Golden Copper Darksteel

"This concludes today's lecture."

The lecturer seated cross-legged on the Spirit Turtle spoke calmly. Daoist Caiyun had taught for only three months before this lecturer replaced her in teaching the Qi-Feeding and Method-Practicing Dao.

Jiang Yan mingled with the crowd as everyone dispersed.

More than half a year had passed since he mastered the Sun and Moon Worship Technique, and he had already replaced the two beads once.

In that half year, he had not taken a single step outside town.

Aside from attending the lectures, he stayed shut in his room practicing his cultivation method, and his cultivation had improved considerably.

Just as Jiang Yan emerged from the crowd, someone called him to a halt.

"Fellow Daoist Jiang, wait!"

Jiang Yan stopped and looked back.

It was his neighbor, Xipi Daoist Child. Tall and broad, he stood among the crowd like a crane among chickens.

During this time, he had developed something of a friendship with the Skin-Playing and Gu-Eating Daoist Acolytes.

After all, they lived in the same courtyard and occasionally left together to attend lectures.

"Fellow Daoist Qian, what is it?"

Xipi Daoist Child's actual surname was Qian. Seeing Jiang Yan stop, he pulled Gu-Eating Daoist Child along and hurried over.

"Are you heading back to cultivate again, Fellow Daoist Jiang? That's far too dull. A fellow Daoist we both know is hosting a banquet at his Manor today. Why not join us?"

This so-called Manor was not in town, but had been built outside it.

After all, every inch of land in town was worth its weight in gold. How could ordinary eighth- or ninth-rank cultivators acquire such a sprawling Manor?

Many Daoists who craved comfort were unwilling to squeeze into town, so they hired people to build Manors outside it.

They then arranged the right connections with the Night Patrol Bureau, which dispatched designated Daoists to patrol their Manors after curfew.

This did not count as breaking the Prefecture Academy's rules, only skirting their edges.

Still, this was not something just anyone could arrange. The fellow Daoist Xipi Daoist Child mentioned presumably had some backing.

Faced with Xipi Daoist Child's warm invitation, Jiang Yan nevertheless shook his head and politely declined.

"I appreciate your kindness, Fellow Daoist Qian.

But I still have some matters to attend to today, so I can only let your good intentions go unfulfilled."

Their relationship was no more than an ordinary acquaintance, and with that said, Daoist Xipi had little room to press him.

He merely kept Jiang Yan for a few more words before letting him leave.

Watching Jiang Yan ride away on Jinbao, Gu-Eating Daoist Child was the first to speak.

"It seems our Fellow Daoist Jiang really has offended someone. He doesn't even dare leave town."

"Is that really necessary? Even an enemy in the Seventh-Rank Realm wouldn't dare commit violence at the Manor, would they?"

"What if he encountered them on the way? This Fellow Daoist Jiang has a cautious disposition."

Hearing this, Daoist Xipi nodded in considerable agreement.

Indeed, Jiang Yan's temperament closely resembled theirs. Otherwise, they would never have considered befriending him.

It was only after repeatedly inviting Jiang Yan out of town to explore or attend banquets, and being turned down every time, that the two had noticed some clues.

"We still don't know whom he's offended. Let's put off getting closer to him for now and simply treat him as a fellow Daoist."

Gu-Eating Daoist Child spoke again.

Clearly, between the two of them, Xipi Daoist Child handled socializing, while Gu-Eating Daoist Child made the decisions.

After exchanging a few more words, they each summoned their Spirit Beast mounts and rode out of town to attend the banquet.

They did not know that Jiang Yan was thinking about them as well.

Having turned them down again this time, he probably would not receive another invitation from them anytime soon.

For now, however, they did not seem to have been sent by the Desire Corpse Daoist. Instead, they seemed genuinely interested in befriending him.

Unfortunately, Jiang Yan truly could not, and did not wish to, venture outside town.

Moreover, his claim of having something to do had not been an excuse. There really was an urgent matter weighing on his mind.

Jiang Yan continued on his way, but just as he neared home, he urged Jinbao to turn toward the Market.

Once inside the Market, Jiang Yan moved with practiced familiarity, seemingly having planned everything in advance.

First, he visited a shop and picked up the large, sturdy golden copper cauldron he had commissioned.

He also bought several bottles of Spirit Ink and a stack of talisman paper.

At lower realms, Spirit Ink was essential whenever one set up an altar to practice a technique.

Then he rented a stone chamber.

After entering, Jiang Yan turned and sealed the chamber door shut.

The stone chamber he had rented this time had no ritual altar, as Jiang Yan had specifically requested.

He took out the large cauldron and placed it in the center of the floor.

Then he took out the Spirit Ink and inscribed Register Script on the cauldron.

The ritual altars Daoists set up had no fixed form.

The two beads Jiang Yan used to practice the Sun and Moon Worship Technique, for instance, actually counted as a kind of ritual altar.

As long as it worked, the inscriptions could be made anywhere. Even inscribing them on a Daoist's own body counted as a kind of ritual altar.

This time, Jiang Yan intended to use this cauldron as his ritual altar.

After finishing the Register Script inscriptions, Jiang Yan took out a stack of Upper Ninth-Rank Realm Flame-Rousing Talismans.

Though they were also Ninth Grade Realm talismans, they were a grade stronger than the basic talismans Jiang Yan had used before.

Not only did they burn more fiercely, they also lasted longer.

He pasted all of them beneath the cauldron, and flames immediately engulfed its entire body.

Seeing the fire rise, Jiang Yan took out a large chunk of darksteel essence ore.

Looking at the costly ore, he gritted his teeth and hesitated for a moment, but still tossed it into the cauldron to calcine.

Once the Black Iron entered the cauldron, Jiang Yan kept adding more Flame-Rousing Talismans beneath it.

For a time, it seemed as though subterranean fire had erupted inside the stone chamber, with flames covering more than half the space.

Fortunately, the chamber had an array to keep things under control, and Jiang Yan had Law Power protecting him, so he would not be burned along with it.

With such extravagant quantities piled on, the flames continued burning for several hours.

Even the copper cauldron inscribed with Register Script seemed unable to withstand it.

Cracks appeared across its surface. Finally, after another stretch of calcination, the copper cauldron gave a series of cracking sounds and collapsed into fragments scattered across the floor.

Yet the Register Script did not disperse. Instead, it contracted inward.

The fire from the Flame-Rousing Talismans also shrank inward along with it, as though something were sucking it in.

At this sight, Jiang Yan showed not the slightest alarm. Instead, he was overjoyed.

He raised a hand and brushed aside the surrounding waste, picking a metal pellet the size of an infant's fist out of the shattered remains.

The pellet glittered gold on the outside, formed from the essence of the copper cauldron, while the essence of the Black Iron was wrapped within it.

At last, all his painstaking effort had not been wasted. He had successfully refined this Golden Copper Darksteel Pill!

Indeed, all of Jiang Yan's efforts had been for this so-called Golden Copper Darksteel Pill.

He had not purchased the pill's recipe from the Market. Rather, it had come included in the Guiding Method he practiced.

Whether I can possess six strands of Law Power at the Bronze Skin and Iron Bones stage will depend on this pill.

As he thought this, Jiang Yan sensed the two strands of Law Power within his body.

During this time, he had long since cultivated to his current limit.

Ordinary Daoist acolytes in the Ninth Grade Realm could obtain one strand of Law Power after mastering their cultivation method. Only after attaining the Bronze Skin and Iron Bones stage could they obtain three strands.

Yet Jiang Yan already possessed two strands of Law Power before breaking through. This was precisely the effect of the Guiding Method.

According to the method's description, taking this Golden Copper Darksteel Pill while breaking through to the Bronze Skin and Iron Bones stage would allow him to develop Golden Copper Skin and Darksteel Tiegu.

At that point, the Law Power Jiang Yan could cultivate in the Ninth-Rank Lower Realm would amount not to three strands, but six.

But how could ordinary Daoist acolytes digest copper and iron? Jiang Yan, however, happened to possess the Ingestion Method.

He had to admit that such a coincidence had worried him somewhat at first.

But then he reconsidered. The Immortal Stele was sustained by the Immortal Dynasty's fortune in the first place and used to nurture outstanding talents.

Since he could obtain two Law Techniques at once, it seemed only reasonable that those two Law Techniques could complement each other.