From low-grade Spirit Tools to mid-grade magical tools, the prices ranged anywhere from dozens to a hundred Spirit Stones.
High-grade magical tools, however, were much more valuable, costing at least several hundred Spirit Stones.
Of course, there were Spirit Tools above that, but those were things only cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage would consider. Even if some lucky individuals managed to acquire a Spirit Tool, relying on their meager Qi Condensation stage cultivation would exhaust their spiritual energy within a few strikes, leaving them completely at the mercy of others.
Therefore, the vast majority of cultivators in the Qi Condensation stage used magical tools, and only those with peerless natural talent—oh, and the ridiculously wealthy—could afford Spirit Tools. After all, such people treated high-grade pills like jelly beans.
Once everything was ready, Chen Fan channeled the spiritual power within his body to form spiritual fire. Feeling the might of this spiritual fire, he sighed with emotion: "As expected of a Wood-Fire attribute technique."
He grabbed a handful of ordinary raw materials from beside him and tossed them straight into the furnace.
Half a quarter of an hour later, feeling the temperature inside the furnace rising higher and higher, Chen Fan officially began forging.
He placed a piece of refined silver into the furnace to melt, casually tossing in pieces of refined iron right after.
Time passed bit by bit, and the ordinary materials inside the furnace gradually began to melt. Once all these materials had melted together, Chen Fan flicked his wrist. With a muffled thud, the lid of the furnace flew up of its own accord and landed on the ground.
Next, Chen Fan reabsorbed his spiritual fire. After a moment, he placed a pre-prepared mold next to the furnace, then used his spiritual power to lift the furnace and pour a stream of deep red molten iron into the mold.
The mold was made of special materials and was extremely heat-resistant.
After a while, the molten iron turned solid, and its color shifted to black.
Chen Fan hurriedly used his spiritual power to extract it, placing it next to a specialized forging forge—the kind ordinary mortals used for blacksmithing.
He ignited his spiritual fire once more, wrapped the material in spiritual power, and began hammering out the shape he desired, blow by blow.
Just as the forging was nearing completion, Chen Fan formed hand seals with his ten fingers and began engraving a specialized Formation onto the sword body. Before long, a Formation designed to gather spiritual energy and nourish the blade was complete.
The sword body hummed vibrantly, and under the specialized weapon-forging technique, the sharpening was complete.
The entire sword was a translucent, pristine white, two feet and three inches long, and exceptionally sharp.
Realizing that he hadn't even possessed a weapon until now, and that he had been constantly busy from the start until this moment, a trace of bitterness inevitably welled up in his heart.
"Since that's the case, as my very first sword, your name shall be 'Xiangyang'!" To harbor the sun within one's heart is to eventually find light at the end of the dark and winding path.
After simply refining Xiangyang with his spiritual power, he stored it inside his Dantian to nourish it.
Then, Chen Fan began forging various other magical tools.
A week later, Chen Fan finally stepped out of the doors of the Weapon-Forging Pavilion.
No sooner had he emerged than he learned that the town had undergone a drastic upheaval: of the four major families, only the Li family remained.
The turmoil and shifting winds at the very beginning were all caused by an immortal's cave dwelling. It was originally discovered by a disciple of one of the families while traveling abroad—a cave dwelling left behind by a Foundation Establishment cultivator who had attempted to break through to the Golden Core stage but had instead passed away.
The Foundation Establishment ancestor of that family had wanted to go there himself, but alas, whenever any of these four families tried to sneak away, their spiritual aura would be detected, drawing surveillance.
Even hiding one's aura wouldn't work; after all, normally you burned brightly like a candle there, and if you suddenly flickered out, how could it not attract attention? People would definitely investigate and expose you.
Even if you wanted a quick victory, someone who broke through using a Foundation Establishment Pill had neither a Foundation Establishment technique nor Foundation Establishment inheritance and relevant knowledge. You were merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator lording over a remote little town, trapped here for the rest of your life—how could you possibly quickly crack this Formation?
Therefore, this old ancestor decided to let the Qi Condensation members of his own family slowly wear it down. But in this world, where was there an airtight wall? The news leaked, and one wondered if this family ancestor regretted his decision.
Once the news leaked, the families came one after another, forming a shared alliance. Even so, in the face of immense profits, such an alliance was nothing more than a joke! Even though these four families usually had many intermarriages, so what? In the end, this was a clan affair, not something decided by just one or two people.
The turbulence of that time was caused by this very reason.
Next came mutual plotting and scheming. At the very moment the Formation was broken, the Qi Condensation members of the four major families instantly broke out into a chaotic slaughter.
After the news was reported back, the ancestors of the respective families led the survivors to attack each other within the town. Originally, everyone had a tacit understanding, each finding someone they felt they could defeat to brawl with, ultimately deciding the victory one-on-one. Alas, the Li family turned out to be old schemers; they had hidden a Foundation Establishment cultivator at home. When the Li family defeated the Zhang family, and the Wang family defeated the Lin family, the Li family didn't give anyone a chance to react, launching a direct thunderous strike to seal their family's victory.
After taking over all the assets, the Li family renamed Kaiyuan Town to "Qingyang Town," symbolizing their rise like the sun in the clear blue sky.
Hearing this, Chen Fan knew that from then on, this town would no longer be the weakest in the vicinity, because the Li family had now obtained a Foundation Establishment technique; obtaining the rest of the corresponding inheritances thereafter would be simple.
"Qingyang Town!" Muttering the name to himself, Chen Fan knew he needed to work even harder to build up his family. As the owner of a cheat system, he couldn't afford to fall too far behind others, right?
One year later.
Watching Spirit Stones being occasionally tossed into the well, Chen Fan couldn't help feeling a pang in his heart. If it weren't for accelerating the cultivation of the Spirit Spring and condensing it into a pseudo-Spiritual Vein, how could he possibly have been so willing to part with them?
Just at that moment, seeing his wife nearby planting some spirit herbs, Chen Fan said with heartfelt distress: "My wife, you're still pregnant, so you shouldn't be moving around haphazardly lest you agitate the fetus."
Because he had obtained that dual-cultivation technique at the street market back then, he had frequently engaged in wild passion with Li Lingyu, resulting in her becoming pregnant once more before long.
Moreover, after discovering a few months ago that his wife possessed a talent for being a spirit planter, Chen Fan had frequently used the pretext of giving instruction to coax Li Lingyu into trying out some new tricks. She had fallen for it a few times at first, but upon realizing the truth, she was both bashful and annoyed, denying Chen Fan entry to the bed for several days—leaving him with an extreme fondness for those few days.
Right now, Chen Fan's spiritual power was on the verge of reaching Level 7 Qi Condensation Perfection, and his wife, under the improvement of the Spirit-Nourishing Pill, coupled with the top-tier pills refined by Chen Fan and their dual cultivation, had broken through to Level 4 Qi Condensation.
As for the three Li brothers, a few months ago, under Chen Fan's guidance, they had also broken through to become First-Tier Alchemists.
Over the next few months, although Chen Fan had told them not to excessively consume the pills he refined because they weren't refined by a master like him and excessive consumption would lead to the accumulation of medicinal toxins,
the top-tier pills he refined himself were different—they lacked excessive impurities. With his refined pills available, there was no need to rush. Unfortunately, Chen Fan ultimately had a family to build and couldn't possibly spend every day refining pills to provide free offerings to others.
Consequently, the three brothers couldn't resist eating the pills they refined themselves. Now at Level 5 Qi Condensation, their spiritual power was also being polished to perfection under the influence of the pills, and they were on the verge of breaking through to Level 6 Qi Condensation.