Qin Feng remembered, under the Spiritual Well in the Spirit Fruit Garden, there was an underground stream that led to the Sword Washing Pond in the Huang Family's Sword Casting Valley.
Although he couldn't sneak in to take a look, he could send the Swallowing Sky Toad instead.
After all, this underground stream was originally discovered by the Swallowing Sky Toad.
Moreover, since it was able to get in and out of the Huang Family's Sword Casting Valley before, it was clear that the so-called Sword Casting Valley wasn't a heavily guarded place.
Indeed, the Huang Family collected refined iron ore every day, coming and going frequently. They couldn't always activate the prohibition formations, otherwise, the Swallowing Sky Toad wouldn't be able to get in and out easily.
Thinking of this, Qin Feng became excited.
He casually walked to the entrance of the Spirit Fruit Garden and happened to see a clan member resting in a house near the entrance. He called out, "Uncle Nine."
The middle-aged man looked up and saw Qin Feng. He quickly opened the gate and smiled, "Ah, Feng'er, what brings you here?"
Qin Feng, smiling brightly, said, "I heard the spiritual dates in the garden are ripe. I'm craving some and want to pick a few to taste. Is that okay?"
"No problem. Those spiritual dates are meant for the family. Just don't knock them all down," Uncle Nine laughed, without much concern. Young folks eating a lot was normal.
Besides, Qin Feng had already stood out among the younger generation and was sure to secure a spot in the Beast Taming Sect by the end of the year. Ordinary clan members like him, who had spent decades still hovering in the early Qi Refining stage, couldn't wait to fawn on him, so why would he trouble him over a few spiritual dates?
"Thank you, Uncle Nine. I'll be going now."
Qin Feng walked forward a few steps, then turned back and said, "Oh right, I'll be coming often to check on our spirit fruit trees these days.
Uncle Nine, don't worry. I won't mess with the spiritual fruit. It's just that I heard from my father that the Beast Taming Sect also has many spiritual lands planted with various spiritual objects. If I learn more now, I might find a way to earn spirit stones in the sect later."
"Is that so? Alright then, come as you like. If you don't understand something, just ask me."
Uncle Nine agreed without much thought. After all, previous disciples sent by the Qin Family to the Beast Taming Sect did indeed work as servants, taking care of spiritual plants and spiritual medicines.
Qin Feng thanked him and first went to find the spiritual date tree, using a bamboo pole to knock down a few red, glistening spiritual dates. He used the Water Manipulation Technique to guide a stream of water and washed the dates clean.
He then picked one up and put it in his mouth, biting down with a crisp crunch. It was sweet and juicy.
After chewing a few times and swallowing, he could feel a faint spiritual energy circulating within his body.
Unfortunately, these spiritual dates were of low tier, considered the lowest grade of spiritual fruits. These trees had been around for two to three hundred years, producing one to two hundred pounds of dates each year. The spiritual energy contained in the dates wasn't high.
But he wasn't there just to eat spiritual dates. He quickly arrived next to the Spiritual Well.
By now, it was near dusk. Apart from Uncle Nine, who was left on guard, there was no one else in the garden.
Qin Feng reached out his hand and summoned the Swallowing Sky Toad.
The Swallowing Sky Toad emerged from the dark Demon Refining Pot, delighted to see it was the Spirit Fruit Garden, thinking its master was going to let it eat fruits.
After all, its intelligence was only akin to a three or four-year-old child, and it was a glutton, with little else on its mind besides eating.
But it quickly got a scare.
Because it sensed the aura of the Green-Eyed Spirit Snake.
Fortunately, Qin Feng calmed it down, pointing to the snake scales on the well's edge, and conveyed through his mind that it need not worry. He then instructed it to go through the underground stream to the Sword Washing Pond and check the Huang Family Great Elder's artifact refining results.
Seeing that the Green-Eyed Spirit Snake's actual form wasn't there and only its scales were, the Swallowing Sky Toad felt less uneasy with Qin Feng by its side.
Once it understood what its master wanted, it jumped from Qin Feng's hand into the Spiritual Well.
With a splash, it quickly dived to the bottom of the well and swam along the underground stream towards the Huang Family's Sword Washing Pond.
Normally, Qin Feng's divine sense strength wouldn't allow him to extend it so far. Even his father Qin Long barely achieved this level.
But the Swallowing Sky Toad was intended by Qin Feng to be nurtured as one of the nine Great Demon Kings in his Demon Refining Pot. Their bond was extremely close, allowing Qin Feng to sense everything the Swallowing Sky Toad saw through the pot.
Of course, his strength was still too weak, and the Demon Refining Pot itself was broken. It wouldn't work if it was too far. But the distance to the Huang Family's Sword Casting Valley was only eleven or twelve miles, which wasn't a problem for the Demon Refining Pot.
The Sword Casting Valley, though said to be an important place for the Huang Family, wasn't as crucial as imagined.
It was merely a place for processing ore and crafting magic artifacts, not their family's heritage site or treasure storage.
Since many clansmen came and went daily, the place wasn't heavily guarded. An occasional toad jumping in wouldn't attract much attention.
From the largest casting room in the middle, waves of heat escaped through the doors and windows, accompanied by sporadic clanging sounds.
Within the Artifact Refiners' system, only ordinary artifact refiners who crafted iron-based magic tools and spiritual artifacts used iron hammers to minimize impurities in the materials and merge various properties, shaping and imprinting arrays to make the artifacts.
Master artifact refiners seldom used iron hammers. They preferred spirit fires for forging and divine skills for hammering. They refined with spells and outlined with divine sense. Only this way could they craft truly powerful treasures.
Many other artifact refining masters who specialized in crafting vestments or wood-element, water-element treasures also didn't use iron hammers.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be called artifact refining but intentionally destroying materials.
That night, deep in the night, with the clear moon high, a bright golden light suddenly appeared from the central casting room, illuminating it with a radiant glow.
Though it quickly faded, the sharp aura alerted others in the Weapon Casting Valley.
"Hahaha, it's done. I've finally crafted the Gold-Plated Slash!"
An old voice echoed, bringing joy to the few Huang Family cultivators who hurried over.
Even if the Great Elder couldn't frequently craft artifacts due to his age, his occasional guidance could seriously improve the family's artifact crafting level.
"Congratulations, Great Elder, on successfully crafting a spiritual artifact and officially becoming an Artifact Refiner."
The Huang Family clansmen congratulated him one after another.
"Don't just stand around outside, come in."
The elder's voice rose as the door opened, letting them in.
Inside, a few Huang Family clansmen surrounded an elder with white hair and beard, inspecting the floating spirit sword before him.
The flying sword, Gold-Plated Slash, was a low-rank spiritual artifact flying sword.
Though low-rank, it was exceedingly powerful, far surpassing top-tier magic artifacts.
Moreover, if nurtured by a sword cultivator's own True Yuan, it could advance as the sword cultivator grew.
Of course, refining it into a treasure would still require help from a master artifact refiner.
"Great Elder, now that the spiritual artifact is complete, should we inform the clan leader immediately?"
"Yes, the clan leader would be thrilled to know."
After a while of admiring, the clansmen discussed.
"Nonsense."
The Great Elder reprimanded, "It's the middle of the night. Doesn't the clan leader need to cultivate? Why disturb him now? Inform him first thing in the morning."
"Yes, Great Elder, you're right."
The cultivators agreed quickly.
"Alright, for this artifact, I haven't rested for days, extremely weary now. I'll go rest first. Tidy up the casting room for me. Besides, the newly refined spiritual artifact would benefit more from the nurturing array. After cleaning up, activate the array on the casting platform to nurture the Gold-Plated Slash."
"Yes, Great Elder, leave it to us."
The few respectfully escorted the Great Elder out. After he went to rest in the back room, they returned to the casting room.
Not in a hurry to clean, they took out the Gold-Plated Slash, admiring it for a long time before reluctantly placing the newly refined flying sword on the casting platform. They activated the spirit-nurturing array with a few spirit stones, extinguished the furnace flames, cleaned the room, and finally left, returning to their quarters to rest.
Time passed quietly in the Weapon Casting Valley until everything fell silent. As dawn approached, the Sword Washing Pond in the valley started to ripple slightly.