Chapter 265: Chapter 239: Prelude to the Great War, Part 2

With the Qi Refining Eighth Layer Demon holding them off, the Qi Refining Seventh Layer Demon turned and fled.

With one Demon gone, the other was now facing two opponents.

"Junior Brother Zhao, you go after that Demon. Leave this one to me." Faced with the situation, Zhang Wenyu of the Qi Refining Eighth Layer immediately gave the order.

"Yes."

"Get back here!"

The Qi Refining Eighth Layer Demon gave them no chance to pursue.

He was already at a disadvantage, and now he had to face two opponents alone.

Zhang Wenyu controlled his great saber, slashing down and delivering a fatal blow to the Qi Refining Eighth Layer Demon from behind.

Corrupt!

In his last moments, the Qi Refining Eighth Layer Demon unleashed his most powerful destructive technique.

"It’s a shame. The Qi Refining Seventh Layer Demon got away." Junior Brother Zhao said, gazing in the direction the Demon had fled. There wasn’t even a shadow to be seen now.

Zhang Wenyu stared at the Upper Grade Magical Artifact in his hand, his great saber, and remained silent.

"Senior Brother Zhang, what’s wrong?"

"The Magical Artifact is damaged. It can’t unleash its full power. At most, it can only function at seventy percent of its original capacity."

"That was from the Demon’s final attack."

"Mm."

"This is terrible. Senior Brother Zhang, a Magical Artifact like yours won’t be easy to repair."

Zhang Wenyu nodded, showing he understood.

He had only managed to snatch up this Upper Grade Magical Artifact at the Artifact Pavilion through sheer luck.

Other Artifact Refiners weren’t capable of Refining this type of Upper Grade Magical Artifact, so repairing it was naturally out of the question for them.

To get it repaired, his only option was to find Elder Fang.

"When I get back to the sect, I’ll try my luck at the Artifact Pavilion."

"I suppose that’s the only thing to do."

...

「Celestial Cloud Sect, Artifact Casting Peak.」

At this very moment, Fang Yun was in the Alchemy Room of his cave residence, Refining pills.

He was Refining Tier One Rejuvenation Pills.

When the pills emerged from the furnace, he held five new Upper Grade Rejuvenation Pills in his hand.

The nature of his Alchemy work had been changing recently. He had begun Refining a greater quantity of pills for restoring Spiritual Power and healing injuries.

He rarely refined Tier One pills these days. He was only making Rejuvenation Pills at the moment because they were in high and urgent demand.

He wasn’t the only one; many of the Elders of Alchemy were also participating in Refining these pills.

With their help, the inventory of Spirit Medicine for Tier One pills that restored Spiritual Power and healed injuries began to deplete rapidly.

’Time to turn in the task.’

Soon after, Fang Yun went to the Dan Cloud Pavilion on Dan Cloud Peak and turned in his task.

Unlike in the past, he immediately received a new Refining task right after turning in the last one.

Refining these Tier One pills was only temporary for him. The task he accepted now had already reverted to Refining Second Tier Spirit Ascension Pills.

Before returning to his cave residence,

he also needed to go to the Artifact Pavilion to accept some tasks.

According to the queue for Artifact Refining, he still had twelve Refining jobs he hadn’t accepted yet.

The current number of pending tasks was far less than the initial surge; most people who wanted to get in line had already done so within the first three months after the rules were changed.

"Steward, do you think this Upper Grade Magical Artifact of mine can be repaired?"

"We can’t repair it. Only Elder Fang can fix this type of Upper Grade Magical Artifact."

"Can I submit a request for repair?"

"Well..." The Steward thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I’m afraid not."

’If this were a repair request for a Spiritual Artifact, he could add it to the queue. But a repair job for a mere Upper Grade Magical Artifact? That would be a waste of Elder Fang’s time.’

’Some things weren’t explicitly written in the rules, but as a Steward, he had to be perceptive.’

In the end, Zhang Wenyu could only put away his great saber. But just as he turned to leave, he heard the Steward call out.

"Greetings, Elder Fang."

Zhang Wenyu spun around, and sure enough, he saw Fang Yun walking toward them.

"Greetings, Elder Fang," Zhang Wenyu said, also offering a respectful bow.

"Zhang Wenyu," Fang Yun said, searching his memory for a moment.

Hearing Fang Yun say his name, Zhang Wenyu’s heart filled with joy. ’The Elder still remembers me!’

"Of course, I remember."

Fang Yun had a rather clear impression of Zhang Wenyu.

After their Magical Combat spar back then, Zhang Wenyu had been the first Senior Brother to invite him to team up for a mission.

At that time, Zhang Wenyu was at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, while he was still at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

Now, Zhang Wenyu was already at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, which was a typical rate of Cultivation progress for most Celestial Cloud Sect disciples.

Within the Celestial Cloud Sect, Cultivators with Three Spirit Roots were the most numerous.

"What Magical Artifact do you need repaired?" Fang Yun asked.

He had just heard some of the conversation between Zhang Wenyu and the Steward.

"It’s this Upper Grade Magical Artifact, Elder." As he spoke, Zhang Wenyu took out his great saber again. "Please, take a look."

Fang Yun took the great saber and knew where it was damaged with a single glance.

The damage wasn’t severe. Even if he continued to use it, the Magical Artifact could still unleash about seventy percent of its power.

’With a few supplementary Spiritual Materials, I can repair this quickly.’

"Go and wait for me at the entrance to my cave residence."

"Yes, Elder." Zhang Wenyu was overjoyed.

’Fang Yun’s words meant he was going to help him repair the Upper Grade Magical Artifact!’

「Not long after.」

After accepting the Spiritual Artifact Refining tasks, Fang Yun returned to the Artifact Refining Room in his cave residence and began the simple repair job.

The auxiliary Tier One Spiritual Materials needed for the repair were primarily found in the territories of the Celestial Demon Sect and the Spirit Demon Sect.

He currently had an abundance of these auxiliary Tier One Spiritual Materials. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

In less than forty-five minutes, the repair work was complete.

"Here, this is your Upper Grade Magical Artifact."

After the stone door of the cave residence opened, Fang Yun returned the repaired great saber to Zhang Wenyu.

"Thank you so much, Elder!" Zhang Wenyu said happily, then asked, "Elder, I haven’t asked yet—how many Spirit Stones does the repair cost?"

"Forget the Spirit Stones. Just take this and kill a few more Demons. Consider that my payment."

"Understood!"

Zhang Wenyu knew that someone like Fang Yun wouldn’t care about the small amount of Spirit Stones he could offer.

After thanking Fang Yun again, he finally left.

’My luck is really good!’

Zhang Wenyu thought to himself on his way down the mountain.

’Not only was I fortunate enough to buy this kind of Magical Artifact in the first place, but when it broke, I was lucky enough to run into Elder Fang, who repaired my great saber right away.’

’I was lucky this time, but I might not be so fortunate next time.’

He hoped this special Upper Grade great saber Magical Artifact wouldn’t get damaged again before he reached the peak of the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

Back in his cave residence, after repairing the Magical Artifact, Fang Yun began Refining a Spiritual Artifact.

He now had many channels to obtain information.

As things stood, the Celestial Demon Sect’s campaign against them was still in its opening stages.

At this stage, the Demon Spirit Sect was unlikely to get involved.

The primary combatants in this opening stage were all Qi Refining Cultivators.

The frequency of Demon appearances throughout the Celestial Cloud Sect’s territory had increased dramatically.

Some of the weaker Qi Refining Influences had suffered heavy losses and had holed themselves up, drastically reducing how often their members went out.

Demons could be lying in ambush just outside their territories.

The Demons were cunning; they rarely attacked a faction’s territory directly, preferring to ambush travelers on the roads.

Naturally, they had countermeasures against the activities of the Demons from the Celestial Demon Sect’s territory, with counter-ambushes being one of the best tactics.

Two months ago, on his way to the Supreme Profound Mountain Range, Fang Yun had incidentally killed two late-stage Qi Refining Demons.

For him, going out of his way to hunt Demons meant he had to wait for the right opportunity.

When there were no opportunities to act, it was best to just lie low, continue his development, and focus on his Artifact Refining and Alchemy duties.

...

「March came around again.」

Early in the morning, Huang Mengzhu woke up.

She left her residence, but this time she wasn’t heading to Smoke Cloud Peak, but toward the sect’s main gate.

She was going home to test her younger brother Huang Mengyang’s Spirit Root.

Huang Mengyang was already ten years old, the age where his Spirit Root could be tested.

By testing his Spirit Root now, they could know in advance whether her younger brother Huang Mengyang could become a disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect.

She was different. She had tested with Three Spirit Roots, which was the standard to enter the Celestial Cloud Sect. However, because she, his older sister, was already an Inner Sect Disciple, Huang Mengyang could become an Outer Sect Disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect even if he only had Four Spirit Roots.

However, having Five Spirit Roots wouldn’t be enough.

Without a special skill to offer, someone with Five Spirit Roots couldn’t become an Outer Sect Disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect—not unless their sister was an Elder of the sect.

After exiting the sect’s main gate, Huang Mengzhu headed for the inner city district, which was very close to the Celestial Cloud Sect.

When she became an Inner Sect Disciple, her parents had already moved residences.

The inner city district was safer.

Even the outer regions near the Celestial Cloud Sect had previously seen incidents of Demons harming people, but nothing of the sort had occurred in the inner city district for at least a century.

Even in the current turbulent times, it was still exceptionally safe.