First Trial of Water Refining

He Sheng sat cross-legged beside the spirit spring, a sheet of golden paper spread before him. Upon it was an artifact-refining diagram drawn in mana.

It was precisely the crafting diagram for the Clear Water Spirit Pearl, a mid-grade magic artifact he had copied from the <Heavenly Peak Mountain Artifact Refining Essentials>.

"A support-type mid-grade magic artifact. It can calm the mind and aid one in entering a focused state, while warding off external evils. The refining process is clear and concise, and the restriction patterns involved are not complicated. It is just right for me to use as practice."

In the path of artifact refinement, material properties came first. Every accomplished artifact refiner possessed a profound understanding of such properties and could combine spirit materials on their own to refine artifacts.

He Sheng was only just getting started, so naturally, he chose the easier route of following the map and refining according to the crafting diagram.

Even so, before beginning, he carefully considered the material-property combinations of the Clear Water Spirit Pearl.

"The main material of this Clear Water Spirit Pearl is the Jiaotu Spirit Pearl, valued for its nature as still as water and its capacity to contain a hundred rivers.

"As for the auxiliary materials, they are mostly spirit materials whose water, earth, and wood properties complement one another, used to stabilize the structure and nourish its spirituality."

After some deliberation, He Sheng did not choose those complicated combinations of auxiliary materials. Instead, following the most basic plan in the diagram, he selected the three easiest materials to obtain: bone glue, jade paste, and water-condensing essence.

He first processed the three auxiliary materials. Once they were properly prepared, he took out the Jiaotu Spirit Pearl, the size of a walnut and covered in natural water ripples.

"Rise!"

He Sheng tossed the Jiaotu Spirit Pearl into the spirit spring, then formed a spirit incantation. Ripples immediately spread layer upon layer across the surface of the spring.

The spirit pearl rotated steadily in the water, its impurities gradually separating out along with the ripples spreading outward.

This was the first step of the water-refining method: using the purity of water and a specialized spirit incantation to expel impurities and achieve purification.

Yet this first step alone would take more than ten days.

This was also why the water-refining method had always drawn criticism. Its efficiency was simply too low. After all, in the time it took for those ten-odd days to pass, the path of fire refinement might already have produced a complete mid-grade magic artifact.

"Still, the water-refining method does not demand much of my time.

"During the 'purification' period, for instance, I only need to send in one spirit incantation each in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. Altogether, it takes less than an hour.

"I can do other things for the rest of the time."

In other words, the artifact-refining process could be completely overlapped with his other cultivation!

He Sheng's heart stirred, and he immediately circulated the Clear Billows Water Origin Art. With the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm bolstering his cultivation, he circulated it through several major cycles before reaching the time for his next spirit incantation.

"Refining with water while breathing and refining qi at the same time... doesn't that mean I'm cultivating at something close to four times the usual time rate?!"

He Sheng was greatly shaken. He had never imagined that water refinement came with such a benefit. It was practically cheating.

"Still, I will need to see the final cultivation results before I can determine whether it truly turns out as I expect."

More than ten days later, The Jiaotu Spirit Pearl within the spirit spring had been completely renewed. Its formerly dull gray surface now shone brilliantly, like a pearl from the deep sea, every impurity gone.

"The first step is complete."

He Sheng opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them. He then took out the bone glue and jade paste, preparing for the next step: engraving the restriction patterns.

The study of restriction patterns was vast and profound, divided into four major categories: spirit restrictions, blood restrictions, spatial restrictions, and secret restrictions.

Ordinary artifact refinement mostly used only spirit restrictions.

The restriction patterns covered in the <Heavenly Peak Mountain Artifact Refining Essentials> were likewise mostly spirit restrictions.

Only when refining the embryonic form of a natal magic treasure did it involve a handful of blood restrictions and one spatial restriction.

As for secret restrictions, they were mentioned only in passing, with no further information.

"There is no cutting corners on this step of engraving restriction patterns."

Engraving restriction patterns placed tremendous demands on divine sense, because one had to complete the entire artifact's restriction-pattern engraving in a single breath—known as "one breath reaching the divine"!

It was said that only in this way could the restriction patterns take effect and allow the magic artifact to be refined into spirituality.

Thus, even though a mid-grade magic artifact like the Clear Water Spirit Pearl had only twelve overlapping spirit-restriction structures, He Sheng focused with his entire mind.

After all, during the engraving process, the slightest error would render the magic artifact useless.

"Let's begin."

He Sheng took a deep breath. His divine sense at Foundation Establishment Late Stage surged forth like a tide, instantly enveloping the floating Jiaotu Spirit Pearl.

Yet he did not immediately begin engraving the restriction patterns. Instead, he visualized the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm and used it to bolster his divine sense.

Bzzz...

His divine sense instantly became incomparably fine and delicate, as though it had transformed into countless pairs of eyes, illuminating every inch of the Jiaotu Spirit Pearl's texture in perfect detail.

Immediately afterward, Using his divine sense as a blade, He Sheng reproduced the restriction-pattern structure from the crafting diagram at a one-to-one scale, overlooking not even the tiniest detail.

This undoubtedly greatly increased the consumption of his divine sense, but for He Sheng's first attempt, it ensured the success rate.

Five days later, when the final stroke of the restriction pattern was completed, He Sheng felt that nearly half of his divine sense had been consumed.

After all, over the past five days, not only had he needed to continuously engrave restriction patterns with his divine sense, but he had also needed to add bone glue and jade paste from time to time to stabilize the restriction-pattern structure. The expenditure had truly been considerable.

"But at least it's done, and it looks like it turned out quite well."

He Sheng was rather satisfied.

"The next step became easy again."

He placed the spirit pearl, now engraved with restriction patterns, back into the spirit spring. With the aid of a special spirit incantation, he began nurturing and refining its spirituality.

This step could take as little as half a month or as long as one or two months. Exactly how much time it consumed depended entirely on the artifact refiner's skill in engraving restriction patterns.

The higher the compatibility of the restriction pattern structure and the better its completion, the faster its spirituality would be nurtured.

Otherwise, it would take much longer.

Though it was He Sheng's first attempt, with the help of the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm, his restriction-pattern engraving had turned out quite well.

In less than twenty days, the spirit pearl began to tremble faintly in the water, as though it had started breathing.

Throughout this period, he still cast spirit incantations into it every morning and evening, while spending all his remaining time cultivating the Clear Billows Water Origin Art.

"Though the path of water refining has cumbersome procedures and rather low efficiency, it leaves plenty of free time in between.

"As long as the final confirmed cultivation time reaches expectations, then it's truly blissful."

Once the spirit pearl had nurtured spirituality, this round of artifact refinement reached its final step—

Combined refining and form casting!

This step required continuously supplying mana, shaping it with the force of flowing water, and adding the final supplementary material, Water-Congealing Essence, to help fix the shape.

"Since I'm using the power of water to shape it, why not use the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm again?"

A flash of inspiration struck He Sheng. He used the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm to bolster his mana, only to find that it gave him a sensation somewhat like running the Water-Gathering Break in reverse.

Countless tiny droplets seemed to form within the spirit spring, endlessly battering the artifact body and rapidly shaping it according to his thoughts.

A shaping process that had originally required three to five days was declared complete in just a single day under this high-precision water-force polishing.

A spirit pearl the size of a longan, entirely deep blue and seemingly filled with rippling currents, quietly floated in He Sheng's palm.

"It's done!"

He Sheng looked at the finished product in his hand, immensely satisfied.

He calculated the time again. This artifact refinement had consumed a total of thirty-six days.

One had to know that this was only a mid-grade Dharma artifact. If it had been a fire-refining artifact refiner such as Wu Feng, he would have needed only around ten days to forge a mid-grade Dharma artifact.

"Water refining really is slow work. But its strength lies in being able to cultivate while refining artifacts. Taken together, I wonder just how high its time ratio can reach."

At that thought, He Sheng looked eagerly toward the timepiece in his palm.

Over the thirty-seven days, the cultivation time within the water droplet representing the Clear Billows Water Origin Art had increased by twenty-nine days.

"Judging solely by the cultivation progress of the Clear Billows Water Origin Art, the time ratio reached roughly 1.6. It's the artifact refinement growth that fell short of expectations."

[First-Rank High-Grade Artifact Refiner: 31/3000]

(Total cultivation time: six years, ten months, five days)

His artifact refiner proficiency had risen by 30 points, while his total cultivation time had increased by only twenty-three days.

"Calculated using twenty-three days, the time ratio is only around 1.2.

"Then the overall cultivation efficiency of these past thirty-seven days was only a time ratio of 2.8."

Although his cultivation efficiency had fallen short of expectations, it still surpassed simply cultivating the Clear Billows Water Origin Art.

"And the reason artifact refinement's time ratio is relatively low should mainly be because the Dharma artifact I refined was only mid-grade."

He Sheng discovered that artifact-refining proficiency was not awarded according to the passage of time, but granted all at once at the instant an artifact was completed.

Its settlement method differed from both [Dharma] and [Arts].

"Once my artifact-refining techniques become proficient, I can naturally raise the level of my refinement and begin attempting high-grade Dharma artifacts.

"Besides, the potential of water refining should not end here..."

A flash of inspiration crossed He Sheng's mind, and another new idea arose.