The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

"The number of demonic beasts in Yuanwu Kingdom is getting smaller and smaller. I never expected that you could find so many demonic beasts, senior." The burly man in the Qi Refining stage next to him was also amazed and said, "You truly deserve to be called a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. You were able to kill so many top-level level one demonic beasts."

"If we Qi Refining stage cultivators were to encounter these demonic beasts, we would probably only face certain death."

Upon seeing this, the red-faced shopkeeper immediately felt an itch to start crafting the magical artifact. He said, "I have a blueprint for an alchemy furnace called the 'Hundred Beasts Furnace'."

"This Hundred Beasts Furnace is a genuine top-grade magic artifact. It can withstand the true fire of a Foundation Establishment cultivator as well as the scorching of earth fire, and is sufficient to refine Foundation Establishment stage pills."

"However, some meteorite iron will be needed as an auxiliary material to forge this furnace."

"We have some in our shop. A handful of meteorite iron costs eighty spirit stones, but including the cost of the furnace, we'll only charge you three hundred spirit stones."

"You can also use the remaining monster materials to offset these three hundred spirit stones; I would be more than happy to do so."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan nodded in agreement.

There are at least 8,000, if not 10,000, level-one demonic beasts in the Crimson Forbidden Land, and among them are many demonic beasts like the Ink Dragon that have the potential to break through to level two.

The amount of monster materials in front of us is nothing.

When the red-faced shopkeeper saw that Yang Qingyuan had agreed, he was overjoyed and said, "Please rest assured, senior, I will be able to refine the Hundred Beasts Furnace in just one month."

After saying that, he couldn't wait to collect the monster materials on the ground.

"Wait a minute!"

Yang Qingyuan suddenly spoke up, calling out to the other party, "Shopkeeper, I have seven flying swords here that need to be reforged and some materials added in."

"I wonder if your shop's craftsmanship is even capable of making that?"

Upon hearing this, the red-faced old man patted his chest and assured him, "Please rest assured, senior, my specialty is crafting flying swords."

"Moreover, the difficulty of forging flying swords is inherently lower than that of other magical artifacts."

"Take a look first and then we'll talk." Yang Qingyuan patted his storage bag, took out a sword box, and placed it beside him.

With the sound of a mechanism, the sword box opened from both sides, revealing seven gleaming flying swords.

The red-faced shopkeeper and the burly man craned their necks to examine the seven flying swords, then both gasped in surprise.

"hiss……"

"A top-grade flying sword!"

"Still seven people!"

"It seems that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator can only control five or six magical artifacts..."

The red-faced shopkeeper reached out and stroked the blade of the Rain Flower Sword, exclaiming in surprise, "Silver essence? This flying sword actually contains silver essence, which is only needed to refine magical treasures."

"Huh? These two flying swords next to me are actually rare lightning and wind attribute flying swords."

Immediately afterward, the old man looked at Yang Qingyuan with an incredulous expression and asked, "Senior, you're not joking, are you?"

"Does such a top-tier flying sword really need to be reforged?"

"What incredibly precious materials must be used to add to these flying swords?"

Yang Qingyuan took out a palm-sized piece of iron from his storage bag.

"What is this?!" The red-faced shopkeeper stared wide-eyed, his eyes gleaming, completely dumbfounded.

"Iron essence!"

"Iron essence that only Core Formation stage cultivators can refine!"

"Moreover, judging from its appearance, the quality of this iron essence seems to far surpass those found in the market."

The red-faced shopkeeper stretched out his trembling hands, took the iron essence, gently stroked it, and murmured, "That's it. Only this kind of top-grade material that sword cultivators dream of can be added to the seven flying swords."

Seeing the other person's infatuated expression, Yang Qingyuan frowned slightly and asked, "So? How confident are you?"

The red-faced shopkeeper snapped out of his daze and explained, "Please rest assured, senior."

"Although iron essence is a difficult material to process, I have a level two fire crow demon beast in my shop. Its demonic fire is three times more powerful than the true fire of a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

"Place this iron essence in demonic fire and quench it for thirty days. Combine it with the weapon-refining techniques passed down from my ancestors, and it can be fully integrated into the seven flying swords."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan made an additional request, saying, "Okay, but I want to observe the entire process from the sidelines."

Now that he has reached the Foundation Establishment stage, he has also begun to consider exploring the art of weapon crafting.

"Alright." The red-faced shopkeeper hesitated for a moment. Although he was worried about revealing his family's secret weapon-refining techniques, he didn't want to miss out on such valuable weapon-refining materials, so he finally nodded in agreement.

Seeing that the deal was settled, Yang Qingyuan changed the subject and asked, "By the way, I'm planning to open a cave dwelling recently and urgently need a formation master to set up a defensive formation for it."

Do you have any suitable formation masters to recommend?

Upon hearing this, the red-faced shopkeeper pondered for a moment before carefully asking, "An array master?"

"This is the market town of the Heavenly Star Sect, so naturally there is no shortage of powerful array masters."

"However, these array masters from the Heavenly Star Sect are always arrogant and conceited. It is as difficult as climbing to the sky to ask them to set up an array."

Just then, the burly man next to him suddenly interjected, "This junior knows a female array master in the Qi Refining stage."

"Although this woman comes from a rogue cultivator background, her skill in formations is not much inferior to that of cultivators from sects."

"Over the years, she has set up formations for many cultivation families, and her reputation has risen rapidly."

The red-faced shopkeeper blinked and said, "Little Black, are you talking about Xin Ruyin, Master Xin?"

Upon hearing this, the burly man nodded and said, "That's right, it's her."

Upon hearing Xin Ruyin's name, Yang Qingyuan's heart stirred. He hadn't expected to find out the clue so easily. He asked, "Would the shopkeeper be willing to make an introduction?"

The red-faced shopkeeper looked troubled and stammered, saying, "This... actually, introducing you to Master Xin isn't difficult, but..."

"What's wrong?" Yang Qingyuan asked upon seeing this. "Is there some hidden story behind this?"

The red-faced shopkeeper explained, "To be honest, senior, I've heard that Master Xin is currently facing a lot of trouble."

"She previously helped a newly established Foundation Establishment family set up a formation."

"But for some reason, that Foundation Establishment family claimed that Master Xin had left a back door in the formation and stole their family heirloom while they were off guard."

The burly man beside him interjected, "Hmph, who in the market doesn't know Master Xin's character?"

"The claim that she stole the treasure is a complete frame-up."

"It's most likely that the Foundation Establishment family has taken a liking to Master Xin's array formation skills and wants to take them for themselves."

The red-faced shopkeeper sighed and said to Yang Qingyuan, "Senior, going to see Master Xin at this time might just get you into trouble."

Yang Qingyuan, however, did not take it to heart and said, "It's alright, please ask the shopkeeper to make the introduction."

Seeing that Yang Qingyuan had made up his mind, the red-faced shopkeeper said, "Master Xin happens to be in the market right now. I'll have Xiao Hei guide you."

The burly man stepped aside and said, "Please follow me, senior."

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan followed Xiao Hei out of the shop and headed east towards the market.

After a stick of incense had burned, the two arrived at a crowded street.

At this moment, hundreds of Qi Refining stage cultivators were gathered on the street, all looking on with amusement.

In front of a shop called "Qi's Weapon Refining Shop" on the street, a young man in white peeked out and stopped to look around.

"That's where Master Xin is staying in the market," the burly man said, pointing to a small courtyard at the end of the street. He frowned slightly. "But it seems something's happened."

"Should we just head back home?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Qingyuan remained unfazed and walked into the crowd on his own...