On the fourth morning,

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    Xu Nian was still refining artifacts after practicing for a full two days and two nights, and by now Xu Nian had essentially mastered the entire process.

    "Buzz!"

    Xu Nian, with a thought, retrieved a head-sized fireball from the roaring flames within the Copper Tripod.

    With another thought, a piece of scrap iron floated in front of him.

    Xu Nian controlled the fireball with his Spiritual Sense to envelop the scrap iron, quickly melting it into molten iron.

    The fire was ordinary flame and the iron was ordinary iron, but this process required manipulation with Spiritual Sense, otherwise, it would take a long time to melt.

    Next was the shaping step.

    Xu Nian controlled the molten iron with his Spiritual Sense, gradually shaping it into a sword form.

    He then controlled water to pour over the iron sword, casting it into an actual Sword Embryo.

    After completing all this, only one step remained—Hammering, or in other terms, forging.

    However, Xu Nian''s forging was different from that of ordinary Artifact Refiners who would just strike a few blows with a hammer; Xu Nian''s Ten Thousand Divine Hammer Technique was unique.

    In this process, Xu Nian needed to envelop the hammer with his Spiritual Sense and then deliver a hefty strike to the Sword Embryo, which would spread his Spiritual Sense to every corner of the Sword Embryo, thereby removing the impurities within.

    This process sounds easy but is incredibly difficult and consumes a vast amount of Spiritual Sense.

    With Xu Nian''s current level of Spiritual Sense, he could only strike once, but that one strike was equivalent to the effect of a hundred strikes by an ordinary Artifact Refiner.

    "My Spiritual Sense can only withstand one strike; I can hardly imagine how strong one''s Spiritual Sense needs to be for ten thousand strikes," Xu Nian reflected inwardly.

    Yet, he could distinctly feel that with that strike, his Spiritual Sense had also slightly strengthened.

    It was as if that strike had not only shaped the Sword Embryo but also his own Spiritual Sense.

    "Thud thud thud!"

    Someone was knocking at Xu Nian''s door.

    Xu Nian quickly stored the Copper Tripod and the scrap iron into his storage ring, as he was not yet ready to let others know he was practicing Artifact Refining.

    Xu Nian nodded, feeling somewhat moved.

    Although Leng Yanran''s attitude had changed quite abruptly, he could feel that she meant no harm. Perhaps she had her own compelling reasons for acting this way, though Xu Nian didn''t know what kind of pressure she was under.

    "Whoosh!"

    Without allowing Xu Nian to contemplate further, they had already arrived at the grand gates of Qin Mansion in Cloud Sea City.

    Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar gate, Xu Nian was filled with emotions.

    Suddenly, his eyes sharpened, and he walked toward the two stone lions beside the gate.

    Then everyone saw Xu Nian, incredibly lifting the thousand-pound lion single-handedly, and what was even more unexpected was that he swung the stone lion and smashed it against the gates of Qin Mansion.

    "Boom!"

    A loud bang.

    The gates of the Qin Mansion were directly shattered.

    The sound immediately attracted many onlookers.

    People were buzzing with conversations, unable to understand who would dare to provoke the Qin Family in such a manner.

    Some well-informed individuals recognized Xu Nian''s identity, feeling a surge of emotions.

    The tale of the abandoned son of the Qin Family becoming a genius of Qinglin Academy had already spread throughout Cloud Sea City, and now Xu Nian''s arrival stirred great interest among the crowd.

    "Who is so bold to cause trouble at Qin Mansion!"

    However, just as the crowd was abuzz, five guards rushed out from inside, led by Li Yuan, the captain of the Qin Family''s guard team.

    In the past, because Xu Nian was a bastard, he had often been bullied by this Li Yuan who once even falsely accused Xu Nian and his mother of theft, extorting fifty taels of silver from them — money that was meant for his mother''s treatment for a cold disease. This nearly resulted in his mother''s death due to the lack of funds to treat her illness.

    Seeing Li Yuan again, the old hatred surged in Xu Nian''s heart, and his gaze towards Li Yuan turned icy.

    Li Yuan too recognized Xu Nian and seemed a bit surprised.

    However, his gaze quickly turned disdainful.

    Though he had heard about Xu Nian becoming a genius of Qinglin Academy, he did not know Xu Nian''s true strength and thought that Xu Nian had merely increased his cultivation speed, probably nothing more than a One-star Warrior at most, whereas he himself possessed the strength of a Nine-star Warrior.

    Of course, much of his gaze was fixated on Leng Yanran standing behind Xu Nian, filled with lascivious intent.

    However, that look, falling under Leng Yanran''s eyes, undoubtedly cost him half his life.