At this moment, Du Zhi’s station was also drawing considerable notice. The item he had crafted was not large—it was a specialized hammer used by smiths. It was rare to see someone use a hammer to forge another hammer on the spot. However, upon closer inspection, the crowd realized that the quality of this tool was by no means low. Although it was plain-looking, even somewhat crude, its quality had likely reached the Spirit grade.
"Is he also from Yunqing Pavilion? How come I’ve never heard of him before?"
"He’s that half-demon!" someone recognized him. "The one who was quite eye-catching during the qualifiers, though it’s a pity he stopped at the top sixteen."
Immediately, someone spoke up in disbelief, "A half-demon actually knows how to refine equipment? Isn't it said that the demon race knows nothing of such crafts?"
"Speaking of which, he was still a rogue cultivator back then. How did he join Yunqing Pavilion in the blink of an eye? They certainly moved fast."
Many sects had entertained thoughts of recruiting him earlier, feeling they had found a diamond in the rough, only for the situation to take a sharp turn. It turned out the prize had already been claimed.
Yunqing Pavilion again! Many members of other small sects felt a surge of indignation mixed with an envy they couldn't quite voice. In all fairness, Yunqing Pavilion had truly stolen the spotlight this time. Every standout in the refining competition was one of theirs, and in the combat tournament, Nie Shiyun had even squeezed out the usual top eight dominated by the four great sects to claim a seat for himself.
Perhaps the day Yunqing Pavilion would rise again to the ranks of the prestigious sects was not far off.
Many people vaguely felt this to be true.
Nie Shiyun had been busy for quite some time. The audience below only saw him flipping the cauldron over to engrave something one moment, and the next, firing up the furnace to refine a small piece of aged Sinking Wood and colored glaze into an inlaid jewel, pondering for a long while where to place the decoration.
Seeing him act as though he had already finished everything functional and was now wholeheartedly preoccupied with the aesthetics of the vessel, many of the other refiners on stage completely lost the motivation to catch up. They withdrew their prying gazes, their arms feeling numb as they continued to hammer at their metal.
Finally, the three-hour time limit arrived. Maintaining an attitude of striving for perfection—much like a top student who finishes an exam early but checks their work until the very last second—Nie Shiyun finally picked up the pill furnace under the watchful eyes of many cultivators and placed it on the appraisal platform.
The gold-purple copper body of the pill furnace shimmered with a lustrous sheen. It stood on three legs with a slender frame. The arrays he had engraved earlier had somehow blended seamlessly into the decorative floral patterns. The Sinking Wood jewel at the peak, encased in transparent glaze, was not overly flashy, yet it seemed to hover above the vessel, appearing quite mystical.
"Spirit grade! It’s Spirit grade!"
"And it’s mid-grade Spirit level."
"A Golden Core mid-stage cultivator refining a mid-grade Spirit tool... Is the future master of Yunqing Pavilion already decided? No, if he didn't have a sect right now, the four great sects would surely be fighting over him," someone asserted with conviction.
Everyone’s attention was completely captivated. The refiner whose work was placed next to Nie Shiyun’s felt as though he were being publicly executed. With a look of wanting to die on the spot, he wished he could withdraw from the competition and bury his own lumpy, uneven quenching basin in the dirt.
However, the grading would not end with Nie Shiyun. The crowd reluctantly continued to watch, temporarily shifting their focus.
After seeing such a stunning work, seeing a few barely passing Grade 3 Dharma tools felt rather uninspiring. However, the Spirit-Gathering Basin made by Nie Xing'an had a decent appearance and its grade reached the level of a top-tier Treasure tool. Furthermore, the basin’s effect could be felt even without being specifically activated, which managed to attract some attention.
Qi Xuan'er had made a brush for talisman masters. This brush was different from the offensive Dharma tool Nie Shiyun had used previously; it was purely designed to help a talisman master draw talismans more effectively. The brush was delicate and small, and its grade was mid-tier Grade 2 Treasure, which was quite good. Moreover, as it was crafted by a rare female refiner, many male cultivators couldn't help but steal a few extra glances. Qi Xuan'er, however, did not appreciate this "special treatment." She took a few steps back, doing her best to hide her presence.
Finally, when they reached Du Zhi’s tool, everyone’s spirits were lifted once more. A second Spirit-grade tool! Although its grade wasn't as high as Nie Shiyun’s pill furnace, it was simple and unadorned. The crowd began to observe it suspiciously—how could this hammer, which lacked any sense of beauty and had arrays that seemed poorly struck, be a Spirit-grade item?
"Don't look at its ordinary appearance; it’s definitely very useful!" Unlike the previous cultivators who only let their work speak for itself, Du Zhi began to market himself, ignoring the usual etiquette. "This hammer allows the force of the strikes during refining to be distributed very evenly, and it’s much lighter than normal tools, making it very easy to swing!"
Someone in the crowd couldn't help but argue, "What kind of refiner gets tired from swinging a hammer? This is completely unnecessary."
Du Zhi paused, then insisted, "This... anyway, there are people like that in the world! You just don't know about them."
Nie Shiyun was taken aback for a moment. He remembered Qi Xuan'er’s posture as she put in extra effort to get used to heavy tools and the scorching subterranean fire just like the male cultivators. He looked over toward her.
Sure enough, Qi Xuan'er’s expression was somewhat dazed.
Nie Shiyun found it amusing. This Du Zhi seemed a bit dim-witted, but he was actually quite perceptive. In terms of using public office for private gain, Nie Shiyun hadn't even given his gift away yet, but this kid had actually beaten him to it.
Scanning the crowd below, he saw that Zhai Bairong was no longer there. The other man had likely anticipated the result and left early to put his mind at ease.
This exchange competition didn't even require the appraisers to look too closely; the top three were already set in stone.
In terms of quality, Nie Shiyun’s pill furnace far surpassed the other refiners by a wide margin; it was simply not on the same level.
The following two spots were swept by Du Zhi and Nie Xing'an, prompting many cultivators to grumble about their dominance, saying it was practically an internal Yunqing Pavilion struggle and that everyone else was just a foil.
The cultivators of Yunqing Pavilion didn't care what these people said; every one of them felt they had gained great face. To be able to witness the refining of a Spirit-grade tool with their own eyes made many feel that this exchange competition had been well worth the watch. Many cultivators who only became interested after hearing the results also squeezed over, wanting to get a closer look.
"Excuse me, is that pill furnace for sale? I’ll offer eight thousand spirit stones!"
"I can offer more!"
As soon as the competition ended, the cultivators who had been holding back for so long couldn't restrain themselves. Their shouts rose one after another as they surged toward the back of the competition stage.
However, despite their determination to spend a fortune, they couldn't even see the shadow of the pill furnace or Nie Shiyun.
Acting as a representative, Nie Xing'an smiled apologetically. "My cousin said that he has another use for that pill furnace and it cannot be sold. However, he welcomes everyone to come to Yunqing Pavilion to discuss custom orders for tools and Dharma treasures."
At this time, some persistent people from other sects went to find Du Zhi. That fellow looked rather blunt and simple, so they wanted to test the waters to see if there was any possibility of poaching him.
As it turned out, this group of people met the same face.
Nie Xing'an said apologetically, "I'm so sorry. Du Zhi said he isn't selling that hammer either..."
"We aren't here to buy anything. We just wanted to see if there was a chance to have a few words with him...?"
"This..." Nie Xing'an paused before informing them, "Well, he left too quickly. I don't know where he ran off to." He had even dragged Qi Xuan'er along with him.
"Senior! That Spirit-Gathering Basin you just refined—do you have any intention of selling it?"
Nie Xing'an breathed a long sigh of relief, finally encountering a question he could answer. "That one can be sold."
The cultivators who had come with other motives were unwilling to return just like that. Judging from today’s situation, they all felt that Yunqing Pavilion would certainly not be a small player in the future. Wanting to build a good relationship early, they made small talk and insisted on staying to chat with Nie Xing'an. For a time, Nie Xing'an was incredibly busy. While he felt gratified, he couldn't help but secretly complain.
*Forget it, let the young ones run wild,* Nie Xing'an thought. He wasn't as talented as them, but being a few years older, he could at least handle these mundane sect affairs for them.
While that side was bustling with excitement, Zhai Bairong had found a less crowded spot far from the center of the square to stop and rest. Thinking of how Nie Shiyun had been admired by everyone on stage, he felt that the man was radiating an endless brilliance. Actually, he had felt this way for a long time, but Nie Shiyun had always kept himself suppressed. This occasion was merely the beginning.
His man was so eye-catching; Zhai Bairong felt happy for him, but also a trace of inexplicable loneliness. He knew he shouldn't be so selfish. Perhaps in Nie Shiyun’s eyes, he had always been this eye-catching as well, and this time it was just his turn to experience it firsthand.
He looked at the sky and knew there was no time to return to their lodgings to meet with Nie Shiyun. He suppressed his various emotions deep in his heart, looking forward to their next meeting.
Just as Zhai Bairong was about to head toward the designated departure point, he suddenly heard a low crow’s caw, one that was very familiar. He looked up slightly and saw Meiqiu blending in with a flock of birds resting on a cedar tree above his head. Just as he was wondering what was going on, Meiqiu loosened his claws, and a small object less than an inch long fell through the needles. Zhai Bairong instinctively reached out to catch it, closing his hand around the object.
The pine tree shook, and the flock of birds instantly scattered. Meiqiu was among them, vanishing from sight in an instant.
Zhai Bairong’s heart pounded as he carefully opened his palm.
It was none other than the pill furnace he had just watched Nie Shiyun refine on stage. However, the one in his hand was a miniature version, now hanging from a cord like a metal pendant.
Zhai Bairong swept his divine sense over the surroundings and looked around, but he couldn't feel Nie Shiyun’s presence. He didn't dare to inspect it recklessly on the spot, so he quickly put the item into his storage space and hurried away.
Soon, it was time for the Yingyue Sect to gather and depart. Duan Mingyu had just said goodbye to Rong Lü and felt somewhat sad at the thought of not seeing him for a while. Zhai Bairong didn't have the heart to deal with him at the moment. His mind was elsewhere as he boarded the sect’s immortal ship with the rest of the Yingyue Sect.
Once the ship took off and everyone had settled in, he hurried into his cabin, set up a divine sense barrier, and took the little trinket out again, placing it in his palm to examine it closely.
He tentatively performed the soul-binding ritual for the object. After feeling the contract link between himself and the tool, he noticed something and flipped the small furnace over. On the bottom of the cauldron was a pattern that was blurred due to the shrinking. Zhai Bairong extended a finger and injected a bit of spiritual power into it. In an instant, the small pendant enlarged several times, appearing in the room exactly as it had looked on the competition stage.
Nie Shiyun had actually engraved a rarely used "Size-shifting Array" on the bottom of the pill furnace!
This move of his was truly too bold. The entire audience, including himself, had been fooled by his final act of seemingly studying the floral patterns, unaware of when he had engraved such an array.
Zhai Bairong was stunned for a moment, then for some reason, he burst out laughing. His tension vanished instantly, and he sat down on the bed with a sigh of relief.
They had only just parted; why was this person so good at finding ways to make him miss him so much?
The Hantian Secret Realm...
Although he knew the Hantian Secret Realm was of great importance and would surely be fraught with danger, Zhai Bairong now only wished for that moment to arrive sooner so he could reunite with Nie Shiyun.
As for the various difficulties involved, as long as the two of them were together, they would surely be able to pass through safely.
Zhai Bairong couldn't help but think so.
***
