Refining a pill furnace would take a fair amount of effort, so Shi Yu planned to refine a talisman pen first, using the opportunity to get a feel for artifact refining again.
In the game, she had crafted countless artifacts, but this was her first time doing so in this world. Although what she was about to refine was merely the lowest-level Tier-1 artifact made with the most common low-grade spiritual materials, she found herself quite intrigued.
For the talisman pen's materials, Shi Yu chose Sunset Red Cedar Wood and Green Mane Sable belly fur.
The branches of Sunset Red Cedar Wood bore red grain resembling sunset clouds, which was how it got its name. The heartwood of this tree was the true essence, capable of crafting high-grade talisman pens.
Using the heartwood to form the body of a talisman pen not only enhanced the user's spiritual energy conductivity and saved energy, but it also increased the success rate and power of drawn talismans while reducing the chance of spiritual backlash.
However, a century-old Sunset Red Cedar Tree yielded heartwood only two fingers in length. Given its scarcity, it was exorbitantly expensive and difficult to come by.
Shi Yu had only bought ordinary branches, which significantly reduced the effect. Fortunately, as she could only refine Tier-1 artifacts at most right now, ordinary branches were more than enough.
Retrieving several pieces of Gansong Charcoal, Shi Yu funneled a stream of spiritual energy into them, and a brilliant, flickering flame surged upward.
Shi Yu enveloped the section of Sunset Red Cedar Wood in spiritual energy, manipulating it to turn continuously with a melting technique she had practiced countless times—one engraved so deeply into her bones that it had become second nature.
Intense heat raged. As the Sunset Red Cedar Wood rotated in the fire for a moment, viscous impurities gradually oozed from its bark, dripping out before being instantly baked and hardened into a black, charred outer layer by the high heat.
After about two quarters of an hour, the Sunset Red Cedar Wood within the spiritual energy shrank noticeably, its impurities mostly burned away. She withdrew it to cool for a moment, then flicked her finger lightly against the charcoal-black surface of the wood.
After tapping it a few times, the blackish-grey crust cracked open crisply. Much like peeling a bamboo shoot, Shi Yu stripped away the outer layer, revealing the lustrous, red-jade-like wood beneath.
The pen barrel was complete.
Wiping her sweat, Shi Yu took out a Dew-Condensing Pill, swallowed it, and regulated her breathing for a moment.
“Just melting wood already leaves my spiritual energy running thin. When I refine the pill furnace and have to melt all that Iron Essence and Profound Light Stone...”
I'll probably collapse from sheer exhaustion.
Twitching the corner of her mouth in helplessness, she knew her meager cultivation was holding her back far too much.
After resting for a while, Shi Yu pulled out a clump of Green Mane Sable belly fur.
Soft and cool to the touch, the belly fur displayed a pale teal hue, shimmering like light over clear water. Its ability to absorb and store spiritual energy was fairly good, and using it for the pen tip made a complementary match with the Sunset Red Cedar Wood.
Processing the Green Mane Sable belly fur differed from the wood. While the wood relied on the most common fire-refining method, the fur required a gentler medicinal-refining method to bring out its efficacy.
By soaking and simmering it in a precisely proportioned medicinal liquid, it would gain the ability to channel spiritual energy while acquiring peerless flexibility.
Once the liquid for the medicinal-refining method was prepared, processing materials consumed almost no spiritual energy. It relied far more on inherited experience and knowledge. Much like pill recipes, such formulas were hard to come by.
Of course, Shi Yu lacked no such knowledge; the vast array of recipes stored in her mind was practically encyclopedic.
Using the remaining heat of the charcoal, Shi Yu set up a small pot, mixed the medicinal liquid, and tossed the Green Mane Sable belly fur inside to simmer.
This would take about half an hour. Once the fur was done simmering, she could begin combining the two parts and engraving restrictions onto them.
In the meantime, Shi Yu sat cross-legged beside the pot to continue her breathing exercises, refining the efficacy of the Dew-Condensing Pill to replenish her depleted spiritual energy.
A pile of Iron Essence, Profound Light Stone, and other spiritual materials were still waiting for her to refine. Melting ores and metals was far more exhausting than working with wood and fur. Given her pitifully small supply of spiritual energy, she would have to sit and meditate every short while. Finishing all these metals would take at least a month, so she had no time to waste.
It was unavoidable; she couldn't afford to slack off.
Although she could buy talisman pens and pill furnaces, setting aside the price of ranked artifacts, the quality and ease of use were concerns. Having glanced at the artifacts for sale at Tongyi Pavilion, she found them somewhat lacking. Naturally, none would feel as comfortable to use as those she crafted herself.
Fortunately, once this talisman pen and furnace were crafted, barring any accidents, they would last her a very long time. Spending extra effort now was well worth it.
Inspecting her interior with divine sense, she watched her spiritual energy flow smoothly and continuously through her meridians.
Suddenly, as Shi Yu observed the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell floating inside her Purple Mansion, an idea struck her.
Inside the Fate-Tapping Bell were two spirit springs. She had already experienced the immense benefits of the Life Spring, but the Slaughter Spring possessed an overly intense aura of violent destruction. When she was still a mortal, merely bringing her divine sense close to it caused a sharp, stinging pain, rendering her unable to draw from it. Consequently, she could only guess at its true effect.
Now that she had entered the late stage of the first layer of the Qi Refining Realm, she had not yet tried approaching the Slaughter Spring again. Perhaps she could give it a try now?
With the thought in mind, Shi Yu composed herself and decided to try right away.
Sending her divine sense into the Fate-Tapping Bell, the Taiji Yin-Yang diagram formed by the two spirit springs serving as eyes came into view.
The Life Spring side exuded a dense aura of vitality, filling her divine sense with a refreshing comfort whenever it drew close.
The Slaughter Spring was the exact opposite. Its bowl-sized black spring eye was as dark as condensed ink. Upon approaching even slightly, her divine sense felt as though it were being sliced and torn apart by a gale of blades, radiating waves of sharp pain.
However, after reaching the first layer of the Qi Refining Realm, this pain was no longer as utterly unbearable as before. Perhaps this was also because the Fate-Tapping Bell acknowledged her more as her cultivation increased.
Holding her breath and enduring the stinging pain, Shi Yu extended her divine sense together with spiritual energy into the Slaughter Spring, wrapping her energy around a single drop of Slaughter Spring water to extract it.
The instant her spiritual energy touched the Slaughter Spring water, it hissed and burned away at an astounding rate.
The consumption rate was terrifyingly fast, burning through nearly half her spiritual energy in an instant.
Shi Yu dared not delay. Opening her eyes, she swiftly dropped the ink-black droplet of Slaughter Spring water into a nearby wooden bucket.
As soon as the Slaughter Spring water entered the bucket, the black color rapidly diffused. In the blink of an eye, the clear well water turned black, radiating a heavy, dangerously lethal aura.
Shi Yu panted, fine beads of sweat breaking out on her nose and forehead from the sharp pain.
Letting out a wry smile, she realized that merely extracting this single drop of Slaughter Spring water had completely drained all the spiritual energy in her body.
“This water really is ruthless.”
“However... being so dangerous, it would make a great trump card for catching enemies off guard.”
One more life-saving trump card—not bad at all.
Shi Yu swallowed another Dew-Condensing Pill and regulated her breathing for a moment. Once she had recovered a bit of her spiritual energy, she looked at the bucket of well water diluted with Slaughter Spring water.
She felt a bit concerned that the water might corrode and burn through the wooden bucket. If the Slaughter Spring water leaked out and went to waste, it would be a shame, especially considering how the burning pain had nearly made her scream just now.
Yet perhaps because the bucket was made entirely of ordinary, non-spiritual wood, the Slaughter Spring water surprisingly had no effect on the bucket itself.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Shi Yu took out a piece of Iron Essence and tossed it inside.
Rate on N.U.
