To refine the glaive itself, there was a requirement for it. The problem Ye Xiaobai had currently was he had zero resources and the worst part of it, he did not have the necessary skill.

“Remember this Xiaobai, the process you will take needs accuracy and balance. Without it, you can forget about success and just stop being an artifact refiner. You also need high patience and want to reach the perfection in order to reach that. Now I ask you, do you dare?”

It was when they started to make his glaive that Manstein asked this to him.

“I dare!” since he wanted to get stronger as well as having additional experience and knowledge, Ye Xiaoai answered.

“Then watch.” Manstein held the hammer and placed the metal’s liquid into the mold. Of course, the liquid emitted strong heat because the metal in liquid form had the temperature that exceeds the room’s temperature.

Then they had to wait for some time before the liquid cooled down and be molded into the blade for the glaive.

“Now can you see this?” Manstein showed a strange thread which could only be seen if one paid extreme attention. Ye Xiaobai nodded because he also knew that thing.

“Yes, that is the necessary item for creating the spiritual circuit for an artifact. Without it, the energy we channeled to the artifact, whether it is a weapon, a defensive equipment or a tool, will become harder to move around.”

Ye Xiaobai replied. He had a faint feeling that the day he learned would be also the day he comprehends something new.

“Good then. Like what I said previously, watch and learn.” Manstein then let out the blade from the mold. He used the large tweezer to placed the blade on the anvil and then place the thread on top of the blade. He spread it to make it like a line and covered all the blade’s surface with it.

Next, he used the hammer to pound the blade. Ye Xiaobai found out that Manstein did not just pound the blade without care, in fact, he pounded it with a certain force and even at a certain point on the blade.

‘That requires meticulous details to do it. Even that thread started to merge with the blade, forming the circuit inside the blade.’ Thought Ye Xiaobai when he looked at how the spark produced from pounding the hammer numerous times.

And he also knew that Manstein had shown him the methods to do it the right way.

“Thank you for your guidance, Elder Brother. You’re too kind.” Said Ye Xiaobai.

“Kind?” Manstein, who had black stains covered his face turned around to look at Ye Xiaobai clearly. His eyes directly stared at Ye Xiaobai’s eyes, as if he wanted to open any curtains that stand in its way to see through the depth of the heart anyone he sees.

“As someone who had experienced living outside Xuan City, what is your opinion about the good and the evil?”

Manstein asked for Ye Xiaobai’s opinion. Fortunately, the process had to wait once more and Manstein placed all the tools back before he stood and faced Ye Xiaobai again.

“Good and evil? How can someone determine the deeds is good or evil? I only know that the evil caused more harm than the benefit. And also the action the people take can also determine the deeds, maybe?”

Ye Xiaobai had experience but he still lacked the essence of it. Manstein smiled when hearing the answer.

“Well, your answer is not wrong actually. But have you ever thought about the key points to determine whether someone’s deed is good or evil?” Manstein sighed while raising his brow.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know about it yet. Maybe I rarely or even never think about it before. So can Elder Brother tell me?”

“Intention, Act, and Results.” Manstein blurted out the words slowly but powerful to Ye Xiaobai. He saw that Ye Xiaobai still had the looks of confusion shrouding his face.

“The first two, which is Intention and Act, is a crucial factor to determine someone’s deed is good or evil. Even though there are many people still searching for a definite definition for the good and the evil but by knowing this, I hope you can understand more about it just in case someday you venture out again.”

Hearing that made Ye Xiaobai murmured the three key points repeatedly. Of course, Manstein also continued his explanation.

“Intention, anyone that wanted to do something must have an intention inside their heart. This factor is harder for us to notice due to its hidden and personal factor. This is just like the foundation of deeds so you must know about someone’s intention when he or she does things.”

“The example is when someone tried to kill or destroy, what is the intention for them in doing that? Is it to just eliminate the person so that the person will not cause any harm to people or is it to eliminate future threat and obstacles while also possessing that person’s wealth?”

Ye Xiaobai did not know how to respond to that. His eyes stared wide while his mouth opened a little, showing his struggle to process the information that suddenly came.

“If only the intention then the former is more good than the later as Elder Brother had said. There is always a cause for every result that appeared in life like there will be a fire nearby if there is smoke. Then what if my intention is to help the poor people to get a better life by stealing?”

When saying the words ‘stealing’, Ye Xiaobai let out a bashful smile. Manstein coughed three times before he opened his mouth again.

“It’s the second point, Act. Intention and Act are actually relevant and linked together so someone’s deed is also determined by the act he did. Just say that you really did help the poor by stealing, even though your intention is good and it should be good too right?”

“But sadly, that is not the case because of the act! Your intention is stained by the evil of your act. The wrong act can make your purest and kind intention into complete evil just by seeing your act. Remember that when the intention is hidden and personal but your act is clear for others to see.”

Manstein had seen it too much in his own world. Like a fake savior that act like the greatest saint under the heaven but his intention was wicked or like the ten-year-old kid he knew that had good intention but the act was not.

“Intention and Act, they are different yet linked. Like potential and kinetic energy, the intention is like potential energy while the act is like kinetic energy. But in the end, they are linked to each other.”

Manstein said softly which made Ye Xiaobai wanted to speak but refrain himself.

“It’s like the story after all. When Xian Ni encountered the people from a city, he had to face numerous people with the different intention. Each of them also had the different action to take, so it’s like that.”

Suddenly Ye Xiaobai remembered that the intention and act were in the story. At first, he could not understand why the story mentioned about people’s intention and act.

“Yes, and before that, he also takes the same action like you,” Manstein said.

“He’s going out from his farm, trying to contact other living beings as well as to establish a trade. It is said that his farm was located at the center of the mountain range that circled around the location.”

When Xian Ni reached forty years old, he realized that his farm produced so much harvest that he did not know what to do with the excessive number. Due to the presence of the strange energy, everything he had seen experienced a huge change in the span of seventeen years.

That also included his livestock. And he also heard that there are other people living outside his territory therefore, Xian Ni braced himself to get out from his territory to the unknown outside world.

“It can’t be helped since I have too much harvest this time. Other than that, I met someone that told me about a city outside the mountain range.” Thought Xian Ni.

“The action he takes is to leave his comfort zone, his safe zone to the unknown dangerous zone. Just like you, he dared to do that despite the dangerous factor the world have for him, and that became much worse after the energy came down from the skies.”

“Even though stayed inside the safe zone gives one safety but it also likes a cage, giving the person inside it no freedom. Furthermore, it also limiting the potential someone has. That is why your father allowed you to go outside.”

-

The complete glaive now was in his hand, with complete spirit circuit in it and the fine quality it had. Ye Xiaobai then looked at the reflection of himself on the blade before he put down the glaive. For now, the glaive was nameless but maybe he would name it soon.

And for Ye Yingyuan, he had to refine his foundation pillar over and over again to make sure no instability remained. He absorbed energy from the space but he only took a part per million ratios to play safe.

Then his body suddenly shook with great intensity. He could feel the spark of the energy he got turned the other energy inside his body to a complete mess and he felt that liquid just behind the throat.

“Kid, you absorbed that energy now. You have two choices now whether to make it as a part of your foundation or to make it strengthen your body. Think about it carefully please, I don’t want you to harm yourself because of this.”

Suddenly came the voice from the person he knew echoed in his head. Ye Yingyuan looked at the figure that sat on the throne proudly in the spatial distortion.

‘Let me see first then.’ Ye Yingyuan checked the energy that entered his body. It was pure, even his energy paled in comparison and that energy affected his own energy inside his body. That was the reason why his body shook greatly.

‘It’s hard to decide. While this energy can strengthen my foundation but I also wanted to try body cultivation method that suitable for me. But I’m afraid that the strange energy will instead affect my foundation further because of the unstable factor and my inability to control it. So the second choice is better huh.’

Ye Yingyuan sighed.

“I choose the second option then. I have never used my qi to refine my body thoroughly so it is safer for me.” Said Ye Yingyuan.

“Coincidentally, I also think that the second option is better for you. Looks like you rather choose the safety but stable to raise your strength. Good, then you can try.”

Then Ye Yingyuan slowly directed that part of the energy to spread to all part of his body. He could feel the resistance his own energy from the body part but because he only used his own energy to his cultivation base and not his body, the process went much easier.

But the next piercing pain made Ye Yingyuan threw what was held inside his throat, and he coughed some time. His mouth had a stain of blood while he started to feel his head became light, he realized just how painful this process was.

“Little Yuan.” Seeing Ye Yingyuan in such state made Ye Qingcheng that currently enjoyed the power of space distortion coming down on his body worry a bit.

He could see the veins from Ye Yingyuan’s hand appeared, while Ye Yingyuan started to sweat and bit his lip. Apparently, he tried to enter himself into the basic stage of body cultivation that was called tempering marrow.

‘Since that giant inside me was defeated, I have strange memories appearing in my mind. And the first to appear is the body cultivation for that giant. I’m sure that I follow the procedure and step properly and maybe this feeling is the result of entering the Tempering Marrow stage.’

The Tempering Marrow, the first stage of body cultivation and even Ye Qingcheng only heard about this from his mother.

‘This is different than what Mother told me. While that manual really can make me enter the Tempering Marrow but it cannot surpass that stage but the memories have the complete manual for reaching the fourth stage.’

Ye Qingcheng hesitated to help his brother or to just let him suffer but in the end, he held that desire in his heart.

‘And about Little Yuan, if he looked like that then even I would not be able to stop him from doing this. Let’s just take what cousin had said and let Little Yuan tried to overcome this.’