Chapter 8
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After conveying the important news, Fang Xiaoyu relaxed his expression and looked at Qi Miao with envy. “Junior Sister Qi, your treatment is unprecedented in our Artifact Refining Workshop—no one before or after has had it like this!”
Qi Miao’s mood was complex. Hearing this, she spoke softly, “Envious? Senior Brother Fang, I exchanged it for a huge debt.”
Fang Xiaoyu was speechless.
He cleared his throat. “Will you rest at the clinic or return to the dorm later?”
“Return to the dorm,” Qi Miao followed his lead, avoiding the topic. “It’s not too late yet. I’ll go back to read a bit before sleeping.”
So diligent.
Fang Xiaoyu felt sympathetic when he thought about the reason behind Qi Miao’s hard work.
“The sect thinks your body is weak now. If you exhaust yourself and end up in the clinic again, it won’t be worth it. So don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Cultivation requires steady progress.”
Qi Miao was silent for a moment, then couldn’t help but say, “My body isn’t weak.”
During her time in the star system, she was constantly busy without pause, living well on just meals and nutrient pods. Her physical fitness was far beyond many contemporaneous mechanics.
Fang Xiaoyu was surprised. “You’ve been to the clinic twice in three days and you still say you’re not weak?”
“Senior Brother Fang, this time was really an accident. Don’t stereotype me like that.”
“Alright,” Fang Xiaoyu shrugged, half-heartedly conceding.
Qi Miao thought: just wait.
Fortune shifts like the river’s flow—thirty years east, thirty years west.
She, Qi Aotian, would prove herself.
When Zhu Danning learned Qi Miao was returning to the dorm, she immediately prepared two doses of medicine for her to take back.
Qi Miao tucked the medicine inside and returned to the Xuan Yue Peak. Upon entering the courtyard, she saw Gan Jinlei leaning against a tree, playing with a spirit tablet.
“Senior Sister Meng!” Qi Miao hurried over, her face full of gratitude. “Thank you so much for taking me to the clinic this morning.”
Senior Sister Meng smiled faintly. “I wanted to tell you this morning—Meng Xiaoci is in the room to your right.”
Qi Miao was speechless. After a few seconds, she dryly called, “Senior Sister Gan?”
“Yes,” Gan Jinlei barely suppressed a laugh, enjoying Qi Miao’s awkward expression, thinking it was worth waiting outside so long. Then she asked, “How did you mistake me this morning?”
Qi Miao glanced at Gan Jinlei’s exquisite and noble hair ornaments and honestly said, “Senior Sister Gan doesn’t look like a body cultivator.”
Gan Jinlei touched her hairpin. “Because of my outfit?”
Seeing Gan Jinlei wasn’t angry, Qi Miao relaxed a little. “I often hear the disciples in the Physical Arts Hall sparring with each other.”
“That’s right,” Gan Jinlei smiled brightly, her eyes radiant. “I dress so beautifully that when I fight, no one can even break my hair ornaments. Don’t you think that’s a great sense of achievement?”
Qi Miao nodded in agreement.
Just like Gan Jinlei, she didn’t care much about the fate of those she defeated.
Gan Jinlei glanced at the medicine in Qi Miao’s hand. “How is your health? What did the medical cultivators say?”
Qi Miao was a little surprised by Gan Jinlei’s concern but answered, “Nothing serious. Just need to take the medicine and rest.”
Gan Jinlei nodded knowingly. “Put the medicine away before coming out again.”
“Ah?”
Why come out again?
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“Did you not check the message on your spirit tablet?”
Qi Miao shook her head, confused. She had only managed to read messages from Jiang Ran and Fang Xiaoyu. Hearing Gan Jinlei, she was about to take out her spirit tablet.
Gan Jinlei explained, “You have a creditor named Run Yi. He’s my junior disciple. Knowing you share the same courtyard, after you went to the clinic today, he clung to me all afternoon, begging me to teach you some Physical Arts techniques to strengthen your body.”
Qi Miao’s memory was sharp and she immediately recognized the person.
Run Yi.
A disciple of the Physical Arts Hall and her 37th creditor.
Qi Miao brightened her spirit tablet and found Run Yi’s unread message matching Gan Jinlei’s description.
Run Yi: “Remember to look for Senior Sister Gan when you return to the dorm. She promised to teach you some Physical Arts. Study hard, and don’t go to the clinic again.”
Qi Miao: “...Okay, I’ll work hard.”
Her creditors truly worried about her.
After replying, Qi Miao hurried back inside to put away the medicine, then came out of the dorm again.
“Have you been tested for Physical Cultivation talent? How is it?” Gan Jinlei put away her spirit tablet and asked before starting.
“Forty.”
Gan Jinlei nodded. “Average talent.”
Since she promised her junior disciple, Gan Jinlei was earnest in teaching Qi Miao, demonstrating a simple set of body-strengthening punches.
“Practice this set twice daily, morning and evening. It won’t make you better at fighting, but it will improve your constitution. You won’t be so easily affected by wind-cold ailments in the future.”
Qi Miao’s fist motion slipped slightly. “Senior Sister Gan, how did you know I caught a wind-cold...?”
Gan Jinlei corrected her gesture with a raised finger, looking matter-of-fact. “I’m a body cultivator, often interacting with medical cultivators, so I understand some of their knowledge. Your condition isn’t complicated; it’s easy to tell.”
Qi Miao paused, then made her punches more precise.
*
That day, Elder Mu gave a lecture to the outer disciples.
After class, Elder Mu called Qi Miao over.
He took her to the Refining Workshop, where two other elders were present.
Zhao Qiong glanced at Qi Miao, confusion on her youthful face. She tilted her head and said to Mu Jigui, “Elder Mu, haven’t you told our Refining Workshop genius yet?”
Mu Jigui replied calmly, “I think it’s better to tell her when we’re all here.”
Zhao Qiong turned away, murmuring loudly, “Old-fashioned.”
Elder Mu pretended not to hear and looked at Qi Miao. “We aren’t your master; normally we shouldn’t interfere with your artifact refining cultivation. But your situation is special. In the past few days, other elders have come to us, asking us to supervise you more closely to prevent you from going astray in your cultivation.”
“So we discussed it and decided to give you an extra hour of instruction after daily lectures. What do you think?”
Qi Miao hesitated. “Is that allowed?”
“As long as you want to learn,” Lan Xuejing pointed at the three of them, confidently saying, “We’re just teaching you simultaneously; we’re not your masters.”
Qi Miao understood well that even if they didn’t teach her, other elders would watch her according to requests.
Saying it’s no big deal since they’re not her masters was just an excuse to exploit a loophole.
She wouldn’t let their goodwill go to waste.
She lifted her head and said seriously, “I want to learn. I will study hard.”
Zhao Qiong looked at her and scoffed, “Just don’t regret it.”
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Lan Xuejing got straight to the point. “I heard you’ve been diligently reading these days. Let me test your knowledge.”
“Tell me what you know about spirit artifacts.”
Qi Miao thought for a moment and answered, “Spirit artifacts have five grades: Ordinary, Superior, Sacred, Exquisite, and Transcendent.”
“Ordinary spirit artifacts are just mundane items; they only assist the user.”
“Superior spirit artifacts are born from spirit energy, their strength depending on the user’s power.”
“Sacred spirit artifacts are extraordinary themselves; their strength does not rely on the user.”
“Exquisite spirit artifacts have a soul. If ordinary ones are humans controlling the artifact, exquisite ones are artifacts controlling humans.”
“I’ve only seen Transcendent spirit artifacts mentioned once in a book, and it wasn’t explained in detail.”
Her answer was concise, summarizing each grade based on her own insights.
Lan Xuejing was pleased and then supplemented what the book didn’t cover about Transcendent spirit artifacts.
“You said exquisite spirit artifacts have a soul. Transcendent ones go beyond that, transforming the soul into substance, giving birth to intelligent spirit entities we call artifact spirits.”
“There are only three artifact spirits in the world today, but unfortunately, our Cangwu Sect has none; otherwise, we’d show you,” Zhao Qiong added.
The elders shared much knowledge not found in books.
Qi Miao listened attentively.
After covering the theoretical knowledge, Elder Mu gave Qi Miao a piece of iron ore to test her refining skills.
Qi Miao obediently complied.
She had practiced refining once two days ago, so this time she was familiar with the process.
The ore changed shape continuously in her palm, shifting from square to round.
She then tried to shape it into something more complex, controlling her energy slowly.
The three elders silently watched, exchanging a surprised glance.
Qi Miao felt her energy waning and stopped, then looked up at Elder Mu.
Mu Jigui cleared his throat. “Not bad. Is this your first proper refining?”
Qi Miao shook her head. “No.”
She hadn’t noticed the two elders beside him relax slightly.
“I practiced refining several times the night I went to the mine.”
Zhao Qiong stood up straight, frowning. “Were you refining the snow crystal ore?”
Qi Miao tilted her head. What snow crystal ore?
Zhao Qiong hesitated. “The ore you took from Fuyuan Studio.”
So the white tungsten ore was called snow crystal ore here. Qi Miao suddenly understood. “No, I only have one piece of snow crystal ore, and I haven’t dared to refine it yet. I was refining ore I found in the mine.”
Zhao Qiong frowned even deeper and blurted out, “But didn’t you only pick up some trash in the mine?”