This time, Yang Yan's artifact refining had taken considerably longer — a full two months.
But on the day she emerged from seclusion, she brought out seven Saint King-grade Artifacts! All three tiers — upper, middle, and lower — were represented.
Perhaps because the pills and Saint Crystals Yang Kai had given her aided her recovery, she wasn't particularly exhausted this time. After handing the artifacts over to Yang Kai, she was even in the mood to calculate exactly how many Saint Crystals she still owed him, counting on her fingers with utmost seriousness.
Her refining skills were extraordinary, she was straightforward, had a decent temperament, was good-looking, had a great figure, and most importantly, her fees were dirt cheap!
Yang Kai felt he'd struck gold, and became even more determined to keep Yang Yan around as his personal Artifact Refiner.
He casually handed her a few bottles of pills and some high-grade Saint Crystals, which made Yang Yan beam with delight. While tucking the pills and crystals into her spatial ring, she asked, "What's the next batch? Hand me the materials first, and I'll see what kind of ores would go best with them."
Yang Kai casually pulled out the Scarlet-Tailed Purple-Armored Scorpion's carapace, tail, and a large claw, and tossed them in front of Yang Yan.
The young woman's eyes went wide instantly, her beautiful pupils blazing with a terrifying light. She crouched down and picked up each piece one by one, her small hands caressing them as she muttered under her breath, seemingly dazed.
It took a long while before she finally looked up and asked Yang Kai, "You're willing to hand these over to me for refining?"
Yang Kai nodded. "You've already proven your ability, and I trust that you truly are a Void-grade Artifact Refiner. These naturally go to you."
"Aren't you afraid I'll run off with them?" Yang Yan still couldn't quite believe it. "These are materials from a ninth-tier demon beast — the kind used to forge Void-grade Artifacts!"
"Give it a try and see whether I can catch you or not," Yang Kai said with a grin.
Yang Yan pouted. She really didn't like Yang Kai's baseless confidence, as though everything was under his control. Annoying.
"Relax, I'm not the kind of person who breaks promises. I'll make sure every one of these items reaches its full potential. But the ores for this round will be different from last time — you'd better be prepared to spend big!" Yang Yan straightened her expression.
"Whatever you need, just write up the list." Yang Kai nodded. Then he added, "Oh, I have one request."
"Go ahead and say it."
"That carapace — help me refine it into a defensive Artifact. I'll be using it myself. The rest, handle however you see fit."
"Got it. Do you have that demon beast's inner core? If you do, hand that over too. I'll need it for the refining."
The moment Yang Yan finished speaking, a fist-sized inner core imbued with both wind and earth attributes was tossed over to her. She caught it with satisfaction and immediately set to work. In short order, she produced a list and handed it to Yang Kai, urging urgently, "Make it quick when you go. I'll recover for a few days, then start refining. It's so great being around you — I never expected to have this many excellent materials waiting for me to work on."
She seemed practically unable to contain her eagerness.
---
At a trading house in Tianyun City, Qian Tong sat in a third-floor room, sipping tea as he gazed toward the direction Yang Kai had departed two months ago. A faint trace of anxiety and helplessness lingered between his brows.
Although he had previously concluded that Yang Kai would return, he never expected the wait to stretch to two full months.
And even today, the young man still hadn't shown his face. This had left Qian Tong quite frustrated. At the time, he'd been worried about making a bad impression on the expert behind the young man, so he hadn't sent anyone to follow him, nor had he dared make casual inquiries. He'd simply hoped to gradually learn more, using the young man to eventually draw the expert out into the open.
Now, in hindsight, perhaps that hadn't been the best approach. At the very least, he should have expressed to the young man his desire to recruit the expert behind him. If the young man was clever enough, he would have delivered the message.
If that expert was willing, they would naturally come to the Shadow Moon Hall. And if they weren't, there would be no harm in making a personal visit later.
A master refiner of this caliber — recruiting them a day sooner meant a day sooner the Hall would benefit. If he delayed too long, some other force might discover them first, and then a scramble would inevitably ensue. Once things escalated to that point, the fallout wouldn't be limited to just one or two deaths.
The more he thought about it, the more agitated Qian Tong became. He hadn't even noticed that he'd crushed the teacup in his hand until scalding tea flooded over the back of his fingers, snapping him back to reality.
Staring at the mess on the table, Qian Tong let out a self-deprecating laugh.
He wasn't young anymore, and his cultivation wasn't low. It had been years since anything had truly thrown him off balance. Even when fighting for his life against opponents of equal strength, he'd never felt this powerless.
He picked up the broken fragments of the teacup, wiped up the spilled tea, and took a slow, deep breath to settle his turbulent mood.
A sudden, urgent knocking came from outside the door. Qian Tong asked unhappily, "What is it?"
"Elder Qian, that young man who came to sell artifacts two months ago is back," the attendant who had received Yang Kai last time answered respectfully outside. When there was no response for a while, the attendant grew puzzled — only to hear Qian Tong Elder's excited voice from within:
"Show him in immediately!"
But right after, the voice changed: "No, no, no — I'll go greet him myself!"
A cacophony of clattering followed, as though chairs, tables, and a teapot on the desk had all crashed to the floor.
The attendant's face darkened. He had no idea who this young man really was to make Elder Qian Tong treat him with such gravity that he'd even overturned the furnishings in his room.