Refining

Early the next morning, Wu Tao got up feeling better than ever.

Perhaps it was the joy brought by successfully inscribing the Wind-Speed Restriction yesterday. His whole body had relaxed, and the quality of his sleep had been excellent. He had not even heard the amorous sounds from next door during the night.

After washing up simply, he picked up the chamber pot and went to dump the night soil.

He had barely opened the door and taken a few steps when he heard the familiar clatter of the neighboring door opening. He did not need to turn around to know that the female neighbor had surely come out to see off a guest.

Just as he thought that, he heard Zhang Li call out, "Fellow Daoist Li, wait for me!"

Wu Tao turned around and saw Zhang Li lock her door, then bend over with a chamber pot in hand as she hurried toward him. Wu Tao was so frightened that he quickly moved away. "Slow down. Don't spill it on me."

Zhang Li ignored him. She stopped in front of him, her chest rising and falling as she chuckled. "I'm a fairy. Even the shit and piss I produce smell sweet."

Wu Tao had no strength to refute that. He could not possibly sniff her chamber pot just to prove her right. He did not even want to look at it.

In the future, he had to find a fairy who did not shit as a Dao Companion.

Wu Tao secretly swore it in his heart.

Still, Zhang Li seemed not to have had a guest last night. No wonder he had slept so soundly.

Seeing his gaze drift toward her doorway, Zhang Li understood at once. "Stop looking. There's no one inside. Fellow Daoist Li, you know as well as I do that everyone living in New Virtue Alley is a poor ghost. Even if their bodies can take it, their wallets can't."

Right, I'm a poor ghost too... Wu Tao said nothing more and carried the chamber pot onward.

Zhang Li walked beside Wu Tao, chattering like a machine gun, seemingly pouring out every thought in her heart to him. But if he had a choice, Wu Tao truly did not want to listen.

All along the way, Zhang Li was the only one talking while Wu Tao did not utter a word.

"Ah, after transmigrating into a cultivation world, as a cultivator, I have to go dump shit and piss with another female cultivator. What kind of nonsense is this?" Wu Tao felt as though he had bitterness in his heart that he could not voice.

This transmigration was simply terrible beyond words.

After dumping the night soil, Wu Tao deliberately quickened his pace on the way back. Zhang Li, however, was utterly carefree, as though she had not noticed his impatience at all, and continued cheerfully recounting her glorious exploits at Spring Beauty Pavilion.

Finally, I'm home.

At the sight of his residence, Wu Tao breathed a sigh of relief. He said to Zhang Li, "Fellow Daoist Zhang, I'll return to my room to cultivate first."

Without waiting for Zhang Li to reply, Wu Tao opened and shut his door in one smooth motion.

Zhang Li stood between her own door and Wu Tao's, watching his door close. She stopped talking, but no displeasure appeared on her face. Turning around, she returned to her own room.

Back in his room, Wu Tao cleared away the barrage of words Zhang Li had fired at him all along the road, adjusted his mindset, and sat cross-legged on the bed to cultivate the Sanyang Technique.

Now that he had evil possession, the Sanyang Technique would decline if he did not advance. He could not miss even a single day, or his strength would regress and the Evil Qi would spread more easily.

After cultivating for an hour, Wu Tao stopped.

Now that the Wind-Speed Restriction had been inscribed, he should, in theory, have been able to begin refining the Magic Robe immediately.

But he was in no hurry to refine it. Instead, he spent two days bringing himself into peak condition before officially beginning the refining work.

As the saying went, sharpening the knife did not delay the cutting of firewood. This was exactly that.

Over those two days, apart from cultivating the Sanyang Technique in the mornings, he did nothing else. Only once did he go to the marketplace to replenish his food supplies, since the common rice and dried meat stored at home had run out.

After replenishing his food, he had only six Fragmented Spirit Stones left on him.

"Tomorrow, I'll begin refining the Magic Robe. Tonight, I'll get a good night's sleep."

It was worth mentioning that the neighboring room had been quiet for the past two nights. If it stayed quiet for a few more days, Wu Tao could sleep soundly and keep his spirits high, which would greatly benefit the refining of the Magic Robe.

That night, Wu Tao went to sleep very early. Just when he thought he could sleep straight through until dawn, he was awakened by noise at some unknown hour.

There was a guest next door.

"I miscalculated! The Calm Spirit Incense Zhang Li gave me was used up long ago."

Wu Tao frowned. He only felt that his luck was terrible, and his mood could not help sinking into emo despair. It felt as though it was all his own problem. If he had transmigrated into the body of a cultivator with immense wealth and powerful cultivation, he naturally would not have these troubles.

It could be seen that transmigration was like reincarnation—it depended on fate.

After brooding for a while, Wu Tao remembered that he still had to refine the Magic Robe tomorrow, so he forced himself to sleep no matter what.

The next day, Wu Tao rubbed his heavy head to wake himself up. When he got up to dump the night soil, he indeed saw Zhang Li opening her door to see off a guest. He sighed inwardly and continued onward.

When he returned, Zhang Li tried to pull him into conversation again, but Wu Tao used having business to attend to as an excuse and returned to his room.

After taking a cold bath, he felt much more awake. Wearing a set of dry robes, Wu Tao took out the materials for refining the Magic Robe.

Starfire Stone.

First-Rank Level 2 Demon Silkworm Silk.

Looking at the Starfire Stones and Demon Silkworm Silk before him, he calculated in his heart, "What I'm refining now is a First-Rank Level 2 Magic Robe. Its function is wind speed. According to the refining requirements, it needs three Starfire Stones and one jin of Demon Silkworm Silk."

"The materials left behind by the original owner can support two refining attempts. That means I can only fail once."

"There are still four days until the rent is due. I owe the Brokerage Agency steward four Spirit Stones. Adding this month's two Spirit Stones of rent, plus all sorts of miscellaneous expenses, I need to pay six Low-Grade Spirit Stones and fifteen Fragmented Spirit Stones."

"The market price of a First-Rank Level 2 Magic Robe is twelve to fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

"I can only fail once."

To be honest, even with the boost from his Primary Profession as an Artifact Refiner, Wu Tao was still uneasy. If he failed both refining attempts, the Brokerage Agency would definitely drag him away to do hard labor to repay the debt. Even if they showed mercy and merely drove him out, he would still be unable to escape the fate of having Evil Qi spread through his entire body and kill him two months later.

Uneasy or not, the Magic Robe still had to be refined.

Wu Tao dug an earth pit in the center of his room and temporarily used it as an Artifact Refining Room. This was the method of a poor ghost.

He had heard that Artifact Refiners in sects had dedicated Artifact Refining Rooms, with Earth Fire supplied to them.

Such things were beyond what the current Wu Tao dared to imagine.

After making all the preparations, Wu Tao took out the book <The Refining Method of First-Grade Dharma Robes and Five Types of Restrictions> and carefully memorized the refining steps and precautions.

Once he had committed everything to memory, Wu Tao adjusted his mindset, cleared his mind, and officially began refining.

Two Starfire Stones fell into the earth pit. With a touch of Spiritual Power from the Sanyang Technique, they immediately ignited. Dim firelight illuminated Wu Tao's face as he picked up the one jin of Demon Silkworm Silk he had portioned out earlier and controlled it with Spiritual Power.

The Demon Silkworm Silk was still in cocoon form. Under Wu Tao's Spiritual Energy Control, it floated above the earth pit. Within the flames of the Starfire Stones, strands of Demon Silkworm Silk began to loosen one by one.

Wu Tao immediately divided his focus, directing Spiritual Power to draw out the silk and peel away the cocoon, stripping each strand of Demon Silkworm Silk out whole. At the same time, he had to be careful of the Starfire Stones' temperature. If it was too high, the Demon Silkworm Silk would burn through; if it was too low, he would be unable to separate the silk.

Before long, sweat began to appear on Wu Tao's forehead.

The process of stripping out the Demon Silkworm Silk was far more difficult than he had imagined.

This was only the first step. No matter how difficult it was, Wu Tao did not dare relax his mind.

Time passed slowly. One Demon Silkworm Silk cocoon after another turned into floating threads. When the silk from the final cocoon was completely stripped out, Wu Tao felt as though a weight had lifted from his heart.

Next came the second step: weaving the Demon Silkworm Silk into cloth, then using Spiritual Power as a shuttle to thread the needle and weave it into the shape of a Magic Robe.

This step was much easier than the first.

Wu Tao did not let his focus slacken and seamlessly continued into the second step. Strands of Demon Silkworm Silk darted back and forth. As time passed, the hem, sleeves, and collar gradually began to take shape.

In the end, it formed a robe resembling a wide-sleeved garment.

The second step is complete. The hardest part is the third step—the final step.

Wu Tao felt soaked through from head to toe, and much of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit had been drained. But the refining process had to be completed in one breath, or it would fail. This was also the difficult part of the Artifact Refiner's craft.

For the final step, he had to inscribe the complete Wind-Speed Restriction onto every single strand of Demon Silkworm Silk in the Magic Robe. Not one strand could be missed, or the Wind-Speed Restriction would be incomplete and could not be activated.

This was the most difficult step.

Wu Tao tossed another Starfire Stone into the earth pit. The flames flared up, and the temperature rose noticeably. At that very moment, he remained calm and unhurried as he carefully inscribed the Restriction.

A drop of sweat ran down from his eyebrow and fell into his eye.

Wu Tao did not dare blink, afraid of failing.

Yet the more one feared something, the more it came true. Wu Tao only felt his mind stall for an instant. Then, with a snap, one stroke landed too heavily, crushing part of the Restriction Rune before it. The entire Restriction lost its integrity and abruptly collapsed.

He had failed.

The ruined Magic Robe fell onto the Starfire Stones and began to burn.

Wu Tao fell backward and lay flat on the ground. His entire body was drenched in cold sweat, his spirit utterly listless. He did not want to think about anything at all.