As the refinement level of Sky-Blue Sand reached Level 2, Zhang Yu felt countless images of refining Sky-Blue Sand flash through his mind. These included the circulation of various magical powers and qi, the handling of materials, temperature control, details of sputtering fiber composite membranes, and the experience of stabilizing magical power circuits. One refining memory after another surfaced in Zhang Yu’s mind, giving him a sudden and profound understanding and insight into the refinement of Sky-Blue Sand.

Consequently, when he next attempted to refine Sky-Blue Sand using only one-tenth of the materials, his success rate significantly increased. Moreover, the quality of the Sky-Blue Sand showed a noticeable improvement.

Ye Xingli, observing Zhang Yu’s finished Sky-Blue Sand product, was slightly surprised. “The color is brighter, and it seems much better in terms of impurities and purity than before… Is this Level 2 Sky-Blue Sand?” She wondered, “Is it luck? Or has he genuinely improved quickly?”

Ye Xingli continued to observe, but soon noticed that Zhang Yu had once again started haphazardly compressing the refining time, causing the Sky-Blue Sand produced to revert to Level 1. By the time the six-hour practice session concluded, Zhang Yu, through repeated attempts, had managed to compress the refining time of Sky-Blue Sand to approximately 15 minutes.

“If the materials are compressed to one-tenth, that’s 0.003 spirit coins,” Zhang Yu calculated silently. “The rental fee for the venue and equipment is 0.7 spirit coins for 6 hours, which becomes 0.35 spirit coins after splitting it with Ye Xingli. If I continue to refine once every 15 minutes, I can complete 24 refinements in 6 hours. With this, the cost per refinement is reduced to about 0.01758 spirit coins. And this isn’t even the limit.”

Zhang Yu thought of his Formless Automatons and Deep-Freeze Automatons. Just as he could use them for work at the construction site, he felt he could do the same for artifact refinement. Zhang Yu thought to himself, “The compression of materials and time can now be fixed. Next time… I’ll activate my Quadruple Thought ability and see if I can refine four batches of Sky-Blue Sand simultaneously. If successful, not only can the cost be further reduced, but my cultivation efficiency will also skyrocket again. Additionally, if I sell some of the Sky-Blue Sand I continuously refine to recoup some costs, the spirit coins I spend can be further reduced.”

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu looked at Ye Xingli beside him and asked, “Senior Sister, if I want to sell some of the products I make for practice in the future, where would be a convenient place to do so?”

Ye Xingli thought about True Monarch Magnetism’s instructions and directly replied, “If you trust me, you can just leave them with me in the future. I have some connections in the Artifact Forging Department and can help you sell them. However, basic refined products won’t fetch a high price; at most, they’ll help you break even.”

Zhang Yu quickly nodded and said, “I know, that’s fine. Breaking even is enough.”

After leaving the laboratory, they bid each other farewell. As Ye Xingli watched Zhang Yu walk away, she sent a message to True Monarch Magnetism: “Master, Zhang Yu and I have left the laboratory.”

True Monarch Magnetism: “How did Zhang Yu perform?”

Ye Xingli: “His talent in artifact refinement is decent; he managed to refine Level 2 Sky-Blue Sand within 6 hours. But his attitude is problematic; he likes to arbitrarily change quantities and times right after starting.”

Ye Xingli briefly described what she had observed.

True Monarch Magnetism replied: “I understand. If he wants to sell his products later, you can temporarily help him with consignment. As for the laboratory, you can also split the costs with him.”

Hearing True Monarch Magnetism instruct her to help Zhang Yu so much, Ye Xingli could no longer suppress the confusion in her heart. She asked, “Master, Zhang Yu is a student from the Civil Engineering Department, right? And his talent in artifact refinement isn’t exceptionally outstanding. Why are you helping him so much?”

True Monarch Magnetism: “Director Gao from the Civil Engineering Department wants to transfer his disciple to the Artifact Forging Department. Although I don’t particularly recommend it, we have a friendship spanning several hundred years. Since he insists, even if it means a slight loss, I must help him.”

Reading True Monarch Magnetism’s message, Ye Xingli couldn’t help but marvel at the friendship between True Monarch Magnetism and Director Gao. She thought to herself, “As expected, it wasn’t Zhang Yu, a civil engineering student, who attracted Master, but rather it’s for Director Gao’s sake.” Ye Xingli also felt this made sense. After all, wasn’t a civil engineering student like one from the Security Department, essentially a ‘vocational student’ at Myriad Arts University? With Master’s discerning eye, how could he possibly be interested? She mused that Master would likely expect payment even for a brief conversation.

“But Master and Director Gao… Is this the friendship between ancient cultivators? Although Master has kept up with the times, constantly learning cutting-edge immortal cultivation techniques and following Kunxu’s trends, he is an ancient person after all. In his thoughts… he is ultimately still inevitably influenced by archaic cultural dross.”

Just as Ye Xingli was contemplating, True Monarch Magnetism sent another message.

True Monarch Magnetism: “This matter is currently confidential. Even if you ask Director Gao or me directly, we will deny it. Remember not to disclose it.”

Ye Xingli: “Master, you can trust my discretion. Even if someone offered 1000 spirit coins, I wouldn’t say a word.”

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu was on his way to the construction site on the 667th floor. He first checked his Feather Scroll for Sky-Blue Sand Level 2 (10/20), then looked at another artifact refinement technique on the scroll: Sky-Blue Cloud Pouch Level 0 (0/1, Sky-Blue Sand 2/5 levels required).

The Sky-Blue Cloud Pouch was an artifact blueprint Zhang Yu had learned in his Artifact Forging Department courses. It was an artifact specifically designed to store Sky-Blue Sand. With the injection of magical power, it could perform large-scale spraying and recovery of Sky-Blue Sand. Similar to when Zhang Yu first practiced cultivation techniques, many artifact refinement techniques also had prerequisite requirements to master. For example, the refinement of Sky-Blue Sand required certain levels of magical power and qi. The Sky-Blue Cloud Pouch, on the other hand, required prior mastery of certain Sky-Blue Sand refinement techniques.

“Whether it’s artifacts or Dharma Skeletons, besides requirements in cultivation realm, Dao heart, and magical power, there are often various prerequisite artifact refinement techniques,” Zhang Yu mused. “To gradually cultivate to the point where I can refine my physical body into a Dharma Skeleton, besides cultivation level, I will need to master a large number of prerequisite artifact refinement techniques. There’s still a long way to go. However, with so many artifact refinement techniques, I probably don’t need to master every single one to the extreme later on; just enough for practical use will suffice.” As for more distant goals, like owning his own artifact refinement laboratory or establishing his own production line… Zhang Yu could only dream about them for now.

Arriving at the construction site, Zhang Yu, now familiar with the place, manifested several Formless Automatons around him. Then, with a sweep of his hand, he scattered a handful of Sky-Blue Sand onto these Formless Automatons. As the surging qi within the Formless Automatons swirled, a faint shimmer of Sky-Blue Sand appeared, making the automatons seem more substantial. Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Sky-Blue Sand can increase the conduction efficiency of qi and reduce its consumption rate, which should improve my work efficiency.”

So, while controlling the Formless Automatons to work and earn money at the construction site, Zhang Yu himself was enveloped in a cloud of Formless Cloud Qi, beginning to cultivate the seventh technique of the Martial Dao Saint Body. Several hours passed. As dawn broke, Zhang Yu calculated his day’s earnings, thinking, “Construction efficiency has increased by about 5%. Not bad, not bad. If the Sky-Blue Sand’s level increases further in the future, the efficiency boost should also be higher. This way, even if Senior Sister Ye Xingli doesn’t consign much Sky-Blue Sand for me, I can still use it to increase my income at the construction site.” Thinking of this, Zhang Yu became even more motivated.

In the following days, Zhang Yu typically rented the artifact refinement laboratory once or twice a week to practice his refinement techniques. The rest of the time, he attended classes during the day, worked at the construction site at night, and simultaneously practiced the Martial Dao Saint Body cultivation techniques. In addition, he had to make time to study artifact refinement courses in the Grand Purity Realm, absorb 200-grade magical power to improve its quality, and visit the Heart Forging Dwelling to temper his Dao heart.

Inside the laboratory, Ye Xingli glanced at the three Formless Automatons beside her and thought, “What powerful cognitive ability. But is multitasking like this, producing multiple batches of Sky-Blue Sand simultaneously, truly beneficial for improving artifact refinement techniques? After all, improving such techniques isn’t about mere repetition.” In Ye Xingli’s view, unless one needed to meet production quotas, it was better to focus intently on refining a single batch of Sky-Blue Sand, feeling the details of materials, steps, time, heat, magical power, qi, and continuously learning and adjusting. This approach was more effective for skill improvement.

Just then, Ye Xingli’s gaze abruptly shifted to the successfully refined Sky-Blue Sand in front of one of the Formless Automatons. “Level 3 Sky-Blue Sand?” she murmured. “Interesting.” Ye Xingli thought to herself, “Although he likes to act impulsively, Zhang Yu’s talent in artifact refinement appears to be stronger than I initially estimated.” However, she wasn’t overly concerned, as she herself had refined Level 5 Sky-Blue Sand on her very first attempt.

Turning her head, Ye Xingli continued interviewing her new artifact spirits. “You graduated from Hehuan University? May I ask what your primary gender was?”

“You’re from a lesser university? Sorry, this recruitment is only for soul cultivators who graduated from the top ten universities.”

“Tianmo University? Welcome aboard! Feel free to make my right hand your home in the future.”

One day, just as Zhang Yu left the laboratory, he received a message from Gongshu Jin. Reading the message, Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up. “Is the buffet about to begin?”

At the same time, Ye Xingli, who was beside him, 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 that this gathering was arranged by Gongshu Jin, primarily to celebrate their second-place finish in the inter-university competition.

Ye Xingli casually said, “Then let’s go together. I’m attending too.”

Zhang Yu followed Ye Xingli to the 650th floor of Myriad Arts University. As soon as they exited the anti-gravity passage, they saw Gongshu Jin already waiting outside. Gongshu Jin was surprised to see Zhang Yu walking together with Ye Xingli. Compared to the first time he saw her last year, the current Ye Xingli was vastly different in Gongshu Jin’s eyes. Her ranking in the Artifact Forging Department had changed from 15th to 8th. To hold such a rank in the Artifact Forging Department, one of the three ace departments, Ye Xingli was, in Gongshu Jin’s eyes, already a top-tier student at Myriad Arts University. Watching the two chatting and laughing, Gongshu Jin wondered, “Since when did Zhang Yu become so close with Ye Xingli?”