’Spirit Medicine, Pill Furnace...’

’Ore Materials, smelting, Runes, Arrays, Divine Soul...’

Chu Mu sat at his desk, his brush moving swiftly. Characters appeared one by one as he slowly sorted through his current needs.

Right now, his most valuable assets—the ones that could generate immense wealth—were the two inheritances in his mind.

First, Alchemy. Second, Puppetry.

He had a solid foundation in the Alchemy Skill. If he had enough resources, he was confident he could transform his worldly understanding of medicines and their effects into a cultivator’s mastery.

Moreover, the Alchemy Skill offered him the greatest Support!

After all, his Pseudo Spirit Root Talent and his snail-paced progress with the Flame Decision had already made his aptitude clear. Without sufficient resources for Support, he probably wouldn’t get very far on the Immortal Path in this lifetime.

However, from what he had observed, the art of Alchemy was extremely special.

The existence of Elixirs was practically equivalent to Spirit Stones; they were an absolute necessity for any Cultivator.

A Cultivator could do without the products of any other Cultivation Immortal Technique, but they could never go without Spirit Stones and Elixirs!

Furthermore, the process of Alchemy—understanding the properties of medicines—was very concise. No part of the process took place in the open.

This meant he couldn’t rely on anyone else’s help.

Even with his worldly foundation in understanding medicines and the Alchemy Inheritance left by Elder Li,

he would still have to strive for everything himself.

He needed to buy Spirit Medicine, a Pill Furnace, Spiritual Fire...

This would undoubtedly require a massive amount of resources, far beyond what he could currently afford.

The Puppetry Skill, on the other hand, was even more complex.

Strictly speaking, even though the Puppetry Skill in his mind was only a basic inheritance,

it was still beyond his current reach.

Using the knowledge system from his past life as an analogy, he was like a child who hadn’t even started school, while the Puppetry Skill was at least a comprehensive university-level curriculum.

What he needed to do was build up his fundamentals bit by bit before he could even attempt to understand the Puppetry Skill inheritance. Only then could he make it his own.

And the resources needed to master it were likely even more staggering than those for Alchemy.

After all, the Puppetry Skill involved far more disciplines than Alchemy did.

But now, he had joined Li’s Ore Materials. From what he had just seen, there was no shortage of various Spirit Ores.

And his job was directly related to these Spirit Ores.

For him, this was clearly a good opportunity to build up his foundational knowledge of Ore Materials.

’Gain knowledge, earn Spirit Stones, gain more knowledge...’

Staring at the outline he had organized on the paper, a plan for the future began to take shape in Chu Mu’s mind.

Everything was based on his two inheritances. Cultivating the Flame Decision was secondary!

As he pondered, Chu Mu seemed to think of something, and his gaze suddenly fixed on the Sword Technique on his Light Curtain Panel.

By now, he was almost certain of the Sword Technique’s effect on his God.

And God was practically the root of all Cultivation!

Therefore, he couldn’t neglect his Sword Technique practice either.

The sky grew dark, and under the soft fluorescent light, his plans for the future slowly solidified with the passing of time.

「One night passed.」

The next day, before the sky had even brightened, the flash of a blade could be seen in the room. Chu Mu’s figure weaved and moved within the small space, a common Long Saber in his hand brandishing an aura that did not belong to the mortal world.

Thanks to the Restriction on the room, not the slightest sound escaped outside.

Workers had already appeared in the courtyard, and the storeroom was bustling with activity. Clearly, people had already started their work.

Jobs in the Cultivation Immortal Realm were clearly different from those in the mortal world. The rules were obvious, but in some ways, not so obvious.

Chu Mu didn’t leave his room until the morning sun began to rise. According to Steward Wu, he was allowed to wander around for a few days to observe and learn.

But obviously, words like that were best not taken to heart.

After all, smelting and purifying Spirit Ore wasn’t a complicated matter. It was a process of using one’s Divine Sense to direct Magical Power and expel impurities from the Ore Materials—a purely tedious, grinding task.

If he really did wander around for a few days, he would only be wasting his own time.

After all, payment was based on work. No work, no Spirit Stones...

He found Steward Wu, exchanged a few words, and the matter was settled.

The firm’s Ore Materials were all stacked in partitions on the inner side of the storeroom. Each compartment corresponded to a specific type of ore, with a small wooden plaque hanging to indicate its name.

According to Steward Wu, they were only required to process Tier One Lower Grade Ore Materials. If any ore exceeded that grade, the pay would be calculated separately.

Chu Mu didn’t rush to load up on ore. Instead, he carefully surveyed the ore storeroom.

Dozens of partitions meant dozens of types of Tier One Lower Grade Ore Materials. For him, this was truly an eye-opener.

Chu Mu didn’t browse for too long. The Ore Materials were piled as high as mountains; they would all still be here later. He’d have plenty of time to study them in the future.

He casually filled a basket with ore, then glanced up at the name. ’Sparrow Spirit Ore. What a weird name!’

Grumbling internally, Chu Mu carried the basket of Sparrow Spirit Ore out. There were many empty spots in the storeroom, so he chose a remote corner, sat down, and picked up a piece of Sparrow Spirit Ore to examine.

The ore was dark, somewhat resembling coal, but smooth and dense. Layers of patterns spread across its body, truly resembling a sparrow spreading its wings in flight.

After examining it for a moment, Chu Mu pondered briefly before enveloping the Ore Material with his Divine Sense, carefully perceiving its texture and structure.

He had studied mortal ores extensively after the Jingmen Divine Appearance. His greatest impression of them was...

’They are completely lifeless, just dead matter!’

But now, as his Divine Sense covered the ore, its mysterious properties swirled around it. A clearly discernible Spiritual nature seemed to have injected life into this piece of ore.

This was the second time Chu Mu had experienced such a feeling. The first, of course, was at the Yutai Mine.

Red Thunder Ore, a Tier One Upper Grade Ore Material!

And now, Sparrow Spirit Ore, a Tier One Lower Grade Ore Material!

Even with his limited knowledge, Chu Mu could conclude that this Spiritual nature within the Spirit Ore was the biggest difference between it and mortal ores.

The second was the corrosive properties inherent to the ore.

’Dark, cold... Sparrow Spirit Ore is a Yin Attribute Ore Material...’

Perceiving these subtle details, Chu Mu slowly organized the clues in his mind.

The core principle remained the same. Alchemy was about understanding the properties of medicines and then combining them.

Artifact Refining’s foundation was naturally the same: understanding and combining Ore Materials.

Each type of Spirit Ore was equivalent to an alloy with natural properties.

There were countless Spirit Ores in the Cultivation Immortal Realm. The combination of any two Spirit Ores, just like combining Spirit Medicines in Alchemy, could produce unpredictable effects.

This point was stated very clearly in the Puppetry Skill inheritance.

Tier One Upper Grade Ore Materials were more precious than Tier One Middle Grade or Tier One Lower Grade ones. However, if combined perfectly, it wasn’t impossible for the new product to be even more valuable than a Tier One Upper Grade ore.

The material science of this Otherworld had far more possibilities than his previous one. Given the countless years of heritage in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, the appearance of even the strangest materials was probably considered normal.

After studying it for a long time and mentally noting its properties, Chu Mu finally began his first day of work.

Refining the Spirit Ore and removing its impurities.

He mobilized his Magical Power with his Divine Sense, launching a counter-corrosion against the ore, just like the corrosive properties of the ore itself.

Magical Power flooded into the ore. His Divine Sense distinguished between impurities and essence, removing the former and collecting the latter. It was an operation akin to working under a microscope, slowly proceeding with a mere lift of his finger.

The piece of ore in Chu Mu’s hand slowly began to change shape.

Black powder fell from his fingertips as the ore became more refined and shrank. After a full quarter-hour, he withdrew his Divine Sense and Magical Power. The ore had shrunk from the size of a human head to the size of his palm.

A pile of black powder had accumulated on the ground—clearly the impurities removed from the ore.

Chu Mu carefully sensed the refined Sparrow Spirit Ore again. After a long while, his focus returned to himself.

His Divine Sense had directed his Magical Power to fight the corrosion within the ore, removing the impurities bit by bit, and finally, both his Divine Sense and Magical Power had returned to his body.

Evidently, during this process, both his Divine Sense and Magical Power had been unavoidably tainted by the corrosive properties of the Sparrow Spirit Ore.

Chu Mu closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes in his body and mind.

A cold, dark aura now lingered around his Divine Sense and Magical Power. The sensation was incredibly clear.

Chu Mu tentatively gathered his Divine Sense and Magical Power, trying to strip away the dark aura from the Sparrow Spirit Ore.

In just a few breaths, an extremely faint black thread appeared at Chu Mu’s fingertip.

’Refining one piece of Sparrow Spirit Ore, weighing about a pound, takes nearly a quarter of an hour.’

’Purging the corrosion will take about half an hour. I’m just not sure if it can be completely removed, or if some hidden dangers will remain...’

’But... that means if I work for six hours a day, I can probably earn a little over half a Broken Spirit.’

’If I get more proficient and work longer hours, I should be able to earn one Broken Spirit a day.’

’In a month, thirty Broken Spirits would be a Monthly Stipend of three Lower Grade Spirit Stones.’

Compared to the Jade Platform Mine, his Monthly Stipend had more than tripled!

Chu Mu felt that he should be happy.

He really should be happy. Looking at his colleagues in the storeroom, not one of them spoke a word, all of them completely focused on making money. He even observed that two or three of them seemed to have pulled an all-nighter and were still working today.

For someone at his Cultivation level, this Monthly Stipend should already be considered upper-middle range.

But he just couldn’t bring himself to be happy.

The inheritances in his mind were a constant reminder of the massive amount of resources he needed—and the massive amount of Spirit Stones that required!

He was looking too far ahead. His heart was too big, too wild!

How could a few mere Lower Grade Spirit Stones possibly satisfy him?

’An issue of mentality. Hard to solve!’

Chu Mu pressed his lips together, once again forcibly suppressing the thoughts in his mind.

He immersed his thoughts and began to purge the corrosion from his body.

Just as Chu Mu had predicted, the corrosion was completely purged in a little over half an hour.

Of course, this "purged" state was only based on his own perception. He wasn’t sure if there were still hidden traces left behind.

Chu Mu glanced at his colleagues in the storeroom, having already made up his mind. He had to ask around and find out for sure...

...