Heavenly Grade Twin Seals

Because his father had once been an Earth-grade clamp artisan, Lu Li knew a little about the advancement system for the arts of clamping and welding.

Upon advancing to the Heaven, Earth, and Human grades as a clamp artisan or welding artisan, one would respectively receive an exclusive seal. This seal was both proof of a master's status and a personal mark belonging solely to its owner.

Specifically, one had to produce a clamp artisan's seal to prove their identity as a clamp artisan. With this seal, clamp artisans could leave their own exclusive marks upon components as an anti-counterfeiting measure.

Given two identical sets of spirit-core casings, one bearing the seal of a Heaven-grade clamp artisan and the other bearing only that of an Earth-grade clamp artisan, their prices could differ by more than threefold.

Even among Heaven-grade clamp artisan seals, prices varied. Components forged by a highly respected Heaven-grade clamp artisan could fetch a higher price, and such artisans would likewise receive better treatment at stamping workshops.

In essence, these seals were also a type of mundane-path mechanism. They were made and issued by the major sects, with a trace of the owner's divine sense sealed within. Their crafting methods were tightly controlled by the sects, making them nearly impossible to forge through ordinary means.

However, Lu Li had heard that the value of a clamp artisan's seal also depended on the sect that had forged it. Seals issued by mid-tier sects carried greater weight and earned their holders more respect.

Mid-tier sects were far too distant from him. Even his father had only heard scattered rumors about such matters, so none of it could be taken as fact.

But then again, what direct connection was there between obtaining certification and refining Azure Underworld Painted Skin? As long as one's attainments were sufficient, shouldn't they be able to refine it? He was making Azure Underworld Painted Skin for himself, not to sell.

"What's the reasoning behind that?"

"Tell me, how are you planning to refine Azure Underworld Painted Skin?"

"With my hands, obviously. What else?"

"You're planning to handcraft it with those saws, drills, and awls you bought? Dream on. To refine this thing, you need a stamping mechanism to assist you—and not just any mundane-path mechanism. It has to be a First-Turn artificer-grade stamping mechanism."

Lu Li nodded thoughtfully, but after giving it another thought, he felt that something was off.

Since he was sewing fox hide, no matter how he thought about it, there seemed to be no need for mechanisms. He had assumed he would need to learn some needlework. He could even picture himself by candlelight in the dead of night, threading needles and stitching fox hide.

Of course, needlework truly was not well suited to a rough fellow like him.

"No needle-threading, no sewing."

"Look at yourself—where do you have any loose threads? That's not how you hide needles, either."

Earlier, Lu Li had carefully examined the Azure Underworld Painted Skin before a bronze mirror. There was not the slightest trace of stitching inside or out. It was as though it were skin that had grown naturally from his body.

"This isn't fox hide. It's spirit glue refined from fox hide. Have you ever eaten donkey-hide gelatin?"

Lu Li shook his head repeatedly.

"Mm~"

"Sigh. First, you scrape the fur clean from the fox hide, then steam it in heavenly water for three nights. Next, finely chop it into small pieces and mix in cinnabar, malachite green, and Void Stone powder. Refine it over the fire of an extreme-yin furnace, filter out the impurities, and only then will the Azure Underworld Spirit Glue step be complete. There are still many more procedures afterward, all requiring artificer stamping devices to assist in the refinement."

"Eugh~ Isn't that just pork-skin jelly? I saw my dad make it when I was little."

"What pork-skin jelly? Say that again if you dare?"

Elder Duan's voice abruptly rose, and she was so angry she practically stamped her feet. The Reverse Celestial Order Instrument gave only results, never the process. Back when she had been deducing the artificer blueprint for Azure Underworld Painted Skin, she had put in no small amount of effort.

She had pondered it deeply through the night without finding an answer, until she happened to see the sect kitchen refining donkey-hide gelatin for the elders to eat.

Duan Xuanyuan had drawn inspiration from that and finally reverse-engineered the artificer blueprint from the finished product. Yet Lu Li had reduced it to pork-skin jelly in a single sentence, making her feel deeply insulted.

Lu Li cupped his soft, tender cheeks in both hands and rubbed them. He felt wronged too. The processes for making pork-skin jelly and donkey-hide gelatin were probably not that different. His family had been poor when he was young; he had never eaten donkey-hide gelatin and had only seen pork-skin jelly. How was he supposed to know what donkey-hide gelatin was?

And this was probably the divide between immortals and mortals.

Thinking this, Lu Li took a premium pear from his cloth sack and stuffed it into his mouth for a bite. Sweet, refreshing juice burst across his mouth, making the eater unable to resist humming with pleasure.

This premium pear was larger than a fist, nothing like the rotten-skinned pears he had eaten in Southern Sun Town. At six coppers per jin, it was pricier than crudely processed mixed ore. Only because Lu Li had become a little better off had he gritted his teeth and bought three jin.

At that thought, Lu Li declared fiercely, "Once I become a cultivator, once I have money, I'll definitely taste what those legendary spirit pears are like."

"Uh, is that all the ambition you have? You might as well be bolder."

"Then... then I'll buy ten jin."

"Be bolder still. You could buy a whole pear orchard, hire low-rank cultivators, and fill it with spirit fruit."

"I wouldn't dare imagine that, I wouldn't dare. Where were we just now? Oh, right. What does what you said have to do with me obtaining the Heaven-grade dual seals?"

"Because you need artificer stamping devices, you can only rent them. To rent those devices, it isn't enough to have money—you also need Heaven-grade dual seals as proof before they'll lease them to you."

The stamping workshop where Lu Li had once worked had such a rule: only Earth-grade clamp artisans were qualified to handle stamping mechanisms. The main concern was that clamp artisans below Earth grade would fiddle around recklessly and break the stamping mechanisms.

The stamping mechanisms in that workshop were all mundane-path grade, each costing ten or twenty spirit stones at the slightest. Before taking a position, an Earth-grade clamp artisan had to sign a liability contract and an exemption contract.

If a stamping mechanism was damaged, the clamp artisan had to compensate for it with spirit stones. If the artisan himself was injured on the job, the stamping workshop only needed to bear twenty percent of the responsibility. Although his father had insurance back then, most of it had been paid out to the stamping workshop.

Of what remained, some had paid for Lu Li's private school, while some had been donated by his mother to the Immortal Unification Sect. Supposedly, that could cure Lu Ling's illness.

"This is bad. I signed up for the Human-grade examination before. Counting the days, it seems to be three days from now, in Southern Sun Town."

"What, you still want to go back and take it?"

There was no way Lu Li could return to Southern Sun Town. He estimated that Azure Sun Hall had already set its sights on his name. Returning now would be walking straight into the net.

Fortunately, the world was chaotic these days, and relations between the two sects were tense. Their information was not shared, allowing him to slip through a crack and register for an examination under White Moon Palace.

When Lu Li arrived at the Artificer Association in Maple Fragrance City, the menial disciple handling registrations at the counter was about to change shifts. Lu Li explained why he had come, and the other man gave him an impatient glance.

"Name?"

"Lu Li."

"Lu Li? Hiss, that name..."

The disciple immediately furrowed his brow. He picked up a register beside the desk as though comparing something. Lu Li's heart instantly skipped a beat; from the other's expression, he vaguely caught the scent of a scheme.

The man looked up at Lu Li, then asked, "Where are you from?"