Volume 1 Volume 6 Chapter 1

Volume 6 Chapter 1: Heavenly Level Magical Tools

Following Old Beggar, I quickly flew to the row of houses where the master craftsmen lived, and it was still messy and noisy.

In the largest house at the deepest point, I saw more than ten master craftsmen staring anxiously at a furnace in the courtyard, as if the crafting process had reached a crucial moment.

Old Beggar turned and gave Xu Qingfan a look, seeming to blame him for wasting his time, then quickly walked up to a cultivator with a scruffy beard who was wearing a torn robe and quietly asked, "How is it going?"

The cultivator replied, "The timing is just right. Is the person here?"

Old Beggar nodded and said, "Yes, he is here."

As he spoke, Old Beggar waved his hand at Xu Qingfan, signaling him to step forward to the furnace, then said to Xu Qingfan, "Extend your hand."

Xu Qingfan stretched out one hand and frowned, asking, "What’s wrong? What do you want me to do?"

The old beggar handed Xu Qingfan a small knife that seemed to be made of crystal, shining and clear. Then he pointed to a small opening on the "cauldron" and said, "Do you see that small opening? Use this small knife to make a cut on your body, and then drip your blood into that opening. When there is enough blood, I will let you know."

Xu Qingfan frowned slightly and asked, "Blood Refining Technique?"

The Blood Refining Technique involves merging the cultivator’s blood into a magical tool, creating a sense of connection between the cultivator and the tool. This not only makes using the tool more agile but also significantly reduces the Spirit Qi consumed.

However, the only problem is that the "Blood Refining Technique" is a dark and forbidden way to refine tools. It requires not only the blood of the cultivator but also a part of the cultivator’s soul to be infused into the tool.

Hearing what Xu Qingfan said, which seemed to carry a hint of blame, the old beggar rolled his eyes and coldly replied, "The Blood Refining Method is also a way to refine tools. In the eyes of us tool refiners, there is no distinction between right and wrong in refining methods."

Upon hearing the old beggar’s words, the other skilled tool refiners nodded in agreement, looking very convinced.

Seeing that Xu Qingfan’s frown remained, the old beggar helplessly explained again, "The soul infused into the tool belongs to a wicked ‘Eight Wilderness Hall’ cultivator. Don’t worry, stop complaining, and quickly drip your blood into that opening. Time is running out."

The implication was that the souls of dark cultivators are of lesser worth.

Xu Qingfan instinctively shook his head. He had been in too much contact with dark paths lately; the methods of cultivating magical tools often gave off a sinister aura. Having had his body altered by Zhang Xusheng’s dark magic and "Beast Madness Energy," he had turned into a kind of demonic genius. Thus, for many years, Xu Qingfan had subconsciously kept his distance from these dark things, but he didn’t expect the old beggar to take such matters into his own hands.

However, now that it has come to this, Xu Qingfan had no other choice. So, he followed the Old Beggar’s instructions and walked to the shining cauldron. He used a small knife to cut his wrist, and blood quickly flowed out, continuously dripping into the cauldron.

For about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Xu Qingfan began to suspect that all his blood had flowed into the cauldron. His face started to turn pale and almost transparent, and finally, the Old Beggar said, "That’s enough."

Xu Qingfan pulled back his bleeding wrist, and the life force within him began to circulate. The injury on his wrist healed instantly.

"Begin."

The Old Beggar suddenly shouted.

Xu Qingfan stepped back to a distance and saw the Old Beggar and more than ten master blacksmiths standing around the cauldron in a specific formation. They gestured with their hands, and under their control, the cauldron began to spin quickly, releasing brilliant light that was too dazzling to look at. The spirit energy from the surroundings quickly gathered into the cauldron.

About an hour later, the magical item was successfully forged.

With a loud boom, the cauldron suddenly opened, and a dazzling ancient bell, rich in spirit energy, floated out above the cauldron, hovering about ten feet above the ground. This was indeed the Five Spirit Bell, which had been destroyed earlier.

However, the Five Spirit Bell was not only completely reforged at that moment, but it was also smaller than before, with a blood-rust-like hue, a touch of elegance, and a hint of sinister energy.

Looking at the "Five Spirit Bell" floating in the air, Xu Qingfan suddenly felt an unprecedented connection with it, a feeling he had never experienced since he obtained the "Five Spirit Bell."

As Xu Qingfan felt a stir in his heart, he saw the "Five Spirit Bell" suddenly transform into a burst of colorful light, quickly flashing before him and landing in his hands.

Although it had a touch of mystery, looking at the tiny "Five Spirit Bell" in his hand, Xu Qingfan felt an undeniable fondness for it.

Seeing the satisfied expression on Xu Qingfan’s face, the Old Beggar proudly explained, "The previous ‘Five Spirit Bell’ was actually a failed magic item, made with a different method than regular tools and not matching your abilities. As a result, when you used it, you felt restricted, and it consumed too much Spirit Qi, making it hard to maintain. You had a precious defensive treasure, but it couldn’t last long when used. This time, although the ‘Five Spirit Bell’ is in pieces, it offers an opportunity. I blended part of the ‘Snow Jade Spirit Turtle’s’ shell into it during the reforge, which allowed me to reshape the ‘Five Spirit Bell.’ As a result, its defense has increased, and the materials used are incredibly valuable, so its quality easily reached a heavenly level. Even though its rank has risen, it is now easier for you to use, and the Spirit Qi consumption has greatly reduced, making it truly useful for you."

Xu Qingfan nodded slightly in agreement. Holding the "Five Spirit Bell," he sensed the powerful yet subtle waves of Spirit Qi, which indeed reached a heavenly level, the highest rank for magical tools. It had improved by three levels from before, yet it now required much less Spirit Qi to use. The earlier flaw of excessive Spirit Qi consumption that prevented long use had vanished, bringing him joy. This meant that in future disasters, Xu Qingfan would have a much better chance of survival.

Just then, a strangely-looking master craftsman standing beside the Old Beggar, who was also admiring the successful "Five Spirit Bell," suddenly spoke up, "Indeed, the ‘Five Spirit Bell’ was originally a magical item, and while discussing its reworking, we have always struggled with the flaws of excessive and hard-to-control Spirit Qi consumption. Luckily, we previously received a damaged ‘Blood Refining Method.’ I suggested using it for improvement during the reshaping, and as expected, even though it was our first attempt and some crafting methods were incomplete, with our skills, we succeeded in the end."

As the craftsman finished speaking, the faces of other master craftsmen were filled with smug expressions. Xu Qingfan, who had been about to express his gratitude, suddenly choked and cleared his throat to cover it up, thinking that the Old Beggar and his group of master craftsmen had put in so much effort creating his magical tool, only to find in the end that the "Five Spirit Bell" was treated as an experiment.

However, Xu Qingfan had no words to say; he had expected this. The Old Beggar and these craftsman were naturally like this; once they had good materials, their minds would burst with ideas, and they couldn’t help but incorporate these thoughts into the crafting. While there was always a risk of failure through experimentation, if they succeeded, the resulting magical tools would far surpass those made by the more conventional craftsmen.

"Thank you all."

After Xu Qingfan put the "Five Spirit Bell" in his sleeve, he hesitated for a moment and then bowed to the group of master craftsmen and spoke.

The Old Beggar shook his head and said, "You don’t need to thank us. Giving us so many precious materials to experiment, or rather, to practice, we should actually be the ones thanking you."

The group of master craftsmen showed expressions of agreement and kept bowing to Xu Qingfan, expressing their thanks. Xu Qingfan, who was treated as an experiment, had a funny expression on his face.

After the thanks were given, the Old Beggar seemed to hand several successfully crafted magical items to Xu Qingfan, which included a much larger "Rainbow Ruler," two snow-white robes, a sparkling "Earth Mirror," a silver rope, and a pure white jade pendant.

"As you requested, we merged the nineteen claws of the ‘Crazy Ice Snow Leopard’ into the ‘Rainbow Ruler.’ Although we wasted five while testing some new ideas, the overall crafting process went smoothly. After completing the crafting, the ability of the ‘Rainbow Ruler’ to change from solid to illusion remained the same, but its attack power increased by more than five times, shifting from being good at transformation to being great at attack."

Xu Qingfan caught the "Rainbow Ruler" tossed by the Old Beggar and examined it for a moment; indeed, just as the Old Beggar said, the attack power of the "Rainbow Ruler" had greatly increased, and its quality rose from Earth level advanced to heavenly level medium.

"What new ideas did you test in this ‘Rainbow Ruler’?"

Xu Qingfan asked curiously.

The Old Beggar shook his head in frustration, wearing a look of regret, and said, "When we ruined the fifth claw of the ‘Crazy Ice Snow Leopard,’ we finally realized that the new idea was theoretically wrong, so only small changes were made in the crafting of this magical item—there were only seventeen minor changes. It can only be considered a simple merging of new materials."

After hearing the Old Beggar’s words, Xu Qingfan was stunned for a moment. He realized how precious the "Crazy Ice Snow Leopard" minions were, but now they were just used to prove a useless theory. His heart thumped in pain, and he quietly made a resolution not to ask such questions anymore, to avoid being troubled and losing his peace of mind, leading to Qi deviation.

"These two items are called ‘Tianyu Robe’. Making this robe was even more complicated than reshaping the ‘Five Spirit Bell’. We tried making it seven times before we succeeded. The bad news is that the large fur you gave me from the ‘Blizzard Magic Bear’ was completely used up in making these two robes, as the experiments wasted over half of it. But the good news is that while crafting these ‘Tianyu Robes’, we proved that ‘Refining Technique’ can also be applied to non-attack treasures. The ‘Tianyu Robe’ was originally a mid-level heavenly treasure, but we combined eight of them into two, greatly increasing the ability to resist Dao methods and counter internal demons, making it one of the only high-level heavenly treasures besides the ‘Five Spirit Bell’."

As Xu Qingfan held the two "Tianyu Robes," a refreshing feeling instantly spread through his entire body, making him incredibly comfortable. He nodded with satisfaction and pretended he didn’t hear about the wasted materials, quietly stowing the two robes in his sleeve, then took the "Earth Mirror" that the Old Beggar tossed to him.

Looking down, he found that the "Earth Mirror" had greatly changed its appearance. The original dull surface was now shimmering with golden light, with various spirit beasts carved along the edges, looking much more appealing.

"Your ‘Earth Mirror’ was originally designed to scout and send messages through illusions. Its drawback was that it could easily be fooled by illusions. However, with the addition of the ‘Wind Calling Eagle’ eye, its scouting range has greatly increased, and it now has the ability to break illusions and can even see through some mid-level formations, reaching a mid-level heavenly rank. Now, this ‘Earth Mirror’ you have is not much inferior to Jiuhua’s precious ‘Heavenly Mirror’."

"This silver rope is called the ‘Spirit Binding Rope’. It is a mid-level heavenly treasure made from the tendons of the ‘Azure Ice Beast’. It can be used to bind and trap opponents, especially effective against cultivators below the Golden Core Stage. However, its drawback is that it is only suitable for dealing with a single cultivator. So we modified it a bit. Although we wasted some materials, this ‘Spirit Binding Rope’ now has a variant like the ‘Heavenly Net’, allowing it to automatically form a net when used, capable of dealing with multiple enemies."

"This is the ‘Ice Spirit Jade Pendant’ made from the inner core of the ‘Azure Ice Beast’. Although it has no rank or level, it is as precious as an ordinary mid-level heavenly item. It can speed up the absorption of Spirit Qi, counter internal demons, and has some immunity against Five Elements Taoist Method attacks. Together with the ‘Tianyu Robe’, its effects are particularly remarkable. However, we are not skilled at making pendants like this, so we didn’t add any new ideas."

※※※※

When Xu Qingfan left the Old Beggar’s room, he was already wearing the "Tianyu Robe" and had the "Ice Spirit Jade Pendant" at his waist. He felt completely satisfied. Although a whole heap of materials had been wasted, the crafted treasures far exceeded Xu Qingfan’s expectations: two high-level heavenly treasures, three mid-level heavenly treasures, and one "Ice Spirit Jade Pendant" worth nearly the same as a low-level heavenly treasure. It’s worth noting that Xu Qingfan had never possessed even one heavenly treasure before.

Under the previous exchanges, Xu Qingfan’s collection of magical materials had been completely used up over the years. But at that moment, the value of these six magical items made Xu Qingfan no longer feel any pain about it. With these magical items, he found that what he had given away before was no longer appealing to him.

However, after leaving the Old Beggar’s room, Xu Qingfan did not return to his own courtyard. Instead, he flew towards a row of houses at the foot of "Ronghua Mountain," where the Righteous Alliance had arranged a courtyard for Jin Qinghan.