Chapter 400: Busy Zhang Yu

As Zhang Yu's Azure Sand refining level reached Level 2, countless images of the refining process flashed through his mind. He recalled the circulation of various magical energies and martial arts qi, the manipulation of materials, heat control, the intricate details of spray-coating fiber composite films, and the experience of stabilizing magical energy circuits.

Memory after memory of the refining process surfaced in Zhang Yu's mind, granting him a sudden and profound understanding of Azure Sand refining.

Consequently, when he next attempted to refine Azure Sand using only one-tenth of the materials, his success rate dramatically improved!

Furthermore, the quality of the Azure Sand showed a visible improvement!

Ye Xingli, observing the finished Azure Sand Zhang Yu had refined, was slightly surprised. "The color is bright, and the impurities and purity seem significantly better than before. This is Level 2 Azure Sand," she thought.

"Is it just luck, or has he genuinely improved so fast?" she wondered.

Ye Xingli continued her observations, but soon noticed Zhang Yu once again haphazardly compressing the refining time, causing the resulting Azure Sand to revert to Level 1.

By the time the six hours of practice concluded, Zhang Yu had, through repeated attempts, managed to compress the Azure Sand refining time to approximately 15 minutes.

"With the materials compressed to one-tenth, that's 0.003 spirit coins!"

"The rental cost for the venue and equipment is 0.7 spirit coins for six hours; split with Ye Xingli, it's 0.35 spirit coins. If I can consistently refine one batch every 15 minutes, I can complete 24 refinements in six hours!"

Zhang Yu silently calculated, "At this rate, the cost of a single refinement is reduced to approximately 0.01758 spirit coins!"

And this wasn't even the limit!

Zhang Yu then thought of his Formless Golems and Deep Freeze Golems.

Just as he used his Formless and Deep Freeze Golems for work at the construction site, he realized he could apply the same principle to artifact refining.

Zhang Yu considered, "The compression of materials and time can now be fixed. Next time, I'll activate my Quadruple Thought process to see if I can simultaneously refine four batches of Azure Sand. If successful, not only will the cost continue to drop, but my cultivation efficiency will also surge again!"

"Furthermore, after I continuously refine Azure Sand, if I sell a portion of it to recoup some costs, the spirit coins I spend can be reduced even further!"

With this in mind, Zhang Yu turned to Ye Xingli and asked, "Senior, if I want to sell some of the products I make for practice in the future, where's the most convenient place to do so?"

Recalling True Monarch Magnetic Pole's instructions, Ye Xingli replied directly, "If you trust me, you can simply consign them to me in the future! I have some connections in the Artifact Refining Department and can help you sell them. However, basic refined products won't fetch a high price; at most, they'll just help you break even!"

Zhang Yu quickly nodded, saying, "I understand, that's perfectly fine. Just breaking even is enough!"

After leaving the laboratory, they bid each other farewell.

As Ye Xingli watched Zhang Yu's departing back, she sent a message to True Monarch Magnetic Pole: "Master, Zhang Yu and I have left the laboratory!"

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: How did Zhang Yu perform?

Ye Xingli: His talent in artifact refining is decent. He managed to refine Level 2 Azure Sand during the six hours.

Ye Xingli: However, his attitude is problematic. He likes to arbitrarily change quantities and times right from the start!

Ye Xingli briefly recounted what she had observed.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole replied, "I understand!"

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: If he wants to sell his products in the future, help him consign them for now.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: As for the laboratory, you can also split the costs with him.

Hearing True Monarch Magnetic Pole instruct her to help Zhang Yu to such an extent, Ye Xingli finally couldn't suppress her doubts. She asked, "Master, Zhang Yu is a student from the Civil Engineering Department, isn't he? His talent in artifact refining isn't particularly outstanding. Why are you helping him so much?"

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: Director Gao from the Civil Engineering Department wants to transfer his disciple to the Artifact Refining Department.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: Although I don't particularly recommend it!

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: But given our friendship of several hundred years, if he insists, then even at a small loss, I must still offer the necessary help.

Reading True Monarch Magnetic Pole's message, Ye Xingli couldn't help but marvel at the depth of friendship between him and Director Gao.

She mused, "As expected, it wasn't Zhang Yu, a civil engineering student, who attracted Master's attention, but rather it was for Director Gao's sake!"

Ye Xingli also found this more logical. After all, a civil engineering student was akin to someone from the Security Department—essentially a 'vocational student' at Ten Thousand Arts University. With Master's discerning standards, how could he possibly be interested? He would likely demand a substantial payment just to consider such a request.

"But Master and Director Gao... is this a friendship between ancient cultivators? Although Master has kept pace with the times, constantly learning cutting-edge immortal cultivation techniques and following the trends of Kun, he is still an ancient person. His thinking, in the end, is inevitably influenced by outdated ancient culture!"

As Ye Xingli was lost in thought, True Monarch Magnetic Pole sent another message.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: This matter is currently confidential. Even if you were to ask Director Gao and me directly, we would not admit it.

True Monarch Magnetic Pole: Remember not to reveal it.

Ye Xingli: Master, you can rest assured about my discretion. Even if someone offered 1000 spirit coins, I wouldn't breathe a word!

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhang Yu was on his way to the construction site on the 667th floor.

He first checked his Feather Scroll, noting Azure Sand Level 2 (10/20), then looked at another artifact refining skill: Azure Cloud Pouch Level 0 (0/1, Azure Sand 2/5).

The Azure Cloud Pouch was an artifact blueprint Zhang Yu had learned in his Artifact Refining Department courses; it was an artifact specifically designed for storing Azure Sand. With the injection of magical energy, it could perform large-scale spraying and retrieval of Azure Sand.

Similar to Zhang Yu's martial arts cultivation, many artifact refining techniques also had prerequisite requirements for mastery. For example, Azure Sand refining required specific levels of magical energy and martial arts qi, while the Azure Cloud Pouch required prior mastery of certain Azure Sand refining techniques.

"Whether it's an artifact or a Dharma body, beyond requirements for cultivation realm, Dao heart, and magical energy, there are often various prerequisite artifact refining techniques!"

Zhang Yu mused, "To gradually cultivate to the point where I can refine my own physical body into a Dharma body, I'll need to master a vast number of prerequisite artifact refining techniques, in addition to my cultivation."

"There's still a long way to go!"

"However, with so many artifact refining techniques, I probably won't need to master every single one to the extreme; just enough to be proficient will suffice!"

As for more distant goals, like owning his own artifact refining laboratory or establishing his own production line, Zhang Yu could only dream of them for now.

Arriving at the construction site, a place he knew well, Zhang Yu saw Formless Golems appear around him. Then, with a flick of his hand, he sprinkled a handful of Azure Sand onto the Formless Golems. As the surging martial arts qi churned within the Formless Golems, a faint glimmer of Azure Sand appeared, making the golems seem more substantial.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Azure Sand can increase the conduction efficiency of martial arts qi and reduce its consumption rate. This should improve my work efficiency!"

Consequently, while Zhang Yu controlled the Formless Golems to work and earn money at the construction site, he himself was enveloped in a cloud of Formless Cloud Qi, where he began cultivating the seventh technique of the Martial Saint Body.

Several hours later, as dawn broke, Zhang Yu calculated his earnings for the day and noted, "Construction efficiency has increased by about 5%!"

"Not bad," he mused. "If the Azure Sand's level increases further in the future, the efficiency improvement should be even greater! This way, even if Senior Ye Xingli doesn't consign much Azure Sand for sale, I can still use it to increase my income at the construction site!"

This thought further fueled Zhang Yu's motivation.

In the following days, Zhang Yu rented the artifact refining laboratory approximately once or twice a week to practice his artifact refining techniques. The rest of the time, he attended classes during the day and worked at the construction site at night, while also cultivating the Martial Saint Body techniques. Additionally, he had to find time to study artifact refining courses in the Grand Purity Realm, absorb 200 units of magical energy to enhance its quality, and visit the Heart Forging Abode to temper his Dao Heart.

Inside the laboratory!

Ye Xingli glanced at the three Formless Golems nearby and thought, "What powerful multitasking ability!"

"But with such multitasking and simultaneous production of multiple batches of Azure Sand, is it truly beneficial for improving artifact refining techniques? Enhancing refining skills isn't about mere repetition!"

In Ye Xingli's view, unless the goal was mass production, it was far more effective for skill improvement to focus intently on refining a single batch of Azure Sand, feeling every detail of the materials, steps, time, heat, magical energy, and martial arts qi, and continuously learning and adjusting.

The next moment, Ye Xingli's gaze suddenly shifted to the successfully refined Azure Sand in front of one of the Formless Golems.

"Level 3 Azure Sand," she noted.

"Quite interesting!"

Ye Xingli thought to herself, "Although he tends to be haphazard, Zhang Yu's talent in artifact refining appears to be stronger than I initially estimated!" However, she wasn't overly concerned; after all, Ye Xingli had refined Level 5 Azure Sand on her very first attempt.

Turning her head, Ye Xingli continued to interview her new artifact spirits.

"You graduated from Joyous Harmony University. May I ask what your primary gender was during your life?"

"You're a colonel student? I apologize, but for this recruitment, I'm only looking for Soul Cultivators who graduated from the Ten Great universities!"

"Heavenly Demon University? Welcome aboard. In the future, feel free to treat my right hand as your own home!"

That day, just after leaving the laboratory, Zhang Yu received a message from Gongshu Jin.

Reading the message, Zhang Yu's eyes lit up. "Is the buffet about to start?"

Simultaneously, Ye Xingli, standing beside Zhang Yu, said, "You're going to the gathering later, aren't you? After all, it's a celebration for the Civil Engineering Department!"

Zhang Yu nodded. He already knew the gathering was arranged by Mo Shangjin, primarily to celebrate their second-place finish in the inter-school league.

Ye Xingli casually said, "Then let's go together; I'm also attending!"

Zhang Yu followed Ye Xingli to the 650th floor of Ten Thousand Arts University. Just as they exited the anti-gravity passage, they saw Gongshu Jin already waiting outside.

Gongshu Jin was surprised to see Zhang Yu walking alongside Ye Xingli. Compared to the Ye Xingli he first saw last year, she was now vastly different in Gongshu Jin's eyes. Her rank in the Artifact Refining Department, previously 15th, had now changed to 8th. To achieve such a rank in the Artifact Refining Department, one of the three elite departments, made Ye Xingli a top-tier student at Ten Thousand Arts University in Gongshu Jin's estimation.

Watching them chat and laugh, Gongshu Jin wondered, "Since when did Zhang Yu and Ye Xingli become so close?"