Chapter 348 - Old Juan's Equipment Shop

"Brother Tianzi wants to purchase a furnace?" Young Master Xuan Hao felt the corner of his lips twitch.

"That's right," Lu Tianzi could obviously feel the disbelief in Young Master Xuan Hao's tone, but he chose to ignore it.

"I really admire Brother Tianzi's passion for learning, but a good furnace is not cheap..." Young Master Xuan Hao sighed. "And even if you do manage to procure a furnace, where are you thinking of doing the forging? Your room in Fortune Queen Inn is definitely not an option. Not to mention the fact that the rooms probably can't handle the harsh forging conditions, if anything went wrong during the forging process, you might end up having to pay for the entire Fortune Queen Inn!"

Even though Young Master Xuan Hao was not an artificer himself, it was common knowledge that the forging of an equipment was no simple process.

Because of the unique properties of treasure equipments, there was always the possibility of energy undulations leaking out during the process, which could result in an explosion if not handled properly.

And if they ended up destroying the famous Fortune Queen Inn, even Young Master Xuan Hao would not be able to afford to pay for the damages!

"That's true..." Lu Tianzi rubbed his chin in contemplation.

Young Master Xuan Hao's words made sense too.

In his eagerness to start practising the forging process, Lu Tianzi had neglected the fact that he would need to consider more than just the furnace itself.

But if this was not feasible, then how was he supposed to test out his knowledge on the art of artificing?

"Why don't you just approach an existing artificer and borrow their furnace?" Nanlan Qianxue asked from the side.

"Is that possible?" Lu Tianzi asked in return, only to see Nanlan Qianxue redirect the question by turning her head towards Young Master Xuan Hao.

"I guess that is a possible alternative..." Young Master Xuan Hao said reluctantly. "Normal artificers might not be willing to help out, but if Brother Tianzi really wants to do this, I can try asking around to see if you can borrow a furnace. However, I cannot guarantee that any results."

"I understand. Thanks for the help once again," Lu Tianzi clasped his fists towards Young Master Xuan Hao in gratitude.

Seeing how eager Lu Tianzi was, Young Master Xuan Hao sighed in his heart.

In his eyes, Lu Tianzi was simply wasting his time on an endeavour that would never bear fruit, but Young Master Xuan Hao naturally did not voice it out loud.

After meeting Young Master Xuan Hao, Lu Tianzi retired to his room once more.

He was not intending to waste his time while waiting for news from Young Master Xuan Hao. After all, there were far too many things that he had to do right now.

Apart from studying the art of artificing, Lu Tianzi also had to contemplate over how he could best utilise the element of water in combat.

And then he had to practise the Eternal Wraith Sword, Limitless Mirror Eye, and the Palm of Thousand Venoms.

Furthermore, he had to familiarise himself with the Law of Swords, as well as think of ways to refine his Undulated Currents Breathing Technique so as to advance further on the Spiritual Essence cultivation system.

On top of all that, Lu Tianzi still had to consolidate his cultivation.

Since his foundation was extremely stable, Lu Tianzi had already fully consolidated his cultivation in his Spiritual Essence cultivation system.

However, his earlier breakthrough in the Slaughter Essence cultivation system had been forced through a sacrificial ritual, which ultimately was not a source of energy that had been attained through his own merits.

This resulted in him needing more time to fully consolidate his cultivation, and the same applied to Nanlan Qianxue.

Of course, it was not without its merits either.

Because the sacrificial ritual was originally meant for the Dongran couple to advance from the Fifth Origin Cycle to the Sixth Origin Cycle, it ended up not only helping Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue to break through, but it also brought their cultivation closer to the next boundary.

Once they successfully consolidated their culitvation, they would already be close to the upper limits of their respective cultivation levels!

This would save them quite a bit of time on the arduous path of cultivation.

The next time Lu Tianzi left the room, it was again to meet up with Young Master Xuan Hao and company.

After some asking around, Ruan Ling had managed to get in touch with one of her acquaintances, who happened to be an artificer in Sacred Cliff City.

He was known as Old Juan, and was actually a friend of Ruan Ling's father.

Old Juan was not a Grandmaster Artificer like Grandmaster Tiequan, but he at least had a small shop with a few apprentices.

After receiving a request from Ruan Ling, he agreed to let Lu Tianzi rent one of the furnaces in his shop, as long as Lu Tianzi did not damage it.

"Here it is," Ruan Ling said after leading the group to the front of an equipment shop. "Please try not to damage anything while you are here."

"I will be careful," Lu Tianzi assured. "Thank you for the help."

"This is nothing compared to how you saved our lives back then," Ruan Ling answered with a smile.

"There is something I need to tell you, Brother Tianzi," Young Master Xuan Hao interrupted from the side. "Remember when I said that there is one other thing that I have to do here at Sacred Cliff City?"

"Yeah, you mentioned that you needed to make some preparations first, didn't you?" Lu Tianzi recalled. "Do you need any help with your preparations?"

"No, not at all. On the contrary, everything went rather smoothly so my preparations are almost complete," Young Master Xuan Hao said. "Therefore, Ruan Ling and I will be heading to Mount Asui in a month's time. If you want to come along, you should start preparing yourselves after you are done dabbling with artificing."

Dabbling with artificing...?

From Young Master Xuan Hao's choice of words, it was obvious that Young Master Xuan Hao did not think too highly of Lu Tianzi's attempt at learning the art of artificing. But Lu Tianzi chose to ignore it and focus on the more important stuff.

"What is at Mount Asui?" Lu Tianzi asked. "What do we have to prepare?"

"There can only be one reason to head to Mount Asui, and is for the War Intent Cliff!" Young Master Xuan Hao's eyes lit up in excitement just from mentioning the place. "It is known to be a sacred cultivation area, perfect for raising one's comprehensions in combat! It is rumoured that many people have gained an epiphany when cultivating there, allowing their combat strength to surge. Some even managed to break through to the next cultivation level!"

"There is such a good place?" Lu Tianzi was surprised to hear that.

In fact, he was more surprised that such a good place had yet to be monopolised by any powerful influence.

Perhaps it was because of the presence of the Burning Titan Overlord?

"Amazing, isn't it?" Young Master Xuan Hao laughed. "So if Brother Tianzi has time to spare, you should be spending it on consolidating your cultivation and practising your techniques harder as well. If your foundation is strong enough, perhaps you will also be able to gain an epiphany there!"

"Thank you for the advice. I will take that in mind," Lu Tianzi answered with an awkward smile.

He could tell that Young Master Xuan Hao was yet again hinting at him to stop wasting time on the art of artificing.

"Well then, I will contact you again three days before we leave," Young Master Xuan Hao said. "You can decide again if you wish to come with us then."

"Understood," Lu Tianzi nodded.

Young Master Xuan Hao and Ruan Ling left, while Nanlan Qianxue accompanied Lu Tianzi into the equipment shop.

"Welcome to Old Juan's Equipment Shop!" a young man greeted them enthusiastically the moment they stepped through the door.

"I am a friend of Ruan Ling, and I am here to look for Old Juan," Lu Tianzi stated his purpose immediately.

"Oh," the young man was visibly disappointed after realising that Lu Tianzi was not a customer. "Please hold on."

While the young man disappeared into the back of the shop, Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue took a good look around.

"These equipment are of rather good quality," Nanlan Qianxue remarked.

"Mm, they really are," Lu Tianzi nodded in agreement.

The equipment in the shop were at least at the Advanced Essence Condensation rank, and a few of them were even at the Primary Origin Core rank.

Back in Bluenight City, Origin Core rank treasures were considered extremely rare. There was absolutely no way for small shops like this to have such a good selection of equipment.

As expected, the City of Artificers was on a different level!

"So you are the one who wants to rent my furnace?" a deep voice sounded out from behind them.

Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue turned around to see a slightly hunchbacked old man with white hair and a long white beard. But although he looked just like any other elderly person, he was actually a martial artist at the Eighth Cycle Origin Core realm.

The young man from before was now standing behind the old man in a respectful manner.

"You must be Senior Juan!" Lu Tianzi quickly clasped his fists in greeting. "Please call me Tianzi."

"Senior Juan?" Old Juan snorted. "It's not like you are a junior of mine or anything. Forget all the pleasantries and just call me Old Juan!"

"This..." Lu Tianzi was caught in a dilemma. "Wouldn't that be too disrespectful?"

"Didn't that lass Ruan Ling tell you anything? I hate this kind of unnecessary fluff talk the most!" Old Juan waved it off nonchalantly. "Anyway, you are here for the furnace., so let's just get to it. Follow me in."

Before Lu Tianzi could reply, Old Juan turned around and headed to the back of the shop.

Lu Tianzi exchanged helpless glances with Nanlan Qianxue before following him through the door and into a long corridor.

Old Juan led the way down the corridor, walking past several closed doors before finally arriving at the end.

"This is where we do our smithing," Old Juan stopped at the door to explain. "It will cost you one mid ranked beast core to rent one of my furnaces for a week, and that is only because I am giving face to that lass Ruan Ling. If you are agreeable to the price, you can hand the beast core over to Ah San now."

Apart from Old Juan and the two of them, there was only the young man around, so it was obvious that he was the aforementioned Ah San.

"Here, this should be enough to rent a furnace for a month," Lu Tianzi handed over four mid ranked beast cores.

Seeing how readily Lu Tianzi handed over the beast cores, Old Juan smiled in satisfaction.

"Let's enter then!" Old Juan pushed the door open, and a heatwave immediately rushed out from within to sweep over all four of them.

This bit of heat was not enough to harm them, but it was testament to the sheer heat and pressure that was within the adjacent room.

There were three stone tables in the middle of the room, one of them was empty while the other two were littered with different types of metals and unfinished weapons. Beside each stone table was a large anvil made of a strange black metal that Lu Tianzi did not recognise.

Finally, three furnaces were located at the far end of the room, with large flames burning within two of them at the moment.

Two young men were hard at work in the room at the moment, each in front of a furnace.

One of them was carefully observing the metal within his furnace, while the other was busy hammering away at the anvil.

Even after Old Juan led the others into the room, the two young men continued with their work, acting as though they did not even notice.

"That one is yours," Old Juan pointed to the third and only unused furnace in the room. "You can take a look at the furnace and see if it's suitable. If there's anything you need improved, just let me know and I can do it for you. Of course, you would have to bear any costs incurred during the process."

"Understood," Lu Tianzi nodded. "Thank you for the help, Sen... Old Juan,"

"If there's nothing else, I will be taking my leave," Old Juan said. "You can let Ah San know if there is any particular metal you need, and we can provide them just slightly above cost price. Consider it a discount on account of the lass Ruan Ling. And by the way, I shall close an eye today, but try not to bring your girlfriend in next time."

"Got it. I will be relying on you in the future then," Lu Tianzi clasped his fists towards Ah San, who returned the greeting.

After leaving a few more instructions, Old Juan left.

Ah San left as well after bringing a few metals that Lu Tianzi requested for.

"Sounds like this is the last time your girlfriend can be here, so why don't you take this chance to show her some of your smithing skills?" Nanlan Qianxue said with a smile.

Lu Tianzi turned to look at her, and could not help but feel surprised.

In this heat, even Lu Tianzi was feeling slightly uncomfortable, but Nanlan Qianxue seemed to be completely at ease.

He only understood why that was the case after taking a closer look.

Nanlan Qianxue cultivated the Hail Queen Body Refinement Technique, which was an ice element cultivation technique.

At this moment, she was radiating a faint frosty aura, just enough to shield herself from the heat in the room.

"What smithing skills are you talking about? I have never even touched a forging hammer before!" Lu Tianzi sighed helplessly before picking up a hammer that lying was on the anvil. "But you are right, there's no point wasting time here. Let's just give this a shot and see how well I do on my first try!"