Watching the inconceivable scene before her, the Sanqing Fairy was so startled that she forgot to swallow the piece of tofu in her throat. A moment later, she could not stop herself from coughing violently.
Fortunately, Lu Zhiyun stepped in just in time to help her catch her breath, preventing her from nearly being killed by a single piece of tofu.
That was a close call!
She had almost become the first immortal in history to choke to death on tofu.
If that incident were ever recorded in the *History of Cultivation*, the Sanqing Fairy alone would have lowered the collective prestige of all immortals.
“Cough, cough, cough… How… how did you do it?” the Sanqing Fairy gasped, her chest heaving heavily.
Lu Zhiyun glanced over and suddenly lost all interest in helping the fairy catch her breath.
“It’s simple! It’s just condensing a Golden Core!” Lin Shu gave a smug smile.
‘Natives are just natives; they don’t know the greatness of the system!’
“That’s impossible! How could a cultivator’s cultivation system be switched so freely!” The Sanqing Fairy held her chin in thought.
A cultivator’s system represented the different paths they walked. Since Lin Shu intended to walk the “Path of Heaven,” it should be impossible for him to touch the “Path of Humanity.”
Forget condensing a Golden Core; he shouldn’t even be able to achieve Foundation Establishment.
But right now, Lin Shu had indeed condensed a Golden Core.
The Sanqing Fairy scrutinized the core.
It was round and full, its only flaws being a few speckled blemishes. Wisps of lightning, like interwoven silk threads, revolved around the core. It appeared to be a second-grade, low-tier Thunder Qi Core.
It was slightly inferior to a first-grade Thunder Element Core, but a second-grade, low-tier Golden Core was still considered top-tier among rogue cultivators.
The Sanqing Fairy searched her mind for any precedent similar to Lin Shu’s situation, but no matter how much she thought, even with her vast experience, she had never seen anything like it.
Beside them, Lu Zhiyun was also astonished by what she heard. She had previously been lectured on this knowledge by the Sanqing Fairy.
If cultivation systems could not be switched, then there was clearly something suspicious about Lin Shu’s Golden Core.
The little person inside her heart was jumping for joy. Finally! she had finally caught a new clue!
‘An evil cultivator’s Golden Core must have been refined through some kind of wicked technique!’
As long as she followed this line of reasoning, she might be able to gather a new piece of evidence before Grandmaster Jiang headed south!
Lin Shu simply waved his hand and tucked the Golden Core away, offering some consolation. “Relax! It’s just a Golden Core, don’t make such a fuss.”
“This Golden Core only has the form without the spirit; at most, it’s just a disguise.”
Making this Golden Core was solely for the purpose of fighting for an advertising slot on the Rogue Cultivator Rankings.
Lin Shu could have synthesized a first-grade, high-tier Golden Core, but he felt that would look too fake. If a first-grade Golden Core suddenly appeared among rogue cultivators, it would be hard not to attract suspicion toward his background.
Intentionally adding some flaws saved both time and effort.
As for the identity registration issue, that was even simpler.
With just a small tip, Lin Shu could use pseudonyms like “Lu Shu,” “Jiang Shu,” and so on…
As for “Qian Shu,” he decided against it. Reversed, it sounded like “losing money,” which was a bad omen.
The Sanqing Fairy seemed to hear someone insulting her in his heart. She glared at Lin Shu with both eyes, trying to kill him with non-existent spiritual energy lasers.
Lin Shu merely smiled at this, ignoring the fairy’s murderous intent. He took a bottle of milk from his storage bag, handed it to Lu Zhiyun, and returned to his room.
***
The next day.
After Lu Zhiyun had finished making the advertising billboards for the Spirit Gathering Array with several senior brothers and sisters in Mist City, Lin Shu found her.
“Senior Brother! The signs are ready!”
Sweat dripped from the strands of hair at Lu Zhiyun’s temples. she looked at Lin Shu with a smile in her eyes.
Lin Shu nodded and habitually raised his sleeve to help her wipe away the sweat.
“Senior Brother… you…” Lu Zhiyun’s earlobes turned slightly red. She lowered her eyes bashfully, not daring to look at him.
“Junior Sister, let’s go. Come with me to check on the artifacts we’ll be using for the competition in a few days,” Lin Shu said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhiyun instantly switched to her combat face, becoming serious and upright. She looked like a completely different person from the bashful young girl just a moment ago.
“Understood! Senior Brother!”
‘A mission has arrived!’
‘Another great opportunity to extract information about evil cultivators!’
Lin Shu’s eyes twitched. Although he could feel that his junior sister was excited, he had a feeling it wasn’t the kind of excitement one felt when accompanying their senior brother for a stroll…
But it didn’t matter. What he needed to do today was guide this group of honest and hardworking junior brothers and sisters.
The Heaven Chasm Sect’s refining department in Mist City was located at a crossroads in the center of the city. The area was bustling with people and was considered a prime commercial location.
However, the place was deserted, with almost no customers entering the shop.
As soon as they entered, they could hear the sounds of the junior brothers and sisters tinkering with artifacts. Seeing Lin Shu and Lu Zhiyun’s arrival, a young man stepped forward quickly to greet them.
“Greetings, Senior Brother Lin, Junior Sister Lu! I am the person in charge here, Chen Yin!”
This Heaven Chasm Sect disciple named Chen Yin was currently at the peak of the Golden Core stage and also possessed three spirit roots.
“I have long heard of Senior Brother Lin’s great name! Under Senior Brother Ye Bufan’s recommendation, I have been practicing the *Sanqing One-Qi Manual* that you annotated!”
Ye Bufan was the junior brother who had used “biochemical weapons” against the cultivators of the War Spirit Sect. His main claims to fame included “firing the first shot that ruined Lin Shu’s reputation” and “creating the ‘Senior Brother Taught Me Well’ template for answers.”
“Right! Junior Brother Chen, show me around! I need to understand the refining situation here!” Lin Shu did not beat around the bush and immediately began looking for problems.
“Of course! This way, please!” Chen Yin made a gesture, signaling for Lin Shu to lead the way.
Before coming here, Lin Shu had asked Chang Jiujiu. The refining level of the disciples here was generally fine; refining artifacts suitable for cultivators below the Golden Core stage was more than enough.
Moreover, the highest-level refiners staying in Mist City were only at the Golden Core stage, so they could only refine artifacts for that level.
Of course! This wasn’t because the Heaven Chasm Sect lacked talent, but rather because all the other sects were the same.
Dharma treasures at the Nascent Soul level and above were already priceless. Generally, if someone wanted one, they had to seek out a Grandmaster Refiner within their sect for a custom order. A place like Mist City was simply too small for them.
Simply put, Mist City was like a small wholesale supermarket for low-level artifacts for rogue cultivators. Anything higher than that was usually unavailable regardless of the price and was extremely rare.
This also explained why Shuiyun Peak only had Lin Yingxue, yet its GDP could crush Qingluan Peak.
A Grandmaster Refiner was a Grandmaster Refiner. Qingluan Peak didn’t have one, which was why they couldn’t strike it rich.
It absolutely had nothing to do with the junior brothers and sisters of Qingluan Peak being too prone to causing trouble, nor with a certain unnamed Lady Jiang hiding a massive amount of royalties and refusing to hand them over, leading to expenses exceeding income.
Chen Yin led Lin Shu to a warehouse filled with all sorts of artifacts: spears, clubs, swords, and staffs.
Lin Shu casually picked up a spear of decent quality and gave it a swing, praising it. “The quality is quite good. The purification alone is already excellent.”
Chen Yin smiled bashfully upon hearing the praise. “To be honest, Senior Brother, I refined that spear myself!”
This spear was not at the Golden Core level; it was more suitable for a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Chen Yin refining this was a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
“Since the quality is good and it isn’t difficult to use, why isn’t it selling?” Lu Zhiyun asked, puzzled.
“Sigh — ” Chen Yin let out a heavy sigh. “Junior Sister, you don’t understand. This spear is good, but the problem is that its function is too simple…”
“Too simple?”
“It is indeed a bit simple,” Lin Shu explained. “Generally speaking, common artifacts come with some extra effects, but this spear only has the added attribute of ‘Storing Spiritual Energy’.”
Added attributes were, in common terms, “enchantments” — adding extra traits or special skills to an artifact.
“That’s exactly it. The refining industry is currently competitive as hell!” Chen Yin complained bitterly.
“The refiners from other sects are extremely nitpicky and strive for perfection when it comes to engraving traits. Meanwhile, those rogue refiners are even more varied, engraving traits onto artifacts that you wouldn’t even dream of! Life is just too hard for us!”
Chen Yin pulled several samples they had purchased from his storage bag to show Lin Shu.
There was a spear with the trait [Shaft comes with its own seasoning; automatically rotates for a barbecue when meeting fire], a saber with [Ordinary, but comes with a bubble effect when swung], and a sword with [Practically useless but looks incredibly cool]…
Wait, no!
Could that last one even be considered a trait?
Was he sure it wasn’t a scam?
Lin Shu roughly understood where the problem lay. In front of these “imagination kings” who were over-competing, Chen Yin and the others were like raw recruits.
There was less than one week left until the preliminary round of the Sect Rankings. Considering that it would be too late for these people to figure it out on their own…
Lin Shu decided to guide them personally. He leaned close to Chen Yin’s ear and whispered detailed instructions.
As Lu Zhiyun listened to those words from the side, she broke out into a cold sweat…
‘Evil cultivators… truly have no lower limit!’