In the room, Chu Mu sat cross-legged.

He laid out the Spiritual Materials one by one as a Spiritual Fire blazed before him.

Although it was his first time Refining, Chu Mu had clearly been preparing for this moment for a long time.

From the moment he obtained the Puppetry Skill Jade Scroll, to the day he acquired this Artifact Refining Manual at the underground Auction House, his journey had led to this present moment.

Many years had already passed.

The past seemed as vivid as yesterday, and a hint of complexity crossed his features.

After a good while, Chu Mu finally managed to calm himself, centering his mind. As his Divine Sense circulated, a fist-sized Spirit Ore instantly floated up to hover above the Spiritual Fire.

He poured in a bottle of Spirit Oil, and the Spiritual Fire surged. Even with his Fire Manipulation Skill, the scorching temperature was difficult to completely block.

Under the blaze of the fierce Spiritual Fire, the Spirit Ore melted before his eyes, eventually becoming a pool of molten liquid suspended in front of Chu Mu.

Chu Mu’s expression remained neutral as he methodically continued the Refining process.

Just like with Alchemy, the most important part was the fusion of medicinal properties.

The same was true for Artifact Refining.

Each type of Spirit Ore was a natural alloy, and each possessed its own unique properties.

The reactions produced by their combinations, and thus the final products, all varied.

This was the most fundamental step, and also the most critical one.

What to keep, what to discard...

The principle behind this step was the same as in Alchemy, and so, naturally, was the operation.

Chu Mu was surprisingly adept at it, the process flowing with an unexpected smoothness.

Under the effect of his Spiritual Radiance Blessing, the same confidence he felt during Alchemy seemed to manifest in his Artifact Refining as well.

However, Artifact Refining was, in the end, far more complex than Alchemy.

The body of knowledge it required was also much vaster.

In Alchemy, completing this step brought one to the cusp of forming a Pill.

But in Artifact Refining, this step was followed by the incomparably complex task of inscribing Artifact Patterns and Array Prohibitions.

The slightest mistake, and all his previous work would be for naught...

One failure.

Two failures.

Three failures.

Five failures.

Seven failures.

Ten failures.

In the end, while attempting to forge a simple Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, he failed a full ten times, wasting several hundred Spirit Stones before he barely managed to succeed once.

A blade with a cold, sharp edge hovered before him. But after ten failures, Chu Mu felt no joy in his success. Instead, his brow was deeply furrowed.

The reason for his failures was simple.

He hadn’t failed a single time during the Ore Material fusion step.

All ten failures occurred during the inscription of the Artifact Patterns and Array Prohibitions.

There was only one reason for this: he was unfamiliar with the process!

’Perhaps I’ve been going about this the wrong way?’

Chu Mu carefully reviewed the process, feeling a little uncertain.

After all, when it came to Alchemy, he had at least received some direct instruction.

But as for Artifact Refining... he was completely self-taught.

He had learned everything on his own, without a shred of guidance.

The Artifact Refining Manual he had was just a basic text, completely lacking in fine detail.

As his thoughts churned, Chu Mu glanced at the Spirit Ores beside him. After sorting through them for a moment, he selected a fiery-red piece and levitated it above the Spiritual Fire.

In an instant, the blazing Spiritual Fire melted the ore!

This time, Chu Mu didn’t add any other Spirit Ores. Instead, he immediately began to purge the impurities from this single piece.

After just a moment, a glob of glowing red molten metal hovered in his hand.

As he circulated his Divine Sense, the molten metal formed into a spherical object.

Chu Mu pondered for a moment before adding the other Spiritual Materials. Then, guided by his Divine Sense, a series of Artifact Patterns took shape on the surface of the molten metal.

The Artifact Patterns were very simple, consisting of only a few lines that wrapped around the fiery-red sphere.

The Array Prohibition that he formed next was also extremely simple.

It was just a single, basic Array Prohibition.

Finally, the metal solidified, and a sudden pulse of Spiritual Qi emerged.

As the sphere absorbed its fill of Spiritual Qi, the Artifact Patterns upon it began to flicker faintly.

Chu Mu raised his hand, and the metal sphere floated into his palm.

The metal object was oval-shaped, encircled by several Artifact Patterns, while the Array Prohibition was hidden deep within its core.

At a glance, you couldn’t say it was merely similar to a hand grenade from his past life—it was, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same.

And its function was identical to a hand grenade as well.

It was forged primarily from a Tier One Lower Grade Fire Flame Stone, preserving the stone’s volatile flame properties while being inscribed with a simple Energy Gathering Array Prohibition.

The Array Prohibition gathered energy. As long as one detonated the Energy Gathering Array Prohibition, the faint Spiritual Power it had collected would act like the primer in a hand grenade, instantly igniting the Fire Attribute Spiritual Power stored within the Fire Flame Stone.

The principle was simple and the construction crude. It couldn’t even be called a Magical Artifact—at best, it was a little gadget made through Artifact Refining.

As for its power...

With a mere thought, the little gadget in Chu Mu’s palm erupted into a ball of fire with a deafening BOOM.

But in the end, the ball of fire and the exploding metal shards seemed to be contained by an invisible energy, remaining as a Fireball still hovering in his palm.

The next second, Chu Mu clenched his fist. The fire went out, and a lump of still-glowing, searingly hot metal slag landed in his palm.

’About equivalent to... a full-power strike from someone at the peak of the mortal Qi Blood realm?’

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow, clearly a bit surprised.

With that kind of power, it was far beyond any hand grenade from his past life!

Back when he was at the peak of the Qi Blood realm, he could have easily pulverized a boulder the size of a manhole cover with a single, full-power strike!

Pulverized, not just shattered!

’So, I really was wrong...’

Chu Mu was a bit speechless. He didn’t care about the little gadget itself; it would be hard-pressed to inflict any real damage on a Cultivator.

What left him speechless was the fact that he had pointlessly wasted ten sets of Spiritual Materials!

Judging by the little gadget he had just made, he had clearly been relying too much on his old habits, assuming he could dive straight into Artifact Refining just as he did with Alchemy.

But reality had proven otherwise.

The Artifact Pattern Array Prohibitions were complex, so he could have practiced slowly first. Just like with this little gadget, he could have made a finished product with just a few Artifact Patterns and a single Array Prohibition.

After all, it would have only cost him a single piece of Tier One Lower Grade Ore Material.

But no, he had to jump straight to refining the final product with zero experience...

Wasting ten sets of Spiritual Materials for nothing!

Those Spiritual Materials were worth several hundred Lower Spirit Stones! If he had succeeded, ten Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts would have been worth several thousand Lower Spirit Stones!

’Stupid!’

He cursed himself inwardly. Seeing the pile of metallic slag only made him more frustrated.

That was thousands of Lower Spirit Stones!

He could have done so much with that!

After a good while, Chu Mu finally composed himself. This time, he didn’t rush to refine the Long Rainbow Sword. Instead, he began tinkering with small gadgets, combining various Ore Materials and Array Prohibitions to familiarize himself with Artifact Pattern Array Prohibitions.

In the blink of an eye, ten-odd days passed, and a pile of little gadgets had accumulated in front of Chu Mu.

They were mostly based on concepts and designs from his past life, which he then created using his Artifact Refining Skill.

He had even taken the simple hand grenade design and created all sorts of variations.

Some used a blast of generic attribute Spiritual Power, others utilized exploding metal shrapnel, and there were even some that relied on a pure Array Prohibition attack...

Of course, his experiments with Array Prohibitions for these little gadgets were not without failure, especially since he was focusing on single-use offensive devices.

Every failure resulted in an explosion.

Thankfully, they were only small, low-tech gadgets, so the explosions weren’t powerful enough to harm him.

Even so, he often ended up covered in ash and dust, and the area within his isolation Restriction was a complete wreck, littered with metallic slag.

On one occasion, he even experimented with something slightly more complex, linking several Array Prohibitions together in an attempt to create a more powerful device.

But as it turned out, if he hadn’t reacted in time, the blast would have likely taken out the miniature isolation Restriction and the entire house along with it.

Despite this, Chu Mu couldn’t hide his excitement. The frustration from his first ten failures had long since vanished completely.

Compared to just mechanically following instructions to refine the Long Rainbow Sword, this feeling of puzzling things out, designing, and creating them himself was simply exhilarating!

Even if, after more than ten days of tinkering, these little gadgets were essentially useless in the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

But the successful creation of these gadgets undoubtedly proved that his approach was not wrong.

They were useless now only because his foundation in the Artifact Refining Skill was still too shallow!

Once he accumulated more experience in Artifact Refining and broadened his knowledge, he could turn these useless things into something truly useful!

Unable to contain his excitement, he casually put away the large pile of gadgets and prepared a set of Spiritual Materials to refine the Long Rainbow Sword.

The Spiritual Fire he had just extinguished blazed to life once more.

This time, under the effect of his Spiritual Radiance Blessing, the Refining process was perfectly smooth from start to finish.

About two hours later, a complete Long Rainbow Sword hovered before him.

As he gazed at the Long Rainbow Sword before him, it seemed the aftereffects of his past dozen days of tinkering were kicking in. Though he was still a complete novice at Artifact Refining, he couldn’t help but start critiquing the sword’s design.

’What would happen if I altered this Array Prohibition? What if I added another? What if I changed the direction of this Artifact Pattern? What if I removed that one...?’

He had so many ideas, he couldn’t resist the urge to put them into practice.

But upon seeing his dwindling supply of Spiritual Materials, Chu Mu forcefully suppressed the urge.

If he really started messing around, all these Spiritual Materials would likely be wasted!

His plan would be completely thrown off course.

Practice was necessary, but there was no rush. Once he earned enough Spirit Stones, there would be plenty of opportunities.

After meditating for about half an hour, he lit the Spiritual Fire, and another round of Refining began.

And so, the next dozen days passed in a blur of effortless work.

One after another, completed Long Rainbow Swords were placed into his Storage Talisman.

And the pile of Spiritual Materials in his room visibly dwindled with each successful attempt...

...