108 Maidens of Destiny

Chapter 31: The Art of Weapon Refinement and Pill Concoction

Haggling with the owner over the price took quite a long time, and in the end, Su Xing ended up trading extra medicines, stones, as well as 50 liang of gold for that Thunder Fire Sand.

“My friend, won’t you take a look at some artifacts? The artifacts from the Blooming Water Pavilion are the most famous within the entire Heavenly River Star Square.” The owner warmheartedly said, showing a knowing smile: “Soon, Heavenly Water City’s Water and Land Assembly will be convened. There’s a satisfactory artifact that would be absolutely beneficial to you if it was in your hands.”

“These are all ordinary artifacts, though.” Su Xing glanced at the restricted goods that were placed upon the shelf. They were all inferior Nebula Stage Artifacts, and the only item that could be counted as commendable was a single Ground Splitting Sword. However, Su Xing planned to enter the Nebula Stage in order to use the Thunder Cry Sword and the Firebolt Sword. Thus, he was naturally uninterested in these artifacts.

“Oh, right. Owner, do you know where I can find Mist Cloud Seeds?” Su Xing remembered he needed these seeds.

The owner shook his head. “I’ll keep an eye out for you, friend.”

“Then, thanks.” Su Xing smiled.

Carrying a bottle of Thunder Fire Sand, Su Xing found one of the weapon refinement shops in the Heavenly River Star Square. Earlier when he was browsing the Star Square, he noticed that this shop put out some fine steel to sell. Bullets on Earth generally used brass or iron for crafting. Discussing with the weaponsmith for a bit, Su Xing chose a piece of lustrous gold copper to use with the Thunder Fire Sand.

Soon after, Su Xing spoke again with the weaponsmith regarding the general demands for refining and crafting bullets.

“My friend, I’m afraid that using the Thunder Fire Sand just to forge a few of these conical projectiles is a bit of a waste.” The weaponsmith shook his head. He thought Su Xing was a commoner that really came to mess around with him. Using Star Energy to induce a discharge of this sort of conical projectile could not be compared with the might of refined weapons, even if it was paired with Thunder Fire Sand.

“Everything will be alright as long as you do what I told you. This is my personal preference.” Su Xing replied.

“Fine, then.”

“How many bullets do you think you can make?” Su Xing asked him.

The weaponsmith thought for a moment: “Twenty-five!”

“I’ll pick these up in ten days.”

“No problem.”

Exiting the weapon refinement shop, Su Xing breathed a sigh of relief. He was somewhat anxious about the progress of the bullets, but there was no choice seeing as how he himself was unable to refine weapons. “Yingmei, do you guys also go through this much trouble when refining your weapons?”

“Star Generals have True Origin Starfire, so we can refine the weapons ourselves. Liangshan Continent’s weaponsmiths just have no way to refine our Destined Star Weapons.” Lin Yingmei seriously replied.

“Seems like you really can only relax when you refine the thing yourself. Leaving this sort of business to another person would give no one peace of mind.” Su Xing bitterly laughed.

Wu Xinjie comforted him: “When your Star Energy reaches the Galaxy Stage, your dantian will be able to condense your own Starfire. When that time comes, Young Master can also just refine items yourself.”

Galaxy Stage?

Now was a bit too early to be thinking about that.

“If Young Master really wants to be at ease, you could just learn how to find a few earthly fires from him to do refinement. However, Young Master is not proficient with weapon refinement, so I fear that this will be extremely challenging.”

“Forget it, we don’t have the time for this anyways.” Su Xing still had many things to do.

Twilight descended.

Having circled around the Heavenly River Star Square for half a day, Su Xing was unable to locate any sign of the Mist Cloud Seed. Though, he was actually able to purchase all the magic books he needed. One was the “Art of Remote Manipulation.” This was the most fundamental magic for Star Cultivators, and it was commonly seen when discarding low-level artifacts. There was also a copy of the “Shrink Object Technique,” which would temporarily reduce the size and bulk of an object. It was precisely because of this that low-level artifacts were thrown away.

In addition to these, there were also several bottles of Qi Recovery Potions, twenty copies of the “Splashing Fire Talisman,” and ten copies of the “Daoist Light Talisman.”

There were still some leftover useless items that Su Xing simply took to a money farm to exchange for several tens of liang of gold.

Returning to the Health Cottage, An Suwen had already prepared an entire meal.

She was the only person in the house, and Lin Yingmei and Wu Xinjie who were stuck inside the Star Nest for an entire day also finally got to come out.

“Young master, how do you feel about Heavenly Water City now?”

“As expected, it’s very lively. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the whereabouts of the Mist Cloud Seed.” Su Xing said regretfully.

“Young master is thinking of refining a pill to break through the Stardust Stage, aren’t you.” An Suwen rolled her eyes. [1]

Su Xing nodded. He already entered the Stardust Stage bottleneck. If it was the him from before, perhaps he wouldn’t have been in such a rush. However, now that he knew that the Water and Land Assembly was just about to be held, he was in a hurry.

“If young master is willing to believe in Suwen, Suwen perhaps could help young master find some substitute ingredients.” Suwen asked softly. [2]

Su Xing stared blankly. That’s right, how could he forget about the Efficacious Star, the Divine Physician An Suwen. For better or for worse, An Suwen was the one who refined the Star Breaker Golden Pill. Perhaps she could find an alternative solution.

“Will that trouble you at all??” Su Xing hesitated for a moment, after all, they have known each for hardly even a day. The business before with Lin Yingmei was already a big enough hassle for her.

An Suwen lightly smiled. “I am the Efficacious Star. If it is something regarding pills and medicine, then there is no trouble at all.”

“Then, thank you so much.” Su Xing gave a great sigh, handing the recipe over to An Suwen.

“Not at all.” [3] The Divine Physician shook her head, taking the recipe and looking it over.

“Little Sister An Suwen, are you certain of this?” Wu Xinjie asked.

An Suwen asked in turn: “Will it do as long as the young master can break through to the Nebula Stage?

“En!”

“Then it’s certain.” An Suwen smiled, smiling very self-confidently.

Su Xing also seized the opportunity to discuss with An Suwen some questions about pills and their materials. Within the realm of pills, the Efficacious Star could be considered an expert, and she gave Su Xing explanations of many of Liangshan Continent’s pill arts.

Unwittingly, the young night turned into midnight.

“Oh, right, Sister Xinjie went today to see the ancient tomb. Did you discover its underlying logic?” An Suwen suddenly asked.

Wu Xinjie twitched her mouth: “This ancient tomb is much too strange. Over there were only two iron coffins.”

“Even Sister Knowledge Star also thinks it’s odd.” An Suwen smiled.

Wu Xinjie stole a glance at Su Xing and giggled.

After a moment, An Suwen was the first to return to her room to rest.

“Young Master, you said that the result would reveal itself tonight. Is it time to go unravel the ancient tomb?”

Lin Yingmei raised her brow: “Wu Yong, could you be a bit more serious about this?”

“But is so boring, isn’t that right, Young Master.” Wu Xinjie exhaled alluringly.

“No more arguing, in a moment, we’ll have some business to attend to.” Su Xing looked at Wu Xinjie: “So how about it, have you figured out the ancient tomb’s mechanism?”

“‘The coffins aren’t used to hold bodies,’ this hint is also too strange. Since Young Master cracked it, Xinjie doesn’t feel like thinking about it.” Wu Xinjie’s eyes were as charming as a pool of water during the spring: “However, did Young Master really crack it in such a short amount of time?”

“Let’s go there and take a look first.”

Su Xing didn’t have much to say.

The three again rushed to the outskirts of the ancient tomb, and from far away, they could hear the sounds of a battle. They immediately concealed their figures, hiding to the side.

Outside the ancient tomb, artifacts and talismans filled the dark night sky. A group of five people were working together to attack a solitary white figure.

“Young Master, your chance to become the hero that rescues the beauty has arrived.” Wu Xinjie gave an interested smile.

Su Xing furrowed his brow.

There was no mistake.

That figure being attacked by a coordinated assault was, astonishingly, the girl they met that morning, whose clothes were like snow.

However, it seemed that although she was receiving the attacks of five or six cultivators, the young girl was still rather calm.

“Hmph, we tracked you for this long, yet we didn’t think you would return. Could it be you solved the puzzle? If that’s the case, I could let you go.” The noble’s son with the paper fan coldly smiled as it shot out a green light.

The people surrounding her all had cultivation that was at least the Stardust Late Stage. The young man with the paper fan who led them himself had a cultivation at the Nebula Middle Stage. The girl was clearly at a disadvantage.

Su Xing urgently wished to act, but it was at that moment, a drastic change to the situation suddenly occurred.

He only heard the sound of a clear and ringing voice, full of disdain.

“If you want to die that badly, let me help you!”

Author’s Note: This is the last week, I respectfully request your ballots!!!!

1. In this context, this gesture implies thoughtfulness, not disrespect. ?

2. Could it be…she wants to contract? ?

3. “舉手之勞” This is an expression that describes something as being effortless. ?