"It seems that this item is most likely left by some type of fierce beast spider or silkworm. I may find someone to take a look when I have a chance," Yuan Ming mused silently. He didn't pay much attention to it and set the gray silk bundle aside, then took out the black token.

On one side of the token was a coiled dragon pattern with the words "Elder" inscribed below it, and on the other side was a name: Li Sha.

Yuan Ming was about to cast the black token aside but suddenly stopped and channeled his mana into it.

A dense black light emanated from the token, and a small knife-shaped black rune appeared in the center.

"Just an identity token, yet why is it made into a magical tool? Could it be that this token has other uses besides identifying one's identity?" Yuan Ming speculated.

He knew nothing about White Dragon Island, naturally unable to see through it, he did not think further about it. He placed the black token aside and then began to examine the blue small banner.

The banner was embroidered with a cloud pattern. Even without activation, streaks of blue light emitted from it, quickly increasing the moisture in the room, causing droplets of water to form on surfaces like the tabletop and windowsill.

At the base of the small banner was embroidered in tiny characters: Shuiyun Banner.

After a moment of contemplation, Yuan Ming channeled his mana into it. The Shuiyun Banner rose from his hand, casting a bright blue light, and the moisture in the room visibly thickened, with slight mists appearing in the air, creating a somewhat dreamy atmosphere.

He did not stop there and increased the input of his mana. The light on the Shuiyun Banner grew brighter, and two rune-like blue shadows flashed across the banner, arranged in a "品" shape.

"Two runes, a Mid-Grade Magical Artifact!" Yuan Ming could not contain his joy.

The materials and runes are the foundation of a magical tool, each supporting the other, neither can be lacking.

Without runes, it's like the Green Fish Sword, merely a semi-finished magical tool. When only runes are present and the material of the magical tool is too poor, it cannot withstand the engraving of runes or the infusion of spiritual power.

A Low-Grade Magical Artifact can only have one rune inscribed, a Mid-Grade two, and a top-grade has three.

This Shuiyun Banner contains two runes; it is undoubtedly a Mid-Grade Magical Artifact, which counts as a significant gain from this trip to Black Rock City!

Considering that the Black-Robed Elder was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and also an elder of the White Dragon Island, it's usual for him to have a Mid-Grade Magical Artifact as a trump card. Sadly, the painstakingly refined treasure was never used before he was killed, unwittingly benefiting me instead.

Yuan Ming did not continue to activate it further but carefully packed up the Shuiyun Banner.

This place is a hostel after all, too crowded and not suitable for refining magical tools or testing their true power.

However, even without testing it now, this Shuiyun Banner as a Mid-Grade Magical Artifact, surely won't disappoint him.

Yuan Ming calmed his excited emotions and packed up the small banner and the other items, taking out the jade box and the medicine bottles.

He first opened the jade box, and his expression twitched.

Inside the jade box were some jade plates, small flags, and similar items, each engraved with many patterns. They filled the box to the brim.

"What are these?" Yuan Ming picked up a small flag which had patterns somewhat similar to the array patterns he had seen before.

But array patterns are usually engraved on the ground or other immovable surfaces for setting up arrays, what's the use of carving them on these small flags?

"A Foundation Establishment Cultivator would not carry useless items. I'll ask someone about these when I return to the Sect," Yuan Ming decided, then he put the small flag back and picked up two medicine bottles.

He first opened the larger one. It was filled with emerald pills, easily over a hundred in total, each emitting faint fluctuations of spiritual power.

"Nourishing Origin Pills!" Yuan Ming had just bought five bottles of Nourishing Origin Pills at the Longevity Immortal Tower, so he recognized the green pills by name immediately.

The Longevity Immortal Tower sold Nourishing Origin Pills, ten in a bottle for fifteen Spirit Stones. He had actually wanted to buy more, but the constraints of his budget didn't allow it. Now suddenly obtaining so many was like a huge windfall, surely enough for his use during the Qi Refinement Realm.

"This level of Strengthening and Nourishing elixir, that elder surely can't use them. Perhaps they were bought for his disciples or nephews. Luckily for me, I get to experience being pampered with pills by an elder!" he speculated secretly.

His Nine Elements Technique was already progressing rapidly; even compared with disciples nurtured by the Sect with elixir resources in the Biluo Cave, he was not far behind. Plus, being financially constrained before, he actually hadn't considered elixir-assisted cultivation.

With that thought, Yuan Ming felt an irrepressible urge to try it out. He sat down cross-legged, took out a green pill, and swallowed it.

The green pill dissolved as soon as it entered his stomach, turning into a stream of primordial qi, which slowly merged into his body, meandering through the meridians of his limbs and gradually gathering in his Dantian.

He closed his eyes, circulated the Nine Elements Technique, and it took him two hours to absorb this stream of primordial qi. Although the increase in his mana was not significant, it was indeed faster than solely cultivating the Nine Elements Technique.

"The claim by the deacon at Longevity Immortal Tower about doubling the cultivation speed, if not misleading, must be intended for ordinary cultivation techniques," he thought with a trace of a smile. Then he carefully put away the big jade bottle and took out the smaller one.

The small jade bottle was sealed with a white talisman, enveloped by an invisible force.

Yuan Ming's eyes flickered with anticipation, for such a carefully stored item within the small jade bottle was bound not to be ordinary.

He channeled his mana, removed the white talisman, and opened the bottle lid.

Three amber-colored pills lay quietly inside, crystal-clear like jade, radiating a yellow halo.

Yuan Ming took out one pill and sniffed it lightly but didn't smell any fragrance and couldn't determine its ingredients from its appearance.

He activated his Divine Sense to probe inside the pill but gained nothing from it.

"I'm embarrassed that I can't even recognize the items I obtained. I need to travel and observe more in the future to broaden my perspective," Yuan Ming inwardly chuckled bitterly. After sorting and storing everything by category, he took out the Spiritual Pine he had bought earlier, as well as the old man's yellow spiritual wood.

After pondering for a moment, he cut a small part from each piece of spiritual wood, ground them into powder, then took out the tools, materials, and most importantly, the incense ashes needed for making incense. Soon, he had made three sticks of incense.

Due to the incense ashes, the three sticks of incense had no fluctuations of spiritual power.

He did not proceed to light the incense in the incense burner, realizing that he had used it almost six days ago and it hadn't recovered yet.

After storing the three incense sticks and the Spiritual Pine, Yuan Ming changed into another set of clothes, put on a hat, and went back to the streets, arriving shortly at the Magic Artifact Shop that bought runes.

Before entering the shop, he used a low-grade junior talisman that could briefly conceal his aura and prevent divine sense from spying on his appearance.

Although he had a chance for a free artifact refinement, he did not want to use it right away. Instead, he thought about using this opportunity later to see if he could persuade the other party to teach him some artifact refining techniques, which would be far superior to obtaining anything else.

The shop had a customer at the moment; the bald man was fervently boasting about a decent-looking black blade magical artifact.

The customer was swayed by the spiel, and finally, gritting his teeth, he paid with spirit stones to purchase the blade.

After sending off the customer, the bald man saw Yuan Ming standing by the counter and warmly welcomed him, "This distinguished guest, are you also looking to purchase a magical artifact? Although all the magical artifacts in our shop are low-grade, the quality is exceptionally good, and the prices are absolutely fair."

"I heard that magical artifacts can be custom-made here?" Yuan Ming, using mana to alter his voice, asked.

"Is the guest a regular here? Not many know that our shop can customize magical artifacts," the bald man uttered in surprise, examining Yuan Ming from head to toe with a slightly uncertain tone.

Yuan Ming chuckled dryly and merely nodded slightly without committing to an answer to the man's question.

"Our shop indeed accepts orders for custom-made magical artifacts. However, I must mention beforehand that customers need to provide their materials, and if the artifact fails to refine, our shop bears no responsibility," the bald man stated seriously, without pressing further.

"That's acceptable," Yuan Ming, having previously learned about the shop's artifact refining rules from Gu Yue, had no objections.

"Please wait a moment then; I will call Master Huo Lian out… Since you are a regular, you must know our shop only refines low-grade magical artifacts and does not deal with mid-grade or higher," the bald man said as he turned to go deeper into the shop, then suddenly stopped and turned back to confirm.

"I am aware of that. I am here to ask Master Huo Lian to refine a low-grade magical artifact," Yuan Ming replied.

Reassured, the bald man then went into the back room.

Yuan Ming crossed his arms and lightly tapped the fingertips of one hand against his arm.

The magical artifact he sought Master Huo Lian to refine was the Thousand Mechanism Mask.

He had initially planned to ask the Three Cave Masters for help, and the compensation was already prepared.

Xi Ying had told him that the challenge in crafting the Thousand Mechanism Mask lay in engraving the runes, and Master Huo Lian excelled at rune engraving, making him seemingly more suitable for the task.

Master Huo Lian soon emerged from the back room, sizing up Yuan Ming, "Is it you who wishes to custom-order a magical artifact?"

"Indeed. I've heard of Master Huo Lian's exquisite artifact refining skills and have come especially to pay a visit," Yuan Ming said respectfully, maintaining a very humble demeanor.

"Let's dispense with the pleasantries. Tell me directly what magical artifact you want to refine," Master Huo Lian said, waving his hand and disregarding Yuan Ming's respectful attitude.

"The Thousand Mechanism Mask," Yuan Ming, seeing the direct approach of the master, said straightforwardly.

As he spoke, he took out the human-faced ghost spider face skin, white jade stone grease, and other materials.

"Although the Thousand Mechanism Mask is effective, the materials are hard to find, and not many wish to refine it. Especially the human-faced spider's face skin and white jade stone grease are often priceless. I'm surprised you managed to gather them," Master Huo Lian, holding the materials before his eyes for a few moments, shifted from his previous indifference with a hint of eagerness in his eyes.

"Master Huo Lian, may I ask how confident are you in refining it?" Yuan Ming asked bluntly.

"You're in luck. The hardest part of refining the Thousand Mechanism Mask lies in the engraving of the runes; the required rune for the Thousand Mechanism Mask is the Thousand Illusion. I have refined several illusionary-type magical artifacts and am very familiar with this rune. I can't guarantee a hundred percent, but I have about seventy to eighty percent confidence," Master Huo Lian proudly claimed.

"Then I'll leave it in your capable hands. May I know the charges for refining the artifact?" Yuan Ming, feeling a relief in his heart, bowed and asked.

Master Huo Lian said nothing; the smiling bald man stepped forward instead.

Yuan Ming and the bald man negotiated briefly, finally settling on twenty spirit stones with the artifact to be delivered in two days.

Yuan Ming paid a deposit of ten spirit stones and was about to depart when he suddenly recalled something and said, "Master Huo Lian is adept in refining, and must also be very knowledgeable about various spiritual materials. I have an item here; I hope you can help identify it."

"Let's see it then," said Master Huo Lian, responding directly upon hearing this.

Yuan Ming took out the red curved horn and handed it over.

Master Huo Lian examined it closely for a long while before he slowly set it down, his gaze somewhat complex.

"Master, how is it?" Yuan Ming asked.

Master Huo Lian remained silent, his gaze flickering uncertainly.

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