Martial Peak
chapter-1102

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

The burly man cursed virulently as he stormed out, disappearing soon after.

“Ah, Grandmaster Yang Yan was cursed out again,” Someone in the hall, clearly taking pleasure in other’s misfortune, laughed.

“She deserves it, she can’t even properly refine a Saint King Grade artefact yet she claims to be an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner. If all Artifact Refiners were like her, how could we feel comfortable leaving our artefacts to them?”

“En, that’s right, I heard that someone came to Grandmaster Yang Yan with an artefact he had been using for several dozen years and asked her to perform some maintenance on it. It was originally an excellent Saint King Grade High-Rank artefact, but after that routine maintenance, it actually dropped in quality to become a Saint King Grade Mid-Rank artefact. That guy literally left here shedding tears of distress!”

“What does that count for? I heard that someone asked Grandmaster Yang Yan to refine him a sword, but when he came back what he got was a thick machete… Haa, how can one be a qualified Artifact Refiner if they can’t even meet the requests of their clients? She’s probably just boasting shamelessly about her skills. How could Artefact Refining Pavilion hire such a terrible Artefact Refiner?”

“It’s got nothing to do with Artefact Refining Pavilion. Grandmaster Yang Yan only has a temporary contract with them, everyone who seeks her out for Artifact Refining is warned explicitly by Artifact Refining Pavilion’s staff, but those people still choose to use her services, so they can only blame their own stupidity, thinking they can pick up a bargain with that fake Origin Grade Artifact Refiner.”

“I’d rather wait a few extra months rather than look for Artifact Refining from her.”

…..

All kinds of rumours and stories entered Yang Kai’s ears, causing his expression to become stranger and stranger.

The shop-hand also let out a big sigh, “Haa, Grandmaster Yang Yan is really too much, Artifact Refining Pavilion has warned her several times yet she still insists on acting this way, refusing to even apologize for her actions. From the looks of it, she’ll only be here for a few more days before being kicked out.”

“Why is that?” Yang Kai turned to look at him.

“Her acting like this is damaging the reputation of Artifact Refining Pavilion, something the higher-ups naturally cannot tolerate!”

“But from the looks of it, that war-hammer artefact that big guy took out was extremely high quality, and it also seemed to fit perfectly with his Saint Qi attribute, why was he not satisfied?”

The shop-hand laughed awkwardly and explained, “He didn’t order a war-hammer, he wanted a battle-axe…”

Yang Kai’s face went black, immediately understanding why that burly man was so angry. It was just as the others in the lobby had said, an Artefact Refiner that couldn’t meet the requirements of their customers was not qualified to call themselves an Artifact Refiner.

“Honoured customer, have you made your decision?” The shop-hand turned to Yang Kai again asked again.

“En,” Yang Kai nodded and handed the pamphlet back, “I’ll ask Grandmaster Yang Yan.”

The shop-hand was stunned and stared at Yang Kai strangely for a moment before asking, “Are you sure?”

Yang Kai smiled and nodded, “I’m not here for an artefact, just some simple tools, even if she’s not really an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner, she should be able to handle my request.”

“If that’s what honoured customer has decided, I won’t say anything more, please come with me!” The man stopped discouraging Yang Kai and led him to one of the rooms in the back of the pavilion, stopping before the door and motioning to Yang Kai to go in by himself, adding in a meaningful tone, “Good luck!”

Yang Kai laughed dumbly and walked in.

The room was quite large, covering at least a thousand square meters. There was a huge Refining Furnace in the centre of the room and Yang Kai could spot the outline of a figure sitting cross-legged behind it, probably the so-called Grandmaster Yang Yan.

The curses of the burly man from just now apparently had no effect on her as her aura showed no signs of disturbance, tranquil as an ancient well, only the sound of her breathing echoing in the room.

Yang Kai walked up to the mat in front of the Refining Furnace and sat down. Immediately after, the voice of Grandmaster Yang Yan called out, “What do you want to refine?”

Hearing this voice, Yang Kai couldn’t help peaking around the Refining Furnace at Yang Yan.

Because despite having been informed about it before, it was still surprising to meet a female Artifact Refiner!

More surprising though was that the sound of Yang Yan’s voice was incredibly melodious and enchanting, arousing Yang Kai’s curiosity about what this woman looked like.

After taking a glance though, Yang Kai felt somewhat disappointed as the only thing he could see was a pair of shimmering eyes staring back at him. Yang Yan had wrapped her figure in a big black robe and even her facial was covered with black wrappings, obscuring her features.

“Why is everyone like this? Did you come here for Artifact Refining or to stare at me?” Yang Yan muttered with dissatisfaction.

Yang Kai wore a dumbstruck look but quickly realized that everyone who had come before him must have reacted with the same curiosity as he did and swiftly apologized, “Sorry, I was just a bit curious about Grandmaster Yang Yan.”

“En,” Yang Yan didn’t seem to mind, asking once more, “What do you want refined?”

Yang Kai got down to business, “A few simple things, not artefacts. Let me show you.”

Saying so, Yang Kai took some pieces of paper that were set out next to the mat he was sitting on and made a few quick sketches.

The cultivators who came here for Artifact Refining services would always have their own ideas and requests, so this pen and paper were prepared ahead of time for them.

After finishing his drawings, Yang Kai passed them over.

Yang Yan accepted them and after flipping through them, seemed to be a bit surprised as she asked, “Do you want to arrange a Spirit Array?”

This time it was Yang Kai’s turn to be surprised, “You can tell that from just these rough sketches?”

Yang Yan laughed, “That’s nothing difficult, other than arranging a Spirit Array, these objects have no other use; if I couldn’t tell what they were needed for I’d be blind. Do you know understand Spirit Arrays?”

“I’m not very proficient,” Yang Kai shook his head and replied honestly. Although he was confident he could arrange a working Spirit Array, he couldn’t guarantee how effective it would be.

“Without a deep understand, fiddling around with these things will just be a waste, the ores and other materials required to refine these things are worth a lot of money after all,” Yang Yan said lightly.

Yang Kai was immediately displeased, “Arranging the Spirit Array is my business, your only job is to refine these things, I’ll pay you regardless of the outcome.”

He finally understood why Yang Yan didn’t have any customers, it seemed she liked to meddle in others’ affairs, such people were destined to be unpopular.

But to Yang Kai ‘s surprise, this woman didn’t make any effort to refute him and instead remained silent for a moment before suddenly saying, “I can help you refine these things, and I can even help you to arrange a good Spirit Array, but what are you prepared to offer as compensation?”

“You’re versed in arranging Spirit Arrays?”

“Can’t I be?”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

“What reason do I have to lie to you?” Yang Yan snorted disdainfully, “You can pay me after you’re satisfied with my arrangement. En, I don’t want much, looking at your strength, you’re probably not very well off, so how about a hundred High-Rank Saint Crystal? If you can take out that much, I’ll leave with you right now.”

“Are you short on Saint Crystals?” Yang Kai became somewhat vigilant, feeling that this woman was a bit too kind and enthusiastic. He had only requested her to refine a few simple tools yet now she was actually offering to come with him to arrange a grand Spirit Array for him, it was hard not to be suspicious.

“I’m an Artifact Refiner, of course I lack Saint Crystals, buying materials requires a lot of Saint Crystals.”

“Aren’t most Artifact Refiners very rich? Why are you lacking Saint Crystals?” Yang Kai was confused. If one were to ask who the richest people in the world were, it would either be Artifact Refiners or Alchemists, these two professions almost never needed to worry about wealth. At the very least, wherever they went, they would never be unable to feed themselves.

“Look at my situation. Do you think I could possibly have spare Saint Crystals?” In the darkness, Yang Yan gave Yang Kai an annoyed look.

Yang Kai immediately understood, since no one was coming to request Artifact Refining services from her, naturally she wasn’t able to acquire Saint Crystals.

The vigilance in Yang Kai’s heart lessened slightly but he still asked cautiously, “If you leave just like that, won’t there be any problems?”

“There won’t be. Artefact Refining Pavilion and I only have a temporary contract, I can leave at any time. En, in fact, they all want me to leave as quickly as possible so I don’t ruin their reputation, a group of ignorant fools!”

After thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai nodded and said, “Good, if you can really arrange a satisfactory Spirit Array for me, I’ll pay you a hundred High-Rank Saint Crystals.”

“Sounds good, let’s go,” Yang Yan said, taking the big Refining Furnace into her space ring and slowly standing up.

Yang Kai swept his eyes up and down her, and although he still couldn’t see her face, he found that this woman was quite petite, the top of her head only reaching his shoulders, but even her thick black robe couldn’t hide her pair of towering peaks.

Not only were these mountains grand in size, they were also exquisitely shaped… Yang Kai couldn’t help stealing a few more glances at them.

Leaving the room, Yang Yan asked Yang Kai to wait outside for a moment while she went somewhere else in Artifact Refining Pavilion. After a short while, Yang Yan walked out calmly and signalled to Yang Kai to lead the way.

Yang Kai didn’t waste any time and summoned out his Star Shuttle, flying off in a certain direction with Yang Yan following close behind.

After the pair left, there seemed to be a burst of cheers from the Artifact Refining Pavilion. Many cultivators were celebrating that Grandmaster Yang Yan had finally left and would no longer ruin their client’s artefacts. As for the misled Yang Kai, no one said anything to dissuade him, even the shop-hand who previously spoken to him stood at the door to Artifact Refining Pavilion and waved furiously at Yang Yan, as if hoping she would fly as far away as possible.

On the way to Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai and Yang Yan moved forward side by side, but strangely, he always felt that this woman’s eyes were deliberately staring at him, an eager look creeping onto her face.

After first Yang Kai didn’t pay this any mind, but after being stared at for quite some time, he couldn’t help feeling a bit uncomfortable and asked, “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Yang Yan lifted her eyes to meet his and pouted, “Who is staring at you!”

“Then what are you looking at?”

“I’m looking at the Star Shuttle you’re riding,” Yang Yan snorted, “A Saint King Grade High-Rank Star Shuttle, not bad. Would you like me to enhance it? I guarantee I can increase its performance by ten perfect. Of course, you’ll need to acquire the right materials, En, and you’ll need to pay me some compensation.”

Yang Kai almost fell off his Star Shuttle upon hearing this, only managing to calm himself down a moment later and direct a suspicious look towards Yang Yan and ask, “You couldn’t really be an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner, could you?”

Enhancing an artefact was very different from refining one from scratch, with the former being more difficult. Someone capable of enhancing a Saint Grade High-Rank artefact needed to at least be an Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refiner.

Yang Yan daring to say such words meant she was confident in her ability to accomplish it.

“Of course I am,” As soon as Yang Kai mentioned her Artifact Refiner Grade, Yang Yan puffed up her well-rounded chest and her pretty face filled with an air of pride.

Outside in the bright light of day, Yang Kai discovered that this woman’s looks were just as sweet as her voice. She possessed an innocent and harmless look that could easily make others feel comfortable around her.