[Chapter 200]
Luo Zheng didn't have to spend a single square crystal to get an unfinished weapon for free. He could be considered extremely lucky.
However, Luo Zheng also understood clearly that the other party didn't give it away for free.
Last time, when Luo Zheng purchased weapons, he didn't see through it. However, this time, Luo Zheng understood. Regardless of whether it was Shopkeeper Qi or that woman, they were definitely not ordinary people!
That Shopkeeper Qi could be ignored, but that woman's strength was profound to the point where Luo Zheng couldn't see through her at all. Just how powerful was she? Moreover, she even had a Fire Spirit at her side.
A small Thousand Secrets Pavilion that sold weapons actually hid this type of person. Burning Sky Empire really was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.
Only, why would they hide in Thousand Secrets Pavilion? This was something Luo Zheng couldn't figure out.
However, since he noticed them, then Luo Zheng decided that it would be best if he was a bit more careful.
When he returned to Blue Cloud Sect, it was still early in the morning. Today, the mountains were covered in mists. The various peaks within Blue Cloud Sect were covered in clouds and mist.
Luo Zheng entered the sect, but didn't go to Xiao Yufeng.
Instead, he walked towards Dipping Fire Peak at the back of the sect.
Dipping Fire Peak didn't belong to the thirty-three peaks, but rather to the side adjacent to Purgatory Peak.
Purgatory Mountain was the only active volcano within Blue Cloud Sect. However, there was a fire vein that extended from Purgatory Mountain on Dipping Fire Peak. Meanwhile, Blue Cloud Sect precisely listed this place as the Blue Cloud Sect's Weapon Refining Sect.
Even though this peak also recruited disciples, the disciples they recruited didn't practice martial arts, but rather weapon refining.
Compared to the other peaks' disciple examinations, what this peak tested wasn't the martial dao, but rather the dao of weapon refining.
However, Blue Cloud Sect wasn't particularly outstanding in cultivating weapon refiners. That was why the number of disciples on Dipping Fire Peak wasn't that many. It wasn't like the thirty-three peaks that were packed with people. On any one of the peaks, the number of outer disciples exceeded ten thousand.
All of the disciples on this Dipping Fire Peak added up to only a thousand people.
Even though the number was small, Dipping Fire Peak's disciples were still rather popular.
There weren't many craftsmen in the entire Eastern Region. Although Dipping Fire Peak hadn't produced any craftsmen at the grandmaster level, many of the disciples were quite skilled.
There were so many disciples in the Blue Cloud Sect. At the beginning, they cultivated fist techniques. When they reached the middle stage, they would definitely need to choose a weapon that belonged to them. However, the price of weapons was so expensive now. A random high-grade mystic artifact would cost more than a hundred cubes of crystal stones. It was far from what an ordinary disciple could afford.
Therefore, many of the Blue Cloud Sect's disciples chose to entrust Dipping Fire Peak's disciples to forge weapons.
In order to support the blacksmiths in Dipping Fire Peak, the Blue Cloud Sect also issued a rule that anyone who helped a Blue Cloud Sect disciple forge a weapon would be rewarded with a certain amount of points. This rule undoubtedly stimulated the enthusiasm of the blacksmiths in Dipping Fire Peak.
Blacksmiths were extremely wealthy, but at the same time, they were also extremely poor. It was because during the process of refining weapons, they needed to consume large amounts of materials, but what they produced was a pile of waste. Meanwhile, the value of those materials used for refining weapons was often not cheap. Once the refinement failed, the materials would all be lost, the amount that could be recycled was extremely small.
This type of waste wasn't something normal people could afford. That was why those who wished to become a blacksmith, first of all, didn't have to look at their talent in the path of refining, but rather whether their family was wealthy or not!
Dipping Fire Peak wasn't far from Purgatory Mountain, and this peak wasn't that tall either. When one stood at the foot of Dipping Fire Peak, they could see the towering Purgatory Mountain to the side. When the two were compared, Dipping Fire Peak would only seem like a small hill.
Right now, there were expanses of black smoke continuously rising from that hill. This should be the result of Dipping Fire Peak's disciples refining weapons. During the refining process, if one didn't control the flame well, the refining furnace would produce roiling black smoke.
If one's true flame was controlled well, then when the refining furnace was completely burned, there wouldn't be any smoke.
As he walked up Dipping Fire Peak's low and gentle mountain path, he soon saw the neatly arranged buildings at the top. What left Luo Zheng sighed with admiration was that these buildings were all unique. Most of them were made from steel mixed with stone. He didn't see a single building made from wood at the top of Dipping Fire Peak.
It was likely that there was a volcanic vein below Dipping Fire Peak, so the temperature was extremely high year-round. Moreover, during the refining process, it was hard to avoid producing sparks. Wood was too easily ignited, which was why there weren't any wooden buildings here.
Luo Zheng's goal was only to borrow a refining furnace. A refining furnace wasn't hard to find on Dipping Fire Peak. He only needed to look towards the sky, follow the roiling black smoke, and then find it.
Stepping over a lintel, he entered a courtyard. In the courtyard, there was a copper furnace that was about the height of a person. This copper furnace was the refining furnace.
Back in Xie Lang's cave, Luo Zheng was locked in the refining furnace and refined for a long time. At that time, Luo Zheng originally wanted to take Xie Lang's refining furnace, but it was too big and couldn't be stored in the Sumeru Ring, so he could only give up.
Xie Lang was only a Half-step Innate Realm refiner. Although he had some unique attainments in refining weapons, he naturally couldn't be compared to the Blue Cloud Sect. The copper furnace in front of him was shiny, and there were all kinds of runes engraved on the furnace wall. Obviously, it was much more advanced than Xie Lang's refining furnace.
Around the refining furnace, there were seven or eight disciples bustling about.
The refiners on Dipping Fire Peak were obviously divided into inner and outer sect. However, the inner and outer sect disciples on the thirty-three peaks, such as Xiao Yufeng, were basically separated from each other. On the other hand, the inner and outer sect disciples on Dipping Fire Peak were all together, dividing the work.
The outer sect disciples were mainly responsible for some rough work, such as hard labor, carrying, doing odd jobs and so on. The inner sect disciples were responsible for spitting True Fire into the copper furnace.
When Luo Zheng entered, a black-robed disciple was sitting cross-legged at the head of the courtyard. From his hands, True Fire was constantly flowing into the opening above the copper furnace.
A few white-robed disciples, who were in charge of odd jobs, saw Luo Zheng enter. One of them came up and said, "Our Seventeenth Courtyard is refining weapons! Strangers are not allowed to come near! "
The disciples on Dipping Fire Peak were divided according to their courtyard. Along the way, the front of each house was marked with a courtyard number, and this house was marked with "Seventeenth Courtyard".
Today, the disciples of the Seventeenth Courtyard were refining a high-grade Xuan Weapon.
The difficulty of refining a middle-grade Xuan Weapon was still a little difficult for these disciples. Although the True Fire in their bodies was purer and more powerful than Xie Lang's, in terms of technique and proficiency, it was far from Xie Lang's.
Seeing the aggressive looks of the outer sect disciples, Luo Zheng stopped in his tracks.
One of the outer sect disciples came forward and sized up Luo Zheng. He found that Luo Zheng was Xiao Yufeng's disciple.
Generally, the disciples of the 33 peaks who came to Dipping Fire Peak were commissioned to refine weapons. For the disciples of Dipping Fire Peak, this was a good thing.
However, Luo Zheng was wearing a white robe. Generally speaking, he belonged to the grassroots with no money and no power. He shouldn't have much money on hand, let alone points. The number of tasks that the outer sect disciples could complete could be counted on one's fingers. Their points were pitifully small. They probably couldn't even afford the cheapest low-grade Xuan Weapon.
Therefore, the outer sect disciple didn't have a good expression. He vaguely asked, "What are you doing here? Do you want to buy weapons? "
Luo Zheng shook his head and said, "I'm not buying."
The Xuan Weapons refined by the disciples of Dipping Fire Peak certainly couldn't enter Luo Zheng's eyes.
"Then why did you come to Dipping Fire Peak? Where are you going to have fun? Can you afford to disturb our senior brother refining a high-grade Xuan Weapon? " The outer sect disciple waved his hand to drive Luo Zheng away. When talking about high-grade Xuan Weapons, he was quite proud. Dipping Fire Peak had more than a thousand disciples and was divided into hundreds of small courtyards. The number of small courtyards that could refine high-grade Xuan Weapons could be counted on one's fingers. If they succeeded today, it would be a great merit. The disciples of the 17 courtyards, regardless of whether they were outer or inner sect disciples, would receive a lot of rewards.
Of course, this might be a lot for them, but in Luo Zheng's eyes, it was naturally a small amount.
Although the outer sect disciple was driving Luo Zheng away, Luo Zheng didn't move. Instead, he stood in place and shook his head and said, "I want to borrow your crafting furnace."
When the outer sect disciple heard Luo Zheng's words, he suddenly laughed and said, "Don't tell me you're here to make fun of me? You want to borrow our crafting furnace? You want to refine weapons? "
"I don't want to refine weapons. I just want to condense," Luo Zheng said seriously.
Refining weapons was a complicated technique. Luo Zheng didn't have a systematic training, so he was very unfamiliar with the first few steps of refining weapons. However, the condensing step only tested the refiner's understanding of the Way of Heaven's Divination. Luo Zheng might not have a deep understanding of the Way of Heaven's Divination, but he had the essence of Heaven's Divination in his hands. Therefore, it shouldn't be difficult for Luo Zheng to condense weapons.
"Haha …" The outer sect disciple seemed to have heard a big joke. As the saying goes, different professions make one feel different. The disciples of the 33 peaks were all martial artists, not refiners. Of course, it didn't mean that there wasn't a single refiner among the hundreds of thousands of disciples in the 33 peaks. The world was so big that there was never a lack of geniuses. Some of them were both martial artists and proficient in refining weapons. However, the outer sect disciple stubbornly believed that Luo Zheng couldn't do it.
"I've said that if you have nothing to do but make fun of me, you can go wherever you want. Hurry up and leave. I'm going to close the door!" The outer sect disciple finally couldn't bear it and wanted to drive Luo Zheng away.