Li Yunxian didn’t expect to receive a call from Li Tianying. After a few seconds of thought, she still couldn’t figure out what reason the other party might have for reaching out to her.
She answered the call.
“Teacher?” Li Yunxian greeted politely.
Li Tianying responded calmly and steadily, then said, “I saw that you signed up for all my classes for the next month. Are you sure you want to major in this?”
Li Yunxian was still puzzled but nodded in response.
Mainly because there wasn’t much else interesting to study at the academy for her. Comparatively speaking, Artifact Crafting was one of the more intriguing options.
“Then come to the workshop here.” Li Tiansuo didn’t want to reveal her purpose directly.
She still cared about maintaining some face.
Right.
At least she couldn’t just call and impatiently blurt out, “Do you want to be my student or not?”
Li Yunxian felt even more confused.
Many students in the class were better at crafting than she was. Even if Li Tiansuo needed help, she should be calling them, not her.
But the workshop was off-limits to ordinary students unless they had reached Artifact Manufacturing Level Three or above, or were led by a teacher.
This was to prevent outsiders from sabotaging the various equipment inside.
Li Yunxian was actually quite eager to take a look inside.
After all, Li Tiansuo had taken good care of her in class, and over the past few days, Li Yunxian had even sensed a hint of admiration from Li Tianying’s eyes.
It didn’t seem like anything bad was going to happen.
So Li Yunxian simply replied, “Alright, teacher, I’ll come right away!”
After hanging up, Li Tianying let out a proud hum.
She didn’t have to beg and plead like those sword cultivators to get someone to talk to Li Yunxian.
She could summon Li Yunxian with just one phone call!
Li Tiansuo deliberately changed into nicer clothes before gracefully appearing before Li Yunxian.
Her expression left nothing to the imagination.
Li Yunxian immediately noticed that Li Tianying’s outfit was different from what she wore in class.
Such an expensive Protective Robe!
Its shimmering radiance wasn’t just beautiful—it also combined defense, storage, and spirit gathering functions.
It was a low-grade Earth-grade Artifact.
One rank higher than her Xiayun Sword.
And this was just a robe.
In the cultivation world, no practitioner majoring in the Four Arts was poor; it seemed that those focusing on Artifact Crafting were also incredibly wealthy.
Li Yunxian, holding fifteen thousand Spirit Stones, had thought herself quite well-off, but now she realized she was still considered a pauper.
Catching Li Yunxian’s gaze, Li Tianying felt a little pleased inside.
Hey, her student has good taste!
Good taste, huh? She liked that!
Want these things? Join her profession, and anything you want is yours!
Li Tianying modestly led Li Yunxian to stroll slowly through the workshop, speaking in a soft voice as they walked, “You joined my class halfway through. Since you’re not just here to listen for a few sessions but really want to learn, let’s catch you up now…”
She had mentioned before that no new students usually signed up for Artifact Crafting classes, so Li Tianying never bothered to accommodate the new semester rush.
New students who wanted to join would wait until she finished one full round of lessons, then come back to enroll in the first class.
It’s well known that if you stand high enough, no matter if what you do is right or wrong, others will pinch their noses and smoothly cooperate.
As a Fenshen Stage professor, Li Tiansuo was the best teacher in Tian Tong’s Artifact Crafting department and was naturally no exception.
Li Yunxian had started attending Li Tianying’s classes at the eleventh session.
If it weren’t for this, with Li Yunxian’s intelligence and diligence, she wouldn’t have made fundamental mistakes like mishandling equipment operations.
That was simply because she had never learned it before.
Now, it was the perfect excuse to lure Li Yunxian in.
***
Li Yunxian wasn’t paying attention at all.
Inside the workshop, the heat was rolling like waves, at least five degrees hotter than outside.
But cultivators above Qi Refinement Fifth Layer could regulate themselves, so unless it was an extreme case, it wouldn’t affect them much.
Yet the equipment producing this heat greatly affected Li Yunxian.
She tilted her head back, staring at the nearly hundred-meter-tall structure, unsure whether it was a Spirit Refining Furnace or a forging furnace, and took a deep breath.
In her perception, one cultivator after another tossed various materials into this device.
Not long after, those materials were decomposed and forged into several of the purest substances, which were then sent out.
No matter the quality or type of materials, inside they underwent the most suitable smelting.
The spiritual energy originally contained in the materials was also fully extracted.
Li Yunxian could feel at the top of the device, countless pure spiritual energies continuously releasing into the academy.
The rich spiritual energy at Tian Tong Academy was not only because it occupied a Holy Land but also because of the effect of this Heaven-Grade Artifact.
But this wasn’t what shocked Li Yunxian the most.
What stunned her was that when her Divine Sense probed into the artifact, it was actually refined.
Keep in mind, her Divine Sense was at the late Tribulation Transcender level!
For it to reach such a state simply through spontaneous operation without anyone controlling it—if this artifact were used in battle, no matter the cultivator’s level, it could make even a Tribulation Stage expert wary.
Li Yunxian’s head buzzed, and she vaguely heard a fox’s malicious laughter in her ears.
Perhaps it wasn’t a hallucination.
That fox was waiting for her Divine Sense to get hammered, then deliberately laughing.
Come on.
Li Yunxian: immature or what!
Li Yunxian was speechless for a moment, then gazed at the refining furnace with a thought.
She subtly shifted direction, trying to get as close as possible to the furnace.
Closer.
Li Yunxian gently placed her hand on it.
Her shattered soul probed inside.
The next instant, she felt a massive roar deep within her soul, bone-chilling pain shaking her entire body.
“Are you crazy?!” Li Yunxian distinctly heard Su Wenjing’s shocked voice.
Who in their right mind would casually experiment on their own soul?!
Do they not value their soul at all?!
Li Yunxian’s face turned pale, but a smile still tugged at the corners of her lips.
If she had guesses, why be afraid, hesitate, or shy away?
She could break a Soul Fragment to kill an enemy; naturally, she wouldn’t fear losing one or two more fragments for herself.
And she guessed right.
The two soul fragments she sent into the artifact to be tempered… connected.
Although it was just a tiny connection.
But… they connected.
Faintly, Li Yunxian sensed something inside her body had disappeared.
Her intuition told her it was her Karmic Merit Golden Light.
Li Yunxian suddenly realized the missing piece in her previous speculation about the Karmic Merit Golden Light and Soul Fragments.
If only Karmic Merit Golden Light was needed to mend the soul, then… Li Yunxian already had Karmic Merit Golden Light. So why were her soul fragments still shattered?
The problem was…
The answer was here.
You need a body, a mending agent, and also manual work to merge them together.
Only…
This was really painful enough to make one curse.
In just one attempt, Li Yunxian felt she couldn’t endure it and reflexively pulled her soul fragments back.
Li Yunxian gauged the degree to which these two soul fragments were mended…
Just these two fragments alone probably needed to be hammered back and forth hundreds of times before becoming one.
Li Yunxian showed no surprise, expression blank.
If Tribulation Stage shattered souls could be repaired without any suffering, the soul problem wouldn’t have become the eternal difficulty in the cultivation world.
Moreover…
The consumption of Karmic Merit Golden Light was far more terrifying than Li Yunxian had originally guessed.
Maybe even saving two lifetimes wouldn’t be enough.
Li Yunxian closed her eyes, unwilling to face this dreadful situation.
Li Tiansuo immediately noticed Li Yunxian’s change.
The three major stages between Fenshen and Tribulation Transcendence were clear to her. She didn’t know exactly what Li Yunxian had done but noticed her aura suddenly weaken—
“What’s wrong?” Li Tiansuo asked at once.
Except when setting traps for others, Li Yunxian never showed weakness to anyone.
Her expression was calm, except for her still pale face which hinted something was off. Her demeanor was no different from when she first entered the workshop.
“A bit hot.” Li Yunxian’s voice even carried a slight cheerfulness. “But this place really looks interesting.”
She smiled excitedly, looking around at the busy teachers and students.
“There are so many things I’ve never seen before. I wish I could come here often.”
“I wonder if reaching Artifact Manufacturing Level Three is difficult.” Li Yunxian spoke, mentally preparing herself to try to come here frequently in the future.
She had to find a way to endure more beatings here before graduating.
Li Tiansuo was stunned.
She hadn’t even started teaching Li Yunxian yet, so why did Li Yunxian suddenly become so interested in Artifact Crafting?
People’s love for something could be sensed.
At least Li Tianying had never before felt how much Li Yunxian cared about Artifact Crafting.
This was the biggest hesitation Li Tianying had about taking on students.
She instinctively thought she would be rejected.
But now, Li Tiansuo saw it.
Her expression calm, she said, “Anyway, my student roster is… still open. If you really like it this much, you don’t necessarily need to wait to reach the required level to come in.”
“There’s still space. You just need to be my student.”