Multiple thoughts ran across his mind while Chen Xuan's attention was concentrated on the description window. A few suspicions, theories, and even wild ideas kept coming up as he was getting a little eager to verify everything.
'Ah... My bad habit comes again. Whenever it comes to unlocking secrets and stuff that interest me, I'll start to lose myself to that sudden impulse...' Chen Xuan used his fist to give himself a few soft punches on the head.
But that's just too bad as it failed to toss the thoughts out from his head. Instead, his eagerness gets the best of him when those theories overwhelm his mindset with a killing blow.
*PROFIT!*
The magical word immediately destroys all his resistance from going to run a test.
Chen Xuan immediately stares at the sky to estimate how much time he had left before the arrival of Yin energy. Using the few days he had gone through, Chen Xuan felt that he had less than an hour to go.
'Let's do this. That would be best if refining a Yang Yuan Pearl would give me a point of experience to my Lesser Yang Maturing Technique. And if my theory does not work out, I would still produce an additional Yang Yuan Pearl in hand.'
'And if it did, the benefit would be more than just verifying my theory and adding one Yang Yuan Pearl into my inventory. Having my Lesser Yang Maturing Technique to the second level might be beneficial to me.' Chen Xuan convinced himself that this wouldn't be a wasteful effort.
'Why bother about if it's working out or not? Well... I might have to suffer a similar bone-chilling coldness tonight since I only have 50 points of Yang Force within my body...' Chen Xuan sourly smiled.
It seems he was a little traumatized by the coldness that gave him a sleepless night. But again, satisfying his curiosity was the most important thing to do right now.
And with less than an hour before Yin energy will cover all the surface on this Lingyu Realm, Chen Xuan quickly left the central plaza he's at and moved towards the east direction.
With roadsigns clearly marked the path he should follow, it doesn't take much of Chen Xuan's time to reach another prime location just as busy as the central plaza.
The crowd here makes Chen Xuan feel that this place should be the central plaza instead, not the one he's at earlier. The number of shops here is more towards cultivation, treasures, etc. Eatery and inns can hardly be seen along this street.
And unlike the atmosphere of people seeking fun in the central plaza, this prime location is filled with people with serious expressions. Most of the people here were either armed or had a robust Yang energy coating their body, like a proclamation of a cultivation expert.
'Heh... The atmosphere here is indeed different from the western and central districts.' Chen Xuan smiled. He already takes a liking to this place from the second he steps into this area.
He takes no effort to look around for the Town's Forge since there's a giant signboard on the building. Although this building was not the only highrise buildings in the entire eastern district, the inside of this establishment was an entirely different story.
The building's height and design might not be its best feature. If one were to judge the building from its exterior alone, the person would be disappointed by the first impression.
This place's uniqueness came from what was hidden beneath the ground.
It was said to be one of the few places in this Fenghuang Town that had powerful Yang Force coursing around at all times. As for why Yang Force was densely concentrated here was due to the Yang Force Vein hidden beneath this building.
From the older local's word of mouth, the reason Fenghuang Town was built here is also due to the existence of this Yang Force Vein.
(Writer's Perspective: The Yang Force Vein is like a volcanic tunnel with burning hot lava coursing through them. This is also why the Guangming sect was built on the eastern side of the town, near the hillside. But instead of burning hot lava, consider them like a Yang energy that was so condensed that they formed something like a root underground)
The obvious-looking Town's Forge gave Chen Xuan some leisure time to look at some store's merchandise while he headed to the building. And to his surprise, some shops were selling the Yang Yuan Pearl at a price higher than usual.
Their blatant pricing made Chen Xuan curious about the differences between their Yang Yuan Pearl with the one he had. This indirectly added another curiosity into his mind.
"Hold it right there, young friend. Is this your first time coming to the forge? To use the Town's Forge, you'll have to pay a daily fee from your Entrance Token." said one of the guards.
"This is the rules applied to everyone here," he added.
"What? There's a fee to use this forge?" Chen Xuan was stunned by what he was told. But it should be free to use as written in the Standard-Tier Record and what the others have been telling him.
Chen Xuan was on his guard while taking a look at the others who walked past him. It seems that everyone was following the rules of paying a daily fee from their Entrance Token just to use this facility. But only those that were heading underground had to pay for this.
This allowed him to realize that he wasn't targeted by the guards or done on purpose to inconvenience him. Chen Xuan's hesitation also made the guard offer a few words of advice.
"It was common to misunderstand what the others said about the Town's Forge, young friend. And from your confused look, I'm sure this should be your first time coming to this place, am I correct?" the guard asked.
Chen Xuan simply nodded at the guard in response to his question.
"If your intention is to refine one or two Yang Yuan Pearls, you can head to the upper floor to do so. The four levels above this building were opened during the daytime, so make it quick as you're left with a little more than half an hour to refine the pearls."
"Although the amount of Yang energy is inadequate right now, it should be enough to get one done before it was gone entirely. Furthermore, there are a few essential tools provided on the seat if you managed to get one, so quickly go for it."
"Also, the people heading underground are all skillful refiners who could refine up to twenty pearls at once. So, come back after you reach their level," the guard added before pointing at the stairs leading upwards.
"Thank you," Chen Xuan nodded after listening to the guard's brief explanation. As he had nothing much to express his gratitude, Chen Xuan cupped his fist towards the guard before making his way upstairs.
With a little more than half an hour to go, it seems only the first floor still retains some of the Yang energy. All the other upper floors were already abandoned by the people who were trying to refine something.
Although the floor was bustling and packed with people, there were still a few empty seats to do his refining. Of course, people like him who tried to do everything at the last minute were rare because the chance of success is relatively low.
It didn't take him too long to grab a seat with the essential tools still clean and open to use.
He nodded subconsciously after studying what other people did with the Yang Yuan Sand in their inventory.
'Looks like the method of refining a Yang Yuan Pearl is the same as what I did last night. It seems the process is significantly smoother because there's more Yang energy during the day. This could hugely impact the success rate of refining the Yang Yuan Pearl.' Chen Xuan's attention went from one to another while whispering on his own.
He also noticed that the refiners were using a palm-size cauldron to increase the success rate. From its look, having a refining pot made the process easier while dividing the flame more evenly.
After studying the method of a few refiners here, Chen Xuan quietly placed eight grains of Yang Yuan Sand into the palm-size cauldron provided on his seat and secretly selected the crafting option from his system.
Chen Xuan immediately takes advantage while the Yang energy is concentrated on the first floor to refine the Yang Yuan Pearl. And evidently, the effort to grasp the feeling also halved with the availability of Yang energy in his surrounding.
The feeling of flames converted from the Yang Force in his body seems more potent while his surrounding is still filled with Yang energy.
And this time, a Yang Yuan Pearl was produced in less than ten minutes. To be exact, it only took the system eight minutes to finish the process.
But the surprise does not stop here. The completion of the Yang Yuan Pearl gave Chen Xuan a similar epiphany feeling like when he was cultivating the Minor Brilliance Oyster.
This was the sign that his Lesser Yang Maturing Technique is advancing to the next level.
Although the feeling is faint, Chen Xuan could feel that his Lesser Yang Maturing Technique is greedier than before. The feeling that his Core was slightly below his navel area also felt slightly spacious than before.
It seems that he no longer needs to confirm his suspicion anymore regarding refining the Yang Yuan Pearl for experience point. Instead, checking out the status of his now leveled-up Lesser Yang Maturing Technique is more important.
But before he did that, Chen Xuan quickly grabbed the Yang Yuan Pearl from the palm-size cauldron and left. With hardly fifteen minutes left in the timer and a drying Yang Force in his body, there's no point for him to remain here any longer.
"Inventory! Lesser Yang Maturing Technique's scroll!" Chen Xuan whispered while he was coming down from the upper floor. As he walked towards the building's exit, a familiar silhouette slightly brushed past his shoulder before heading into the basement.
The familiarity made Chen Xuan quickly turn around to take another look, but the silhouette was long gone.
'Heh... I must be dreaming. How can the beautiful Yanran Liuli come to a place like this to refine something? If she wanted to refine anything, the Guangming Sect's forge was more than enough for her to get them done.' Chen Xuan chuckled.
With a smile hanging on his face, Chen Xuan left the building.
But in fact, he was not mistaken.
That silhouette was indeed Yanran Liuli, with her senior sister called Fengling Yuxian. Both of them were indeed on their way towards the lower floor of the Town's Forge.
-----
Leaning on the side of a stone building, Chen Xuan continues at where he stopped earlier. The description for the Lesser Yang Maturing Scroll was already on display. He was preoccupied with the matter with the silhouette and did not manage to read the information until now.
== == == == ==
(Standard-Tier) Lesser Yang Maturing Technique
-Introduction: An introductory Maturing Technique for Yang Element. Had minor effectiveness in increasing the practitioner's external Yang Force.
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-Current Level: 2
-Experience: 20 / 40
-Yang Force Capacity: 10 / 1,400
== == == == ==
'Heh... To think that I still have some Yang Force left in my Core... Was it because of the Yang energy in my surrounding?' Chen Xuan subconsciously scratched his nose while he was going through the description panel.
This finding also made him have a wild guess. If he was refining the Yang Yuan Pearl when the sun is at its peak, wouldn't the usage of Yang Force would further reduce?
But no matter what kind of wild guess he had, having ten points of Yang Force left means he won't receive the same torture as last night while trying to sleep.
"Young one, what about coming into the store to take a look at what I have for sale?" while Chen Xuan is in a daze, a middle-aged man from the store across the Town's Forge called out to him.