The Green Fire Cauldron

"Let's give it a try. Who knows? Maybe I have a talent for it." Shen Yue laughed.

His next plan was to practice artifact refining.

With his perfected Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand, he could actually use scrap materials to secretly give it a try.

But the outside world needed to know he was refining artifacts. If he kept sneaking around, how could he become an artifact refiner in the future?

"Talent?" Zhou Chongwen shook his head inwardly.

"Poor cultivators make talismans, rich ones refine pills. Artifact refiners are so poor their hardship lasts generation after generation. Once you enter the path of formations, it's as deep as the sea, and you'll never see blue skies again in this life."

Of the millions of cultivators in the entire market, how many refined pills? And how many refined artifacts?

Even in a great cultivation clan like the Chen Clan, with a fake-core patriarch at its head, every artifact refiner was treated like a precious treasure and showered with countless resources.

A rogue cultivator with no resources and no inheritance wanted to refine artifacts?

It was no different from a fool's dream.

Unless fate smiled upon him, and he chanced upon the inheritance of some artifact-refining master, or was blessed with extraordinary talent.

In the hundred years since Chusheng Market was established, there had indeed been such people, but they were few and far between.

Not everyone could take a shortcut.

The path of artifact refining was less promising than becoming a furnace.

Still, Zhou Chongwen remembered that he had once been the same. Formations, artifact refining, pill refining, talisman making—he had tried them all.

Though he had lost everything in the end and only retained a little skill in making talismans, at least he had acquired a trade.

"Young people should indeed try different things, but be careful not to invest too much."

Zhou Chongwen offered his advice, then agreed to help Shen Yue find some artifact-refining materials.

Changqin Wuming wanted to dissuade Shen Yue again, but when he saw Zhou Chongwen agree and Shen Yue clearly eager to give it a try, he said no more.

Still, he couldn't help sighing inwardly.

General Shen was a furnace, and now he was dabbling in mortal martial arts and artifact refining. At this rate, he would stray further and further down the wrong path, and the gap between them would only grow. He was letting Old General Shen down.

He had to work harder, establish his Foundation, and lead General Shen onto the right path as soon as possible!

"I happen to be heading to the market. I'll be off."

Zhou Chongwen summoned a green gourd, leaped onto it, and rode it away.

Changqin Wuming looked on enviously.

That spirit gourd looked quite nice.

Once he had enough spirit stones, he would buy one for himself—and another for General Shen.

The moon shone bright, and the stars were sparse above the little lakeside courtyard.

After completing several Greater Celestial Circuit cycles, Shen Yue slowly opened his eyes.

The Spirit Gathering Pill was truly effective. He felt that if he could keep taking them, he might break through to the fifth layer of Qi Refining in two or three months.

The pill also gave a good boost to Ancient Wei's Star Sand Return-to-Store Technique.

Combined with his earth-element cultivation method and the abundant water and fire qi refined from his materials, his cultivation speed was much faster than he had expected.

"At this rate, I can reach the second layer of Qi Refining in a month or two."

Unfortunately, he only had two Spirit Gathering Pills. Once he took them, they would be gone.

He had more than thirty spirit stones on him, but he couldn't take them all out and spend them at once.

It was miserable, having money but not daring to spend it.

Shen Yue took out a jade slip and immersed his mind in it.

This slip contained the artifact-refining method of Ancient Wei's Chehou Family, called the Heavenly Cauldron True Fire Hundred Refinement Scripture.

"Artifact refining is a skill I must master."

He needed a way to earn spirit stones, and it would also help conceal where the resources from the two worlds came from.

[The way of artifact refining lies in locking qi into form.

Ordinary methods use fire to temper the material. First, its properties are diminished; second, its spiritual essence is greatly reduced; and third, it is reduced to common iron.

This scripture takes the opposite approach. It does not burn away the material's essence, but refines away its impurities, letting pure qi circulate ceaselessly within the cauldron.

Thus, an artifact can be refined a hundred times, and its material reworked a thousand times; the more it is refined, the purer it becomes, and it will never be wasted...]

"Heavenly Cauldron True Fire... circulate ceaselessly... an artifact refined a hundred times..."

The method was remarkably profound. It actually allowed materials to be reused over and over, refined hundreds and thousands of times.

He didn't know how the Chen Clan's artifact refiners worked, but the islands of discarded materials scattered across Refining Lake made it clear they couldn't rework materials a thousand times.

With this method, would he ever have to worry about running out of materials?

Holding the jade slip, Shen Yue could hardly wait to get started—then he froze.

He hadn't prepared an artifact-refining cauldron.

"But there's no rush. I can study the method first."

By dawn, the first golden page of the Nine Heavens Profound Mirror displayed: [Heavenly Cauldron True Fire Hundred Refinement Scripture (Beginner)].

Shen Yue's mind was full of artifact-refining methods, but he couldn't try any of them himself. The itch was unbearable, so he set off for the market early.

"One low-grade cauldron costs a hundred spirit stones?"

"How much? Five hundred!"

Chusheng Market, a trading hub controlled by the Chen Clan, had quite a few cauldrons for sale.

But their prices stopped Shen Yue in his tracks.

Even the worst cauldron cost a hundred spirit stones. A battered one, full of flaws and cracks, still cost dozens.

If he pooled his money, Shen Yue could afford one that was supposedly fifty percent intact.

But if the vendor called that fifty percent, then the cauldron must have been barely thirty percent intact at best. It would probably explode after only a few uses.

After circling the market several times, he ultimately returned empty-handed.

Without a cauldron, he couldn't refine artifacts. He was at a loss for a while.

But where there was a will, there was a way. After some thought, inspiration suddenly struck Shen Yue.

"A cauldron is essentially a container, mainly used to control temperature and fire. But artifact refining has many steps, and the materials need to be processed in several ways before they go into the cauldron."

"Besides, the skills in the Nine Heavens Profound Mirror are permanently fixed. Even without a cauldron, I can still improve my craft."

He was only trying his hand at artifact refining, not making finished spirit artifacts. Whether or not he had a cauldron wouldn't make much difference.

Shen Yue immediately brought out some scrap material and began practicing as he studied the Heavenly Cauldron True Fire Hundred Refinement Scripture.

The jade slip Chehou Yan had given him was remarkably detailed. It contained not only the method of artifact refining, but also the generations of the Chehou Family who had created the scripture, along with their experiences and insights.

"Half a lifetime spent refining artifacts, studying ore records, drawing an artifact blueprint by hand."

The writing below suddenly changed.

"Cast it. Cauldron explodes. Perished."

"The old ancestor sacrificed himself for the artifact. He died as he should. But the path of artifacts must not end. Pick up the shards and patch it up."

The handwriting kept changing.

"Watch me complete this scripture! I'll finish what my ancestors left undone and forge divine weapons for future generations!"

"Hahaha, Father finally blew himself up. Behold this genius's astonishingly brilliant idea!"

"I was wrong... Father, the cauldron is about to blow again."

Identifying the ore's properties, restoring artifact patterns, gauging the heat, repairing leaks in the furnace, refining the artifact's spirit...

The Chehou Family's ancestors had proceeded with utmost caution, generation after generation: fathers followed by sons, elder brothers by younger ones.

Shen Yue immersed himself in the work, starting with the first attempts.

Time flowed on, swift as a white steed passing through a crack.

Two months later.

"It's finally done."

Shen Yue gazed at the green cauldron before him and sighed softly.

The Heavenly Cauldron True Fire Hundred Refinement Scripture was a marvel of ingenuity. After two months of devoted study, he had actually gleaned from it a method for forging cauldrons.

After twelve explosions and seventeen failed attempts at mixing scrap materials, he had finally made this bronze cauldron.

The cauldron was round, with three legs and two handles. A faint spiritual glow seemed to flow across its surface.

"I'll call it the Green Fire Cauldron."

It had been made by refining scrap materials and wasn't even a low-grade artifact, let alone a spirit cauldron.

But it was sturdy, and more than sufficient for his current experiments in artifact refining. It was the crystallization of the Chehou Family's ancestors' wisdom.

With this cauldron, he could finally begin refining artifacts in earnest.

But not today. He had something to take care of.

He put away the Green Fire Cauldron, changed into clean clothes, and left. He took a boat out onto the lake, where Changqin Wuming arrived in his own.

"A new official always makes a show of force. Wu Xuan said that Chen Tong is narrow-minded. General Shen, remember what I told you: keep a low profile and don't stand out."

Changqin Wuming gazed at the sky and quietly reminded him.

A lot had happened over the past two months. Chen Qiaoqian had returned to the Jade Void Sword Sect for a competition, and the Chen Clan had sent a new manager, who was taking up his post today.

So they, the island guardians, had to show their faces on the lake, lest they be singled out as an example to kill the chicken and scare the monkeys.

A streak of light cut across the sky a moment later.

Chen Tong stood on a flying sword and looked down, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"Chen Qiaoqian, so what if you entered the Jade Void Sword Sect? You're still only a collateral relative."

"Refining Lake is mine now, isn't it?"

He knew he was less talented than Chen Qiaoqian and his cultivation was inferior, but he was a man, a bloodline heir of the Chen Clan.

Chen Qiaoqian was a woman. Once she married out, she would no longer be part of the Chen Clan.

Refining Lake should have been his all along. Chen Qiaoqian had only managed it on his behalf for a while.

He would seize this chance to distinguish himself and show the clan elders what he could do.

Chen Tong had already decided: he would dramatically increase the efficiency of scrap-material recovery at Refining Lake.

"Listen up. Starting today..."