Cultivating immortality begins with discerning the secrets of heaven.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun was shaken to his core, and a chill ran up from the soles of his feet.

However, Lin Yun remained outwardly calm and said, "I'm just a little concerned about your branch family status, since I am also a branch of the Lin family."

Chen Guan looked enlightened and did not delve any further. Instead, he casually said, "I have some knowledge of weapon crafting, so my family sent me here to learn from a master."

After the self-introductions, everyone had a basic understanding of each other.

Three members of the Chen family arrived: Chen Guan, Chen Wang, and Chen Xianjun. The latter two were members of the main branch of the Chen family, while Chen Guan was a member of a branch.

Of the Yang family, only Yang An came. He was very good at socializing and easily got to know everyone.

Two members of the main branch of the Zhong family arrived, named Zhong Jie and Zhong Mo. The former was very superior and not very willing to get too close to others.

As for Zhong Mo, she has a striking figure and a beautiful and elegant appearance. She is dressed in a light green ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) which is very eye-catching.

Although he did not show any obvious sense of superiority, he did exude a distant and unapproachable aura.

The remaining few were disciples from several minor Qi-refining clans.

These people were very reserved, exuding tension and unease, and stood far away.

Before long, Master Mo's cave opened again, and a voice came from inside: "Come in, everyone."

  

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun took a deep breath. His two-year journey of learning weapon crafting was finally about to begin.

As soon as you step into Master Mo's cave, a cool breeze washes over you, completely shutting out the heat from the outside world.

"I won't waste any more words. You've come here simply to learn weapon crafting."

"However, you are only my nominal disciples, so don't expect to receive the same treatment as my personal disciples. With so many people, I don't have that much time to teach you personally."

"I will only explain all the basic knowledge of weapon crafting once. Whether you can learn it or not depends entirely on your own destiny."

Upon hearing this, the young men from various families sat up straight, their attitudes becoming extremely serious and respectful.

And so, Master Mo began explaining the most basic principles of weapon crafting.

To forge a magical artifact, three steps are required.

Forging and shaping, tempering and refining, engraving spiritual patterns!

"Before you begin crafting a magical artifact, you must first learn to identify the materials and understand their properties."

"There are countless materials in the world that can be used for refining weapons. Spirit metals, wood and stone, materials from demon beasts, and all kinds of spiritual objects from heaven and earth can be used as materials for refining weapons."

Lin Yun listened attentively. He possessed the Book of Insight, which would allow him to obtain a great deal of information about rare and precious materials in the future.

To maximize the value of the Fire Marrow Heart that he locked in the fissure layer of Fire Cloud Valley yesterday, the best approach is to refine it into a fire-based magic weapon.

A complete high-grade magic weapon can fetch at least five hundred spirit stones.

If one's skills are superb, and one refines it into a top-grade magic weapon, one can easily sell it for over a thousand spirit stones.

The entire Lin family only possesses one top-grade magic artifact, which has been passed down through generations to the Foundation Establishment ancestor of the family.

Therefore, becoming a weapon refiner is equivalent to having a stable way to earn spirit stones.

Not only Lin Yun, but even the two disciples of the Zhong family studied very diligently, afraid of missing a single word.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. Master Mo took a sip of spiritual tea and then said, "This 'Illustrated Compendium of Spiritual Materials' was written by my own hand, recording all the types and properties of spiritual materials that I know."

"Each of you has fifteen minutes to flip through it. How much you can remember depends entirely on your own abilities."

As he spoke, he passed the book in his hand down.

The first person to receive the "Illustrated Compendium of Spiritual Materials" was He Gang, a member of the He family. He was stunned for a moment, then said gratefully, "Thank you, Master Mo!"

"The timer has started," Master Mo said coldly.

Upon hearing this, He Gang immediately lowered his head and began to intently examine the "Illustrated Compendium of Spiritual Materials" with its animal-skin cover.

As time went by, sweat began to bead on He Gang's forehead; he hadn't even finished flipping through a quarter of the book's thickness.

"Time's up, next one." Master Mo's voice rang out precisely on time.

He Gang's face paled slightly, and he reluctantly handed the book to the next person.

This is the culmination of Master Mo's life's experiences, and naturally, it records a wide variety of spiritual materials.

In just fifteen minutes, it's difficult to memorize everything by simply looking at it with the naked eye, unless someone has a photographic memory.

Of course, if anyone present had reached the late stage of Qi Refining, begun to open their sea of ​​consciousness, and cultivated divine sense, then that would be a different story.

With the assistance of divine consciousness, it's equivalent to having a photographic memory. Memorizing the entire contents of this book in a quarter of an hour is definitely not difficult.

Unfortunately, everyone present was planning to participate in the Taiyuan Ascension Conference through the path of weapon crafting, so their cultivation aptitude was naturally not very good.

Only two members of the Zhong family were at the fourth level of Qi Refining; the rest were at the early stage of Qi Refining.

"Time's up, next!" Master Mo's voice rang out again.

"Alright, stop looking and hurry up and bring it over," Chen Wang urged anxiously, afraid that time would be too short.

Lin Yun frowned, thought for a moment, then pulled Lin Yang to his side and whispered, "Cousin, listen to me, later we..."

Lin Yang's eyes lit up slightly, and he nodded in admiration.

Soon, the "Illustrated Compendium of Spiritual Materials" passed through several hands before finally falling into Chen Guan's possession.

Chen Guan turned the pages of the book at a leisurely pace. His expression was calm and composed, but his hands moved quickly, glancing at each page only twice before turning it over.

Occasionally, I would pause for a moment on a particular page, nod slightly, and then turn to the next page.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Chen Guan chuckled and handed the book in his hand to the next person.

This time, not only Lin Yun, but everyone else also looked at this member of the Chen family's branch with different expressions.

"Brother Chen Guan, do you perhaps possess the ability to remember everything you see?" Yang An couldn't help but ask.

Chen Guan shook his head and said, "I once obtained a fragment of a weapon-refining manual, which also recorded the types and characteristics of many common spiritual materials."

"I see..." Yang An said with a look of understanding.

However, Lin Yun thought to himself, "You old thing at the Core Formation stage are naturally knowledgeable, but Master Mo's accumulated knowledge over his entire life is probably not as profound as his daily experiences."

However, Lin Yun naturally dared not reveal Chen Guan's background openly. Such a person who had possessed another body and was rebuilt was someone who absolutely could not be offended.

Don't be fooled by Chen Guan's approachable demeanor and his ability to chat and laugh with them here.

Perhaps in a few years, this guy will stop eating beef.

"With him around, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Chen family is very likely to become the second thousand-year-old family in Xiangnanling."

The so-called "millennial family" refers to a family of cultivators who have produced a Core Formation True Person.

The Zhong family is a prime example. They once produced a Core Formation stage cultivator, which led to the family's prosperity to this day and allowed them to accumulate an extremely profound foundation.

Nowadays, all the major and minor immortal cultivation families in Xiangnan Ridge follow the lead of the Zhong family.

Even Fire Cloud Valley is one of the Zhong family's properties, and it can earn a considerable amount of spirit stones every year.

If the Chen family were to join the ranks of a thousand-year-old aristocratic family in the future, the area of ​​Xiangnanling would likely become quite lively.

After a long time, Master Mo's "Illustrated Compendium of Spiritual Materials" came into Lin Yang's hands.

Lin Yang's memory was quite good; he managed to memorize a full third of the content.

To everyone's surprise, after receiving the "Illustrated Compendium of Spiritual Materials," Lin Yun started reading from the last page and then flipped through the pages before it appeared.

Upon seeing this, the other disciples were slightly taken aback, but quickly came to their senses.

"You can do that..."

"The two of them then exchanged their notes, which was practically equivalent to memorizing the entire book."

Someone glanced at Master Mo, but Master Mo remained calm and did not stop them.

"They do have some cleverness." Zhong Jie raised an eyebrow, but didn't pay too much attention to it. The Zhong family had a deep foundation and naturally had a lineage of weapon crafting.

The reason he came here to learn the craft was because it was too resource-intensive to figure out how to forge weapons on his own.

If you have a mentor to guide you through the process, you can avoid many detours.

Lin Yun only picked out the key points to remember, ignoring the common spiritual materials. He read for a full half of the book before stopping.

"Alright, that concludes today's lesson. Come back in three days, and I will teach you the forging and shaping techniques in weapon crafting." Master Mo issued the order to leave.

"Thank you, Master Mo!"

After leaving Master Mo's cave, before everyone returned to their respective places of cultivation and living, Yang An took the initiative to suggest:

"Gentlemen, it's fate that we're all here learning from each other. How about we find a place to have a couple of drinks?"

Several disciples from the minor Qi-refining clans looked reserved and dared not refuse. They remained silent, intending to go with the flow.

However, Zhong Jie rejected the suggestion, shaking his head and saying, "Cultivation is more important, let's forget about it."

With that, he rode away on his magical artifact.

Zhong Mo wasn't interested in this either, but he still politely clasped his hands in a fist salute and said, "Farewell!"

As for Chen Guan, he was even more straightforward, leaving without saying a word.

Yang An gave a wry smile and shook his head, saying, "Never mind, just pretend I didn't say anything. I was thinking of inviting a few fellow Daoists to the Fire Cloud Valley Trade Fair in two days."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun's eyes lit up slightly, and he asked curiously, "The Fire Cloud Valley Trade Fair?"

Seeing that Lin Yun was interested, Yang An nodded and said, "Brother Lin Yun, you probably don't know this, but there are actually quite a few rogue cultivators living in Fire Cloud Valley. However, because this place is quite far from Zhongling Market, the cultivators who cultivate here will spontaneously hold trade fairs."

"During the trade fair, many cultivators set up stalls. Although the goods they sell are not as complete or of as good quality as those in Zhongling Market, they are cheaper."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun's heart stirred.

He planned to acquire an Earth Escape Talisman or an Earth Movement Talisman so that he could attempt to infiltrate the fissure layer of the earth and obtain the Fire Marrow Heart.

...