After leaving the treasure vault of Mingxin Pavilion, Ji Yuan followed Qian Nishang to a private room on the seventh floor.
This place, from today onwards, would belong exclusively to him. With the identity jade token for a special offering, he could activate and deactivate the restrictions within. Once the restrictions in the private room were activated, they would connect to over ten layers of formations. Even a cultivator in the third realm could not break them by brute force, let alone infiltrate without alarming anyone.
"You can rest assured about using the private rooms here. With your identity token, you can move freely everywhere except the treasure vault," Qian Nishang said with a faint smile.
She also stated that unless the three proprietors jointly agreed, no one could deactivate the formations here, ensuring a certain level of security.
Upon hearing this, Ji Yuan nodded, and he couldn't help but marvel at Mingxin Pavilion's wealth. A mere private room, aside from its considerable size, had numerous restrictions inscribed within its walls. Even the decorations here, while not quite magic artifacts, each possessed subtle effects like gathering spiritual energy, purifying the mind, and concentrating the spirit. Cultivating here for an extended period would undoubtedly provide significant assistance. And cultivation, besides innate talent and diligent effort, also required the accumulation of small gains over time.
"It's a pity that such a good place might not be used even once," Ji Yuan sighed as he surveyed the room. Before leaving the county city, he would undoubtedly stay at the Qian family's residence. For the sake of communication and safety, it would be far superior to the private room on the seventh floor of Mingxin Pavilion. Moreover, the quiet rooms within the courtyard he was currently residing in offered superior benefits for gathering spiritual energy and concentrating the spirit compared to this private room.
"After noon, people from seven of the thirteen forces should start arriving in the county city," Qian Nishang said, shifting the topic. As for the other eight forces, being closer, some had already arrived early in the morning and were currently staying at the inn next to the County Governor's mansion. It was expected that people from the other seven forces would also check into the same inn upon their arrival in the county city, making it convenient for subsequent actions. Although these forces displayed great tacit understanding and had not yet met or communicated beforehand, they had chosen to join forces immediately. In fact, this was their only option if they wished to avoid becoming sacrificial lambs in the unfolding situation and being completely devoured.
"Can you find out which forces are sending people?" Ji Yuan asked.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Qian Nishang handed him a stack of papers, detailing the personnel lists sent to the county city by each of the thirteen forces. Each force was led by an elder, whose cultivation was at least in the mid to late second realm, and they wielded several magic artifacts and heavy weapons. In terms of both cultivation and combat strength, they were far superior to ordinary cultivators. In addition to this, each dispatched team included at least two or three cultivators or martial artists in the second realm, and over ten disciples in the first realm. The strength dispatched by a single force was already considerable. If all thirteen forces were to gather, they could probably storm the County Governor's mansion without needing to activate formations.
"I thought two or three of the forces would send someone from the third realm to oversee," Ji Yuan said, shaking his head with a hint of disappointment. While this force was powerful, it lacked a third-realm expert. Although it could exert pressure on the Li family, it wouldn't be enough to take a significant bite out of them. After all, on the surface alone, the Li family had two third-realm cultivators. A single one could easily suppress ten second-realm cultivators, and with two working together, coupled with the Li family's wealth... Thinking thus, he sighed. In this scenario, they wouldn't be able to inflict much pressure on the Li family, let alone severely wound them. It was more likely that their plan to use wolves to hunt tigers would backfire, and they would be devoured by the wolves and tigers instead.
"If only the Qian family were still as it once was. If we could act in secret, we could still heavily wound the Li family, even shake their foundation!" Qian Nishang gritted her teeth. The mention of the Li family brought a glint of hatred to her eyes. The Qian family's current predicament was almost entirely caused by the Li family. If the Li family patriarch hadn't resorted to underhanded tactics years ago, the old Qian family patriarch wouldn't have been severely injured, preventing his cultivation from advancing further. Otherwise, with his astonishing talent, he might have had a chance to form a Golden Core! Furthermore, ever since the old patriarch passed away, the Li family had been suppressing the Qian family both openly and secretly, even deliberately leaking information, allowing their enemies to snatch away a considerable portion of their business. Even Ji Yuan had discovered that the Li family had secretly hired assassins to kill many members of the Qian family!
"Now we can only see what other tricks Li Wenqing has up his sleeve," Ji Yuan said thoughtfully. He was also very curious about what methods Li Wenqing, the Grand Secretary of Records, would employ under such circumstances to truly plunge the Li family into eternal damnation. After all, in terms of hatred, he bore no less than the Qian family, perhaps even more.
Just as the two fell silent, a light knock sounded on the door from outside, followed by a clear, crisp female voice.
"The artifact master has become available. Let's go over."
Upon hearing this, Qian Nishang turned to look. Ji Yuan naturally had no objections. The sooner he could cleanse the demonic energy, the sooner he would have a usable magic artifact. The artifact master resided permanently in a private room on the seventh floor. Thus, after stepping out of their room and walking a short distance, they arrived outside his door.
After a brief greeting, Qian Nishang directly pushed the door open, and Ji Yuan followed behind her. He immediately saw a figure sitting cross-legged in the private room. However, upon first glance, he was somewhat surprised. He had expected this artifact master to be an elderly man or at least middle-aged, but he turned out to be a young man in his early twenties! Then again, there was no rule stating that an artifact master couldn't be a young prodigy.
As Ji Yuan's thoughts raced, he suddenly stopped, almost stunned on the spot. He stared intently at the artifact master, whose gaze of admiration was unconcealed, as if pink hearts were about to burst from him! In contrast, Qian Nishang seemed accustomed to this and could already ignore the passionate, admiring gaze. She sat down as if it were her own room, and without forgetting to beckon Ji Yuan, poured two cups of tea. Throughout this, she didn't even spare a glance at the young man. However, this person was indeed extraordinary. Even after being treated this way, he still wore a smiling face, walked to the table, and held an empty cup, looking at them expectantly.
"His name is Mo Zigui. He is a first-class offering of our Qian family." Qian Nishang gave him a sideway glance but still poured him a cup of tea, and then introduced them to each other: "This is Daoist Lingyu, who officially becomes a special offering of the Qian family today."
Upon hearing this, Mo Zigui blinked, suspecting he might have misheard. But upon seeing Qian Nishang nod, he turned his head and began to scrutinize Ji Yuan with a serious expression. At his age of twenty-something, he had already achieved mastery in the art of artifacts but had still not attained the position of a special offering. Now, a young Daoist priest of only fourteen or fifteen years old had received this position, meaning he must possess something beyond ordinary capabilities.
"My Daoist name is Lingyu, and my secular name is Ji Yuan. You may address me as you wish," Ji Yuan said, performing a Daoist salute with an air of calm composure. Facing an artifact master, he neither tried to curry favor nor acted aloof, striking a perfect balance.
"Xu Lin of the Mingjian Division once said that Daoist Ji's achievements would not be inferior to his own." Qian Nishang, seeing his furrowed brow, offered a slight hint.
Upon hearing this, Mo Zigui immediately straightened his expression and politely returned the salute, showing no hint of arrogance. If it weren't for Qian Nishang's words, even if Ji Yuan had become a special offering of the Qian family, Mo Zigui wouldn't have looked down on him, but he certainly wouldn't have shown him much pleasantness. After all, even third-realm cultivators wouldn't receive much favor from him. It was only when dealing with Qian Nishang that he would display the attitude he had earlier.
"Daoist Ji has a demonic treasure that needs its demonic energy refined." After the two exchanged greetings, she directly stated. At her nod, Ji Yuan decisively retrieved the seven-story demonic pagoda from his Mountain and River Pouch. As soon as the pagoda was brought out, rolling demonic energy surged forth. Then, with a flick of Mo Zigui's finger, it was contained by a stream of pure spiritual energy. He took the demonic pagoda, held it in his palm, and examined it for a moment before infusing it with spiritual energy to sense it carefully. Seeing this, Ji Yuan unconsciously held his breath, afraid of disturbing the master, although such an action was essentially futile.
After about fifteen minutes, Mo Zigui placed the demonic pagoda on the table, a hint of contemplation appearing in his eyes. "Refining the demonic energy is not difficult, but the key lies in what to fill it with after removing some of the original materials." He spoke frankly. If the materials used for filling were incompatible with the pagoda's inherent composition, and one forced the issue, the magic artifact would only explode, eventually turning into a pile of scrap with no salvageable value. Moreover, the explosion of a magic artifact could unleash fluctuations powerful enough to destroy several districts. Even with the augmentation of Mingxin Pavilion's formations, several private rooms would be damaged.
"The materials for filling are all here." Ji Yuan patted his Mountain and River Pouch and took out the materials he had previously purchased from Qian Nishang for forging his life-bound flying sword. In the Daoist scripture volume of the Xuan Tian Dao Scripture, there were methods for forging and nurturing several types of magic artifacts. The materials used were essentially the same as those in the Sword Art volume for forging one's life-bound flying sword. Although this pagoda was already formed, it could be used as an opportunity to refine these materials while cleansing the demonic energy. Afterward, it could be nurtured using the secret techniques in the Daoist scripture volume, and with some time, the remaining materials could be gradually integrated. In this way, although it would consume considerable time and materials, it would still be cheaper and more convenient than forging a magic artifact from scratch.