Chapter 7: Cultivating Magical Tools

  Seeing the messy courtyard, the ghost's forehead bulged with blue veins, "You clean up the courtyard first!"

  He can endure for three more days, just three days! As soon as the three days are up, he will immediately throw the person out.

  "Clean up, you yell and shout!" The already messy courtyard was hit by the cruel hand of fate, making it even more unrecognizable. But how could she possibly clean up quietly?

  Here and there kicking, finally managed to clear out a table, the ghost craftsman looked at her series of movements, almost didn't die from anger.

  "Teach me!"

  "You're a doll, and that's it?" Guī Jiàng asked her incredulously, what's the difference from before?

  "What's with all the nonsense, are you going to teach him or not?" Why should she give him free tuition?!

  He glared at her with an unkind gaze, and the ghost craftsman picked out a pale blue crystal from the "garbage heap". He spoke bluntly, "Refining equipment means taking crystals or crystal nuclei as raw materials. Of course, some other things can also be used. First, refine them, then add other properties to make them into the fantasy equipment in your mind."

  "I saw you refining that piece of purple demon crystal before, it was clearly possible to succeed, why can't I?" After hearing what he said, it's just like he didn't say anything at all. It would be better if she just asked where she didn't understand!

  "That's because you're stupid!" Hmph, at such a young age, you dare to think of becoming an alchemy master and even compare yourself with the Alchemy Sage?

  "There is no apprentice who cannot be taught in this world, only masters who cannot teach!"

  "Hmph! Sharp teeth and a sharp mouth, I'll only do it once, you'd better watch closely!" He picked up the pale blue crystal stone, Ghost Craftsman first refined it, then slowly controlled it to transform into a bracelet shape. Finally, he also inlaid a piece of thunder system crystal core on top, added a hint of spiritual power, and without caring whether Light Craziness understood or not, directly threw it onto the table.

  Even if his attitude wasn't very good, Qing Kuang still carefully discovered something. This time they were close, and just now when he was controlling that thing, there was clearly a fluctuation of spiritual energy! So it seems that equipment masters also need spiritual energy? But if that's the case, then Beidong Qimeng's spiritual energy should be very strong too! Then how could he have been suppressed by that light system person from Louyu Academy back then?

  "Is that all?" The old man really didn't want to teach her!

  "This is just a simple demonstration, now it's your turn, do what I did earlier!" Walking in the yard, Guī Jiàng replied while searching for something.

  She had never seen anyone so perfunctory, but she still picked out a crystal stone and focused her mind to refine it. When it was refined into ***, she carefully controlled its shape with her spiritual power. However, this *** didn't react at all.

  With a "crack!", taking advantage of her being fully focused, the ghost craftsman suddenly produced a whip from somewhere and directly lashed it across her back, tearing her clothes to shreds and leaving behind a bloody red mark. Upon closer inspection, the skin was already split open.

  "Ghostly craftsman, I'll f**k your grandfather! What right do you have to hit me?" Whoever it was, being suddenly and violently slapped like that would make anyone's anger erupt. A sharp pain shot through his back, and he immediately burst into a torrent of curses.

  "What's wrong with you? A strict teacher produces excellent students, but you can't even master the simplest techniques and yet you want to refine equipment? I think you're just daydreaming!" The ghost craftsman sneered, not feeling the slightest bit guilty, admitting that he was intentionally looking for trouble.

  "How dare you hit me? Are you looking for death?" She was never a kind person, and now that someone had crossed her, she couldn't let him get away without teaching him a lesson. However, the furious and arrogant girl forgot that the person in front of her was a master craftsman with countless magical tools at his disposal to deal with her.

  Looking at the illusion above her head, she was so angry that she wanted to curse, her spiritual power was suppressed, and her entire body was trapped in the light circle. Not to mention touching Ghost Craftsman, even the range of activities was only in front of this table.

  "Let me go! Let me go!" Her eyes, usually bright and bold, were now red with rage, and she felt that same helpless feeling, her life controlled by others, unable to make her own decisions.

  "What's the big deal, didn't you say you wanted to learn how to refine equipment? This is my way, if you can bear it then bear it, if not then get out!" With a few more cracks of the whip, her entire back was stained red with fresh blood, and his eyes grew even more excited. Why should he be crippled, why should he have only one arm? He wanted everyone to be like him, all maimed and covered in blood, looking at that bright red color filled him with a twisted sense of pleasure. And so he increased the force of his blows.

  "You're just retaliatory! You're twisted in your heart, you can't bear others being better..."

  "What if I just can't stand seeing others? Are you still obediently in my grasp? Take out another crystal and continue practicing!" A lively life was in his hands, and the ghost craftsman's eyes were full of cruelty and brutality.

  Her small face turned pale with the pain of the wound on her back, she gritted her teeth and endured, one day there would be no more existence of ghost craftsmen in this world! She waited! Once again taking out a crystal stone, her lightly clenched fist relaxed and then clenched again, flames rising from her hand as she began a new round of refinement.

  "Bang...bang..." The blood on her clothes hadn't even dried yet, and new wounds were added, the pain made her gasp for air.

  "Trash! You're completely useless! Form, form! Wasting so many crystal stones and still can't learn?!" Two more lashes, the Ghost Craftsman's hands showed no mercy, but his expression was full of satisfaction. Even if she refined until death, she would absolutely never succeed!

  Clap! Clap!

  "It's useless! Let's start again..."

  Clap! Clap!

  "Good grief! I've never seen anyone as stupid as you, come on..."

  Clap! Clap!

  "How could I have agreed to teach a useless person like you? It's simply a waste of my time... Let's start again..."

  Clap! Clap!

  Due to excessive blood loss, her legs were almost unable to stand still, and the pain in her back had numbed her. She gritted her teeth and persevered. All that was owed to her would be repaid in the future. Her trembling hand picked up another crystal shard, and with an unstable body, she used her other hand to prop herself up, cold sweat dripping from her forehead onto the table.

  After a long time, the ghost craftsman was obviously tired, and he withdrew the illusion device that had been covering her head. He walked back to his own house with a pleasant mood, not caring about his miserable appearance, and still said, "We'll continue tomorrow. If you still can't learn it by the day after tomorrow, get out of here and take revenge!"

  As soon as her strength disappeared, Qingkuang crashed to the ground with a loud thud. She managed to grab onto the table and avoid falling in a sorry state. At this moment, Qingkuang's eyes were filled with storms, glaring viciously at the person who had left. This was clearly an excuse to brutally beat her up! Damn it, that old scoundrel is dead!

  Step by step, she dragged herself back to her own house, wincing in pain, bloodstains dripping from the hem of her clothes onto the ground, with the most concentrated area being where she had stood earlier, slowly forming a line that followed her footsteps, looking very pitiful.

  Covered in blood, with wounds on her back, not even anyone to apply medicine for her. However, the smell of blood made her very annoyed, just as she was about to lift her arm, it pulled on the wound, hurting so much that her hands began to shake uncontrollably. Thinking that the sooner she died the better, with a ruthless heart, she directly tore off all her clothes, some blood had already coagulated, and was ripped off along with a layer of skin, her entire back was sticky.

  "Hmm..." She let out a low hum, slowly turning around to reveal her back, which was a mess of blood and flesh. The whip marks crisscrossed each other, completely obscuring the original fair skin. Some areas were deeper than others, clearly showing that multiple lashes had overlapped. Taking a deep breath, she poured all the water onto the wound, instantly stimulating her heart to speed up. She swallowed hard, suppressing the cries of pain, as blood flowed freely with the water, filling the air with an even stronger smell of blood.

  Her hands couldn't even lift up, let alone reach behind her back to apply the medicine. She had thought of just going back to her space and washing it off with the Spring of Life, but what about tomorrow? If that old man found out that such a severe injury healed in just one day, wouldn't the secret of her space be exposed?

  The idea had just flashed through her mind when she dispelled it, took out a bottle of ointment and poured them all onto the gauze, added two long strips of cloth underneath the gauze on the table. Looking at everything that was ready, she took a deep breath, lay down directly on top, and as soon as her back touched the ointment, she felt a stinging pain, like tiny insects burrowing into her skin, it was really torturous.

  It took a long time to get over the pain, and she finally managed to tie the two strips of cloth around her chest. She looked like she had just been through a battle, gasping violently for air. Taking a sip of water to moisten her dry, cracked lips, she was suddenly stimulated again, only to realize that at some point, her lips had also been bitten open.

  Gazing coldly at the house where Gui Jiang was, her heart was filled with extreme hatred! Now she couldn't even lie down to rest, and could only crouch. Don't let her learn how to refine equipment, otherwise she would refine a fantasy piece and poke a hole in that old man's body, damn it, poking him to death wouldn't be enough to vent her anger!

  Infected with a strong and crazy belief, the random treasure that hadn't been turned for a long time opened a new page for her - Refining Equipment Chapter.

  Refining equipment can be made from various materials, including metal, wood, stone, crystal stones, and crystal cores... mainly using crystal stones and crystal cores to shape it. According to different properties, crystal cores can be added, and the shape can change according to the refiner's will. At the same time, they can be classified into gold refining, wood refining, water refining, fire refining, earth refining, void refining, and soul refining.

  Illusions can be divided into several categories based on their type: spatial illusions, attack illusions, defensive illusions, and concealment illusions.

  The level of fantasy equipment can be divided into:

  Low-grade artifact, no different from ordinary weapons, only using crystal cores to increase attributes, the appearance of the artifact has no obvious characteristics.

  Mid-tier artifact, on the basis of increasing attributes, there is a circle of ripples on the surface of the artifact.

  Advanced Phantomizer. On one phantomizer, the crystal core attributes can be stacked in three ways, and the ripples on the surface of the phantomizer increase to three layers.

  King-level Phantom Equipment, the attributes of the crystal core used can be superimposed into five types, and the ripples on the surface of the phantom equipment increase to five.

  Imperial Illusory Equipment, the attributes of the crystal core used can be superimposed arbitrarily, without any restrictions.

  Sacred artifact, can fly in mid-air, even if separated by thousands of miles, it can return to its master's side.

  Mythic Phantom Equipment, in sync with its master's will, can assist in combat;

  Divine artifact, can change shape at will with its master's mind, contains a spirit of the artifact, and can fight independently.

  The Alchemist is divided according to the level of the refined fantasy equipment, which are:

  Ordinary Alchemists (high, medium, low three levels), need to rely on the furnace tripod, refining fantasy equipment level is low, common types, only suitable for ordinary people use;

  Master Artificer, requires the use of a furnace, and when refining, the type is limited, can only grant two properties to the fantasy device;

  Refining Master, requires the use of a furnace, can refine and transform various types, unrestricted, and can grant the illusionary device five attributes.

  Grandmaster of Refining Equipment, requires the use of a furnace, and can imbue equipment with all properties during refinement.

  Refiner of Sacred Objects, requires the use of a furnace, reducing the time for refining, can refine attached phantom equipment.

  Refining equipment masters need to borrow the help of furnace tripods, refining time is greatly shortened, and can refine small space fantasy devices.

  Refining Tool Immortal, uses spiritual power to refine tools in the void, no need to borrow a furnace, just rely on heart intention to refine instantly.

  Refiner of the Divine, Refines and Transmutes Divine Illusory Instruments, Capable of Extracting Human or Magical Beast Souls through Powerful Spiritual Energy, Erasing their Memories, Transforming them into Instrument Spirits.

  Seeing this, the fire in her heart surged again. That old man was actually a Refining Master? No matter how he had fallen to this point, but that old man clearly knew she didn't know anything, yet he directly started teaching her from Refining Master? It was simply ill-intentioned. Thinking of this, her back suddenly hurt even more. What's with saying she was stupid, foolish, and useless... That old man had dug a hole for her to jump into from the very beginning, and before pushing her away, he still had to slap her in the face.

  Although she was still angry in her heart, she calmed down and tried to control her spiritual power. She focused on the consciousness of her spiritual power, ignoring the pain behind her, and entered a state of self-forgetfulness. Spiritual power is invisible and intangible, but since she could use it to contract with magical beasts before, refining equipment should be similar, right? Isn't it just about making those crystals obey her?

  He took out a crystal stone, and the large flame in his hand refined it. He carefully controlled the spiritual power, feeling its flow, slowly seeping into it, allowing those things to merge with the spiritual power, and then, following his own will, slowly transformed into the shape of a treasured sword. After such a long time of spiritual power output, Qingkuang's already pale face looked even weaker.

  However, just as it was about to work, whoosh, it went back to its original position, rendering all her efforts in vain. It's hard not to feel disappointed at this point, but she didn't give up. At least she caught a glimpse of the trick, which was much better than before.

  Now she not only hurts physically, but also mentally. Learning to cultivate the instrument isn't something that can be done overnight. Let's stop here for today! But how dare that old man hit her? Just thinking about it makes her feel stifled. How many times has she been hit in her life? Ah right, she was hit by that man before, but compared to the vicious beating today, the previous beatings were just like scratching an itch.

  Fuming, she crept into the ghost craftsman's house, her back injuries constantly reminding her. Looking at the sleeping person, a fierce glint flashed in her eyes, just about to strangle him to death, when the entire bed emitted a dazzling yellow light, which bounced her out with a loud crash. To avoid hurting her injured back, she flipped over and barely landed on her feet. Without noticing that her wound had reopened, she raised her head to see the ghost craftsman sneering at her.

  "You want to kill me? You're not even in my league!"

  "Don't be too smug for too long, who knows if you won't die suddenly tomorrow? Or maybe when you're old and grey, it's time to meet your maker."

  "How long I can live is none of your concern, and I advise you not to wish for my early death. Don't forget the cursed ring on your hand, even if I die, it will drag you down with me! Now, get out of here and go back to sleep! We'll continue tomorrow!" The ghost craftsman said viciously, and then slammed the door shut.

  In the courtyard, Qingkuang couldn't help but sigh bitterly, Ah, Qingkuang! You're really getting more and more muddled with age. This kind of reckless mistake, like a fool's error, how can you keep making it? Clearly knowing he's an artifact refiner, yet still wanting to clash head-on with him, isn't that just asking for trouble? But did she have any other choice but to think of ways to save her own life? This was the Ghost Realm, where the strong preyed on the weak. The Dragon-Ring only appeared when her life was threatened, if she had a few more magical artifacts, she could increase her chances of survival. And as long as she could keep herself alive, she could go find Huier and find her way back home...

  Struggling to get up, the sorrow in her heart could only be savored by herself. She should go back and replenish her energy, after all, there's still more suffering tomorrow!

  Her back ached from the wound, and she hadn't slept all night. Anyway, in this desolate ghost realm, it was impossible to tell whether it was dawn or not. Hearing the sound of the ghost craftsman, Qing also walked out. The two looked at each other with disgust and let out a cold hum in unison.

  "Get up, then continue." He glared at her with a whip in his hand, which was wielded very nimbly.

  Take a deep breath, calm down and get ready. Since you want to do it, you must do it to the best of your ability. Take out a crystal stone again and start refining it, adding the spiritual energy you gained from meditation yesterday into it. Amidst the ghostly craftsman's stunned gaze, it gradually begins to take shape. However, just as half of it is completed, whoosh, another failure occurs.

  Impossible, this is impossible! He must be seeing things, it has to be that! This girl was a complete novice yesterday, how did she suddenly become so proficient today? And what a strong spiritual power! How old is she? Her spiritual power can already be used with ease? He had never seen such good talent in his life, not even on that interface! Ghost Craftsman was stunned for a long time before he came back to himself, and then another whip lash went out, "You're really useless! I've never seen anyone as stupid as you, don't you know how to distribute spiritual power evenly?"

  Adding insult to injury, I suppose the bleeding on my back has started again. Gritting my teeth and enduring it, I repeatedly comfort myself that eating bitter suffering is what makes one a superior being! However, upon hearing his words, I grasped the key point once more, picked up another crystal shard, and began anew. My spiritual energy gradually seeped out, carefully permeating every drop, even every molecule. Gradually, it started to take shape, changing and flowing simultaneously. In contrast to her excitement, Guī Jiàng's eyes were filled with incredulity.

  Every alchemist has gone through a step-by-step process, and for her to start learning directly from the Alchemy Sage is unprecedented.

  At this moment, Qing Kuang's heart was filled with joy. Although the frequent use of her spiritual power had caused her discomfort, she could completely ignore those pains. However, what should she do next?

  "Bite your finger, let the blood drip onto it." Guī jiàng's voice was calm and collected, his eyes full of eerie intent. Hahaha, this is great! If this little girl can really succeed, then aside from him, there will be another "Blood-crazed Refiner" in the world. This thought made him so excited that he couldn't contain himself, even more so than when he was seeking revenge against the Thirteen Wolves of Hell!

  Blood? But there's no such step in the Random Heart Scripture! In the instant when Qing Kuang's mind was distracted, all the crystallized stones that had already taken shape fell to the ground and flowed across the table.

  Seeing her failure, Gui Jiang lashed out with another whip, "When refining equipment, the most taboo is to lose focus. Do you think you're that great? Not even I dare to be careless for a moment, do you think you can surpass me? Start again!"

  Endure it, you must endure it!

  She picked up a new crystal and threw herself into another round of refinement, her back once again covered in bloodstains.