Chapter Eleven: The Cultivation Village

  The treasures used by the Cultivators are collectively referred to as Spiritual Instruments. However, the low-grade Spiritual Instruments used by Qi Refining stage cultivators are generally called Magical Instruments, and it is only during the Foundation Building stage that one can truly wield a Spiritual Instrument. Golden Core stage cultivators can use their Original Spirit to cultivate top-grade Spiritual Instruments, which are known as Magical Treasures.

  Divine instruments can also be divided into attack type, defense type and auxiliary type according to their use.

  After several months of research, Ishikawa had basically figured out the procedure for refining equipment. Each time, he would exhaust his spiritual energy and then recover through breathing exercises before continuing to refine the equipment, repeating the cycle over and over again. Except for eating, Ishikawa hardly ever left the scrap spirit equipment warehouse.

  "Low-grade Spirit Sword: A low-level spiritual instrument used by cultivators of truth, capable of cutting through metal and shattering stone, slicing through ordinary iron like mud."

  Ishikawa followed the basic method of refining equipment, first refining a simple low-grade spiritual sword. This spiritual sword only used one-third of the mysterious iron, and the remaining two-thirds used ordinary iron, which was also quite general in effect, but it could barely be considered a spiritual instrument.

  For the first time, Ishikawa refined a lump of iron, fortunately, the earth mother stone quickly decomposed it.

  The second time, the fire was not enough...

  The third time...

  After more than ten attempts, Ishikawa let out a long sigh and exclaimed, "This refining of spiritual instruments is really not something that can be done by humans."

  However, Ishikawa would never give up. He knew that the creation of a fine instrument was the result of piling up a large number of discarded items. He managed the warehouse for scrap instruments and every day hundreds of pieces came in.

  Thirty times...... Fifty times......

  After more than a hundred failures, Ishikawa finally forged the first low-grade spiritual sword. If it were any other small family, their savings of hundreds of years would have been wasted by Ishikawa. However, for Ishikawa, as long as the Earth Mother Stone was present, any failed spiritual artifact could be recovered.

  In addition to the materials generated by other waste equipment every day, the materials in Tumu Stone not only did not decrease, but also showed a trend of continuous increase.

  Ishikawa would not be satisfied with just refining a low-grade spiritual sword. What Ishikawa wants is a spiritual instrument that can cast spells, a flying sword that can be controlled by divine sense. Only these mid-grade and high-grade spiritual instruments are the ones that can rely on to save one's life.

  Moreover, Ishikawa is currently least lacking in alchemy materials and time. After exhausting his spiritual energy, practicing breathing exercises again will also be beneficial for Ishikawa's cultivation.

  ………

  It has been a whole year since Ishikawa entered the Water Spirit Gate. Especially in the second half of the year, Ishikawa basically did not leave the house, and even meals were sent by two outer disciples.

  These two outer disciples were also happy with their easy life, and who would manage them on a day when no one was in charge? They were too lazy to care what Ishikawa was doing.

  This year, Ishikawa's cultivation has reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining, and further cultivation is extremely difficult for him. Especially without the assistance of elixirs and spirit stones, Ishikawa can hardly bear such a slow pace.

  So Ishikawa devoted all his energy to alchemy.

  On this day, Ishikawa was refining the Mother-Child Shuttle to a critical point, which was the highest-grade law that Ishikawa could find in the basic Refining Techniques. Once refined successfully, holding the mother shuttle could control eight child shuttles at the same time, and the advantage in battle would be very obvious.

  "The final step, the child and mother shuttles combine." Ishikawa gave a light shout, and the child shuttle and mother shuttle combined together seamlessly.

  "Whoosh!" A sharp whistling sound made Ishikawa's spirit greatly stirred.

  "Succeeded! I finally succeeded!" Ishikawa's mouth corners rose into a faint smile. To refine this child and mother shuttle, Ishikawa didn't know how much time he spent. Just that one piece of whetstone-sized mystic iron, Ishikawa refined and analyzed more than ten times.

  At this time, in Ishikawa's mind, he suddenly felt a clear light, and it was as if he had suddenly come to a great realization. After a long while, Ishikawa returned to normal, and in just an instant, he recalled all of his experiences from the past half year of refining equipment.

  Ishikawa opened the first page of the nearly worn-out "Foundations of Refining Techniques", which clearly introduced the classification of refiners: Refiner (Fajī), Grandmaster Refiner (Língqì), Master Refiner (Fǎbǎo), and Divine Refiner (?).

  "Have I already become a Refiner?" Ishikawa thought. Not everyone who can refine equipment is called a Refiner. Only those who have refined a certain number of times and are able to grasp the essence of refining can become Refiners. This is also known as entering the gate.

  Through half a year of equipment refinement, Ishikawa also knew that equipment refinement was an extremely complex and difficult thing. And Ishikawa's success in advancing to equipment refiner was inseparable from his tireless efforts and large quantities of refining materials.

  Especially the latter, to know that Ishikawa's wasted materials are a very rare astronomical figure. However, for Ishikawa, as long as it is within the earth mother stone, everything can be restored.

  At present, Ishikawa's body is wearing a complete set of golden armor made by himself. It took Ishikawa one and a half months to make this armor alone. As long as some position is not satisfactory, Ishikawa immediately abandons it and makes it again.

  It wasn't until the twenty-eighth set that Ishikawa finally managed to glance over and put it on.

  To put it in Ishikawa's words, it was too lonely. However, this set of protective armor was indeed worth the money, and even the Child Mother Shuttle couldn't break through its defenses.

  After equipping himself from head to toe, Ishikawa was finally satisfied with his safety. At his waist was the Kokoro-tome, and as soon as he encountered an opponent, Ishikawa could launch a surprise attack at any time. In addition, there were several mid-grade spiritual energy swords that, although inferior to the Kokoro-tome, could also be used for defense against enemies.

  Even if Ishikawa can't use any magic, he can still match the strength of other Qi Refining Stage 5 cultivators with this set of luxurious equipment.

  Of course, from the outside, Ishikawa still looks like an ordinary outer gate disciple of Mizuryuu.

  The artifacts produced by Lian Qi Fang are mainly for ordinary inner disciples and need to be exchanged with the sect's contribution.

  If Ishikawa were to put these artifacts outside his body and let the disciples of other artifact refineries see them, it would be strange if their eyes didn't pop out. The set of artifacts on Ishikawa's body is much better than the best spiritual artifacts produced by the artifact refineries.

  During this time, Ishikawa did not receive any summons from Unryu again, as if Unryu had lost confidence in him.

  To be honest, for a young man with no spiritual energy, it's already quite rare for a mid-term foundation-building elder to be so cautious. Seeing that Ishikawa couldn't cultivate any skills, Cloud Elder was even more reluctant to waste his time on him. I believe that after a few years, Cloud Elder will slowly forget about this young man who once made him feel somewhat intimidated, the five-elemental earth spirit root boy.

  After some deliberation, Ishikawa finally decided to go to Zhen Xiang Town for a visit.

  Firstly, Ishikawa's equipment forging skills had already reached the pinnacle, and without a higher-level equipment forging technique, it would be difficult to make any progress. Secondly, after reaching the fifth layer of the Practicing Qi stage, without the assistance of elixirs and spirit stones, Ishikawa found that cultivation was like climbing a heavenly ladder, with each step being extremely arduous. Looking at the large amount of equipment materials inside the Earth Mother Stone, if they weren't exchanged for elixirs, they would be no different from useless items.

  So Ishikawa doesn't plan to waste any more time, now going to Xiuzhen Town to exchange some elixirs and cultivation methods with the materials inside Tumu Stone is the most important thing at present.

  He did it, on the second day at dawn, Ishikawa changed into ordinary clothes and set off towards the foot of the mountain while the sky was still dim. Choosing to go down the mountain at this time was also a decision made by Ishikawa after much deliberation. This time was when the outer gate management was most relaxed, several disciples with cultivation were mostly sleeping soundly, and the outer gate was just below the mountain, there were many ordinary people going up the mountain to deliver vegetables, Ishikawa could blend in among them and go down the mountain safely.

  It's not actually difficult to go down the mountain, but Ishikawa is worried that if Yun Changlao suddenly summons him, he won't know what to do. If Yun Changlao discovers that Ishikawa is missing, he will definitely send more people to search for him everywhere. Within a radius of hundreds of miles, Ishikawa will absolutely not be able to escape. So Ishikawa intentionally left a letter in the room saying that he misses his hometown and wants to go back to see it.

  Even if Yun Chang discovered this, it would only be considered that Shi Chuan had left the sect privately, and he would not receive too severe punishment. Moreover, Shi Chuan decided to return on the second day of dawn, and there was only one day, the probability of being discovered was also extremely small, because in these six months, Yun Chang had not summoned Shi Chuan once.

  After everything was ready, Ishikawa quietly went down the mountain.

  After leaving the mountain gate, Ishikawa let out a big sigh of relief, and the feeling of temporarily leaving the Water Spirit Gate made him feel like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. His footsteps also became lighter.

  After reaching the fifth layer of Qi Gong, Ishikawa's physique had undergone a drastic change, so his speed was extremely fast, even faster than when he first started practicing with the Wind Symbol a year ago.

  By the time the sun was high in the sky, Ishikawa could already see a small town far away.

  Although there weren't many people coming and going, their attire and demeanor made it clear at a glance that they were all cultivators.

  As he walked into the town, the truth was dazzling to the eye, and Ishikawa, who had never entered the city, almost saw flowers. Not only were there various wine houses standing tall, but also pawnshops, Danfang, and exercise rooms were everywhere. It was indeed a true name of the immortal small town.

  Apart from this, there are also many shops selling Taoist robes, spiritual pendants and even cosmetics, it seems that these businessmen have grasped the thoughts of those who come here to cultivate their true selves.

  Ishikawa was secretly admiring, but in his heart he knew what he came here for and couldn't afford to indulge in novelty and waste too much time.

  Ishikawa had a lot of material in his hand, but he didn't know the exchange price between these materials and Ling Shi, so Ishikawa first walked to a slightly smaller alchemy workshop.

  The shopkeeper took one look at Ishikawa's ordinary clothes and didn't even think he was a flying sword immortal, not to mention having a decent Taoist robe. Instantly taking Ishikawa for a loose cultivator, he lazily said: "Sir, are you here to sell raw ore or refined minerals?"

  "What is the original ore and what is the refined ore?" Ishikawa asked curiously, wondering in his heart why the other party didn't ask him what he wanted to buy, but instead asked him what he wanted to sell. But after a moment's thought, he immediately understood that since he was dressed like an ordinary loose cultivator, he wouldn't have any spare spirit stones to buy a magic weapon.

  "The shopkeeper's face was full of surprise as he said, 'You don't even know how you got to the fifth layer of Qi Refining? The so-called original stone is actually a type of mineral stone that contains refining materials, collected from the mountains. It needs to be tempered with true fire in order to obtain the refining materials. This kind of original stone is very cheap, generally speaking, if it's not of particularly good quality, we won't accept it. As for refined stones, the price is much more expensive because the content of refining materials inside is extremely high, and only needs a slight purification before it can be used.'"

  "I see." Ishikawa nodded, he hadn't heard of it in the Refining Workshop. The Water Spirit Gate sect wouldn't do such a low-level purification process themselves, they would directly purchase already purified refining materials.

  "Will you accept this refining material?" Ishikawa took out a piece of Xuan Iron he had prepared long ago.

  This piece of Xuan Tie was only the size of a thumb and had been deliberately refined into a strange shape by Ishikawa, otherwise it would be easy to arouse other people's suspicion.

  "Refined Mystical Iron!" The shopkeeper exclaimed in surprise.