Patriarch Shen didn’t beat around the bush.

After meeting Fang Yun and making some small talk, he made his request for help.

"What is it?" Fang Yun asked. "Please, Patriarch Shen, go ahead."

"I’ve heard that little friend Fang Yun is the most talented Artifact Refiner in the Celestial Cloud Sect right now. This favor is related to Artifact Refining," Patriarch Shen said directly. "I hope you can help our Shen Family refine a few Upper Grade Magical Artifacts."

Upper Grade Magical Artifacts refined by a genius like Fang Yun would surely be of high quality.

If Fang Yun wasn’t one to put on airs, he would most likely agree to his request.

"As for the payment for the Artifact Refining, our Shen Family will not be stingy. If little friend Fang Yun helps us refine one Upper Grade Magical Artifact, you will receive seventy Lower Grade Spirit Stones."

This was a very high payment for Artifact Refining.

For just refining, without having to gather the materials, a typical Artifact Refiner would get fifty Lower Grade Spirit Stones at most for one Upper Grade Magical Artifact.

"I can help refine them when I have free time."

Fang Yun hadn’t expected to be commissioned for Artifact Refining on his very first day with the Shen Family.

He wouldn’t refuse this kind of work, but it had to be on his terms.

"Thank you, little friend, for being willing to help," Patriarch Shen said with a happy smile.

Due to the recent fighting, their Shen Family had lost or damaged a great number of Magical Artifacts.

Some of the Magical Artifacts could be repaired and used again, but most were beyond repair and had become scrap.

"Patriarch Shen, once you’ve prepared the necessary conditions and materials for Artifact Refining, you can tell me the specific requirements."

Since he had agreed, Fang Yun would do the job well.

With his current Artifact Refining skill, as long as the materials’ properties were adequate, he should be able to meet even the most demanding requests when refining Upper Grade Magical Artifacts.

However, the Shen Family probably had no intention of making such demands; they likely just wanted him to refine some high-quality Upper Grade Magical Artifacts.

"For payment, I’d like to exchange it for some materials. Only give me Spirit Stones if you can’t gather the materials." After the Four-Sect Trials, Fang Yun had obtained over 1,600 Lower Grade Spirit Stones, so he wasn’t short on them at the moment.

"Of course," Patriarch Shen agreed at once. "Just write down a list of the materials you need, little friend, and we’ll start preparing them right away."

Fang Yun thought for a moment about what materials he was currently lacking, and soon their names were on paper.

Most of them were auxiliary materials used for Artifact Refining.

After they finished discussing Artifact Refining, Patriarch Shen asked:

"Little friend Fang Yun, would you like to see your sect’s Elder Bai? If so, I can show you the way."

"I’ll have to trouble you then, Patriarch Shen."

"It’s a small matter."

Patriarch Shen smiled. The information they had received was correct: Fang Yun and Bai Qinying’s relationship was indeed quite good.

Led by Patriarch Shen, Fang Yun arrived at the place where Bai Qinying was staying in the Shen Family’s ancestral home.

After leading the way, he quickly departed. As the Patriarch, he had daily matters to attend to, especially during this difficult time for the Shen Family.

When someone knocked on the door, Bai Qinying assumed it was Patriarch Shen or one of the two Shen Family elders.

But the person who appeared was a complete surprise.

"Fang Yun!"

She couldn’t figure out why Fang Yun would be here. The reward for the Shen Family support mission was decent, but only for an ordinary disciple. For Fang Yun, the reward was clearly not worth his time.

"Elder Bai." After entering, Fang Yun casually found a seat and sat down.

"So, Junior Brother Fang, tell me, why are you here?" Bai Qinying shifted her posture, and as a thought occurred to her, she continued, "Could it be for me, your Elder?"

Seeing that Bai Qinying was joking, Fang Yun’s initial reply was also teasing.

"You can think whatever you want, Elder. Whatever makes you happy."

"So you’re indirectly admitting it."

"That’s right."

"Mm, your answer is very satisfying to me, Junior Brother." Bai Qinying nodded with a smile, then her expression turned more serious. "But what’s the real reason?"

"I’ve had many sparring matches and Magical Combat bouts, and I destroyed plenty of energy bodies during the Four-Sect Trials, but I’ve never killed an Evil Cultivator before. So I took this opportunity and accepted the mission," Fang Yun said, revealing half of his reason.

The other half of the reason was that he wanted to see how many Talent Points killing Evil Cultivators would give him during the monthly calculation.

He also wanted to conduct some of his own combat experiments on the Evil Cultivators.

"Oh, that’s right. You haven’t drawn blood yet, Junior Brother." Bai Qinying then realized Fang Yun had never killed a Demon. "You really should experience it. You’ve picked a good opportunity."

The Shen Family was currently taking a rather passive defensive stance against the Stone Demon Sect. Under these circumstances, Fang Yun would have plenty of opportunities to kill Demons while on defense.

Bai Qinying was completely at ease about Fang Yun’s strength.

As long as no Foundation Establishment Stage Demons appeared, no Qi Refining Demon from the Stone Demon Sect would be a match for Fang Yun.

"My luck wasn’t bad, either. I already killed a Qi Refining Sixth Layer Demon from the Stone Demon Sect on my way here."

"An ambush?"

"I don’t think so. It was just that one Demon. He was most likely gathering intelligence."

"Before you killed him, did you get anything out of the Demon?"

"No." Fang Yun recalled the scene and smiled awkwardly. "I acted too quickly. He didn’t even have a chance to speak."

It had been a good opportunity for an experiment, but unfortunately, he hadn’t seized it.

"Hahaha, you were nervous, weren’t you? You really do need more practice, Junior Brother."

From Fang Yun’s simple description, Bai Qinying could seemingly picture the scene. She pointed at Fang Yun and burst out laughing.

An overly nervous Fang Yun had used his full strength on a single Qi Refining Sixth Layer Demon. Before the Demon died, he had seven pale yellow Long Swords sticking out of him.

...

「Celestial Cloud Sect.」

「On Dan Cloud Peak.」

The Management Elder of the peak, Bai Heyan, was looking over the records in his hand.

From these records, he could see the disciples’ progress—who had more Alchemy Talent, and who was unremarkable.

The last time he checked the records, Bai Heyan had been very satisfied. Now, when Fang Yun refined pills used by most Qi Refining Stage Cultivators, he could guarantee a full yield from the very first furnace, and even produce Middle Grade pills.

By the fifth furnace of Spirit Revival Pills, Fang Yun had produced an Upper Grade batch.

If Fang Yun hadn’t rejected his proposal, he would know by now how Fang Yun’s first attempt at refining pills for Foundation Establishment Cultivators had turned out.

’Eh? Fang Yun didn’t accept the mission.’

After the mission to refine Spirit Revival Pills, he had assigned Fang Yun the task of refining Qi Enhancement Pills, something he was exceptionally familiar with.

Since Fang Yun had long been able to perfectly refine Qi Enhancement Pills, there was no need to check on his performance.

But when Bai Heyan glanced at the records, he saw that Fang Yun hadn’t accepted the mission.

This was the first time such a thing had happened.

Fang Yun had always been extremely eager to accept Alchemy missions.

Sensing that something was amiss, Bai Heyan quickly left Dan Cloud Peak and headed for Artifact Casting Peak to find Xiong Xingfeng.

If there was a problem with Fang Yun accepting Alchemy missions, it could only be the work of that master of his.

That was Bai Heyan’s first thought.

「In the residence of the Artifact Casting Peak’s Management Elder.」

Xiong Xingfeng was not surprised by Bai Heyan’s arrival.

"Elder Bai, have a seat."

"I’m telling you, Old Ghost Xiong." Bai Heyan sat down and got straight to the point. "Have you been making Fang Yun refine a large number of Magical Artifacts lately?"

"Why do you care? Fang Yun is my disciple, not yours."

In front of Bai Heyan, Xiong Xingfeng was acting quite smug.

"After Fang Yun reaches Foundation Establishment in the future, I imagine it won’t be long before he can take over refining the Foundation Establishment Pills from me." Bai Heyan brought up Fang Yun’s future contributions to the sect.

He had no advantage when arguing with Xiong Xingfeng over Fang Yun’s status.

’To be honest, I regret it. I shouldn’t have let Xiong Xingfeng take Fang Yun as a disciple back then.’

’Even with what happened in the past, I should have fought for him.’

"Fang Yun went to the Shen Family to carry out a support mission." Seeing Bai Heyan’s serious expression, Xiong Xingfeng directly explained the situation.

"He said he wanted to go, and you just let him?"

"What else was I to do?" Xiong Xingfeng retorted. "There’s nothing wrong with my disciple’s strength. He wants to see the blood of a Demon, so how could I, his master, refuse?"

Bai Heyan took a deep breath. Thinking about Xiong Xingfeng’s past, he knew Xiong indeed wouldn’t refuse Fang Yun’s request to see blood.

Among the late-stage Foundation Establishment Elders of the Celestial Cloud Sect, Xiong Xingfeng’s strength was considered top-tier.

"When will Fang Yun be back?"

"A month at the earliest, three months at the latest," Xiong Xingfeng replied.

Hearing this timeframe, Bai Heyan felt a bit better.

’He’ll be back in three months at the latest. At least it’s not half a year.’

"Old Ghost Xiong, I have a proposal."

"I’m not listening."

Xiong Xingfeng rejected Bai Heyan’s proposal without even thinking. From the look on Bai Heyan’s face, he could tell that whatever he was about to suggest would be nothing good for him.

"..."

Bai Heyan had wanted to discuss becoming Fang Yun’s semi-master with Xiong Xingfeng.

That way, given Fang Yun’s personality, he would probably report to him before doing things, like going out on this support mission for the Shen Family.

But seeing Xiong Xingfeng’s reaction, his proposal was most likely dead in the water.

The two of them knew each other very well.

...

「Cuixiang County.」

Most of the mortals living here were surnamed Shen, hailing from the Foundation Establishment Clan, the Shen Family.

There was also a small Cultivator Marketplace here, where transactions were mostly conducted by early and mid-stage Qi Refining Cultivators.

At the center of the marketplace, where the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was richest, there was even a miniature Gathering Spirit Array to help the resident Cultivators with their training.

Half a month had passed since Fang Yun arrived in the Shen Family’s territory.

In that half a month, using the Shen Family’s best Artifact Refining Room, Fang Yun had refined a total of six Upper Grade Magical Artifacts for them.

The four hundred and twenty Lower Grade Spirit Stones he earned from refining the Upper Grade Magical Artifacts had all been exchanged for materials.

Just yesterday, Fang Yun had come to Cuixiang County to take charge of its defense for the next half a month.

Besides him, there was one Qi Refining Seventh Layer cultivator from the Shen Family, who was also their only late-stage Qi Refining cultivator present.

’Time to cultivate.’

Fang Yun consumed an Upper Grade Qi Enhancement Pill and quickly entered a state of refining and absorption.

The miniature Gathering Spirit Array here was of no use to him for the time being, so he didn’t activate it. According to Patriarch Shen, he was free to use the miniature Gathering Spirit Array as he pleased, and the Shen Family would pay for the Spirit Stones required to power the Spirit Array.

For the next half a month, if Fang Yun completed his experiment, he would finish one month of the mission, collect the reward from the Shen Family, and return to the sect.

If he didn’t complete his experiment, he would spend at most another two months to see if he could get the chance.

If an opponent had malicious intent toward him, their combat state would be preserved even if they fled. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

To complete this experiment, he needed a Demon to attack Cuixiang County.

When it came to luck, Fang Yun felt that his had always been quite good.

He hoped that a Demon from the Stone Demon Sect would appear within this half-month.