Troublemaker’s Guide to Immortality

At this moment, a new option had appeared beside Yun Jin's forging proficiency: a simplification button.

She tapped it.

[Forging 100 pieces of Refined Black iron will increase proficiency by 1%. Reach 100% to advance to a Grade-Two Artifact Refiner.]

Yun Jin raised a brow and immediately spent ten simplification points.

[Forging 50 pieces of Refined Black iron will increase proficiency by 1%. Reach 100% to advance to a Grade-Two Artifact Refiner.]

Fifty pieces?

Still too many.

Her time was far too precious.

She kept tapping.

After using a total of fifty simplification points, the condition finally changed again.

[Forging 10 pieces of Refined Black iron will increase proficiency by 1%.]

She tried simplifying again, but the condition didn't shift. Clearly, ten pieces was the minimum threshold.

Yun Jin didn't push further and began forging in earnest.

At her current speed, it took about a quarter of an hour to forge one piece of Refined Black iron. However, the process consumed a tremendous amount of spiritual power. After crafting one piece, she would need time to recover.

But Yun Jin was not just anyone. She was a walking cheat. She could directly restore her spiritual power with pills. Which meant she could quickly move on to the next piece without pause. If she went nonstop, she could complete ten pieces in two hours.

There were twelve hours in a day. If she pushed herself hard, she could increase her proficiency by 6% each day.

In under twenty days, she would reach Grade Two.

By then, her senior brother should have gathered the materials she needed to upgrade the Tai'a Sword.

This plan was tight, but workable.

And honestly, advancing as an Artifact Refiner seemed even more grueling than as an Alchemist.

Then again, Yun Jin saw the value in both approaches.

With alchemy, she had to spend a large number of simplification points just to master specific pills. Even if she could easily craft simplified Foundation Establishment Pills, she had to use new points to learn any other Grade-Two pill.

That path required splurging simplification points like a rich girl spending spirit stones. But if she tried that for every side profession, she'd run out of points in no time.

Compared to that, the forging route was slower and more physically demanding, but far more economical.

Each method had its pros and cons, and both suited their respective crafts.

Yun Jin didn't dwell too long on it. Glancing at the pile of Black iron, she guessed it might not be enough, so she used her communication token to ask Yue Zhao for more.

Not long after, a fresh batch arrived.

A disciple from Lingqi Peak left the iron at the door, then rang the bell.

When Yun Jin stepped out to collect it, she greeted the disciple with a smile and handed him a tightly wrapped bundle.

"Senior brother, could you pass this along to Peak Master Yang?" She included a middle-grade spirit stone as a delivery fee.

The disciple's gaze shifted subtly as he quickly accepted it. "Of course. I'll deliver it, though I can't guarantee whether he'll accept it."

"That's only fair," Yun Jin said with a smile.

He nodded and turned away.

Yun Jin hauled the iron back in and returned to her day-and-night forge work.

Before long, the wrapped bundle was sitting on Yang Hui's desk.

He narrowed his eyes at it.

Hadn't Yun Jin just entered the Earthfire Chamber? Now she was already requesting more Black iron? And even sent something for him?

Remembering their awkward last encounter, he didn't dare assume it was a gift. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little curious. He scanned the bundle with his spiritual sense and immediately frowned. Urgently, he tore away the wrapping. At the center was a perfectly forged piece of Refined Black iron.

His beard actually trembled.

Where had this come from?

Did Yun Jin sneak a finished piece in beforehand?

But then, why send it to him? That would serve no purpose at all.

Was she seriously claiming that she had forged this herself?

Yang Hui shook his head reflexively.

She had barely been inside for an hour.

Could she really have crafted her first piece of Refined Black iron already?

It seemed impossible.

Yet when he recalled the excessive confidence on her face...

For a moment, he hesitated.

She had no reason to trick him with a purchased piece. She would gain nothing from it.

But still...

Yang Hui's expression shifted repeatedly before settling into calm. In the end, he stored the iron away in his storage bag. Yun Jin had already returned to closed-door cultivation. There was no way to ask her now.

The truth would reveal itself in a month.

Inside the Earthfire Chamber, there was no day or night.

The glowstones overhead burned constantly.

The flames never ceased, their heat filling the room without rest.

And Yun Jin dove into her twenty most intense days of training.

All day, every day, she forged Refined Black iron.

When her spiritual power ran out, she took pills.

When her energy returned, she forged again.

In between, she barely rested. Even the time spent waiting for pills to take effect felt like rest to her.

And through this feverish repetition, she made a discovery.

Each time she drained her power and restored it, her recovery got faster. Each cycle left her with a slightly larger spiritual reservoir. Her cultivation was advancing at a pace she could feel. Even her slow-growing soul realm began to speed up.

By the fifth day, her soul had reached the early Golden Core stage.

By the tenth day, her spiritual power hit the peak of Foundation Establishment. She could feel the breakthrough approaching. But she was still busy with the forge, so she simply tried compressing her spiritual power.

Unexpectedly, she succeeded.

So she didn't stop.

Each strike of the hammer wasn't just on the iron. It also seemed to pound against her own spiritual power, compressing it further and further.

She kept forging for ten more days.

During that time, she officially became a Grade-Two Artifact Refiner. But her spiritual power kept condensing, growing more refined with every swing. Only when it reached the limit of compression did Yun Jin finally sit down in meditation.

Before, her spiritual energy had been like a calm ocean resting in her dantian.

Now, after these days of forging, that ocean had condensed into a massive sphere.

She had unknowingly completed the first major step toward reaching the Golden Core stage.

And the next step... was to compress this sphere.