Chapter 19: Evaluating the Artifact Refiner

Inside the Blacksmiths' Guild Evaluator Hall at the Mupu Star and Sampur City branch, Tang Yi stood facing a forging furnace taller than half a man. The red flames at the bottom of the furnace drew upon the Earth's Core Fire of Mupu Star, which could match the true flames condensed by ordinary Great Luo Golden Immortals using celestial energy. Why ordinary? Because if a Great Luo Golden Immortal specialized in the fire element condensed true flames, their personal fire-type celestial arts would provide a supplementary boost to the true flames. In contrast, true flames condensed by anyone else were merely the most mundane true flames. Even those condensed at the level of a Celestial Sovereign could at best reach the level of pseudo-Samadhi true flames, meaning they only possessed greater volume.

In the Immortal Realm, only true flames at or above the level of Samadhi true flames could be considered genuine immortal flames. Ordinary true flames were incapable of refining supreme-grade immortal artifacts or rank-four and above celestial elixirs. Therefore, any qualified blacksmith was bound to master a fire-type celestial art. Although anyone could learn fire-type celestial arts, the achievements attained varied from person to person.

Once the temperature inside the furnace reached a certain degree, Tang Yi cast the materials into it one by one. The materials were very simple, totaling five kinds, all of which were tier-two forging materials: a large chunk of ordinary black mysterious iron, a small piece of refined gold, a portion of mortal-layer powder, three taels of titanium steel, and a single dragon-breaking crystal. Tang Yi intended to forge a weapon—a sword. First, the black mysterious iron was forged into the sword blank, after which refined gold was integrated to enhance the elasticity of the blade. The titanium steel was incorporated into the hilt to allow the user to channel celestial energy more easily. The dragon-breaking crystal was embedded between the blade and the hilt to amplify the augmentation of celestial energy on the blade. Finally, the entire sword was coated with mortal-layer powder on the outer layer, making the complete sword more agile and deft.

Before long, Tang Yi successfully forged the sword. Although this was Tang Yi's first time refining an immortal artifact in the Immortal Realm, with his various special abilities, to outsiders it appeared as though he had undergone countless practices to achieve such fluid techniques and speed.

A flash of delight crossed the old man in the yellow robe's eyes as he took the somewhat dark-colored sword and examined it carefully. After a moment, the old man said with a face full of astonishment: "Such simple materials were actually used to forge an immortal artifact of this caliber. It should be at least elite third-grade or higher, and the sword is even inscribed with arrays. Well, three arrays... no, it could be said to be six arrays. The three arrays can be used individually, complemented in pairs, or even combined with all three arrays to form a grand array. Not only is the young friend's forging technique formidable, but your array talent is also exceptionally high. Extremely rare indeed!"

"Hehe, then does this evaluation pass?" Tang Yi asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, of course, of course. I was just captivated by the young friend's forging methods and lost my composure for a moment. Come, let us go to the appraisal room for the official appraisal," the old man said, leading Tang Yi to another room.

This room was the appraisal chamber for immortal artifacts, featuring a huge jade platform in its center. Placing the sword onto the jade platform, the old man pressed a switch on the side of the platform. A radiance rose from the entire jade surface, growing gradually clearer and denser while continuously shifting in colorful hues.

"This jade platform is also considered an immortal artifact, though not of a high grade—it is elite first-grade. It was specifically refined for appraising the grade of immortal artifacts. Every branch of the guild in the Immortal Realm has one, while immortal elixirs have a different dedicated appraisal immortal artifact," the old man introduced to Tang Yi.

The old man was extremely happy today. Having stayed on Mupu Star for so long, it was rare to encounter a blacksmith—no, an array master—with extraordinary potential. This was a great fortune for the forging circles of the Immortal Realm, and also a great fortune for the old man. After years of development, the Blacksmiths' Guild had grown immensely. As the saying goes, a big forest has all sorts of birds. The same applied to the Blacksmiths' Guild; its interior was currently riddled with various factions. Alas, he knew that gaining a foothold among them was no easy task. Of course, blacksmiths spoke through their forging strength, so any talented newcomer was naturally the target of recruitment by various factions.

The colorful radiance gradually subsided, revealing several prominent characters in the center: Grade — Elite First-Grade.

"An elite first-grade immortal artifact! If slightly better materials had been used, wouldn't it have risen by another grade or two? If tier-nine materials were used, would it be possible to... well, little friend Tang Yi is truly formidable. Come, come, let us go collect your badge right now." Overjoyed, the old man in yellow thought that if possible, he would no longer have to remain in the Mupu star system. Staying here was practically no different from being sealed away, and perhaps even worse than being sealed.

When Tang Yi walked out of the Mupu Star branch of the Blacksmiths' Guild, he had an extra bronze-colored badge on his body. Below the character for 'Beginner' in the center, three brilliantly shining stars twinkled. As for the sword, because the materials belonged to the guild, it was handled according to their own discretion; whether they sold it or used it was no longer something Tang Yi could control.

"Big brother here is now considered someone of status in the Immortal Realm. Haha, making a fortune and reaching the peak of my mor... immortal life," Tang Yi muttered internally with wild delusions as he walked.

At the Azure Sea Sect, Gu Hua stopped speaking, picked up the teacup on the table, and slowly sipped his tea.

"That being the case, the three checkpoints leading to the Divine Weapon Star are three testing trials: the first checkpoint is a test of cultivation realm, where anyone too high will be eliminated; the second checkpoint is a test of actual immortal age, where anyone whose immortal age exceeds ten thousand years will be eliminated; the third checkpoint is a test of strength, which can only be passed through sheer might," Lan Qishan said after a moment of contemplation.

Previously, the major sects of the Immortal Realm did not pay much attention to this Divine Weapon Star, not believing it held anything particularly good. Moreover, those who initially discovered the Divine Weapon Star assumed it was merely a battlefield ruin planet born from the ancient war between immortals and demons. After acquiring a supreme-grade immortal artifact on the Divine Weapon Star, they kept their mouths shut. However, because of that supreme-grade immortal artifact, it still attracted the attention of the observant. By the time the Divine Weapon Star opened for the second time, the number of entrants had increased. Because the location of the Divine Weapon Star was extremely remote—initially known only to a corner in the southeast quadrant of the Immortal Realm—as supreme-grade immortal artifacts continuously flowed out of it and the strength of the sects and families in the southeastern stellar region suddenly ascended to a new tier, it gradually caught the attention of the entire Immortal Realm.

"Furthermore, even without entering the Divine Weapon Star, there is still a chance to obtain immortal artifacts within the checkpoints. Through careful deduction, each opening count that is a multiple of ten offers a chance to obtain immortal artifacts within the checkpoints, and when the count reaches a multiple of one hundred, the grade of the immortal artifacts becomes even better," Gu Hua added.

The Divine Weapon Star opened for the first time in the year zero of the third epoch of the Immortal-Demon Calendar, which was exactly thirty million years ago. It was not until the seven hundredth opening—the four hundredth opening of the Divine Weapon Star—that the top five hundred factions of the Immortal Realm truly took notice of it. At that time, a Supreme Divine Artifact actually emerged, shocking the entire Immortal Realm. What is a Supreme Divine Artifact?

Up until the present, the highest-grade blacksmiths in the Immortal Realm were only at level nine, capable of refining super-divine-grade immortal artifacts. Although divine-grade and super-divine-grade artifacts were generally called divine artifacts, they were merely called that and still belonged within the scope of immortal artifact tiers. True divine artifacts were those of the supreme divine grade, known as Supreme Divine Artifacts. Before the Immortal-Demon War, legends spoke of several divine-level blacksmiths, but almost all of them perished after the war. For one billion years, no one in the Immortal Realm had forged a new Supreme Divine Artifact. As for those old Supreme Divine Artifacts, they were either damaged or lost during the Immortal-Demon War. The few remaining ones were kept within the top-tier sects of the Immortal Realm as their sect-鎮派 (镇派之宝 - sect-镇派 translates to sect-guarding treasures).

"Lei Ming, the current master of the Thunder Pavilion, obtained their present sect-guarding treasure—the Thunder Divine Throne—when the Divine Weapon Star opened for the four hundredth time," sighed Yan Zhen, master of the Earth Flame Sect. As the leading heavyweight sect in the Immortal Realm specializing in fire-type celestial arts, the Earth Flame Sect was also among the foremost in the forging world. Unfortunately, their sect currently had only five level-nine blacksmiths and three level-nine alchemists, making it impossible for them to forge a Supreme Divine Artifact.

"Indeed, a single Supreme Divine Artifact allowed the Thunder Pavilion to rise from obscurity to a top-tier sect in less than a single epoch," Tuoba Gang continued. "This selection tournament is set for the nine-hundredth year of this epoch, which is also one hundred years before the opening of the Divine Weapon Star. Counting it up, there is less than a hundred years left until the selection tournament. With so little time, we had best finalize our cooperative matters in the near future."

"Very well, let us begin now!" Lan Qishan nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Zhang Sanfeng and his party were on their way back to Guanyue Star, as Guan Shengtian had sent a message telling Guan Zhiheng to return home and prepare for the expedition to the Divine Weapon Star.

"The Divine Weapon Star? What is that?" Zhang Sanfeng asked Guan Zhiheng.

"The Divine Weapon Star? It is a planet that exclusively produces divine weapons, first opened by someone thirty million years ago..." Guan Zhiheng explained to Zhang Sanfeng.