The Artifact Refining Method

This artifact refining method was profoundly intricate.

It described how to use spiritual power to communicate with and control the spirit patterns contained within a Law Artifact.

After reading it, Qin Fei felt that his previous approach had been like that of a rustic villager. He had not wielded the power of his Law Artifacts at all.

No wonder even the high-grade Still Water Sword had felt ordinary in his hands. He had been squandering a heavenly treasure.

He took out the Soul-Startling Bell, drew a deep breath, and gently pointed at it with two fingers held like a sword.

A strand of wood-attribute spiritual power struck the Soul-Startling Bell.

The Soul-Startling Bell glimmered faintly, seemingly resisting this foreign power.

Qin Fei was in no hurry. He continued supplying spiritual power and followed the method's instructions, trying to communicate with the spirit patterns contained in the Law Artifact.

According to the method, this step required the patient work of grinding with water and could not be rushed. Only by leaving an imprint of one's soul at the core of the Law Artifact could one count it as an initial success.

Time passed slowly, and a dense layer of sweat appeared on Qin Fei's forehead.

His spiritual power was being depleted so quickly that the ordinary circulation of his Cultivation Method could no longer replenish it. He had no choice but to draw Spiritual Qi directly from Spirit Stones.

The Soul-Startling Bell hung in the air, its light flickering as it slowly spun.

After nearly half a day had passed, the Soul-Startling Bell suddenly blazed with light. Immediately afterward, a ripple spread out in every direction.

The ripple washed over Qin Fei without harming him. Instead, it felt warm and exceptionally comfortable.

"It worked!"

Overjoyed, Qin Fei traced an arc in the air with two fingers. The Soul-Startling Bell responded at once, dancing through the air.

"This is how a Law Artifact should be. Driving it directly with spiritual power as I did before, while ignoring the spirit patterns inside it, probably didn't bring out even half its power."

Qin Fei muttered to himself, then used the same method to refine the Crimson Flame Shield and the Still Water Sword.

While he was refining his Law Artifacts, the matter of the secret realm north of Shangyu Market was finally settled.

As it lay on the border, and humans and barbarians were mortal enemies to begin with, neither side could possibly give way.

The two sides fought several major battles, but neither gained an advantage.

Development of the secret realm was also put on hold.

This could not go on forever, so the two sides sent representatives to negotiate. In the end, they decided to use a great river at the center of the secret realm as a boundary, each developing its own territory without encroaching on the other.

As soon as the news was announced, it set all of Shangyu Market ablaze.

At first, the Lin Household and the Lu Household had wanted to keep the secret realm under their own control, but later found it was simply impossible.

Countless Rogue Cultivators poured into the secret realm, and even some outside forces came to have a hand in it.

If the two households obstructed them, it would be like kicking a hornet's nest, and they would gain nothing from it.

With no other choice, they let matters take their course and focused on organizing their own people to explore the secret realm.

In any case, only those with a Heavenly Mystery Key could enter the core of the secret realm. Not everyone was qualified.

But the mere mention of the Heavenly Mystery Keys made the two households all the angrier.

Even Fairy Caiyi wore a helpless expression.

Hadn't there supposedly been only one key? How had so many suddenly appeared?

Their plans to monopolize the opportunities in the secret realm had all come to nothing. They felt miserable, but had nowhere to vent their frustration.

Qin Fei, however, had no interest in the secret realm. Although a Heavenly Mystery Key still lay in his Storage Bag, he had no intention of going.

Let those people fight over it. Taking the opportunity to improve his strength was what mattered.

Two days later.

Qin Fei looked at the Law Artifacts before him and smiled in satisfaction.

This round of refining had consumed dozens of Spirit Stones just to replenish his spiritual power, but in his view, it had all been worth it.

The refined Law Artifacts obeyed him as readily as his own arms and fingers. Both their controllability and their power had improved enormously.

On a whim, Qin Fei directed the Flame Martial Envoy to attack him, while he summoned the Crimson Flame Shield to defend himself.

When the fire dragon reached him, the Crimson Flame Shield suddenly expanded, sheltering his entire body behind it.

Flames also erupted from the shield, steadily dispelling the fire dragon's power.

Finally, with a bang, Qin Fei was sent flying by the explosion, but he himself was completely unharmed.

Looking rather bedraggled, Qin Fei climbed out of the corner and hurried to check the Crimson Flame Shield.

To his delight, the shield had not been damaged in the slightest. Its glow had merely dimmed a little, and it would recover after a few days of nurturing.

After all, the Flame Martial Envoy possessed the strength of the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

That the shield could take a direct hit from it without damage was already enough to satisfy Qin Fei.

Once his cultivation grew more profound, its power would surely become much greater.

Over the next few days, Qin Fei familiarized himself with how to use the Law Artifacts, so that he would be able to put up a fight in actual combat.

On this day, however, he suddenly ended his seclusion because he received a message:

Tiezhu had returned.

More than half a year had passed since the two had seen each other, after Tiezhu decided to join the army.

Now that Tiezhu had returned and arranged to meet him, Qin Fei naturally would not miss it.

Besides, Tiezhu had reportedly brought news about the secret realm.

In a private room on the fifth floor of the Gathering Immortals Pavilion.

Xu Meiniang held a cup of wine, her face full of amazement, and exclaimed:

"I've never been to the fifth floor before. Tiezhu, we have you to thank for this."

The private rooms on the fifth floor were considerably more elegant than those on the fourth, and the space was much larger. Not just anyone could enter.

Tiezhu had earned military merit in the barracks and was now a centurion of the Lin Household, which qualified him to enter.

Tiezhu had grown much more sturdy and muscular, and a saber scar had appeared on his left cheek, giving him a fiercer bearing.

But whenever he smiled, he became the Tiezhu everyone knew so well again.

"Meiniang, you're always teasing me. What I've done is nothing special. Look at Brother Qin. His cultivation has already caught up with mine. That's real ability."

Tiezhu spoke from the heart.

When he had first returned to Shangyu Market from the Azure Wood Palace, Qin Fei had only been at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.

In the blink of an eye, the two were at the same realm. It would have been a lie to say Tiezhu was not envious, but he felt more admiration than anything.

"You're the one in the spotlight today. How did this turn to me? Come on, tell us about life in the barracks."

Qin Fei smiled faintly and quietly changed the subject.

Everyone's curiosity was piqued, and they all pricked up their ears to hear what Tiezhu would say next.

The barracks were unlike Shangyu Market. With the city's expansion and its defenses strengthened, the market was now rarely attacked by barbarians.

It was not that the barbarians did not want to, but that their will exceeded their strength.

The barbarians' main forces were tied down at the three great cities, and fighting on the front lines was said to rival a meat grinder.

Near Shangyu Market, there were only small tribes led by Foundation Establishment cultivators, and they did not have many barbarian soldiers.

The two sides were evenly matched, with each winning and losing encounters in the wild. But if one side defended a city while the other attacked, the disparity would become enormous.

The defenders could use favorable terrain, formations, mechanisms, and the like to inflict heavy casualties on the attacking cultivators.

The attackers, meanwhile, usually had a chance of victory only if they overwhelmed the defenders with numbers.

That was clearly not possible at Shangyu Market.

But Tiezhu did more than defend the city. According to him, he had gone on dozens of missions over the past half year or more.

He had fought more than ten battles, large and small, against the barbarians.

Several times, he had been surrounded by danger and had nearly lost his life.

Yet he had never regretted it.

Each time he slew a barbarian soldier with his own hands, he felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment. It was utterly different from the helplessness he felt when he could not advance an inch in his cultivation and could do nothing about it.

He had finally found his own path.

Hearing this, everyone sighed with emotion.

Who could have imagined that Tiezhu, the most honest and simplehearted of them all, would be the first to find where he belonged?

Everyone raised their cups to celebrate Tiezhu's new life, making his face turn bright red like a bashful young bride.

At their urging, he stopped talking about his life in the barracks and turned to the news of the secret realm they had long been waiting to hear.

None of them expected Tiezhu's first words to leave them profoundly shocked.

"Have you heard? The first group of cultivators to explore the secret realm was almost completely wiped out!"