Now that they decided who would deal with the 'strongest' person in this batch of secret realm participants, they further improved their plans, working out who will go to where, and what they would do when emergencies and unexpected developments were to occur, as well as how they could relay it to each other if they were to get separated inside.
"Speaking of which, Ah Tian, that artifact you refined is really helpful in places like this, it can even bypass more restrictions than normal communication talismans" with Wang Sheng reminding them of Wu Xiaotian's cellphone prototype, the eyes of the ones who doesn't have the artifact in the group glowed, clear from their expression that they also want to have one.
Even Li Yan is interested in the artifact that her husband showed her recently, so much that she even bears with her shame displaying intimacy in front of her daughter as she hugs the immortal-like young man's arms, pressing her body against him as she expresses her desire, "I also want one~~~"
Seeing the fervent desire in their eyes, Wu Xiaotian couldn't help but comply, especially when his new wife also wants one.
Agreeing to them, he decided to move faraway from other people's sight, the only ones still with him is his group, as he doesn't want anyone he doesn't trust to see how he refines artifacts.
"How the hell is he doing that?" seeing the process of his refinement, Wang Sheng couldn't help but ask, the others refusing to answer him as their jaws fall a bit from surprise as well, clearly unaware of how the immortal-like young man is performing such feats.
Typically, or rather, the only way one can refine artifacts is if they have a refining cauldron, where one will throw out the materials in a careful order as they vary the internal temperature inside to adapt with the changes and reaction of the materials, one wrong move and all of the materials will be gone, wasted and turned to dust. This applies even in the most basic of artifacts, communication, storage and the like.
However, Wu Xiaotian clearly diverges from this norm. Borrowing the power of Li Yan's fire qi, he merely asks her to keep the temperature of the fire at a fixed level as he works his way around the artifact. Not to mention that he doesn't even use a refining cauldron, the fact alone that he can refine an artifact so smoothly despite his young age shows how terrifying of a talent he will be once he matures.
'He's using soul power to isolate the heat of the flame, then only letting enough heat required in the process' despite her strength also being suppressed in the Core Formation Realm, Li Yan is still an Ascension Realm expert, not to mention someone with great mastery of the art of artifact refining after all, and she's the only one who can see through the intricacies of what Wu Xiaotian is doing.
However, even seeing this doesn't mean that she understands it well, in fact, it makes her even more curious than the others as she now wonders just how strong his soul power is, as well as how great of a control he possesses in order to perform a feat like this.
As they continue observing the process of refining, Wu Xiaotian eventually entered the final phase, creating small tendrils from his soul power, these tendrils engraving small runic formations in the surface of the jade piece.
After the end of the process, a brand new 'cellphone' was created, the process, despite being seemingly long, only taking about half an hour to finish. Keeping it for now, Wu Xiaotian continues refining some more, the refining only stopping after another hour and a half, his continuous refinement making Li Yan surprised, sending him a telepathic message as he hands one of the artifacts to her.
'Husband is really impressive, your stamina really knows no bound' she said while smiling at him.
'Wanna test where my limits lie?' taunting back, he made her blush a bit as she was surprised he would relate her praise to that.
Seeing her speechless, he just smiles at her a bit before looking at the five who initially have cellphones with them, asking them to hand the cellphone to him for a bit, he added an additional engraving in the jade piece before returning it to them, causing them to ask what the new runes are used for.
"Ah… that's some sort of security measures, drop your blood in the artifact, then from now on, only you can activate that, and no one else can try to open it without your permission, well, worst case scenario, the artifact will destroy itself should someone try to force it open" he explained to them, making them more impressed as he even thought of something like that.
After talking for a bit, they agreed to return to their previous spot, moving in the fields, their shadows leaving behind a trail of wind from their speed, Li Yan and Wu Xiaotian running behind the group, talking with each other.
"Who would've guessed that husband is well versed with runic inscriptions as well" Li Yan muttered, the wind preventing the others beside Wu Xiaotian from hearing it.
"There's really no hiding from an Ascension Realm master huh…" Wu Xiaotian smiles wryly as he replies, her words proving his conjecture that she won't miss details like that.
"Not really, I'm just more observant than other, besides, I'm an artifact refiner as well, aren't I? So even if our methods are fundamentally different, I will still know if a process is truly an artifact refining one or not" she replied while smiling triumphantly, happy that she peels off another one of his veils.
"Mind telling me what those inscriptions are?" expressing her desire as an artifact refiner, she asked as curiosity grows more and more in her mind.
"Hmmm, nothing so complicated, just some arrays that can transfer information from one artifact to another, then an array that bends and twists light to create the projection effect, another one to process the interaction of the user to the projection and lastly, something that operates the entire piece" he answered, oversimplifying the thing he just did so as not to shock her too much.
"Mind teaching me how to do that… runic inscriptions, I mean" she asked shyly, as she knows that even if they're in that stage of a relationship already, she couldn't just come and ask him to teach her like that, especially things like inscriptions, as even one of them are treasures worth immeasurable wealth.
However, the immortal-like young man clearly thought differently, agreeing to her request without a hint of hesitation in his voice, the only thing in his mind is that if she also masters runic inscriptions, it will grant her better power and influence that can improve her chance to fight back against Hong Lei. As much as he wants to personally deal with the matter, he understands that he is too weak now and the only thing he could do to help is make her improve in all fronts as much as he can.
Hearing him agreeing to her request, gratefulness and love for him wells further in her heart, expressing her thankfulness by hugging him as they continue travelling.
As they arrive at their previous location, the sky is already starting to turn dark, so they decided to set up a camp before gathering in a circle, looking at the dancing fire beneath a wok, enjoying the aroma of whatever Wu Xiaotian is cooking, their time being interrupted as a number of people wearing identical purple uniform gets closer to their site.
"Oh my, looks like we have quite the party here, how about I join your little gathering" a voice, more leaning towards the masculine side sounded, the familiar tone causing both Hua Xian'er and Hong Lian's face to turn a shade darker, staring at the figure with extreme displeasure as it comes closer from the distance.