Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chapter 159: Top-Grade Flying Sword
Chen Yuan said without hesitation: "No matter how much this silver stone weighs, I will buy it all!"

Nie Ruyue smiled with satisfaction, and stroked her storage bag. A fist-sized silver stone appeared on the table out of thin air. She said, "Daoyou Chen, please have a look. This silver stone weighs ten kilograms. When I bought it, I used forty middle-grade spirit stones. It should be enough for Daoyou to upgrade his rank."

When Chen Yuan saw this heavy silver stone, he was delighted. He immediately touched his storage bag, and twenty-five medium-grade spirit stones appeared on the table. He smiled and said, "Master Nie is thoughtful. Please accept these spirit stones."

When Nie Ruyue saw that Chen Yuan only took out twenty-five mid-grade spirit stones, her brows slightly frowned, but then she relaxed, raised her hand and put the twenty-five mid-grade spirit stones into the storage bag, then raised her head slightly and looked at Chen Yuan with a smile.

She had dealt with Chen Yuan before and knew that he must have his reasons for doing so. Although she was confused, she remained calm and waited for Chen Yuan's next words.

Seeing this, Chen Yuan nodded slightly and said, "To be honest with you, Master Nie, these are the only spiritual stones I have. I have 19 spiritual stones left, and I want to use something to offset them."

Nie Ruyue's beautiful eyes flashed, and she smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Chen is a senior disciple of Lingyun Sect, so he certainly has no shortage of treasures. However, I bought this silver stone with the public account of this pavilion. The things I got in exchange may be handed over to the pavilion. It would be best if they were spiritual materials for refining weapons, or spiritual and demon materials. Not all treasures will be accepted. Please forgive me, fellow Daoist."

Chen Yuan said calmly: "Master Nie should be able to use this."

After saying that, he touched his storage bag, and a jade bottle appeared out of thin air on the table.

Nie Ruyue frowned, raised her hand, took the jade bottle in her hand, opened the stopper, and a strange elixir fragrance wafted out.

She was stunned for a moment, then tilted the jade bottle over.

A black and white pill rolled out of the jade bottle and landed in Nie Ruyue's palm.

Her expression changed, and she looked up at Chen Yuan: "Is this... Foundation Building Pill?"

Chen Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, I would like to use this foundation-building pill to exchange for nineteen middle-grade spirit stones in exchange for this silver Gang stone. What do you think, Mr. Nie?"

A hint of joy flashed across Nie Ruyue's face, but she quickly calmed down and asked, "Fellow Daoist Chen, do you really want to do this?"

Chen Yuan said, "I don't have any spirit stones on me anymore, only this pill still has some value, could it be that Master Nie doesn't want to take it?"

Nie Ruyue shook her head gently: "Of course not. The Foundation Establishment Pill is so precious. Daoist Chen wants to use this pill to offset it. I couldn't ask for it more."

Foundation-building pills are essential for building the foundation, and most of them are controlled by the six major sects. Although the Nie family in Xiangzhou grows three kinds of spiritual herbs, Yin-Yang Ganoderma, Seven-Star Grass, and Angelica Dahurica, they have no large spiritual veins to ripen them, and the output is extremely limited. They are unable to supply the Qi-refining disciples in the family, who are extremely eager for foundation-building pills.

She paused for a moment before saying, "It's just that the value of the Foundation Establishment Pill far exceeds nineteen spirit stones, and it's hard to get one pill. By using this pill to exchange for the spirit stones, I'm getting a great bargain... How about this, the market price of the Foundation Establishment Pill is thirty spirit stones each, and I'll give you eleven mid-grade spirit stones, how about that?"

Chen Yuan was surprised when he heard this: "In the past, even if a foundation-building pill was put on auction, it could only be sold for 25 medium-grade spirit stones at most. How can it be sold for such a high price now?"

Nie Ruyue sighed, "Fellow Daoist, you should know that recently, the demon cultivators have been rampant, causing trouble everywhere, robbing independent cultivators, and even destroying many immortal cultivation families. There are even rumors that the demon cultivators are going to invade Qi. The low-level cultivators are in a panic. Some have fled to the mountains, some have fled to neighboring countries, and some want to improve their cultivation to cope with this disaster. Therefore, the price of foundation-building pills has also risen. Two years ago, your sect held an auction, and the last foundation-building pill was even sold at a sky-high price of forty-three mid-grade spirit stones!"

Chen Yuan's face was slightly tense. "I just came out of retreat not long ago. I only knew that the demonic plague was getting worse, but I didn't know that the demonic plague had reached this level. No wonder when I came to Lingyun Market this time, I saw only a few cultivators on the street, and many shops were closed."

Nie Ruyue said, "To be honest, the elders of my clan have discussed several times and decided to close this pavilion and withdraw the people back to the clan to deal with the demon threat. If Fellow Daoist Chen had come out of seclusion a little later, I'm afraid you wouldn't have been able to get this silver stone."

Chen Yuan frowned when he heard this: "Is your pavilion going to close?"

Nie Ruyue shook her head and said, "Even if this pavilion closes its doors, it will have to wait for a few years. Although the number of independent foundation-building cultivators in Lingyun Market has decreased a lot, your sect and many immortal cultivation families need spiritual tools and magic tools. This pavilion still has a few spiritual tools in the process of being refined. After they are delivered, we can close our doors."

Chen Yuan asked, "I wonder if Master Nie from your pavilion has time now?"

Nie Ruyue smiled and said, "Don't worry, Fellow Daoist Chen. In order to refine those magic weapons as quickly as possible, I have invited two weapon refining masters from my clan to come to Lingyun Market to take charge. We have enough manpower, and Third Uncle has time to help Fellow Daoist upgrade the grade of his magic weapons."

Chen Yuan felt relieved. "Then I'll leave this matter to Master Nie. Master Nie doesn't need to give me any more spirit stones. The eleven middle-grade spirit stones will be my deposit. I'll pay the rest of the spirit stones after the upgrade of the magic weapon is completed."

Nie Ruyue nodded slightly: "That's fine, but I don't know how to refine weapons, so the matter of upgrading the magic weapon grade still needs to be discussed between Fellow Daoist Chen and Third Uncle. But there is one thing I need to tell you, if this magic weapon fails to be upgraded, it will be destroyed along with the spiritual materials, and this pavilion will not compensate you. Do you think you can accept it?"

Chen Yuan said: "Chen knows the rules. Even if he fails, he will not cause trouble for your pavilion."

Nie Ruyue smiled and said, "Don't worry, fellow Daoist. My third uncle is extremely skilled in refining weapons. He ranks first among the master refining masters in my clan. The possibility of failure is very low... Calculating the time, my third uncle should have condensed the weapon by now and is looking after the refining furnace. Fellow Daoist, please follow me."

She stood up, bowed, turned and walked out of the quiet room. Chen Yuan picked up the silver stone on the table, stood up and followed her, the introduction to the refining technique he had read in the classics emerged in his mind.

Refining equipment is different from refining pills. In refining pills, one furnace of pills usually produces ten pills. As long as one furnace of pills is successfully refined, then the same kind of pills can be refined next time. Even if the pills fail to condense, they will not all be destroyed. You can always refine a few pills.

But only one spiritual weapon can be refined. If it fails, all will be destroyed.

Moreover, alchemy requires integrating the medicinal power contained in several kinds of elixirs into one. If there is any imbalance, all previous efforts will be wasted. Elixirs are also extremely fragile, so the alchemist needs to concentrate fully and not be distracted for even a moment.

However, the spiritual materials used in refining contain a lot of impurities, and need to be calcined with true fire to force out the essence. After that, the refiner needs to blend the refined spiritual materials and calcine them with true fire before the device can be condensed into shape.

During this period, the weapon refiner only needs to take care of it a little and still have enough energy to do other things.

The higher the grade of the spiritual material, the longer it takes to refine it and form the condenser.

If it is a top-grade spiritual weapon, it will take at least two years from the start of refining to the final success.

But the weapon refiner only has less than a month and needs to concentrate fully on controlling the true fire. The rest of the time, just let the true fire burn on its own.

The two men came to the third floor and stopped outside the room where Chen Yuan had seen the old man in hemp clothes before.

Nie Ruyue raised her hand and injected a trace of true energy into the door of the room. She moved her lips slightly and said a few words silently.

After a while, the restriction on the door slowly dissipated, and it opened gently. An old voice came from inside: "Come in."

Chen Yuan followed Nie Ruyue into the room, only to see an old man in hemp clothes sitting in front of a three-foot-high refining furnace, meditating with his eyes closed.

Below the refining furnace, there is a huge array plate that is seven feet in size. Nine medium-grade spirit stones are placed in the grooves around it. In the middle, a white flame is burning. The temperature in the room is extremely high, and heat waves are rolling.

The old man in hemp clothes turned his head and looked over. He looked Chen Yuan up and down, frowned and said, "Ruyue, if there is anything, can't you wait until I refine this spiritual weapon?"

Nie Ruyue bowed and said respectfully, "Third uncle, Fellow Daoist Chen, who asked you to identify the magic weapon last time, is here. He bought the silver stone from his niece's granddaughter and wants you to help him upgrade the grade of the magic weapon."

The old man in hemp clothes was startled for a moment, then he suddenly realized and said, "It's you. Bring me the magic weapon and the silver stone."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and waved at Chen Yuan twice.

Upon seeing this, Nie Ruyue sent a message to Chen Yuan: "Fellow Daoist Chen, my third uncle only recognizes spiritual weapons and not people, and he lacks patience when refining weapons. I hope you can forgive me."

Chen Yuan replied: "No problem."

At the same time, he touched his storage bag, took out the Silver Gang Stone and the Silver Gang Sword, and raised his hand to hand them in front of the old man in hemp clothes.

People who delve into a path almost to obsession often have strange tempers, but Chen Yuan doesn't care. As long as the old man in hemp clothes can help him improve the quality of his magic weapon, everything will be fine.

The Silver Gang Stone and the Silver Gang Sword slowly flew in front of the old man in hemp clothes and stopped.

The old man in hemp clothes just took a look and said, "Although your sword-refining technique is crude, it uses silver stone as the main material, which saves a lot of trouble. You only need to integrate this silver stone into it and then forge it with true fire for two years, and it will be upgraded to a top-grade sword. You can leave now."

Chen Yuan was stunned: "Top-grade flying sword?"

The old man in hemp clothes said impatiently: "Yes, this piece of silver stone is so heavy, plus the silver stone contained in your flying sword, it is enough to be refined into a top-grade flying sword. Why, you don't want to?"

Chen Yuan quickly shook his head: "Of course not..."

The old man in hemp clothes frowned and said, "Then why are you still here? I need to open another furnace. Don't waste time!"

He stroked his storage bag, took out a second seven-foot-sized formation plate and a four-foot-high refining furnace, placed them beside him, and glared at Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan said no more, bowed, and left the room with Nie Ruyue.

boom!
The door closed behind them, and the forbidden light curtain reappeared.

Nie Ruyue looked apologetic and said softly, "Fellow Daoist Chen, my Third Uncle has always had this kind of temper. I'm sorry."

Chen Yuan smiled and said, "As long as the Silver Gang Sword can be upgraded to a top-grade spiritual weapon, it doesn't matter if your uncle scolds me. I just don't know how many spiritual stones are needed to upgrade a top-grade magic weapon to a top-grade spiritual weapon?"

Nie Ruyue pondered for a moment and said, "The spiritual materials for this top-grade spiritual weapon are provided by Fellow Daoist Chen. It only requires thirty mid-grade spiritual stones. Fellow Daoist has already paid eleven spiritual stones in advance with the Foundation Establishment Pill, and another nineteen spiritual stones are required."

Chen Yuan bowed and said, "I have something else to do, so I'll take my leave now. I'll give you all the spirit stones when I come back next time."

Nie Ruyue returned the greeting and said, "Fellow Daoist Chen, take care."

Chen Yuan left Baoguang Pavilion and did not stay any longer. He walked out of Lingyun Market, boarded the Duyun Boat, and flew away to the south.

(End of this chapter)