Looking at the outer sect elder in front of him, Xu Fan's brain spun rapidly.
"Elder, what do you mean by that?"
Xu Fan had a perfect grasp of the elder's fearful tone.
"The sect is at a critical juncture and needs a blacksmith. Yet, you are busy with your personal matters here," said the outer sect elder with his eyes wide open. In his heart, he was about to hum a tune. The mission given by the Peak Master had been completed.
"I…"
"I originally wanted to help the sect. However, I was chased down and injured half a month ago, and only recovered now.
"I refined this treasure because a deadline from a client is approaching. Thus, I rushed here to refine this."
"I will accept the sect's mission tomorrow."
Xu Fan cautiously spoke. To him, the Nascent Soul Stage elder was a big shot. He couldn't afford to offend this elder.
"I see. It looks like I've wronged you." The outer sect elder nodded and continued, "What Dharma treasure did you just refine? I can give you some pointers."
Xu Fan originally wanted to refuse, but seeing the outer sect elder's excited expression, Xu Fan decisively gave up on this idea.
The moment the sword case was taken out, the outer sect elder looked at Xu Fan with a different expression. It was as if a person who loved jade had seen an uncut piece of jade.
The elder took the sword case and examined it carefully.
"Hmm, the foundation of the runes is very solid, and the engraving of the spirit designs is very creative."
"The extraction, fusion, and forming of the treasure is still alright. It should be because of the external spirit fire."
The elder's eyes shone brighter and brighter. This lad's rune foundation was way too solid. Seemed like there was going to be another master blacksmith in the Weapon Refinement Peak in the future.
"How many types of runes have you mastered?" The elder asked casually.
"I've mastered 206 types of runes." Xu Fan gave an honest reply. Half of his Spirit Stones had been spent on purchasing runes. There were even some relatively precious runes that he had not learned. However, the willpower within them had already dissipated.
"Not bad, not bad. Don't accept any more missions. Wait for me here tomorrow morning. I'll bring you to the inner sect to repair the Floating Sky Ship."
The elder patted Xu Fan's shoulder and sent a mark into his body.
"In that case, I will respectfully welcome Senior again tomorrow," said Xu Fan as he took back the sword case.
"Okay."
From then on, when Xu Fan came to the Earth Core Workshop, he had another habit. Whether he practiced weapons or not, he would first set up a few layers of restrictions.
On the Spirit Wind Boat, Xu Fan looked back at the Earth Core Workshop and was about to complain when he remembered the mark on his shoulder. He chose to shut up.
At the alliance chamber of commerce headquarters on Shangling Peak.
Xu Fan handed the sword chest to Pang Fu.
"Master, I sold your three Dharma artifacts for a total of 200,000 Spirit Stones," said Pang Fu.
Xu Fan was stunned. Were there a lot of spendthrifts?
"Why are there an additional 50,000 Spirit Stones?" Originally, he thought that a price of 50,000 Spirit Stones per Dharma artifact was enough.
"After so many years, the master blacksmith in our chamber of commerce has gained a great reputation in the outer sect."
"Thus, when the news of you selling Dharma artifacts was announced, an endless stream of people came to see the Dharma artifacts."
"Coupled with the sect exchange meeting that is happening two months later, the price of the artifacts has increased by quite a bit," said Pang Fu happily.
"Also, I've received order requests from 16 disciples who wish to participate in the Battle Hall."
When Xu Fan heard about the orders, he was delighted at first. Then, he said bitterly, "Put these orders aside for now. I was captured by an elder of Weapon Refinement Peak."
"Sure, these orders aren't urgent anyway," said Pang Fu.
"Keep the 200,000 Spirit Stones in the chamber of commerce for now. I'll use them later when I'm purchasing supplies."
As he spoke, Xu Fan gave Pang Fu a list of things he wanted to purchase.
"A full set of peak Foundation Establishment Stage and early-stage Golden Core Stage demon beasts corpses?"
"Master Xu, are you going to refine a large number of puppets?" Pang Fu asked in surprise. He had helped Xu Fan purchase the corpse of an early Golden Core Stage flood dragon some time ago.
"I feel like life is not guaranteed." Xu Fan grinned.
"…"
After returning to his own mountain, Xu Fan discovered that there was a spirit sword that was transmitting messages and lingering outside his own restriction.
Xu Fan tapped lightly, and all the information appeared in Xu Fan's mind.
"This protagonist sure has a lot to do. Why thank me? Just stay away from me."
After reading the message, Xu Fan decided that after his two disciples returned, he would move out and live in seclusion.
Xu Fan prepared the Dharma artifacts that were needed for refining artifacts and began to rest. Refining artifacts consumed a lot of energy, so he needed to rest well.
Early in the morning, Xu Fan appeared at the entrance of the Weapon Refinement Peak and chatted with a group of guards.
At this time, a huge carriage appeared in the sky. Then, a suction force directly sucked Xu Fan onto the carriage.
Inside the carriage, Xu Fan took a look. It was the elder from yesterday.
"Have you rested well?" The elder asked with a smile, clearly in a good mood.
"I've fully recovered."
"Have you been to the inner sect?" The elder smiled and asked.
"No," said Xu Fan. He guessed that the location of the inner sect should be in an extremely high place with a floating continent or a mystic realm.
"In that case, I'll bring you to broaden your horizons."
After the elder finished speaking, he started the pavilion-sized carriage and flew into the air. Xu Fan looked out of the window, attempting to see the inner sect in the distance.
"Stop looking. The inner sect is not here."
As he spoke, the carriage turned into a large cloud. In an instant, the world changed.
Xu Fan's mouth was wide open as he looked at the enormous door in the distance that was like a mountain peak.
There were two thousand-meter-long flood dragons guarding the gate.
"To be precise, the inner sect is half a Minor Chiliocosm." The elder looked at the shocked Xu Fan and explained with satisfaction. He was just like Xu Fan when he first saw this door back then.
"Elder, what's the cultivation levels of the two flood dragons guarding the gate?" Xu Fan asked as he looked at the flood dragons roaming around near the giant gate. It was said that this thing had the qualifications to evolve into a true dragon once it reached the Mahayana Stage.
"They're at the Fusion Stage. The Sect Master captured them in the Endless Sea. Don't they look very domineering?" The elder smiled and explained.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Haha, if you spend 10,000 Spirit Stones, they will even allow you to ride around on them," said the elder to Xu Fan with raised eyebrows.
Xu Fan was speechless. If he rode a flood dragon, it would simply go around this area. Why was the elder being so ambiguous?
"I think there's no need for that. I'd better buy more useful things with 10,000 Spirit Stones," said Xu Fan. After a few thousand years, he could also get a few of these things.
"That's a pity. It's actually quite impressive," said the elder regretfully. Back then, in order to ride the flood dragon, he had saved up a lot of Spirit Stones. Back then, it wasn't as cheap as it was now.
With that said, the elder's carriage passed through this giant door. According to Xu Fan's estimation, this giant door was at least ten thousand meters tall.
Upon entering the gate, Xu Fan saw the badly damaged Floating Sky Ship in the sky.
"The main reason I called you here is to repair and restore the damaged runes on the surface of the Floating Sky Ship."
"Don't worry about not being able to refine that material. There will be specialized spatial tempering cultivators to help you."
"As for the remuneration, according to your workload, you will be paid 1,000 Spirit Stones per square meter repaired."
"Also, I'm teaching you 20 runes. Are these conditions acceptable?"
When Xu Fan heard that he would learn another 20 runes, he became excited.
"Elder, do you have any runes related to spatial stability, spiritual energy links, and spiritual energy control?" Xu Fan asked excitedly.
"Yes, all of them." The elder smiled sweetly. He wasn't the kind of elder who forced people to do things, right?