Immortal Refiner

The process of eliminating malevolent energy was unavoidable. Both the Bloodthirsty Vine and the Profound Yin Serpent Skin contained traces of this energy.

Though the malevolent energy was faint, even the slightest amount could jeopardize the success rate of spirit refinement and rune inscription.

Li Qing retrieved the Black Furnace and, as if preparing a dish, tossed all the spiritual materials for crafting the whip into it.

Boom!

A raging inferno erupted within the forge, yet Li Qing, standing beside it, felt none of the heat.

The Black Furnace’s unique material perfectly contained the flames’ temperature, preventing any heat from escaping.

The scorching fire relentlessly baked the spiritual materials, causing imperceptible wisps of malevolent energy to evaporate from them.

Li Qing remained intently focused, meticulously observing the subtle changes occurring within the Black Furnace, determined not to miss a single detail.

After about half an hour, Li Qing waved his hand, slightly reducing the fire’s intensity. He then retrieved the Bloodthirsty Vine and Profound Yin Serpent Skin from the forge.

Both materials had undergone subtle transformations under the scorching heat.

The Bloodthirsty Vine’s dark crimson hue deepened to a vivid, almost dripping scarlet, while the Profound Yin Serpent Skin, though still ice-cold to the touch, seemed to pulse with renewed spirituality, all traces of malevolent energy completely purged.

Li Qing retrieved the Wandering Dragon Dagger from his storage pouch. In his hands, this razor-sharp blade felt more like a sculptor’s chisel than a weapon.

Crafting whip-type Magic Artifacts wasn’t about grand, sweeping strokes like forging other tools. The initial shaping stage required meticulous precision.

Spreading out the frigid, translucent Profound Yin Serpent Skin, Li Qing used the Wandering Dragon Dagger to slice it into thin, ribbon-like strips.

His movements were bold yet flawlessly precise, leaving no room for error.

”Refining whip-type Magic Artifacts feels less like forging and more like intricate handcrafting,” Li Qing muttered, eyeing the segmented serpent skin.

With that, he turned his attention to the Bloodthirsty Vine.

The thorns along its length proved troublesome, each requiring careful removal to avoid hindering subsequent steps.

Fortunately, the Wandering Dragon Dagger’s keen edge made this task manageable, demanding only patience and meticulous attention.

Li Qing’s hands were steady, not just because of his formidable physique, but also due to his years of blacksmithing, which had honed his movements to near-perfect precision.

The entire process proceeded flawlessly. Every barb on the Bloodthirsty Vine was meticulously removed.

Examining the now-pitted surface of the vine, Li Qing immediately retrieved the Water-Condensing Sand and spread it evenly across the Bloodthirsty Vine.

”Materials imbued with such pure water-attribute spirituality shouldn’t be refined with fire,” he murmured. ”Instead, we must infuse them with our own spiritual energy.”

Unsurprisingly, this step proved immensely taxing on his spiritual reserves.

Li Qing pressed his palm against the sand-covered vine, channeling his refined spiritual energy to thoroughly meld the Water-Condensing Sand with the vine’s structure.

After confirming there were no imperfections, Li Qing gripped one end of the Bloodthirsty Vine with one hand and gathered all the strips of Profound Yin Serpent Skin in the other.

He began weaving the tough, icy-cold serpent skin strips around the vine’s surface, interlacing them like threads in a knitted garment.

Despite his years as a blacksmith, Li Qing possessed remarkable dexterity. Only such skilled hands could accomplish this intricate and delicate task.

After a long while, the Bloodthirsty Vine was completely wrapped in tough serpent skin and coated with Water-Condensing Sand, making it impossible to tell that the whip had been made from the vine.

Once the weaving was complete, the whip had taken its basic shape.

Holding it in his hand, Li Qing smiled, feeling the cool, substantial weight in his palm. His gaze drifted to the rows of barbs he had just extracted from the Bloodthirsty Vine.

Yes, I intend to use these as well.

Carefully removing a barb, he embedded it into a pre-made slot on the whip’s surface.

It felt a bit like planting seeds, except instead of nurturing life, he was embedding venomous spikes.

Repeating this process meticulously, Li Qing finally birthed a whip born of his meticulous craftsmanship.

The whip was long, woven from the dull gray Profound Yin Serpent Skin. However, the drab surface was studded with dark crimson barbs that radiated a palpable sense of danger, making it as terrifying as a serpent demon baring its fangs.

Anyone caught unawares by this whip’s lash against bare flesh would suffer a gruesome fate, their flesh torn away in bloody strips by the vicious barbs.

The mere thought of it sent shivers down his spine.

With this, the first step of artifact refinement—forging the shape—was flawlessly completed.

The entire whip was flawless. Even the most meticulous artisan would be unable to find a single imperfection in its craftsmanship.

Next came spirit tempering. Although Li Qing was highly skilled in this step, it still required his utmost concentration.

While the materials used in the whip were rich in spiritual energy, they were also remarkably diverse.

Given the varying properties of these materials, the spirit tempering process would undoubtedly differ from his previous experiences.

In other words, this was Li Qing’s first time spirit tempering a Magic Artifact composed of so many different materials. It demanded not only a profound understanding of the materials themselves but also meticulous control over his own spiritual energy.

Li Qing coiled the whip into a tight bundle, gently closed his eyes, and mobilized the pure spiritual energy within his body. He began channeling it into the weapon.

The refined spiritual energy slowly permeated the whip from Li Qing’s palm.

As time passed, the weapon’s spirituality grew increasingly vibrant.

At that moment, the intricate structure of the entire whip became vividly clear in Li Qing’s mind.

After roughly two days, Li Qing exhaled deeply, slowly opened his eyes, and a faint smile spread across his lips.

The spirit tempering had succeeded!

The whip was now a semi-finished Magic Artifact. The crucial next step was inscription.

However, Li Qing wasn’t in a rush to proceed. The tempering process had severely depleted his spiritual energy, and he needed to return to his original world to replenish it.

In the World of Eternal Night, the only way to restore spiritual energy was by consuming spirit stones—a luxury Li Qing couldn’t afford.

In the blink of an eye, Li Qing returned to the hidden chamber he had excavated within the cave. After confirming that the storage pouch he had left there was intact and meticulously checking for any signs of intruders, he settled into a meditative posture to recover his spiritual energy.

Deep in the wilderness, the rate of spiritual energy replenishment was far slower than in a Spirit Vein Land, where spiritual energy was abundant.

After two more days of meditation to replenish his mana, Li Qing once again traversed to the World of Eternal Night, determined to complete the refinement of this Low-Grade Magic Artifact in one go.

”Water attribute spirit patterns take priority,” Li Qing murmured, his fingers tracing the whip’s surface. ”That’s Ye Feng’s primary requirement. But within that framework, I can supplement them with wood attribute patterns to activate the Bloodthirsty Vine’s inherent properties.”

Li Qing pondered the optimal arrangement of spirit patterns, and soon a clear vision formed in his mind.

The whip’s abundant spirituality emboldened him. He resolved to refine the artifact with just a single spirit tempering session, challenging his skills.

Without hesitation, Li Qing focused his gaze. His fingertip gently touched the whip’s surface, carefully avoiding the barbs.

Water benefits all things without contention. Crafting a water attribute artifact into a deadly weapon posed a unique challenge for artifact refiners.

Fortunately, Li Qing’s artifact refinement inheritance was comprehensive, including relevant spirit patterns for this very purpose.

As his fingertip moved, strands of mysterious pale blue patterns seemed to imprint themselves onto the whip’s surface, glowing faintly like indelible brands.

As Li Qing etched the spirit patterns, he could clearly sense the harmonious resonance between the Water-Condensing Sand and the Profound Yin Serpent Skin. These two spiritual materials were indeed perfectly suited as carriers for water attribute spirit patterns.

Initially, the process went smoothly. However, during the transition between the two patterns, he failed to connect with the spirituality of the materials, causing the patterns to quickly dissipate.

Sizzle...

The spirit patterns, vanishing like Wishful Spring Snow, also drained some of the materials’ spirituality. Undeterred, Li Qing nodded thoughtfully, savoring the experience as he summarized his mistakes.

”The Bloodthirsty Vines, now entangled with the Water-Condensing Sand and Profound Yin Serpent Skin, are making it more challenging to etch wood attribute spirit patterns.”

”Perhaps I shouldn’t have avoided the Bloodthirsty Vine’s barbs. Instead, I should have utilized them, or even treated them as connection points to awaken the vine’s inherent properties.”

Li Qing murmured to himself, quickly devising a solution.

Soon, the spirit pattern etching resumed!

In his subsequent attempts, Li Qing faced three more failures, each stemming from a different cause.

Finally, after four failures, Li Qing’s technique had become remarkably proficient by his fifth attempt at inscribing the spirit patterns. He had thoroughly mastered the properties of the long whip.

As the final stroke of the wood attribute spirit pattern was completed, the whip’s barbs connected like nodes in an array.

With the water attribute spirit patterns as the primary framework and the wood attribute patterns as auxiliary support, the Low-Grade Magic Tool was finally finished!

Boom!

The next moment, the Magic Tool began to tremble strangely.

Li Qing’s heart skipped a beat, but he quickly realized what was happening.

After a Magic Tool is forged, it typically absorbs heaven and earth spiritual energy to stabilize the spirit patterns and replenish any spirituality lost during failed inscriptions.

But this was the World of Eternal Night, a place devoid of spiritual energy!

Just as Li Qing feared the spirit patterns would completely collapse, the peculiar trembling gradually subsided.

”Hmm, the spirit patterns haven’t dissipated and remain intact. It seems everything’s fine after all.”

Li Qing exhaled in relief. If he had ruined it, the loss would have been significant!

Without hesitation, he took the fully refined Soft Water Whip and returned to the world brimming with spiritual energy.

Boom!

At that moment, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth stirred, rapidly converging toward the whip in Li Qing’s hand.

As the whip gradually filled with spirituality, Li Qing’s tense heart slowly began to relax.

”I’ll call you the Soft Water Whip!” Li Qing nodded in satisfaction, then tightened his grip on the whip and casually swung it twice.

The whip’s shadow flashed through the air, leaving deep gashes etched into the solid rock walls of the cavern.

Immediately afterward, a notification about his increased lifespan appeared:

[Successfully refined Low-Grade Magic Artifact: Soft Water Whip. Reward: 15 years of Lifespan!]

Despite being classified as a Low-Grade Magic Artifact, its materials were of exceptional quality, rivaling those of Mid-Grade Magic Tools.

As for its power, it spoke for itself. Even without channeling any spiritual energy, Li Qing’s casual swings had demonstrated remarkable destructive potential.

Soon, Li Qing channeled a stream of spiritual energy into the Soft Water Whip.

Buzz!

The spirit patterns etched into the long whip, studded with rows of barbed spikes, shimmered with flowing light as Li Qing casually flicked it.

Snap!

A surge of dense, water-attribute spiritual energy erupted from the cave, its power palpable.

”Not bad,” Li Qing murmured. ”I think Ye Feng will be quite pleased with this.”

Even among low-grade Magic Artifacts, the Soft Water Whip stood out as an exceptional piece.

After nearly sixteen days in the World of Eternal Night, a flawless low-grade water-attribute Magic Artifact had finally been forged. Li Qing himself was thoroughly satisfied with the result.

With plenty of time remaining, he stowed the Soft Water Whip away, choosing not to test its power further. Instead, he returned to the World of Eternal Night.

Next, he planned to refine some low-grade Magic Tools for sale, hoping to earn spirit stones.

”Let’s see... After crafting the Soft Water Whip, Ye Feng’s materials are surprisingly plentiful.”

He still had about half a pound of Water-Condensing Sand left, along with some scraps of Profound Yin Serpent Skin. The entire Bloodthirsty Vine had been used, though a few of its barbed spikes remained.

Naturally, Li Qing decided to keep these materials for himself. This was one of the unspoken perks enjoyed by artifact refiners: as long as the Magic Artifact was successfully forged, it was perfectly reasonable to skim off any surplus materials.

Of course, deliberately cutting corners during artifact refinement to embezzle materials would be utterly unacceptable. A failed refinement could severely damage one’s reputation and standing. Li Qing clearly understood the difference between a single feast and never going hungry again. This was one reason why many renowned artifact refiners often accumulated substantial wealth.

”I’ll keep these materials for now and see if I can gather more later,” he mused. ”Maybe I can use these scraps to craft a few more Magic Artifacts.”

”First, I’ll refine the items I want to sell. Then I’ll spend the remaining time exploring the World of Eternal Night.”

Li Qing hadn’t forgotten the tasks he had previously assigned to the Green Gang: to collect spiritual materials from this world and search for traces of other cultivators. With time flowing three times faster here, they should have made some progress by now!

At this thought, Li Qing couldn’t help but think of those currently managing the Green Gang. Upon reflection, they were likely considered elders by now. The realization caused him to fall silent for a moment.

But soon, he brushed these thoughts aside and focused entirely on the rhythmic work of hammering and artifact refinement. Before long, the crisp, metallic clang of hammer on steel rang out in the air:

Clang! Clang! Clang!

(End of the Chapter)

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