Third-Rank Artifact Refiner

"One Qi, Three Purities!"

The name was certainly domineering enough.

Ye Xingchen sent his divine sense into it.

"From the Great Dao came One; from One came Two; from Two came Three; from Three came all things..."

"Sever the divine soul, condense a Dharma body. An external incarnation, with independent consciousness, cultivating on its own, sharing one origin yet bearing a different body..."

Ye Xingchen's breathing instantly quickened.

This technique... unlike ordinary clone techniques, which required the main body's control, the clone cultivated through One Qi, Three Purities possessed independent thought and consciousness!

In other words, Ye Xingchen could have his clone cultivate another technique, or refine artifacts to earn money, while his main body went out fighting and chasing girls... ah, no, exploring the Great Dao.

Most terrifying of all, the experience and insights gained from the clone's cultivation would perfectly stack back onto the main body upon Body Integration!

Wasn't this the legendary double-experience cheat?!

"This is the one!"

Ye Xingchen was so excited that his hands trembled.

Yet when he saw the warning at the end of the technique, it was as though a basin of cold water had been poured over his head.

[To cultivate this technique, one must first sever the soul. Use divine thought as a blade to split the origin divine soul and transform it into a clone. If one's divine thought is insufficiently strong, one may become an idiot at best or suffer soul dispersal at worst. Do not attempt this unless one has reached the Spirit Transformation Realm!]

Spirit Transformation Realm...

Ye Xingchen's mouth twitched.

He was only in the Qi Refining Stage now, with Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul still between him and that realm...

Spirit Transformation Realm—how many years would that take?!

This was practically asking him to use a fruit knife to dismantle an atomic bomb's fuse.

"No wonder it was tossed into a corner to gather dust." Ye Xingchen gave a bitter smile. "Wherever this thing was placed, no one would dare try it lightly..."

But...

Ye Xingchen did not put down the jade slip.

Golden light flickered in and out of existence in his eyes.

Origin Heaven Art.

This support technique, regarded as trash by everyone, had only one core function—strengthening divine sense and seeing through the origin of all things.

Ever since cultivating Origin Heaven Art, Ye Xingchen's divine sense had long surpassed those of the same realm, even rivaling Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"If it were anyone else, cultivating this thing would be certain death."

"But if it's me, with Origin Heaven Art..."

Ye Xingchen licked his lips, a trace of madness flashing through his eyes.

Fortune was sought amid danger.

In this dog-eat-dog world, if he cultivated step by step, when would he ever rise to the top?

Once he mastered this technique and paired it with the charge-up mechanism of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Method, one main body and one clone—even killing enemies across realms would be as easy as slaughtering dogs!

"I'm doing it!"

Ye Xingchen clenched the jade slip tight and turned toward the staircase.

At the first-floor registration desk.

The moment the duty disciple saw the black jade slip Ye Xingchen placed on the table, his lazy expression vanished, replaced by utter shock.

"You... are sure you want to choose this one?!"

"Is there a problem?"

Ye Xingchen asked with a smile.

"A friendly reminder: the last disciple who took it away has grass three yards high on his grave!"

"This is a self-mutilating technique—splitting the divine soul! Do you know what the divine soul is? It's a cultivator's lifeline! One careless mistake and you'll be doomed beyond redemption!"

"The reason this thing was placed in the outer sect is that no inner sect disciple ever succeeded in cultivating it, and no one dared cultivate it either.

It is said that the first sect master obtained it from an ancient ruin. Its rank is unknown, but it is at least Earth Tier, perhaps even Heaven Tier. The sect couldn't bear to throw it away."

"Take my advice and choose something safe and practical instead. Contribution points aren't easy to earn, either."

"Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother."

Ye Xingchen's expression was calm, but his gaze was exceptionally resolute. "But I'm the sort of person with cheap bones. The less likely something is to be mastered, the more I want to give it a try."

He picked up the jade slip and urged the disciple before him to hurry and register it.

"Hmph, taking kindness for donkey liver and lungs."

The duty disciple swiftly completed the copy registration, then tossed the jade slip to Ye Xingchen. "Sooner or later, you'll regret this."

"Thank you for the kind words..."

With that, Ye Xingchen grinned and turned to leave.

Artifact Refining Hall, council hall.

"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"

The speaker was an old man with a goatee, Zhao Li, the Artifact Refining Hall's Second Elder. His fingers tapped sharply against the table, tap tap, while his brows furrowed into deep vertical lines.

"Senior Brother Mo, Ye Xingchen has been in the Artifact Refining Hall for barely five days! Five days! If you gave him the title of First-Rank Artifact Refiner, that would be one thing—his talent is plain for all to see. But you directly promoted him to Third-Rank Artifact Refiner and gave him elder-level treatment? What will those inner sect disciples who have endured for years think? Where are we old men supposed to put our faces?"

The more Zhao Li spoke, the more agitated he grew, saliva flying everywhere.

Though the surrounding elder stewards said nothing, their eyes flickered. Clearly, they too felt this move was too radical. Fifth Layer of Qi Refining, Third-Rank Artifact Refiner—since the founding of the First Saint Sect, such a thing had never been heard of.

"Finished?" Mo Yan raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping through the hall like two bolts of cold lightning.

Zhao Li choked, then snorted and sat back down.

"Junior Brother Zhao, you have refined artifacts for sixty years. Did you forge a Black Tier mid-grade spirit artifact bearing 'scale patterns' while at the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining?" Mo Yan asked blandly.

Zhao Li's expression stiffened. "He... he was merely lucky..."

"Heh... lucky?" Mo Yan's voice suddenly turned icy. "That kid Ye Xingchen wielded the Chaotic Cloak hammer technique for the first time and could already swing thirty-six strikes. With forty-nine strikes, he forged a Yellow Tier supreme-grade Azure Cloud Sword, and now he can forge a Black Tier mid-grade Profound Iron Greatsword in a single day.

You call that talent luck? I say Heaven has handed him a bowl of rice to eat—he was probably swinging a sledgehammer in his mother's womb!"

Mo Yan slammed his palm onto the table, making the teacups tremble wildly.

"The Artifact Refining Hall is not a retirement home. We do not talk about seniority, only skill! If anyone has objections, let him go to the Earthfire Room right now and hammer out a Black Tier artifact with patterns for me! As long as he can do it, I, Mo Yan, will give him my position as Grand Elder!"

The hall fell so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

Zhao Li opened his mouth, but in the end could only let out a dejected sigh. In this world, talent was the greatest privilege.

"Pass down the order." Mo Yan made the final decision. "From this day onward, Ye Xingchen is promoted to Third-Rank Artifact Refiner of the Artifact Refining Hall, with standing equal to a guest elder. Other than the sect's forbidden grounds, all Artifact Refining Hall resources shall be open to him."

Mo Yan's promotion of Ye Xingchen to Third-Rank Artifact Refiner was also an investment. He valued Ye Xingchen's talent; given time, this boy would surely soar into the heavens in a single flight.

Outer sect, disciple courtyard.

Ye Xingchen sat cross-legged on his bed, gripping the black jade slip in his hand, his brows tightly furrowed.

"This One Qi, Three Purities is practically a gold-devouring beast..."

Although the system could One-Click Skip the cultivation process, this technique's prerequisite was far too harsh—his divine soul strength had to reach a level capable of enduring the split.

According to the system's calculations, he had to raise Origin Heaven Art to the perfected second layer before he could avoid becoming an idiot when severing his soul.

"Skipping the cultivation of Origin Heaven Art's second layer requires at least 30,000 Source Points?"

Ye Xingchen felt his gums ache.

He glanced at the twenty Blood-Coagulating Pills in his storage bag. Even if he exchanged all of them, he would only get 10,000 Source Points.

He was short by 20,000.

This was how a single penny could stump even a hero.

"Knock, knock, knock."