Chapter 162: You Talk Too Much
Song Qiaoqiao lowered her head, the tips of her ears turning red.
Fang Yun looked at Song Qiaoqiao. It was as if steam was coming out of her head.
Faced with this situation, Song Qiaoqiao didn’t correct the mistake immediately as she usually would have. Instead, she was at a bit of a loss.
"Mengzhu, don’t just say things like that. This is your Senior Sister Song."
As he spoke, Fang Yun gave Huang Mengzhu a light tap on the head, signaling for her to quickly correct what she’d said.
It was a gentle flick, not painful at all.
Huang Mengzhu still clutched her head and looked up at Fang Yun.
The smile on Brother Fang Yun’s face clearly told her that what she’d said was perfectly fine.
"Senior Sister Song, my apologies." Finally, at the prompting of Fang Yun’s gaze, Huang Mengzhu obediently corrected herself. She also added an explanation, "For his birthday before, Brother Fang Yun always came to find me by himself. Now that you’re with him, I thought your relationship was..."
"You talk too much."
Fang Yun cut off Huang Mengzhu’s explanation.
If she kept explaining like that, anyone who didn’t know better would think Song Qiaoqiao cultivated a Fire Attribute Technique.
Song Qiaoqiao didn’t have a Fire Spirit Root; her Dual Spirit Roots were Water and Wood.
"It’s alright. A misunderstanding is normal."
After a long moment, Song Qiaoqiao finally returned to normal and spoke understandingly.
She could understand that Huang Mengzhu hadn’t said it on purpose.
After the three of them arrived at Smoke Cloud Pavilion on Smoke Cloud Peak, the Spiritual Food was served. Huang Mengzhu focused wholeheartedly on eating, while Fang Yun and Song Qiaoqiao chatted from time to time about alchemy.
Huang Mengzhu couldn’t understand a single word of it, nor did she have any interest in trying.
If Fang Yun and Song Qiaoqiao had been talking about food, she might have chimed in with a few words.
「The next day.」
Fang Yun went to the Task Hall in person and pocketed fifteen catties of Lower Grade Profound Crystal.
He now had eighteen catties of Lower Grade Profound Crystal again.
’I need to accumulate more Second Tier Spiritual Materials in the future.’
Fang Yun thought to himself. Lower Grade Profound Crystal was, without a doubt, a Second Tier Spiritual Material.
In the Task Hall, he once again used Contribution Points to post a task. It was also for collecting materials, more or less to try his luck. He would be fine with it even if the task wasn’t completed until next year.
After leaving the Task Hall, he took the opportunity to visit the nearby Disciple Marketplace.
For refining a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, many high-level Tier One auxiliary Spiritual Materials would suffice, and the Spiritual Materials he wanted occasionally appeared in the Disciple Marketplace.
As long as they were available, Fang Yun bought them directly.
Now that his reputation within the Celestial Cloud Sect had improved further, his efficiency in buying things at the Disciple Marketplace had increased significantly.
The news that he was the apprentice of the Artifact Casting Peak’s Management Elder had already spread.
「Time flew.」
As soon as the sixth month began, Fang Yun, who was in his room, immediately closed his book and opened the light screen.
——
...
Refined Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, Earth Yellow Sword *1 (piece), +1642 Talent Points.
...
Sect Influence: 32%
Talent Point Bonus: 216%
Settlement: +13,124 Talent Points.
——
Fang Yun focused on the Talent Points provided by the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Earth Yellow Sword.
Just as he’d thought, he received more Talent Points from refining the Earth Yellow Sword than from the Profound Crystal Shield.
This was mainly because after refining the Profound Crystal Shield, he had gained experience in Artifact Refining, which made the process of refining the Earth Yellow Sword much smoother.
For the same type of Spirit Pattern, the one he inscribed on the Earth Yellow Sword was slightly more complex.
As for his Sect Influence, it would likely be difficult for it to change again in the period between taking a master and reaching the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.
Having 32% Sect Influence was already very good.
After all, after reaching the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, his goal had been to raise his Sect Influence to just 30% before reaching the Peak of Qi Refining. He had now exceeded that goal.
Soon after, Fang Yun opened the Combat Talent interface.
He prepared to do a single draw.
He did the first draw.
Shield Talent Fragment *1
’Again!’
Shoe Talent Fragment *1
’Alright...’
A flicker of joy appeared in Fang Yun’s heart, but before he could even properly celebrate, a strange sensation and a wave of heat washed over him, interrupting his thoughts.
After the heat subsided, Fang Yun took a deep breath and looked at the Combat Talent interface again:
[Tool]Shield Talent ★★★ (5/120)
[Tool]Sword Talent ★★★ (1/120)
[Tool]Shoe Talent ★★★ (0/120)
All his Combat Talents had been upgraded to three stars.
He now possessed one Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact each for the Sword and Shield types; all that was missing was a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact for shoes.
Like other Spiritual Artifacts, even if he refined a shoe-type Spiritual Artifact now, he wouldn’t be able to use it directly.
For getting around within the sect, it was still better to use an Upper Grade Magical Artifact. Its speed was decent, and the Spiritual Power consumption was very low.
This was even more true now that his Shoe Talent had been upgraded.
As for refining a Lower Grade shoe-type Spiritual Artifact, Fang Yun already had some ideas.
The hide of an adult Wind Leopard would be an excellent main material, and an adult Wind Leopard had the strength of the early Foundation Establishment stage at the very least.
’After I save up some Spirit Stones, I’ll go find Master.’
Now that all his Combat Talents were at three stars, the next step, according to his plan, was to upgrade his Life Talents to five stars.
A moment later, with a thought, Fang Yun brought up the Life Talent interface before him.
After the two Combat Talent draws, and adding the Talent Points left over from last month, he had one hundred and twelve chances to draw for Life Talents.
Without the slightest hesitation, Fang Yun used all one hundred and twelve draws, leaving him with only 37 Talent Points.
Alchemy Talent Fragments *39
Artifact Refining Talent Fragments *40
Planting Talent Fragments *33
This time, he had drawn the most Artifact Refining Talent Fragments.
As the fragments for the three major Life Talents began to increase, the Life Talent interface changed instantly.
Alchemy Talent ★★★★ (48/720)
Artifact Refining Talent ★★★★ (44/720)
Planting Talent ★★★★ (33/720)
"I’ve still got a long way to go."
Fang Yun couldn’t help but say as he looked at the Life Talent interface.
At a glance, after this round of draws, he was still a little over two hundred thousand Talent Points short of being able to upgrade all his Life Talents to five stars.
Without any Spiritual Artifacts to refine, the Talent Points he settled each month were currently between seven thousand and nine thousand.
Refining one Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, with the sect’s Talent Point bonus, could provide him with around five thousand Talent Points.
Under normal circumstances, it would take at least two years to get two hundred thousand Talent Points.
After closing the light screen, Fang Yun thought about it carefully.
’My expectations were too high.’
Five-star talents were barely enough for the Core Formation Stage. Right now, he was only at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer. Never mind two years, even taking five years to upgrade his Life Talents from four stars to five would be acceptable.
Calculating the time, it had only been two years and eight months since he joined the Celestial Cloud Sect.
For a blank slate like him, this rate of development was already extremely fast.
The reason for his rapid development was that other cultivators didn’t have a need for Talent Points.
If this were a game, who would give him the Spirit Medicine they planted to use for his Alchemy? They would use the Spirit Medicine they planted themselves to farm their own Talent Points.
As it stood, he had a very stable income of Talent Points each month from Alchemy.
Now that his proficiency in refining Rejuvenation Pills had also increased, his monthly acquisition of Talent Points was even more stable.