According to the Tai Xu Men rules, all outer sect disciples who sign up for the Xiang Long Gu task can be exempt from half a year's miscellaneous chores and receive two mid-grade spirit stones as rewards issued by the sect.

  These two middle-grade spirit stones were naturally looked down upon by Zhao Di. However, for some disciples who were short of money, they were a significant source of income.

  As for the Tai Xu Men's practice of encouraging outer sect disciples to "send themselves to death", Zhao Di, although disapproving, also found it quite normal. Since entering the Tian Yuan continent, he had always felt that the emotions and relationships in the immortal cultivation world were very shallow, far inferior to those of ordinary people in his previous life. As long as it was beneficial for the sect's development, what harm would come from sacrificing a batch of unimportant outer sect disciples?

  These things Zhao Di did not want to pay attention to, for him, since he had already signed up for the task of Dragon Valley, he should make good use of the remaining half year and carefully prepare.

  After all, this is a matter of life and death, it's not like a foundation-laying ceremony where only victory or defeat is decided, but not life or death.

  Zhao Di felt that this way of fighting to the death was still somewhat convenient for him.

  Because of this, he can boldly prepare several killer moves, whether using high-level spirit stones or a large number of talismans, without any reservations. Because the final winner is only him, his deceased opponents cannot expose his earth-shattering secrets.

  Apart from a large number of talismans, Zhao Di also had a secret weapon, which was the "Yu Shan Yin" artifact that he didn't dare to use during the foundation building trial.

  This treasure was obtained from that pair of strong thieves in the Liúyún Mountains. At that time, Zhào Dì was only a hair's breadth away from being buried under this seal.

  Although this is only a high-grade artifact, it requires a lot of time and spiritual power to manipulate, and it's also very clumsy. However, if used in conjunction with the Earth Prison Technique, which can temporarily fix the opponent within a certain range, it can produce a terrifying one-hit kill effect.

  But in the foundation-building trial, this law instrument that can only kill people and cannot control its power freely is something Zhao Di cannot use. Otherwise, if he accidentally kills his opponent, he will also lose his qualification for the trial.

  In the Dragon-Subduing Valley, this Jade Mountain Seal can indeed be used once. However, the spiritual energy consumed by refining this artifact is too great. With Zhao Di's cultivation at the 12th layer of the Refining Qi stage, using it once would consume nearly half of his spiritual energy. But since Zhao Di possesses high-grade spirit stones, recovering his spiritual energy isn't too difficult.

  Zhao Di felt that this was still not enough. When building a foundation and competing, whether it was Li Qing's "Fire Crow Pot" or Sun Ming Shixiong's "Green Giant Sword", when encountering opponents with power above his own magical instrument, Zhao Di found it extremely difficult to achieve a quick kill within a short period of time. Dragging the opponent until their spiritual energy was exhausted might be possible, but by that time, he himself would likely have very little spiritual energy left. If he were to encounter another cultivator again, it would probably end in disaster rather than fortune.

  It's not a fair one-on-one match in Xi Long Valley, don't take advantage of others' misfortunes or loot from the fire too much!

  Therefore, Zhao Di felt it was necessary to further improve his magical tool standards. Apart from this, he still wanted to try and refine some of the higher-level talismans that were very helpful during the Qi Refining stage, such as the "Earth Prison Symbol".

  With this goal in mind, Zhao Di decided to go to the market town. However, the Kuangling Street Market inside the city was closed at that time, so he chose a "Feicui Valley" market located at the foot of the Kuanglu Mountains, near the border between Jin Yan Country and Wu Lin Country. This market was mainly supported by the Tai Xuan Gate from behind. Coincidentally, the Wu Lin Country's Xiuxian world, famous for producing various magical tool materials, was also nearby. The Feicui Valley Market thus became one of the most famous material markets in Jin Yan Country.

  Outer sect disciples, each person has one chance to leave the mountain gate every year, for no more than a month. In fact, the cultivators who are busy with their cultivation and various chores rarely go out. Zhao Di came to Tai Xuan Gate for more than two years, it was also his first time leaving the mountain gate.

  He found the steward surnamed Ma at Zhi Shi Guan on Xiang Lu Peak and easily obtained a Departure Token from the old man, then he came to the mountain gate at the foot of Han Yang Peak with the token.

  One of the foundation period masters who was in charge of guarding the mountain gate didn't stop him at all and let him pass through.

  After Zhao Di left the mountain gate, he stepped on the flying feather artifact and headed west. The Feicui Valley was not too far away, and with the speed of his flying feather artifact, it took him three days to arrive at Feicui Valley.

  As he approached the Emerald Valley, he felt an immense weight transmitted from the Flying Feather artifact and had to descend and proceed on foot. It seemed that this town also had a No-Fly Array set up.

  It's unclear whether this was not the busiest time for the street or if the atmosphere of the street had always been so quiet. Zhao Di only saw a few dozen monks walking on the streets, far less lively than the Kuai Ridge Street Market.

  But he thought it was normal too. Kuangling Street only had a market every half year, while Feicui Valley was open to the outside world every day.

  After circling around, Zhao was delighted to discover that the materials for making artifacts available here were more comprehensive and cheaper than he had imagined. Moreover, although there were few cultivators visiting, almost every cultivator was purchasing a large batch of materials. It seemed that this market mainly dealt with wholesale business of artifact-making materials in bulk.

  Apart from equipment materials, commonly used talisman materials, some low-grade elixirs and finished products such as ritual instruments and talismans are also sold in the market. However, these shops are far inferior to those that trade in raw materials and minerals in terms of both quantity and scale.

  Zhao Di no longer looked down on the fine copper ore at this time. Although using a small cauldron to cultivate top-grade fine copper material also had a chance of refining top-grade artifacts, but for him who was not too skilled in artifact refinement techniques, the probability was too low.

  With such rich raw materials here, he has no reason not to choose a higher-end one.

  Zhao Di was in a "Jian Shi Ge" raw material shop, holding a silver stone block with red silk threads in his hand, carefully wiping it.

  "This is the new batch of blood-silver ore that just arrived at our store, only three low-grade spirit stones per catty, and we sell in batches of 50 catties. The price is very favorable, fellow Taoist, would you like to buy a batch?" A long-faced young man who looked about the same age as Zhao Di, dressed like a shop assistant, was promoting this pile of ore to Zhao Di.

  "This is indeed a Blood Vein Silver ore. I've heard that Blood Vein Silver artifacts are not cheap at all. This ore of yours isn't expensive, but what's its quality grade?" Zhao Di asked.

  The young man with a long face hastily explained: "Don't worry, fellow Taoist, our shop has been in business for hundreds of years and has a good reputation. If you ask around this valley, you'll know that the blood silver ore is difficult to refine. Although the raw ore is cheap, one kilogram of refined blood silver can sell for over 30 spirit stones. That's why blood silver artifacts are more expensive. Not only is our blood silver ore cheap, but its quality is also quite good. Please take a closer look at the surface of this ore, you'll see that the red threads are fine and unbroken, which is the characteristic of high-quality blood silver ore."

  Zhao nodded, he had seen such records in the classics. The better the quality of the blood silver, the finer and longer the red threads on its surface would be, filling the entire block of silver material continuously.

  And high-quality blood silver can be used to refine top-grade magical instruments.

  Zhao Di bought one hundred kilograms of Blood Silk Silver Ore in one breath, filling up a storage bag he had specially prepared. Then, he purchased a batch of symbol materials and auxiliary materials for refining equipment.

  As for finished ritual objects and talismans, there wasn't a single one that caught Zhao's eye, so he didn't buy any.

  After buying all these materials, he didn't waste any time staying there and returned directly to Tai Xu Men.

  Because he was no longer in charge of miscellaneous affairs, his free use of the refining room qualification was also cancelled. Now he is using a high-quality refining room, with a rental fee of ten pieces of spirit stone per month. This amount of spirit stone is naturally not a concern for Zhao Di, but when paying one piece of middle-grade spirit stone to the refining room guard monk, he still put on an extremely painful expression.

  Zhao Di entered the top-grade equipment refinement room "Seven" and the two Qi Refining stage cultivators who were guarding the room started chatting.

  "No money to waste on fancy stuff, why insist on going to the high-end equipment room! The mid-range equipment room is already sufficient, and it's only five spirit stones a month, half the price!" one of the younger ones said disapprovingly.

  "Isn't he that genius refiner, the one surnamed Zhao who could use the mid-grade refining room for free as soon as he entered the sect? It's said that he even refined a high-grade artifact himself!" Another person also recognized Zhao Di at a glance.

  "Really? He can refine top-grade artifacts! That's indeed worthy of the top-grade artifact refinement room. Looking at his bulging waist, he must have obtained a lot of materials and is going to refine another batch of top-grade artifacts." The person speaking revealed an expression that was both envious and jealous, with a hint of resentment, as if saying, "Why does someone else have this talent, able to refine top-grade artifacts at such a young age, while I don't even own one?"

  "Hmph, I've heard that he already has more than three top-grade artifacts on him. I'm afraid this time it's not just about refining a top-grade artifact!" The short cultivator said, seeming to know Zhao Di very well.

  "Are you saying that he wants to refine an extreme, top-grade artifact!?" The tall cultivator's face revealed an expression of incredulity, and even his voice trembled.