Hao Ren appeared at the location designated by the elder, and waited patiently for the latter. However, as he was thinking about infiltrating the place deeper, and learn more things, his mood was spoiled by the enemy that came across the narrow path of life.
Den spotted him while he was accompanied by several lackies under his command. He smirked and decided to make a move against Hao Ren and teach him a lesson for the slap in the past. He looked at the young man beside him and said, "That is Hao Ren, the bastard who slapped me."
The brows of the young man furrowed and he said, "His aura, its being held back, I cannot see through his cultivation realm."
The people in the group frowned and then Den said, "What does it matter? Just kill him and be done with it. Latter, leave the sect and run away. I will give you a hefty reward."
That was all, the reward word was enough to cause their blood to pick up the pace. A few of them wanted to rush over, when they froze in their steps. They spotted Grandmaster Hephi walking over with his hands behind his back and his eyes observing everything in the surroundings.
They all bowed and greeted the old man who nodded indifferently, and to the shock of their lives, they saw the old man stop before Hao Ren, who bowed and said, "Good morning, Grandmaster Hephi."
The old man smiled faintly and said, "Come along, we are going to get your skills honed. I can tell that you are close to the level of a master artifact refiner."
Hao Ren smiled and bowed, "You sure have the vision like a torch, Sir. Thank you for your guidance all this while."
Hephi waved his hand and said, "You are a young and talented man, and I am not sure if I should take you as my disciple, but anything else would be below your level. Consider this as me lending you a hand."
Hao Ren cupped his fist and said, "My family has a saying, return a favor tenfold, and grievances twentyfold. Ren has noted this favor, I shall return in to you tenfold in the future, Grandmaster."
The old man was surprised and then he laughed hard, and it caused the place to tremble a little. Hephi regained his composure and patted Hao Ren's shoulder hard as he said, "Good, you have some character. Come, we are getting late." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel✶fire.net
Hao Ren respectfully followed the old man, but his eyes were actually noticing everything that existed in his surroundings. The place was covered with arrays, and Hao Ren had used the eye of insight to inspect the surroundings. He was using the skills to get a better sense of the place, and to find the three researchers that have defected this place.
As they walked around the establishment, Hao Ren realized that this place was a multi-courtyard building. There were many layers in this whole Iron Mountain Sect. Hao Ren was in the outer court of the sect and he was in the northern quadrant.
Hephi was the Northern Outer Quadrant elder, and he was a grade one Grandmaster. As they walked the old man asked, "Ren, do you know the divisions of the Refiners?"
Hao Ren replied, "Yes, Grandmaster."
The old man said, "Tell me about it."
Hao Ren took a deep breath to calm his mind and said, "There are three major realms in refining, Master, Grandmaster, and finally Saint. These three major realms are divided into nine sub categories each. For example, the weapon forged by a One Star Master would be able to conduct ten percent of the initial spiritual infusion inside the weapon.
Every ten percent corresponded to a higher level star, twenty percent would be two star, and so on. For a grandmaster, the defining characteristic would be the elemental affinity. I read in a book, that to become a grandmaster, one should forge five weapons with affinity to the five different elements, and each of the weapon should boost ten percent of the elemental damage or property in an artifact.
As for the saint realm, I didn't try to look into it so that I don't bite more than I can chew.|
The old man sighed as they stood before a big hall, and said, "You have done your homework, but now you will be enter my forge and I will need you to do more than just recitals."
Hao Ren nodded and thanked the guys, because he was already a master refiner.
In the background, Den and his fellows were watching the scene with a pale face. The young man who commented about how he couldn't see the aura radiating from Hao Ren said, "It was a stroke of fate, Brother Den, please don't try to talk with me anymore. I would not play the role of a borrowed knife in your conquest."
That said, he flicked his sleeves and left the place, the rest of the people looked at Den but they didn't make a comment and dispersed silently. Den was shocked, his social standing that he was so proud about had fallen apart by a casual appearance of the old Grandmaster. He couldn't understand how Hao Ren managed to form a connection with the Grandmaster of the outer court.
Hao Ren came to a big refining hall, and the old man said, "This is my refining room. The arrays around the anvil and the rest of the apareture are used to stabilize the refining process, and also keep the spiritual energy flow clean inside the room."
Hao Ren nodded, and then the old man began to grind Hao Ren. He said, "You are already a Seven Star Master, but your refining technique has yet to gain that finesse you need to step out in the world. Bring your sword."
Hao Ren handed out the black blade that he had forged yesterday, and the old man said, "Black star iron and Cotton Wool Steel. Refined five thousand times with great dedication, and can gain seventy percent circulation. This is a good weapon, however, you need to mix the right portion of metals for it."
Hephi told Hao Ren about the various metal combinations and the latter nodded. Hao Ren had intentionally messed up the combination to prevent an uproar. However, it was because he wanted to latch himself to the old man to get deeper in the sect.
Hephi led Hao Ren to a shelf where all the metals were stored and then he selected a few blocks as big as a human head. Then he said, "Pick up the two metals you used in the sword."
Hao Ren nodded, and picked up two blocks of metal, and Old Hephi said, "Use the same with a thirty seventy ratio. The steel would be used thirty percent."
Hao Ren nodded, and then he quickly divided the blocks using his sword energy, which didn't escape the old man and he raised his brow, as he asked, "Were you going to retaliate against those boys."
Hao Ren didn't pause and nodded calmly. The old man was surprised and asked, "Why?"
The young man replied, "It is because I don't have the patience to let them bother me every now and then."
Hephi nodded and asked, "However, as an artifact refiner, you should have some patience, and the stature of a mountain. That will help you connect with the process better."
Hao Ren recalled how he had comprehended the meaning of the mountain back when he was in the blue star. He took a deep breath and pondered over the idea before he found that it was really plausible. He looked at Old Hephi and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Instructor."
Old Hephi smiled and waved for Hao Ren to continue the forging. The two metals were smelted and then poured into a mould before he took out the semi-solid shape and began to beat it with the hammer and channeled the flame energy around the fetus to make sure that the metal mixes with each other properly.
The old man nodded from the side, and said, "After the forging is complete, you would need to learn about presentation. How can you make a shabby looking masterpiece? How can you survive if your artifacts don't stand out?"
Hao Ren almost lost focus and laughed at this, but he handled it as if the old man was speaking gibberish and began to recall the meaning of the mountain and his swings gradually changed. The ding changed into a dang, the speed reduced a lot and the reverb of the vibrations traveled through the void, causing it to ripple faintly.
Hephi was shocked, he thought, 'What sort of a monster is this guy? He has the comprehension of a true meaning of the mountain that took me ten years after I became a master? It wouldn't be good to pressurize him too much or I might end up doubting my own path.'
His worries were not unfounded, if Hao Ren had relied on guidance from the elders, then he would have become a supreme already. The refining continued for five hours, and when Hao Ren finished, Hephi chuckled and then laughed out loud as he said, "Good job, Master Ren."