Chapter 968

Chapter 968: The Artifact Crafting Trial

Guangxu, who was about to attempt artifact crafting for the first time in reality, was summoned by the academy’s dean to his side.

“Greetings, Dean,” Guangxu said respectfully.

He knew their dean was the guardian true immortal of the Golden Academy; this status made him a significant figure in their eyes.

The guardian true immortal looked at Guangxu with a mix of regret and envy.

“Do you wish to join the sect? A great figure has taken an interest in you,” the guardian true immortal said kindly.

“A sect? Which sect?”

“Joining this sect requires paying additional Immortal Jade, right?” Guangxu asked cautiously.

His tuition was two Immortal Jades for ten years, which his parents had managed to gather by selling their family’s only Dao artifact, piecing together what they could.

If joining the sect required extra Immortal Jade, he would rather give up the opportunity and stay in the academy, where he was confident he could become a master craftsman within ten years.

“Haha, just come with me.”

A teleportation formation appeared before the two of them; this was a direct teleportation array Xu Fan had created to reach the Hidden Spirit Sect.

“You have great talent in artifact crafting, and that great figure wants to take you as a disciple.”

“A great figure? Is it a master craftsman?”

In the eyes of the little boy, who dreamt of becoming an artifact master, a master craftsman was considered a great figure already.

“Bigger than a master craftsman. Do you want to be a disciple? He’ll teach you for free and won’t ask for Immortal Jade,” the guardian true immortal said with a smile, recalling his own childhood dreams of being taken in by top-tier figures.

“I’m willing! I’d be very happy to! But can I tell my parents first?” Guangxu asked.

“See that great figure first, and if you want to contact your parents, you can do so anytime.”

The guardian true immortal guided Guangxu to step into the teleportation formation.

With a flash of spiritual light, Guangxu found himself in Xu Fan’s courtyard.

Guangxu suddenly felt the surroundings change, and then he sensed the astonishing celestial energy in the air.

He also saw a magnificent waterfall of celestial spirit liquid that resembled the Nine Heavens Galaxy cascading down from afar.

The nearby distant mountains were intertwined with various buildings, perfectly merging into the picturesque landscape.

The scenery was breathtaking, lush and green, with spirit beasts occasionally appearing between the mountains. In the sky, various divine birds formed from celestial spirit liquid often soared by.

What amazed Guangxu the most was the giant lake of celestial liquid beneath the waterfall, resembling a sea.

As he took in these scenes, Guangxu found himself momentarily spellbound.

This was even more beautiful and extraordinary than the images his parents had described of the Immortal Sect’s sacred grounds.

Xu Fan remained silent, simply watching the little guy with a smile.

When Guangxu finally snapped back to reality, he noticed Xu Fan not far away.

“Greetings, senior!” Guangxu said nervously as he bowed.

“Rise,” Xu Fan said with a warm smile.

“This is the Hidden Spirit Sect, which I established myself. What do you think?” Xu Fan asked, still smiling.

“Okay, I’ve never seen such an amazing place before.”

“The senior asked me to come here to join the Hidden Spirit Sect.”

“I’m willing to join!”

Guangxu said nervously, forgetting all the words he had prepared earlier.

“It’s fine. Can you tell me what you learned in the artifact crafting division?” Xu Fan asked patiently.

Xu Fan had great confidence in students who scored full marks in the sect’s exam.

“In the artifact crafting division, I learned…”

Guangxu quickly spilled out everything he had learned.

Xu Fan raised his hand gently, and a piece of basic spirit iron and a ball of Five Elements Spirit Fire appeared in front of Guangxu.

“I’ll give you a chance. Use these materials to craft a Spiritual Sword that satisfies me, and I’ll take you as my disciple.”

“Senior, can I go back to the academy to study artifact crafting a bit longer?”

“I haven’t finished my courses, and I’m afraid I won’t do well,” Guangxu said.

“You don’t need to. Just use the spirit fire and spirit iron in front of you to craft a sword. I’ll judge the quality myself.”

The ball of Five Elements Spirit Fire automatically entered Guangxu’s body, merging with his spiritual energy.

With Xu Fan’s help, the Five Elements Spirit Fire was quickly refined by Guangxu.

“Get familiar with the spirit fire; you can start crafting now,” Xu Fan said.

Guangxu nodded at the floating spirit iron, his expression shifting from nervousness to seriousness.

A ball of spirit fire floated in front of Guangxu as he felt its temperature and power.

“It’s easier to use pure spirit fire without condensing it with spiritual energy. This way, I can focus more on controlling the hammer,” Guangxu thought to himself.

Then, Guangxu began heating the spirit iron with the Five Elements Spirit Fire, occasionally adjusting the fire’s size while observing the iron’s changes.

Xu Fan watched nearby, nodding in approval. This alone showed Guangxu was far better than those rookie artifact crafters.

As the spirit iron began to soften, the young boy condensed a spiritual energy hammer and started refining the spirit iron based on his instincts.

This was a basic skill every artifact master had to learn. Although this method wouldn’t be used later to refine spirit ore, it was essential in the early stages of crafting magical and precious artifacts.

The hammer of condensed spiritual energy struck the spirit iron perfectly with each blow.

As he forged, subtle changes began to occur within the spirit iron, making it stronger, more resilient, and improving its ability to conduct spiritual energy.

After an hour, Guangxu was already sweating.

The spirit iron began to form the embryo of a Spiritual Sword under the strikes of the spiritual energy hammer.

Then, Guangxu suddenly increased the fire’s intensity. Once the sword embryo fully softened, he used the shaping technique while intensifying the hammer’s force.

Typically, artifact masters would start using shaping techniques to mold the sword’s shape and prepare for rune engraving at this stage.

However, Guangxu took a different approach.

As the spiritual energy hammer continued to refine, the sword embryo moved closer to perfection.

Just as he was about to deliver the final strike to perfect the sword embryo, Guangxu suddenly paused and began the last step: engraving the runes.

Spirit control, sharpness, sturdiness.

Three exceptionally precise runes were engraved onto the Spiritual Sword.

The most basic magical spirit sword was formed.

After completing this, Guangxu was drenched in sweat, his spiritual energy was drained, and his mental strength was nearly exhausted.

Xu Fan produced a drop of wood essence and flicked it into Guangxu’s body.

“Thank you, senior. I’ve successfully crafted the Spiritual Sword. Please take a look,” Guangxu said respectfully.

The process of crafting the sword seemed to have transformed him, giving him new insights into artifact crafting. He believed that even if this senior didn’t take him as a disciple, he could still become a master craftsman within ten years after returning to the academy.

Xu Fan didn’t immediately inspect the sword but instead looked at Guangxu and asked, “You were just one strike away from bringing the sword embryo to its perfect state. Why didn’t you deliver that final blow?”

Hearing this, Guangxu was stunned.