Demon God Smithy

When the other party asked about Body-Refining Pills, Zhou Cheng wasn't surprised. He had guessed their purpose just moments ago.

"I only had one of those Body-Refining Pills from last time." Zhou Cheng shook his head.

Yan Wan couldn't hide her disappointment.

She was currently at the tenth level of Body Refining, and a supreme-grade Body-Refining Pill was very important to her.

It was just that supreme-grade Body-Refining Pills were exceedingly rare. Even the Four Seasons Apothecary had a hard time acquiring them.

Seeing her disappointed expression, Zhou Cheng said, "I don't have any more of the kind of Body-Refining Pill I gave you last time, but one of my men recently refined a batch. A few of them reached supreme grade, too." He pointed to Qin Meng beside him.

Qin Meng broke into a sweat.

Since when could he refine pills? How come he didn't know?

"Really?" Yan Wan's pretty face lit up with joy.

Zhou Cheng took out six Body-Refining Pills.

He had made these six pills later using the Earth Cauldron. They weren't Ancient Body Refining Pills, but they were no different from the supreme-grade Body-Refining Pills on the market.

Yan Wan looked at the six Body-Refining Pills before her, held back her excitement, and asked Chen Zhiqu to appraise them.

The result, of course, was that they were supreme-grade Body-Refining Pills.

At the market price of six hundred gold each, the six pills were worth three thousand six hundred gold. Converted to silver, that came to thirty-six thousand taels.

The eighty-one kinds of spirit herbs Zhou Cheng wanted to buy cost a little over thirty-six thousand taels. In other words, he had traded six ordinary supreme-grade Body-Refining Pills for enough materials to make ten Nine-Orifice Golden Pills.

The Nine-Orifice Golden Pill was an unrivaled spirit pill that increased inner power and had many other wondrous uses. Even the Ancient Body Refining Pill was far inferior, let alone an ordinary supreme-grade Body-Refining Pill.

After receiving the eighty-one kinds of spirit herbs, Zhou Cheng took his leave.

Before he left, Yan Wan personally walked him out of the apothecary, smiling. "If your men manage to refine more supreme-grade Body-Refining Pills, please sell them to the Four Seasons Apothecary. From now on, whenever you buy medicinal ingredients from us, you'll get a ten percent discount."

"Sure." Zhou Cheng smiled.

He would definitely need to buy more ingredients for Nine-Orifice Golden Pills in the future. When the time came, he could bring these ordinary supreme-grade Body-Refining Pills to the Four Seasons Apothecary and trade them.

Zhou Cheng left with Qin Meng and Lin Ru.

Yan Wan watched Zhou Cheng, Qin Meng, and Lin Ru walk away. She stood there for a while before turning back into the apothecary.

A short while later, Zhou Cheng returned to the courtyard.

"Congratulations, host, on completing the mission."

"You have received two Nine-Orifice Golden Pills."

"You have received a Nine-Orifice Golden Pill recipe."

"Note: You may consume only one Nine-Orifice Golden Pill per day."

Zhou Cheng tried swallowing a Nine-Orifice Golden Pill. At once, it turned into a torrent that surged through every corner of his body.

As the medicinal power of the Nine-Orifice Golden Pill coursed through him, Zhou Cheng found that the speed at which he cultivated the Northern Dark Divine Technique was soaring wildly.

After cultivating all night the previous night, the Northern Dark Divine Technique had automatically absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, bringing his progress at the first level of Qi Refining to 6. But under the impact of the pill's medicinal power, it shot up to 10 in an instant.

"11."

"12."

"56."

In the end, it stopped at 56 in the first level of Qi Refining.

That meant one Nine-Orifice Golden Pill could instantly raise him to the middle stage of the first level of Qi Refining.

If he swallowed another one tomorrow, he would break through to the second level of Qi Refining.

The medicinal power of the Nine-Orifice Golden Pill far exceeded Zhou Cheng's expectations.

Under normal circumstances, the Northern Dark Divine Technique would automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, increasing his cultivation by around 12 a day. It would take eight days to break through to the second level of Qi Refining. Now, though, he could do it in less than two days.

It was now mid-July, with twelve days left until August. Could he break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining before August?

There were still more than two months until October. Perhaps he could break through to the Xiantian Realm before then!

As for before the end of the year, he ought to reach the fourth level of the Xiantian Realm—or even higher?

Afterward, Zhou Cheng discovered that consuming the Nine-Orifice Golden Pill had also strengthened his Black Tortoise Divine Body and Indestructible Vajra Divine Body, raising each by 4.

"Young Master, the refining materials you asked us to acquire have all been gathered," Qin Meng came in to report.

Over the past few days, Zhou Cheng had asked the smithy to acquire materials for refining Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts.

Qin Meng brought the materials before Zhou Cheng.

There were enough materials to refine two Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts.

Zhou Cheng sorted the materials one by one, then placed them into the Earth Cauldron in order. Light surged from the cauldron as it refined each material into liquid, removed the impurities, and began to fuse them together.

Once the materials had melted, the fusion process became extremely complicated. The slightest carelessness could cause an explosion.

Under the Earth Cauldron's control, however, the materials fused flawlessly.

Before long, a sword and a saber, both Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts, slowly flew out of the Earth Cauldron. Under the sunlight, their blades glinted with a chilling light.

Zhou Cheng sprang up and took the sword and saber in his hands. He swung them both, and Sword Qi and saber energy crisscrossed the courtyard.

After testing the sword and saber's power, Zhou Cheng tossed them to Qin Meng and had him take them to the smithy to sell. He also told the smithy to keep acquiring large quantities of materials for refining Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts.

Refining those two Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts just now had raised the Earth Cauldron's progress by 1. After refining another 198, it would reach supreme-grade Spirit Artifact level.

At noon,

Zhou Wei returned from court, looking exhausted.

"What's wrong?" Luo Shui asked with concern as she handed him some spirit tea.

"It's that Grand Tutor, Gao Fan." Zhou Wei rubbed his brow. "His grandson died, and for the past ten days he's been rounding people up like a madman. The Ministry of Justice's gates have practically been crushed by the crowds lately."

After they chatted for a while, Zhou Wei asked, "Where's Cheng'er?"

Luo Shui hesitated before answering, "Cheng'er went out. Ever since Abbot Huineng returned to Shaolin, Cheng'er hasn't been home during the day. He often takes those few guards of his out with him."

"I don't know where he recruited those guards, either. I had someone investigate, but we've found nothing."

Zhou Wei furrowed his brow. "Are they spies sent by the Mongol Kingdom or the Southern Border Kingdom?"

The Great Feng Dynasty was surrounded by more than a dozen countries, including the Mongol Kingdom and the Southern Border Kingdom. In recent years, the Mongol Kingdom and the Southern Border Kingdom had grown powerful and were eyeing the Great Feng Dynasty like tigers watching their prey.

"I don't think so." Luo Shui shook her head. Then she recalled something and said, "By the way, Chang Qing said there's a smithy called the Demon God Smithy that's going to sell Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts. The sale is today, and the highest bidder before six in the afternoon gets them. The news has spread all over the Capital City."

"What? They're selling Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts?" Zhou Wei was shocked.

Low-Grade Spirit Artifacts were extremely rare in the Great Feng Dynasty. Even the Great Feng Imperial Palace's treasury held only a few, and under normal circumstances, no one would be willing to sell one.

Luo Shui nodded. "And I heard there's a sword and a saber—two pieces! I had Chang Qing look into it. The Demon God Smithy has only been open for a little over ten days. What's strange is that there are no smiths in the shop, only ten Qi Refining Realm attendants selling weapons."

"The attendants don't know who owns the shop. Every day, someone wearing a mask delivers weapons for them to sell. They also said that these masked people are their boss's guards, and that they're very powerful. They should all be Xiantian Grandmasters."

Guards who were Xiantian Grandmasters? Zhou Wei was astonished.