Kuang, a middle-aged man with the surname Kuang, pulled out twelve pieces of low-grade spirit stones from his bosom and tossed them to Zhao Di, saying: "Zhao Shidi, this is your salary for this month. Alright, I'll have Lu Shidi arrange a mid-grade refining room for you, where the fire control is more sufficient and stable. For every piece of refined copper material you produce, you will be rewarded with one low-grade spirit stone. If you refine high-quality copper material like this, you will be rewarded with five spirit stones. The more you work, the more you'll get, there's no limit! If you continue to do well, I'll pass on some of my own refining techniques to you."
Zhao Dixin had a grievance, this Kuang Shibo was simply treating him as cheap labor. The refined copper materials he extracted would sell for at least ten times the "reward" Kuang Shibo offered if taken to the market. However, his face showed a delighted expression, and he replied: "Thank you, Master Kuang, I will definitely work twice as hard, please also point out more about my refining skills."
Kuang surname Shu Shi heard Zhao Di's mouthful of promises, nodded in satisfaction and said to Ma Gao and Fang Fu: "As for you two masters and apprentices, this time although a few pieces of fine copper material were refined, the wasted raw materials are more. Originally, it was supposed to be slightly punished. In view of Zhao Shu Shi's share, no further action will be taken. In the future, you should also pay attention to research and study hard. If you refine high-quality fine copper raw materials, there will be rewards."
After finishing, he also threw a few pieces of low-grade spirit stones to Ma Gao and Fang Fu, then with a big wave of his sleeve, all the fine copper materials in front of the three people were rolled away, while those waste materials did not move at all.
Kuang Shibo put away the fine copper material and left Baizhuan Hall with a swagger. Zhao Di and the other three people all bowed to see him off.
"Zhao Shidi, you indeed have a great talent in alchemy, being able to get assigned to the middle-grade alchemy room as soon as you arrived. Master Kuang is really not stingy with you!" After Master Kuang walked away, Lu Wen said to Zhao Di, "In the future, when you become successful and renowned, don't forget about your fellow disciples!"
"I don't dare, I don't dare, Brother Lu has overpraised me, I just got lucky." Zhao Di hastily expressed his gratitude, but in his heart he felt extremely helpless. With these two sentences, it was clear that Lu had pointed the spearhead at him.
As expected, although Ma Gao and Fang Fu both congratulated Zhao Di on his words, they subtly revealed a hint of hostility.
Zhao Di had no choice but to let out a soft sigh. Fortunately, the three of them only stayed for a short while before taking another storage bag filled with a large pile of refined copper ore from Lu Shi Xiong's hand and hurrying back to the Alchemy Room.
When the two monks in charge of guarding the refining room heard that Master Kuang had requested a separate allocation of a medium-grade refining room for Zhao Di, they were also shocked.
Zhao Di pretended he hadn't seen it and handed over the "125" jade plate, exchanging it for a "18" numbered jade plate.
Zhao Di entered the "18" stone chamber and found that the space was more than twice as wide. There were two more pairs of dragon heads on both sides of the stone wall, and a rug made of unknown beast skin was added to the ground. Except for this, there was not much difference with the "125" stone chamber.
In this quiet and elegant practice room, Zhao Di Xin single-mindedly practiced diligently, day after day passed.
He would leave the refining room once every one or two months, handing over the refined copper material to Master Kuang in exchange for a small amount of spiritual stones. In order not to be too ostentatious, he would mix in a piece of high-quality refined copper material with slightly stronger spiritual energy among a dozen ordinary ones, so that he could often surprise Master Kuang while avoiding drawing attention to himself.
After such days lasted for four or five months, Zhao Di received a verbal message from Jian Yan'er through someone, saying that the semi-annual internal transaction meeting of Tai Xuan Men would be held in Geling Street soon. If Zhao Di wanted to attend, he could go to Tie Chuan Peak half a month later to find her.
Zhao Di had already consumed all the spiritual pills on him and was thinking of going to exchange for some more, hearing this news, he wouldn't miss it.
Anyway, as long as they handed over enough high-quality copper materials to Master Kuang every month, he wouldn't bother with Zhao Di and the others. This, in turn, made Zhao Di, who had been seeking attention, feel a bit more affectionate towards Master Kuang.
On this day, Zhao Di drove the flying feather artifact and arrived at Tie Chuan Peak. This peak is opposite Long Shou Ya across the ravine, with high peaks entering the clouds, and it looks like a giant ship holding its head high, hence the name. At the top of the peak stands a giant stone over 100 meters high, which is the symbol of Tie Chuan Peak - the mast stone.
The mountain peak was not sealed by any grand formation, but rather had several valleys in the middle section that were shrouded in mist and clouds all day. It seemed to be the location of the medicine garden belonging to Shi Bo Sun, a senior member of the sect. Jian Xiang'er's job was to help Shi Bo manage the medicine garden, submitting some medicinal herbs every year, while having the freedom to cultivate herself during the rest of the time - a very enviable and easy task.
Zhao took out a red transmission jade token, whispered a few words to it, and the token emitted a red glow before disappearing into the clouds.
After a moment, a voice came from the clouds and mist: "Wu Gen's arrival is really punctual!" As soon as the words fell, a lovely girl in pink clothes and skirt appeared in front of Zhao Di.
"How did you end up dressing like this?" Zhao Di was taken aback and asked blankly.
"What's wrong? Doesn't it look good?" Jian Xiner pouted her cherry-like mouth.
Zhao Diqiang coughed and said, "Of course it looks good, but aren't you afraid of drawing too much attention to yourself like this?"
"Haha, what's the big deal! Wearing that grey outfit every day is so ugly, it's rare for Wu Gen to accompany me to the market today, so I'll just wear this pretty dress." Xian Er said with a radiant smile.
"Alright, let's go then, it's quite a distance." Zhao Di said helplessly.
Two people rode on a flying feather device and flew towards Kua Ridge Valley side by side.
"I heard that you, Wu Gen Ge, are a genius at refining equipment. In the first month, you refined top-grade copper material and were assigned to a mid-grade refining room, right?"
"It's not that exaggerated, what genius, I just got lucky."
Along the way, the two of them chatted and laughed as they talked about their own experiences and some secrets within the Tai Xu Gate.
"Wugeng, do you know that in the sect there is a White Shifu who has an Ice Spirit Root? He's not even 30 years old yet and he's already broken through to the middle stage of foundation building. He's being hailed as the number one cultivation genius of Taixu Sect in the past hundred years! With such great talent, it's really enviable. I wish I were a heterodox spirit root cultivator too."
"There's also a fellow disciple named Xin Yue, who was in the same batch as me when we entered Tai Xu Men. It's said that after she left the mountain gate some time ago, she never appeared again. Everyone is speculating and saying that Xin Shijie met with foul play! The cultivation world is indeed very dangerous."
"Xin Shijie has been missing for more than half a year, and her master only asked about it two months ago, but never mentioned it again. The other disciples in the sect almost never mention it either. The people of Tai Xu Men are really cold-blooded."
……
Most of the time was spent with Jian'er talking non-stop, accompanied by a lot of sighs, while Zhao only occasionally made a few words of comment.
Two or three hours later, they arrived at Kuling Valley.
The buildings in Gulangyu have hundreds of colorful buildings, most of which are built on both sides of a street called "Gulang Street". At this time, there were already three or two monks walking on Gulang Street. The empty spaces on both sides of the street also had many monks setting up temporary stalls. This scene immediately reminded Zhao Di of the similar Flowing Clouds Market.
And then there's Liu Yingying, I have no idea what she's up to now! Did she marry that Foundation Establishment cultivator or did she flee to a distant land, there's been no news at all.
As soon as the two landed on Gulou Street, they felt a surge of power from the flying feather artifact under their feet, making it impossible for them to take off again.
"This is the effect of the Forbidden Air Array," Jian Xiner explained, seeing Zhao Di's puzzled face. "I'm afraid it's because there are people flying recklessly on the streets, affecting order. This street is covered by the Forbidden Air Array, and flying with a spiritual tool is not allowed within the street."
Zhao nodded, he had seen something about the Forbidden Sky Technique in a certain classic book and knew a bit about it.
The two of them did not rush to exchange goods, but instead quickly browsed through all the items on sale along Gulangyu Street.
The result left Zhao Di greatly perplexed.
Here, there are not only shops selling spiritual medicine, magical instruments, talismans, various materials, raw materials, and classics, but also several ordinary restaurants and tea houses that can be found in the mortal world.
What he couldn't understand even more was that some shops were selling clothes and cosmetics that ordinary women would use, and there were seven or eight such shops!
If it weren't for several shops selling divination tools next door, he would have thought he had found the wrong place.
Looking at Zhao Di's puzzled expression, Jian Xiang'er suddenly burst out laughing.
(First update! Please collect and recommend!)