Chapter 315: Chapter 313: Water Refining Technique
After spending more than ten days in his courtyard on Celestial Thunder Cliff, Han Qing rushed over to deliver the Body Refining Elixir the moment he successfully concocted it.
Bai Zichen accepted the Great Medicine with a grim expression. Han Qing, thinking his slow pace had displeased the Ancestor, hastily explained that it was his first time refining this type of elixir. He had to be extremely cautious and had made ample preparations before starting.
The Body Refining Elixir was as crimson as blood, with fine, blood-like veins covering its pill body. It looked like a continuously beating heart, with vessels and meridians powerfully expanding and contracting.
Bai Zichen accepted the Great Medicine and offered a word of praise to Han Qing, telling him not to feel pressured.
Back in the Artifact Refining Chamber, the floor was littered with ruined materials. Out of twelve sets of Sword Refining Materials, he had only managed to successfully forge a single Sound Bamboo Sword.
’With a success rate this low, even if I have the skill to refine Tier Three Flying Swords, I can’t possibly afford the cost... Those famous Sword Refiners from the Tianhe Sword Sect can achieve a success rate of over sixty percent for Tier Three Flying Swords.’
Bai Zichen sighed helplessly and put away the one and only intact Sound Bamboo Sword.
If his goal wasn’t more than just refining a few Tier Three Flying Swords, the cost of hiring someone to do it would be far lower than learning the skill himself.
The Sword Refiners of the Tianhe Sword Sect spent decades on preparations for each refinement. They would break down every step of the sword refinement process, analyzing it in detail and creating contingency plans for every potential problem. This was how they ensured such a high success rate.
He obviously couldn’t invest that much time and energy for a single Tier Three Flying Sword, but he should at least be able to manage a one-in-three success rate.
Otherwise, even if the bamboo sea on Celestial Thunder Cliff recovered to the same mutation rate as the Spiritual Bamboo on Hornless Dragon Island, he still wouldn’t have enough Thunder Sound Bamboo to waste.
’This is a long and arduous road. Fortunately, I have plenty of various Spiritual Materials and Magical Treasures in my storage pouch that can be re-refined... I can start by practicing with Low-Grade Magical Treasures, or maybe I can try a different Artifact Refining Method.’
Within the Qingfeng Sect, aside from the Tier Four Refining Inheritance from the Inheritance Stele, there were two other complete Tier Three refining inheritances.
One was the culmination of a thousand years of work by the Artifact Refiners in the sect’s own Artifact Refining Hall, who had continuously patched up flaws and added new techniques.
The other came from the Liu Family of Monkey Mountain—a Tier Three Artifact Refining Secret Technique their clan had voluntarily contributed to the Sect.
Recently, another one had been added. The Qingxi Huang Family was discovered to have colluded with the Celestial Principle Sect, selling them intelligence about Black Mountain.
Two of the Huang Family’s clan elders were executed, and their clan land, the Qingxi Spirit Spring, was confiscated.
The Qingxi Spirit Spring was a Tier Two Top-Grade Spiritual Vein. The Huang Family had even used a Gathering Spirit Array to set up a Tier Three Low-Grade Array, making them unique among all the Cultivation Families in Black Mountain.
The public story was that the ancestor of the Qingxi Huang Family had studied under a Core Formation True Man and had received these things as an inheritance after his master passed away.
Now, it seemed the ancestor of the Qingxi Huang Family was actually a disciple of the Celestial Principle Sect, and the Tier Three Array must have been brought from the sect back then.
The Qingfeng Sect didn’t call for the slaughter of the ordinary Huang clansmen. Once they confirmed that no one besides a few Foundation Establishment clan elders knew about the matter, they let them be.
And so, the foundation of the Qingxi Huang Family’s power, their Water Refining Technique inheritance, ended up in the treasury of the Artifact Refining Hall.
Unlike mainstream Artifact Refining Arts, the Water Refining Technique didn’t use Earth Fire. Instead, it used a Spiritual Spring to wash over materials, combined with special techniques, to refine artifacts.
Its advantage was a high success rate. Even in the event of failure, there was a chance to salvage some of the Spiritual Materials, preventing a total loss.
The disadvantage was also obvious: the refining process was incredibly slow.
It was normal for a single Spiritual Artifact to take a year or more to refine. Furthermore, even with exclusive use of the Qingxi Spirit Spring, the Huang Family could only water-refine two Spiritual Artifacts at most at the same time.
Such efficiency was only suitable for private Artifact Refiners operating small-scale workshops.
Large merchant guilds or sect Artifact Refiners would find it difficult to adopt, as the limitations were too great.
Moreover, the Water Refining Technique had high requirements for the quality of the Spiritual Spring. Although the Qingxi Huang Family possessed a Tier Three refining inheritance, their Spiritual Spring was only at the Tier Two Top-Grade.
Trying to water-refine a Magical Treasure using the Qingxi Spirit Spring was extremely difficult.
After considering his own situation, Bai Zichen realized this Water Refining Technique was actually quite suitable for him.
First, the Eye of the Spirit Spring in Ten Thousand Immortals Creek was a Tier Three Top-Grade spiritual land for his exclusive use. No one would dare compete with Ancestor Bai for it.
Second, the high success rate and conservation of Spiritual Materials were features that perfectly matched his current circumstances.
As for the slow refining speed, he wasn’t trying to mass-produce Tier Three Flying Swords anyway, so it was a surmountable issue.
The most important point was that the Water Refining Technique emphasized a subtle, silent transformation. The refinement and alteration of Spiritual Materials happened at an extremely slow pace.
Unlike Earth Fire Refining, it didn’t require intense concentration and constant vigilance.
A single lapse in attention, and the Spiritual Materials would melt, deform, and become useless.
The Water Refining Technique was notoriously safe and reliable. You could sit in meditation for a month, open your eyes, and find that the Spiritual Materials hadn’t moved an inch, not even having completed the first step of washing away surface impurities.
Only cultivators with immense patience, who could endure profound solitude, could walk this path of artifact refining.
Bai Zichen could conveniently practice the Water Refining Technique while simultaneously cultivating his Glazed Fire Divine Body, making perfect use of his time.
He had someone deliver the Qingxi Huang Family’s Tier Three Water Refining Secret Technique and the Jade Scrolls recording several hundred years of their clan’s insights and experiences. Without delay, he used Sword Control to fly straight back to Ten Thousand Immortals Creek.
From the current situation, it seemed the Celestial Principle Sect had established itself in the former territory of the Fragrance Sect, even erecting their sect’s archway.
Organizing internal affairs and settling disciples who had migrated thousands of miles to an unfamiliar land was no simple matter, even for a Nascent Soul Sect.
In addition, if the Celestial Principle Sect couldn’t return to the Central Domain anytime soon, they would surely need to develop new sources of income in Liang Country.
They couldn’t just rely on the resources they brought with them during their retreat and wait for everything to run out.
During his discussion with Master Ge Cang, Bai Zichen had also mentioned that for a sect like the Celestial Principle Sect, which had a Nascent Soul True Monarch, to choose a place like the Liang Country Cultivation Realm—a backwater in the eyes of Central Domain cultivators—they must be after a Tier Four Spirit Vein.
And in Liang Country, aside from the Qii Mountain Range, the only other place likely to have a Tier Four Spirit Vein was the Black Mountain Range.
What Master Ge Cang couldn’t figure out was why the Celestial Principle Sect would travel thousands of miles to specifically choose the Black Mountain Range. After all, even the Qingfeng Sect only learned of the slumbering Tier Four Cyan Simurgh at the mountain’s core—and thus confirmed the existence of the Tier Four Spirit Vein—after Bai Zichen obtained the ancestral Beast Hide from the Fire Phoenix Mo Family.
Bai Zichen, however, could guess a thing or two. From the Nine Yang Divine Fire Mirror at the bottom of Feiyue Lake and Meng Zhaode, the man who had died in Black Mountain while on a secret sect mission, it was clear that the Celestial Principle Sect’s interest in the Black Mountain Range was nothing new.
The two of them agreed that the Celestial Principle Sect would not be content with the status quo and would, sooner or later, make a move against either the Qingfeng Sect or the Holy Lotus Sect.
As for when they would act, that depended on when the Celestial Principle Sect’s leader, True Monarch Shi—who was rumored to have been severely injured during the retreat from the Central Domain—could recover.
As for which target they would choose, that would naturally depend on whether the Holy Lotus Sect’s True Monarch Jiulian was still alive, or whether the Qingfeng Sect’s Master Ge Cang had achieved a breakthrough.
The Holy Lotus Sect was in a similar position. True Monarch Jiulian was certainly planning to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and wouldn’t personally intervene unless absolutely necessary.
In the current situation, besides their great enemy, the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons, there was now the potential threat of the Celestial Principle Sect.
If True Monarch Jiulian were to rashly attack and eliminate the Qingfeng Sect, causing his already limited lifespan to dwindle and leading to his death soon after...
...would the Celestial Principle Sect really keep its promise to take only Black Mountain? Would they truly ignore the Qii Mountain Range—a land of abundant treasures with a ten-thousand-year heritage—and the entire Central Province?
Thus, a fragile balance had formed between the three parties.
The current hidden threat in Hejian County actually came from the local Cultivation Families that had been suppressed for siding with the Ghost Spirit Sect before the Qingfeng Sect’s arrival, as well as the sects from several surrounding counties.
These Cultivation Families and Core Formation Level Sects, motivated partly by self-interest and partly instigated by secret promises from the Holy Lotus Sect, would occasionally cause minor trouble.
Things were better with Bai Zichen stationed there. His reputation as the "Slayer of Core Formation True Men" had already spread throughout Liang Country.
If these factions wanted to stir up trouble, they had to consider whether their heads could withstand a single strike from his sword.
But if these people found out that Master Bai was not in Hejian County, there was no guarantee that some audacious fool wouldn’t get ideas.
When Bai Zichen returned to Ten Thousand Immortals Creek, the few Elders who knew he had left finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The safety of an entire county resting on the shoulders of a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators had them on edge, unable to eat or sleep in peace.
Especially since the Tier Three Array at Ten Thousand Immortals Creek, the Ten Thousand Ghosts Fierce Soul Formation, was just an empty shell. Not only could it not even summon a Core Formation Stage Ghost King, but due to the changed terrain and dissipated Yin Qi, the array was only marginally stronger than a Tier Two Top-Grade Array.
However, the Sect was currently discussing dismantling the Qingxi Huang Family’s Tier Three Low-Grade Heavenly One Profound Ice Formation and setting it up in Ten Thousand Immortals Creek.
The location of the Qingxi Spirit Spring was now considered the deep rear. With no important targets to protect, maintaining a Tier Three Array there was a complete waste.
The specifics would have to wait for someone from the Array Hall to come and survey the terrain and spirit vein layouts of both locations. Only after they submitted a feasibility report for the Elders’ council to review could it be formally approved.
If the Heavenly One Mysterious Ice Array was not suitable for the conditions at Ten Thousand Immortals Creek, then the Array Banners and Array Plates would need to be adjusted.
The workload would be enormous, and it would not be unusual for it to take several years.
...
’Are we sure the creator of the Water Refining Technique didn’t invent this method just to be lazy? It feels almost like being a hands-off boss...’
After reading through the Water Refining inheritance, Bai Zichen also went through the dozens of Jade Scrolls detailing the Huang Family’s artifact refining experiences and insights.
Besides being unable to refine Fire Element Magical Treasures, the method’s results for refining other Treasures were not much different from traditional artifact refining techniques.
As long as one selected a good Spiritual Spring, prepared the Spiritual Materials, and used a Forbidden Technique for refining to fix them at different water levels, the rest had little to do with the Artifact Refiner.
Then, depending on the Treasure being refined, one would simply adjust the position of the Spiritual Materials and the flow of the Spiritual Spring at regular intervals.
Only the final stage of refinement and formation truly tested the Artifact Refiner’s technique, keen eye, and subtle control of their Divine Sense.
This method of refining—where you just had to assemble the external conditions and leave success or failure to fate—was something that Bai Zichen, who had little talent for artifact refining, rather appreciated.
He immediately took out a stalk of Sacred Sound Bamboo and other supplementary materials, calculated the flow of the Eye of the Spirit Spring, and began his first attempt at the Water Refining Technique.
He watched as the various Spiritual Materials drifted back and forth in the Spiritual Spring, ripples spreading across the water’s surface as tiny motes of spiritual light flashed.
A faint, almost imperceptible connection slowly began to form between the Sacred Sound Bamboo and the other materials.
Bai Zichen closed his eyes, paying it no more mind. He began to visualize the Glazed Fire Jade within his Sea of Consciousness, continuing his efforts to master the Glazed Fire Divine Body.