Chapter 637 618: Artifact Refining

If he could get the support of the Mo Family, who held immense power in the Divine Artifact Pavilion, he could secure the chairman's throne for himself after taking down Yang Qi. However, Hu Qingsong was a typical miser. He wanted their support but was unwilling to offer much in return. His failure to be promoted from acting chairman back then wasn't necessarily just because his artifact refining skills were subpar. Time had passed, but his despicable nature hadn't changed; he had only become more cunning.

Hu Qishi's eyes glinted, a slight smile on his face. After Mo Chengkong was defeated by Wang Meng, he had vented his anger on ten women in a row. He was definitely someone Hu Qishi could find common ground with.

The Guest Minister's Study. This was the common lounge for the Divine Artifact Pavilion's Guest Ministers.

Wang Meng wasn't the only Guest Minister in Wang City. At that moment, three other Yellow Level Guest Ministers were in the middle of a discussion inside the lounge. They were accompanied by several Steward assistants, their excitement plain on their faces. Even if they couldn't understand most of a Master Level discussion like this, just picking up a few scraps of experience would be immensely beneficial for these Stewards.

Compared to the Stewards beside the three Guest Masters, the two Stewards standing at the door looked rather miserable. 'Masters... can't you speak a little louder? We want to listen too!'

The two Stewards were straining their ears when they suddenly saw Pang Hong walking down the corridor.

"Ah... Senior."

Although the two Stewards weren't disciples of Yang Qi, Pang Hong was the head disciple, so everyone had to address him as Senior.

"Mhm." In front of others, Pang Hong still carried the air of the head disciple. He gave a slight nod and said, "Go and prepare. Master Wang is here to perform his 'converging'."

"Converging" was a euphemism for the labor a Guest Minister provided to the Divine Artifact Pavilion. In reality, it was a form of tribute. It was like how a mortal imperial court granted authority to its officials, and in return, those officials had to govern the people and do their utmost to fill the state coffers for the court. Only through this balance could a dynasty last for generations. If the officials only took the court's authority without giving anything back, even the most enlightened dynasty would fall after just two generations.

Wang Meng understood this point very well. No organization, Sect, or family could allow its members to come and go as they pleased. Otherwise, it would be impossible to grow strong; even one with the best foundation would quickly wither and die.

Furthermore, when a Guest Minister refined a "Converging Spiritual Artifact" for the Divine Artifact Pavilion, they didn't have to provide the materials themselves. All expenses were covered by the Divine Artifact Pavilion. Moreover, there was a monthly allowance for failures and scrapped materials. After all, not every refinement attempt had a one hundred percent success rate. The higher the grade of the Spiritual Artifact being refined, the higher the failure rate.

Wang Meng didn't mind this kind of refining at all. It was a chance for him to accumulate experience for free and to test the Heavenly Dao Laws of this Middle Thousand Realm.

The two Stewards were taken aback. "Which Master Wang?"

"Who else! Wang Meng, Master Wang! Can't you even remember a newly promoted Master?!"

The two Stewards' faces paled. "Yes, we'll go prepare the Artifact Dao Room for Master Wang right away."

Pang Hong turned back to Wang Meng, his expression becoming much more amiable. He said with a smile, "Master, this was all rather sudden, so your exclusive Artifact Dao Room hasn't been set up yet. I'm afraid you'll have to make do with the public Artifact Dao Room for Guest Ministers. It's a shame my master left before dawn, otherwise we could have used his private Artifact Dao Room."

Wang Meng nodded. To him, these were all trivial matters. The important thing was to craft the "converging" Spiritual Artifact for the Divine Artifact Pavilion... and perhaps fail a few times along the way to test the Heavenly Dao Laws. With Master Wang's current financial situation, he would naturally shy away from such extravagant wastefulness. Only a massive enterprise like the Divine Artifact Pavilion could support such losses. Of course, the Divine Artifact Pavilion wasn't running a losing business. Incurring a small loss to secure the services of a Master and making the Pavilion a Holy Land for all Artifact Refining Masters was the greatest return on investment. That auxiliary organizations like the Divine Artifact Pavilion, the Pill Immortal Alliance, and the Spirit Control Association could become the most influential powers in this Middle Thousand Realm had its roots not in how powerful the Three Immortals were, but in this very concept of being a "Holy Land."

Upon arriving at the public Artifact Dao Room for Guest Ministers, he saw it was a place rarely used. It was only opened when several Artifact Refining Masters needed to discuss, exchange knowledge, and demonstrate their Forging Skills.

Wang Meng inspected the Refining Furnace. It certainly wasn't as good as Chairman Yang Qi's exclusive one and seemed to have some minor flaws. However, for Master Wang, these were obstacles he could overcome.

The two Stewards who had come earlier to prepare the Artifact Dao Room bowed their heads and retreated. They broke into a trot, rounded a corridor, and arrived at a courtyard where they saw Hu Qishi sitting on a stone bench under a grapevine, eating fruit.

"Brother Hu." The two men's eyes lit up as they sidled up to him, calling out with fawning smiles.

"Is it done?" Hu Qishi's tone was indifferent, the very picture of a senior disciple's demeanor.

"Yes, Brother Hu. Besides the two of us, no one knows about the little flaw in the public Guest Minister Artifact Dao Room. We guarantee it will reduce the success rate by at least thirty percent," one of them said with obsequious flattery.

A thirty percent drop in success rate!

For a Master's work, that was practically a curse of one hundred percent failure.

"No need to speak of such trivial matters." Hu Qishi waved his hand dismissively and tossed out two cards. "This is for you. You're getting off easy."

"Hehe, we sure are. The way we see it, that 'Master Wang' is a total joke! He wouldn't succeed even if you gave him a Divine Furnace."

Hu Qishi smiled. "You've got a silver tongue, kid! Now go. Help me keep a good record of it."

'This was all about collecting evidence. As long as they could prove Wang Meng was a true loser, his uncle Hu Qingsong and Young Master Mo could kick both Yang Qi and Wang Meng out. And, of course, that self-righteous idiot Pang Hong too.'

'Yang Qi, oh, Yang Qi... you're digging your own grave. You could have picked anyone to be a Guest Minister, but you just had to pick this loser, Wang Meng! Setting everything else aside, the group of people just waiting to cause trouble for him is enough to give the Wang City Divine Artifact Pavilion a massive headache.'

'I wonder what kind of benefits this Wang Meng gave Yang Qi... With the power of the Haojing Royal Family, this profligate heir must have a lot of good stuff on him. If I could find a way to get my hands on it first... those big shots in Haojing probably wouldn't care if a few things went missing from Loser Wang, right?'

While he was fantasizing about this good fortune, Wang Meng had already selected his materials on the other side.

Pang Hong had no idea what Wang Meng was planning to do. 'Is he going to forge something?'

There are two types of Artifact Refining. One involves directly shaping the embryonic form in a Refining Furnace, which is more or less how Spirit-Containing Spiritual Artifacts are made. The other is to forge the item after smelting the materials. They might seem similar, but they are practically two different fields. Even an Artifact Refining Master usually specializes in only one, with a passing knowledge of the other at best.

Pang Hong had learned the former type from Yang Qi. The latter was far too difficult.

Wang Meng glanced at Pang Hong. "Your aptitude is actually more suited for the forging-style Artifact Refining Technique."

Previously, Pang Hong would have just scoffed at such a comment, but since it came from Wang Meng, he didn't dare take it lightly. Still, his heart pounded with uncertainty. '...Can I really do that?' (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)