Chapter Thirty-Two: The Fragment of the Magical Artifact

After leaving the training space, the old steward, Zhiqiu, appeared before Liu Junhuai once again.

They engaged in a profound discussion regarding the various cultivation techniques Liu Junhuai practiced. Zhiqiu was astonished at the extraordinary, heaven-defying arts Liu Junhuai possessed and promised to draw up a detailed cultivation plan for him the next time he entered the Myriad Phenomena Tower.

Liu Junhuai’s thoughts were occupied with Shen Duoduo; anxious to find her before she returned to Pingdu City, he swiftly exited the tower.

Outside the Myriad Phenomena Tower, Liu Junhuai unleashed his entire celestial sense, now reaching a radius of two hundred miles.

Golden Maple Valley was also within his detection range. The entire Golden Maple Temple lay in ruins, with occasional figures flickering amid the debris. It seemed the disciples who surrounded him had returned, the instigator had been punished, and Liu Junhuai no longer cared about the temple’s existence. He continued eastward on his sword.

A map of the Yunluo Mountains flashed through his mind. Yunluo City was less than a thousand miles away; two days of sword flight would suffice to reach it.

After flying nearly five hundred miles and as dusk approached, Liu Junhuai landed beside a mist-shrouded lake.

He circled the lake, picked a few medicinal herbs, and then entered the Myriad Phenomena Tower.

Following Zhiqiu’s cultivation plan, Liu Junhuai entered the alchemy chamber.

The chamber was similar to the formation room, only with an extra pill furnace fueled by earth fire.

A dozen jade plaques represented various grades. Unlocking the first plaque revealed the ingredients and steps for refining Grade One Pill—Origin Pill.

Just as monster cores could not be obtained in the Myriad Phenomena Tower, the earth fire here could not be extracted either, frustrating Liu Junhuai. He realized he would still have to collect upgrades for Ah Zi himself.

He placed the pill furnace before him, cast the incantations to activate it, added the herbs, closed the lid, and infused his true energy. The surging earth fire enveloped the herbs, soon melting them completely.

Gradually, unwanted impurities were purged, and the fused materials began to slowly transform, ultimately becoming an essence liquid.

Opening the lid, Liu Junhuai steadied himself, gathered his true energy, formed a peculiar hand seal, and released a supreme force from his fingers into the furnace.

With the crackling sound from within, the essence liquid condensed into solids, various medicinal properties blended and separated into several spheres.

A faint fragrance wafted out. As the pills neared completion, he injected his energy slowly while forming pill seals. With a soft sound, four Grade One inferior and two Grade One medium Origin Pills rolled out.

His mastery in controlling true energy ensured success as a Grade One alchemist, though the yield was only fifty percent and the best quality reached just Grade One medium. As his proficiency increased, the yield would improve.

The second jade plaque trembled. Liu Junhuai did not proceed to Grade Two but chose to practice refining Grade One Bone-Washing Pills to improve his skills.

His stockpile of low-grade herbs was abundant, allowing him to repeatedly practice dozens of times without concern for waste. Eventually, he maintained a yield above ninety percent, most pills reaching Grade One superior quality, and thus began to refine Grade Two pills.

He refined Grade Two Qi Restoration Pills, which required more complex energy and hand seals. It took three attempts before he succeeded.

After finally raising his proficiency as a Grade Two alchemist, Liu Junhuai was utterly exhausted.

According to the steward’s plan, after recovering his true energy, Liu Junhuai moved on to formation mastery, advancing to Grade Three.

Two days passed in the time formation; outside, daylight had broken. After a brief recovery, he left the Myriad Phenomena Tower and continued eastward.

Within a day, he arrived at the outskirts of Yunluo City.

This was a small county named Shouyang, just a hundred miles from Yunluo City—a single hour by sword flight.

At this point, Liu Junhuai paused his journey and entered Shouyang County. He came here because it was the source of Shouyang Stone, a staple material for forging, and his next cultivation plan required a large quantity of it.

Moreover, Liuli Villa, the largest forging sect in Yunluo City, was located here, and the material market was remarkably comprehensive.

The market lay on the west side of the county. From afar, one could see crowds of cultivators gathering to purchase supplies.

Liu Junhuai did not conceal his cultivation upon arriving; here, being at the ninth level of Qi Refining was merely average. He did not wish for a repeat of the events at Chuyun Valley.

Entering the market, he found not only taverns but also pawnshops, pill shops, forging shops everywhere. The variety extended beyond forging materials to shops selling robes, cosmetics, and powders. Clearly, these merchants understood the needs of visiting cultivators.

He casually entered a forging shop. The clerk, seeing Liu Junhuai’s ordinary attire and youthful age, assumed he was just a wandering cultivator and lazily asked, “Are you here to sell raw stones or refined ores?”

Liu Junhuai was puzzled why the clerk asked about selling rather than buying. Reflecting, he realized his appearance suggested he was not wealthy enough to purchase magical artifacts.

“I’m not selling, just looking for suitable materials. By the way, what’s the price for Shouyang Stone here?” Liu Junhuai inquired.

Hearing he was a buyer, the clerk’s interest perked up. He produced a yellow Shouyang Stone the size of a hen’s egg and said, “Fifty inferior spirit stones per ounce. How much do you need?”

Seeing Liu Junhuai hesitate, he added, “You’re not local, are you? Here, Shouyang Stones are usually this price. For bulk purchases, I can go down to forty-five per ounce.”

The clerk, only at the eighth level of Qi Refining, spoke with a nonchalant tone even to Foundation Establishment cultivators, as if relying on something.

“Then give me two hundred ounces,” Liu Junhuai said, wanting to gauge the market.

The clerk finally smiled, quickly weighed out the stones and handed them over.

After paying, Liu Junhuai casually asked, “Do you deal with discarded magical artifacts?”

The steward had told him the forging chamber now had a furnace for melting down old artifacts, which could extract usable materials.

“There are some, but only fragments. They’re treated as waste—fifty inferior spirit stones per pound. Please follow me to the backyard,” the clerk said, pleased at the chance to profit from what the manager intended to discard.

In the backyard, a three-yard-wide area was piled high with artifact fragments. Liu Junhuai’s celestial sense detected even some low-grade earth-tier pieces, though most were shattered to dust.

“This is too broken. If I take them back, they’re useless. And you dare charge fifty spirit stones?” Liu Junhuai remarked.

The clerk hurriedly replied, “Look carefully. There are still remnants of profound-tier artifacts, missing only half the sword blade. That alone is worth a hundred spirit stones.”

“I’ll take just that piece for a hundred,” Liu Junhuai said.

The clerk shook his head, “Thirty spirit stones per pound. If you want, I’ll weigh it.”

Liu Junhuai held up a finger, “Just ten spirit stones. That’s my highest offer.”

The clerk feigned hesitation, then reluctantly agreed, feeling quite pleased. Yet he didn’t know Liu Junhuai was even more excited; from the superior black iron alone, he could extract a lump the size of a fist, worth no less than ten thousand medium spirit stones—equivalent to a million inferior stones.

Altogether, the fragments totaled three hundred pounds. After paying three thousand spirit stones, Liu Junhuai stored them in his ring.

Satisfied, Liu Junhuai left the shop. He thought this method was excellent—by acquiring dozens of piles of artifact fragments, he could obtain enough materials to reach the level of a master forger.

He spent the rest of the day acquiring several hundred pounds of Shouyang Stone and over a dozen piles of artifact fragments, including two piles with fist-sized chunks of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron—enough to cover all his expenses for the day.

As he neared the end of the market, Liu Junhuai entered another forging shop.

To his delight, the shop’s backyard contained a small mountain of artifact fragments, among which was a rusty spearhead. The spearhead exuded a deep, ancient, desolate aura, similar to the one in the "Hongyuan Chaos Furnace."

Perhaps the shopkeeper had heard of someone collecting such fragments, as the price stubbornly stayed above twenty spirit stones per pound. In the end, Liu Junhuai feigned reluctance and bought it.

With these materials, Liu Junhuai no longer had to worry about forging supplies. He could even refine and sell low-grade artifacts to meet his needs.

The old steward had also advised him to collect some secret silver, necessary for puppet refinement. He could extract some from these fragments and should purchase more if the opportunity arose.

“It seems someone is watching me again,” Liu Junhuai thought, sensing through his celestial awareness that two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were trailing him from afar—his conspicuous purchases had attracted attention.

Liu Junhuai felt helpless; being targeted repeatedly was unpleasant, a clear sign that the cultivation world was rife with danger. While not every step led to killing intent, keeping a low profile was always safer.

The market still bustled with people. Escaping was easy; in a crowded area, Liu Junhuai used his Heavenly Eye to mask his aura, changed direction, and vanished from the perception of the two trailing cultivators.