Shi Feng felt uneasy and murmured, "Disciple wants... I want the master to reward me with some ash." Gan Chu said nothing and suddenly said, "You all go down." The other three bowed and walked out, casting sympathetic glances at Shi Feng before leaving.
After everyone left, only Gan Chu and Shi Feng were left in the square room. Taoist Gan Chu asked, "Shi Feng, tell me, why do you want the ash from the furnace?" Shi Feng heard the other party's tone was flat and without any emotion, so he could only bite the bullet and say, "I heard that Yin Han Stone is an excellent material for refining cold-attribute treasures, but Yin Han Stone is mixed with some soul wood powder, so it needs to be refined before it can be used..."
Gan Chu suddenly interrupted him and asked, "Do you know how to remove the soul wood powder impurities from the Yin Cold Stone?" Shi Feng said, "The Yin Cold Stone must be refined with the inner family's true fire or the ten thousand year earth fire to melt it." Gan Chu said, "Yin Cold Stone is an extremely cold substance, why is it refined with fire?" Shi Feng said, "This is exactly strange. No matter how long the Yin Cold Stone is burned in the fierce fire, its cold nature is not reduced at all. The soul wood powder mixed in it can be melted by the flames, so it can be refined into pure Yin Cold Stone."
Gan Chu asked, "Is the ash you want this soul wood powder?" Shi Feng replied, "Exactly." Gan Chu asked, "Do you know the use of soul wood powder?" Shi Feng said, "I heard that soul wood powder doesn't have much use originally, but after being burned in the earth fire for a thousand years, it becomes white and fine like sand. Because it grows in the cold stone, it is not afraid of ice. Moreover, after being burned in the earth fire for a thousand years, it is also not afraid of fire. This makes it impervious to water and fire. If you mix some into it when refining weapons, it can make spiritual weapons resistant to fire and ice, making it an excellent refining material. I think the ash in the master's furnace is soul wood powder. Although it hasn't been burned in the fire for a thousand years, the earth fire here is very fierce. And it has been tempered by the master's inner true fire, so it should be of very high quality."
Taoist Gan Chu stroked his beard and asked, "Where did you learn this?" Shi Feng replied, "I occasionally read a classic book that records that soul wood powder, after being burned for thousands of years, is resistant to water and fire. It is also known as 'Thousand Fire Embers' and is a good material for refining weapons." Gan Chu asked again, "What classic book did you read?" Shi Feng replied, "It was 'Fang Lu Ye Tan' written by a man named Qiu Pingzi."
Taoist Ganchu was surprised and said, "'Fang Lu Ye Tan'? This book is quite obscure, and you've read it at such a young age. Qiu Pingzi has a strange personality, but he's also quite knowledgeable in the world of weapon refining. You're right. After being burned in flames for many years, this soul wood powder has become a thousand fire embers, which is an extremely precious weapon refining material. Hehe, if it weren't for this thing, I wouldn't take this job just for the tens of thousands of crystals."
Shi Feng hurriedly said, "Disciple didn't know how precious this item is. Please, Grandmaster, give me another material." Taoist Gan Chu said, "Humph, I'm not a man who doesn't keep his word. But one ounce is too much. There are at most two ounces of embers in this furnace. I'll give you five cents." Shi Feng hurriedly knelt down and said, "Thank you, Grandmaster, for your generous gift."
Gan Chu Zhenren said, "I'll test you again. You said the shell of the dulu fruit is extremely hard, while the flesh inside is extremely fragile. How many methods do you know to separate the dulu fruit shell?" Shi Feng pondered, "I only know six: the ice-cold and heat-explosion separation technique, the Pure Yang Knife cutting technique, the Seven Poison Water soaking and corrosion technique, the Six Woods and Three Fires expansion and cracking technique, the Black-Eyed Rat raw digestion technique, and I think there's also the Black Gold Salt and Iron Sand polishing technique, but I'm not sure about that one."
Gan Chu's eyes flickered with joy. "There are actually nine methods for Duluzi to separate the outer shell. The other three require magical powers to assist, so it's no surprise that you don't know them. The six you mentioned are all correct. Most people only know the first three methods. The fact that you can name six is beyond my expectation. It seems that you are indeed a good seedling for refining weapons. Shi Feng, I just happen to be short of an assistant, so why don't you come to my place and be my furnace boy?"
Shi Feng was quite surprised. "Grandmaster, don't you have many disciples and grandchildren? How come..." Gan Chu sighed, "They are devoted to cultivation and have no other ambitions. I, the old Taoist, will not force them. You are an outer disciple and don't need to cultivate either. Why? You don't want to?" Shi Feng said hurriedly, "Of course, a disciple would be more than happy to do so!" Gan Chu laughed and said, "Okay, okay. Let's make it a deal."
From that day on, Shi Feng followed Taoist Ganchu. Taoist Ganchu was a master of refining weapons and had profound knowledge. Shi Feng naturally asked for advice humbly. Taoist Ganchu was full of knowledge, but had no one to teach him. Shi Feng's questions hit the spot, so he started to talk incessantly and taught him everything he knew.
Furthermore, Master Ganchu's collection of refining texts far surpassed the Sutra Repository. Shi Feng spent his free time in his inner chambers studying these texts, which naturally left Lu Zhen eager to learn more. However, in Master Ganchu's opinion, the texts he collected were sometimes too profound, and Shi Feng felt embarrassed to burden Master Ganchu with every explanation. Therefore, Shi Feng occasionally visited the Sutra Repository. After all, with Master Ganchu's warrant, he had easy access to the third and fourth floors.
Besides, sometimes Shi Feng asked too many questions and Gan Chu didn't have time to explain, so he took out a notebook and let Shi Feng look through it himself. This notebook was Gan Chu's notes. He would jot down any insights or doubts he had while refining the weapon. Shi Feng flipped through it and found it was full of scribblings, fragmented and disorganized. Shi Feng struggled to read it while helping Gan Chu rewrite it and sort out the order. Gan Chu was very satisfied and simply gave the notebook to Shi Feng for safekeeping.
One day, Shi Feng came across a thin weapon refining book in the Sutra Library, titled "The Book of Thirteen Spiritual Weapons". It recorded the refining methods of thirteen low-grade spiritual weapons. Shi Feng was not interested in the sword and knife-like magic weapons in it. After all, he had no magic power and could not control these magic weapons at all. He also did not know any martial arts, and these weapons were useless to him.
But when he came across one of the spiritual weapons, his eyes lit up. The "Iron Dragon Bow" was not too difficult to refine, and it only had three restrictions, making it a low-grade spiritual weapon. Crucially, this bow could be activated with a golden spiritual stone, allowing even those without mana to use it. It was a long-range attack with considerable power. According to the book, it could penetrate rock caves and trees within 300 steps.
Shi Feng doesn't know anything else, but he has been hunting since he was a child and is a first-class archer. He has followed Taoist Gan Chu for a long time and has long had the idea of refining a spiritual weapon of his own. This Iron Dragon Bow is really the perfect fit.
After Shi Feng copied the jade slip, he returned to his residence to study it carefully. The materials required for the Iron Dragon Bow were not complex. The bow was made of top-grade iron essence mixed with a small amount of red copper essence. The arrowhead was even simpler, just a hundred-year-old iron fir. There were no strict requirements for the arrowhead, only sharp gold material polished into a wolf tooth arrow. As for the arrow feathers, eagle feathers were preferred, but pheasant feathers were also acceptable.
The three restrictions on the Iron Dragon Bow are "Follow the Wind," "Hold the Accuracy," and "Boost the Power," which increase range, accuracy, and power, respectively. These are also the most common restrictions. The only special material required for the entire Iron Dragon Bow is the bowstring, which requires the spinal tendons of a dragon crocodile over a hundred years old. However, Shi Feng thought that this only affects the power of the bow and arrow, and other animal tendons can be used instead.
After careful consideration, Shi Feng began to prepare the materials. Iron essence was easy to obtain, as much as he wanted. Shi Feng first made the mold for the Iron Dragon Bow according to the drawing and poured it into the bow body. Among them, Shi Feng also mixed the five cents of "Thousand Fire Embers" he got from Taoist Gan Chu into it. Shi Feng was not worried about wasting this precious material. After all, the "Thousand Fire Embers" could not melt in fire. The worst that could happen was to melt the bow body again and take out the "Thousand Fire Embers" again.
After finishing the bow, Shi Feng began to engrave the restriction. The production of the restriction was very complicated. First, you had to draw the restriction runes on the bow, then prepare all kinds of materials needed for the restriction, fill them on the rune patterns, and finally integrate the restriction into the bow. As for whether it would work or not, you naturally have to test it. If the restriction didn't work at all, then you would have to remove the restriction materials and start over.
This was Shi Feng's first spiritual weapon, so he naturally took great care, meticulously crafting each step and using the right materials. It took him three full months to create the Iron Dragon Bow.
Shi Feng stroked the first spiritual weapon he had crafted. The bow was three feet long, shaped like a dragon, its body as black as ink. Its mouth opened slightly, just enough to hold a crystal. Its body was engraved with floral patterns, and from top to bottom, the three restrictions of "Follow the Wind," "Hold the Accuracy," and "Increase the Strength" were arranged. Shi Feng also crafted more than a dozen arrows, using materials even more refined than the original drawing: red jade paulownia wood for the shaft, iron essence mixed with black gold for the arrowhead, and feathers from ancient Yue mountain eagles for the quivers.
Shi Feng tried to put in a golden spirit stone, and the runes on the bow body lit up slightly. Shi Feng drew the bow and arrow, and after five hundred steps, the arrow pierced the millstone-sized stone more than three inches into the bow. The power of the bow was more than a thousand times greater than that of the bow and arrow Shi Feng had used for hunting in the Dacang Mountains before.
Shi Feng was both happy and sad. The power of this bow and arrow was slightly stronger than what was recorded in the classics, but this was because the materials he used were far more exquisite than the original ones. The more important reason was that he was a physical cultivator, and after practicing the nameless physical training technique, he became much stronger than an ordinary person.
The biggest regret of this bow is the bowstring. The reason why the Iron Dragon Bow is named so is not because the bow body resembles a dragon, but because its bowstring is made of the spinal tendons of a dragon crocodile. Shi Feng has never been able to find this material, so he can only use tiger tendons instead. Although this tiger is not an earthly tiger, it is also a kind of demon tiger, but it is ultimately not as good as the tendons of a dragon crocodile.
Spring goes and autumn comes, and in the blink of an eye it is already the third year since I started.
During these days, Shi Feng followed Gan Chu Taoist to refine and practice the nameless technique. Gan Chu Taoist had great trust in Shi Feng and also gave him some elementary level restrictions to make.
In the past month, Shi Feng suddenly felt that the sect seemed to be much more lively and there was a lot of work to do. Zhenren Ganchu was too busy to handle it, so he called four of his own disciples from Fentian Peak to help. These four people were practicing hard and were not very happy about being captured to refine weapons for no reason.
Shi Feng was the furnace boy of Master Ganchu, so the four men naturally "didn't treat him with any awkwardness" and treated Shi Feng as their own servant, ordering him to do this and that, making Shi Feng so busy that he was exhausted.
That day, Shi Feng finally got a day off, but he didn't even bother to practice and just slept soundly in his room.
He was sleeping soundly when someone outside called out, "Shi Feng, Shi Feng, are you awake?"