Chapter 37

Li Yunxiao walked to the corner and began to rummage through, feeling a faint sense of something unusual. Soon, he picked up a slightly darker stone from a pile of rocks and examined it closely.

Meng Bai was surprised and said, "This one doesn't seem to be the raw ore of yuan stones. I felt that it contained energy, so I picked it up."

Li Yunxiao slightly increased the pressure with his fingers and quickly peeled off the surface of the raw stone, revealing a purple stone with many impurities inside. His eyes lit up with joy, and he hurriedly asked, "Where did you find this stone? Are there more in the mine?"

Meng Bai replied, "It's from the Wufeng mine outside the city. The main mine is controlled by the authorities. We just dig in some smaller veins nearby, so there should be more of these stones."

Li Yunxiao pondered for a moment and said, "This stone is very useful. It's called Ziyang Stone, a fifth-grade material. Its function is to condense a gravity array. If I'm not mistaken, the gravity hall in Jialan Academy is constructed with a large amount of this Ziyang Stone."

Meng Bai was surprised and said, "Construct a gravity array? That must be very valuable, right?"

Li Yunxiao nodded and said, "Indeed, it's quite rare for a kingdom's academy to have a gravity chamber. Although Ziyang Stone is only a fifth-grade material, due to its special properties, it's rarely sold on the market. Usually, only the top forces on the continent have the ability to construct gravity training rooms. The price of Ziyang Stone depends on the quantity. For example, this one has too many impurities, but it's large enough. The refined Ziyang Stone can generate a gravity field within three meters."

Meng Bai's eyes lit up, but when he saw Li Yunxiao put the Ziyang Stone directly into his ring, he pouted and said, "Master, how can you take your apprentice's things?"

Li Yunxiao, with a thick face, said, "This thing would be wasted with you. Master will keep it for you for now. When you need it in the future, Master will give it back to you."

Ignoring Meng Bai's complaints, Li Yunxiao took the stone and left, not forgetting to remind him, "Remember to practice those three moves day and night, and try to fully release the poison in your body. When the time comes, Master will help you detoxify." He didn't forget the benefits of absorbing the poison, which greatly increased his yuan energy.

After leaving Meng Bai's house, Li Yunxiao muttered to himself, "I didn't expect to have a disciple with the Heaven-Earth Poison Body. With this extraordinary constitution, this kid will surely be one of the best among my disciples in the future."

After a moment of thought, he headed toward the Alchemist Guild, "It's time to forge a mystic weapon for myself. With the unexpected acquisition of Ziyang Stone, I need to slightly adjust my original forging method."

Every Alchemist Guild has an enhancement array to help alchemists complete their work. However, once a certain level is reached, the effect of such arrays becomes negligible. Li Yunxiao was currently only at the first-stage Scholar level, so using the array would still provide a significant boost.

As soon as he entered the Alchemist Guild, he was recognized by the sharp-eyed Lu Yao, who hurriedly ran up and said, "Master Li, Master Zhang and President Xu are looking for you." Her tone became extremely respectful, and her attitude was serious and humble, showing some restraint.

"What do they want? Is there something wrong with the princess?" Li Yunxiao tilted his head in thought, but then decided it was unlikely, "I'm here to borrow your enhancement array."

Lu Yao made a gesture inviting him in, "Please, see Master Zhang and President Xu first. Follow me." Although she didn't know about Li Yunxiao treating the princess, she could tell from the expressions of the senior alchemists in the guild that they held Li Yunxiao in high regard.

Li Yunxiao wasn't particularly enthusiastic, but since he needed their help, he reluctantly went to see them.

Seeing his unenthusiastic face, Lu Yao couldn't help but smile bitterly. If anyone else heard that these two masters were summoning them, they would probably be jumping with excitement. This kid was actually annoyed. She didn't know what was wrong with him.

Li Yunxiao followed Lu Yao to the third floor and entered a spacious room where not only Xu Han was present, but also Zhang Qingfan.

As soon as they saw him, both of their eyes lit up with joy. They didn't dare to act superior and quickly stood up, nodding as a greeting between equals. Lu Yao was so shocked that she almost bit her tongue. She didn't dare to linger and hurriedly greeted them before leaving. Li Yunxiao, however, took it in stride, walked straight to the two men, sat down, and crossed his legs, saying, "What do you want?"

The two men exchanged glances, both with a bitter smile. Zhang Qingfan took out an invitation and handed it to Li Yunxiao, "This is an invitation from His Majesty the King, inviting all the ministers to a banquet. One, to celebrate Luoyun Shang's promotion to alchemist, and two, to celebrate the princess's recovery. Besides yourself, you can bring five attendants."

Li Yunxiao took the gilded invitation, thought for a moment, and then put it away, "Is that all?"

Seeing his impatience, Zhang Qingfan smiled bitterly and got straight to the point, "We want to know if you are a disciple of Master Yang Di?"

Li Yunxiao replied, "No."

"No?" Zhang Qingfan was full of doubt, "Then your Life Imprint and Acupuncture technique..."

Li Yunxiao interrupted him directly, "If there's nothing else, I'll leave now." He had no interest in discussing this and stood up to leave.

Zhang Qingfan was taken aback; no one had ever dared to snub him like this. He glanced at Xu Han, who looked equally helpless, and then smiled bitterly, "How can you be so impatient, Young Master Yun? This time we invited you to thank you for saving the princess. This small gift is from both of us."

On the table were two jade boxes, one large and one small. Zhang Qingfan pushed them to Li Yunxiao and smiled at him.

Li Yunxiao frowned, opened the smaller jade box, and found a delicate and small badge inside, made of an unknown material, neither gold nor jade. He was surprised, "A second-stage alchemist badge?"

Xu Han smiled, "Young Master Yun's Acupuncture technique is far beyond that of a second-stage alchemist. However, this is only a fifth-grade branch of the Alchemist Guild, and we only have the authority to issue second-stage badges. So, I'm afraid we have to inconvenience you. If you want a higher certification, you'll need to go to a fourth-grade branch for verification."

Li Yunxiao pondered for a moment and then put the badge in his ring, "This is indeed a good thing. Besides, the monthly stipend is a considerable amount. Thank you."

Xu Han smiled in satisfaction and pointed to the long box, "Young Master Yun, take a look at this."

Li Yunxiao smiled faintly, "I know it's a mystic weapon without even looking." He opened the box and, as expected, found a silver long sword lying in a red cloth, emitting a cold light. The sword's body shimmered with water-like light, like a clear spring, full of vitality, clearly not an ordinary item.

"This sword is called 'Spring Water.' It is my most satisfactory work, a third-grade mystic weapon. What do you think, Young Master Yun?" Zhang Qingfan explained proudly, a hint of reluctance in his eyes. But they both itched to learn the Acupuncture technique, so they had to part with their treasure.

The value of the Acupuncture technique far exceeded that of this mystic weapon. At first, they were worried that it might be a secret technique passed down by Yang Di and couldn't be shared. But after learning that Li Yunxiao wasn't a direct disciple of Yang Di, they no longer had such concerns and felt safe giving away their treasure.

Li Yunxiao picked up the long sword, examined it, and praised, "Not bad. Although there are still many flaws, for a third-stage alchemist, to forge a mystic weapon of this quality is indeed commendable."

Zhang Qingfan and Xu Han were speechless, feeling extremely frustrated. Such a precious sword, and he said it had many flaws.

Li Yunxiao looked at them and smiled faintly, "Are you不服气 (unconvinced)?"

Li Yunxiao smiled lightly, "The main material of this Spring Water sword should be fourth-grade Mystic Water Illusion Iron. According to your thinking, you probably believe that the higher the grade of the material, the better the mystic weapon. But at your third-stage level, you can't understand the true structure of fourth-grade materials. You can only forcibly change their form. This results in a mystic weapon that, although third-grade, is less stable than one made from third-grade materials. While it may have greater power, it also has higher requirements for the user and is more prone to damage."

His words left the two men stunned, lost in deep thought. They had never considered this issue, always focusing on improving the quality and grade of the mystic weapon.

Li Yunxiao smiled lightly, and a master's aura gradually spread around him, as if he had returned to the Alchemist Guild headquarters before his fall, lecturing to alchemists from all over the continent.

"First, the selection of materials is already a major mistake. The auxiliary materials are also fourth-grade, which you can't control. How can they harmoniously fuse together? You just rely on soul power and true fire to forcibly fuse them. Although you succeeded in the end, it's not a complete sword but a patchwork of pieces."

Zhang Qingfan stared blankly at his Spring Water sword, which he had always found more and more satisfying. Now, it suddenly seemed like a failure, a simple pile of blocks with more and more problems.

Xu Han's eyes were filled with confusion, lost in deep thought. The two men didn't dare to say a word, listening carefully to Li Yunxiao's explanation.

"Finally, let's talk about the forging technique and the choice of true fire. True fire isn't necessarily better the stronger it is. Master Zhang, you probably used the inner fire of a beast, and a fire-attribute beast at that. This directly damages the water element of the Mystic Water Illusion Iron. Your forging technique is also crude and lacks the integration of each step. What you forged, besides its grade, what else can you expect from it?"

After Li Yunxiao finished speaking, the two men were completely stunned, staring dumbfounded at the Spring Water sword. What was once a sword with more and more problems now seemed like junk. This wasn't a sword; it was just a piece of scrap metal!