Refusing the Spirit Weapons

A golden oriole suddenly flew to the stone wall in the distance, circling before it and chirping loudly as though calling to its kin. Sanbao's lips also curved into a peculiar shape—this had to be the realm of making the false seem real that the Saint Ancestor had told him about.

Four years. He had spent a full four years learning Stone Carving Painting, and had barely reached the minor mastery realm. Heaven had rewarded his perseverance.

"Who's there?"

A faint aura suddenly slipped into Sanbao's range of perception. He turned toward a spot behind the stone wall and shouted sharply, "Show yourself!"

"It's me, Sanbao." A stern-looking woman lightly descended into view. It was none other than his master, Elder Jing Yifei.

"Master!" Sanbao bowed slightly in greeting.

"Not bad. I've watched you carve this painting for a year now. I didn't expect it to have such an effect. You're only a little Spirit Scholar, yet you were able to sense my presence. Your soul force is probably not much weaker than mine..." Jing Yifei gestured for Sanbao to sit. The two of them then sat side by side on a stone bench in front of the wall.

"Master, you know about soul force too?" Sanbao asked with a smile.

"You little rascal, you know perfectly well. Ordinary Spirit Cultivators don't care about soul force, but to a Treasure Refiner, it's like a person's two arms. Its importance goes without saying." Jing Yifei chided him with a laugh.

"What? A Treasure Refiner? Could it be that Master is a revered Treasure Refiner?" Sanbao was stunned, and his voice rose.

"Hmph, you little rascal, pretending to be confused again. Don't think I don't know—you've probably studied my Bronze Cauldron a hundred times. With your cleverness, could you really not have figured it out?"

"This disciple doesn't know. Please enlighten me, Master."

Sanbao decided not to guess and waited for Jing Yifei to explain. Sure enough, what she told him next finally confirmed the theory he had been keeping to himself for the past year.

There were two kinds of Treasure Refiners: Alchemists and Artifact Refiners.

Besides powerful soul force, becoming a Treasure Refiner also required cultivating two elemental types of spiritual power. Alchemists needed fire and wood, while Artifact Refiners needed fire and metal.

Whether they were Alchemists who could concoct pills or Artifact Refiners who could forge Spirit Weapons, both were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns in the world of Spirit Cultivators. High-level Treasure Refiners were especially rare, and their standing was extraordinarily prestigious.

In fact, Jing Yifei was an Artifact Refiner who cultivated both metal and fire spiritual power. Because of her special status as a Treasure Refiner, even the several sect masters of the Cloud Saint Sect treated her with great respect.

The enormous cauldron in Earth Fire Hall was actually Jing Yifei's main furnace for refining weapons. Refining a Spirit Weapon generally involved three steps.

First, all the materials needed for the Spirit Weapon had to be gathered, then Bright Fire was used to remove the impurities from each one. Next, the purified materials were melted together to form the weapon's rough shape. Finally, the weapon was slowly tempered over Gentle Fire until its spirit was drawn out. Only then could it be considered a successful, powerful Spirit Weapon.

Each of these three steps was crucial, but the third—tempering over Gentle Fire—took the most time.

Gentle Fire was also known as Void Fire. It was an illusory substance, much like the earthfire inside Earth Fire Hall. Only weapons repeatedly tempered by Void Fire could develop a spirit and become Spirit Weapons. Generally speaking, the better the Void Fire and the longer the tempering, the higher the Spirit Weapon's quality.

Even the most ordinary low-grade Spirit Weapon needed at least a hundred days of tempering. That was the meaning behind the saying "hammered and tempered a thousand times."

Only then did Sanbao understand why every Spirit Weapon was so precious.

"Sanbao, I've told you everything you need to know. Is there anything you still don't understand?" After explaining, Jing Yifei looked at him seriously.

Now that his suspicions had been confirmed, Sanbao could no longer pretend to be ignorant. He knew Jing Yifei had explained so much because she intended to take him as her disciple. This was a rare opportunity for him, so he immediately stood up, dropped to his knees, and cried out, "Master, please accept this disciple's bow!"

Unlike when he had entered the sect a year ago and the two of them had merely gone through the motions of accepting one another, this time they both truly welcomed the bond.

Passing down the art of Treasure Refining was no easy matter. It was hard for a gifted disciple to find a master, and just as hard for a master to find a gifted disciple.

After discovering Sanbao's enormous potential, Jing Yifei had already considered taking him as her disciple. Nearly a year of observation had only strengthened her resolve.

"Good. Get up. As a gift to mark our first meeting, you may choose one of the Spirit Weapons I've refined recently." Jing Yifei smiled and helped Sanbao to his feet, then suddenly took out several gleaming Spirit Weapons.

A saber, a sword, a shield, and a hammer.

Sanbao was stunned. He hadn't expected Jing Yifei to have so many Spirit Weapons hidden on her. My master's got quite a collection. Not only does she have a storage space, she has plenty of Spirit Weapons too.

"What? Are you surprised by where I took them from? It's simple. This is a low-grade Spirit Weapon I refined just for myself: a Storage Bag." Seeing Sanbao's surprise, Jing Yifei took out a small, pitch-black cloth bag and waved it at him.

Though the Storage Bag was only a low-grade Spirit Weapon, it belonged to the spatial type, which made it difficult to refine. It took a great deal of time and effort, and the success rate was low. It was even more valuable than an ordinary middle-grade Spirit Weapon.

The Storage Bag was precious, but to Sanbao, who had seen an even more advanced spatial Spirit Weapon—the Storage Ring—it was nothing special.

What mattered more to Sanbao was Master Jing Yifei's sincerity. He was simply touched by it.

Jing Yifei was nothing like the cold, aloof loner described in the Master Selection Manual. To Sanbao, she was actually a rather warmhearted person, at least toward him. Of course, as a Treasure Refiner, she had every reason to be proud around ordinary people.

"Thank you, Master. I can't use these for now. The Spirit Skills I practice are all in my hands, so using a saber or sword would only get in the way."

Sanbao politely declined his master's gift. He had always remembered a warning from Thirteen: one's own cultivation was the foundation of one's strength. Relying on external objects too early might bring a brief advantage, but it often made people dependent on them. In the long run, it did more harm than good.

As the former rulers of the Tianlan Empire, the Luo Clan had certainly possessed no shortage of rare treasures. Yet aside from the mysterious True Spirit Feather, neither the Luo Clan of Tianlan nor Thirteen had left Sanbao anything else.

Before Sanbao had come to Cloud Mountain, Old Luo had also offered him a set of Spirit Armor that he had worn close to his body, so Sanbao could protect himself. But remembering Thirteen's warning, Sanbao had refused that as well. If he wore the armor every day, his vigilance would probably decline greatly, and that wasn't what he wanted.

There was another reason: Sanbao felt that his strength was too low at present. Even with a Spirit Weapon, he wouldn't become much stronger, and he might instead invite disaster by carrying a treasure. So he had decided not to take it.

"What? You don't want them? Good, good. I didn't expect you to be even prouder than your master. Sanbao, tell me honestly—are you really from a small family in some remote town?" Jing Yifei hadn't expected him to refuse Spirit Weapons that Spirit Cultivators regarded as priceless treasures.

"I really am from a small family in a town in the south. Why don't you teach me how to refine weapons now, Master?" Sanbao answered without leaving the slightest opening, then quickly changed the subject.

"Very well..."

Jing Yifei didn't press him. The master and disciple talked for a long while before finally going their separate ways.

Jing Yifei first confirmed that Sanbao's soul force was indeed exceptionally powerful, and that he could freely circulate both metal and fire spiritual power. These were the two most important requirements for becoming a Treasure Refiner. The specific techniques and principles of weapon refining, however, could only be mastered through long years of practice and tempering.

From that day on, besides his various forms of cultivation, Sanbao took on another task: refining weapons.

Strictly speaking, the process of refining treasures was also a process of cultivating spiritual power, as well as soul force.

The entire process demanded extremely precise control of both spiritual power and soul force. Treasure refining was no easy task; on the contrary, it was grueling and monotonous. Unless you had experienced it yourself, there was no way to explain it to an outsider.

Autumn passed into winter, and before long the year drew to a close. By then, Sanbao had become a five-star Spirit Scholar, only one step away from the Spirit General realm.

A five-star Spirit Scholar was still at the bottom of the Spirit Cultivator world, but for someone Sanbao's age, he was already a monster of talent.

Around the New Year, Sanbao received an anonymous letter. Its message was simple, just four characters: "Everything remains as before." In addition, a strange mark appeared at the lower right corner of the letter—the distinctive "Luo" character of the Luo Clan.

The news that everything was well with the Luo Clan put Sanbao's mind at ease. The mysterious yet warm Luo Clan of Deer Mountain Town had long since become a home for his heart.

P.S. Five updates complete. Thanks, brothers, for your support. We made it onto the new-book rankings, and tomorrow I'll keep the updates coming. I hope we can stay on the list. Brothers, give me a hand.