Vessel of Worlds

Andy and the other two waited only a moment before the dense clouds began to shift. Spiritual light flickered, and from within the clouds a dazzling stairway of light extended—two or three zhang wide and nearly a hundred zhang long—reaching from the small pavilion straight into the mountain's depths.

The three quickly stepped onto the stairway and walked in.

Once past the cloud barrier, the dense mist fell away behind them, and they finally saw Zhaoyin Peak's true face. This peak was unlike any other in the range. There was no lush, green vegetation—not a single tree or blade of grass. The exposed rock was uniformly dark red, and the temperature was noticeably higher than outside. For cultivators at their level, ordinary shifts in heat and cold were of no concern—they had long since become immune to such things. But the heat on this barren peak was a different matter entirely. An ordinary mortal who wandered in here would be driven out by the heat before long.

The three walked in silence along a short stretch of mountain road until they arrived before a stone hall. On a large red boulder in front of the entrance, three characters were carved in bold, powerful strokes: "Hall of a Hundred Forgings."

The hall itself was constructed entirely from a snow-white, crystalline jade that stood out brilliantly against the dark red backdrop. The moment the three stepped through the entrance, the temperature plummeted—inside, it felt roughly the same as the world outside the mountain.

Andy immediately recognized the white jade used in the construction: Cold Jade.

He couldn't remember which book it had been, but he had read that Cold Jade was a common artifact-forging material, though the spiritual power content varied enormously between specimens. It was generally classified by age—Hundred-Year Cold Jade and Thousand-Year Cold Jade. Hundred-Year Cold Jade could be used to produce mid-grade or even upper-grade artifacts, while Thousand-Year Cold Jade offered the possibility of forging an exceptional-grade artifact.

The Cold Jade in this hall, judging by the spiritual energy it radiated, was merely ten- or perhaps several-decades-old jade—but using it to construct an entire hall was still an impressive display of resources.

Inside the hall, a slightly portly middle-aged cultivator who looked to be around forty sat in the only armchair, eyes closed, apparently dozing.

Andy read the man's spiritual fluctuations and judged him to be slightly weaker than old Administrator Ma—probably an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Both his cultivation and his appearance matched the description of the Artifact Master Kuang they had come to find.

The three exchanged glances. None dared to speak. They simply stood in silence, waiting.

Knowing they would be working under this Foundation Establishment cultivator for the foreseeable future, none of them was willing to risk waking him. They stood motionless, barely breathing.

They stood there for seven or eight shichen.

Even with a cultivator's constitution, holding the same position for that long left all three of them with aching legs. But the middle-aged cultivator still showed no sign of waking.

Ma Gao was the youngest of the three and the first to run out of patience. Just as he was about to speak up and rouse the man, the cultivator suddenly yawned and opened his eyes.

Before any of them could say a word, the middle-aged cultivator spoke first: "So you three are this year's newly admitted outer-sect disciples. Not bad—standing that long shows some perseverance."

"I am the Artifact Master Kuang you've been looking for. However, before you can become artifact disciples, I need to assess you. Not just anyone can master the art of artifact forging—beyond perseverance, certain technical knowledge and skills are indispensable." He continued without pause.

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An assessment? That old Ma never mentioned this. He only vaguely said to read up on some artifact forging texts. Andy silently cursed the administrator several times over in the space of a single thought.

But Artifact Master Kuang gave them no time to prepare. The moment he announced the assessment, he pointed at Andy and asked: "Let me start with you. Do you know what requirements there are for the fire used in artifact forging?"

Fortunately it was a general knowledge question, and Andy had in fact read the relevant texts. After a moment's thought, he answered: "Artifact forging generally requires Innate True Fire. Innate True Fire is a flame that originates from the spiritual power within a cultivator's dantian, available only to those at Foundation Establishment and above. It requires no special cultivation—once a cultivator reaches Foundation Establishment, they naturally possess it. Apart from Innate True Fire, the most common substitute is Earth Fire—also called Earth Lung Fire—which comes from deep underground in areas of special geological composition. Earth Lung Fire is actually somewhat more powerful than typical Innate True Fire, and when properly regulated, is even better suited to artifact forging, since Innate True Fire consumes enormous amounts of spiritual power and isn't practical for extended use."

Andy paused briefly, then added: "There is also said to be a lesser-known method: using the demonic fire breathed by second-grade or higher fire-attribute spirit beasts for forging. Beyond that, I'm not clear on the details."

"Very good!" The middle-aged cultivator nodded approvingly. "You even know about forging with demonic fire—clearly you've done your reading."

The other two cultivators exchanged a glance, both showing obvious envy. Andy had clearly passed.

The middle-aged cultivator then pointed at Fang Fu: "Tell me—what materials and methods are typically needed to forge a magical artifact?"

Fang Fu was silent for a moment, seeming to organize his thoughts, then answered at a measured pace: "In general, artifact forging requires a primary mineral material, along with auxiliary materials such as spirit spring water and diamond sand, as well as a certain quantity and grade of spirit stones. Beyond the process of purifying the raw materials, a degree of formation knowledge is also necessary, since several common small-scale formations are used during the forging process. Certain types of artifacts also require inscribing specific runic patterns during production."

"Mm, not bad." The middle-aged cultivator nodded, satisfied with this answer as well.

That left Ma Gao. His question was: "What methods do you know for extracting and purifying the raw forging materials from mineral ore?"

This was clearly the hardest of the three questions. Andy silently counted himself lucky—if he had drawn this one, he wouldn't have known how to answer either.

Sure enough, Ma Gao didn't know much. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he stammered: "Purification, well… I know that you can melt the ore with True Fire, and then the impurities will be burned away or separated out, which achieves a purifying effect."

The middle-aged cultivator actually nodded: "Indeed, burning with fire is the most common method, though it requires extremely precise control through spiritual sense—otherwise the raw material's potency can easily be damaged by the True Fire. Beyond this, there are quite a few other purification techniques. If you apply yourselves diligently over the coming year, you'll naturally develop a useful skill."

All three were elated. Artifact Master Kuang's meaning was clear—they had all passed.

"Good," the middle-aged cultivator said, rising from his chair. "Here is a jade slip recording several purification techniques. Study them carefully, then you can begin practicing." He flicked his right hand lightly, and three streaks of green light drifted out, coming to rest before each of them—three identical jade slips.

After the three had put the slips away, the middle-aged cultivator added: "In half a shichen, a senior brother will take you to the forging chambers and provide each of you with a batch of refined copper ore. Focus on extracting the refined copper. I'll inspect each of your progress and results in one month."

With that, he swept his sleeve and departed the Cold Jade hall.

Before long, a young cultivator at the thirteenth layer of Qi Refinement—one step from Foundation Establishment—arrived. His name was Lu Wen. He led the three out of the Hall of a Hundred Forgings and deeper into the mountain.

After walking through the mountain's interior for over half a shichen, Ma Gao couldn't hold back any longer: "Senior Brother Lu, exactly how deep underground are these forging chambers? We've been going down for half a shichen already—we must be several hundred meters below the surface."

Lu Wen answered coldly: "What's the rush? We're almost there. The forging chambers use Earth Lung Fire. How could they not be deep underground?"

"Good to hear. It's getting hotter and hotter down here—without using some spiritual power for protection, I'd be drenched in sweat," Ma Gao muttered under his breath.