Chapter 6

In the midst of the cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

Integrating the array pattern carved by Feng Jin into the short sword, Kong Fang sealed the earth fire again. After the temperature of the short sword had completely cooled down, he went over and took it out.

The previous moment of mental confusion had not caught Kong Fang's attention, so he did not have high hopes for the spirit initiation. However, despite this, Kong Fang still had to check the grade of the short sword, as it ultimately determined what he would gain.

Carefully examining the short sword in his hand, suddenly, Kong Fang's eyes widened in disbelief.

"This, it actually reached the second grade, how is this possible!" Kong Fang exclaimed in shock.

The four steps of weapon refinement each play a crucial role in the final grade of the weapon. In Kong Fang's view, the array pattern he remembered was simple and crude, which made him have little hope for the spirit initiation step. Kong Fang had only done the spirit initiation with a slight hope, but now he suddenly discovered that the grade of the short sword had directly improved by one level, reaching the second grade.

"If I had used the array pattern I remembered for the spirit initiation, this short sword would definitely not have improved by one grade. Could something I didn't know happen during the time I was confused?" Kong Fang's heart stirred, and he vaguely guessed a possibility.

"Array pattern... The spirit initiation made the short sword improve by one grade, the problem can only be with the array pattern used for the spirit initiation." Just looking at the short sword, Kong Fang couldn't help but bitterly smile, "I didn't check it carefully before, now the array pattern has been completely integrated into the short sword, with my abilities, I can't make the array pattern manifest, so I can't know what happened when I was carving the array pattern."

Kong Fang scratched his head in confusion, trying to recall what had happened during the time his consciousness was confused. However, after much effort, he couldn't remember anything and had to give up in frustration.

But then, Kong Fang suddenly burst into laughter, his voice filled with excitement and joy.

"Regardless of what happened before, with this second-grade short sword, I have a great chance to become an inner hall disciple." Kong Fang became more and more excited as he looked at the short sword in his hand, gently caressing it with affection.

After that, Kong Fang wrapped the short sword in a rag again and prepared to leave the refinement room. This short sword was prepared for the upcoming assessment, and Kong Fang needed to go to the Fire Cloud Hall counter to hand it over to the Fire Cloud Hall people.

Just as he opened the cold and dark stone door of the refinement room, the noise from the corridor immediately filled his ears.

"I worked hard to prepare the refinement materials, but they all turned to ashes in an instant. The array pattern in this yellow-grade refinement room is too poor, it even caused the earth fire to become unstable." In the corridor, a disciple who looked to be in his twenties complained loudly.

"You also encountered this? I thought it was just me." Hearing this, another disciple in the corridor was first surprised, but then became extremely depressed.

Upon hearing this, other new disciples who had been severely affected by the earth fire immediately began to recount the strange things they had encountered. They spoke in a noisy and resentful manner.

At first, Kong Fang didn't associate this with himself and nodded in agreement. After all, the earth fire had also suddenly burst during his refinement, causing him to worry for a long time, fearing that the short sword would be ruined. Therefore, Kong Fang felt a strong sense of agreement with the resentful words of the people around him.

But gradually, Kong Fang realized something was wrong. The refinement materials of these people had all turned to ashes in the burst of the earth fire. Although the earth fire in his refinement room also had an anomaly, his short sword did not turn to ashes; instead, its grade had improved significantly.

Feeling something was off, Kong Fang glanced at the resentful people and noticed that the refinement rooms they occupied were all near his. The refinement rooms behind him were not used much, so it wasn't noticeable, but the ones in front had issues.

The refinement rooms were originally built on both sides of the corridor. Kong Fang noticed that the farthest refinement rooms on both the left and right sides of the corridor were four rooms away from him, meaning that five rooms on both sides of the corridor had problems, totaling ten rooms, and they were symmetrically arranged, which was astonishing.

The two farthest refinement rooms were at an astonishingly equal distance from Kong Fang, and he didn't think this was a coincidence. Moreover, the materials of the people around him had all been turned to ashes by the earth fire, while his materials remained intact. Even if Kong Fang didn't know the reason, he knew that everything was definitely related to him.

Kong Fang instantly felt guilty. He had originally planned to complain with the others, but now he didn't dare to complain and even quietly retreated into the refinement room, fearing that these resentful people would notice him. If these people guessed that the culprit was Kong Fang, he wouldn't be able to escape.

Kong Fang retreated into the refinement room and quickly hid in a corner, only letting out a long breath when the people outside couldn't see him.

"This is a mess, fortunately, I discovered it early, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable." Kong Fang felt lucky. Destroying others' refinement materials was equivalent to cutting off their future, which would create deep enmity, so Kong Fang had to be cautious.

However, this couldn't be blamed on Kong Fang. The situation of Fire Refining Golden Body was extremely rare, who could have thought that a new disciple could achieve this step.

Kong Fang quickly stuffed the rag-wrapped short sword into his clothes, fortunately, it was just a short sword, and as long as others didn't look closely, they wouldn't notice.

After that, Kong Fang carefully walked out of the refinement room, ignoring the loud complaints and even the threats to go to the Fire Cloud Hall to find the elders. Kong Fang quickly walked forward, intending to leave this 'troubled place' as soon as possible.

"Brother." Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice came from behind. Kong Fang immediately recognized it as the voice of the inner hall disciple Sun Hao, but he didn't dare to stop. Pretending not to know that Sun Hao was calling him, Kong Fang quickly passed through the crowd and disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Sun Hao looked at the back of Kong Fang, who had disappeared, in confusion. He had wanted to call Kong Fang to join them in finding the elder. Since so many new disciples' refinement materials had been destroyed due to the earth fire, the problem was likely with the refinement rooms, and the Fire Cloud Hall would naturally have to give an explanation. Otherwise, these people would fail the assessment and be expelled from the sect.

But to his surprise, Kong Fang ignored him and ran away. The hurried look on his face was almost like he was fleeing.

"Brother, why bother with him? From the look of it, he's planning to give up. A new disciple without ambition, why should you care about his life and death? Let's quickly go find the elder." Zhang De, whose face was slightly green, looked at the back of Kong Fang, full of resentment.

Sun Hao's repeated care for this new disciple made Zhang De extremely unbalanced.

"Alright." Sun Hao nodded in agreement and then loudly said to the others, "Stop complaining, I'll take you to find Elder Qing Fan. If the problem is indeed with our Fire Cloud Hall's refinement rooms, the elder will definitely give you a satisfactory response."

"Thank you, Brother Sun Hao." The others respectfully replied. However, a few of them still had some dissatisfaction in their hearts. They had spent a lot of time and effort to gather some good materials, but now they were all destroyed by the earth fire. Even if the Fire Cloud Hall eventually gave them some new refinement materials, they would only be ordinary materials.

But these thoughts could only be kept in their hearts, and they didn't dare to say them out loud.

After Sun Hao led the others away, the door of a refinement room further back opened, and Qian Ziguang, who had been monitoring Kong Fang, came out.

"The earth fire had an anomaly, and all the refinement materials turned to ashes. Hehe, this way, that damn Kong Fang should give up. Without materials, I wonder what he will use for refinement. Hmm, no, I need to quickly go out and keep an eye on him, in case he runs away in despair. Tsk tsk, I really want to see the look of despair on that little brat Kong Fang's face, hahaha, hahaha." Qian Ziguang laughed sinisterly.