With cultivation solidified at the sixth layer peak of Qi Refining and the "Everlasting Spring Art's" cultivation on track, Tang Xiaoqi devoted more energy to practicing the "Miscellaneous Discussions on Artifact Refining—On the Hypothesis of 'Heart-Refining.'" This obscure book gathering dust on the shelf seemed to open a door to an unknown realm for him, and the key behind the door seemed to be held in his hand—that seemingly ordinary black pan.
Night was deep, all sounds silent. Clear moonlight through sparse clouds sprinkled on the quiet little courtyard. Xiaoqi didn't practice sword techniques or meditate on qi as usual but placed that frying pan properly before his knees, sitting cross-legged on the stone stool himself, adjusting his breathing, letting his mind gradually settle.
According to the book, the beginning of "heart-refining" lay in "sensing." Not forcefully sacrificing and refining with brute force or external fire, but using one's own mind and spirit, like gentle tentacles, to carefully perceive every inch of the magical artifact's material, feeling the weak, starfire-like spiritual meridians possibly existing within, attempting to establish communication with them.
Xiaoqi closed his eyes, slowly circulating the gentle, continuous Everlasting Spring Art spiritual power to his palms, but not rushing to channel it out. He first emptied his thoughts, concentrating all attention on both palms, feeling every point of contact between his palms and the cold pan handle. Rough wooden texture, slightly rusted metal feel, and that heavy weight.
Then, he carefully diverted an extremely fine thread of spiritual sense, like a newborn infant testing the outside world, gently probing toward the frying pan beneath his palms.
At first, what fed back was a chaotic "emptiness." The pan was just a pan—cold, hard, dead, as if only a piece of stubborn iron, no different from what he felt when stir-frying and cooking ordinarily. Spiritual sense probing in was like a stone sinking in the sea, stirring not a single ripple.
Xiaoqi wasn't discouraged. He knew that if this pan were truly ordinary, it couldn't have blocked the Gale Wolf's claws for him in the secret realm, nor could it have had the effect of shaking a demon beast's spirit. It was definitely extraordinary—just this "extraordinaryness" was deeply hidden, or in a dormant state.
He recalled that brilliant yet considered unorthodox artifact refiner's conjecture in the book: "All things have spirit, and artifacts are the same. However, spirituality is covered with dust—mind and spirit must be the guide, spiritual power the spring, persist unremittingly, then one may hope to wipe away the dust and awaken its true face."
"Persist unremittingly..." Xiaoqi silently recited these four words in his heart. He might lack other things, but patience and resilience had been honed through these years at Qingxu Temple.
He no longer rushed for success but only maintained that weak thread of spiritual sense, like the most patient guardian, quietly "accompanying" this pan. At the same time, he began channeling wisps of pure, gentle Everlasting Spring Art spiritual power, like a thin stream, extremely slowly, extremely gently, through his palms into the pan handle, then trying to spread toward the entire pan body.
This process consumed mind and spirit greatly. He had to control the subtlety of spiritual power output, unable to be too violent lest he disturb or damage the possibly existing weak spirituality, while also maintaining spiritual sense focus to capture any possible feedback. Within the time of one stick of incense, Xiaoqi's temples already showed sweat, his face somewhat pale.
An hour passed, the frying pan still had no reaction.
Two hours passed, the moon had already slanted west, coldness gradually growing in the little courtyard.
Xiaoqi felt his spiritual sense consumption was huge, his head having waves of needle-pricking pain, and the Everlasting Spring Art spiritual power he channeled out was like a clay ox entering the sea, gone without a trace. Just as he was about to give up, preparing to try again tomorrow—
Suddenly!
Just as that exhausted thread of his spiritual sense was about to withdraw, he seemed to feel at some point near the center of the pan body, an extremely faint, faint to the point of almost making him think it was a hallucination... "throbbing"?
That sensation was fleeting, like a spark scratching through darkness, extinguished before it could be captured.
Xiaoqi suddenly roused in spirit, all fatigue seeming to be dispelled by this sudden discovery. He forcefully steadied his mind, daring not have the slightest excitement, afraid of disturbing that trace of possible "spirituality." He even more carefully condensed his spiritual sense, like a focused light beam, slowly casting toward the general direction where the throbbing had just come from. At the same time, the Everlasting Spring Art spiritual power he channeled became even more gentle and slow, carrying the meaning of nourishing and soothing.
Time passed bit by bit.
Just as Xiaoqi felt his spiritual sense was about to fail, his vision going black in waves, that throbbing appeared again!
This time, it was a trace clearer than before! Though still weak, it definitely existed! That wasn't energy fluctuation but more like... a slight turning over of a dormant consciousness? Or perhaps, a weak, instinctual response to the life-force power he continuously input from some dormant meridian?
Immediately following, Xiaoqi sensed that the thread of Everlasting Spring Art spiritual power he had channeled, when flowing through some extremely obscure, fine "node" in the pan body that ordinary eyes and spiritual sense couldn't detect at all, seemed to be extremely slowly... absorbed a trace?
Truly absorbed!
Though the amount absorbed was negligible, almost dismissible, this was undoubtedly a huge breakthrough! This proved that this frying pan wasn't a dead thing—some "structure" or "spirituality" capable of responding to and absorbing spiritual power truly existed within it!
Immense joy surged into his heart, making Xiaoqi almost lose hold of his mental state. He quickly suppressed his excitement, continuing to maintain spiritual sense perception and spiritual power warming. He didn't dare increase intensity, still maintaining that initial thin-stream input, afraid of overdoing it.
As spiritual power continued and gently input, that faint throbbing seemed to become somewhat more stable. Though still dormant, it no longer seemed completely dead like at first. Xiaoqi could even vaguely feel that an extremely subtle, hard-to-describe connection had been established between himself and this pan. No longer simple "possessing" and "being possessed," but more like a preliminary, hazy "resonance."
When he used his heart to "think" of this pan, its clearer outline seemed to emerge in his mind, able to feel its hidden, earth-like heavy and steady "aura."
Who knows how much time passed, until faint crowing came from afar, the first bright color appearing on the horizon. Only then did Xiaoqi slowly stop the spiritual power input, withdrawing that thread of nearly exhausted spiritual sense.
He let out a long breath of turbid air, feeling his whole body in collapse, his head aching as if splitting, the mental fatigue far exceeding physical labor. But those bright eyes flickered with excitement that couldn't be concealed.
He lowered his head looking at this still pitch-black, completely unremarkable frying pan before his knees, reaching out to gently stroke the cold pan body. This time, the sensation transmitted from his fingertips seemed to have a trace of difference from before. No longer purely cold hardness but an additional trace of hard-to-describe... "warmth and smoothness"? As if through one night's "heart-refining," an invisible bond had formed between this pan and him.
"Indeed... you're not an ordinary pan." Xiaoqi muttered to himself, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile.
Though the process was slow and arduous, though only taking an insignificant first step, this first step's success was of extraordinary significance. It verified the feasibility of the "heart-refining" conjecture in that miscellaneous book and let him see the infinite potential hidden in this mysterious frying pan.
He knew this was destined to be a long and lonely road, requiring him to persist unremittingly day after day with the perseverance of water drops wearing through stone. But he had confidence and patience.
Carefully returning the frying pan to the kitchen corner, Xiaoqi dragged his exhausted body back into the room, almost falling asleep immediately. In the moment before sinking into deep sleep, only one thought remained in his mind: Tomorrow night, continue.