Translator: AnubisTL
Back at the Liu Clan, Li Qing rushed to his courtyard as quickly as possible.
Seeing that Fan Tong was still safely curled up in its nest, Li Qing breathed a sigh of relief. Sensing the abundant heaven and earth spiritual energy around him, he felt as though he had returned from another world.
Without delay, Li Qing immediately retrieved the hundred spirit stones he had stored in the World of Eternal Night.
After carefully examining each spirit stone to ensure minimal spiritual energy leakage, Li Qing quickly gathered them back into his storage pouch.
A sense of security washed over him.
"These spirit stones, though not many, would definitely attract attention if I spent them openly."
Li Qing pondered for a moment before making a decision.
"I'll save them for now. At the trade fair in a few months, I'll keep a low profile to avoid drawing too much attention."
"I should also find an opportunity to visit the Heavenly River Sect's market in disguise."
"In the meantime, I'll research the prices in the cultivation world and make some friends."
As he finished speaking, a wave of overwhelming exhaustion washed over him.
After nine consecutive days of mining without sleep, a single day's rest in the mine tunnel, and a day and a half of travel, Li Qing was utterly drained.
Even if Li Qing had wanted to cultivate at that moment, he wouldn't have been able to focus.
So, he simply collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep.
With Fan Tong guarding the door, he didn't have to worry too much about intruders.
And so, a day and a night quickly passed.
When Li Qing woke again, it was already noon on the third day since his return.
His essence, qi, and spirit fully restored, Li Qing immediately grabbed a jar of Winter Plum Wine and headed out to visit Old Zhou in Courtyard No. 16.
"Senior Zhou, I brought some wine to share!"
Li Qing walked into the courtyard with a wine jar. Old Zhou was still seated on his meditation cushion.
But it was clear that this time, after Li Qing entered, a warmer smile had appeared on the old man's face.
Although Li Qing had learned mining techniques and experience from him, he had no intention of stopping his regular deliveries of wine to the old miner.
That would have been too deliberate, too calculating.
After all, Old Zhou was a Mid Qi Refining Realm cultivator, a level higher than Li Qing. If he could befriend such a senior cultivator in the immortal world simply by regularly bringing him wine, the benefits would be immeasurable.
Setting aside everything else, Zhou Tong's age alone meant he knew far more than Li Qing, having spent so long among cultivators.
Watching Li Qing carry a jar of wine, Zhou Tong shook his head with a smile and said, "At least you have some conscience. Hurry up and pour me a full cup."
As the clay seal of the jar was broken, a rich aroma of wine filled the air, visibly drawing the two men closer.
"Heh, I rushed back this time and accidentally slept for a whole day and night. Didn't have time to prepare any snacks, Senior Zhou. Please don't take offense."
As he spoke, Li Qing poured Zhou Tong a full cup.
"Mm, that's how it is the first time you go down the mines. I wasn't much better back then!" Zhou Tong drained his cup and sighed. "Mining is ultimately not a long-term solution. That place is dark and sunless; staying there too long will numb a person's spirit."
"If you want your path in cultivation to be smoother, it's best to learn a skill related to cultivation. Forget about alchemy, crafting, formations, or talismans—even learning to brew Spirit Wine or becoming a Spirit Chef would be better than being a miner."
Li Qing remained silent for a moment, then adopted a receptive expression, nodded, and drank his cup.
The most crucial factor in learning these skills is having spirit stones to pave the way.
Even Spirit Brewers or Spirit Chefs of lower status often struggle to find opportunities, as these are usually closely guarded family secrets.
Of course, an Old Miner like Zhou Tong could certainly have saved enough spirit stones. With his wealth, he could easily spend a few hundred spirit stones to purchase one or two Spirit Wine recipes and become a Spirit Brewing apprentice.
However, as Zhou Tong had said, working in the sunless mine tunnels for too long can numb a person.
Day after day of swinging a pickaxe shatters not only rock but also a person's ambition.
Years of mining had made these veteran Old Miners complacent, unwilling to strive for more.
Thinking of this, Li Qing immediately sounded a stern alarm in his heart: No matter what, he must never become complacent!
"Senior Zhou," Li Qing asked, blinking, "I'm planning to buy Spirit Rice from Jin Chuan next door. He's offering it at one spirit stone for six catties. Is that a fair price?"
After years of wandering the cultivation world, Zhou Tong was naturally well-versed in the prices of basic goods.
"Hmm, that's about right. The spirit rice sold by spirit farmers like Lingnong Jinchuan is usually cheaper than the Liu Clan's," Old Zhou replied casually.
Next, Li Qing asked a series of questions about other cultivation world prices that concerned him.
He inquired about the cost of storage pouches, spirit beast pouches, Beast Taming Pills, various Magic Artifacts, and the prices of pills used by cultivators to enhance their mana.
Zhou Tong answered every question without hesitation, readily sharing everything he knew.
This saved Li Qing the trouble of searching for information elsewhere. However, in the cultivation world, prices were never fixed, fluctuating with various circumstances.
Old Zhou's explanations merely gave Li Qing a general sense of the market.
As they continued their conversation, a jar of wine was finished.
"Cultivation truly requires constant expenditure of spirit stones," Li Qing sighed, then stood up, clasped his hands in a respectful bow, and said, "Senior Zhou, I won't disturb you any longer. Farewell!"
"Mmm," Zhou Tong waved his hand dismissively, slightly tipsy.
Not long after, in District C, Courtyard No. 45, Lingnong Jinchuan stood at the gate with a broad smile, waving goodbye to Li Qing, who had just purchased twelve catties of spirit rice.
"Brother Li, take care! Come back anytime you need more spirit rice."
Having spent his last two spirit stones, Li Qing sighed in relief, thinking, "Life is truly hard for cultivators at the bottom."
If he didn't possess the ability to travel to the World of Eternal Night, his arduous labor would barely cover his daily cultivation needs.
Back in his courtyard, Li Qing cooked a full catty of spirit rice for himself this time, without a hint of hesitation.
"No wonder the Liu Clan values outside cultivators as laborers so much. They're walking treasure troves."
No matter how many spirit stones laborers like Li Qing earned, they would ultimately end up in the Liu Clan's coffers.
Unless someone was foolish enough to hoard their earnings like a hamster, refusing to spend them on improving their cultivation and instead storing them all away.
Such people often ended up losing their life's savings to others after a lifetime of accumulation.
As the saying goes, "While the neighbors hoard grain, I hoard guns; my neighbors are my granary."
Li Qing, of course, had no intention of becoming someone else's granary.
"If you want to do a job well, you must first sharpen your tools. The Heavenly River Sect's pickaxe is too crude. Though it's only a Low-Grade Magic Tool, I'd rather forge a better one myself."
He wasn't worried about revealing his artifact refinement heritage. Many miners already owned their own custom pickaxes, and the Liu Clan had been selling such Magic Artifacts for years.
He could simply hide it under his clothes until he reached the mine tunnel, taking care not to let the other miners see it.
As for the Heavenly River Sect disciples' inspections, Li Qing figured that disciples from such a prestigious sect wouldn't care if a lowly miner like him owned a brand-new pickaxe.
With this thought in mind, Li Qing immediately sprang into action.
He lit the forge and began artifact refinement!
Boom!
As Li Qing channeled his pure spiritual energy, he ignited a blazing inferno, causing the forge to rapidly heat up.
Melting iron, forging, and casting—he completed each step in one fluid motion.
The iron head of the pickaxe was forged from refined iron, hammered thousands of times with the Peerless Hammer. The handle was crafted from a section of the Male Deer King's antler.
When combined, the two components formed a brand-new, exceptionally well-balanced pickaxe.
Holding it in his hand, Li Qing could already feel the satisfying weight in his palm. It felt far more comfortable than the Low-Grade Magic Tool provided by the Heavenly River Sect.
"Next is the spirit infusion," Li Qing muttered to himself. "I wonder how difficult it will be to infuse spiritual energy into this ordinary deer antler."
He then cupped the mining pickaxe in both hands, channeling his pure spiritual energy into the newly forged tool.
Having gained experience with spirit infusion, Li Qing's technique was noticeably more refined this time.
Although deer antler material was vastly different from the refined, thousand-hammered iron, with Li Qing's meticulous care, it soon began to develop spiritual properties.
The spirit infusion process went remarkably smoothly, succeeding after only two attempts.
"To make this mining pickaxe capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, I should engrave metal-attribute spirit patterns to maximize the sharpness of the metal pickaxe head," Li Qing mused.
He briefly recalled the spirit pattern design of the mining pickaxe provided by the Heavenly River Sect, then combined it with some of the spirit patterns recorded in the artifact refinement inheritance he had acquired.
Soon, Li Qing had a clear idea of which spirit patterns to engrave.
Fine strands of pure spiritual energy surged from his fingertips, rapidly permeating the mining pickaxe.
With each touch of his fingertips, spirit patterns imbued with an aura of extreme sharpness began to materialize on the tool.
Hiss!
Before long, the spirit patterns instantly vanished from Li Qing's fingertips, and the portion of the spirit patterns he had just engraved on the pickaxe faded away as well.
Failed!
"I rushed the inscription of the Gold Spirit Pattern slightly. But if I'd left it for the end, it would have been difficult to integrate it into a cohesive whole."
"Perhaps using the Earth Gold Pattern and Wood Gold Pattern would have been more effective."
Li Qing showed no signs of discouragement. Instead, he patiently summarized the lessons learned from this failure.
Metal-attribute spirit patterns demand both hardness and sharpness. Achieving this balance requires exceptional skill from the artifact refiner.
And so, Li Qing repeatedly attempted to inscribe spirit patterns, each attempt ending in failure.
Through this process, his understanding of spirit patterns grew clearer, and he quickly gained new insights.
He continued refining until dawn the next day, by which point the pickaxe had been re-tempered four times. One could only imagine how many times Li Qing had attempted to inscribe spirit patterns during this period.
Finally, with his fingertips reddened, a brand-new Magic Artifact pickaxe emerged!
"I'll call you the Night Star Pickaxe. In the mine tunnel's eternal darkness, you will be the only glimmer of starlight."
As Li Qing finished naming the pickaxe, a notification appeared:
[Successfully forged a Low-Grade Magic Tool: Night Star Pickaxe. Awarded six years of Lifespan!]
Li Qing smiled at the message, then gripped the pickaxe tightly, infusing it with a trace of spiritual energy.
Buzz!
A layer of dazzling golden light emerged from the head of the pickaxe, its sharpness far exceeding any mortal realm Magical weapon.
"Excellent. Now, besides the Crimson Shadow Umbrella, I finally have a second Magic Artifact for offense."
With that, Li Qing swung the pickaxe twice. Several streaks of golden light flashed through the air, their power quite impressive.
Li Qing had now successfully forged two Low-Grade Magic Tools, demonstrating his initial ability to refine Magic Artifacts.
"I should find time to refine the Peerless Hammer again."
The Peerless Hammer was a weapon infused with Ink Gold. Li Qing had hesitated to attempt this because he feared that failure in imprinting the runes would damage the Ink Gold's spiritual essence.
Too many failures would render the Ink Gold useless.
This was why artifact refinement had a success rate.
(End of the Chapter)
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