Gateway of Immortality

Half a month later.

At Wenyue Market.

Qin Sang, familiar with the place, walked into the shop of the owner surnamed Wu. Unfortunately, there were customers inside, so he sat in the corner, waiting for Wu to finish with them.

"Daoist Qin, it's been a while. Your cultivation has grown even more profound."

Shopkeeper Wu, approached with enthusiasm and poured tea for Qin Sang.

"Daoist Wu, your business seems to be flourishing."

Qin Sang smiled and sipped the tea. He activated the Spirit Evasion Art, knowing that Wu couldn’t truly gauge his cultivation level—it was just a polite compliment. "I came today to ask for your help, Daoist Wu. If I provide you with the corpse of a demonic beast, would you be able to refine it into artifacts?"

He had been secluded in his cave dwelling, dedicating himself to cultivation, rarely interacting with others. Of those he knew, Wu was the only one skilled in artifact refinement.

From their previous interactions, it was clear that Shopkeeper Wu had considerable expertise in artifact refinement, and their cooperation had always been pleasant. Therefore, after returning from the Yuncang Marshlands and reporting back to his sect, Qin Sang headed straight for Wenyue Market.

The corpse of a Demonic Spirit Realm demonic beast could be sold for a good price, but Qin Sang was more interested in refining a few artifacts to enhance his self-defense capabilities.

The materials were limited—other than the demonic beast's corpse, he didn’t have any other valuable resources. Hiring one of those famous artifact refinement masters would be expensive, and the quality of the artifacts might not necessarily be much better.

"A demonic beast's corpse?"

Wu's eyes lit up at the mention but remained cautious. "Daoist Qin, rest assured, if I dare to run a shop in this market, I naturally have a few tricks up my sleeve. However, the quality of the artifacts depends on the type of demonic beast."

Qin Sang glanced around.

Wu got the hint, stood up, and closed the shop’s door. He also opened the barrier at the entrance, then gestured. "Daoist Qin, please follow me."

The shop had a spacious backyard, with the door to the back chamber tightly shut and sealed with a barrier. This was likely where Wu did his artifact refinement.

Upon reaching the backyard, Qin Sang gently touched his Mustard Seed Pouch, and in an instant, a massive beast corpse and several other items flew out, crashing heavily onto the ground amidst Wu’s astonished gaze, filling the air with a pungent stench.

The beast's corpse was naturally that of the white rhino demon, while the other items included a snake tail about a zhang long, two broken venomous fangs, and a few snow-white scales, most of which were cracked, though some were intact.

The snake demon was far superior to the white rhino demon, which had just broken through to the Demonic Spirit Realm. The snake demon was far more cunning and, sensing danger the moment it fell into the Yan Luo Array of Ten Directions, decisively severed its tail to escape the array.

Moreover, this snake had the bloodline of a Jiao[1], making its scales extraordinarily tough.

Qin Sang had tangled with the snake for a long time using his ebony sword but couldn’t kill it. In the end, he only managed to break two of its venomous fangs by using a Lightning-Struck Spiritual Wood to cast the Guishui Yin Thunder Spell just before the demon used an evasion method to flee.

This severe injury meant that the snake demon would take over a decade to fully recover.

The scales, fangs, and severed tail were all excellent materials for artifact refinement.

"A demonic beast in the Demonic Spirit Realm..."

Shopkeeper Wu’s voice turned dry with amazement.

Being an expert in artifact refinement, Shopkeeper Wu could naturally tell that the demonic corpse was recently deceased. Killing a white rhino demon, let alone severely injuring a snake demon, could only have been achieved by a cultivator at the Foundation Building Realm.

This meant that Qin Sang was either hiding his strength or had a Foundation Building cultivator backing him.

"I just happened to come across two demonic beasts battling and took advantage of the situation."

Qin Sang casually said, not caring whether Shopkeeper Wu believed him or not. He could sense that Shopkeeper Wu’s demeanor had become noticeably more respectful, which might work in his favor when it came to the artifact refinement.

"One is a white rhino demon, and the other is a snake demon with Jiao bloodline. Daoist Wu, please take a look and see what kind of artifacts can be refined."

Wu took a deep breath to calm himself and approached the demonic corpse, carefully inspecting it for a while before murmuring, "Does Daoist Qin have any additional spiritual materials?"

Qin Sang shook his head. The Lightning-Struck Spiritual Wood still needed to be used with the Guishui Yin Thunder Spell.

Shopkeeper Wu seemed a little disappointed. "Artifact refinement has always required multiple spiritual materials to bring out the full potential of the item. If only the demonic corpse is used, it may fall short. The corpse of an early-stage Demonic Spirit Realm demonic beast alone would likely yield a few middle-grade artifacts. Alternatively, we could focus on one main material from the corpse and use the rest as supplementary..."

Circling the corpse, Shopkeeper Wu tapped the beast in various places, explaining as he walked, "The horn and hide of the white rhino demon can serve as the main materials. The horn is rich in water-based elemental energy, and could be used to craft a powerful water-based offensive artifact. I've heard of a war drum astra made from the hide of a rhino demon which almost reached the Transformation Realm, where the drumbeat could shake the heavens and scatter the souls of enemies. We could imitate that and refine a war drum artifact. Additionally, if we focus on the snake's venomous fangs, we could craft a poison sword or a similar weapon. Using these three as the main materials, I can craft a fine high-grade artifact, and there’s even a chance it could reach top-grade quality. However, even within top-grade artifacts, there's a vast difference in quality..."

"Just high-grade artifacts?"

Qin Sang felt a bit disappointed. He didn’t understand much about artifact refinement and hadn’t realized how demanding the process was. Right now, he didn’t have the energy to go on a journey to search for additional spiritual materials.

The artifacts he currently possessed were all quite powerful, especially the ebony sword and the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions, both comparable to high-end top-grade artifacts. As a result, he found high-grade artifacts less appealing.

This shift in perspective came from joining the Kuiyin Sect, where he had immediately obtained several malevolent artifacts personally refined by Sect Leader Yi, which were on par with top-grade artifacts. His standards had unknowingly risen, and he was no longer aware of how hard it was for most other cultivators.

For most Foundation Building Realm cultivators, only a rare few could possess a talisman astra, and it took years of effort to acquire a well-matched top-grade artifact.

Noticing Qin Sang’s hesitation, Shopkeeper Wu quickly added, "If high-grade artifacts don’t meet your standards, I could also refine a one-time use artifact. Though single-use, such artifacts possess immense power and could be life-saving in a crisis. The rhino demon’s horn, filled with water elemental energy and wild spiritual power, would be perfect for such a creation."

Qin Sang’s eyes flashed at this, reminding him of the bead he had taken from Zhao Yan.

"Are you referring to the type that can self-detonate, like a thunderclap?"

Shopkeeper Wu nodded. "That's one possibility, yes. There are also defensive variants. Although they are powerful, few cultivators are willing to use valuable materials for single-use artifacts. Of these, the Xuling Sect’s Xutian Thunder is the most famous—an extraordinary item capable of seriously injuring even a Golden Core master. It's one of the sect’s most prized treasures and extremely difficult to refine. However, my family passed down a method for refining a similar item known as the Essence-Devouring Spike. If we use this demonic corpse to craft it, I guarantee it won’t disappoint you."

Qin Sang didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he pulled a black bead out from his Mustard Seed Pouch and asked, "Daoist Wu, do you recognize this artifact?"

Since breaking through to the Foundation Building Realm, Qin Sang had examined the bead multiple times and was certain it wasn’t a malevolent artifact like the Chi Dragon Sword. Nor did it involve any special refining methods.

1. Jiaolong or jiao is a dragon in Chinese mythology, often defined as a "scaled dragon"; it is hornless according to certain scholars and said to be aquatic or river-dwelling. ☜