Xu Nian''s arms trembled incessantly, and the Spiritual Energy and Gang Qi within his body were nearly depleted.

    This battle, undoubtedly, had been a tremendous drain on him, but of course, the rewards were also very bountiful.

    Xu Nian walked up to the front half of the Giant Hou''s corpse and extracted the Crystal Core from the body.

    "Wind Attribute Crystal Core!" A smile appeared on Xu Nian''s face.

    He was cultivating the Wind Sword Skill, and now that he had acquired this Wind Attribute Crystal Core, its assistance to him was undoubtedly much stronger than that of other attributes.

    "If I understood Artifact Refining and embedded this Wind Attribute Crystal Core into my sword, then the power of my Wind Sword Skill would be even greater!" Xu Nian mused to himself.

    But refining artifacts was not so simple. Becoming an Artifact Master was a hundred or even a thousand times more difficult than becoming a Cultivator.

    Before becoming an Artifact Master, one must first be a Cultivator, and secondly, possess a strong soul and an affinity for the Fire Attribute.

    This is because the greatest difficulty for Artifact Masters lies in mastering powerful flames, which are needed to melt those hard metals to forge weapons.

    In the world, all things consist of nine attributes, which are respectively: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, light, and darkness.

    Be it humans, Demon Beasts, or Exotic Beasts, all possess their own biased attributes, which may be one or several.

    However, these attributes are not evident and require your own exploration.

    If your constitution is suited for the Water Attribute, but you insist on cultivating the Fire Attribute, then your cultivation speed will be very slow.

    Xu Nian''s rapid progress in the Wind Sword Technique precisely confirmed his strong affinity for the Wind Attribute; his Overlord Fist also confirmed that his affinity for the Thunder Attribute was not weak.

    As for the Fire Attribute, the Thunder and Fire Tyrant Fist displayed just now may prove that Xu Nian''s constitution includes the Fire Attribute, but whether he truly possesses a strong affinity still requires further exploration.

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    After all, the demands for affinity are extremely high to become an Artifact Refiner.

    "Kid, you want to learn Artifact Refining? You should have said so earlier, I can teach you!" However, just as Xu Nian was about to suppress the thought of becoming an Artifact Master, the voice of Emperor Ye Tian suddenly rang out.

    One can imagine just how lofty the status of an Artifact Refiner is.

    Soon, Xu Nian, leading Han Xin and Yun Lan, entered the ancient cave. They expected darkness, but it didn''t materialize.

    Embedded on the cave walls were nine Night Pearls, illuminating the entire cave as though it were daytime; the space inside the cave was vast, like a huge palace.

    But what shocked Xu Nian and the others the most was the presence of three pitch-black iron boxes in the center of the cave, all forged from Innate Meteor Iron.

    "Those three Exotic Beasts must have been after these iron boxes, but we don''t know what secrets they hold," Yun Lan commented.

    Han Xin nodded in agreement. Not to mention the other treasures, just the three iron boxes before them were already priceless.

    "Let''s just take a look and find out," Xu Nian said with a smile, and then he walked toward the iron boxes.

    Approaching the iron boxes, the three of them immediately felt a profound heaviness emanating from them.

    Xu Nian tried to lift one of the iron boxes, but to his shock, he couldn''t move it.

    "Damn, what kind of Meteorite Iron is this? Why is it so heavy?" Xu Nian couldn''t help but curse.

    Standing by, Han Xin and Yun Lan were also shocked. Xu Nian''s physical strength was something they had witnessed before; if even he couldn''t move the iron boxes, they would have even less chance of budging them.

    "Quick, see what''s in there?" the onlookers outside were just as excited.

    They were keen to know what treasures the three Exotic Beasts were fighting over.

    "Let''s open it up and see. Luckily, these boxes aren''t locked, or else we would have no way of dealing with them," Yun Lan said with a laugh, her eyes filled with anticipation.

    Han Xin held her breath, her beautiful eyes sparkling with excitement.

    Xu Nian took a deep breath, reached out, and opened one of the iron boxes.

    The moment the iron box was opened, a brilliant light burst forth, dazzling to the eyes.

    "Is this... could this be?" Xu Nian and the other two all showed surprised expressions.