Cultivating immortality begins with discerning the secrets of heaven.

In Master Mo's cave in Fire Cloud Valley.

"The so-called tempering and refining of spirit is to stimulate the inherent characteristics of the spiritual material, and then make its spirituality more abundant."

"Only in this way can the spiritual material bear the inscription of the spiritual patterns and become a powerful magical artifact."

"If the spiritual material itself has enough spiritual energy, the tempering process will be easier, and vice versa."

Master Mo explained the essence of the second step in weapon crafting, namely, tempering the spirit and refining the nature, in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

"Master Mo, if the spiritual material itself is already extremely rich in spiritual energy, is it still necessary to temper it?" Yang An asked curiously.

Master Mo patiently replied, "If the main material for your weapon crafting is some kind of spiritual object, you can skip the tempering step, but you still need to refine its properties once. Only in this way can you understand it thoroughly and know what type of spiritual runes to inscribe next."

"Of course, if your family is wealthy and you can use rare and precious materials from heaven and earth as the main materials for each weapon forging, then you don't need to learn the following content."

Upon hearing this, all the disciples perked up.

What a joke! They know better than anyone the value of spiritual treasures. Second-tier spiritual treasures are treasures that can increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment. Who has the wealth to use spiritual treasures as the main material for every weapon forging?

Lin Yun listened very attentively, not daring to miss a single word.

Master Mo began, "Next, I will teach you a basic spirit tempering method. This is the most basic spirit tempering method. If you have the opportunity in the future, you can also seek other more advanced spirit tempering techniques."

"As far as I know, the Taiyuan Sect has a profound method for tempering spirits, which can be described as miraculous, no less than the ability to turn stone into gold."

In about half an hour, Master Mo gave a detailed explanation of the Spirit Tempering Method he had taught.

Then he gave each person a piece of iron essence and told them to practice on their own.

"Let's start with the most basic iron refining, tempering it to a level suitable for inscribing spirit patterns. Once you've mastered this course, you'll be ready to graduate."

Lin Yun took the iron essence and attempted to temper it according to the steps of the "Basic Tempering Method".

He exuded pure spiritual energy from his palm, but it dissipated like mist the moment it touched the surface of the iron essence.

He wasn't the only one; most people failed their first attempt at spirit tempering.

Only Zhong Jie successfully transferred some spiritual power into the iron essence. If this process is repeated a few more times, the iron essence will be able to contain abundant spirituality and bear the inscription of spiritual patterns.

He smiled with satisfaction, then turned to look at Chen Guan, and his smile froze instantly.

Chen Guan placed his hand above the iron essence from a distance, and his pure spiritual energy surged into the iron essence in waves, without leaking out at all.

  

About half an hour later, Chen Guan slowly withdrew his hand; his iron essence had completed the tempering process.

"Indeed, your spirit-tempering technique seems to follow the style of the Northern Region," Master Mo nodded.

Chen Guan clasped his hands and said, "Master Mo's eyes are indeed sharp. The weapon-refining inheritance I obtained when I cultivated in the Northern Region of Cangxuan a few years ago also originated from the Northern Region."

"Well, since you have such an opportunity, you can continue to cultivate on your own for the next four months. What I taught you was just the 'Basic Spirit Tempering Method,' which is not very meaningful to you."

"Thank you very much, Master Mo!"

Thus, Chen Guan was granted another four months of free time for cultivation.

The others felt a pang of envy, lamenting that they didn't have such talent for weapon crafting.

Especially Zhong Jie, whose competitive spirit was too strong. Coming from a family with a thousand-year history, his pride did not allow him to be repeatedly outmatched by this branch of the Chen family.

Lin Yun shook his head, feeling neither frustrated nor envious. After all, the other party was essentially a Core Formation stage expert, how could they, mere Qi Refining stage cultivators, compare?

He had long been mentally prepared for this, tacitly agreeing that at the Taiyuan Ascension Conference three years later, Chen Guan would firmly occupy one of the ten spots for weapon refining disciples, leaving them to compete for the remaining nine.

"Alright, take the iron essence with you and go back to practice more."

"Come back in seven days and see what you've accomplished."

...

Huangzhushan, Lin family.

The elderly Lin Jinnan, leaning on a cane, leisurely watered a green bamboo.

He would occasionally look up at a cave on the mountain, where the faint fluctuations of fire-attribute spiritual energy were growing stronger.

"It seems that this Fire Marrow Heart is very compatible with Hongye. In another month or so, it should be able to be completely refined."

"The young phoenix of the Lin family is finally about to spread its wings."

Just then, someone delivered a letter from outside the bamboo grove.

"Grandfather, Lin Yun, son of Ji Mai Lin Yuanshan, sent a letter home from Huoyun Valley, saying he wanted to give it to Miss Hongye."

"Hmm, let me see it." Lin Jinnan put down the kettle and took the letter.

A short while later, Lin Jinnan frowned and asked, "What's the background of Chen Guan from the Chen family?"

The messenger was taken aback and said, "It should be a member of a branch of the Chen family. I don't know why he also got a spot to go to Fire Cloud Valley to learn martial arts."

After pondering for a while, Lin Jinnan put away the letter and said, "Activate a spy planted in the Chen family to gather all the intelligence on Chen Guan."

The messenger was shocked to hear this. Every spies that the Lin family had planted in various families were extremely important. He never expected that the clan elder would actually use one of them because of a branch of the Chen family!

"Yes, sir!"

Lin Jinnan put the letter away, muttering to himself, "Chen Guan of the Chen family... if he is so amazing, why have I never heard of him before? Just a branch of the family."

After much deliberation, Lin Jinnan decided not to disturb Lin Hongye, who was in seclusion, and instead wrote a letter to Lin Yun himself.

There was only one sentence inside: "Find out what Chen Guan is asking for."

"Send this letter to Fire Cloud Valley and send it by urgent message from the messenger bird."

...

Jinye Plain, Wu Family of Qingfeng Ridge.

"It's been so long, and there's still no news from Tieya and the others?" Wu Zhong's face was gloomy. After years of weathering the storms of life, he could vaguely sense that this matter was anything but simple.

The Night Wolf Bandits led by Tieya were actually dogs secretly kept by the Wu family, who had done a lot of dirty work for the Wu family in Jinye Plain over the years.

"Patriarch, isn't this a good thing? They've disappeared, which means our Wu family can actually save a lot of money," a Wu family cultivator asked, puzzled.

Upon hearing this, Wu Chong nearly flew into a rage. He roared, "Idiot! We must find out where Tieya is!"

However, the Wu family junior cultivator still looked bewildered, not knowing why the patriarch was so angry. His words just now were clearly for the sake of the family.

Wu Chong felt a chill run down his spine. In recent years, no one in his family had been capable of doing anything. They were all so short-sighted, only able to see the petty gains in front of them.

The conflicts between the various families in Kinnohara are extremely fierce. If the families are handed over to these people in the future, they will probably be swallowed up completely.

The only saving grace is that there are two Foundation Establishment Ancestors in the family, one of whom is in his prime and can protect the family for a hundred years.

Another elder, though advanced in years, was a highly respected elder of Lingxu Peak in the Taiyuan Sect. Some time ago, when the Lin family attempted to seize control of the Ziwen Copper Mother Mine, it was Elder Tieluo who thwarted their attempt.

His eldest son, Wu Tong, is also about to reach the Foundation Establishment stage and is expected to become the second Foundation Establishment elder of his Wu family in the Taiyuan Sect.

"Iron Fang knows too many things he shouldn't know. If he were to die an accidental death, that would be for the best."

"If he falls into the hands of others, or seeks refuge with another family, the consequences could be quite serious."

At this point, Wu Zhong felt a pang of regret, regretting that he hadn't wiped out the Night Wolf Bandits sooner.

"What...what should we do?" The younger cultivator from the Wu family was dumbfounded, not expecting this to happen.

"First, send people to Xiangnanling to investigate this matter, with a focus on the Lin family."

"Second, inform my son Wu Tong about this matter and let him prepare himself. But I'll write a letter myself."

As he was speaking, Wu Chong prepared to pick up his pen, but soon a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the mansion.

"Master, a secret letter has been delivered from outside the clan, claiming to be from the Lin family of Huangzhushan."

"The envelope is also sealed with spiritual energy, which can only be removed by mana at the late stage of Qi Refining."

Wu Zhong's breath hitched, and he said in a deep voice, "Bring the envelope here!"

He quickly opened the secret letter from the Lin family. Before he could even read the contents, a wolf tooth and a yellow bamboo leaf fell out of the envelope, causing Wu Zhong's heart to sink to the bottom.

The letter read: "Fellow Daoist Wu Chong, it has been many years since we last met. Are you still in good health? More than twenty years ago, I still vividly remember how you, Fellow Daoist Wu, dominated the arena in Taiyuan Immortal City, commanding a late-stage first-tier Purple Shadow Lightning Leopard to victory."

"However, while you are skilled at controlling beasts, you seem to be less adept at managing and utilizing people."

"Some time ago, my Lin family captured a black wolf. We originally intended to kill it quickly, but the wolf said many pleasing things in order to save its life, so we spared its life. It is still being well cared for on Huangzhu Mountain today."

"..."

At the end of the envelope was a signature—Lin Zhongchuan's own handwriting.

boom!

After reading the letter, Wu Chong unleashed his spiritual power, shattering the envelope into dust.

"The Lin family, what a fine Lin family of Huangzhushan."

...