Yet despite Zhao Yuan's extreme caution, failure followed failure. Whenever his carving knife touched the Jade Ring, the Qi contained within the jade would surge out to interfere, catching him completely off guard.
"Argh, this Rune is off by just a tiny bit! It's this damned Qi! It suddenly shot out and threw my carving knife off course!"
"Damn it, how did it shatter again? What did I do wrong this time?"
"There were only a few Runes left, I was so close to succeeding! Why did my hand have to shake? Such a shame!"
At first, Zhao Yuan would fret for ages over every failure. But as the failures piled up, he grew numb and accustomed to it. Eventually, when a jade shattered, his expression wouldn't even change; he would simply grab another Jade Ring and continue carving.
His stubborn personality flared up. Refusing to be intimidated, he vowed to fight this troublesome Qi to the very end.
'I refuse to believe I can't tame this Qi! Let's go again!'
Five times... ten times... fifteen times...
Gradually, a thick layer of jade dust accumulated on the workbench.
Finally, on his eighteenth attempt at carving the Runes, Zhao Yuan succeeded at last!
Although the Qi had constantly interfered, he had navigated every crisis and successfully made it to the very end. When the final stroke of the Rune was complete, he saw that the Jade Ring was still intact, not shattered into dust. Zhao Yuan couldn't help but pump his fist in the air, so excited he was on the verge of tears.
"I did it! I finally did it! That was so damn hard!"
He blew gently, clearing the dust from the Jade Ring's surface. Cradling it in his hands, Zhao Yuan inspected it with a mixture of joy and curiosity.
A dazzling radiance bloomed from the Jade Ring, rendering it exquisitely beautiful, as if a treasure from the Immortal Realm had fallen to the mortal world.
The radiance vanished in a flash, but its beauty was forever etched into Zhao Yuan's memory.
Before Zhao Yuan could even marvel at it, a peculiar sensation emanated from the Jade Ring.
Zhao Yuan could clearly feel it: the once wild and rebellious Qi inside the Jade Ring, which had opposed him at every turn, had suddenly become docile. It was like a wild stallion that had finally been broken, signaling its submission.
"So, you know how to behave now?" Zhao Yuan smiled, gently stroking the Jade Ring. 'No, wait,' he thought, 'I should call it a Storage Ring now.'
He pulled up the "user manual" for the Storage Ring from the Information Leaf and followed the instructions to the letter.
He channeled a sliver of Wish Power into the Storage Ring while mentally commanding, 'Open!'
A faint, milky-white beam of light shone from the Storage Ring, projecting a space of about nine cubic meters in front of him. It looked just like a 3D hologram.
According to the "manual," only the Storage Ring's owner could see this projected space. Everyone else was blind to it. This made Zhao Yuan breathe a sigh of relief. 'If everyone could see this, I'd scare a huge crowd to death every time I opened it!'
Next, Zhao Yuan tried storing and retrieving items.
He took a few of the Nine Needles and carefully reached into the Storage Ring Space. When he let go, the needles didn't fall to the floor. Instead, they were stored securely within the space, even arranging themselves neatly on their own.
Retrieving them was even simpler. He just had to mentally call for the item he wanted, and it would instantly fly from the Storage Ring into his hand.
Zhao Yuan was having the time of his life, endlessly retrieving the Nine Needles and putting them back.
If anyone had been nearby to watch, seeing needles appear in his hand out of thin air one moment and then bizarrely vanish the next, they would have almost certainly thought he was performing a magic trick—and an absolutely incredible one at that!
'As expected of a Magical Artifact left by the Great God Wu Peng. This is amazing!'
After playing for a good while, Zhao Yuan finally stopped and stored all the Nine Needles he had just crafted in the Storage Ring. After a moment's thought, he put the unused Jade Rings and gold bars inside as well.
Zhao Yuan was very satisfied with having successfully created one Storage Ring. Nine cubic meters of space was enough for now, so he wasn't in a hurry to make another one; he could wait until he needed more room. Besides, he believed that as his own power increased, he would surely gain access to even better Storage Rings.
He decided to save the remaining Jade Rings. That way, if he ever learned how to make a High Level Storage Ring, he wouldn't be stuck without the materials and just have to worry helplessly.
After putting his things away, Zhao Yuan took a short break, then began to create the Exorcism Talismans.
In truth, he hadn't been entirely honest with Cheng Yunlong earlier.
It was true that creating Exorcism Talismans wasn't always successful. But failure only destroyed the talisman paper; it wouldn't damage the Five Elements Coin. The reason he hadn't told him the whole truth was that he wanted to get a little 'kickback'...
After tinkering for more than half an hour and failing over a dozen times, he completed six Exorcism Talismans.
Zhao Yuan wasn't greedy; he only took three and placed them in his Storage Ring.
A fifty percent success rate was more than enough to get the job done.
In fact, he had no idea that the Feng Shui Masters who helped craft Magical Artifacts all held back a portion of the materials, euphemistically calling it 'wastage.'
The amount they held back was far more ruthless than his! Taking seventy or eighty percent was considered merciful; around ninety percent was the norm. There were even some vicious enough to claim the entire crafting process had failed, just to make the client send another batch of new materials...
By comparison, Zhao Yuan, taking only half as his kickback, was practically a Bodhisattva.
Zhao Yuan had a plan for these three Exorcism Talismans; he would take them home for his parents and younger sister. His family's peace and health were his greatest wish.
After putting on the Storage Ring, Zhao Yuan walked out of the workshop.
Although Cheng Yunlong and Wang Qing were sitting in the tea room, they had been keeping a close eye on the workshop. The moment they saw he was done, they hurried over to greet him.
"Boss Cheng, thank you for letting me use your workshop. These three Exorcism Talismans are for you."
With a wave of his hand, Zhao Yuan tossed the three Exorcism Talismans to Cheng Yunlong.
"Wow, three? Thank you, Master Zhao! Thank you so much!"
Cheng Yunlong was overjoyed. He had originally thought he would be lucky to get even one Exorcism Talisman, and had even braced himself for getting none at all. He never expected Zhao Yuan to give him such a wonderful surprise.
"I was in the zone today. The success rate was pretty high." Zhao Yuan was quite thick-skinned, lying through his teeth without so much as a blush.
Cheng Yunlong kept one Exorcism Talisman on his person, putting the other two in his pocket to take back to his wife and child. He then asked, "Master Zhao, should I pay you the crafting fee in cash, or by bank transfer?"
"A transfer would be best," Zhao Yuan said, not standing on ceremony.
"You got it," Cheng Yunlong replied, gleefully logging into his online banking and transferring 300,000 to Zhao Yuan.
"Master Zhao, when do you think you'll have time to come take a look at my house?" Wang Qing sidled up and asked timidly.
Zhao Yuan glanced up at the antique-style clock on the wall of Shufang Studio. Seeing it was still early, he said, "How about right now? Are you free?"
"Yes, yes, absolutely free!" Wang Qing replied, stumbling over his words in his haste.
This was exactly what he had been waiting to hear. As long as Master Zhao was willing to go, he would have made time for it even if he wasn't free.
"Alright then, let's go now," Zhao Yuan said.
"Should I prepare anything?" Wang Qing asked. "Like incense, candles, joss paper... the kinds of things you'd definitely need for a ritual."
Zhao Yuan was exasperated. He shook his head and said, "What do you think this is, summoning spirits or performing a shamanic dance? There's no need for that. Let's go take a look and see what's really going on first."
"Okay, I'll go get the car. Wait for me at the end of the street for a moment."
With that, Wang Qing hurried out of Shufang Studio, jogging to a nearby parking lot to retrieve his car.
"Master Zhao, can I come along?" Cheng Yunlong asked, his face full of anticipation. He was eager to tag along and see the spectacle.
"Sure, let's go," Zhao Yuan agreed. One more person wouldn't make a difference, and he might even be able to lend a hand.
The two of them left Shufang Studio, and just as they reached the end of the street, Wang Qing's car pulled up. He drove them at lightning speed to the home he hadn't returned to for several days.
He pushed open the door, and what greeted their eyes was a desolate, almost apocalyptic scene. The inside of the house was not only covered in dust and dirt, but it was also overgrown with vegetation like moss and green vines.
No one knew how these plants had gotten into the house, but they were flourishing with surprising vigor.
After stepping inside, Zhao Yuan activated his Qi Observation Technique. What he saw, however, left him utterly astonished...