“Don’t worry, Yuan Ming may be a newcomer, but he has already studied ‘Essentials of Refining’ and has no problem identifying ores,” Chen Wan said.

“I can’t be at ease. Look, do you recognize these ores?” Wu Ri glanced at Yuan Ming and pointed to the shelf next to him, where there were more than ten kinds of ores.

Yuan Ming’s gaze swept over the shelf and said one by one, “Wu Iron Stone, Fire Agate Jade, Moon Iron, Kunshan Sand…”

At first, Wu Ri looked down on Yuan Ming, but as he listened, he couldn’t help but be moved.

Today, he was refining a peculiar hidden weapon, and the materials used were very rare. Yuan Ming actually named all these ores.

“…As for this last one, it should be Yin Marrow Crystal,” Yuan Ming looked at the last piece of black crystal the size of a fist and paused before saying.

“Not bad, you actually recognize this?” Wu Ri’s surprise on his face deepened.

He had just obtained this Yin Marrow Crystal yesterday. It was a very rare and obscure spiritual material. If he hadn’t borrowed this task, he wouldn’t have known about it.

“I happened to read about it in a book on spiritual materials,” Yuan Ming said.

He didn’t see the Yin Marrow Crystal in the “Hundred Herbs Collection” or the “Essentials of Refining,” but he learned about it from the Death Moon method. This material contained a strong Yin energy and was a spiritual material needed for the subsequent cultivation of the Death Moon method.

“Not bad, I’ll take this person,” Wu Ri smiled and turned to Chen Wan.

“Then I’ll leave this person to you,” Chen Wan didn’t stay any longer and turned to leave.

“Your name is Yuan Ming? Work well here, I won’t treat you unfairly,” Wu Ri looked at Yuan Ming and encouraged him.

“Yes, please take care of me, Wu Ri,” Yuan Ming said respectfully, maintaining a humble attitude.

“Very well, start working. Listen to Lina’s instructions on what to do specifically,” Wu Ri was satisfied with Yuan Ming’s attitude and pointed to the tall sifting female disciple, then continued to forge the ingot.

“Lina Senior Sister, please give me your instructions,” Yuan Ming walked to the vicinity of the tall female disciple and spoke.

“First, smash ten pieces of Wu Iron Stone,” Lina didn’t even lift her eyes and said in a cold tone.

Yuan Ming raised an eyebrow, not knowing when he had offended this woman.

But he didn’t mind. He took ten pieces of Wu Iron Stone from the shelf, picked up a hammer used for smashing stones, and struck it hard.

With a loud “clang,” the hammer rebounded, and his fingers tingled, but the Wu Iron Stone only cracked a gap.

Yuan Ming looked surprised. When Lina and the round-faced female disciple struck the ore, it would directly split into several pieces with one strike. Could it be that his strength was inferior to that of a woman?

While pondering, he felt a surge of energy and swung the hammer again, using more force, but the effect was still not good.

“Infuse mana into the hammer,” a soft voice came, but it was the reminder of the round-faced girl.

Yuan Ming’s eyes lit up, and he infused mana into the hammer. A faint golden pattern appeared at the bottom of the hammerhead, as if two cracks intersected.

“What is this?” he was secretly surprised and swung the hammer to strike the Wu Iron Stone.

With a loud “clang,” the stone that was still extremely hard suddenly became fragile and shattered into several pieces.

“Thanks for the reminder, Senior Sister,” Yuan Ming was delighted and thanked the round-faced girl.

In the Biluo Cave, disciples were arranged in order of seniority. Although this round-faced girl looked younger than him, he still had to address her as Senior Sister.

The round-faced girl blushed and didn’t respond, burying her head in her work.

Yuan Ming smiled and continued to focus his gaze on the Wu Iron Stone in front of him.

With the grasp of the essentials, his efficiency in smashing stones greatly increased, swinging the hammer quickly.

Although he couldn’t swing the forging hammer a thousand times in a row, he was more than capable of swinging this small stone-smashing hammer. Soon, he finished processing a basket of materials and handed the crushed stones to the round-faced female disciple.

“Next is Moon Iron,” Lina handed over a basket of Moon Iron.

Yuan Ming raised the hammer and continued working.

With Yuan Ming’s participation, the sifting work became orderly, and Wu Ri’s forging speed also increased. By midday, they had completed today’s task.

“Very good, if you can continue to maintain this speed in the future, your reward will be increased by thirty percent at the end of the month!” Wu Ri was very satisfied with today’s progress.

Chen Wan mentioned on the way here that working in the Fire Workshop was not voluntary labor, and the Biluo Cave would provide a certain amount of compensation.

However, this compensation was directly given to Wu Ri and other forging disciples. The compensation for the sifting and fire-making personnel was distributed by the forging disciples, which also led to the forging disciples considering themselves superior.

“Thank you, Senior Brother Wu Ri!” the bald youth was the first to express his gratitude, and the two female sifters echoed.

Yuan Ming also thanked them.

Wu Ri encouraged them a few more times before turning and leaving the forging room.

Yuan Ming had been smashing stones all morning and his arms were sore. He was about to finish the final finishing work and then go back to rest when he heard the voice of the bald youth behind him.

“Hey, come here for a moment.””A Gula, is there something else?” He turned around.

After spending the morning in the forging house, he already knew the names of a few people. The bald youth was called A Gula, and the round-faced female disciple was called Qi Qige.

“You’re Yuan Ming, right? After work every day, clean up the forging house before going back.” A Gula pointed to various places in the forging house and gave orders with an air of authority.

Yuan Ming looked at A Gula without saying a word.

He had been in the Fire Workshop for some time and was not unaware of the situation here. In the other forging houses, the cleaning work was done by the disciples except for the forging disciples. A Gula made him responsible alone, clearly intending to make things difficult for him.

“What? Do you have any objections?” A Gula stood up, clasping his hands and making cracking sounds with his joints.

Yuan Ming pursed his lips, picked up the broom in the corner of the house, and started cleaning.

“Consider yourself sensible.” A Gula smirked, stretched lazily, and walked away.

Lina followed suit and left, and Qi Qige hesitated for a moment before leaving the forging house as well.

It took Yuan Ming nearly half an hour to clean the house.

He had been hammering ores all morning, which consumed a lot of energy. Cleaning the forging house was also tiring, leaving him with a sore back.

He knew that if he were to fight the bald man, he wouldn’t necessarily gain any advantage. As a newcomer, he didn’t want to cause any trouble and preferred to keep a low profile.

With no one in the house at the moment, Yuan Ming closed the door, sat cross-legged, and began to cultivate the Death Moon method.

The Death Moon method had the effect of quickly restoring physical strength, and the fatigue accumulated from swinging the hammer quickly disappeared, and his strength returned.

“This Death Moon method is truly mysterious. I wonder what attribute it is. With such strong recovery ability, it’s probably either wood or water attribute.” Yuan Ming stretched his body as he stood up.

Cultivators had different elemental attributes, and the same applied to cultivation techniques. The Death Moon method did not specify its attribute, and with his shallow cultivation, he couldn’t discern it from his own body.

However, the five elemental attributes each had their own characteristics. Gold and fire excelled in offense, earth excelled in defense, and wood and water excelled in recovery. Judging from the effect of the Death Moon method, it was most likely attributed to the wood and water attributes.

Yuan Ming shook his head and stopped thinking about it, then walked outside.

Just as he took a few steps, his footsteps suddenly stopped. A hint of bloodlust flashed in his eyes, and a sinister and fierce aura surged from his body. The aura of the Bloodthirsty Art erupted again, and the blood-colored mist in his sea of consciousness surged.

Yuan Ming hurriedly sat down cross-legged, took out the mysterious incense burner and held it in his arms, silently cultivating the Death Moon method.

The heat from the incense burner continuously flowed into his body, combined with the effect of the Death Moon method, and after a long time, he managed to suppress the backlash of the aura.

Yuan Ming’s clothes were soaked in sweat, and his face showed exhaustion. His brows furrowed even more.

The poison in his body had been resolved, and he had stopped using the Bloodthirsty Art recently. The white ape skin was usually kept far away, but the aura still frequently backlashed. This was the third time it had happened recently, not much less than when Elder Hu Huo drugged him.

“Could it be that there is still some Lingxi incense residue in my body?” Yuan Ming’s face turned ugly.

At this moment, footsteps could be heard coming from outside, getting closer and closer to this place.

Yuan Ming quickly put away the incense burner, supported himself on the nearby anvil, and stood up.

Bang!

In his haste, he accidentally knocked the iron hammer on the anvil to the ground.

“Who is it!” The door of the forging house was forcefully pushed open, and a figure rushed in. It was Chen Wan.

“Senior Sister Chen, what are you doing here?” Yuan Ming had already calmed down and picked up the iron hammer from the ground, asking.

“Today, Fang Ge had something to do, so I came to check the Fire Workshop. I saw that the forging house was closed but not locked, so I came to take a look. The Fire Workshop has already finished work, why haven’t you left yet?” Chen Wan asked curiously.

“I stayed behind to do some cleaning work and also practiced for a while.” Yuan Ming said half-truthfully.

Chen Wan’s gaze fell on the iron hammer in Yuan Ming’s hand and his slightly wet clothes. A hint of realization flashed in her eyes. “You haven’t given up yet and are still practicing swinging the hammer?”

Yuan Ming’s expression froze, but he didn’t explain.

“People from the Central Plains have naturally weaker constitutions, so learning the Southern Border’s forging techniques is indeed disadvantageous. If you are really interested in forging, I have a way.” Chen Wan seemed to be moved by Yuan Ming’s perseverance and said after a moment of contemplation.

Yuan Ming couldn’t help but feel a bit helpless. He had only wanted to fool Chen Wan to avoid implicating the mysterious incense burner with the matter of the Bloodthirsty Art backlash. But now that things had come to this point, he had no choice but to continue with Chen Wan’s words. “Please enlighten me, Senior Sister Chen.”

“You can go to the Hidden Treasures Pavilion and exchange for the ‘Material Manipulation Technique.’ It might bring about a turning point for you.” Chen Wan said.

“The Material Manipulation Technique? Is it a type of Five Elements technique?” Yuan Ming raised an eyebrow.

“The Material Manipulation Technique is not a Five Elements technique. It is a spell that uses mana to manipulate objects and is also the foundation for manipulating magical artifacts. If you can cultivate it, you can use this technique to assist in swinging the hammer and reduce the burden on your body.” Chen Wan explained.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming nodded slowly.He could imagine the effect of the Object Manipulation Technique, which could indeed assist him in wielding his hammer. However, he was currently focused on improving his cultivation and refining the Death Moon Method to counteract the evil qi within his body. As for the art of refining tools, he wasn’t particularly interested. It was merely a temporary measure to secure his footing when he first joined the sect.

However, if given the opportunity, he would genuinely like to learn the Object Manipulation Technique.

This technique could drive magical tools, and his Green Fish Sword was a semi-magical tool. He wondered if the Object Manipulation Technique could unleash even greater power?