each month. This month, I will give you twenty Spirit Stones to practice refinement."

Martial Uncle Fei looked at Qin Fengming, without any further pleasantries, and got straight to the point. As he spoke, he handed twenty Spirit Stones to Qin Fengming.

"Disciple will certainly study diligently and will not disappoint Martial Uncle Fei," Qin Fengming said respectfully as he took the Spirit Stones.

"Good, follow me." With that, he walked towards an adjacent stone chamber. With a wave of his hand, the stone door opened silently.

As the two entered, Martial Uncle Fei waved his hand again, and the stone door silently closed. At the same time, a flash of light appeared, and a ripple of spiritual energy manifested on the stone door.

The temperature inside this chamber was significantly higher than in the hall. Fortunately, with Qin Fengming's strenuous resistance, he could still bear it.

This cave was about four or five zhang long and wide, and about five or six zhang high. Scattered on the cave floor were six crouching toads, each about three feet tall. They all had their mouths open, heads tilted upwards, with lifelike postures, exhaling wisps of white mist.

Martial Uncle Fei walked up to one of the toads, took out three low-grade Spirit Stones, and placed them into three indentations on the toad's body. Then, he cast a spell, and with a bang, a scorching flame suddenly spewed from the toad's mouth.

"The earth fire here is no less potent than the alchemical fire of a Core Formation stage senior. Our sect's founding ancestor used great divine power to draw the earth's core fire here and set up dozens of fire-attracting beasts above it. As long as Spirit Stones are used to activate the formation, the fire-attracting beasts will spew flames from their mouths. Qi Gathering and Foundation Establishment cultivators can use this for alchemy and artifact refining. This place is comparable to the earth fire in Junior Brother Lu's Alchemy Hall."

As he spoke, he instructed Qin Fengming on how to control and use the earth fire.

"Nephew Disciple Qin, you must watch carefully now and pay close attention. In the future, by following my actions, you will be able to refine the essence from various materials."

After Martial Uncle Fei finished speaking, he did not delay. With a flip of his hand, a small furnace cauldron appeared in his hand. With a flick, he placed it above the fire-attracting beast.

Immediately, a piece of artifact refining material was placed inside the furnace. He then skillfully controlled the size of the flame. After the time it takes to eat a meal, the material turned into liquid. Next, Martial Uncle Fei cast another spell, and the color of the flame turned white.

A layer of grayish-white substance slowly appeared on the surface of the liquefied material. After the time it takes to eat another meal, Martial Uncle Fei used a pair of long, clamp-like tools to remove the grayish-white substance. He then collected the remaining material in a container. He cast another spell at the fire-attracting beast, and the flame suddenly disappeared.

Qin Fengming watched Martial Uncle Fei refine intently. Although it seemed effortless, Qin Fengming knew that this feat was the result of Martial Uncle Fei's accumulation over many years, allowing him to perform it so easily and skillfully.

After Martial Uncle Fei finished his demonstration, he imparted various fire-controlling spells to Qin Fengming. Without waiting for him to ask any further questions, he threw down a pile of artifact refining materials and then turned and left the chamber.

Qin Fengming sat on the stone floor, carefully recalling Martial Uncle Fei's actions and meticulously remembering the several fire-controlling spells. For the duration of a meal, he did not move an inch.

After a long while, Qin Fengming suddenly began to act. He first cast a spell at the fire-attracting beast. With a "pop," the fire-attracting beast immediately spewed out flames. Seeing this, Qin Fengming rejoiced, and then cast another spell. The flames slowly began to change, but the transformation was much slower than Martial Uncle Fei's.

Facing the flame transformation, Qin Fengming knew that his spiritual energy was not as profound as Martial Uncle Fei's. This flame transformation skill would require him to slowly gain experience.

He placed the artifact refining furnace above the fire-attracting beast and, following his uncle's example, put a piece of artifact refining material into it. Following Martial Uncle Fei's procedure, he began to refine and purify this material.

To Qin Fengming's disappointment, the material ultimately turned into a black, useless lump.

In the following month, every day, apart from eating and sleeping, Qin Fengming would enter the artifact refining room and repeat this process monotonously.

For the first ten days, Martial Uncle Fei would come over every day to guide him. After ten days, Martial Uncle Fei's figure was no longer seen.

Every four or five days, Qin Fengming would replace the Spirit Stones. Only then did he understand why Martial Uncle Fei had given him twenty Spirit Stones. Such rapid consumption of Spirit Stones was not something ordinary disciples could afford.

In the first half of the month, his artifact refining and purification attempts failed more often than not. However, after twenty days, the failure rate dropped to about fifty to sixty percent. By the time nearly a month had passed, his success rate had actually reached seventy to eighty percent. Despite this, he still felt very uneasy, unsure if he could pass Martial Uncle Fei's test.

Qin Fengming was unaware that his current purification success rate was already outstanding, even within the entire Artifact Refining world.

A month later, when Martial Uncle Fei came to inspect Qin Fengming's practice over the past month, he was greatly astonished by his refining techniques and success rate.

According to his expectations, a success rate of twenty to thirty percent would have been quite good for Qin Fengming. Which artifact refiner had not taken years or even decades to achieve near-perfect results? For Qin Fengming to have mastered the refinement technique to such a degree in just one month, how could he not be pleasantly surprised?