Vessel of Worlds

Andy carefully picked up a piece of refined copper he had ruined during purification and placed it inside the bowl, then sealed the lid and waited for a miracle.

Based on his previous research into the bowl's miraculous properties, any spirit-infused substance whose spiritual energy was below its maximum capacity could potentially be enhanced by the bowl to the peak level its material could hold. The more energy that needed to be added, the longer the process took.

Sub-grade pills and low-grade spirit stones, for example, could be upgraded through the bowl into standard pills and high-grade spirit stones. Cinnabar could be made far more potent. By the same logic, this poorly purified refined copper was like a sub-grade pill—the bowl might be able to restore it to the quality of properly purified copper.

An hour later, Andy opened the lid, scarcely daring to hope.

Sure enough, the spiritual energy in the refined copper had increased dramatically, and its color had brightened considerably. Compared to the few blocks he had painstakingly purified by hand, this one actually seemed slightly superior.

He didn't dare push the experiment further. If the bowl produced refined copper of astonishing quality, it might arouse Artifact Master Kuang's suspicion—and that would be a disaster of his own making. He removed the block and placed another ruined piece inside.

This time he took it out after just over half a shichen.

His spiritual sense thoroughly overtaxed, his head pounding and his thoughts swimming, Andy finally allowed himself to relax and fell into a deep, satisfying sleep.

He slept for two full days and nights. When he woke, his spiritual sense had fully recovered. Only seven or eight days remained before the deadline, and he still had half his ore left to process. But with the bowl in hand, Andy felt no panic whatsoever.

He simply dumped all the remaining ore in front of him at once, cast a Levitation spell, and suspended the entire batch a zhang above the chamber floor. Then he channeled spiritual power into the dragon-head carvings on both walls simultaneously. The stone mouths opened, and twin columns of fire, each as thick as a man's arm, roared out and engulfed the ore. Within moments the rock melted into countless droplets, still floating in midair.

Andy made no attempt at careful control—he didn't bother worrying about whether the copper was being burned too long. He simply used his spiritual sense to roughly gather the refined copper liquid into five or six small clusters.

It took considerable effort, but eventually all the refined copper liquid had been collected. Andy withdrew his spiritual power from the fire, and the dragon heads fell silent. He then channeled spiritual power into the Spirit Spring Water dragon head on the western wall. Water gushed from its mouth, quickly filling the pool below before cutting off.

Andy guided the floating clusters of copper liquid down into the pool in rapid succession. A chorus of hissing and a cloud of white steam later, several blocks of refined copper sat at the bottom of the pool.

The entire process had taken him seven or eight shichen, and by the end he was drenched in sweat. Spiritual power was no problem—he had been gripping a high-grade spirit stone the entire time. But his spiritual sense was thoroughly spent once again.

His results were five or six blocks of refined copper that were visibly lacking in spiritual energy, their color dull and lackluster. One block was so dark brown and spiritually depleted it barely resembled refined copper at all.

This was the inevitable consequence of processing too much ore at once without the spiritual sense for precise control. But Andy didn't care. He had the bowl. He placed the worst of the failed blocks inside and let the bowl nurture them for about half a shichen each, then settled into meditation to rest.

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The one-month deadline arrived quickly. Andy brought his eleven blocks of refined copper out of the forging chamber with quiet confidence.

Senior Brother Lu was already waiting in the stone corridor. Once all three artifact disciples had emerged from their respective chambers, the four of them returned through the teleportation formation, climbed back up the long stone stairway, and made their way toward the Hall of a Hundred Forgings.

No one spoke along the way. Andy stole a few glances at Fang Fu and Ma Gao and noticed both of them looking anxious and uneasy. Their results, it seemed, had not gone well either. The two of them, in turn, could read nothing from Andy's face—no joy, no worry—which only made their own anxiety worse. On the way down to the forging chambers, Ma Gao had thought the path was far too long. Now he wished it would never end.

But under the weight of his dread, the walk seemed to pass in no time at all, and they arrived at the Hall of a Hundred Forgings. The portly Artifact Master Kuang was sitting in his armchair with his eyes closed, as before. This time, however, the moment the three of them crossed the threshold, his eyes opened.

"How much refined copper did you produce? Let's see it." He wasted no time on pleasantries and went straight to inspecting the results. Theory discussed in words was one thing—the actual product of hands-on work was what truly mattered.

All three took out the storage pouches that had originally held their ore and emptied the contents onto the floor in front of them. Then, almost in unison, they glanced at what the other two had produced.

Andy took a quick look as well. Both Fang Fu and Ma Gao had produced only eight or nine blocks of refined copper, and more than half were clearly failed pieces.

Andy, by contrast, had eleven blocks, of which only three were failures. The difference was immediately obvious.

All three felt their hearts sink—though for different reasons. Andy's concern was that he had performed too well. He might attract Artifact Master Kuang's suspicion. He had intended to match the other two's level and avoid standing out, but he had miscalculated—their results were considerably worse than he had expected.

Ma Gao and Fang Fu, seeing their own output surpassed in both quality and quantity, wore expressions of shame and apprehension.

Lu Wen and Artifact Master Kuang both looked mildly surprised. Andy's results had clearly exceeded their expectations.

The portly artifact master picked up one of Andy's blocks—a gleaming, golden piece of refined copper—and turned it over in his hands, his face breaking into a broad smile, the folds of his plump cheeks bunching together. "Well now—this piece was refined quite nicely. Very good!" He looked at Andy. "It seems you have real talent for artifact forging. What's your name?"

"Andy, at your service, Artifact Master. I owe it all to your excellent instruction," Andy said hastily, producing a piece of flattery that even he found somewhat nauseating.

"Hmm, Junior Nephew Zhao—tell me, what did you do differently when refining this particular block compared to the others?" The artifact master nodded and smiled, clearly interested.

Andy launched into the explanation he had prepared in advance: "After entering the forging chamber, I spent the first three days carefully studying the jade slip you provided. Only after I felt I had a solid understanding did I begin purifying the ore. But I couldn't get the Earth Lung Fire under proper control at first, and my first two attempts produced inferior copper. After resting for a day, I tried again, and this time—I'm not sure why—the Earth Lung Fire was remarkably stable and easy to handle. Everything went smoothly, and I produced this block. But afterward, no matter how carefully I tried, I could never quite replicate the same result. Every subsequent block fell slightly short. On one occasion, my spiritual sense ran out and I lost control of the timing, which gave me a failed piece."

"You assigned them lower-tier forging chambers?" Artifact Master Kuang didn't respond to Andy directly, but turned to Lu Wen instead.

Lu Wen nodded. "Yes, Artifact Master."

"Hmm. Then you truly do have talent." The artifact master turned back to Andy. "The Earth Lung Fire in the lower-tier chambers is indeed somewhat unstable. For you to have produced a block of premium refined copper under those conditions is remarkable—even I couldn't guarantee that result, doing it myself."

He meant it. At his current level of expertise, even with the most basic purification work, he couldn't count on producing premium-grade copper more than one time in three—let alone in a lower-tier chamber with inconsistent fire.

"Junior Nephew Zhao, you've done excellent work. I always reward good performance, and you'll be properly compensated." The artifact master casually pocketed the premium copper block, beaming, as he spoke.