Longevity through Upgrading Buildings

Chapter 253: Chapter 156: Portable [Cave Mansion] and [Array Room] (Part 3)

He leaned against the ground, glanced at Ji Yuan beside him, hesitated for a moment, and finally couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked, “Have you achieved Body Foundation Establishment?”

“How could that be possible.”

Ji Yuan couldn’t help but laugh, “Is there a method for Body Foundation Establishment on the Cangluo Continent? I merely have the advantage of youth, plus I just established my foundation, so my internal energy and blood have increased significantly, that’s all.”

“That’s true.”

Isle Master Tie Chui nodded, that should be the case. Body Foundation Establishment… was nothing more than an obsession of his. In fact, over the years, he had traveled to many places in Shang Dong and met quite a few body refiners, but the highest level he encountered was those who had achieved the Great Accomplishment of Body Refinement, and he had never heard of Body Foundation Establishment.

“Come, it’s rare for you to visit, let’s have a meal first.”

Isle Master Tie Chui paused for a moment and then got up.

Then Ji Yuan familiarly took out some liquor. This time, even more surprisingly, Isle Master Tie Chui personally cooked and prepared a table full of dishes for Ji Yuan.

“Come, eat!”

The two drank and feasted together.

Halfway through the meal, Ji Yuan expressed his own thoughts.

Isle Master Tie Chui listened carefully, then put down his wine cup, “Why do you want this kind of magical artifact? It can’t kill enemies, and to resist attacks, it would require a lot of good materials, which is very wasteful.”

A magical artifact like an iron box that can enlarge and shrink—Isle Master Tie Chui couldn’t think of what purpose it could serve.

“No need for any good materials, as long as it can change size, nothing else is required. As for its use… well, it’s convenient for lodging when traveling.”

Ji Yuan couldn’t think of any excuse.

Fortunately, Isle Master Tie Chui didn’t ask further, “Sure, if no other effects are needed, it’s simple. After the meal, I’ll teach you, and you can forge it yourself.”

“Oh? Alright.”

When Ji Yuan heard that Isle Master Tie Chui was willing to teach him artifact refining, he became even more interested. Once he learned, he could establish an Artifact Refining Room upon returning.

As for learning a lot and diversely… it never hurts to have more skills when traveling abroad.

So, after the meal, Isle Master Tie Chui tossed a low-grade spiritual artifact level iron hammer to Ji Yuan, “Artifact refining and alchemy actually share some common ground, which is that the tool in hand can’t be inferior.”

“For talisman painting, you need high-quality talisman brushes, talisman ink, and talisman paper. For alchemy, you need a good alchemy furnace. Likewise, for artifact refining, you need a top-notch hammer plus an even better iron furnace.”

“Actually, one of the main reasons why there are not many artifact refiners is because artifact refining requires a large investment and there’s also substantial loss.”

“If you’re looking to refine ordinary magical artifacts, it’s okay, but if you’re moving on to spiritual artifacts, then it becomes more challenging.”

With someone guiding him, Ji Yuan listened very attentively.

“Alright, did you prepare any materials?”

“No…” Ji Yuan originally thought to ask first, and if feasible, he would then buy them.

“Damn, came here to sponge off me, huh.”

Isle Master Tie Chui glared, immediately tossing over a black iron block the size of a human head, “Hammer!”

“Hammer it directly? Shouldn’t it be heated first?”

Ji Yuan asked, bewildered.

When it comes to artifact refining, he’s largely ignorant.

“This Black Heart Rock is special; it has to be hammered raw, you won’t get the effect if it’s hammered after being heated.” Isle Master Tie Chui explained.

Ji Yuan obediently complied, beginning his blacksmithing venture, but after tirelessly hammering for a whole day, just when he was nearly done with the Black Heart Rock, Isle Master Tie Chui took it away.

“This isn’t…”

“Isn’t what, you’re not supposed to use such fine material for an ordinary magical artifact.” Isle Master Tie Chui glared.

“So, Senior is basically making me a laborer, right?”

Ji Yuan said helplessly.

“Nonsense, this is covering your tuition fee. Come, let me show you a few tricks, then you’ll know if you’ve lost or gained.”

Isle Master Tie Chui said, moving in front of the huge instrument furnace. With a single hand seal, he immediately ignited the subterranean fire, and in an instant, a wave of heat swept over.

Ji Yuan hurriedly stepped forward.

“As for artifact refining, don’t listen to those random tips, such as what temperature is needed for the minerals and how long they should be burned… before spiritual artifacts, those materials don’t matter. What you really need to focus on is intense fire burning and heavy hammering.”

“Those tips are because they are not body cultivators and can’t hammer for that long, so they found many clever ways, but we don’t need them. We just need to hammer.”

Isle Master Tie Chui said, quite proud.

“I know, great strength produces miracles.”

Isle Master Tie Chui was hearing such a saying for the first time, and froze for a moment, “You are right, that’s exactly it.”

“…”

“Hammer hard, you you weakling, didn’t you eat?”

“…”

“This corner here can’t be hammered rigidly; it requires finesse, three fires, one burn and eight hammerings, that’s my unique trick.”

“…”

Over the following ten days, Ji Yuan went nowhere, just stayed on Hammer Island learning artifact refining with Isle Master Tie Chui, and fortunately, on Mist Island, Tu Yue and the Big Toad were there helping take care of things.

So Ji Yuan had no worries.

Ten days later.

When Ji Yuan looked at the “house” that he painstakingly hammered out, it was a low-grade magical artifact, usable yet unsightly when released. He initially wanted a rectangular house, but this one… it’s top-heavy, and when inverted, it was a bit wobbly.

He worried that when engaging in battle, if brought out, the house might collapse before the opponent made a move.

“Damn, you’re so useless, let me do it!”

Isle Master Tie Chui, seeing Ji Yuan take ten days to forge a single artifact, felt some envy; it took him eighty or ninety days to hammer out his first one, a brick-like artifact.

That’s the sense of it.

Though scoffed at, Ji Yuan still put away the “house,” his first self-made artifact—despite lacking practical value, it held collectible value.

After a day, Ji Yuan sensed the gap between himself and Isle Master Tie Chui.

With the same materials, what he produced was a low-grade magical artifact, but Isle Master Tie Chui produced a mid-grade magical artifact, and with some material additions, it became a top-grade magical artifact.

Ultimately, Ji Yuan obtained two top-grade magical artifact level “Cave Mansion-like” artifacts, albeit of the worst kind at least still viable.

Upon receiving them, he couldn’t wait to test them.

If the Star Spiral Cloud Barrier Array and Star Dust Illusionary Killing Array could be directly initiated from these two houses, the effect would be strong.

After a good round of thanks to Isle Master Tie Chui, Ji Yuan departed with these two top-grade magical artifacts.

Inside the sect’s protection array, Ji Yuan dared not experiment, fearing detection of anomalies during patrols, he rather spent more time heading west of Water Dragon Sect, leaving the protection array, and arriving at an unnamed barren island in an unnamed body of water, then prepared to attempt.

The “Cave Mansion” was straightforward; after some thought, Ji Yuan engraved the words “Ji Mansion” inside the iron house, discovering a line of small characters above the iron house, visible only to him.

“Cave Mansion: lv3”

It worked!

Delighted, Ji Yuan quickly tried the other iron house, trying several methods, from attaching labels to engraving characters, unsuccessfully until he finally carved several array patterns inside this house.

Only then did the panel effect manifest itself.

“Array Room: lv2”

Looking at the two iron houses before him, Ji Yuan concentrated his heart thought.

Suddenly, two arrays swept across, immediately enveloping the whole barren island.