If it’s still a fifty-fifty split of the benefits, then things will be different.

This scene was overheard by the outer sect disciples both outside and inside the building, and many sneaked a few more glances at Liou Yuan.

"I said that any disciple favored by Qiu Ming couldn’t just be a sycophant."

"To willingly let Qiu Ming take half of the merit points, he must indeed have some skills."

Outside the building, the herb-picking disciple who had just mocked others let out a smug laugh.

"How about it, do you guys yield now? At the Five Extremes Mountain, if you have no value, no amount of sweet-talking is of any use."

After some maneuvering, the ten merit points from hunting the Baby-eating Mink were split into the outer sect disciple badges of Liou Yuan and Qiu Ming, five points each.

Liou Yuan, whose merit points had dwindled from purchasing a Magical Artifact, finally experienced positive growth, rising to twenty-eight points.

Before leaving, the senior sister introduced herself as Wei Miaomeng.

She said that next time, if someone wanted to take on a task from Shoushan Tower, they could directly ask her.

She was very familiar with the Shoushan Tower’s tasks, saving the time of searching through them.

For help that was beneficial to him, Liou Yuan naturally wouldn’t refuse and agreed with a smile.

Then dragging the reluctant Qiu Ming, they left Shoushan Tower and headed straight for the Artifact Refining Pavilion.

After exterminating the Baby-eating Mink, the artifacts stripped from it needed to be processed to exchange for merit points and Star Stones.

They also had spiritual bristles for crafting rune pens, which needed to be sent to Qiu Can for refining.

These were all important matters.

At the Artifact Refining Pavilion, outside Qiu Can’s Forging Room.

In the same spot as before, a sweaty Qiu Can stopped what he was doing when Liou Yuan and Qiu Ming arrived and warmly welcomed them to the Forging Room.

While Liou Yuan sipped some tea, Qiu Can carefully examined the Baby-eating Mink, its teeth, claws, and skin laid on the table and was no less surprised in his tone than Wei Miaomeng from Shoushan Tower.

"It’s actually a Baby-eating Mink; its cultivation seems to be at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer."

"Brother Qiu Can, it’s only you who can determine the strength of a Baby-eating Mink from these fragments." Liou Yuan put down his teacup and complimented convincingly.

From this, it was evident that Qiu Can’s artifact refining skills were not low, and Liou Yuan had even higher expectations of him helping to craft the rune pen.

"Hey, after being around the Artifact Refining Pavilion for so long, if I didn’t have this bit of skill, it’d be like learning from a dog."

Qiu Can chuckled, a look of pride on his dark face.

Qiu Ming, not one to be polite with his cousin, asked bluntly, "So, tell us, how much are these things worth?"

The biggest gain from exterminating the Baby-eating Mink was the merit points reward from Shoushan Tower, aside from these valuable materials.

Having realized the benefits of merit points, Qiu Ming was particularly concerned, staring at Qiu Can with a warning glint in his eyes, "Can, you better not rip off your brother."

"The most valuable piece of the Baby-eating Mink is definitely its virtually indestructible fur, each hair like a steel needle, an excellent material for crafting body armor."

"If the artifact refiner has some skill, the quality of the Magical Artifact could reach mid-quality."

"I wouldn’t rip you guys off; just the fur alone is worth five merit points, but it’s broken."

Pointing to the part that Liou Yuan had slashed with the Profound Brilliance Sword, Qiu Can said with some distress, "It has to be discounted, down to four merit points."

Next, Qiu Can picked up the Baby-eating Mink’s fangs and claws.

"These teeth can be made into two daggers, and the forelimbs into a pair of steel claws. They are short weapons and not widely used, but since they’re a set, the power is decent and they’ll sell easily."

"Their spiritual value is a bit inferior to the fur, only able to produce low-quality Magical Artifacts."

After evaluating each body part of the Baby-eating Mink, Qiu Can offered a price: "How about I give you guys two merit points for these materials? With the fur, it totals to six merit points."

Qiu Can looked at Liou Yuan with a black-faced grin.

He didn’t bother looking at Qiu Ming, knowing well what kind of person his brother was; the final decision would definitely rest with Liou Yuan.

Qiu Can hadn’t spent years at Wuyue Mountain in vain.

He had already found out that Liou Yuan was the younger brother of Mr. Liou of the Snow Shattering Sword, with a genuine Foundation Establishment background.

Their cultivation realm and talent were no less than Qiu Ming’s.

As long as Liou Yuan nodded, Qiu Ming wouldn’t say another word. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Six points, huh!" Liou Yuan rubbed his chin, thinking it over; it wasn’t far off from his estimated price.

"I can get three points, excluding the two needed for the customized rune pen, leaving one point extra; not bad."

The materials from the Baby-eating Mink were, after all, an unexpected gain, a good offset for the cost of crafting the rune pen.

"Great!" Liou Yuan nodded vigorously, accepting Qiu Can’s offer.

Soon after, Liou Yuan retrieved the dusty gray tail of the Baby-eating Mink from his pocket and handed it to Qiu Can.

"Brother Qiu Can, could you see if these spiritual bristles can be used to craft a rune pen?"

The Baby-eating Mink’s one-foot-long tail provided more than enough for crafting a rune pen, and Qiu Can, after examining it for a moment, confidently stated, "This is indeed the most spiritually charged bristles on the Baby-eating Mink and can be refined."

"If we’re lucky, a decent quality rune pen might be refined for you, Junior Brother."

This was what Liou Yuan most wanted to hear; hearing it, he smiled warmly and cupped his hands politely, "Then I’ll trouble you, Brother Qiu Can."

"No trouble at all, we’re all brothers."

Qiu Can was clearly more thoughtful than Qiu Ming, who added meaningfully, "You and my silly brother are close friends; in the future at Five Extremes Mountain, the Qiu Family and the Liou Family should naturally become more allied."