She felt a bit dizzy again. Such a wealthy, arrogant, and young handsome cultivator was truly a rare sight. She wished she could sell herself to him. So, later, when fetching materials for Mo Qi, she couldn't help but get a little hands-on, trying to flirt and tease him: "Brother, do you like this one?"
"Brother, this one is good, buy it."
Mo Qi couldn't help but think of Zhen Zhen, but it was a completely different feeling. One wanted nothing but the person, while the other wanted everything but the person.
Facing her fiery enthusiasm, he couldn't show too much resistance. Each time, he politely pushed her away gently, without leaving a trace or losing his manners.
But Xue Nu couldn't stand it anymore. After circling around a few times and not knowing what to buy, she finally took the "Xiaguang Bag" and walked to the counter, slapping it down: "Check out." The sound was deafening, and everyone in the shop couldn't help but look over.
Another shop assistant walked over. Xue Nu waved her hand and then pointed to the shop assistant in front of Mo Qi: "I want her to check me out."
This shop assistant was clearly unwilling, and she could tell Xue Nu was trying to stir up trouble. Upon hearing this, she said, "I can't leave my post."
Mo Qi also felt something was off with Xue Nu, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. Hearing this, he said to the shop assistant, "You go ahead, I've bought most of what I need here."
The shop assistant reluctantly walked over, surprisingly without her smile. "Hello, customer, you need to pay..."
Before the shop assistant could finish, Xue Nu pointed at Mo Qi: "Let your brother pay." Then she picked up the Xiaguang Bag and left without looking back.
The shop assistant stood there stunned. Was this person crazy? She called her over just to say this. It felt like she was being toyed with.
Wu Siqi and Mo Qi were both taken aback. What was going on?
The shop assistant cast a slightly nervous, questioning glance at Mo Qi. After all, the person had left, taken the goods, and hadn't paid.
Mo Qi nodded, appearing indifferent. "Alright, I'll pay." The shop assistant breathed a sigh of relief, feeling greatly relieved.
At this point, Mo Qi felt he had bought enough and walked to the counter to check out with the shop assistant. At the same time, he turned and called over Wu Siqi, who was still clutching the "Lingxi Gloves" with a pained expression: "Bring it here, I'll pay for it all together."
Wu Siqi was overjoyed and flashed over, regretting inwardly that he hadn't grabbed a few more magical artifacts. Taking them now would be too conspicuous.
The shop assistant calculated the total bill, and then called two other people to count the total amount of spirit stones on the counter. In the end, she even gave Mo Qi several hundred spirit stones back as change.
As Mo Qi and Wu Siqi left the shop, Xue Nu hadn't gone far; she was waiting just outside the door.
Seeing the two emerge, Xue Nu glanced at Mo Qi, then turned and sped away from the town. She had suddenly lost all interest in browsing magical artifact shops.
Mo Qi and Wu Siqi exchanged glances and took off after her. It was clear Xue Nu was angry about something, but they didn't know what. Wu Siqi, empathizing, immediately thought of a possibility and said to Mo Qi, "I get it, Martial Uncle-Grandfather. You were too ostentatious and overbearing when you were shopping, acting like no one else mattered. We, on the other hand, are short on cash and very low-key and hesitant. Shopping with you, we'd basically just watch you act freely while we were ignored and neglected, feeling inferior and miserable."
Although Mo Qi didn't quite agree with the terms "ostentatious and overbearing" or "acting like no one else mattered," he felt that, overall, Wu Siqi had hit the nail on the head. It was like a sudden awakening. No wonder she had asked him to pay; it was resentment, revenge! He recalled his own feelings towards the Lu family back then; it was exactly the same.
With this thought, Mo Qi immediately picked up his pace, chasing and saying, "There are many more shops and many more magical artifacts there. Let's browse some more. I won't buy anything this time; I'll just watch you guys buy."
"Not browsing, I'm not in the mood," Xue Nu said faintly, still showing no signs of slowing down.
Wu Siqi was still eager, saying to Mo Qi, "Let's browse some more."
Mo Qi had long heard that most shopkeepers of magical artifact shops had some cultivation. They relied on their own spiritual power to sense the acquired magical artifacts and thus price them. However, their spiritual power was limited, and most of them were cultivators in the Condensation stage. Moreover, even if their cultivation was high, they could still make mistakes. Some magical artifacts' spiritual power did not manifest outwardly and was deeply hidden. Shopkeepers couldn't fully perceive them and would classify them as low-grade magical artifacts.
Therefore, most cultivators who browsed magical artifact shops did so with the hope of finding a hidden gem. Sometimes, with good luck, they could acquire a high-quality magical artifact, or even a treasure, at a very low price.
Mo Qi had initially harbored this thought. Who knew that under the shop assistant's repeated coaxing, he had only focused on showing off and forgotten his original intention. At this moment, he felt it was necessary to visit a few more shops to try his luck. Perhaps there would be unexpected gains, and even if there weren't, he wouldn't have any regrets.
"Then you go back to the Divine Pill Sect first. We'll come find you in a couple of days. We'll set off together." Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, Mo Qi gave up chasing and said to Xue Nu ahead.
Xue Nu did not respond and continued to fly forward. The two then stopped bothering her and returned to Wu Xia Town.
This time, both of them had agreed on a plan: first, to be low-key, appearing impoverished; second, to be focused, only looking at low-grade magical artifacts and ignoring others; third, not to accept recommendations or coaxing from shop assistants, and to choose and observe everything themselves.
They browsed from one shop to another. Whenever a shop assistant tried to approach them with a showy demeanor, they would scare them away with their impoverished appearance. Seizing the rare opportunity for quiet browsing, they casually examined the low-grade magical artifacts. However, after browsing dozens of shops, they found nothing special. Low-grade magical artifacts were just low-grade magical artifacts.
Wu Siqi was getting a bit tired of browsing and was starting to lose heart. At this moment, Mo Qi became interested in a seashell magical artifact he was holding. The artifact had a shell on the outside, and inside the shell was a piece of scaly, leathery material, formed into a cylindrical ring. When he asked the shop assistant about it, she replied somewhat indifferently, "This is the Divine Mist Shell. When activated, it emits divine mist from the leathery ring to attack opponents. The reason it's classified as a low-grade magical artifact is that its attack power is not strong, and its lethality is also weak."
Mo Qi input his spiritual power and discovered that there was a vortex of spiritual energy circulating within the leathery ring, strongly responding to Mo Qi's probing spiritual power, even giving a sense of bursting forth. However, when activated, the spiritual power it emitted was indeed not strong.
The shop assistant curled her lips: Such a bumpkin, needing to verify a low-grade magical artifact outside the shop. Truly as poor and shabby as can be.
Mo Qi ignored the shop assistant's contempt, vaguely feeling that this was the item he was meant to "find a hidden gem" in. Although he couldn't see anything special about it, he felt that this seashell magical artifact still had some untapped potential. Moreover, after browsing for so long, he hadn't found anything, and he couldn't return empty-handed. He decided to consider this his discovery for the day. Seeing that Wu Siqi also seemed ready to head back, he decided to buy this.
After paying a few dozen spirit stones, he purchased the Divine Mist Shell. The two then returned to their respective mountains, agreeing to meet at the Divine Pill Sect in two days before heading to the Annan Cultivation Realm together.
After parting ways with Wu Siqi, Mo Qi flew towards Lingxiao Mountain. As he walked, he kept observing the Divine Mist Shell. He thought that the fish-scale beast skin inside this shell clearly possessed strong spiritual energy, but when combined with the outer shell, its power was not fully unleashed. Could it be that the fish-scale beast skin and the outer shell were incompatible in attributes, or even antagonistic?
With this thought, Mo Qi activated his spiritual power and sent out streaks of arrow energy. He aimed precisely, avoiding the beast skin inside, and shattered the outer shell. He then took out the beast skin from within. Upon unfolding it, he discovered that the beast skin was as wide as his chest, and faint mist was rising from it.
He held it against his chest and felt that this item would be suitable as a protective magical artifact.
As this idea flashed through his mind, he immediately had an epiphany. This beast skin was originally meant for defensive magical artifacts. Who knows who refined it into an offensive magical artifact and combined it with the shell? The incompatibility of the two naturally reduced its power.
If it were refined into a protective magical artifact, judging by the material of the beast skin, it was highly likely to be refined into a high-quality magical artifact, or even a treasure.
Mo Qi was overjoyed. It seemed he had truly "found a hidden gem" today.
Upon returning to Lingxiao Mountain, Mo Qi was greeted with a wave of flowers and applause.
Elder Wang organized the disciples of Lingxiao Sect to welcome him at the entrance. There were gongs and drums, firecrackers, and a shower of flowers.
Elder Wang delivered an inspiring welcome speech, calling Mo Qi the foremost figure in the history of Lingxiao Sect. Representing Lingxiao Sect in the Four Great Sects competition was already an supreme honor, and now he had broken through the ranks to qualify for the Northern Region trial. This was another great feat and a milestone in the history of Lingxiao Sect, the previous one being Mo Qi's thousand silk threads and the completion of the Fire Fox Grub's perfect quality. He mentioned that the Sect Master was supposed to come to greet him personally today but had a last-minute engagement and had entrusted him to come. His purpose was twofold: to welcome him and to bid him farewell. For their proud prodigy was about to embark on a thousand-mile journey, heading towards the grand path of the Northern Region trial, soaring to unprecedented heights and achieving rapid advancement.
Thousands of admiring eyes were cast upon Mo Qi, and a thunderous ovation of applause and cheers erupted.
Mo Qi raised his hand to acknowledge them, offering a smile to each and every one.
Unconsciously, his heart swelled with pride, as if he were floating amidst clouds and mist.
At that moment, he suddenly had an illusion, as if all the sunlight was shining for him and all the flowers were blooming for him.
Walking on any path within Lingxiao Sect, he strode with vigor and confidence.
On the road, he encountered Bai Cheng. Bai Cheng still maintained her usual calm and serene demeanor, as if nothing else mattered. Upon seeing Mo Qi, she merely lowered her head slightly and walked past.
Mo Qi's mood was at its peak. He went up and kissed her.
Bai Cheng glanced at him, said nothing, and silently walked away.
After kissing Bai Cheng, Mo Qi himself was startled. How could his mouth have acted so shamelessly at that moment?
It was all because the applause was too intense, and the flowers were too intoxicating!
However, he had indeed become a bit too arrogant. It was time to rein it in, or he would surely get beaten up once he went out.
Once the fanfare died down, Mo Qi immediately set about refining his protective magical artifact.
When he found Jin Dan and shared this idea, Jin Dan immediately volunteered to take on this important task.
Mo Qi naturally didn't trust him, especially since he had just blown up his furnace.
"Brother, it's not that I don't want to give you a chance. You should do what you can. Refining such high-grade magical artifacts requires a high cultivation level for the refiner. When spiritual energy overflows, if you don't have enough spiritual power to guide and suppress it, you might end up with a废器 (waste artifact), or even cause the furnace to explode," Mo Qi said, staring at him.
Jin Dan rarely saw him so serious. Reluctantly, he stepped aside, watching Mo Qi take his place with longing eyes.
Jin Dan's room was now filled with spirit stones. He was afraid of being coveted, so only a small portion was kept here; most of it was deposited in the Exchange Hall. If someone wanted to trade, the contribution points would be directly transferred to his spirit stones for contribution points. If no one wanted to trade, he would store them there for his own use.
When he refined magical artifacts, he would hand over a portion to the Lingxiao Sect's affiliated magical artifact shops outside the mountain, which would sell them on his behalf. Another portion was also placed in the Exchange Hall to exchange for contribution points. However, the response from both channels was mediocre, and his refining skills needed improvement.
Mo Qi found spirit stones of the same attribute in Jin Dan's room and then went to the Exchange Hall to exchange for some Shadow Immortal Grass. He placed the fish-scale beast skin in the artifact room and the spirit stones and Shadow Immortal Grass in the spirit stone room. Then, he closed the refining furnace, lit the fire, and began refining.
Refining artifacts was not as gentle as refining pills. Once the refining began, the spiritual energies inside would collide. Sometimes, there would be sounds of "bang bang bang" explosions, and at other times, it would be heart-stopping. Jin Dan and Mo Qi both stared intently, their hearts tightly strung. Mo Qi had to concentrate on the alchemic furnace, constantly adjusting the furnace fire or taking other measures according to the changes. At the same time, he held the formation flags in his hand to prevent the furnace from exploding.