That rebuttal by the disheveled old man nearly choked Feng Haoyu to death.

　　He was clearly being unreasonable and dishonest about it!

　　However, with his status as the peak master of Weapon Peak, Feng Haoyu could not say anything about his indignance and could only swallow it.

　　While all the disciples watched enviously, the disheveled old man brought Su Zimo and Feng Haoyu into the inner hall.

　　The inner hall wasn’t large at merely dozens of square meters. The walls were lined densely with more than a thousand jade scrolls.

　　Most of them were dim in color except for a hundred or so that shone lusciously bright.

　　The disheveled old man pointed at the jade scrolls on the wall. “These are the projections left by Weapon Refinement Masters since the beginning of Ethereal Sect. Those bright ones are the projections of the successful spirit weapon refinements. Even though the remaining ones are projections of failures, they are of Weapon Refinement Masters as well. Each of you can choose 10 to observe.”

　　Even though it seemed as though there were many jade scrolls, one had to understand that Ethereal Sect was founded thousands of years ago. Yet, only these jade scrolls remained and majority of them were projections of failures.

　　Without thinking twice, Feng Haoyu went for 10 lusciously bright jade scrolls.

　　Those were projections of successful spirit weapon refinements.

　　Su Zimo mulled for a short period of time before choosing five bright and five dim ones.

　　He understood that while there were things to learn from successes, he could also learn how to prevent similar mistakes from happening by looking at the failures.

　　When the disheveled old man saw that, he nodded to himself.

　　For a Weapon Refinement Master, it was difficult to replicate the successes of others. However, they could prevent similar mistakes – that was a form of wisdom as well.

　　Su Zimo took the 10 jade scrolls and assumed a lotus position. Injecting spirit qi into the scrolls, the patterns on them shone brightly as a clear image appeared before him.

　　He was immersed into it, deepening his insights towards weapon refinement while clearing the many doubts he had accumulated.

　　In the blink of an eye, a day and night had passed.

　　Feng Haoyu stood up and returned the 10 jade scrolls. He took a casual glance at Su Zimo who was still immersed in learning and left the Weapon Refinement Hall.

　　Before long, Su Zimo stood up and returned the jade scrolls too.

　　“How was it? You’ve learnt a lot, right?” The disheveled old man asked, smiling.

　　Su Zimo nodded his head and asked after pondering, “Indeed, I’ve learnt something for the first four steps of weapon refinement. However, I’m still clueless towards spirit gathering.”

　　“The difficulty of spirit gathering lies in the fact that spirit qi existed in a stable state within the materials. However, after the smelting and combining process, there is a stark change to the structure of the flying sword. Because of that, it is astronomically difficult to infuse the spirit qi back into the flying sword. Coupled with the fact that the flying sword would be heated to a scarlet red state, any misalignment in synergy would result in an immediate explosion.”

　　The disheveled old man then sighed gently. “It’s not just you. Even Advanced Weapon Refinement Masters would not dare to proclaim a 100% spirit gathering success rate. Most of them develop a sense of spirit perception after many years of refining weapons.”

　　The mention of that had Su Zimo’s heart skipping a beat.

　　Spirit perception?

　　Through the experience of life and death as well as The Mystic Classic of the Twelve Demon Kings of the Great Wilderness, Su Zimo had already developed a sense of spirit perception.

　　However, could he apply that same spirit perception to spirit gathering?

　　His mind began to tinker, wondering if he could work in that direction.

　　“Head back first. If you’ve got any doubts, feel free to look for me here at any time,” As he said that, the disheveled old man pointed to the jade scrolls on the wall and winked to Su Zimo.

　　“Mmm?”

　　Suddenly, Su Zimo realized what the disheveled old man meant.

　　He was hinting to Su Zimo that by coming over to look for him, the latter could seize the opportunity to look through the jade scrolls on the wall.

　　“Thank you, master,” Su Zimo bowed with a warm sense of thankfulness seeping into his heart.

　　The moment he walked out of the Weapon Refinement Hall, he saw someone at the entrance.

　　Feng Haoyu.

　　He seemed to have waited for a long time.

　　Su Zimo frowned slightly. Right as he was about to summon a flying sword to return to his cave abode, Feng Haoyu turned around and with a slightly reared head, blocked Su Zimo’s path with his hand.

　　“Is there anything?” Su Zimo found himself irked by the haughty expression of this man.

　　Feng Haoyu replied indifferently, “At the end of this year, I want to make history in Ethereal Sect and be the top of three peaks with Weapon Peak being one of them. Junior Brother Su, you’re a smart man. I’m sure you know what to do.”

　　“I don’t,” Su Zimo shook his head expressionlessly.

　　“Are you challenging me?” Feng Haoyu narrowed his gaze and released his Level 7 Qi Condensation. Instantly, a cold gust of wind shrouded around him.

　　“You’re crazy!”

　　With a cold scoff, Su Zimo rode his flying sword and left the Weapon Refinement Hall in the blink of an eye, disappearing from Feng Haoyu’s sights.

　　…

　　Back in the cave abode, Su Zimo sat on his bed and thought about the contents of the 10 jade scrolls.

　　Before long, a hurried knock sounded on his door.

　　“Bro, it’s me!”

　　It was little fatty’s voice.

　　They had not seen one another in a month and little fatty was at Level 6 Qi Condensation as well.

　　The cultivation speed of those with a heaven spirit root was indeed frightening. There was a high chance that Feng Haoyu, Leng Rou and the little fatty could be at Level 9 or Perfected Qi Condensation before the end of the year!

　　“Bro, I heard that you made an enemy out of Feng Haoyu?” That was little fatty’s first question.

　　Su Zimo asked, “You even know about something like that?”

　　“It’s not just me! News of this has already spread through all five peaks and many disciples are talking about it!” Little fatty then sighed. “Bro, that’s a little irrational.”

　　“Each of us can cultivate on our own. What has that got to do with anything?” Su Zimo chuckled casually, totally indifferent about it.

　　“Things are not that simple.

　　Little fatty continued, “The sect prohibits disciples from killing one another internally and therefore you can reject even if he comes to challenge you. However, things are different out of the sect. Bro, you can’t stay in the sect forever, right? Most of the sect’s missions require you to head out. Feng Haoyu has gathered a lot of disciples on his side by now. The moment you step out of the sect, many of them are going to cause trouble for you.”

　　Su Zimo raised his brow without saying anything.

　　Little fatty went on, “Actually, given Feng Haoyu’s endowment, he will definitely be at Foundation Establishment realm after the five peaks face-off and promote to be an inner sect disciple. Bro, you can actually just avoid him this time round and take part in next year’s face-off. That way, he’ll owe you a favor too.”

　　“Let’s discuss this another time,” Su Zimo declined to comment further.

　　Little fatty nodded. “No matter what, I’ll always be on your side, bro! If you need me for anything, just say the word!”

　　“Alright,” Su Zimo smiled.

　　The both of them continued chatting casually before little fatty left.

　　Su Zimo pondered quietly within his cave abode, deciding to head out of the sect for a bit.

　　He was getting a little anxious now that there was no progress for the Marrow Cleansing section in an entire month.

　　When he had first cultivated the Bovine-tongued Saber, he only understood the essence of it by observing a cow eating grass.

　　This time round, Su Zimo decided to capture a tiger and leopard at a forest nearby the sect so that he could take a deeper look at things.