"Profound Fire Sword. A mass-produced low-grade magic treasure flying sword. Its formation runes are damaged and there are hairline fractures within... Five thousand spirit stones. Come pick it up in three days."
Inside a quiet parlor, two Daoist cultivators—one elderly, one young—were assessing a broadsword.
Hearing Huyan Zhuo's quote, Luo Chen opened his mouth, but ended up shaking his head in helpless resignation.
A piece of gear like the Profound Fire Sword was worth thirty to forty thousand spirit stones at most, yet repairing it cost a whopping five thousand!
The sensation felt just like buying a phone for three or four thousand in his past life, only to find out replacing the screen would cost eight or nine hundred.
If one had a bit of spare cash, they might simply discard it and buy a brand-new phone.
Yet magic treasures could not be treated so casually.
Luo Chen had invested a tremendous amount of time and energy into attuning and refining the Profound Fire Sword; it wasn't something he could just swap out on a whim.
Fine, repair it then!
Luo Chen smacked his lips, then produced a disk.
"Grandmaster, please take a look at this magic treasure as well. Can it be repaired?"
Huyan Zhuo's gaze fell upon the disk. "Activate it slightly."
"Very well."
Luo Chen gave a nod and channeled magic power into it. The disk clicked and clattered, and crescent-shaped flying wheels drifted out from it one after another, their keen edge seemingly capable of rending the void itself.
"Refined and attuned quite well!"
Huyan Zhuo gave a casual compliment and took several of the small flying wheels into his hands.
"Fought against a Tier 3 demon beast, haven't you?"
"Yes."
"There are signs of demonic power corrosion... Oh, it was also eroded by Nether Turbid Fluid. It doesn't look too severe, but if not handled properly, this treasure of yours will be completely ruined after another two or three uses."
Luo Chen froze. "Is it really that serious? I already used an antidote earlier to neutralize the effects of the Nether Turbid Fluid."
Huyan Zhuo scoffed, tossing something out with a flick of his hand.
A pitch-black boulder thudded onto the ground, scored with grooves of varying depths as though chiseled by blades and axes.
"Come!"
"Direct all your power into controlling this one wheel and strike the sword-testing stone."
Luo Chen complied without hesitation. Under his magical command, the flying wheel chopped fiercely into the sword-testing stone.
To his surprise, the collision only kicked up a burst of sparks.
Once the sparks vanished, merely a faint white mark remained.
"It's a fine magic treasure. Even among low-grade treasures, it counts as a superior craft; you can tell it was forged by a renowned master."
After admiring it, Huyan Zhuo asked, "When you exerted your full power just now, how did it feel?"
"Nothing unusual, just like before..." Luo Chen began, but as he spoke, his brow furrowed. "Actually... there was a subtle hint of dissonance."
Stroking his beard, Huyan Zhuo picked up his teacup and took a slow sip, savoring the flavor.
"That dissonance is precisely the problem!"
"This is a set-type magic treasure. A single child wheel feeling slightly off may seem minor, but more than one of your child wheels is damaged. Under full control, with hundreds of wheels flying, that dissonance will be magnified infinitely."
"Tsk, tsk. Think about it: during life-and-death combat, if your control slips even by a fraction, what would the consequence be?"
"Ponder on that!"
Luo Chen's expression shifted.
Only now did he realize that while Jiang Yu seemed ordinary on the surface, the man's methods were remarkably vicious.
The raindrops summoned by that Rain-Calling Banner had contained a vast amount of Nether Turbid Fluid.
In a brief skirmish, their lethality was not apparent, yet the lingering repercussions were staggering!
If Huyan Zhuo hadn't pointed it out, the Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel being ruined after two more uses would have been the least of his worries; if his control faltered during battle and an enemy seized the opening to strike him down, that would be fatal!
*I wonder if Jiang Yu knows about this hidden damage. If he didn't, fair enough, but if he knew and deliberately kept quiet...*
Luo Chen's heart sank.
Huyan Zhuo's voice broke his train of thought. "Want it repaired?"
"Can it be repaired?"
"Heh, simple enough. Give me five days; it's practically a walk in the park."
"And the price?"
"This one won't come cheap."
Huyan Zhuo raised three fingers.
Luo Chen's eyes widened. "Thirty thousand? That's enough to buy an entry-level magic treasure!"
Huyan Zhuo smiled faintly without haggling, looking completely indifferent as if to say, *Take it or leave it.*
Luo Chen hesitated for a moment before deciding to have it repaired.
Battles might arise at any time in the future; resolving the issue with his weapons as early as possible would give him peace of mind.
It was merely tens of thousands of spirit stones, an amount he could produce without flinching.
His hesitation stemmed only from ingrained frugality.
When purchasing something, he cared little whether the absolute price was high or low; what mattered was whether it was worth it.
For an immortal's cave that cost over a million spirit stones to rent, he could hand over the sum without batting an eye.
But if a medicinal pill worth five hundred spirit stones was priced at seven hundred, he would feel thoroughly swindled.
Evidently, Huyan Zhuo was demanding an exorbitant price on the spot without leaving any room for negotiation—it all boiled down to whether Luo Chen was willing to get fleeced.
Left with no alternative if he wanted to preserve his combat prowess, Luo Chen willingly accepted the extortion.
Once Luo Chen paid the deposit, a smile appeared on Huyan Zhuo's face, and he grew noticeably chattier.
"Fellow Daoist, don't take it to heart. A sum like this is nothing to a Tier 3 alchemist such as yourself."
"Besides, these two treasures are only low-grade magic treasures. If they were mid-grade, or the natal magic treasures of our peers, the cost would be far steeper."
"Take Daoist Jiang Yu from your alliance just a while back—in order to repair his natal magic treasure, he paid an immense price."
These words seemed intended to ease Luo Chen's mood, but they only helped slightly.
After handing over both the Profound Fire Sword and the Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel to Huyan Zhuo and agreeing on a date to collect them, Luo Chen had no desire to linger for another second and rose to take his leave.
Coming down from the third-floor parlor, Luo Chen paused briefly, his eyes sweeping across the bustling commotion on the ground floor.
This was naturally not the workshop where magic treasures were forged or mended.
This was Wanbao Tower, the new store established by Tianfan City in Poyue Immortal City. The storefront was enormous, primarily dedicated to selling new armaments and accepting commissions for custom crafting and repairs.
Yet despite its sprawling size, it was packed to the brim with a jostling throng of cultivators.
Groans and complaints echoed incessantly in his ears:
"This is way too expensive!"
"It's just a broken sword tip! Can't you just patch it with some scrap materials? Do you really have to charge me nine hundred spirit stones?"
"Look closely—this is just a high-grade magical tool! It only cost three thousand five hundred spirit stones to buy new, and now to repair it, you're telling me it costs a thousand?!"
"Back when the Yan Alliance repaired magical tools, they never gouged people like this!"
In the face of these desperate pleas and haggling attempts, the disciples of Tianfan City wore genial smiles, yet showed zero intention of budging on price. They rebuffed the complaints with practiced rhetoric:
"You get what you pay for; this really isn't expensive at all!"
"To your eyes, it's just fixing a sword tip, but in reality, the array formations must be deconstructed and redrawn. Nine hundred is already a friendly discount. You must realize that anyone proficient in the Armor-Piercing Formation is practically a master of arrays. Engaging an array master for a mere nine hundred spirit stones is a steal!"
"Fellow Daoist, don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish! During this opening war, opportunities abound. Rather than haggling over a thousand spirit stones here, wouldn't it be better to get it fixed quickly and head out to earn thousands more?"
"The Yan Alliance? They're yesterday's news! In Poyue Immortal City today, Tianfan City is the sole entity capable of repairing peak-grade magical tools."
"How is it expensive? It's been this price for years. Don't lie through your teeth; we weapon crafters at Tianfan City have a hard time too. If you don't like it, buy a new one!"
"Fellow Daoist, why not take a look at this Blue Steel Sword? Although it is merely a high-grade magical tool, its might is no less than a peak-grade one..."
...
After stepping out of the noisy Wanbao Tower, Luo Chen shook his head vigorously, as if shaking the clamor from his ears.
Glancing back at the tower belonging to Tianfan City, he smacked his lips, green with envy.
Just how many spirit stones did they rake in every day?
Magical tools and magic treasures differed from ordinary consumables.
A cultivator spent immense effort refining and attuning them so they would feel like an extension of their own body.
Even with slight damage, ninety-nine percent of cultivators wouldn't replace them outright; they would choose repair instead.
Even if someone offered Luo Chen a brand-new Profound Fire Sword in exchange for his old one, he certainly wouldn't take the deal.
Tianfan City had clearly seized upon this psychology, which was why they dared to quote such outrageous prices without hesitation.
If they had competitors, prices could at least be driven down.
But currently, across the entire Howling Moon Mountain Range, there was virtually no respectable weapon-crafting sect besides Tianfan City.
If the Yan Alliance were still around, they would have inevitably captured nearly half the market, and that profit...
No!
More than half!
One had to factor in the monopoly markups as well.
*So Tianfan City's deliberate schemes against the Yan Alliance really had their reasons!*
*No wonder Master Tianyezi stepped in personally to help build Poyue Immortal City.*
*Ah, well. It's pointless to envy such a monopoly.*
*Our Luotian Sect's branch store in Liuguang Market can at least share some scraps, which isn't bad.*
There were always impoverished cultivators unwilling to pay the exorbitant repair fees, who would gladly bypass Poyue Immortal City to seek craftsmen in the rear territories.
That was precisely the business Duan Feng and the others were running: sipping the meager dregs that slipped through Tianfan City's fingers.
Yet even those scraps yielded vastly more profit than in times of peace!
A person had to know contentment.
Luo Chen turned and headed for Shop No. 8 of the Luotian Alliance.
Learning of his arrival, Xu Huanzhen, who was in charge of the premises, personally came out to receive him and reported the shop's recent revenue.
The location of the storefront was prime.
Currently, Luotian Sect primarily dealt in businesses related to demon beasts: various beast parts and materials, butchered demon beast meat, live cubs, and so forth.
Overall, the revenue was mediocre.
Luo Chen had no immediate fix for this.
Although the shop enjoyed an excellent location during a prime money-making season, it was run jointly by all three parties of the Luotian Alliance, resulting in a cluttered array of merchandise.
In peacetime, such variety might attract plenty of curious browsers, but during wartime, cultivators favored specialized shops and looked down on general "sundry shops" like theirs.
Only occasionally did customers drop by to browse for bargains or pick up odd trinkets.
Luo Chen also inquired about the operations run by Wind and Rain Mountain Villa and the Cen family. Learning that they were frequently sending personnel to the front lines to harvest resources and resell them in the city, he gained a clearer picture of their affairs.
The Luotian Alliance had temporarily stabilized, and everyone was racking their brains to rake in wealth!
"Recently, several major Golden Core sects have sent envoys to inquire whether we have any intention of transferring Shop No. 8. Supreme Elder, what do you think...?"
Luo Chen waved his hand dismissively. "Politely decline them all! The store's profits might seem modest now, but its potential is immense. Once the situation stabilizes, I'll have Gu Caiyi oversee it personally to revamp our business strategy."
"Understood," Xu Huanzhen nodded.
Before leaving, Luo Chen took a live Tier 2 demon wolf from the shop.
Over the next few days, he planned to cultivate in quiet seclusion in the immortal city while waiting for his magic treasures to be repaired.
Naturally, he wouldn't let this time go to waste.
His training in Mirror Flower, Water Moon was only a sliver away from reaching the Grandmaster rank, and he required living targets to practice on.
...
"Finally, Grandmaster level!"
Inside a Tier 3 cave estate within the immortal city, Luo Chen let out a long breath as he gazed at his attribute panel.
As expected of the paramount water-attribute illusion art among Tier 3 spells, cultivating it was astonishingly difficult!
He had long since brought all of its prerequisite techniques—Water Mirror Art, Flower Fairy, and Bewitching Spirit Art—to Great Perfection, giving him an unimaginably solid foundation.
Even so, it had taken him over half a year of persistent grinding to push Mirror Flower, Water Moon from Perfection to Grandmaster rank.
In the process, the number of Tier 1 and Tier 2 demon beasts driven mad by his experiments was nearly a hundred.
Fortunately, it was wartime, making demon beasts easy to come by; otherwise, who knew how long it would have taken him to grind up the proficiency?
Through this experience, Luo Chen came to deeply understand that the higher the intrinsic grade of spells, cultivation methods, alchemy techniques, and body refinement arts, the more proficiency was required to advance through their sub-tiers.
While the caps displayed on the panel remained 100/200/300/500/1000, the reality behind them was different.
During the Qi Refinement stage, a single cast of Fireball Art would yield one point of proficiency. But at the Golden Core stage, casting Mirror Flower, Water Moon four or five times yielded only a single point.
*In truth, I should have realized this long ago.*
*Back in the Foundation Establishment stage, it took twenty cycles of the Yimu Medicine King Scripture to gain one point, and the Clear Source Wondrous Elixir Method took even more!*
*No wonder high-tier cultivators with vast lifespans often only dabble when trying other crafts for which they lack innate talent.*
*They can't see tangible progress like I can; every investment feels like dropping a clay ox into the sea, yielding no visible improvement. Or rather, even if there is slight progress, compared to the enormous investment of time and effort, the return is a colossal loss—which is why they merely test the waters and stop.*
After reflecting on this, Luo Chen dwelled on it no further.
Being able to see tangible returns for his hard work was his greatest blessing.
Even though he had grown accustomed to this bliss, experiencing it never failed to fill him with joy.
He turned his attention to the Grandmaster-level Mirror Flower, Water Moon.
*I wonder what kind of effect it has now that it's reached Grandmaster.*
His eyes fixed on the caged Tier 2 demon wolf, which stood two zhang tall.
Unlike other Tier 2 wolves, this one had a relatively lean frame, but it possessed a unique trait: exceptional intelligence!
It was a Radiance Gold Wolf, the most spiritually discerning species among all the wolf varieties in the cultivation world.
Its pelt gleamed like spun gold, breathtakingly lustrous.
The Radiance Gold Wolf was also the most valuable breed of wolf.
Due to their high intellect, they made ideal mounts or mountain-guarding spiritual beasts, and their fur, hide, bones, and blood served countless purposes.
Even outside wartime, demon hunters frequently ventured into the mountains to hunt them, which had made the pack increasingly rare.
For the Luotian Sect to purchase one had cost a tidy sum of spirit stones.
*A pity it's going to be wasted in my hands.*
Luo Chen pursed his lips and cast Mirror Flower, Water Moon at the wolf snarling and baring its fangs at him.
As he formed the hand seals, he felt a subtle shift.
*Two hundred and seventy-one seals—it feels too cumbersome. If I simplify it slightly, could I increase the casting speed?*
As if struck by inspiration, Luo Chen intentionally streamlined the seals.
And it worked!
Watching the Radiance Gold Wolf slump onto the ground, its eyes clouded with confusion, Luo Chen fell into contemplation.
*It's hard to say how much the raw power of Grandmaster-level Mirror Flower, Water Moon has grown, but in terms of casting speed alone, it has improved by a full thirty percent!*
*If I cast it using the streamlined seals and grow proficient with them, that speed could increase even further.*
*Does this mean that if it reaches Great Perfection, there's a chance I could cast it instantaneously?*
Instantaneous illusion art!
At the thought, Luo Chen's breathing quickened.
If that were truly possible, he would hold an overwhelming advantage against peers of the same cultivation realm: initiative, surprise, the ability to break deadlocks, or even deliver a decisive finishing blow!
After all, even a late Golden Core grand cultivator caught off-guard and ensnared by an illusion would reveal an opening.
All Luo Chen would need was a single follow-up strike against a cultivator's typically "fragile" physique...
Shaking his head vigorously, Luo Chen took a deep breath, suppressing these lofty fantasies.
The road ahead was long and arduous!
Pushing this technique to the Grandmaster level had already cost him an enormous amount of energy and resources.
Great Perfection? That was still a distant dream!
*Counting the days, my magic treasures should be ready.*
Luo Chen meditated to regulate his breathing for a while before dispelling the illusion from the Radiance Gold Wolf.
Once freed, the demon wolf's aura was noticeably withered, its savagery largely drained. It crouched before Luo Chen, shivering like a puppy.
*Has its intellect been damaged?*
*It seems the Grandmaster-level Mirror Flower, Water Moon has grown in lethality as well, becoming far more than a mere sensory deception.*
*After all, this illusion art originally carried a faint soul-attacking property; as one masters its deeper mysteries, its primary function naturally shifts toward soul damage.*
Having made his assessment, Luo Chen picked up the wolf and exited the cave estate.
He first returned it to Xu Huanzhen to see if it could still fetch a decent price—a bit of waste reclamation, so to speak.
Then, he turned and headed for the nearby Wanbao Tower.
Sure enough, in just ten days, Huyan Zhuo had completely repaired both magic treasures.
In front of the master, Luo Chen tested them briefly; the previous feeling of dissonance was completely gone.
"They've been repaired with supplemental materials after all, so once you return, be sure to attune and refine them thoroughly."
"Many thanks for the reminder, Grandmaster."
Satisfied, Luo Chen stowed the two treasures.
Without lingering, he took to the sky and flew back toward the Luotian Alliance.
As his escape light flared, it caught the attention of a few low-tier cultivators, though only briefly.
In the present Howling Moon Mountain Range, Golden Core cultivators were no longer as mysterious as before; most low-tier cultivators had seen them around.
Just as Luo Chen arrived back at the Luotian Alliance, Chu Kui sought him out of his own accord.
"Shouldn't you be in seclusion expelling the foreign Golden Core magic power from your body? What brings you out to look for me?" Luo Chen asked with a smile.
With his magic treasures mended, he was in high spirits, so he took the opportunity to inquire after his former comrade-in-arms.
Chu Kui was currently occupying the newly established Tier 3 cave estate on Snow Wolf Flat.
It was easy to imagine that once he completely purged the lingering poison from his system, he would undoubtedly make another attempt at breaking through to the Golden Core stage.
Chu Kui wasn't getting any younger either!
Instead of answering Luo Chen's question directly, Chu Kui's expression turned grave.
"Someone from the Luoyun Sect has arrived!"
In an instant, the smile on Luo Chen's face vanished.
Chapter 491