Fairy, don't be afraid, I, Wang Daqi, am truly an honest man.

Wang Daqi hadn't expected that the formation elder would be so dissatisfied with him as soon as he arrived.

This made him somewhat worried.

He underestimated the power of Zhao Feng, an inner disciple.

It's clear that Zhou Yongli is an envoy for Zhao Feng's faction.

Faced with Zhou Yongli's questioning, Shen Ruyan remained unfazed and calmly said, "Elder Zhou, although Wang Daqi comes from the outer sect, he is honest and upright, and acts with great discretion. Moreover, I have already reported this matter to Master, and Master has personally given his approval. Does Elder Zhou think that Master's judgment is inferior to yours?"

As expected, Zhou Yongli was rebuffed when he invoked Nangong Ling's name.

After all, he was only a Golden Core cultivator, just an ordinary formation master elder within the sect.

His face stiffened, but he still said with extreme dissatisfaction, "Peak Master is so busy with affairs of state, how could he have time to concern himself with such trivial matters? Perhaps you, as his disciple, said something nice in between. Anyway, let me tell you this: this kind of professional work, outsiders interfering will only make things worse!"

On the other side, the female formation master Cheng Man waved her hand, trying to smooth things over: "Elder Zhou, you can't say that. Wang Daqi is only responsible for the materials and basic transportation and polishing. As long as we supervise him properly and don't let him touch the core of the formation, there definitely won't be any major problems. In the past, when we cooperated to set up formations, we always hired ordinary disciples, and there weren't any problems, were there?"

She looked at Wang Daqi and said in a businesslike tone, "Wang Daqi, right? I'm Cheng Man. For the renovation of this Cold Jade Palace, we need a large amount of 'Cold Jade' and 'Cold Iron'. These things are available at Divine Weapon Peak, and we can take care of purchasing them."

"However, after purchasing them, they need to be refined!! These two items are extremely cold, and ordinary disciples might find it difficult to withstand them, so you'll need a certain level of cultivation and cold resistance. Is that alright with you???"

Before Wang Daqi could speak, Zhou Yongli interjected, "Don't underestimate the chilling aura of these two items!! It requires at least a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator! And you need to cultivate fire-based spells to resist it!! Anyway, let me be clear: if the progress is slow and delays my array setup time, I'll go directly to the Hall of Affairs to complain and request a replacement!!"

Seeing the other party's attitude, Li Dahu behind him frowned.

Seeing Wang Daqi looking at him, Li Dahu gave him a reassuring look.

"That's good!"

Wang Daqi thought to himself, there's a first time for everything, I can't back down now!

Besides, he knew Li Dahu very well.

He is shrewd and capable, and never boasts.

So he said there was no problem, there definitely was no problem.

Otherwise, he will also be held responsible if problems arise in this project.

Having made up his mind, Wang Daqi was full of confidence. He looked Zhou Yongli straight in the eye and smiled neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Elder Zhou, rest assured. Now that I have taken on this task, I will naturally complete it on time and to a high standard. If you have any special requirements regarding the formation, please feel free to bring them up. If I, Wang Daqi, even frown at the slightest provocation, I will not take a single penny from this project and will pack my bags and leave."

"Fine! You said it yourself!!"

Zhou Yongli snorted coldly, flicked his sleeve, and said, "Elder Cheng, let's go in and check the array positions first. I get annoyed just seeing these peasants."

Watching Zhou Yongli's arrogant back, Shen Ruyan leaned closer to Wang Daqi and whispered, "Daqi, Zhou Yongli is notorious for looking down on people. He must have taken bribes from Zhao Feng, so naturally he'll speak up for Zhao Feng. Just focus on doing your job well, I'll handle the rest."

"Don't worry, Senior Sister Shen, this is nothing to worry about," Wang Daqi replied gratefully.

"Yes, this is the amount of Cold Jade and Cold Iron needed. I'll take you to the Divine Weapon Peak Affairs Hall to collect them," Shen Ruyan said.

Since Wang Daqi does not yet have his own storage bag, even though he is at the sixth level of Qi Refining, moving those incredibly heavy cold iron and huge cold jade blocks is still a huge undertaking.

Fortunately, Shen Ruyan had thought things through; she had a storage bag on her.

Therefore, she decided to personally lead Wang Daqi and others to the Shenbingfeng Affairs Hall.

With the token of a core disciple of Lingyun Peak and Nangong Ling's instructions, the procedures were completed surprisingly smoothly.

Shen Ruyan took out a blue storage bag embroidered with flowing cloud patterns from her waist. With a light wave of her jade hand, all the piles of cold iron were stored away.

However, her storage bag wasn't very big.

After installing the Cold Iron, the remaining Cold Jade can only be transported in two more trips.

Even so, Wang Daqi was extremely envious.

He would really appreciate a storage bag.

For example, when moving ironwood, we had storage bags, so we didn't need to exert any effort to move it; we could just put it directly into the storage bags!

Throughout the day, Shen Ruyan accompanied Wang Daqi on several round trips.

Finally, all the materials needed for the repairs were transported in batches to the open-air workshop on the north side of Hanyu Hall.

Seeing the once empty plain now piled high with items, Li Dahu wiped the sweat from his brow and whispered something in Wang Daqi's ear:

"Great job, we really benefited from Senior Sister Shen's help this time. If it were just the few of us brothers carrying it on our shoulders and pulling it on carts, it would have taken us at least five or six days to work on these tens of thousands of pounds of cold jade and cold iron, and our shoulders would have been rubbed raw."

Wang Daqi nodded in deep agreement.

At the bottom of this sect, time is the essence of life, and efficiency is life itself.

Looking at Shen Ruyan's slightly tired profile from her back-and-forth travel, a warm feeling welled up in his heart.

He knew very well that, given Shen Ruyan's status, she didn't need to do such menial work as a porter herself.

"Senior Sister Shen, thank you for your hard work today. I'll definitely treat you to a drink after this job is finished."

Wang Daqi walked up to Shen Ruyan, bowed solemnly, and spoke sincerely.

Upon hearing this, Shen Ruyan's beautiful eyes flickered, and she gave him a half-smile before lowering her voice and saying, "No need for drinking. If you want to thank me... remember to come to my cave again tonight. That little girl You Nan misses you terribly."

She emphasized the words "thinking about it very much," and a playful smile appeared on her lips.

Wang Daqi agreed earnestly, secretly vowing to himself: Now that he had been helped, he must work hard to do a good job!

A moment later, Cheng Man, who was in charge of the formation, came over.

With a serious expression, she took out two yellowed blueprints from her bosom and spread them on the stone table. She beckoned to Wang Daqi: "Wang Daqi, the materials are all here. Now it's your turn. It's a large project. Let me demonstrate the standards for you first. Take a close look."

Cheng Man pointed to the pile of cold jade stones emitting a faint blue light and said, "These cold jade stones are used to pave floor tiles. Each one must be precisely cut into 80x80 square tiles, with an error margin of no more than one millimeter. The most crucial step is polishing. Because cold jade naturally contains chaotic ice-attribute spiritual energy, one must infuse it with one's own spiritual energy and polish its surface from the inside out until it is as smooth as a mirror. Otherwise, I will not be able to inscribe spirit-gathering patterns on it later."

After speaking, Cheng Man pointed her fingers like a knife, and a red spiritual energy slashed across the area.

This power is actually the aura of a Golden Core cultivator!

"Sizzle!!"

A stubborn rock snapped in two.

Then, she placed her palm on the stone surface and moved slowly.

Ice shards were stirred up on the stone surface, and the biting cold seeped out through her fingers.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a qualified cold jade brick is finally completed.

"It's so cold!!!"

Li Dahu tried touching it, then immediately pulled his hand back as if he'd been electrocuted. "Wow, this thing is ten times colder than ice in an ice cellar, and it consumes too much spiritual energy. At my pace, I could only polish three pieces at most, working from morning till night."

He did the math: this place needs a thousand floor tiles, and if ten people work on it, it would take a month just to polish these jade tiles!