With the arrival of spring, the number of people traveling increased significantly. Coupled with the upcoming grand competition in the city, the queue of cultivators waiting to enter was quite long. It seemed that although the outcome of this competition lacked suspense every year, people were still eager to show their support when the time came.
Having some spare cash now, Nie Shiyun stopped pinching pennies. He went directly to a cultivation center in the city and rented a room for fifteen days, planning to stay there every night until he left the Middle Layer.
During his occasional visits to Madam Shang, she had given him several classic texts. While the Shang family’s secret manuals were off-limits, ordinary ones were free to read. Nie Shiyun had transcribed several copies, intending to find time to settle down and study them thoroughly. The days leading up to the artifact refining competition provided the perfect opportunity.
He first went to the Artifact Refiners' Association to register for the competition. Everything went smoothly; it took less than thirty seconds to pay the immortal crystals and receive his entry token.
The cultivator processing the paperwork looked rather listless. Seeing that Nie Shiyun was a rogue cultivator and a first-time participant, he gave him a brief glance but said nothing, simply completing the registration.
Madam Shang had previously advised Nie Shiyun not to be curious about the Dragon Race, so she hadn't mentioned any extra information regarding the Dragon Prince. Part of the reason Nie Shiyun had arrived early was to gather information, so before returning to his cultivation room, he spent some time asking around the city.
This member of the Dragon Race was named Ao Fan, and he had been loitering around Pinghe City for over thirty years.
Nie Shiyun had originally assumed that even as the youngest son of the Dragon leader, he would be several hundred years old. After all, Nie Shiyun himself was among the youngest group of humans in the Upper Realm. To his surprise, he discovered that Ao Fan was only a little over a hundred years old—his bone age was actually slightly younger than Nie Shiyun’s.
Upon hearing this, Nie Shiyun initially thought that a younger individual might be easier to talk to. If he could find a way to get Ao Fan to help him repair the Ascension Path in the future, it would be ideal. However, as he continued his inquiries, he realized the situation was not optimistic. Despite his youth, Ao Fan had committed a long list of misdeeds: kidnapping female cultivators, brawling and smashing shops because he didn't like the owner's face, and constantly claiming that humans were inferior to Dragons, refusing to let anyone contradict him... A few casual questions yielded a mountain of dirt on him.
To be honest, even if the other party agreed, Nie Shiyun doubted whether he could cooperate with such a person.
"He's not in the city right now?"
Hearing Nie Shiyun’s question, the pawnshop owner looked as if he wanted to avoid the subject entirely. "Yes. He usually stays with the Lan family, but he occasionally goes out to seek pleasure. Why? Are you actually hoping he’d be here? Sigh, if it weren't for this being an ancestral shop, I would have moved long ago... Last time he came here, he walked off with two pairs of vases..."
"No, I’m just a newcomer. I heard about such a figure and wanted to ask around."
The owner jerked his chin toward the square. "See that cleared space in the plaza? You know about the Artifact Refining Competition, right? You'll see him then. He'll be there to show off. He comes every few years; he never seems to tire of it..."
Nie Shiyun gave the man a wry smile. It seemed everyone in this city had grievances they couldn't voice.
Learning that the target was currently out of town, Nie Shiyun put aside his other thoughts and retreated into his cultivation room to focus on the manuals. Although he couldn't break through immediately, he felt he was only a step away from the Integration Stage. With a bit more time, both his cultivation and his artifact refining skills would see significant progress.
The time flow within the jade pendant was even slower than before. Nie Shiyun spent over four months inside the cultivation room, but when he emerged, only ten days had passed outside. The preliminary round was only one day away.
The reason various competitions among cultivators attracted crowds was partly for the spectacle, but mostly because the matches were public. It was a rare opportunity for people to observe how those with higher cultivation handled materials—such chances were hard to come by.
Artifact refiners who were unwilling to let others see their techniques generally did not participate in such events. For instance, refiners of Grade 4 and above almost never demonstrated their process in the public eye.
Nie Shiyun intended to treat his participation as a mere formality, planning to drop out after a round or two of the preliminaries. He figured he could then see what this Dragon named Ao Fan looked like, or perhaps find a high-level refiner to observe and learn from on the sidelines.
On the day of the preliminaries, Nie Shiyun arrived with his entry token. The plaza was a sea of people, much noisier than he had imagined.
Although there was no hope for the top rankings, many Grade 2 refiners came with the intention of passing the preliminaries to earn back their immortal crystals and get a few free bottles of medicinal pills. It was said that because the event had been held too frequently in recent years, many cultivators who failed the preliminaries repeatedly had lost the motivation to join. To counter this, the Lan family had added many new rewards this year, managing to keep the number of participants at its usual level—at least making it look very lively on the surface.
Nie Shiyun weighed his refiner's badge in his hand. In truth, he had already experimented within his spatial dimension. Although his success rate wasn't high yet, he had successfully refined Profound-grade treasures twice.
With a little more refinement, he should be able to pass the Grade 3 refiner examination smoothly. However, considering the speed of his progress and the fact that he could use the Phoenix Tripod in his space but couldn't easily reveal it in public, Nie Shiyun decided to suppress his official refiner rank for the time being.
As he was lost in thought and looking around, he inadvertently almost bumped into someone ahead of him.
"My apologies, Daoist, I was distracted," Nie Shiyun quickly apologized.
"Don't you have eyes?" the other person said haughtily. "Or are human eyes just for decoration?"
Nie Shiyun: "..."
They hadn't even actually collided. Nie Shiyun looked at the man. He was dressed magnificently, with a clutter of gold and silver jewelry hanging all over him, as if terrified people wouldn't know he was wealthy. Hearing him refer to Nie Shiyun as "human," Nie Shiyun blinked. Could this be...?
Seeing Nie Shiyun remain silent, the man asked irritably, "I’m talking to you. Is your mouth a decoration too? Hey, you lot, come here. Which family is he from?"
"Young Master Ao, this... we haven't seen him before either..."
"You don't know? Doesn't your Lan family claim there's nothing in this city you don't know? Turns out it's all exaggeration."
"This..."
Nie Shiyun understood. As expected, this was the legendary Dragon, Ao Fan.
He quickly scanned the other party. As expected of the Godbeast race, which was uniquely blessed in the path of cultivation, Ao Fan was already at the Integration Stage despite being younger than him.
However, even Nie Shiyun, who was only at the Void Refinement Stage, could tell at a glance that the other's foundation was somewhat unstable. It was likely caused by neglecting cultivation and consuming too many heavenly treasures to force growth. No wonder it was said the Lan family always had more than one cultivator protecting him closely; with this level of skill and a penchant for causing trouble, if he actually got himself killed, the Lan family would be in deep trouble.
"I am a rogue cultivator who recently arrived from the Lower Layer. This is my first time in Pinghe City, so it's only natural that you don't recognize me. I apologize for the trouble," Nie Shiyun said politely. Seeing that his words were intended to get them off the hook, the two Lan family members following Ao Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
"The Lower Layer? People still live there? Ugh, how unlucky. I almost let a country bumpkin touch my clothes." Ao Fan brushed his sleeve disdainfully. Among the surrounding crowd, there were a few who had also come from the Lower Layer to the Middle Layer; being insulted for no reason, they could only clench their fists and swallow their anger.
Nie Shiyun’s lip twitched. It really was a difficult task to maintain a good mood while talking to this Ao Fan.
"I told you not to take this path, it's full of humans. Wouldn't it have been better to fly directly to the private room upstairs?" Ao Fan turned and complained.
The Lan family members behind him looked miserable. "We are truly sorry, but there is a strict ban on flying swords or flying treasures within the city. This path is crowded but shorter. Didn't you say yourself just now..."
Ao Fan’s tone was impatient. "Did I say that? I don't remember."
"Ah, then perhaps I remembered incorrectly..."
Ao Fan glanced at Nie Shiyun again and said coldly, "Fortunately, I don't lower myself to deal with country bumpkins. Just an ignorant human. Scram."
Nie Shiyun opened his mouth but said nothing as Ao Fan walked away, followed by the two bowing and scraping Lan family members.
Nie Shiyun felt those two were quite pitiful. He had heard that to show respect, the people the Lan family sent to follow Ao Fan were not servants, but disciples of the clan. These two might have been prominent figures in their own family, but now they had to wait hand and foot on a hundred-year-old Dragon brat, unable to hit back or talk back. It was truly stifling.
The others nearby had been holding their breath, fearing Ao Fan would lose his temper and start a fight in the street, caught in the crossfire.
"You're quite lucky today, Daoist! That Young Master Ao Fan seems to have just returned from playing outside and is in a good mood! If you caught him at a bad time, forget about whether your life would be safe—half the street would have been overturned by him." Someone nearby winked at Nie Shiyun.
"Hey, keep your voice down! They're going to the private room in the restaurant to watch the preliminaries, and it's not far from here! If we're heard, we're all finished."
"Why didn't you say so earlier? Uh, I wasn't too loud just now, was I...?"
Several people immediately lowered their voices, looking suspiciously toward the restaurant.
Nie Shiyun followed their gaze. The largest restaurant in Pinghe City was five stories high, and the top floor was reserved for the great families. Several rooms faced this way, offering a view of the river crossing the city—the scenery was excellent. Nie Shiyun asked why everyone was gathered while Ao Fan didn't participate in the preliminaries but went there to watch, receiving surprised looks from the crowd.
"So you weren't joking, it really is your first time here? The first-place winner of previous years doesn't have to participate in the preliminaries," a kind cultivator answered warmly. "You might not know, but that Dragon just now has been first every single time for decades."
*I actually did know that,* Nie Shiyun thought. But since he had already given the impression of being a clueless newcomer, he might as well play along.
"So that's how it is. I heard the Yao Race isn't good at artifact refining. For him to win against so many human refiners, he must be quite formidable."
Hearing Nie Shiyun say this, the crowd let out awkward "Ums..." and "Ahs..." No one contradicted him, but they silently gave him looks that suggested "it's better that you don't know."
The group queued up and received their preliminary groupings. People immediately began whispering to each other: "There are several Grade 3 refiners from the great families in my group! I'm doomed."
"My side is okay, haha! I should be able to get the pills and talismans this time."
"Are there any Grade 4 refiners participating this time?"
"I heard not. After all, participating would mean 'losing face' in public. A Grade 3 can claim it was a slip-up, but for a Grade 4, it would be hard to justify... don't you agree?" someone hinted vaguely.
"...True." The others nodded.
Before long, maidservants from the host Lan family appeared at the front of the plaza, guiding everyone into the preliminary venue in batches according to their groups.
Because Nie Shiyun was unfamiliar with Pinghe City and was participating for the first time, his movements seemed a bit hesitant compared to the others.
"Are you nervous?" Someone glanced at the Grade 2 refiner token hanging at Nie Shiyun’s waist. Thinking of how he had just said he was from the Lower Layer and seeing how young he was, they subconsciously categorized him as a junior.
The person patted his shoulder familiarly and comforted him, "Haha, it's fine. It's normal not to pass the preliminaries the first time you compete. We've all been through it! Just consider the two hundred immortal crystals as tuition fees."
Nie Shiyun smiled and played along. "Indeed. Hearing you say that makes me feel much more relaxed."
With the groupings, the people who had been queuing for numbers were soon dispersed.
"Hmm? Have the preliminaries started?"
In the private room, sipping tea and eating top-quality spiritual fruits with two beautiful female cultivators by his side, Ao Fan asked the Lan family cultivator next to him. His expression was full of the superiority of a senior.
"Yes. Which group would you like to watch?" the Lan family cultivator asked dutifully.
Expensive image-transmission crystals were set up in front of each group. From the private room, they didn't even need to lean out to look down; the status of several groups could be seen simultaneously.
"They're all losers anyway. It seems the Grade 4 refiners were all busy and didn't come this year? How boring. In terms of artifact refining, there shouldn't be any Grade 3 refiners who can compare to me," Ao Fan said disdainfully.
"That is true, that is true..." the Lan family cultivator flattered awkwardly.
"When I have time, I'll go try the Grade 4 refiner examination," Ao Fan said casually, as if it were as simple as eating or drinking.
The Lan family cultivators looked at each other. It was debatable whether Ao Fan even truly had the skills of a Grade 3; word was that the examiners had looked the other way during his test. If he went to take the Grade 4 exam, the credibility of the Association would be completely destroyed...
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 平河城 | Pinghe City | The location of the artifact refining competition. |
| 敖樊 | Ao Fan | The young Dragon Prince, son of the Dragon leader. |
| 合体 | Integration Stage | A high level of cultivation. |
| 炼虚 | Void Refinement Stage | A level of cultivation below Integration. |
| 玄级 | Profound Grade | A tier of artifact quality (Heaven, Earth, Profound, Yellow). |
| 传像晶石 | Image-Transmission Crystal | A magical item used to project visual images. |
| 龙子 | Dragon Prince | Specifically referring to the son of the Dragon leader. |
