Artifact Refining Hall

The next day, Shen Ge rode his flying sword to the mountain where the Artifact Refining Hall stood. Not long after he entered, Liu Xiao came out to greet him. "Junior Brother Shen, you came after all. I told you long ago that you should come learn artifact refining."

Shen Ge smiled and cupped his hands. "Senior Brother Liu, I hope you've been well. From now on, I'll be counting on you to guide me here at the Artifact Refining Hall."

"However, I can't devote myself entirely to studying artifact refining at the moment, so I'll have to trouble you from time to time, Senior Brother."

"You're worrying for nothing, Junior Brother Shen. Even I, the eldest senior brother, can't stay here all the time. Cultivation comes first for all of us; learning artifact refining is only meant to support it."

"All right, let's not stand around here. I'll take you inside for a look and tell you where to study while we're at it."

The two walked farther in. Almost every disciple they passed along the way called Liu Xiao "Eldest Senior Brother," showing that he held quite a high position in the Artifact Refining Hall.

Before long, as they passed through an archway, a sweet-looking girl in a pale green robe came over. "Liu Xiao, that fellow Ye Lin is looking for you. He says he wants your help refining a set of high-grade formation flags for a large-scale offensive formation. He's waiting outside your refining room right now."

"Oh, it's Junior Sister Mu Wan. All right, I know. I'll be there in a little while."

Mu Wan tilted her head and glanced at Shen Ge. A crafty gleam flashed in her eyes as she asked, "Who's this? How come I've never seen him before? Is he a new junior brother?"

Liu Xiao smiled and introduced him. "He's new, but you're wrong about one thing, Junior Sister Mu Wan. He's not your junior brother, but your senior brother. Let me introduce you: this is Shen Ge, Martial Uncle Qingyu of Divine Sword Peak's second personal disciple. He's your Senior Sister Liuyue's junior brother, so don't be rude to him in the future."

Shen Ge smiled warmly and said, "Junior Sister Mu Wan, it's nice to meet you. You can come visit me whenever you have time."

She was at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement and dared to call Liu Xiao by name, so she was probably a descendant of some elder. Shen Ge didn't want to get on bad terms with her. He didn't necessarily have to curry favor with her, but he should at least avoid leaving a bad impression.

"Oh, come on. You don't have anything at your place. The last time we went over with Senior Brother Qin Yu, we couldn't even get a cup of tea." Liu Xiao waved a hand with a smile, clearly joking.

Shen Ge looked embarrassed and retorted awkwardly, "So that's my fault? You were the ones who showed up out of the blue. I wasn't prepared at all. Besides, I'd only just come out of seclusion. When would I have had time to buy those things?"

"Exactly. You can't blame Senior Brother Shen for that. Everyone knows you loafers run all over the place mooching food and drink, then dress it up as exchanging ideas and paying visits. Chu He from the Talisman Hall keeps well away whenever he sees you lot. You've eaten him out of house and home," Mu Wan chimed in.

Shen Ge glanced at Mu Wan in surprise. She hadn't expected her to speak up for him. Was she simply looking for a chance to complain?

Liu Xiao didn't bat an eye. "That brat Chu He has the most Spirit Stones. If we don't eat his food, whose should we eat? Besides, we only have a few of his spirit fruits and some spirit wine. How many Spirit Stones could that cost him? And we don't charge him Spirit Stones when he asks us for help, do we?"

"Besides, Junior Sister Mu Wan, how can you say that with a straight face? When it comes to eating, how can we compare to you? When have you ever gone to his place without eating dozens of Spirit Stones' worth of spirit fruit?"

Mu Wan's face reddened slightly at that, and she said angrily, "Liu Xiao, how dare you ruin my reputation in front of Senior Brother Shen! Just you wait. I'll have my grandfather send you off to dig in the mines!"

"You're done for. This isn't over unless you give me three jars of Hundred Flower Brew!"

But the girl's threat didn't frighten him. Liu Xiao's eyes lit up as he asked, "Junior Sister Mu Wan, when are you going to have Martial Uncle Qingyou throw me into a mine? Which mine, exactly? I need to see what I should take with me. If possible, I wouldn't mind eating and living there too."

"Hmph, in your dreams. If we sent you to a mine, its ore output would drop by thirty percent." Mu Wan puffed up angrily. "Move aside. I'm going to cultivate. If you delay my cultivation, I'll have Sister Jin Ling beat you up."

Liu Xiao stepped aside with a smile. "Cultivation is good. You should work a little harder, Junior Sister Mu Wan. You've been stuck at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement for two years. You've built up enough of a foundation, and it's time you prepared for a breakthrough."

"None of your business." Mu Wan snapped, then stormed off.

Liu Xiao watched her go, then said to Shen Ge, "Mu Wan is the granddaughter of Martial Uncle Qingyou, the master of our Artifact Refining Hall. She's practically our little princess here, and everyone tends to spoil her. That's why her temper is a little changeable, so don't mind her."

"Why would I mind?" Shen Ge said indifferently. "Senior Brother Liu, you were the one she was talking about, not me. What do I have to mind?"

Liu Xiao was left speechless by the retort. After a moment of silence, he shook his head. "Junior Brother Shen, I didn't expect you to be so witty."

"All right, enough of that. I'll take you to Martial Uncle Wang first. He should be explaining the basics of artifact refining right about now, so you can go listen."

"By the way, there's an artifact refining assignment at the Mission Hall. Pick it up when you have time, Junior Brother. It's a permanent assignment, but the sooner you accept it, the better. After that, you'll get a Spirit Stone every time you spend some time studying here. It's the sect's way of compensating artifact refiners for the effort they put into learning early on, until you've refined five low-grade Law Artifacts."

"There's something that good?" Shen Ge's eyes shone. "I was just worrying that I wouldn't have time to earn Spirit Stones once I started learning artifact refining. I didn't expect the problem to be solved just like that."

"If you want to earn Spirit Stones, you can also take on a spirit medicine cultivation assignment. The only drawback is that it takes a long time to harvest, several years or even more than a decade, but the returns are quite good. A plot of mature spirit medicine can be exchanged for anywhere from several hundred to over a thousand Spirit Stones at the very least. If the medicine is more valuable, it might fetch several thousand."

Are Spirit Stones that easy to earn? Then why did that Golden Core Devil Cultivator have so few?

But on second thought, Shen Ge found it reasonable. Given the cultivation environment in the Devil Creek Sect, it was good enough if one could hold on to any Spirit Stones at all. Besides, the man's Storage Bag had contained a number of odds and ends, which brought his total to more than ten thousand Spirit Stones. He hadn't been all that poor.

"Oh, right, Junior Brother, if you have plenty of time, you can also learn a little about talismans. After all, they earn the most Spirit Stones at this stage, even more than artifact refining."

As they talked, the two arrived outside a room. Liu Xiao pointed at the closed door and whispered, "Junior Brother Shen, this is where Martial Uncle Wang teaches the basics. Just push the door open and go in. I have something else to attend to, since that brat Ye Lin is still waiting."

Shen Ge cupped his hands in thanks. "It's all right, Senior Brother Liu. You've already done your duty as a host today. I can manage the rest myself, so go take care of your business."