Hearing this, Yu Zhen raised an eyebrow and casually said,
"The head of Yuqing Pavilion fancies you, so she entrusted Qi Yu to you. Just accept it, don't ask so many questions."
Ming Lou nodded, asked no more questions, and turned to look at Li Yu, "Master, can Qi Yu, Si Qing, and I go make our natal artifacts now? Are you free? Will you accompany us?"
Li Yu had a helpless expression, "The materials are quite precious. If you mess them up, where will you find others? I have no choice but to go with you. Everyone else, go cultivate. The three of you, follow me."
Yue Zhiyin and the others bowed and responded.
Qi Yu, Ming Lou, and Si Qing, like chicks looking for their mother, followed closely behind Li Yu and Yu Zhen.
Qi Yu had been at the Beiyuan Sect for so long but had never been to the place where natal artifacts were refined, so she kept looking around along the way.
Li Yu led them to a steel refining room with extremely high temperatures. He casually found a chair and sat down, pointing to the messy hammers and other tools on the ground, "There's the furnace over there, and hammers here. Melt it, cool it, hammer it into shape. You can do it yourselves."
Qi Yu looked at everything in front of her and fell into thought.
Ming Lou squatted on the ground, crying as he fiddled with the furnace and charcoal fire, complaining as he did, "Master, Xuan Yue Sect is already hiring specialists to make natal artifacts for their disciples. When will we do that?"
Li Yu sneered, peeling grapes for Yu Zhen as he said,
"Your natal artifact is your most important possession. How can it be handled by others? As long as you are a disciple of my Beiyuan Sect, you can forget about having others make your natal artifact for your entire life."
Ming Lou put on a sad expression.
Yu Zhen, eating grapes beside him, suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to pat Li Yu's shoulder, saying, "Right, Li Yu, I remember you said that after tomorrow's disciple assessment, you're going to participate in the Grand Ceremony of Cultivation, right?"
Qi Yu, who was melting the Ice Heart Stone nearby, heard Yu Zhen speaking to Li Yu and was filled with doubt, "What is the Grand Ceremony of Cultivation?"
In previous years, around this time of month, Xuan Yue Sect often took people out and mentioned the Grand Ceremony of Cultivation, but no one had ever told her what it was.
Ming Lou covered his mouth, "The Grand Ceremony of Cultivation is like the New Year for the mortal world. All the sects in the entire cultivation world gather together for sacrifices, worship, and prayers for blessings."
"Oh, is that so?" Qi Yu looked enlightened.
Si Qing added calmly from the side,
"Yes, besides the sacrifices and prayers, the sects sitting opposite each other will also engage in competitions and duels. The sect that wins can ask for a treasure or any amount of money, and the other sect will have to give it to their disciples as New Year's lucky money."
Ming Lou nodded.
Li Yu continued peeling grapes for Yu Zhen, "Yes, we must attend the Grand Ceremony of Cultivation. What's wrong?"
Yu Zhen nodded, her tone unhurried, "This time, at the Grand Ceremony of Cultivation, let's sit opposite Xuan Yue Sect."
Li Yu was stunned, "Why did we suddenly make this decision?"
In previous years, the Beiyuan Sect had always been a sect that sought peace and stayed out of worldly affairs, returning immediately after the sacrifices.
Upon hearing this, Yu Zhen originally intended to directly mention how Xuan Yue Sect had bullied Qi Yu on Mount Buzhou.
However, considering that she was the Demon Lord at the time, if Li Yu became enraged and confronted Xuan Yue Sect, wouldn't her identity be revealed?
Therefore, Yu Zhen retracted her words and explained metaphorically, "Because I don't like the people from Xuan Yue Sect. Xuan Yue Sect once had a先天灵器 (innate spiritual artifact) that guarded their mountain. It helped them devour evil spirits and saved many lives, but Xuan Yue Sect, on the other hand, was ungrateful and discarded it like a broken tool.
"They even said that whether it's an innate spiritual artifact or medicine, anything not human shouldn't exist. How hypocritical! Why didn't they say that when it saved their lives?"
Qi Yu listened from the side, knowing that Yu Zhen was indirectly trying to stand up for her by saying this to Li Yu.
However, the matter of Xuan Yue Sect had always been the most painful spot in her heart, so she couldn't help but turn pale.
Li Yu, who already disliked Xuan Yue Sect, immediately nodded upon hearing Yu Zhen's words, "Since that's the case, we'll do as you say. This year at the Grand Ceremony of Cultivation, we'll sit opposite Xuan Yue Sect and make them lose a good sum."
Yu Zhen hummed in satisfaction.
While they were talking, the Ice Heart Stone Qi Yu was refining had completely melted.
The Cicada Silk had also been extracted.
Qi Yu stood a little further away from the others, releasing spiritual energy with one hand, slowly moving the melted Ice Heart Stone, the nearby Cicada Silk, and the ice spiritual stones into mid-air, continuously injecting spiritual power into them.
At the same time, she controlled the melting speed of the Sky Thunder Lock with her other hand. Once it had completely melted, she struck it out with a palm, enveloping it with lightning spiritual stones within spiritual energy.
Streams of ice-like airflow, through Qi Yu's palm strike, cast the melted Ice Heart Stone bit by bit into the zither shape in Qi Yu's mind.
The Sky Thunder Lock beside it also elongated its lines under Qi Yu's lightning spiritual power, emitting crackling purple electric sounds.
Ming Lou watched from the side, resting his chin on his hand, wondering,
"Can one refine a natal artifact by channeling different spiritual energies with each hand?
"Senior Brother didn't do it like this before.
"Junior Brother Qi Yu seems quite amazing.
"Are innate spiritual artifacts all like this?
"But Rong Yan is also an innate spiritual artifact, and his true form is at the Lingtai realm, yet I didn't see him being this powerful."
Just as Ming Lou was looking at Qi Yu with admiration and his mind was racing, Li Yu walked up to Qi Yu and suddenly raised his hand, sending a burst of spiritual energy into Qi Yu's body.
Along with his spiritual energy, Qi Yu's left hand flashed with a cold light, and a sky-blue ice zither with frost flowers imprinted on it appeared in mid-air, resonating with Qi Yu's spiritual energy, its strings humming.
The Sky Thunder Lock beside it also completely melted and was sealed into a long whip by Qi Yu's spiritual energy, emitting crackling sounds and automatically coiling up in response to Qi Yu's spiritual energy summon.
"It's done, that was fast." Ming Lou picked up a fan and fanned the Vajra Profound Jade in the nearby furnace, hoping it would melt faster under the high temperature. "Junior Brother Si Qing, you should start quickly too."
"Okay," Si Qing nodded.
Compared to Qi Yu, refining his natal artifact was much simpler. He chose ice attribute for both his zither and ink brush. With a flip of his spiritual energy, it was completed in just a few moves.
Li Yu couldn't help but remind him, "Are you sure you want to refine both natal artifacts as ice attribute? You have dual-element Heavenly Spiritual Roots, and you also have lightning attribute. You can still change the attribute before the artifact binds to its master, otherwise, it will be too late."
"Don't worry, Master," Si Qing turned back and explained, "I have my own plans."
Li Yu nodded, his gaze fixed on him, lost in thought.
Ming Lou, sitting cross-legged on the ground, fanned the furnace and exclaimed unfairly, "Yours are all done, and mine hasn't even finished melting yet."
"It can't be helped, Vajra Profound Jade itself is very difficult to melt," Qi Yu comforted Ming Lou, "We'll wait for you. You don't need to rush."
Ming Lou grumbled, "Too slow, too slow. Right, Master, Mistress, after Junior Brother Qi Yu and Junior Brother Si Qing's natal artifacts are forged, they still need to undergo the Heart Realm Trial, right? But tomorrow is the disciple assessment, and right after that is the Grand Ceremony of Cultivation. Is there enough time today?"
Ming Lou's gaze flickered between Yu Zhen and Li Yu.
Yu Zhen thought for a moment, "If it's really impossible, we can postpone the disciple assessment and start it after the Grand Ceremony."
In the Beiyuan Sect, Yu Zhen usually made the major decisions, while Li Yu was responsible for watching the show.
"Since your Mistress said so, I have no objections," Li Yu spread his hands, "Ming Lou, after your natal artifact is forged, proceed directly to the Heart Realm Trial."
Upon hearing that the assessment time would be postponed, Ming Lou cheered.
Qi Yu was confused, "What does the Heart Realm Trial mean? Where do we go?"
"The Heart Realm Trial is entering a formation and meditating with your eyes closed to test the connection between you and your natal artifact," Si Qing suddenly answered from the side, "This trial not only tests whether the cultivator and their natal artifact are in sync but also, more importantly, tests the cultivator's Dao heart."
"Because a cultivator with a natal artifact has officially stepped into the cultivation world. If they have evil thoughts, they cannot complete the Heart Realm Trial."
Li Yu nodded, "That's exactly right."
Ming Lou looked at the nearly melted Vajra Profound Jade, clapped his hand, and tossed the melting furnace into the air, sending it into the cold water nearby to cool. Then, he elongated its shape with spiritual energy. After dozens of hammer blows, he infused spiritual stones and magic power into it.
Soon, the scorching steel block, which had been like a branding iron, rotated a few times in the air, slowly cooled down, and shed its outer black shell.
Revealing a moon-white sword hilt and a shining blade within.
At the same time, the shed shell, under the rotation of golden magic power, transformed into a dazzling moon-white and gold scabbard, and with a clang, sheathed the sword.
"Ming Lou's magic power has increased," Li Yu praised with his hands behind his back.
Yu Zhen, seeing that the three of them were all ready, stood up and pushed open the door, walking towards the main hall.
Li Yu followed closely behind and drew three magic formations on the floor of the main hall.
Once the formations lit up, Li Yu looked at Qi Yu, Si Qing, and Ming Lou and said thoughtfully, "The Heart Realm Trial is very important. It determines whether you can continue to walk in the cultivation world in the future. When you enter the formation later, close your eyes and meditate. Whatever you see when you open your eyes will be experiences related to you. Do not be nervous, just follow your heart."
Qi Yu nodded in agreement.
The next moment, she strode into the formation, sat down cross-legged, and closed her eyes in meditation.
After an unknown amount of time, Qi Yu felt a hazy mist surrounding her.
She slowly opened her eyes.
To her surprise, what greeted her eyes was the eighteen levels of hell in the underworld.
Her hands, feet, and neck were all bound with ice-cold shackles. Her琵琶骨 (shoulder blade bone) was pierced by a hook, and any slight movement caused a piercing pain.
Opposite her, a young girl in a gradient light pink and blue immortal dress walked towards her, pinched her chin, and raised an eyebrow, saying,
"Does it hurt? It can't be helped. Who told you to try and take it back? If you had willingly given your body to me like the original host in other transmigration novels, why would I have thrown you into the eighteen levels of hell?"
"However, don't worry. After I throw you into the River of Forgetfulness, you won't remember anything. You can still reincarnate then. Isn't that good? Let's chat. Do you want to be reincarnated as a dog or a chicken?"
The girl said and laughed, then ordered the heavenly soldiers and generals behind her to lift her up, drag her to the Bridge of Helplessness, and throw her into the River of Forgetfulness along with the chains.
The vengeful spirits in the River of Forgetfulness continuously tore at her face and body.
Qi Yu was dazed, in so much pain that she was almost numb. Seeing her body being pulled up again, the girl reached out to stab her eyes, but she was completely powerless to resist when a shout suddenly rang in her ears:
"Stop it quickly!"
Qi Yu slowly raised her head.
What met her eyes was a cold and beautiful woman with a sweet face and a strong aura, wearing a gorgeous, floor-length light green dress.
Second Senior Sister...?