After weighing the matter in his mind, Li Yan remained silent for a while before looking up at Xing Ming.
"Then, as a Guest Elder, what must I give, and what can I receive?"
"A Guest Elder doesn't need to do much on a daily basis. You can just focus on your own cultivation. You can receive a hundred Spirit Stones every month, which is twice as much as those Foundation Establishment deacons. Although you don't need to do anything usually, if the sect has a matter that requires you to act, you must do it well. Otherwise, there will be corresponding rewards and punishments. Everything will be handled according to the sect's rules and precepts. Of course, these matters will be within your capabilities and will not be forced upon you beyond your abilities. In a moment, I can give you the detailed rewards and punishments for a Guest Elder. You can look at it first before deciding. In addition, you will have higher authority to read and cultivate the classic texts and cultivation methods treasured by the sect, but for now, it is limited to the Foundation Establishment stage. If you want to see higher and stronger cultivation methods, you must wait until you become a true elder. And there is only one condition to become an elder, and that is to form a Golden Core. Oh, and one more thing. If you need a Golden Core cultivator to help with your artifact refining this time, I can help you once for free, but only this once. Therefore, there are many benefits to becoming a Guest Elder of this sect. You can rest assured on this point. Falling Star Valley is not a stingy sect."
After saying this, Xing Ming waved his sleeve, and a jade slip flew toward Li Yan. After catching the jade slip, Li Yan placed it directly on his forehead.
He found that it indeed recorded the detailed rewards and punishments for a Guest Elder.
Li Yan didn't know if Falling Star Valley had ever had Guest Elders before. If not, then this jade slip in his hand was tailor-made for him.
He quickly scanned the precepts in the jade slip. The rules and regulations were just as Xing Ming had said; there were no overly outrageous demands.
At most, it detailed that if a Guest Elder failed to complete a mission, besides being fined and not receiving any Spirit Stones for three years, they would also have to complete three tasks of the same level within three years.
There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. How could a sect let you live and eat for free? Everything was reciprocal.
'Based on the strength I've shown now, I am indeed a bit stronger than the other Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect, but a deacon position would actually be more appropriate. A 'Guest Elder', to put it bluntly, has a title but no power. He doesn't want to let me go, but at the same time, while wanting to use me, he won't give me any real authority.'
Li Yan also quickly understood the meaning of this so-called Guest Elder. It was just to have him be a slightly stronger fighter.
"Senior, I can agree, but I have one request."
Li Yan seemed to be repeatedly studying the contents of the jade slip. After a long while, he slowly spoke.
"Oh, let's hear it!"
Xing Ming raised an eyebrow, unsure for a moment what he was thinking.
"If this junior fails to refine my Natal Magical Treasure this time, then when I collect the materials again later, I hope the sect can use some of its connections to find them for me, or purchase them for me directly. Of course, the Spirit Stones for these materials will still be paid by this junior. I wonder if that's possible?"
Li Yan was, of course, confident in refining his Magical Treasure this time. He had been preparing for a long time.
But apart from the 'Infinite Wanderer' branch, the Jade-Horned Serpent, and the Ice Cloud Feather, which he was sure he had more than enough of, he couldn't be certain about the other main and auxiliary materials. It would be strange if Li Yan didn't take this opportunity to propose some conditions.
After hearing this, Xing Ming saw that the other party hadn't proposed any excessive conditions and immediately nodded.
"That's not a problem. It's just that whether we can find the materials you want will depend on opportunity. The sect cannot guarantee it, we can only say we'll do our best!"
After speaking, he gave Li Yan a meaningful look. He was now certain in his heart that the Natal Magical Treasure this person Zhang Ming was refining was definitely extraordinary.
If the opponent's Natal Magical Treasure was ordinary, they would surely have prepared several sets of raw materials. And asking the sect to step in and inquire about raw materials also showed that Zhang Ming's wealth was still substantial.
'It seems his master left him a lot of good things when he left!'
The first thing Xing Ming thought of was that Zhang Ming's wealth was a gift from someone else. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator to refine a single Natal Magical Treasure, more than ninety percent would have already gone bankrupt.
...
The heavy stone door behind him closed with a loud rumble. Li Yan looked around.
After settling the matter of the Guest Elder position with Xing Ming, there was no need for Xing Ming to personally bring him over for the subsequent matters.
As for Li Yan's appointment as Guest Elder, a ceremony would be held after he came out of seclusion from refining his Natal Magical Treasure.
Holding a message jade slip given by Xing Ming, Li Yan entered the underground "Shattered Star Grotto" after a rigorous inspection, much to the surprise of the guarding disciples.
Firstly, the conditions for opening the underground "Shattered Star Chamber" were still not relaxed. Not many people were using the underground "Shattered Star Chamber," so there were many empty refining rooms.
Secondly, to avoid arousing suspicion, Li Yan hid his cultivation to a level that these guarding disciples could not see through at all, making his identity even more inscrutable to others.
What surprised the guarding disciples even more was that the jade slip didn't specify how long this person could use it. This was the result of Li Yan's final negotiation with Xing Ming, which made the guarding disciples have to handle it with caution.
They looked at Li Yan with deep caution and doubt, but the jade slip indeed contained the Sect Master's voice. After repeated confirmations, they let him pass.
In fact, when Li Yan proposed that he didn't know how long his refining would take, Xing Ming had also frowned and said nothing.
The Fire Poison in the "Shattered Star Chamber" was extremely potent. A Foundation Establishment alchemist or artifact refiner would usually not stay inside for more than a month.
If they insisted on staying longer, there was a more than eighty percent chance that the Fire Poison inside would cause their death at any moment.
But Li Yan still insisted on such a long time in the end. Xing Ming thought of the other party's physical body, which was comparable to a Golden Core, and finally agreed.
They did not want to let this person Zhang Ming go, but if he perished in Falling Star Valley because of this, they could only say it was a pity.
As for how much Earth Fire Zhang Ming could consume, it was just a Magical Treasure refined by a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He wouldn't be able to control too much Earth Fire anyway.
After persuading him a few times and seeing that Zhang Ming was still insistent, Xing Ming finally agreed. At worst, he would collect his corpse later, but he couldn't let him leave just like that.
The "Shattered Star Chamber" was located about four thousand yards underground, situated directly on the spine of Falling Star Valley's largest cultivation resource, the "Shattered Star Fire Jade Vein."
The four walls of the chamber shone with a golden-green light, and the entire stone room was protected by a formation. Otherwise, with the high temperature here, any rock would be melted into ash.
This stone room was about fifty yards in size, which was already very spacious. It was enough to pile up the materials for refining any Magical Treasure.
The ceiling of the stone room emitted a soft white light, and as this white light spread, streams of materialized fire-attribute Spirit Qi gushed out.
That was the result of the formation automatically operating, causing the fire-attribute Spirit Qi in the air to emanate.
As long as there was Spirit Qi, even though it was thousands of yards underground, one would not feel oppressed in the slightest.
There were a total of twelve "Shattered Star Chambers" underground, six of which were wood-attribute alchemy rooms and six of which were fire-attribute artifact refining rooms.
Of course, choosing a "Shattered Star Chamber" of the same attribute was not absolute. It was also possible for someone to choose a fire-attribute room to refine some kind of ultimate yang pill.
Or choosing a wood-attribute room to refine a Magical Treasure that could control souls would also be no problem.
The large stone chamber was almost empty, with only a coiled, dragon-shaped object that was entirely purple standing in the middle.
Its upper body was raised high, and its huge dragon head drooped down again, its pair of emotionless eyes looking down at Li Yan, as if looking down on all living beings.
Li Yan slowly circled the giant dragon-shaped object and touched its body with his hand. It was not hot at all to the touch, and even felt somewhat warm and moist.
The scales, which were the size of his palm, did not feel rough at all.
"I wonder what kind of material this was forged from?"
Li Yan carefully observed it with his Divine Sense for a while, but he still couldn't figure out what these materials were.
But from its dragon head, whiskers, and claws, Li Yan could confirm that this object was cast in the likeness of the fourth-rank Saint Beast, the "Amethyst Dragon."
The "Amethyst Dragon" was a legendary Saint Beast. Even the Lesser Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's bloodline was no match for it.
Legend had it that they were fourth-rank at birth, which was equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage in humans, hence they were called fourth-rank Saint Beasts. When they reached adulthood, they could easily reach the "Body Integration" realm.
And they hardly needed to cultivate. Besides eating, they just slept. However, once they grew to a certain age and needed to advance, they would devour a large amount of heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
That was a massive amount, so besides sleeping, they were constantly collecting heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
This clan also had a common problem of high-rank ferocious beasts or saint beasts: their life aura was too strong and could be easily sensed by the laws of heaven and earth.
It was very difficult for them to reproduce. Therefore, in the eyes of ninety-nine percent of cultivators, the "Amethyst Dragon" only appeared in ancient texts.
After observing for a while, Li Yan turned around again and came to the front of the "Amethyst Dragon," looking up at its drooping head.
He had been told how to use it by the guarding disciple on the surface before entering the "Shattered Star Chamber."
With a flick of his Divine Sense, a piece of cyan jade-colored coral rose from his storage pouch.
As he poured his Spirit Power into it, a beam of fire-attribute red light shot from the top of the coral into the dragon's wide-open mouth.
The moment his Spirit Power hit the inside of the dragon's mouth, the dragon, which had been like a dead object, immediately changed.
First, its pair of emotionless eyes turned completely red, as if two raging flames had suddenly ignited.
Then, a purple light began to spread rapidly from its dragon head throughout its body, brightening. In an instant, every purple scale on its body lit up like a purple lantern, and its entire body quickly became crystal clear and dazzling.
The moment the purple light lit up the last scale on its tail, a low dragon's roar came from its raised head.
Then, a long dragon of crimson flame with a golden center shot out. The moment Li Yan opened the restriction, the Earth Fire he had longed for finally appeared before him.
The scene in the entire stone room instantly became distorted. Everything became illusory and unreal.
A scorching heat wave hit Li Yan's nose and mouth. In an instant, the entire space was filled with fire-attribute Spirit Qi visible to the naked eye, dancing around the room like specks of starlight.
Li Yan stood motionless, his body flickering with black Spirit Power.
In his eyes, the huge coiled dragon, only a short distance away, was now hideously distorted by the high temperature, like an unparalleled ferocious beast descending upon the world.
Li Yan's Divine Sense directly probed into the long flame that was rolling down from above.
A moment later, Li Yan casually took out a mid-grade Magical Artifact from his storage pouch, and with a flick of his finger, he shot it into the flames.
If Xing Ming had seen this scene, he would have immediately exclaimed something like, "Zhang Ming is such a spendthrift!"
A Magical Artifact was second only to a Magical Treasure. For a second-rate sect, it was extremely precious.
Li Yan had several Magical Artifacts in the storage pouch on his waist, which were just for decoration. He didn't feel any heartache at all.