In the southeast corner of the Blue Academy, there is a blacksmith shop, and the only refiner of Blue Mercury lives in the shop, Hong Yue. Hong Yue was good at refining low-grade star weapons, and almost all of the star scepters used by the second- and third-year students of the Azure Academy were made by him.

It is said that Hong Yue is a friend invited by Dean Gu Qian from the aliens, and Dean Gu specially set aside a piece of land in the academy and built a blacksmith shop for Hong Yue to refine weapons, and the star weapons refined will be sold in the Blue Star Shop in the academy.

Every time the Blue Star Store put a new star scepter produced by Hong Yue on the shelves, a large number of star cultivators lined up to buy it, and it was sold out within three days. After all, there is only one refiner and only one star weapon shop on Blue Mercury, but the number of star cultivators every year is constantly increasing.

Ye Xing was picked up by Hong Yue on a meteorite near Blue Mercury. Hong Yue took Ye Xing back to the blacksmith shop, raised him, and asked him to do some miscellaneous light work. The smart and clever Ye Xing quickly learned some meticulous work such as polishing, carving, seal carving, and inlay, which also saved Hong Yue a lot of effort.

Three years ago, after Ye Xing passed the entrance test of the Blue Academy, the old man began to pay him a monthly salary, so that he could live in the academy with his salary.

As soon as Ye Xing approached the blacksmith shop, he felt a gust of hot wind coming, and at the same time, there was a sonorous knocking sound from inside. Approaching the blacksmith shop, Ye Xing saw an old man with gray hair, naked and sturdy upper body that did not match his age, holding a sledgehammer and constantly beating on a piece of red and shiny embryo iron.

After seeing Ye Xing come in, the old man didn't stop moving his hands when he heard it, and only shouted: "Boy, go and polish that batch of Xingyao Stones." ”

Ye Xing answered, and then walked to an operating table inside. On the stage are more than 20 dark black, shiny stones, all the size of a fist, with different shapes and irregular surfaces.

These Star Stones are the main material used to make the Star Scepter, which is able to absorb and conduct star power. Ye Xing's job was to polish these irregular and flat star stones into regular and smooth spheres so that they could be easily inlaid into the top of the staff.

Ye Xing picked up a grinding stone with a square side and a concave curved surface in his right hand, and picked up a star stone in his left hand and began to polish it. First of all, he used the flat side of the grinding stone to grind away the more prominent edges and corners of the star stone to create a rough spherical shape. Then the grinding stone is flipped and the surface of the star stone is finely polished by using its concave curved surface.

In this process, Ye Xing attached his perception to the Xingyao Stone, observing the changes in the curvature and smoothness of the surface of the Xingyao Stone, the grinding stone in his hand rotated at a uniform speed, and the dark black gravel chips continued to fall, and soon spread a layer of thin veil on the countertop.

Ye Xing's expression was focused, and the movements in his hands were steady. Two quarters of an hour later, a star stone that showed a perfect spherical shape appeared in Ye Xing's hand. He looked at the results he had just completed, nodded with satisfaction, put it aside, and was about to pick up another one, when he suddenly heard Old Man Hong say: "By the way, there is still a box under the stage, you hurry up and polish it." ”

Ye Xing paused, squatted down hurriedly, and saw that there were more than twenty star stones in a cardboard box under the operating table. Ye Xing's expression froze, he wanted to cry without tears, and he almost had the idea of letting go.

At this time, Old Man Hong came again: "By the way, I haven't paid you the salary last month, I'll send it to you when you're done." ”

Ye Xing's body was shocked, he looked at the forty or fifty star stones on and off the stage, gritted his teeth, and fought hard! He picked up a star stone and immediately polished it, but he didn't dare to speed up the movements in his hands immediately, if it was worn out, this one would be worth a month's salary.

He first strengthened the emanation of his senses, and the surface condition of the Star Shine Stone was more clearly presented in his mind, and then he began to speed up his hand.

Time flies, I don't know how long it has been, Ye Xing's hands are already numb, and his perception is also very weak. But he still maintained the speed of his hand, and the dark black stone chips fell rapidly, and a thick layer had accumulated on the platform.

After completing another one, Ye Xing put down the polished star stone, picked up a wooden board and scraped the stone chips on the table into a wooden box, rubbed his hands on his clothes at will, and immediately picked up a new one and began to polish.

The night outside the house had arrived, and Ye Xing in the house was unaware, only focusing on the grinding stone and star stone in his hand. Finally, he put down the last polished star stone and breathed a long sigh of relief, so tired that he almost collapsed.

But his eyes swept the polished star stones, and he didn't feel right, and after counting, Ye Xing froze, bent down and looked at the bottom of the table: in the carton, more than 20 unpolished star stones were lying in it. Sure enough, I forgot that there was another box.

Ye Xing sat down on the ground all of a sudden, took a few big breaths, stood up again, put a box of Xingyao Stones on the table, and began to work monotonously and painfully.

Old man Hong put out the fire in the stove and walked outside the shop, shouting inside as he walked: "Ye boy, I'm going to dinner, do you want to bring you one?" He walked to the door and heard Ye Xing say in an extremely tired and weak voice: "No need, just bring me a lunch tomorrow." ”

Old man Hong laughed and left.

In the shop, Ye Xing, who was alone, became more focused, and he almost held a breath to support his body and perception that had reached the limit, and he was rapidly polishing the star stones.

Even he didn't notice that the movements of his hands were getting faster and faster, and the surface of the star stone was becoming clearer and clearer in his mind, and even the bumps of the thickness of his hair were revealed.

With a bang, Ye Xing felt as if his perception had broken through a certain threshold, pouring out all at once, like a torrent. The star stone in his hand seems to have been painted in his mind little by little by the greatest painter in the world, and every detail on it is magnified, clearly visible and meticulous. Not only that, but his perception also penetrated through the surface of the star stone, penetrating its interior, and some black and white substances were faintly visible.

At the same time, the last star stone in his hand was finally polished, this one was more round and smooth than the previous polish, crystal clear, and perfect! He put this star stone with satisfaction and care, exhaled, and the physical and mental exhaustion that had lasted for a long time immediately hit, and he finally couldn't hold on anymore, and fell to the ground and fell asleep directly.

In the silent void, darkness spreads endlessly. The stars are dull and dead, like tombs standing in the void. I don't know how long I drifted forward, but the darkness and graves around me always seemed to be endless.

Suddenly, a light appeared in the dark void, brighter and brighter. Ye Xing looked up, only to see that all the meteorites that would not shine were actually burning bright and dazzling light, breaking through the sky, bringing up a long tail of light, and crashing towards Ye Xing at great speed.

Ye Xing woke up, breathed violently, and subconsciously wiped the sweat on his head. He looked around and found that Old Man Hong was setting the forged star scepter with polished star stones. He asked, a little confused, "What time is it?"

"It's not timely. The old man replied without looking up.

"Ahh......h

"Bought you lunch, on the table. The old man's voice was like rain. Ye Xing immediately rushed to the table in the corner and saw a large piece of barbecue and a bowl of light cyan soup on it.

Ye Xing first picked up the bowl and poured a little soup into his hands, washed the stains on his hands, and poured half a bowl into his mouth. Then he put down the bowl, wiped his hands on the placket, picked up the barbecue and devoured it. Within a while, a large piece of barbecue meat was wiped out by Ye Xing. He picked up the remaining half bowl of soup and drank it down, burping heartily and looking satisfied.

The soup was under the stomach, Ye Xing only felt that his body was warm for a while, and his spirit was much more energetic. He grabbed a chair, sat down lazily, and asked, "This soup is good, where did you buy it?"

Old man Hong looked at him with a smile on his face and said, "Of course that soup is a good thing, it's worth three thousand star coins!"

Ye Xing opened his mouth wide in surprise: "It's so expensive, are you too expensive?" Speaking of this, Ye Xing suddenly became vigilant and suspicious, this old man has never been so generous.

Sure enough, the old man asked rhetorically: "Am I breaking the bank? No, no, no, no, this is bought with your salary, and it should be your own money." ”

Ye Xing jumped up from the chair all of a sudden, like a fox being stepped on by its tail, and screamed: "My salary?!Isn't my salary only 1,000 and 5 star coins?Old man, you won't put my next month's salary into it, right?" Ye Xing suddenly looked at the old man with an unkind expression.

Old man Hong said with a look of disdain: "You still expect me to give you an advance salary?"

"Then how did the other one thousand and five come from? Wait, I haven't said this thousand and five yet, this is the fruit of my labor last month, you spent it for me without saying a word, will I eat soil this month?" Ye Xing said angrily.

Old man Hong said leisurely: "With nine thousand five, it's nothing to spend three thousand." ”

"It's nothing to spend three thousand, three thousand is the salary I earned from two months of hard work, and you're just- wait, what nine thousand five?" Ye Xing asked in a daze when he was halfway through his speech.

"Hehe, the last star stone you kid polished last night was polished well, and the quality was excellent. Old man Hong first praised Ye Xing rarely, and then said, "I will inlay it on the most expensive star scepter, bid 100,000 star coins, and sell it at the Blue Star Store." Excluding the cost of 10,000, I account for 80,000 and Blue Star accounts for 10,000. I see that your star stone is well polished, so I will give you 8,000 star coins, plus last month's salary, a total of 9,005. ”

Ye Xing automatically filtered most of the content of the old man's words just now, and there were only a few numbers left in his mind: one hundred thousand, eighty thousand, eight thousand, nine thousand five. After filtering again, only "eight thousand, nine thousand five" remained, this is my nine thousand five!

Ye Xing was ecstatic for a while, his expression changed, and he said flatteringly: "Old Hong, you are really a good person, you care about me in every way, I am so moved that I can't repay it, and I cry bitterly." Can you send me my nine thousand five first?" Speaking of the last sentence, Ye Xing turned into a wealth fan and looked at Old Man Hong with a blank eye.

"It's six thousand five, and you've already spent three thousand. ”

"Okay, good, six thousand five is six thousand five. Ye Xing nodded again and again, a hint of pain flashed in his eyes. I didn't spend the three thousand, you forcibly spent it on me. Ye Xing shouted in his heart.

"Stinky boy. Old man Hong glared at him amusedly, and took out a yellow metal card from his arms. This is a star coin card that is common in the star field, which is divided into six types: white, yellow, cyan, blue, black, and purple, and the storage limit of cards of different colors is different. Like Old Man Hong's yellow card, the storage limit is 10 million star coins. The upper limit of Ye Xing's white card is only 100,000.

As soon as he took it out, he saw that Ye Xing had already taken out a white card and handed it in front of him. Old man Hong swiped the yellow card on Ye Xing's white card, and then took the card back into his arms. Ye Xing took back his white card, and when he saw that there were six thousand five more on it, he immediately smiled.

At this time, Old Man Hong said: "Don't say that I spend your money indiscriminately, it is a soup made of azure flowers, which is specially used to consolidate and cultivate perception, and it is the most suitable for you who have just broken through the second-level perception, three thousand star coins are not expensive at all." ”

"Level 2 perception?"

"Nonsense, otherwise how can you think that you can complete the polishing of the remaining twenty or so Star Stones in one night, or when you are still close to the limit, let alone polish the last one of the best quality. ”

Ye Xing hurriedly exuded his perception, and after observing, he was first surprised and then delighted, and his perception had increased several times compared to before.

"Okay, don't be happy yet, and then be happy when you can successfully communicate with the natal star and condense the star seed. Old man Hong looked at him and sighed, "You haven't yet condensed the star seed to reach the second level of perception, which is much stronger than those star cultivators who have not been condensing the star seed for a long time." But if you still can't communicate with the natal star, then your road is at the end of the road. There is a second-level perception in the void, and without the star seed, you can't absorb star power, let alone cultivate. ”

The enthusiasm that had just been ignited was extinguished by Old Man Hong's words, and Ye Xing said with a sad face: "What if I fall into that ghost place as soon as I enter the Star Boundary again, and I can't float out?"

"Then you will ask for a lot of blessings, I can't go to the astral boundary to catch a star for you to be the star of life, right?" Old man Hong looked like he didn't care about himself, "Okay, tomorrow is the last batch of places to enter the astrological tower this month, you go to Tan Zhou to apply for it, and enter the astrological tower again." ”

"Okay. Ye Xing nodded, reinvigorated his mood, said goodbye to Old Man Hong, and walked out of the shop.

"What, do you still want to enter the astrological tower?" Tan Zhou looked at Ye Xing, who was in high spirits in front of him, with a look of surprise.

"Yes, Master Tan, I happened to break through the second level of perception last night, so I want to go in and try it again. Ye Xing said firmly.

"Level 2 Perception?" Tan Zhou couldn't help but exclaim when he saw that he didn't seem to be lying: "There is a level 2 perception before the condensed star species, if you can communicate with the life star and condense the star seed, it will be amazing." Tan Zhou patted Ye Xing's shoulder and encouraged, "You can go in again tomorrow." Don't have too much pressure, just relax and try, maybe you can find your destiny this time. ”

"Okay, thank you, Master Tan. Ye Xing said gratefully.

"By the way, you have already entered the astrological tower once this month, and if you enter again, you will have to pay 1,000 star coins according to the external fee standard of the astrological tower. Tan Zhou took out a yellow card, "You can transfer it to me first, and I will hand it over to you when you enter the astrological tower tomorrow." ”

"Huh?" Ye Xing's expression suddenly fell, thinking that he had just had a huge sum of six thousand and a half before he returned to normal. He immediately took out his white card, swiped a thousand on Tan Zhou's yellow card, and then endured the heartache to withdraw the white card. "Thank you, Master Tan, I'll see you tomorrow. ”