A strange sensation washed over him, and when it ended, an intense heat took its place.

Although Fang Yun had prepared himself, the intense heat from his three-star Combat Talent upgrading to four-star was far beyond anything he had experienced before.

As the heat subsided, Fang Yun slowly exhaled.

Under his Combat Talent, he had drawn thirteen fragments for his Shield Talent—just enough to upgrade it from three-star to four-star.

As for his Sword Talent and Shoe Talent, the former still needed five more fragments to upgrade, while the latter needed eight.

To upgrade those two Combat Talents, he would have to wait until the beginning of next month.

Staring at his remaining 863 Talent Points, Fang Yun closed the glowing screen.

’My luck is already pretty good. At least on the first day of the second half of the year, my Shield Talent got an upgrade.’

A four-star Combat Talent was more than enough for the Foundation Establishment Stage, and he was currently only at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer. He still needed about a year and a half to reach the peak of his current Realm.

Now that his Combat Talent was upgraded, it was time to test its effects.

An ink-black shield appeared in Fang Yun’s hand—a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Profound Crystal Shield.

Back when he only had a three-star Combat Talent, he could already effortlessly control a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact while in the Qi Refining Stage. Now, his Shield Talent had been upgraded to four-star.

Fang Yun felt his control over the Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact was now masterful, similar to how it felt to control Lower Grade and Middle Grade Magical Artifacts with a two-star Combat Talent. However, perhaps because his Realm hadn’t reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, there was still a noticeable difference.

’The Spiritual Power consumption is much lower. With my current total Spiritual Power, I can wield a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact for an extended battle. I wouldn’t lose to an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator at all...’

Fang Yun noted the changes in his mind.

For him, the most tangible benefit of upgrading his Combat Talent was the reduction in Spiritual Power cost when using a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact. Previously, he could only control one for a short period of time.

Soon, another ink-black shield materialized in Fang Yun’s hand.

It was another Profound Crystal Shield!

He had refined this Profound Crystal Shield after his Artifact Refining talent reached five-star. Unlike the first one, this shield had two Spirit Patterns, giving it superior overall defensive capabilities.

Aside from these two Profound Crystal Shields, Fang Yun owned no other defensive Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

The materials for a third Profound Crystal Shield were still being gathered. Unlike the materials for Upper Grade Magical Artifacts, which could be acquired quickly, refining Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts required a gradual accumulation of materials. While doing so, he was also collecting materials for Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

It was relatively easy to purchase auxiliary materials for refining Spiritual Artifacts in the Disciple Marketplace. While it was possible to find main materials there, the chances were very slim and depended heavily on luck. Posting a request in the Task Hall was a more reliable method of acquisition.

’Even without the aid of my Divine Sense, I can control two Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts perfectly well now.’

He briefly manipulated both Profound Crystal Shields. The result was just as he’d expected; controlling both at once was effortless.

For someone at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, the improvement from a three-star to a four-star Combat Talent was incredibly significant.

After putting the Profound Crystal Shields away,

Fang Yun brought out an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, a Profound Iron Shield.

He had refined a total of twelve Upper Grade Profound Iron Shields for his own use; refining any more would have been pointless.

He had originally planned to stop after refining the eighth shield, but as more ideas for combinations came to him, he ended up refining more, each with vastly different defensive functions.

’With a four-star Combat Talent, the Spiritual Power I use to control an Upper Grade Magical Artifact is almost negligible.’

By manipulating the Profound Iron Shield, Fang Yun mainly wanted to test the Spiritual Power consumption. The result was better than he had anticipated; he had thought he would need to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage to achieve such efficiency with an Upper Grade Magical Artifact.

As for how much of a boost the four-star Combat Talent provided to an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, that could only be properly tested in actual combat.

Based on past experience, Fang Yun had a rough estimate of how the four-star talent would perform in a fight.

After putting away the Profound Iron Shield, Fang Yun came to a final conclusion.

With his Shield Talent upgraded to four-star, an ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator would find it difficult to threaten him. Even a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator would not have an easy time taking him down.

"There’s so much more I can do now," Fang Yun murmured.

Once the excitement from his upgraded Combat Talent and increased strength wore off, he quickly immersed himself in his cultivation.

「About half a month later.」

「Dan Cloud Peak.」

Inside a top-tier Alchemy Room.

A new batch of Spirit Ascension Pills had finished refining.

"An Upper Grade Spirit Ascension Pill! I finally refined one."

Seven Spirit Ascension Pills landed in Fang Yun’s hand. Besides the one Upper Grade pill, the remaining six included one Middle Grade and five Lower Grade pills.

Nearly ten months had passed since he first started refining Spirit Ascension Pills. This was his twenty-third batch.

With his current Alchemy Talent, he could have produced an Upper Grade Spirit Ascension Pill within twenty batches, but doing so would have also resulted in Wasted Pills.

To receive the reward of choosing any one Spirit Ascension Pill for himself, he couldn’t produce any Wasted Pills.

Therefore, Fang Yun’s prerequisite for refining Spirit Ascension Pills was now to first guarantee a yield of seven pills per batch.

Fang Yun examined the Upper Grade Spirit Ascension Pill before storing it away. This pill was his to keep. The remaining six would be handed in to complete his task, earning him a third-tier reward.

After finishing the batch of Spirit Ascension Pills, it was essential for Fang Yun to review the process and summarize his experience.

Talent was important, but reviewing his experience each time allowed him to better leverage its effects.

After leaving the top-tier Alchemy Room, Fang Yun first went to the Dan Cloud Pavilion to turn in his Alchemy task. Afterward, he headed to the Disciple Marketplace.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Fang."

"Greetings, Senior Brother Fang."

As soon as he entered the Disciple Marketplace, many disciples greeted him.

Fang Yun smiled and nodded in response to his junior brothers and sisters.

This was what it was like to be well-known.

His junior brothers and sisters didn’t swarm him to ask one question after another.

The reason for this was the image Fang Yun projected.

The disciples all knew that Senior Brother Fang valued his time. Unless it was for something special, a simple greeting would suffice; they were not to waste his time.

It wasn’t an image Fang Yun had intentionally cultivated; it was simply how he was.

"Senior Brother Fang, I have a small piece of Golden Scale Stone here. Are you interested?"

Hearing this, Fang Yun immediately walked over to the junior brother’s stall.

Golden Scale Stone was a Second Tier, Lower Grade Spiritual Material, an excellent auxiliary component for refining certain Middle Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

This was another benefit of being well-known. Now in the Disciple Marketplace, he no longer had to go around asking. Any junior brother or sister running a stall who had something valuable, especially materials for Alchemy Spiritual Artifacts, would approach him directly.

"I’ll take it."

"It’s just a small piece. Seventy Lower Grade Spirit Stones will do, Senior Brother."

"Alright."

It was a very fair price, and Fang Yun quickly completed the transaction.

He had stopped haggling in the Disciple Marketplace as early as the year before last, as he was always offered a fair price.

After a lap around the Disciple Marketplace, Fang Yun made a stop at the Task Hall.

Inside the Task Hall, he scanned the various tasks posted on the wall.

He focused on information related to support missions and guardian missions.

From this information, he could get a rough idea of the events occurring within the sect’s territory and gain a better understanding of the overall situation.