First, he marked the iron ore here, then, together with Blake Carter, re-entered Red Wolf Valley. They carefully searched the entire Red Wolf Valley, making both Blake Carter and Brian Carter extremely excited. It turned out that there was a vermilion fruit in Red Wolf Valley that was about to ripen. Of course, Brian Carter did not hesitate to let Blake Carter happily accept the vermilion fruit. Eating it now wouldn’t be as effective as eating it after it fully ripened. However, this kind of spiritual fruit, formed from the essence of heaven and earth, would surely attract the attention of some powerful creatures once it matured, and might even cause unexpected changes. So, it was better to act first.

Chapter 8: The Horse-Cutting Saber

As for giving it to Blake Carter to eat, Brian Carter did so firstly to thank Blake Carter for protecting him. Secondly, he himself had a systematic cultivation method, so advancing was only a matter of time. But Blake Carter relied on talent and luck to grow, which was extremely difficult. Thus, Blake Carter really got a great bargain.

Besides the vermilion fruit, they also gained another nice benefit in Red Wolf Valley. They actually discovered a not-too-large, not-too-small vein of black iron ore. According to the basic knowledge of artifact forging, although black iron is considered quite ordinary, even low-grade, as a forging material in the cultivation world, it is widely used—almost everywhere needs black iron. Moreover, black iron is a grade above ordinary iron, and after being refined again with true fire, the quality of the weapons produced is also quite good.

After eating the vermilion fruit, Blake Carter couldn’t just get away with it for free. Under Brian Carter’s coercion, it took on the responsibility of being a porter. After digging out all the several tons of black iron ore, Blake Carter carried it back to the cave in several trips. Blake Carter was originally unwilling to lower its proud stance, but after eating someone’s food, it couldn’t refuse. When Brian Carter strongly demanded it return the vermilion fruit and it had no way out, it could only reluctantly agree to Brian Carter’s shameless request.

There was an even more unexpected surprise in the center of the black iron ore vein. They actually found a crystal-clear jade stone the size of a pigeon egg. At first glance, it was clearly extraordinary. After carefully searching and comparing in the jade slip, Brian Carter finally confirmed that this stone was actually a rare and highly sought-after immortal stone in the cultivation world. This made him ecstatic. You should know, this kind of immortal stone, formed from the essence of heaven and earth, is extremely rare. Usually, it doesn’t grow alone, but is often found together with various ore veins, being the essence of the entire vein. According to the information, Brian Carter’s luck this time was off the charts. The rarer and more precious the ore vein, the higher the chance of containing an immortal stone. But for such an ordinary black iron vein to contain a mid-grade immortal stone—this was truly Brian Carter’s incredible stroke of luck.

Immortal stones have a wide range of uses, mainly four. First, all kinds of magical treasures require immortal stones to power them, greatly increasing their might. Second, during cultivation, one can use the high-purity spiritual energy in the immortal stone to speed up progress. Third, they serve as hard currency throughout the cultivation world. The value of things is usually measured in immortal stones. Fourth, they are used in refining magical treasures—not for inlaying, but by crushing the immortal stone and mixing it with other materials during smelting, greatly improving the quality of the materials and thus producing better magical treasures. Of course, immortal stones have some other miscellaneous uses, but those won’t be detailed here.

In short, a mid-grade immortal stone is considered a very good item in the cultivation world—worth hundreds or even thousands of times more than that black iron ore vein. In any case, Brian Carter first hid this treasure close to his chest. Waves of penetrating coolness spread from his chest throughout his body, making him feel invigorated and his mind exceptionally clear.

After finishing the work, Blake Carter hurried back into its own cave to digest the benefits brought by the vermilion fruit. As for Brian Carter, his top priority now was to extract the black iron from the ore.

According to artifact forging techniques, refining this kind of ore usually just requires throwing it into a furnace. But now Brian Carter was penniless—how could he have a furnace? A furnace made of ordinary iron simply wouldn’t do; at the very least, it would have to be made of something like black iron. With no other choice, Brian Carter could only rely entirely on himself. First, he used stones to make some square molds. Then, he refined each piece of ore using true fire.

After all, black iron is different from ordinary iron. With Brian Carter’s beginner-level true fire, it took him over half an hour to smelt a piece of black iron ore the size of a head. And after half an hour, the amount of black iron refined was only about the size of a fist.

Half an hour of continuous use of true fire was already Brian Carter’s current limit. Only after meditating to recover his true energy could he continue working. Fortunately, this was also a form of training; otherwise, Brian Carter would have long been unable to endure such tedious work.

A month later, the several tons of black iron ore were finally roughly refined, resulting in over two hundred jin of black iron. By this time, Brian Carter had also improved from being able to last half an hour to about fifty minutes. Damn, artifact forging really is a good way to train—being able to see your own progress every day, Brian Carter couldn’t help but feel proud. As for that Blake Carter, it had stayed in its cave for a whole month without coming out. It was likely that when it emerged again, the results would be extraordinary.