Several days later. Qingquan Peak soared thousands of feet high, its sheer summit piercing the snow-laden clouds.

A swift azure figure raced along the rugged stone steps of Qingquan Peak. With a light touch on the accumulated snow, leaving behind only a faint impression, he leaped twenty to thirty zhang forward, moving rapidly across the snowy heights.

The closer he got to the apex, the more biting the cold wind became.

Ye Qin shivered violently from the sharp, icy gales and quickly cast a protective shield of fire element around himself, fully bracing against the chilling snow wind. Midway up the mountain, he noticed several enclosed gardens cultivating spiritual woods and herbs like Snow Mulberry and Snow Ginseng. He surmised that these gardens must be used for raising Snow Silkworms.

After sprinting for several li across the mountaintop, Ye Qin finally arrived beneath a massive boulder hundreds of feet high at the summit. From the crevices of this rock, a gurgling, frigid spring surged forth.

This trickling spring emerged barely the size of a fist. However, as it flowed along the canyon at the peak, melting the surrounding glaciers and snowpack, it plummeted down Qingquan Peak to form a massive, cascading waterfall—ultimately becoming the renowned Spirit Spring of Qingquan Peak, superior spiritual water used for irrigating the cultivation of spirit grasses.

Seeing this cold spring, Ye Qin chuckled, which immediately brought to mind the scene when he had first encountered the Thorn Silk Armor in the Artifact Hall. His eyes had lit up upon seeing it.

But he hadn't purchased the set of silk armor; he had simply walked away.

Because of this, the beautiful female disciple attending him at the Artifact Hall had shot him a sharp glare as he left, as if scornfully dismissing him for wasting her polite smile when he clearly lacked the funds to be browsing there.

Ye Qin deeply felt the disciple’s gaze, which was sharper than any blade, and felt profoundly vexed. While he possessed some spirit stones in his storage bag, one shouldn't squander them needlessly. That set of Thorn Silk Armor, refined from first-tier wood thorns, was merely a low-grade spiritual artifact—too inferior in quality.

After several days of preparation, Ye Qin set out for the peak of Qingquan Peak, intending to personally refine a set of silk armor. The material he planned to use was naturally the Flame Thorns cultivated within his Purple Mansion. During his idle time in the North Camp Mine, he had conducted numerous mutation experiments using thorns, growing a whole patch of Flame Thorns in his small field. He had been wondering what to do with them.

To one side of the massive summit rock were constructed over a dozen houses of bluestone. Each house was roofed with slabs of bluestone, cut perfectly flat, measuring three zhang wide, five zhang long, and several feet thick, each weighing over ten thousand jin.

The cold spring water was divided into two streams. One flowed down the mountain, while the other smaller portion was diverted into these stone houses.

Ye Qin paused for a moment, then walked toward these bluestone structures.

These stone houses were unguarded. He tried pushing the door of one, but it wouldn't budge. He tested it with a Wind Blade, but it only left a shallow scratch on the bluestone, which astonished Ye Qin. He truly wondered what kind of force was needed to cut rock so smoothly.

After some investigation, he discovered a mechanism—a pull-cord—on the side of the doorframe. Twisting this cord caused the heavy stone door to slowly slide open with a resounding boom.

The interior of the stone room was quite spacious, about ten zhang across, featuring a cold water pool several zhang long and wide in the center. Two small holes were visible on the stone walls; the cold water flowed in through one and out through the other, its ultimate destination unknown.

This, he presumed, must be the Cold Pool the beautiful female disciple had mentioned, used for washing the silkworm silk.

Upon entering the stone house, Ye Qin was immediately struck by the piercing chill emanating from the pool, a cold so intense it seemed to penetrate directly to his marrow. This cold water far surpassed the water arrows conjured by Qi Refining cultivators; it was comparable to the innate essence of a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Water element.

Using the internal mechanism, he sealed the stone room completely from within.

He then opened one of his personal storage bags.

“Clatter!”

A heap of several hundred second-tier Flame Thorns spilled out, dumped directly into the Cold Pool to steep. Relying on the chill of the water, the impurities within the thorns would dissolve. The Flame Thorns, being fire-attributed and fiercely blazing, immediately began to "battle" the yin-cold water upon contact. The entire pool began to boil, punctuated by a dense, crackling sound of "pīlālā" as steam filled the entire chamber.

Ye Qin paid it no mind thereafter. He sat down inside the chamber, pulled out a jade slip, and immersed his consciousness to read the contents of the Five Elements Artifact Refining Art. This refining manual, copied from the Library Pavilion, had not been entirely useless after all.

It contained refinement methods for various common spiritual artifacts, and silk armor, being the most typical defensive spiritual artifact, was naturally included.

Ye Qin quickly became engrossed in the intricate art of refining, learning the five-element tempering techniques.

The constant influx of cold water into the pool eventually overwhelmed the fiery essence released by the Flame Thorns, and the crackling sounds gradually subsided.

After forty-nine days, only half of the impurities within the Flame Thorns had been dissolved and eroded by the cold water. The outer husk, thorns, and prickles of the Flame Thorns had been stripped away, leaving only the stalks and cores.

He continued his immersion.

The chilling yin-qi within the stone room was enough to freeze the blood of a Qi Refining cultivator solid. When Ye Qin could simply no longer bear it, he retrieved the newly brewed Fire Fruit Wine from his Purple Mansion and took a small sip. A torrent of scalding warmth immediately spread through his body, chasing away the external chill from his skin.

This cold had a benefit, however: it kept his mind sharp and sober, preventing him from slipping into slumber.

After a full eighty-one days, the stalks and cores of the Flame Thorns were dissolved, leaving behind only fine strands of true silk. This silk possessed a slight reddish hue and was crystal clear. Each strand was only as thick as a strand of hair, yet it represented the most resilient part of the Flame Thorns.

The hundreds of thorny shrubs that had once filled the Cold Pool were now reduced to only a small quantity of true silk. The time for crafting was nearly ripe.

Ye Qin formed hand seals, flicked a single finger, and a beam of blue cold light shot into the pool. A single strand of thorn silk immediately leaped from the water, enveloped by the cold energy. One by one, the fine strands of true silk ascended from the Cold Pool.

Ye Qin’s hands moved rapidly, sketching patterns in the air, while the silk strands weaved back and forth at lightning speed, braiding into the silk armor. This refinement process consumed an immense amount of magical power; every single strand had to be extracted from the pool using cold energy. To weave a complete set of inner and outer silk armor required drawing out at least ten thousand strands.

Ye Qin distinctly felt his internal magical power rapidly depleting.

The silk armor was barely one-third woven when his power was nearly exhausted. If he stopped midway, the armor would show obvious structural breaks, resulting in failure. Ye Qin was unaware that disciples of the Qingdan Sect usually did not refine artifacts alone; they typically joined forces to prevent such premature failure.

Alone, he could only force himself onward.

When he truly couldn't hold on, he snatched a small gourd beside him, downed a large gulp of fruit wine, and rapidly restored the consumed magical power.

It took a full three hours before a soft, light-red, crystal-clear, weightless Flame Thorn Silk Armor materialized in the air. Only once the entire piece was woven did Ye Qin finally exhale, lowering it back into the water to continue steeping for several more days before it would fully take shape.

Next, he began fabricating the Flame Thorn Boots.

Several days later, after the final few tempering procedures, a set of Flame Thorn Silk Armor, Flame Thorn Silk Bracers, Thorn Leggings, and Flame Thorn Soft-Soled Silk Boots were successfully refined.

The original attribute of the Flame Thorns was fiercely volatile, but after nearly three months of soaking in the cold water, this aura on the silk armor had mellowed considerably.

Ye Qin donned it. It felt like warm jade against his skin, and it even mitigated some of the chamber's intense cold. This was the inner layer, worn beneath his clothes, invisible from the outside. Upon inputting a small amount of magical power, the entire suit emitted a faint red glow, and a thin protective light shield automatically formed externally.

The refinement was a complete success.

In his excitement, Ye Qin struck the armor with several low-tier spells—Fireball, Wind Blade, and Earth Spike—but not even an impression was left upon this mid-tier spiritual artifact. At the very least, it could withstand low-tier spells. As for mid-tier spells, he hadn't learned any yet and couldn't cast them. However, he had used mid-tier spell talismans before and knew their destructive power; even a mid-tier spell wouldn't be able to cleave through this set of spiritual armor. His chances of survival had vastly improved.

As for magical artifacts, he couldn't say; he had never witnessed the full power unleashed by a true magical artifact.

Ye Qin estimated the time he had spent in the chamber refining artifacts was nearly three months; it was time to return. Wearing the silk armor concealed beneath his plain cloth shirt, he activated the mechanism cord for the stone room. Boom, boom! He stepped out.

To Ye Qin’s slight shock, three or four female disciples from Qingquan Peak were gathered near the entrance of another stone house, surrounding a strikingly beautiful woman. In their hands, they held several Snow Silkworm Silk Armors, chattering excitedly about something.

"Senior Sister Xue Xia, this newly made Snow Silkworm Silk Armor is truly beautiful. This one even has a Snow Silkworm pattern woven into it. Why don't we keep them for ourselves? They'll be perfect for the Cave Trial."

"Exactly!"

Suddenly hearing the sound of the nearby stone chamber mechanism activating, they turned their heads in unison, looking toward Ye Qin with surprise, clearly not expecting another fellow disciple to be refining artifacts here. They whispered among themselves, "Who is that Senior Brother? I've never seen him before." "He's refining things here?"

The beautiful, radiant woman possessed skin like congealed fat, a slender and graceful figure; though her attire was simple, it possessed an elegance that spoke of an otherworldly detachment. Her beautiful eyes fixed on Ye Qin.

Ye Qin glanced at the silkworm silk inner armor in their hands and muttered a word of shame. Their Snow Silkworm Silk Armor was crafted with artistry, even incorporating decorative edging. The Thorn Silk Armor he had forged was extremely crude, far lacking in finesse. It would serve its purpose, but its aesthetic appeal was severely lacking.

He offered a slight bow, keeping his expression neutral, and turned, swiftly flying down the snowy mountain.

The beautiful woman spoke calmly to her junior sisters, "Let's go. Most of our fellow disciples have already departed. The Cave Trial is still nearly a month away; we have just finished a few sets of Snow Silkworm Silk Armor. If we hurry now, we can still make it in time for the trial!"

The women smiled and nodded, their colorful ribbons and sleeves fluttering as they descended the mountain together. (To be continued. For the next installment, please visit www**com for more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading!) First publication.

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