Chapter 38 - Refine Together

“Yun…Master Yunxiao, how can we refine high-quality mystic weapons?” Zhang Qingfan asked carefully, not daring to breathe too loudly. In his eyes, Yunxiao was no longer a mysterious teenager, but a master of alchemy.

Xu Han also breathed carefully and pricked up his ears to listen carefully. Both of them were thirsty for knowledge right now.

At their level, there was no one to teach them alchemy, especially in the State of Tianshui. They could only learn something through continuous efforts to explore themselves. Therefore, the relationship between the two of them was unusual; they were friends as well as teachers to each other, learning from each other and improving together.

But now, a man suddenly appeared who instantly opened a road ahead of them, paving a bright sunshine avenue through their once dim and obscure future. They seemed to have faintly seen the higher level on the road of alchemy waving at them.

Such an opportunity was absolutely rare, so their hearts were extremely excited and their expressions had become extremely humble, which made them look like a pair of primary school students asking for advice.

Yunxiao laughed. “It happens that I’m going to refine my own mystic weapon. I will borrow your refining room. As for how much you can learn, it all depends on yourselves.”

‘As for how much you can learn, it all depends on yourselves…’

Such a statement was said by a fifteen-year-old teenager to two third-tier Great Alchemists! If this were known to others, their minds would definitely be blown. However, Zhang Qingfan and Xu Han only paused for a moment, and then their faces immediately showed exultation.

Although they did not know Yunxiao’s true strength, at least they knew he was better than them in knowledge and cognition through the conversation just now. As the saying went, ‘it doesn’t matter when one starts learning. The one who discovers the truth should be the teacher’. It was extremely precious for one to learn a little knowledge in the field of alchemy. Everyone valued their own old broomsticks, and ordinary alchemists could only make slight progress through their own hard exploration.

It was especially the case with the two of them. At their level, it was hard to make progress by relying on their own research. So, they would not miss any opportunity at all.

Xu Han immediately gave out the order, and one of the best alchemy rooms was soon vacated. In addition to Xu Han and Zhang Qingfan, Yunxiao also asked Jia Rong to join them and watch.

Jia Rong was even more excited. Last time, he had missed the opportunity to learn how to stimulate acupoints with gold needles because of Junliang’s incident, which made him very regretful. After the event, he had summoned all his disciples and students and seriously reprimanded them, then asked them to cultivate in seclusion and not cause trouble outside. Otherwise, he promised he would expel them. That had frightened all his disciples, and since then, they had restrained themselves a lot.

The auxiliary refining array was placed on the fifth floor of the Alchemist Association. There was only one array on the spacious fifth floor, which looked similar to a teleportation array. It was densely carved with complicated lines, giving off a primitive and steady aura.

“Tianshui’s infrastructure is indeed amazing!” Yunxiao praised. “There is a gravity hall in Jialan Academy, and right here, in this fifth-tier Alchemist Association, you have an auxiliary refining array. This is really beyond my expectations! With it, the refining process will be much simpler.”

Xu Han laughed. “These were all constructed when Lord Yang Di was here.”

Yunxiao nodded and said, “Jia Rong, help me prepare some materials. They are all common things, and the association should have them.”

He read out a succession of names, and Jia Rong quickly noted them down in his heart. When he had finished, the latter scratched his head and asked in surprise, “These…Aren’t these the raw materials for pills?”

“That’s right. I’ve just taken in a disciple, and I plan to refine some pills for him, such as detoxification pills and origin impacting pills. The level of this auxiliary array is higher than I expected. I can refine the pills together when I refine the mystic weapon.”

Xu Han, “…”

Zhang Qingfan, “…”

Jia Rong, “…”

Yunxiao frowned and said, “What are you still doing here? Quickly prepare the things I need!”

Jia Rong said with a wry smile, “Yun…Young Master Yun, just leave refining such simple pills to me. You’d better concentrate on refining the mystic weapon.”

Was this a joke? Yunxiao was going to use an array to refine a mystic weapon and pills at the same time? Jia Rong had never heard anything so outrageous. It was not easy for him to have another chance to watch Yunxiao in action, and he did not want to see a failed refinement.

Yunxiao’s face immediately grew dark. “Jia Rong, it turns out that you are not interested in watching me refine. I haven’t talked to you about the last time…”

“Wait a moment, Young Master Yun! Give me five minutes!”

Jia Rong’s face fell as he bolted out like lightning. By the time he shouted that, he was already several flights down.

Xu Han swallowed and said helplessly, “Master Yunxiao, I’ve never heard of anyone using two separate arrays to refine at the same time, let alone using the same array for two different kinds of refinement at the same time.”

With his expression remaining unchanged, Yunxiao said calmly, “You’ve not only heard it now, but you are also going to see it with your own eyes soon.”

Zhang Qingfan gave Xu Han a gentle push and shook his head lightly, then the two had a brief communication with their eyes: ‘A young man like him is quick-tempered, impulsive and fond of mischief. When he fails to refine and suffers a setback, he will naturally correct himself. Let him do whatever he wants for now.’

Soon, Jia Rong rushed back and poured out the materials from a storage bag he was carrying. The raw materials Yunxiao requested were all common materials, and he had brought the entire stock and piled it up on the ground.

Yunxiao examined the materials and was satisfied with the quality, after which he walked around the array. From among the various refining instruments placed around the array, he chose a pill cauldron and tapped it lightly, causing it to produce a hollow sound.

“Alright, this is the one.” He lifted the cauldron and threw it to the left side of the array before slapping it and sending the lid up into the air. Then, he casually reached out a hand and performed a grabbing gesture. With that, all the materials on the ground flew into the cauldron. Finally, the lid fell back down with a bang.

“Young Master Yun, didn’t you say you were going to refine two types of pills?” Jia Rong asked in surprise.

Yunxiao answered, “To save trouble, I put the materials into the cauldron together and will refine them at the same time.”

“What? Refining two types of pills in the same cauldron? Putting all the materials together?” Jia Rong was dumbfounded. “And you are going to refine a mystic weapon at the same time?”

Now even Zhang Qingfan could not keep his cool. He felt his head was spinning. ‘Heavens! Does this boy really know alchemy? What’s the matter with me? How could I let him do this? And I even addressed him as Master Yunxiao?’

His mind was full of question marks, and he even began to doubt his intelligence. Why would he believe this boy?

Xu Han was about to pass out as well. ‘Both of us are almost a hundred years old, but why are we horsing around with this boy? It’s all our fault that we were fooled by those words he had said earlier. Now when it comes to real action, his true nature is exposed. Aye, I should have just asked him directly for the technique of stimulating acupoints with gold needles. Why was I so stupid to agree to watch him refine a mystic weapon? Heavens, I even gave him a badge of a second-tier alchemist! What’s wrong with me?’

The two men watched Yunxiao sullenly as he misbehaved there alone. In their minds, they had judged him as a rich son who could only talk big and do nothing, and had accidentally learned how to stimulate acupoints with gold needles from somewhere. What made them even more depressed was that they were among the most prominent figures in Tianshui, and yet they were blinded by him for a while. If this were to spread, their faces would be lost.

Just when the three had their own thoughts, Yunxiao finally began to move.

After he took a gentle step, his body suddenly rotated in the center of the array, and his feet seemed to follow a strange set of steps which matched the incantation gestures of his hands. Every time he took a step, he sent a corresponding hand incantation gesture into the array. Streams of violent Primordial Qi burst out of the hundreds of Primordial Stones mounted in the perimeter and poured into the array. Washed by the Primordial Qi, the primitive and complicated lines on the array became active like the meridians in the human body.

However, not all lines had Primordial Qi flowing through them, and only a few parts in the middle of the array were exuding a strong array intent. Soon, wisps of true fire ejected from several array eyes to heat up the cauldron while several streams of void fire spurted out from other array eyes on the other side of the cauldron and condensed in the air, getting stronger and stronger!

“What…what is going on?” Xu Han’s gloomy face froze instantly. “The whole array is only partially activated! Isn’t the array one whole thing? Could it be that this boy’s strength is too weak, so that he can only activate a part of the array?”

Zhang Qingfan was a little overwhelmed as well, and he said shockingly, “The array can only be activated successfully or fail to be activated. How can it be partially activated? It should be because this boy’s strength is too weak. But, why does this true fire give me a much stronger feeling than when we usually use it?”

“A bunch of wimps…Shut up and watch!”

Yunxiao’s voice rang out of the array, “This Psyche Formless Auxiliary Array Formation is composed of forty-eight basic arrays, which correspond to forty-eight basic refining methods. Under their interactions, it can derive countless kinds of auxiliary effects, which is the reason why it can become a powerful auxiliary formation. If it is fully activated every time, it will take a lot of mind and soul power just to keep the whole formation running. How can one refine under such a heavy load? I just want to refine first-tier pills and a first-tier mystic weapon, so I have only activated twelve basic arrays, which will derive one hundred and eight auxiliary effects. That’s more than enough.”

“Heavens! So that is what is it!”

“Gods! I can’t believe this is what it is!”

“My goodness! Is this still a ‘simple refinement? You might as well kill me!”

The depression in their hearts vanished in an instant and their pupils were left wide open, their faces covered with horror and incredulity. Although some of Yunxiao’s movements were still difficult for them to understand, they could not contain their excitement and their bodies were trembling violently. At this moment, all three of them eliminated all kinds of thoughts in their minds and did not dare to blink their eyes.

They knew that in the dim, obscure, difficult-to-walk road of alchemy, a new door was opening for them right now!

A ray of sunshine began to shine through the crack of the door!