Chapter 283: Chapter 248: Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact (2)

The master and disciple discussed Artifact Refining for about an hour before Fang Yun bid Xiong Xingfeng farewell and returned to his cave residence.

Upon returning to his cave residence, Fang Yun immediately headed into the Artifact Refining Room.

He laid out all the Spiritual Materials and looked them over, lost in thought.

’With these Spiritual Materials, I might be able to refine an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Nine Spirit Patterns.’

According to his current knowledge of Artifact Refining, these Spiritual Materials could, at best, only be used to refine an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Eight Spirit Patterns.

However, the ideas now flooding his mind presented far greater possibilities.

This was his seven-star artifact refining talent!

’I’ll refine it just like this.’

Fang Yun pushed aside all extraneous thoughts, settling on the best possible plan.

Then, he began refining his first Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact.

It was incredibly difficult for an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator to refine an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact. In fact, most Artifact Refiners were incapable of such a feat.

Fang Yun compensated for his lower Realm with his superior talent.

During the refining process, Fang Yun navigated the most difficult steps by relying on instinct, guided by his innate talent.

Because this was his first time refining an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact—and aiming for Nine Spirit Patterns, no less—many steps in the process were completed by the skin of his teeth.

Thankfully, he managed to finish it in the end. The entire process took him a little over six days.

Refining an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact took five days at a minimum.

’Done!’

Fang Yun gazed at the Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact in his hand, wondering how many base Talent Points an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Nine Spirit Patterns would provide him.

Based on the pattern of base Talent Points gained from Lower-grade and Middle-grade Spiritual Artifacts, Fang Yun had a good idea of how many he could expect from Upper-grade Spiritual Artifacts with seven to nine Spirit Patterns.

’An Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Nine Spirit Patterns should grant me at least twenty-two thousand base Talent Points.’

This was just his conservative estimate; the actual number might be even higher.

With twenty-two thousand base Talent Points, plus his current multipliers, the final amount of Talent Points he would receive would exceed one hundred thousand.

The past six-plus days had been well worth the effort.

As he grew stronger, the average Talent Points he’d receive in his monthly settlement would only increase.

Once he finished refining the Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact, Fang Yun went to the Artifact Pavilion to turn in the mission.

The transaction had to follow standard procedure.

The reward for this mission to refine an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact was two thousand Sect Contribution Points and ten Middle-grade Spirit Stones.

These rewards were to be paid by Feng Tianrui; he had already handed them over to the Artifact Pavilion when he first posted the mission.

Two thousand Contribution Points were added to his Identity Token, and the number of Middle-grade Spirit Stones in his Storage Pouch grew to twenty-three.

Despite this constant accumulation, Fang Yun’s net worth wasn’t growing very quickly. He also had to post missions to collect Spiritual Materials, so most of his Contribution Points and Spirit Stones were being converted into personal strength.

「Two hours later.」

Feng Tianrui appeared at the Artifact Pavilion.

He had already been notified that the mission was complete.

"Elder Feng, here is your Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact."

"Mm, let me have a look."

Feng Tianrui thought, ’With Fang Yun’s skills, he should be able to refine an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Eight Spirit Patterns for me.’

’If it only has seven Spirit Patterns, I hope it’s at least an exceptional one.’

But one look left him first startled, then overjoyed.

It actually had Nine Spirit Patterns!

’Could the Spiritual Materials I provided really be used to refine an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Nine Spirit Patterns?’

Feng Tianrui recalled Xiong Xingfeng telling him that with materials of this quality, even refining an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Eight Spirit Patterns would be difficult. Nine Spirit Patterns was completely out of the question.

"Very good."

Feng Tianrui gave an impassive nod.

After quickly leaving the Artifact Pavilion, he went straight to find Xiong Xingfeng.

He figured Fang Yun was probably resting after just finishing the refinement, so he decided not to disturb him.

"Elder Feng?"

Xiong Xingfeng was a little confused to see Feng Tianrui.

At the beginning of the month, his disciple Fang Yun had just come to collect the Spiritual Materials. Seeing Feng Tianrui here now, Xiong Xingfeng’s first thought was that something had gone wrong with the refinement.

’My disciple’s talent is good, but this is his first time refining an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact. And he’s still only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, which makes it even harder.’

"Did he turn your Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact into a Middle-grade one?" Xiong Xingfeng voiced his suspicion.

"No, no." Feng Tianrui shook his head quickly. "It’s like this, Elder Xiong... you should just see this Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact for yourself."

Saying this, Feng Tianrui handed the ring-shaped Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact to Xiong Xingfeng.

Xiong Xingfeng took one look and was also stunned.

He was even more astonished than Feng Tianrui had been.

As an Artifact Refiner, he understood the true quality of this Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact even more deeply.

According to his current knowledge of Artifact Refining, he knew for a fact that the Spiritual Materials Feng Tianrui had provided could absolutely not be used to refine an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Nine Spirit Patterns.

But now, with this nine-pattern Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact right in front of him, he chose to believe wholeheartedly in his disciple’s astounding talent, which had clearly unlocked possibilities within these materials that he hadn’t thought existed.

’To have built up such a foundation before even attempting an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact...’

All Xiong Xingfeng could think was,

’As expected of my disciple!’

"Nine Spirit Patterns... there’s nothing wrong with this Spiritual Artifact." Xiong Xingfeng said, handing the ring-shaped artifact back to Feng Tianrui. "Elder Feng, is there something you don’t understand that requires my explanation?"

Feng Tianrui took in the complete change in Xiong Xingfeng’s demeanor.

First came the shock, but now his expression was one of ’this is only natural’.

"Elder Xiong, I recall you saying that these Spiritual Materials couldn’t produce an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact with Nine Spirit Patterns," Feng Tianrui said with a smile.

"Yes, I did say that, but Elder Feng, you didn’t quote me in full. I distinctly said that an *ordinary* Artifact Refiner could never use these materials to make a nine-pattern Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact. Is my disciple an ordinary Artifact Refiner? He’s a genius!"

A long time ago, Xiong Xingfeng had considered himself a true genius on the path of Artifact Refining.

But after taking Fang Yun as his disciple, he felt himself drifting further and further from that title. Compared to Fang Yun’s talent, his own could only be considered ordinary.

"Is that so?" Feng Tianrui tried to recall the conversation.

"Of course."

"Alright, then."

Feng Tianrui didn’t press the issue with Xiong Xingfeng. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

This was a happy occasion for Xiong Xingfeng. At a time like this, even if he was wrong, you had to let him be right.

Afterward, spurred by the creation of the Spiritual Artifact, the two Elders’ conversation naturally turned to Fang Yun.

Xiong Xingfeng grew incredibly animated when talking about his disciple, his every word dripping with pride.

「Late September.」

In the half-month that followed, news of Fang Yun refining an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact for Feng Tianrui spread to every Elder in the sect.

Xiong Xingfeng brought it up with every Elder he saw, while Feng Tianrui couldn’t resist sharing the news whenever he was on Battle Peak.

Now, all the Elders knew that Fang Yun hadn’t just started refining Upper-grade Spiritual Artifacts, but that his standard of craftsmanship was exceptionally high.

In his hands, Spiritual Materials could exhibit a value far beyond their intrinsic worth.

If not for how difficult it was to collect Spiritual Materials for Upper-grade Spiritual Artifacts, several Late-stage Foundation Establishment Elders would have already sought Fang Yun out to refine one for them.

Bai Qinying learned all the specific details from her master, Feng Tianrui.

Because of this, she made a special trip to find Fang Yun and ask him a question.

"Junior Brother, can you use the Spiritual Materials for a Middle-grade Spiritual Artifact to refine an Upper-grade one?"

Fang Yun’s answer was, of course, no.

Spiritual Materials meant only for Middle-grade Spiritual Artifacts were inherently limited. No matter what one did, they could not be used to create an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact.

Whether it had seven or nine Spirit Patterns, it was still in the realm of an Upper-grade Spiritual Artifact.

He also explained that being able to refine Nine Spirit Patterns into her master’s artifact had involved a certain degree of luck.

If his luck had been even slightly worse, he would have been stuck after inscribing the Eight Spirit Patterns, unable to proceed any further.

As news of his feat spread, Fang Yun received some good news of his own.

His sect influence had risen by one percentage point.

His sect influence had now reached 67%.

The progress bar toward one hundred percent influence was now more than two-thirds full.