Chapter 604 - 585: Grandmaster???

As he mulled it over, a sudden tide of inspiration washed over him. Pang Hong completely forgot about Wang Meng, ran back to his personal Artifact Dao Room, and began to refine a Spirit Containing Artifact.

While Master Wang had been browsing outside, he had already used his Primordial Spirit to analyze the Spirit Containing Artifacts. Now, he was just making a few improvements to create a better one. With his previous experience, it was a familiar process; a low-level mistake like a muffled furnace wouldn’t happen again...

However, Wang Meng was trying to make a good one, and when infusing his Divine Sense, he used just a tiny bit too much power, nearly blowing the Spirit Containing Ring to pieces.

It was a hair’s breadth away, but fortunately, Master Wang’s unparalleled Control Power forcefully reined it in.

A Spirit Containing Ring—somewhat crude, but absolutely practical—was complete. Moreover, he had modified it to be better suited for Wang Meng to absorb the Five Elements of True Essence Beasts.

Meanwhile, Pang Hong was feeling quite pleased. For some reason, inspiration had struck him out of the blue, and the process had never been so smooth. He had actually forged his most perfect work to date: a flawless Third-Grade Spirit Containing Bracelet!

’I never would have dared to dream of this before. Even Master would have to praise it if he saw this!’

Pang Hong toyed with the bracelet, now filled with confidence for the Tier Three assessment.

"Ah! That guy!"

Only then did Pang Hong remember Wang Meng.

He opened the room’s door to find it empty.

...Suddenly, the color drained from Pang Hong’s face. ...Damn it, the furnace was cracked!!!

Just then, Yang Qi’s booming voice echoed from the hallway. "Where is he? Where! Where’s the man I’m looking for? And where is that little brat, Pang Hong!"

Pang Hong was dumbfounded. This furnace was forged from Seventh-grade Refined Gold mixed with Celestial Heart Iron. Even if you wanted to damage it, you’d need a diamond drill for the job.

Yang Qi grabbed Pang Hong’s arm. "Where is he?"

"Master... what person?"

"Still playing dumb! Where’s the person I asked you to find? Xie Xian just told me he came back. So where is he?" Yang Qi had an explosive temper; his words popped off like a string of firecrackers.

"Ah... he’s already left." Pang Hong was starting to feel that something wasn’t right. "Master... didn’t you just want to teach us a lesson and motivate us to look up to the masters, so you deliberately sent us to find... Master, that man has no talent whatsoever! And I suspect he was here to cause trouble..."

Yang Qi flew into a rage. "I’ll break your damn face! I don’t have time to waste on your nonsense!"

"Master, I have proof! Look, he broke the furnace!" Pang Hong pointed at the furnace. ’This can’t be hidden, so it’s better to just say it outright. Besides, it’s not like I’m falsely accusing him.’

The other disciples had arrived by now, and hearing that the Gold Refining Furnace was broken, they broke into whispers.

It must have been smashed on purpose. It couldn’t possibly have been broken during refining. For that to happen, an Artifact Refiner’s ability would have to be so great that the Refining Furnace couldn’t withstand it—which was, of course, absolutely impossible.

BOOM!

It was as if Yang Qi had been struck by a bolt from the blue. He stared blankly at the crack, his gaze like that of a man looking at a lover from a past life.

He was wrong. He was so, so wrong!

’I thought he was just a genius without any systematic training... but I was so wrong. His Artifact Refining ability is far beyond my own!’

’The muffled furnace... it happened because a furnace of this grade is just too shabby! How could it possibly be worthy of a master’s touch?’

’Heavens above!’

Yang Qi’s hand trembled as he caressed the crack. As a powerful Artifact Refiner, he could feel the furnace’s helpless regret for being unable to bear the strain; it was unworthy of that great Artifact Refiner.

Even though that power had been suppressed with all the user’s might, the furnace still couldn’t handle it.

’How could a figure like that come to Wang City? And a young man, at that?’

’Could he be an old master who has regained his youth?’

"Master, I’ll go drag that brat back here right now for you to deal with!"

Pang Hong declared, filled with righteous indignation.

SLAP!

A slap from Yang Qi sent Pang Hong staggering. "Drag him back? I’ll drag your whole family back! That man is a master of the Artifact Refining Realm! His visit is an honor to us all! It gives us face! You little shit, if you spout one more word of nonsense, I’ll cripple you!"

Pang Hong was stunned. Xie Xian was dumbfounded. The others felt as if they were listening to a fairy tale.

Wang Meng... But Yang Qi couldn’t recall any great master with the surname Wang.

But the world was vast, filled with countless strange and talented individuals. Not everyone with true ability cared for hollow fame.

"Pang Hong, come here. Tell me everything that happened today, in detail."

Seeing their master calm down so suddenly, everyone felt as if the sun was about to rise in the west.

Pang Hong didn’t dare to hide anything and recounted the events in detail. He even described his own inspired state during artifact refining and presented his Spirit Containing Bracelet, hoping his master would cool down a bit after seeing his achievement.

But after looking at the bracelet, Yang Qi just shook his head helplessly. "Sigh, you foolish boy. Did you really think that was your own inspiration? You were simply influenced by that master’s aura."

The crowd broke into whispers. According to legend, only a Master Level Artifact Refiner could generate an aura that influenced others while they worked.

But there were no Artifact Refining Masters in Wang City.

Yet this person really did look to be only about twenty years old.

Yang Qi clicked his tongue in amazement, concluding that the world was indeed vast and full of hidden experts.

"Forget it. Don’t go looking for him. If he ever comes back, remember to notify me at once. Furthermore, whatever he wishes to do, you are all to cooperate fully. If you’re lucky enough to receive even a bit of his guidance, you’ll benefit for the rest of your lives."

After speaking, he shooed Pang Hong and the others out of the room, then shut himself inside the Artifact Refining Room to study who-knows-what.

Outside, everyone was dumbstruck, especially Pang Hong and Xie Xian. ...They had actually tried to extort an Artifact Refining Master. Pang Hong, in particular, was drenched in a cold sweat. He had even offered to "protect" this master...

Pang Hong’s vision went dark. ’This world is too cruel! How can it be so unreasonable? Holy shit, a twenty-year-old Artifact Refining Master! You have to understand, even Blacksmiths are divided into Nine Grades, but anyone worthy of being called a master is at least Sixth Grade, or even Seventh Grade or higher! And they have to be the best of the best at that!’

’...How is anyone else supposed to live!’

After leaving the Artifact Refining Pavilion, Master Wang took his rather plain-looking Spirit Containing Ring and headed for the Spirit Control Association.

’From Wang Rencai’s memories and what he’d learned from chatting with Wan’Er, Borrowing Spirit was actually a fascinating process. It was equivalent to the Spirit Fusion Technique, only at a higher level. The key difference was that the Spirit Fusion Technique couldn’t be used on this plane.’

’The essence of Borrowing Spirit is to borrow the power of a True Essence Beast for amplification. Of course, one could also gain even greater strength. It seems that on this plane, the power contained within Spirit Beasts is more potent. With the ambient Elemental Qi being relatively thin, the Cultivators here use True Essence Beasts to compensate.’

’Wang Meng, however, was different. What he needed to do was complete the Five Elements within this useless body. As long as the Five Elements were whole, given his cultivation speed and his understanding of the Life Wheel, his body would quickly recover. As his Cultivation rose, so too would his Primordial Spirit. When that day came, nothing in this world could stop him.’

’Therefore, he couldn’t just use Borrowing Spirit. He needed to absorb the Five Elements characteristics from a True Essence Beast. He just had to slightly modify the Borrowing Spirit magic.’

’To put it simply, it was borrowing without any intention of returning.’