<h4>Chapter 198 - The Test Begins </h4>


    The hierarchy was the same for Spirit tool as well and would be the same for a lot of other things such as pills and formations. Of course, there were exceptions to it, but those were only up to a certain extent. One of them was the four vessels restoration pill that Lin Mu had.


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    It was a mid grade healing alchemical pill that was effective on everyone from mere mortals to core condensation realm cultivators. That was also the reason why it was so expensive and rare as it would take a mid grade spirit alchemist to manufacture those.


    Even for a low grade alchemist, the basic requirement was that they needed to be able to ignite their qi me. Doing so was a difficult task that would require huge stores of spirit qi and would only be possible for Peak qi refining realm cultivators at the very least.


    And that was not all, as bing an alchemist also involved a ton of learning. One had to learn a mountain of texts to gain an understanding about herbs and pills. Their knowledge revolved around the efficacy of the herbs, their medicinal properties, their dosages and their refinement process.


    A simr picture came into the view when one consider the other professions of the cultivators such as the formation masters, weapon forgers, and spirit tool refiners. The difficulty only increased as one became more involved.


    "Though don’t get your hopes all the way up. There is still a chance that he may not give you a weapon of that grade. We do not know Jing Wei’s true identity, but I can guess that he is either a weapon forger or a spirit tool refiner. There is no other way he would be so knowledgeable about weapons otherwise. And his control on a pseudo immortal tool like the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode only affirms my belief." Xukong Advised Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu silently nodded and showed that he fully understood Xukong’s words. While this entire conversation had happened between Lin Mu and Senior Xukong mere five seconds had actually passed in real time.


    When Duan Ke saw Lin Mu nod his head, she thought that he was responding to her about her previous inquiry. Lin Mu knew that he should not stall anymore and replied quick.


    "I am currently in thete stage of the qi refining realm." Lin Mu answered truthfully.


    Duan Ke was inwardly expecting something like this and was thus not shocked. Lin Mu’s previous revtions had already tested her wits and she had simply increased her expectations by a few levels. But these very few levels in the eyes ofmon cultivators would be a mountain topare to.


    Jing Wei meanwhile had not changed his expression and was looking as if he had already expected this oue. He knew for sure that Lin Mu was not in the core condensation realm, which left him with two viable options, thete stage of qi refining realm or the peak stage.


    Knowing that Lin Mu could use the spirit sense beforehand helped him in devising this conclusion. Even Jing Wei himself in his thousands of years of life had not seen a single cultivator that could refine their spirit sense before thete stage of the qi refining realm.


    ording to their belief, having dense and saturate spirit qi was one of the basic requirements of refining spirit qi. It was a pity that they did not know Lin Mu was not doing it in the conventional way. He did not even have a true cultivation technique, to be honest!


    If Jing Wei was to know this fact, he would rather doubt his ancestors that believe this!


    "Follow me, this ce is not suitable for a spar." Jing Wei said and gestured for Lin Mu to follow him.


    Duan Ke and Lin Mu followed behind him as he took them to a different hall that was much wider than the previous one. While the previous one was longer than this, it did not have the same area as this.


    Lin Mu looked around and could see the solid stone floor underneath him. This waspletely different than the rest of the mansion, which only had wooden floors. Even the walls of this room seemed to be reinforced with metal in ces.


    Lin Mu’s curiosity was ignited and he extended his spirit sense to observe the hall. His findings were amazing to him. The hall was covered in tens of formations, the design of which Lin Mu found to be different.


    "This is a reinforcement formation whose function is to contain all the forces that are inflicted on it. The walls are specifically made as well. Do you see those metal parts on the walls?" Xukong spoke up.


    "Yes Senior, I do." Lin Mu replied hurriedly.


    "Guess what metal they are made of, you have already seen it before," Xukong questioned in a mentoring tone.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit before he linked the defensive features of the hall with what Senior Xukong had just said.


    "It is the Heavy Depths Iron ore!" Lin Mu answered.


    "Correct, the Heavy Depths Iron ore has been refined andbined with the wooden wall to contain spirit qi attacks. This means that while you can’t use the skill bestowed upon you by the ring, you can use the skills Thai you learned yourself, including the basic strength amplification by your spirit sword." Xukong spoke in a suggestive tone.


    Lin Mu immediately grasped what he meant, and ideas started forming in his mind. Lin Mu had not used the full potential of his spirit swords as it was too strong and he would simply split apart all enemies that he had encountered until now.


    He had even tested the short sword on the Heavy Depths Iron ore chunk that he himself had and had cut it apart. But ording to Senior Xukong, he did not have to worry about it right now as it should be properly refined.


    Lin Mu and Duan Ke stood on the opposite sides of the hall and entered an offensive stance before Jing Wei spoke.


    "Start!"