Chapter 14 - Results and Traveling to Star Dou Forest again

A week later.

Mo Xie was in his forge completing the refinement of the Deep Sea Ice Crystal.

*Ting* *Ting* *Ting*

With each hammer blow from Mo Xie, the metal dwindled slightly in size and its mass became more and more concentrated. If before the metal was a dark blue color, now it had a bright blue, free of any impurities.

With one last hammer, the metal gave off a slight glow and vibrated a little before calming down. Mo Xie wiped his sweat and his face had a satisfied expression. He took the metal in his hands and realized that it was even heavier than before and it was not possible to discover that a small piece had been removed from it.

Mo Xie looked at a shiny red metal exposed on a side table and nodded to himself. The difficulty was extremely high, but he managed to refine both the Deep Sea Ice Crystal and the Deep Fire Earth Crystal ten thousand times.

While he was enjoying his successful work, a bell rang in his smithy and he found that someone had entered through the front door. He put the metals in his storage and wiped off the sweat before heading out to reception.

At the reception, he found Zhou Ling and his guard Wei Xin waiting for him in the balcony and looking at some weapons on display.

They felt Mo Xie approaching and greeted him.

"Long time without seeing you Brother Mo. How have you been these days?" Zhou Ling nodded.

"I've been fine, thanks. In fact, you arrived at the perfect time! I just finished your order and was wondering when Brother Zhou would arrive." This week, Mo Xie also did some investigations and ended up discovering that Zhou Ling belonged to a family of Viscounts in the Star Luo Empire. Of course, he couldn't care less about the identity of the other party, but making a few connections wouldn't be bad either, so Mo Xie continued to act friendly towards Zhou Ling.

Mo Xie quickly removed the metals from his storage and handed them to Zhou Ling.

"Oh? Looks like my bet on Brother Mo's abilities was right." Zhou Ling smiled.

The sparkle in Zhou Ling's eyes got bigger and bigger as he looked at the refined metals in his hands. Soon his expression turned to disbelief.

"97% free of impurities! Brother Mo, this…" Zhou Ling still couldn't believe it. He thought that a rate of 80% free of impurities would be good. He was prepared for this as he didn't ask a master-level blacksmith to personally refine the metal, but Mo Xie left him speechless with that terrifying rate of purification.

Wei Xin, who hasn't spoken a word so far, also widened his eyes in disbelief. If that's true, then Mo Xie was a freak.

"I believe Brother Zhou is satisfied with the result, right?" Mo Xie asked with a smile.

"Yes, it seems I still underestimated Brother Mo's abilities." Zhou Ling took a deep breath and soothed his excitement.

He put the metals in his own storage and withdrew a black card from it.

"Brother Mo, on this card there are 30,000 gold coins deposited. Consider the surplus a bonus for the final quality of the metal." Zhou Ling spoke.

Mo Xie didn't beat around the bush either and picked it up directly and put it away after confirming.

"Brother Mo, are you interested in working for my family? I believe you may already know that I come from the Zhou Family and that I am the eldest son of the Viscount. My family can provide many benefits for a talented young blacksmith like you." Zhou Ling asked sincerely. He saw that Mo Xie was no more than 12 years old and his talent in blacksmithing was extraordinary. With a little more time he could reach at least the level of grandmaster and if he could recruit him into the family he would have made a great contribution.

"Sorry Brother Zhou, I prefer not to tie myself to any power for the time being. If one day I have the need I will look for you." Mo Xie kindly declined. Because of his cultivation method he looked older than he normally is. If Zhou Ling knew he was only 10 at the time, who knows what his reaction would be. And even though Mo Xie didn't give up on continuing to hone his forging skills, increasing his strength was a priority.

Zhou Ling sighed in disappointment but quickly recovered.

"Since that is so I will not force Brother Mo. This is a token that can be used to contact me in my family if you go to Star Luo City. Pay me a visit anytime and I will accommodate you when that time comes." Zhou Ling handed over a silver token with the word 'Zhou' engraved on it.

"If I have the opportunity, I will certainly pay a visit." Mo Xie nodded and put the token away.

Zhou Ling nodded in satisfaction and left after talking some more.

When he returned to the hotel he was staying with Wei Xin he spoke calmly. "Be sure to keep his picture and tell the family not to have any enmity with him. With his talent, he will soon be famous in the world of blacksmiths and his strength doesn't seem to be weak either. Having a good relationship with him will be very beneficial for us."

"As you wish, Young Master!" Wei Xin respectfully bowed in understanding.

Zhou Ling nodded and began to think deeply about the uses of metals that Mo Xie had refined.

Back at the smithy, Mo Xie had finished showering and was resting in his room after closing the smithy for the rest of the day.

He pulled a sword from its storage and began to observe it with a satisfied smile. The scabbard of the sword was made of Crimson Spirit Silver and gleamed in silver and crimson colors. If watched carefully, it was possible to see some inscriptions on the hem, used for aura concealment and protection. The sword itself was made from a combination of Deep Sea Ice Crystal, Deep Fire Earth Crystal, Chilling Heart Spirit Iron, Blazing Flame Spirit Iron and other metals with the attributes of ice and fire. Its blade was streaked with bright ice blue and steaming crimson red color. Some inscriptions were also made on the blade to improve energy circulation, accumulate energy, improve attack power, improve sturdiness, etc.

Mo Xie could confidently assert that this sword alone would sell for at least 1,000,000 gold coins if put up for auction. After all, just the arrays written to it were worth a fortune.

Now that he's upgraded his sword and finished his commission, Mo Xie could finally get ready to get his third spirit ring.

"I'm going to close up shop and accumulate spiritual power for the rest of the month and go to Star Dou Forest." Mo Xie muttered and began to meditate.

Time passed quickly and the end of the month arrived. Mo Xie cleaned out his smithy and placed all of his forged tools and array boards into his storage ring. He didn't plan on going back to Gengxin City, as he had already finished everything he could do there. After getting his third ring, he would go straight to Shrek City and wait for next year's recruitment.

As for looking for the million-year-old worm to make it his ring? He didn't care too much. Most of its abilities he could acquire by practicing his Heavenly Eyes, and although it spirit ring could be used to increase the age of his other rings, Mo Xie thought he could figure out another way to upgrade them later. There was also a memory sealed by the Old Du to help him get his rings for his Mystic Heavenly Wolf and there could be something for his Mystic Eyes too.

His research on the arrays in the spirit rings could also tell him how to upgrade them and could have an even better effect than Daydream's spirit ring in the long run, so he just dumped his existence in the back of his mind. Of course, if he appeared in front of him he wouldn't refuse either, but Mo Xie wouldn't look for him.

Mo Xie was now heading towards Star Dou Forest with Xiao Hei hidden in his clothes. He deduced that the trip would take 9 days to reach the forest because of the distance if he ran, but he was in no hurry. This time, his search for a suitable spirit beast would take a long time, as he needed to find a spirit beast with a mental attribute of at least 20,000 years.

"Sigh, it's really a headache to look for beasts with a mental attribute…" Mo Xie sighed bitterly.

He shook his head and continued to walk to a carriage and paid some gold coins before climbing into it and taking a seat. As he was in no hurry, he decided to use a carriage to travel this time. According to the driver, they should reach the Star Dou Forest within 13 days, so he closed his eyes and sat by the window and looked out over the landscape as the carriage sped by.