The Heavenly Sword City's Refiner Hall was a large venue without a roof. The entire venue was about three hundred meters wide. According to the City Lord's Mansion's request, every Refiner Shop was given a ten-meter-wide Refiner Room.
Rather than calling it a crafting room, it would be better to call it a simple shed. Other than the roof that was made of cowhide, the rest of the room was open to the elements. In the center of the hut was a furnace filled with black charcoal. The scorching flames raised the temperature around the furnace by several times.
Yi Tian swept his gaze over the facilities here. The conditions were basically the same as an ordinary Refiner Room. Turning around to look at his opponents, he saw that the leading Refiners were also inspecting the facilities around them like Yi Tian.
When his gaze turned to the first room, Yi Tian couldn't help but frown. There was a person sitting alone under the hut without an assistant. Based on his intuition, he was certain that this person was a Refiner from outside.
He remembered that Zheng Rutong had mentioned before that this person was called Huo Chilian. He was an Intermediate Refiner Loose Cultivator. His skill level could be considered as outstanding among those of the same level. This time, he had found some connections to obtain a spot in the City Lord's Mansion to exchange pointers with the Heavenly Sword City.
Seeing Yi Tian's gaze, Huo Chilian nodded with a smile. However, Yi Tian felt that this person wasn't simple. In short, he gave him an indescribable feeling that this person wasn't easy to deal with.
Although they hadn't come into close contact, Yi Tian believed that based on the Spiritual Energy fluctuations around the other party, he should be very strong. At the very least, he should be on par with Dugu Ao.
Turning his head to avoid the other party's gaze, Yi Tian calculated for a moment. The mission this time was to maintain his ranking. Moreover, it would be best if he didn't completely expose his background.
Before noon, all the huts were already filled with people. Those Weapon Refiners were busy sorting out the materials that they had prepared for use. At the Zheng Family's Equipment Forging Shop, Yi Tian was also assigning the various apprentices to their preparation work. Unlike the others, Yi Tian had already filled up the quota of the five assistants, preparing to let these apprentices participate in the forging process as well.
Yi Tian had no choice but to do so. After his proposal was overturned, Yi Tian thought for a long time before deciding on his entry for the competition. He even discussed this with Zheng Rutong. After receiving a clear reply, Yi Tian found five apprentices who were the best at carving inscriptions in the shop to be his assistants.
Following the City Lord's command, the huge hourglass began to open. Seeing that the timer was about to start, all the artificers in the competition seats began to refine spirit artifacts at the same time.
Only the Zheng Family's Weapon Refining Store was still in a state of chaos. The Zheng Family members sitting in the audience seats were also embarrassed. Feeling the strange gazes from the peers sitting next to them, Zheng Yong's face was also burning. He lowered his head and carefully sent a voice transmission to Zheng Rutong, but Jin Dan was very shrewd. He only softly replied before closing his eyes.
After a quarter of an hour, Yi Tian finally finished assigning all the work. According to past experience, due to the time limit of each competition, each shop could prepare some crude materials or semi-finished products in advance. However, the inscription on the spirit artifact had to be completed on the spot.
The five apprentices each received a jade slip. Then, each of them searched for the corresponding materials and began to work. The entire workshop was divided into six areas. Yi Tian sat in front of the furnace and refined the crude materials. After the materials were completed, they were handed over to the five apprentices to inscribe.
It wasn't easy for these Qi Condensation Stage apprentices to be selected. In the past, they could only sit in the spectator seats and watch the competition between the various great artificers. Unlike now, they could directly participate in the competition, so everyone was full of energy. In particular, the Patriarch had summoned them before the competition and promised that everyone who participated would receive a full year's salary. Therefore, they were full of motivation.
Yi Tian planned to directly refine the humanoid puppet for this competition. According to his previous experience of studying the 'Puppet Technique', he could separate some of the inscription work for the external parts. This part could be completed by an experienced apprentice. As for the energy core, he had imitated the corresponding parts in the remains of the 'Black General' before he went into seclusion.
If it weren't for the stipulation that the inscription work had to be completed on the spot, Yi Tian would have taken out the refined parts from his storage bracelet and used them.
After assigning the four limbs, the head, and the cover plate, Yi Tian selected some of the bearing materials for the second refinement. Due to the urgency of time, it was impossible to complete the entire puppet in 12 hours. Therefore, he had discussed with Zheng Rutong in advance to simplify the process and divide the work.
From time to time, flames would flash in the workshops of the various artificers in the arena. In particular, the furnace in Crimson Flame's seat was shining with five different kinds of lights, attracting the attention of the majority of the people present.
Yi Tian slanted his eyes and revealed a smile at the corners of his mouth as he thought, "This Huo Chi Lian should be refining a Five Elements Spirit Tool. That's why there's such a strange phenomenon. I'll have to experience a Tool Tribulation later. It seems that I'll have to add something to my puppet."
After thinking about it, he took out the bag of materials he had prepared before. He selected a large amount of Mysterious Iron Essence and placed it in the furnace to be calcined. Then, he took out a small piece of Deep Sea Iron Essence from his storage bag and smelted it as well.
Fortunately, the original parts were basically formed. Yi Tian only needed to inscribe some special inscriptions for the puppet. The five assistants were also very fast. It took them nearly eight hours to prepare all the parts. Looking at the table full of parts and the weapon being calcined in the furnace, Yi Tian waved his hand and began instructing his apprentices to assemble the puppet.
At this moment, there was a commotion in Crimson Flame's seat. After a series of crackling sounds, five foot-long flying swords flew out. Following that, Crimson Flame stretched out his index finger. The flame at his fingertip condensed into a wisp before he began inscribing on the five flying swords. The people in the audience stands were attracted by his skills as they focused their gazes on him.
Sitting a few seats away, Yi Tian did not show any change in expression. However, his mind was filled with turbulent thoughts. This Crimson Flame was likely related to the 'Li Fire Sect'. What he was refining was the Lesser Five Elements Sword Array of the Li Fire Nine Weapons. Furthermore, the inscription technique was identical to his own. He wondered how effective it would be.
After observing for a while, Yi Tian turned his head. The seriousness on his face had eased a lot. Previously, he had observed Crimson Flame's fire control technique and the style of the spirit artifact. However, he had overlooked his spiritual energy fluctuations. It was definitely not a spell technique passed down directly from the Li Fire Sect. It was most likely a successor of one of the branch sects.
Seeing the apprentices around him looking distracted, Yi Tian coldly snorted and said, "What are you looking at? Go do your own work."
Under Yi Tian's reprimand, a few apprentices could only turn their heads back and begin assembling according to the puppet's blueprint. If there were any problems, Yi Tian would take action. The rest of the work was left to the five of them.
At this moment, there were dense thunderclouds above the arena. Anyone who knew what was going on knew that the spirit artifact tribulation had arrived. The first bolt of lightning struck down and its target was Crimson Flame's position. Crimson Flame's expression did not change as he pointed at the five small swords. With a few 'whooshing' sounds, the flying swords formed a sword array in the air. The five elemental flying swords emitted five different beams of light as they blocked the tribulation lightning like a shield of light.
With a loud 'peng', the tribulation lightning struck the sword array and the entire lightning tribulation's power was absorbed by the sword array. When Crimson Flame controlled the flying swords to return, each flying sword still had remnant electric arcs on it. As for the five flying swords, the light they emitted had become more corporeal. It was even different from the normal five elemental colors.
At this moment, even the high ranking refiners in the audience stands were moved. Even Zheng Rutong, who had his eyes closed, opened his eyes. After staring at the five elemental flying swords for a while, he said, "Transcending the tribulation with an elemental mutation."
Zheng Yong, who was by the side, did not know what was going on. He hurriedly asked, "Patriarch, what do you mean by 'transcending the tribulation with an elemental mutation'?"
Zheng Rutong said slowly, "This is an additional elemental bonus that some spirit artifacts get after transcending the spirit artifact tribulation. It's usually not common. Even those Jin Dan Stage refiners may not be able to achieve this. This is related to the inscriptions engraved on the original spirit artifact."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sudden change in the sky above the arena. Near the competition point, another spirit artifact began to transcend the tribulation. Although the momentum was not as strong as before, it could still be considered as a fifth level spirit artifact.
In the past two hours, four spirit artifacts had triggered the tribulation. All of them were flying sword type spirit artifacts. Except for one that failed, the rest had smoothly received the baptism of the heavenly lightning. The original luster of the spirit artifacts faded and they became even more dazzling.
Until Yi Tian successfully assembled the puppet and put the spirit artifact refined in the furnace into the puppet's hand, the long-awaited tribulation did not occur. Zheng Yong was also full of complaints, "If I had known that he couldn't even refine a fifth level spirit artifact, I would have been sent up."
Zheng Rutong turned his head and looked over. After seeing Yi Tian nodding at him, he was relieved and continued to close his eyes to rest.
Now that even the patriarch was not in a hurry, the refiners under him could not say much. However, there was still an endless stream of private discussions.
When the last grain of sand in the hourglass fell, the deacon on the side rang the gong and shouted, "All contestants can stop now."
Then, the City Lord waved his hand. Two attendants next to each competition point came forward and took the works of the refiners to be judged.
Suddenly, a discordant sound came from the Zheng Family's refining shop, which immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the audience.
It turned out that the puppet refined by Yi Tian was too big. The two attendants couldn't lift it even if they worked together. After ten breaths, the puppet slowly stood up under the control of Yi Tian. Then, it walked step by step to the judging panel. This time, the people in the audience seats were also laughing, and they all pointed and talked. The people in the Zheng Family's Equipment Forging Shop all had gloomy expressions. They either looked up at the starry sky, or lowered their heads to count their toes. Only Zheng Rutong was as calm as ever, resting with his eyes closed.
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