Chapter 87 - 84: Artifact Refining Master
Chapter 87: Chapter 84: Artifact Refining Master
At the crack of dawn, the sound of footsteps echoed from the narrow slope south of the stone platform.
The Cultivator on night watch was the first to notice. He placed a hand on his Magical Artifact and peered down.
A few breaths later, a figure emerged from the morning mist.
Uncle Qu.
Everyone on the stone platform turned to look.
Li Yuan opened his eyes as well.
Something was off about Uncle Qu.
His gait was steady, but a rip was torn in the robe on his right shoulder. The edges were scorched, as if burned by Spiritual Power.
The sleeve on his left arm was rolled up to his elbow, revealing a scabbed-over wound on his forearm. A trail of dark red blood had trickled halfway down from the wound before drying.
His aura was also somewhat fainter than usual, fluctuating slightly from time to time. It was clear he hadn’t fully stabilized it yet.
After the two of them walked onto the stone platform, Uncle Qu patted his storage pouch. A burlap sack suddenly appeared on the ground. It wasn’t tied tightly, and the tip of a boot peeked out from underneath.
A corpse.
The complexions of a few nearby Cultivators changed, and they took half a step back.
Uncle Qu ignored the others’ gazes. He first scanned the number of people on the platform, then his eyes swept carefully through the crowd before landing on Li Yuan.
After studying him for a couple of breaths, he nodded and gestured toward Li Yuan with his chin.
"Come here."
Li Yuan stood up and walked over.
Uncle Qu turned and walked a few steps toward the edge of the stone platform, stopping at a spot some distance from the others.
The Cultivator from the Wang family did not follow.
"I have a job for you."
Uncle Qu’s voice wasn’t loud; it was hoarse and tinged with exhaustion. He dispensed with any preamble and got straight to the point.
"Go to the Loose Cultivator market and bring someone out."
Li Yuan didn’t respond immediately.
Uncle Qu turned and jutted his chin toward the corpse. The Wang family Cultivator understood and pulled the burlap halfway off.
The corpse was that of a man in his thirties with an ordinary face and cheekbones neither high nor low. His build was very similar to Li Yuan’s, perhaps half an inch shorter.
He was wearing a set of dark gray short clothes, the style different from the common outfits worn by Loose Cultivators in the market. An inconspicuous dark pattern was embroidered at the collar with dark thread, almost invisible unless you looked closely.
A copper Token was tucked at his waist, a size smaller than an Inspector General’s waist-plate, with the character for "Li" carved on the front.
’A man from the Li family.’
Uncle Qu squatted down, untied the short clothes from the corpse, and casually cast a Cleaning Skill on them. He then removed the Token from the waist, folded it with the clothes, and placed them on a nearby rock.
"Put on the clothes. Take the Token."
Uncle Qu then took out a palm-sized, grayish-white sheet from his robes. It had the texture of some kind of animal hide, with neatly cut edges and a dense, intricate pattern on the front.
"A disguise mask. Stick it to your face and inject Spiritual Power to change your appearance."
He placed the mask on top of the clothes as well.
"But it only changes your face, not your body shape. And it’s not a real transformation; the Spiritual Power just simulates a false layer on your skin’s surface. It feels different to the touch than a real face."
"If you get too close, the light is too bright, or the other person’s Cultivation is much higher than yours, they might see through it."
Uncle Qu tapped lightly on the Token sitting on the rock.
"The code phrase. If they ask you ’When does the east wind arrive?’, you answer ’After the frost descends.’"
Li Yuan squatted down and picked up the mask, turning it over in his hands.
The hide was very thin, almost translucent. The fine, dense markings on the front were Spirit Patterns, carved with extreme precision.
Li Yuan channeled a thread of Spiritual Power into the mask. Its surface immediately glowed with a faint gray light, and the Spirit Patterns flared for a moment before dimming.
The system panel showed no reaction.
’It can’t be equipped.’
Li Yuan then tried pressing the mask to his face. As he injected Spiritual Power, the contours of his cheeks and jaw seemed to change. To the touch, it felt rough, like a thin film, completely different from real skin.
Visually, however, the mask did indeed alter his face. His cheekbones appeared lower, and the bridge of his nose a little straighter.
Li Yuan took the mask off and placed it back on the rock.
"Who am I picking up?"
"An Artifact Refiner." Uncle Qu leaned against the rock wall, lowering his voice even more.
"You’ll use these clothes and this Token to enter the Loose Cultivator market, find him, exchange the code phrase, and bring him out. The other Cultivators will be responsible for receiving the other Loose Cultivators on the market’s periphery."
Li Yuan stared at the Li family attire and mask on the rock, silent for two breaths.
"Why me?"
Uncle Qu glanced up at him.
"You’re the most suitable one here."
He gestured toward the corpse with his chin.
"Your build is about the same as his. You won’t look out of place in his clothes."
"Second, the original contact person had a Cultivation of around the Qi Refining Sixth Level. You’re at the Qi Refining Sixth Level now, too, so your auras are similar. The person you’re meeting won’t be immediately suspicious."
Uncle Qu paused.
"Besides, even if something goes wrong, it won’t be a huge problem. They wouldn’t dare do much to you, and it would be easy for you to escape. To be blunt, this is just a test run. It’s best if it succeeds, but if it fails, we won’t lose anyone over it."
Li Yuan didn’t reply but asked a second question.
"What happened last night?"
Uncle Qu tapped his fingers on his knee a couple of times. He thought for a moment, then spoke without concealing anything.
"I felt something was wrong on the way here."
His gaze swept over the endless low hills below the stone platform.
"I was suspicious even before we set out, so I deliberately had us rest at the same location for several days along the way instead of rushing forward."
Uncle Qu pulled his sleeve down a little, covering the scabbed wound on his arm.
"And as I expected, they showed up."
"Yesterday, during the day, I led some men on a loop to the south. In a small gully about three li west of our previous encampment, we found tracks. Someone had been active there; the footprints and residual Spiritual Power were very recent."
"Then I lay in wait for half the night until they showed up."
Uncle Qu jutted his chin toward the corpse.
"There were four of them, all in the middle to late stages of Qi Refining. We killed two in the fight, one escaped, and we captured one alive. He didn’t make it either, died in the end."
Not intending to hide anything, Uncle Qu took something from his sleeve and placed it on the rock.
It was a fist-sized copper disc. Its surface was covered in dense Spirit Patterns, with a small, dark green stone embedded in the center. The craftsmanship was not refined; the grooves of the Spirit Patterns were of uneven depth, as if it had been a rush job.
"When you infuse it with Spiritual Power, it emits a special wave of Spiritual Qi that repels Tier One Low Grade Demon Beasts." Uncle Qu tapped the small dark green stone with his fingertip.
"It has no effect on those at Tier One Middle Grade or higher. It can only drive away Tier One Low Grade beasts, and even then, you need to use it in conjunction with some medicinal powders to dull the Demon Beasts’ minds beforehand."
Li Yuan glanced at the copper disc, then back at the corpse dressed in the Li family’s clothes.
This explained the frenzy of the Tier One Low Grade Demon Beasts that had charged them last night.
’Forced to charge in one direction by a repellent artifact... no wonder they didn’t avoid us. No wonder they kept crawling forward even after being struck.’
Li Yuan was silent for a few breaths before asking his third question.
"Who is this Artifact Refiner?"
"A master Artifact Refiner with considerable skill." Uncle Qu looked at him, his tone flat but serious.
"He’s been staying in the Loose Cultivator market, doing some Artifact Refining jobs for various parties. But for the past few years, he’s mainly worked for the Li family. According to our intelligence, it’s possible he’s the one who refines these beast-repelling Magical Artifacts."
Uncle Qu continued.
"We have informants in the Loose Cultivator market. Recent news says the Li family plans to send someone to retrieve this Artifact Refiner."
"Most likely, that’s what this corpse was originally supposed to do."
Uncle Qu tapped his finger on the Token on the rock.
"I intercepted their man. The code phrase, the clothes, the Token—it’s all here. You put on these clothes, go in, and use the code phrase to bring the person out."
"Once you have him, ask him whatever you can. This Artifact Refiner is bound to know a lot."
Uncle Qu pulled his gaze away from the Token and looked at Li Yuan.
Li Yuan looked down at the items on the rock.
The dark gray short clothes were neatly folded, the Token resting on top, its copper surface reflecting the morning light. Beside them lay the thin disguise mask.
’The mission itself isn’t too dangerous, but it’s not without risk.’
’Going in disguised... if the code phrase is wrong, the mask is seen through, or the Li family has other people in the market, things could get complicated.’
’Uncle Qu might have said it’s best if it succeeds but no big deal if it fails...’
’...but it doesn’t seem like I can refuse.’
Li Yuan reached out, gathered the clothes, Token, and mask from the rock, and tucked them into his robes.
"Alright."