Fang Yun had already stored all the Yellow Iron Swords and Profound Iron Shields in his Storage Pouch.

This conclusion made him even more eager to see what effects his Combat Talent would have once it was upgraded to four stars.

’Three years is too long. Now that I’m stronger, I should have more opportunities to acquire combat-related talents from settlements. That’ll speed up the process of getting my Combat Talent to four stars...’

Whether it was his Combat Talent or his Life Talent, the faster they improved, the faster he would grow.

Given the Celestial Cloud Sect’s current circumstances, growing stronger faster would give him a better ability to handle whatever came his way.

He sat in meditation to recover his Spiritual Power.

After his Spiritual Power was restored, Fang Yun immediately consumed an Upper Grade Qi Enhancement Pill and began refining and absorbing it.

Since he had entered the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, he could refine and absorb the Upper Grade Qi Enhancement Pill much faster by activating the tenth layer of the Cyan Wood Technique’s Mental Method.

Two hours and forty-five minutes later.

Fang Yun finished his cultivation. This was how long it now took him to refine and absorb an Upper Grade Qi Enhancement Pill.

Sensing the increase of Spiritual Power in his Qi Sea, Fang Yun couldn’t help but murmur.

"About two years."

Following his current cultivation plan, it would take him about two years to reach the Peak of the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, after which he would prepare to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

He was currently twenty-one years old. In two years, he would be twenty-three.

Fang Yun was already quite satisfied with his cultivation progress. Not many disciples in the Celestial Cloud Sect could reach the Peak of the Qi Refining Tenth Layer before the age of twenty-five.

「Nighttime.」

As Fang Yun lay in bed, preparing to rest, a new goal formed in his mind.

His goal was to fully upgrade his Combat Talent to four stars before he reached the Peak of the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

「Early the next morning.」

Fang Yun planned to go to Dan Cloud Peak to accept an Alchemy mission.

So far, he had only accepted the mission to refine the Second Tier Spirit Ascension Pill twice, refining two cauldrons’ worth of Spirit Ascension Pills each time.

For Tier One alchemy missions, regardless of the pill, each accepted mission came with five sets of Spirit Medicines.

Fang Yun had now refined a total of five cauldrons of Spirit Ascension Pills.

When refining his third cauldron of Spirit Ascension Pills, he produced seven Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pills. Not only did he receive the third-level reward, but he also got an extra Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pill.

At the monthly settlement, refining twelve Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pills—including the bonus—had already netted him over four thousand Talent Points. In the future, he expected to earn over ten thousand points from each monthly settlement.

The result of refining the fourth cauldron was the same as the third, while the fifth cauldron produced a Middle Grade Spirit Ascension Pill. This was the only Middle Grade one, so he naturally kept it for himself.

According to the mission description, if he produced seven Spirit Ascension Pills, he could take any one of them, not just the worst one.

When it came to taking his one pill, Fang Yun naturally chose the best one.

As for his alchemy missions, after he refined his first cauldron of Spirit Ascension Pills, the mission to refine Qi Condensing Pills became available to him among his Tier One alchemy missions.

Although the Qi Condensing Pill was a Tier One pill, the mission to refine it was usually completed by the Elders of Alchemy.

Pills that aided in breakthroughs were typically very difficult to refine.

The yield for these types of pills was also low, generally fewer than five. For instance, a single cauldron could produce a maximum of three Qi Condensing Pills.

And a cauldron of Foundation Establishment Pills yielded only a single pill.

For the current Fang Yun, refining Qi Condensing Pills was a piece of cake. With his very first cauldron, he earned the third-level reward, producing one Middle Grade and two Lower Grade pills.

「...」

「Early in the first month.」

On his way to Artifact Casting Peak, Fang Yun saw Bai Qinying coming from the sect’s main gate.

"Fang Yun." Bai Qinying spotted him before he spotted her.

But by the time Bai Qinying called out to him, he had already stopped.

"Elder Bai." After a quick salute, Fang Yun immediately asked, "Does the Shen Family not need reinforcements anymore?"

Bai Qinying didn’t answer his question, but instead said with a very serious expression.

"Inner Sect Disciple Fang Yun, your salute was improper."

Fang Yun rolled his eyes at Bai Qinying. She was undoubtedly doing it on purpose, but he had to admit his salute had been subpar.

Given their relationship, he wouldn’t even bother with a salute in private.

"Yes."

With that, Fang Yun saluted again.

Only then did Bai Qinying nod in satisfaction.

"It was too boring staying with the Shen Family, so I came back," Bai Qinying whispered her explanation. "It’s been a whole year. Other than a single incident six months ago, when a Foundation Establishment Demon from the Stone Demon Sect appeared at the Shen Family’s ancestral lands, nothing else happened. My mission was to act as Guardian there, and all I did was cultivate."

"And even when all the Stone Demon Sect’s Foundation Establishment Demons mobilized six months ago, I didn’t even get to fight them."

That time, if Elder Cao hadn’t held her back, she might have actually left the Spirit Array to engage the Stone Demon Sect’s Foundation Establishment Demons.

’She was close to the Grand Array, anyway. If she couldn’t win, she could always retreat back inside.’

"I think being able to cultivate in peace is pretty good," Fang Yun said, adding silently, ’If only I had Bai Qinying’s Spirit Root Talent.’

"That’s you, not me."

The two fell into conversation.

Bai Qinying walked alongside Fang Yun as he headed toward Artifact Casting Peak.

Before Bai Qinying returned, the sect had already sent an Elder in the early Foundation Establishment Stage to the Shen Family to act as Guardian.

After the Stone Demon Sect launched a full-scale attack on the Shen Family six months ago, for the next six months, the strongest combatant they dispatched was merely a Stone Demon Sect elder at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer.

The situation Bai Qinying had hoped for was clearly not what Patriarch Shen wanted to see.

The current situation was much more to Patriarch Shen’s liking.

"Oh, right, Fang Yun. About two weeks ago, I heard from Patriarch Shen that a disciple from our Celestial Cloud Sect, who was at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, took on two opponents alone. Not only did they kill a Stone Demon Sect Demon at the Eighth Layer, but another one at the Ninth Layer escaped with serious injuries."

"They’re quite strong," Fang Yun nodded.

"Do you know them?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I heard from Patriarch Shen that they attributed their victory entirely to an Upper Grade Magical Artifact you refined for them."

"I don’t think I’m familiar with this junior brother or sister," Fang Yun said, his mind quickly jumping to the Upper Grade Magical Artifacts he had placed in the Artifact Pavilion for sale. "They must have purchased one of the Upper Grade Magical Artifacts I refined from the Artifact Pavilion; I didn’t refine it for them specifically."

Fang Yun went on to explain that he had recently been refining some Upper Grade Magical Artifacts designed specifically to counter Demons, and was selling them at the Artifact Pavilion.

The selling price was just a bit high.

But they were absolutely worth every penny!

"So that’s how it is..." Bai Qinying suddenly smiled and nudged Fang Yun. "So, when are you going to refine a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact for your senior sister, one specifically for fighting Demons?"

"That... might take about twenty years."

’To refine a similar Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, I probably couldn’t do it even after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage. I’d need to upgrade my Artifact Refining talent to six stars for that.’

"Twenty years, huh? Fine! I’ll wait."

For a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, twenty years wasn’t too long to wait.

If he’d said thirty years, Bai Qinying might not have been so agreeable. By then, she would have most likely broken through to the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage and would need a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact anyway.

The two continued to chat as they walked.

A Qi Refining Sixth Layer Outer Sect Disciple passed by and immediately greeted them.

"Greetings, Elder! Hello, Senior Brother Fang!"

Only then did Bai Qinying realize that she had been talking with Fang Yun for a long time; they were almost at Artifact Casting Peak.

And Artifact Casting Peak was precisely Fang Yun’s destination.

"Fang Yun, your reputation in the sect is higher than even mine, an Elder," Bai Qinying remarked. This Outer Sect Disciple clearly didn’t know her, not even her surname.

"This junior brother is probably studying Artifact Refining at Artifact Casting Peak."

"HAHAHA, now you’re just trying to console me." Bai Qinying laughed at Fang Yun’s words, then said seriously, "I won’t keep you any longer. Go on to Artifact Casting Peak and do your Artifact Refining."

After bidding farewell to Bai Qinying, Fang Yun quickened his pace toward Artifact Casting Peak.

He had come to Artifact Casting Peak this time mainly to refine a pair of shoe-type Concealing Magical Artifacts.

After breaking through to the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, he looked into concealment-type Magic, but quickly gave up. It was too hard to learn and a waste of time.

It would be better to just refine a Magical Artifact with that function.

So he had refined a robe with a decent effect.

But he wasn’t used to the amount of Spiritual Power the robe consumed. While other cultivators might not consider the Spiritual Power consumption high, it was a different story for him.

And so, that was why he was now at Artifact Casting Peak, intending to try his hand at creating shoe-type Upper Grade Magical Artifacts.