I'm determined to become an immortal!

"One million spirit stones!"

These words struck like a thunderclap within the Tianyuan Pavilion.

For a moment, the entire auction hall was completely silent; you could hear a pin drop.

Feng Lingzi's smile froze instantly, and the teacup in his hand fell to the ground with a "crack" and shattered, but he didn't seem to notice.

There's a saying: "If you have money in your pocket, you won't panic."

Feng Lingzi has prepared hundreds of thousands of spirit stones for this bidding for the Golden Jade Branch. In addition, with his current top-ranking contribution value from the Nanshan Association Mutual Aid Fund, he has a fighting chance even if the price of the Golden Jade Branch is as high as seven or eight hundred thousand spirit stones.

One million spirit stones... almost twice the price of ordinary Core Formation spirit items, made him unable to even entertain the thought of raising the price.

"One million spirit stones, for the first time."

Mr. Jin's voice broke the silence.

The assembled cultivators looked at each other in bewilderment, but none dared to follow.

"One million spirit stones, for the second time."

Feng Lingzi's lips trembled twice, and in the end, she lowered her head helplessly, as if she had aged decades in an instant.

"One million spirit stones, third time. Sold!"

With Mr. Jin's final hammer blow, the auction finally came to a close.

When He Sheng walked out of Tianyuan Pavilion with the others from Nanshan Society, the setting sun was already blood-red.

Zhang Tuo's face showed some joy, after all, he had successfully obtained the Golden Core.

Jin Zhaofa and Liu Xuanyi also made their own gains.

Only Feng Lingzi walked dejectedly at the back of the crowd, her back hunched, a far cry from her usual radiant appearance.

Seeing this, He Sheng lagged a few steps behind and walked alongside him, escorting him all the way to the entrance of the cave in Tongyuanfang.

"Brother Feng, there's plenty of time in the future."

"It's true that there's plenty of time in the future." Feng Lingzi gave a bitter smile, his voice hoarse, "But the Yuanxia Auction only happens once every four or five years, and sometimes as often as seven or eight years, and even then, there aren't always Core Formation spirit items that appear."

Moreover, to be frank with you, fellow Daoist, I am already over one hundred and thirty years old this year, and my days are becoming increasingly urgent.

The lifespan of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is generally limited to no more than two hundred years, so Feng Lingzi's lifespan is indeed not very long.

He Sheng didn't know how to comfort him.

"Rogue cultivators, oh rogue cultivators, they're nothing but bullshit!"

Feng Lingzi shook her head and bid farewell to He Sheng.

He Sheng didn't say anything more and went straight back to his cave.

Once back in his quiet room, He Sheng laid out all the spoils of the auction before him.

He was the first to pick up the "River Tide Overlapping Waves Manual," placed the jade slip between his eyebrows, and began to study it carefully.

"This technique is quite remarkable in terms of its abundant magical power; at the same cultivation level, its total magical power is 20-30% higher than that of the 'Clear Wave Water Element Technique'."

The jade slip also records two exclusive high-level spells that work in conjunction with powerful magic. One is "Water Dragon's Roar," which uses powerful magic to condense a water dragon for attack. It can also use magic to drive sound wave vibrations, which also have the effect of vibrating the soul.

The second is "Nine Revolutions of Overlapping Waves," which is an auxiliary spell specifically designed to control special magical artifacts. It allows magical power to be layered onto the artifact, with each revolution increasing its power by one point. After nine revolutions, the power can nearly double.

"If you later switch to cultivating the 'River Tide Overlapping Waves Technique,' you could try to comprehend the essence of these two high-level spells; perhaps you'll gain something from it."

He Sheng did not rush to switch to cultivating the "River Tide Overlapping Waves Technique". After all, switching to this technique would definitely mean completely regressing from the "Clear Wave Water Element Technique" and returning his cultivation to zero.

Many problems are bound to arise during this period, and He Sheng plans to return to Wanshoutan Water Mansion to try again.

After studying the "River Tide Overlapping Waves Technique" for most of the day, He Sheng finally put away the jade slip and then looked at the "Refining Yuan and Connecting with Divine Artifacts Dao Record".

"For the foreseeable future, cultivation should focus on weapon crafting, since the time and benefits of weapon crafting are the greatest."

Especially after advancing to the second-tier low-grade weapon refiner, he mainly used the stacking refining method, and the time rate even increased to over 7.

but..."

He Sheng probed the catalog with his divine sense. Although he had only skimmed through it before, he discovered that each of the three volumes (upper, middle, and lower) recorded some special techniques for refining weapons.

For example, the method of combining techniques in the middle volume.

This method involves refining several magical artifacts of similar nature using purification techniques, infusing them with special refining incantations, and constructing a set of special forbidden runes. These artifacts are then crafted into a complete set, thereby enhancing their overall grade and appearance.

However, this method has three difficulties.

First, the requirements for the place where the weapon is forged are quite high.

For fire refining, several fire eyes with the same fire nature are needed; for water refining, several spiritual springs with the same quality are needed, or a large amount of spiritual water with the same quality are needed.

However, this was not a difficult task for He Sheng.

Secondly, the quality requirements for the ritual implements themselves are extremely high.

Not only must the ritual implements be of the same grade, but their appearance must also be consistent, preferably both being of the highest quality. In this way, when they are purified again, their appearance will become more similar, and they will mutually generate some spirituality.

Finally, and this is the most difficult part of the set of techniques, is the special set of forbidden runes.

This set of forbidden patterns involves a total of five spatial restrictions, with one secret restriction embedded within them.

He Sheng already had experience with air confinement, but this was his first time dealing with secret confinement.

The sealed confinement is not necessarily more complicated than the air confinement. The difference is that it has strict requirements on the material of the object it carries, which is why it must be of high quality.

Ordinary ritual implements contain too many impurities and cannot withstand the seal, which may even cause the implement to break.

However, the set of refining methods also introduces several auxiliary materials that can increase the success rate of engraving secret seals, including Divine Sand. However, adding these materials will affect the quality of the magic weapon itself and may lower its quality.

"I happen to have a few high-quality Cold Moon Arc Swords. I was originally looking for a good buyer, but now I might as well use them to practice my glove-forging technique."

If you can master this method, not only will the value of your sword double, but you'll also gain a significant amount of proficiency!

He Sheng learned from crafting the Blood Poison Mother-Child Blade that crafting a top-grade magic weapon could increase crafting proficiency by 80 points.

The double-refinement method differs from ordinary weapon refining; it involves a secondary refinement process on top of the weapon itself.

In this way, the time for combining and casting is naturally saved, and the efficiency of weapon forging is far superior to that of ordinary methods.

Simply put, if the combined refining technique is used properly, it can further increase time efficiency!

As He Sheng was planning his next steps in refining the weapon, the phonograph outside the cave suddenly rang.

He subtly sensed the person approaching and recognized him as Heng Daoyuan of the Sitong Chamber of Commerce.

He Sheng got up and left the quiet room, walked through the courtyard to the front hall, and opened the mansion gate.

Outside the door, Heng Daoyuan wore a smile as always, but his expression was more serious than usual.

When he saw He Sheng come out, he quickly cupped his hands in a salute, his posture even more humble than usual.

"I apologize for disturbing you, senior."

As Heng Daoyuan spoke, he took out a gold-embossed invitation from his sleeve and presented it with both hands.

The invitation was made of green jade with silver cloud patterns inlaid on the edges. In the center, the character "请" (please) was written in spiritual ink, and a faint spiritual light flowed around it.

"This is?"

He Sheng took the invitation, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Senior, Luo Yong, the head manager of the Yuanxia branch of the Sitong Chamber of Commerce, will be hosting a banquet at Xianyoulai tomorrow at noon to specially invite you."

He paused, his tone becoming even more respectful, and he bowed even more deeply:

"Manager Luo said that Senior Xiang is the most important cooperative weapon refiner of our Sitong Chamber of Commerce, and we must ask Senior Xiang to grace us with his presence no matter what."

I made this special trip today to earnestly request that you, sir, make time for a meeting tomorrow.

He Sheng was baffled by what he heard.

"Why would the head manager of the Sitong Chamber of Commerce suddenly invite me to a banquet?"

His gaze fell upon Heng Daoyuan, and he saw that beneath the man's respectful expression lay a hint of reluctance.

It’s tricky!

He Sheng's face immediately darkened, and he said coldly:

"Manager Heng, we've been working together for over a year now. When did you start acting so secretively?"

When Heng Daoyuan heard He Sheng's displeased tone, his heart tightened immediately. He then sighed and explained the reason.