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**
"I am truly sorry, but I cannot fulfill your request."
"My apologies, but my skills are limited."
"I think you should try looking for other artifact refiners."
"No artifact refiner can meet this kind of requirement."
"Honored guest, your materials are too precious. I am afraid that I might accidentally destroy them if I am careless, so..."
"To be honest, with such precious artifact refining materials combined with your request, the number of artifact refiners on the entire Dou Qi Continent who can achieve this definitely does not exceed the fingers on one hand. You had better find someone more capable."
"Nowadays, the way of artifact refining on the Dou Qi Continent has already declined. If this were ancient times, many artifact refiners would probably have been able to meet your request, guest. But now..."
"I am sorry for making you make this trip in vain, guest."
...
Rejections similar to the ones mentioned above had occurred an unknown number of times over the past few months.
The person being rejected was, naturally, Xiao Lin. Ever since parting ways with Ji Li, besides cultivating the Three Transformations of the Returning Soul, Xiao Lin had been searching for a artifact refiner.
By now, he had already gathered several top-tier artifact refining materials: Mythril Essence, Meteoric Metal, Lightning-Struck Wood, and the tendons of a tiger-type magic beast at the Dou Sheng realm.
In addition, Xiao Lin had also collected all the remaining auxiliary materials over the years. However, just when Xiao Lin happily thought he could finally obtain his ideal weapon, reality ruthlessly splashed a bucket of cold water on him.
During these past few months, he had approached no fewer than ten artifact refiners. Yet, after hearing Xiao Lin's requirements and seeing the artifact refining materials he brought out, not a single artifact refiner had the confidence to forge his ideal weapon.
This left Xiao Lin feeling incredibly helpless.
Truth be told, he had previously considered the possibility of failing to gather all the materials, but he had never imagined that these artifact refiners on the Central Plains continent would actually be unable to forge his ideal weapon!
What was Xiao Lin supposed to do now?
It could only be said that while the limited skill of these artifact refiners was one factor, the high requirements proposed by Xiao Lin were also a reason!
As everyone knew, except for Alchemists, the other auxiliary professions on the Dou Qi Continent had basically declined. Whether it was Formation Masters or artifact refiners, they both appeared somewhat useless on the Dou Qi Continent nowadays.
Formation Masters could at least set up formations. If someone like Xiao Lin could also manufacture high-rank formation plates, they could actually become an honored guest no matter which faction they went to.
But as for artifact refiners, that was truly hard to explain in a few words.
After all, on the Dou Qi Continent, although a good weapon provided quite a bit of amplification to a person, that amplification appeared rather awkward when compared to the boost from high-grade Cultivation Techniques and Dou Techniques.
For example, if two Dou Huang of the same star engaged in battle, where one side possessed a Earth Grade Cultivation Technique and Dou Technique, while the other side only had a Xuan Grade Cultivation Technique and Dou Technique plus a weapon.
The former would win with a high probability.
Unless your weapon was already powerful to a heaven-defying degree!
But there were probably not even a few weapons like that on the entire Dou Qi Continent right now. It was precisely because of this that the profession of artifact refiner was currently even more useless than a Formation Master!
If you played with formations, as long as you could become a master of formations, it still had quite a lot of uses.
As for artifact refiners, uh, forget it.
Therefore, practically no artifact refiners with high artifact refining skills could be found on the current Dou Qi Continent.
This resulted in Xiao Lin possessing a pile of top-tier artifact refining materials but being unable to transform them into his own combat power.
"Sigh, if I had known this would be the result, there would have been no need to look for all kinds of top-tier artifact refining materials in the first place..."
After being politely rejected yet again and walking out of a artifact refiner's home, Xiao Lin felt somewhat dejected.
Weapons that could be created from top-tier materials were naturally more powerful.
But unfortunately, not many artifact refiners had this capability!
The current Xiao Lin could look for inferior materials to forge a weapon.
However, while holding top-tier materials in his hands, would he be willing to settle? The answer was obviously no.
Moreover, having reached Xiao Lin's current realm, ordinary weapons could hardly provide him with any significant boost in strength.
Just as Xiao Lin was pondering which city to visit next to look for a artifact refiner, his gaze suddenly caught a corner inside his storage ring. There, a black token with the word "Lei" carved on it was lying quietly.
As a thought struck him, Xiao Lin's mind stirred instantly.
"If I keep searching like this, who knows when I will finally find a artifact refiner capable of refining these top-tier materials into a weapon? Since that's the case, shouldn't I seek external help?"
Taking the "Lei" token out of his storage ring, Xiao Lin pondered while tracing the special patterns engraved upon it.
At this moment, the words spoken by the headmaster of Jia Nan Academy, Mang Tianchi, when Xiao Lin had first arrived on the Central Plains continent, still echoed in his ears.
The other party had once mentioned that if Xiao Lin ever needed anything, he could go to the Lei Clan to seek his assistance. It was just that Xiao Lin had never really wanted to owe favors to others, so he had never considered this option before.
But at this very moment, it seemed he had no choice but to go and ask his headmaster for help!
Considering that his headmaster hailed from the Lei Clan, one of the Eight Ancient Clans, Xiao Lin had absolute reason to believe that the Lei Clan either possessed information regarding those top-tier artifact refiners, or the Lei Clan itself housed top-tier artifact refiners!
Whichever the case might be, it could provide the exact help the current Xiao Lin needed.
"It seems like it is time to make a trip to the Lei Realm. Rather than running around like a headless fly trying my luck, it is better to directly ask the headmaster for help. This will at least save me a lot of time."
After contemplating for a moment, Xiao Lin finally made up his mind.
As for the favor owed, he would just find another opportunity to repay it in the future!
Having made his decision, Xiao Lin immediately put it into action.
The Central Plains was divided into five regions: East, South, West, North, and Central!
Among them, the Central Region was the most powerful!
Because in the Central Region, not only did it house the Hall of Souls and the Pill Tower—the two strongest factions on the surface of the Dou Qi Continent—but the Eight Ancient Clans also resided there!
In addition, many hidden sects and rogue experts were also gathered in the Central Region of the Central Plains. If the Central Plains was the center of the entire Dou Qi Continent, then the Central Region was the core of the Central Plains continent.
One could say that this place was the core of the core lands!
The Lei Clan was likewise located within the Central Region of the Central Plains.
Not only that, but as one of the Eight Ancient Clans, the location of the Lei Clan was a self-contained space opened up by the ancient Thunder Emperor, known as—the Lei Realm!
Naturally, the Lei Clan would not allow outsiders to enter or exit the location of the Lei Realm at will. On this day, the entrance of the Lei Realm welcomed a visitor who was not of the Lei Clan.
This person was, naturally, Xiao Lin, who had come to the Lei Clan to seek help from his headmaster.
"Who goes there? This is the Lei Realm. Person ahead, halt immediately!"
A member of the Lei Clan guarding the entrance of the Lei Realm discovered the rapidly approaching Xiao Lin and immediately shouted out a stern warning.
**
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