The Immortal Path of the White Lotus Slowly Cultivating The Immortal Path Volume 1 Chapter 48 Forty-Eighth, Condensing Refining Technique

  This hardware store is located at the end of the street, as Liu Qianbi said, there are not many customers, compared to the several large stores seen along the way, the business can be called bleak. Before entering the store, you can hear the sound of beating coming from inside, clear and pleasant.

  Xiao Yao entered the shop, and saw that in the main hall there were only three customers, a young apprentice wearing a uniform, and an accountant responsible for receiving payments. Due to the small number of people, each customer was being served one by one. She waited quietly at the side after seeing this.

  About two short moments later, the apprentice finally finished attending to the three people in front and wiped his sweat, turning to Xiao Yao with a smile: "This guest has waited for a long time, I wonder if the guest wants to forge or buy a finished product?"

  Xiao Yao took a glance at the apprentice, seeing that he was tall and muscular, with a flush on his face and sweat on his temples. His smile was sincere, and Xiao Yao thought to herself: The large hall behind him is the refining room, where the air is filled with heat, and it's not easy for him to maintain a cool demeanor while running back and forth between the front and back courtyards, yet he still manages to be enthusiastic when receiving guests.

  "I'd like to rent a blast furnace, how does your store handle rentals?"

  "Does the customer want to rent a stove?" The man was slightly surprised, but quickly reacted and replied: "Renting and selling stoves is relatively rare in our store, it's all decided by the master, so I'll go ask the master first, please wait for a moment." After finishing speaking, he rolled up his sleeves and rushed to the back hall.

  Xiao Yao stood in the great hall, and after a brief moment, she heard that the rhythmic drumming sound from inside had slightly slowed down for an instant, a change that only someone who had practiced drumming for a long time could detect.

  The man soon returned and said to her: "This guest, please follow me to the back hall."

  Xiao Yao followed the male cultivator through the curtain and arrived at the back hall, which was an open-air courtyard. The courtyard was filled with various minerals and casting tools. On a stone platform to the left, a middle-aged male cultivator, nine feet tall and robust, was intently hammering away at a glowing red ingot.

  "Master," the male cultivator respectfully called out to his master before saying, "The one who wants to rent the equipment furnace is this guest."

  "Well, you can go." The middle-aged man only nodded and didn't move until the man left. His body remained still, fully focused on tapping the clay in his hands.

  "I heard you want to borrow a stove?" This sentence is asking Xiao Yao.

  "Yes, I don't know what kind of rental method you have here." Xiao Yao secretly sized up the man, seeing that his aura seemed to be that of a cultivator, and his cultivation was above her own.

  "Are you a Refiner? Body Refining?" The middle-aged man didn't respond to her, instead asking an unrelated question.

  Xiao Yao paused for a moment before speaking truthfully: "I am an artifact refiner, but I'm not a physical cultivator, rather a Dao cultivator."

  The middle-aged man finally stopped his movements, turned his head, and looked at Xiao Yao with a deep frown. After a long while, he said, "You can leave now, I won't rent you this furnace. If you really want to learn how to refine equipment, then honestly buy a slightly worse furnace and start from scratch. It's not like renting a good furnace will allow you to casually forge out good equipment."

  Xiao Yao saw his expression and knew that he thought of himself as a casual player, after all, his identity as a female Daoist was easy to misunderstand. He hurriedly said: "Senior must have misunderstood, junior has been refining equipment for tens of thousands of years, but unfortunately, the furnace was damaged during the refinement process, and being penniless, I couldn't afford to buy another one, so I thought of renting one temporarily."

  "You said you've been refining for tens of thousands of years?" The middle-aged male cultivator thoroughly put down the work in his hands, turned around and walked to Xiao Yao's front, raised an eyebrow and said: "Refining for tens of thousands of years yet still damaging the furnace, it can be seen that you're also a half-baked goods. Renting a refining furnace here is stricter than elsewhere, with someone like you I won't lend it to you, you'd better look for another place." After speaking, he picked up the newly forged ingot and was about to leave.

  "Wait, senior!" Xiao Yao stepped forward and intercepted him, saying: "It's precisely because my skills are not refined that I need to constantly temper and improve my craftsmanship! To be honest, I actually have another furnace on me that's almost as broken as the one that was destroyed, but I think if I use this furnace to forge, it will probably suffer the same fate of being damaged, which is why I need to rent one."

  "Oh, so it's actually a problem with the furnace?" The middle-aged man looked at her and saw that although she didn't have refined skills, she had an air of confidence and pride as a craftsman. Her gaze was unwavering, which piqued his interest in how this soft and weak-looking woman could be so confident. "Tell me what you want to forge, if it's really a problem with the furnace, I can consider renting it to you."

  Xiao Yao calmly said, "Ling Kong Jie Zi." After finishing speaking, he took out the three clear fragments and that white-colored refining furnace from his storage bag, "Using a similar quality furnace."

  The middle-aged man, Xiu, couldn't help but flash a hint of surprise in his eyes when she mentioned "Ling Kong Jie Zi". Looking at the white furnace fragments in her hand, he suddenly burst out laughing, "Haha! I underestimated you! Who would have thought that there's still someone willing to attempt this? This is indeed a matter of the furnace, but it's not just about the furnace. Little friend, haven't you just recently ascended and not yet found a master?"

  Xiao Yao nodded, and the middle-aged man suppressed his smile and said seriously: "I can rent you a furnace, the monthly rent is at least 60 mid-grade yuan crystals, and the deposit will be paid according to the market price of the furnace. However, I advise my young friend to find a master to learn the art of alchemy, which is much better than doing it blindly."

  Listening to the middle-aged man's tone soften and no longer be rigid, and agreeing to lend himself a furnace, Xiao Yao quickly seized the opportunity to ask: "Listening to Senior's words just now, it seems that forging high-ranking artifacts is not just a problem with the furnace, but also other things. Can I ask Senior to give me some guidance?"

  "Are you really planning to try it on your own?" The middle-aged man's gaze swept over her, and he said slowly: "The difficulty of forging 'Empty Spirit Mustard' is comparable to that of a bronze-yellow artifact. The lower realm's furnace is not enough to withstand the heat spirit produced by forging a bronze-yellow artifact or above. At least, it requires a third-grade furnace from the Xianling Realm. However, having a suitable furnace does not mean that one can forge high-grade artifacts. There are special requirements for the craftsmanship as well. Since ancient times, the artifacts of the immortal family have been against the heavens. The higher the grade of the artifact, the more it goes against the heavens. Bronze-yellow and silver-white artifacts, as well as even higher-grade artifacts, must be condensed with the primordial energy of heaven and earth during the forging process. Only by condensing this energy can one successfully forge an artifact that will not be destroyed by the primordial energy. However, condensing the primordial energy into an artifact is not a simple task. The methods are diverse, and it can be said that the four steps of casting, smelting, grinding, and shaping all have their own ways of condensing energy. It's completely up to the personal preference of the master craftsman. Therefore, in the Eastern Extreme, there are many schools of high-grade artifact forging, each with its own unique method of condensation. The more excellent the master craftsman, the more abundant the primordial energy condensed into the artifact will be. Even when using the artifact, it can form a powerful pressure. Of course, the condensation methods of master craftsmen are generally not passed down. If you want to learn, you can only do so by becoming an apprentice or creating your own method."

  With that said, the middle-aged man picked up the newly forged ingot and headed towards the refining room, finally warning: "I've said all I need to say, the rest is for you young friends to figure out on your own."

  Just as he stepped into the refining room, Xiao Yao suddenly raised her head and said: "Senior! I want to ask you to be my master, do you agree to teach me?"

  In her eyes, this senior was a true master of alchemy, with a serious and dedicated attitude towards alchemy. Such character was worthy of her becoming his disciple.

  A middle-aged man with a sturdy build burst into laughter: "Haha, thank you for looking up to me, but I'm afraid I won't be able to take you on. With my skills, the success rate of crafting copper-yellow artifacts is only about 50%. Given your ambitions, you should find a better master. If you enter my school, it will only delay your progress. Go find that young man from earlier and tell him I agree to lend you the furnace. Let him take you to choose one."

  Watching the door close, Xiao Yao couldn't help but feel a little regret. Unfortunately, what the other person said was all true - she did have big ambitions. It was rare to meet a good master, but unfortunately, they didn't have a destined connection. Afterwards, she returned to the outer hall and told the male cultivator about her senior's words. The latter took out three furnaces for him to choose from.

  Xiao Yao chose the cheapest one, which was two grades lower, with a monthly rent of 60 mid-grade yuan crystals. After paying 13,000 mid-grade yuan crystals as a deposit, she left "Jinji Forging Shop".

  On her way back, she passed by some so-called famous master shops and tried to enter one, saying that she wanted to become an apprentice. The disciple who received her looked at her with disdain and pointed to a long queue on the side, saying: "If you want to learn from the master, go line up over there, the registration fee is 500 mid-grade yuan crystals."

  Looking at the long queue, Xiao Yao curled her lip: It's strange if you can learn something like this. Let's go back and figure it out ourselves first. She left "Wu Ji Street" without looking back.

  After returning to the cave, Xiao Yao locked herself in the void. This time she didn't forget to use the "Divine Breath" given by Yang Tuo. After meditating and recovering her immortal energy, she began to enter a state of contemplation, combining what she had learned from refining instruments, trying to comprehend the method of condensing and refining.

  She sat for three whole days, and by the time she left the mansion again, the news of the Refining Equipment Grand Competition had already spread throughout Meishan Floating Island. Because this competition covered the entire Star District, various families and sects attached unprecedented importance to it.

  Xiao Yao's blood was boiling when he got the reward list, because among the top ten rewards, there was a high-level martial art manual "Shan Hai Jing Lun"!

  It seems that the Refining Equipment Competition five years later is worth a try, but before that, she must first master the Yuan Qi Condensation Method!

  Next, Xiao Yao locked herself in the refining room and first took out the copper-yellow stage law instrument she had tried before to practice her hand. She then attempted to condense the yuanqi into each of the four steps separately. However, she never expected that this attempt would take several months, with no progress whatsoever.

  Just as she was feeling depressed, the cave mansion once again welcomed an uninvited guest.