Chu Tian gasped sharply and quickly turned to leave. Once he reached a deserted alley, he entered the Immortal Mansion directly. Meanwhile, the man lingered around the area near the alley for a while before finally leaving.

This left Chu Tian frustrated. He turned to Qiong Feng and asked, “Master, how did that guy find me?”

Qiong Feng looked at the man outside with a serious expression and said, “If I’m not mistaken, you might have left your aura in the cave, and he tracked you by sensing it.”

Chu Tian took another sharp breath. “What? Aura? He can track me just from that? What is he, a bloodhound?”

Qiong Feng chuckled. “It’s because his cultivation level is high. With heightened senses, it’s natural to detect these things.”

Chu Tian sighed in relief. “Good thing I have this treasure. Otherwise, if he caught me, I’d be done for.”

Qiong Feng smiled faintly. “Exactly.”

Seeing Qiong Feng smile, Chu Tian quickly took out the lower-grade spiritual carving knife and the pile of over a thousand ordinary weapons, grinning. “Look at this!”

Qiong Feng couldn’t help but admire Chu Tian’s efficiency and then said, “Alright, let’s start with the simplest one-star symbols.”

Chu Tian, eager to begin, immediately perked up. Qiong Feng pointed to the pile of weapons and explained, “Weapons usually have attack-based symbols carved into them. Today, I’ll teach you a one-star attack symbol—the Burning Symbol.”

“The Burning Symbol?”

Qiong Feng nodded. “That’s right. If successfully carved onto an ordinary weapon, it grants the weapon a burning effect. The damage increase is about 5%. A two-star symbol increases it to 10%, and so on. It’s said that a nine-star symbol can boost damage by 45%.”

Chu Tian marveled at the power of symbols as Qiong Feng instructed him to patiently practice with the ordinary weapons.

When Chu Tian began carving the designated symbol pattern onto a sword with the carving knife, the sword broke in half under the pressure, becoming useless. However, the system’s notification pulled Chu Tian out of his disappointment.

“Ding~ One-star ordinary weapon symbol carving failed. Gained 500 experience points!”

“Even failed carvings give experience? This is amazing!” Chu Tian exclaimed with excitement.

Initially, Chu Tian needed 200,000 more experience points to level up. Realizing he could gain experience this way, he was ecstatic. Seeing Chu Tian laugh even after failing, Qiong Feng asked in confusion, “Why are you laughing?”

Chu Tian quickly snapped back and awkwardly replied, “Oh, nothing. Let’s continue.”

Chu Tian resumed carving. The Burning Symbol looked like a small flame mark, but despite its simplicity, Chu Tian kept failing.

“Ding~ One-star ordinary weapon symbol carving failed. Gained 500 experience points!”“Ding~ One-star ordinary weapon symbol carving failed. Gained 500 experience points!”...

After failing 100 times, Chu Tian finally heard a new system notification:“Ding~ One-star ordinary weapon symbol carving succeeded. Gained 10,000 experience points!”

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Chu Tian gasped. “10,000 points!”

Qiong Feng, who had been watching, smiled. “Not bad. You actually succeeded. But...”

Chu Tian quickly asked, “But what?”

Qiong Feng explained with a smile, “To officially qualify as a one-star spiritual engraver, you need to achieve 100% success. During the certification test, you’ll be given ten ordinary weapons to carve. You must succeed on all of them, or you’ll fail.”

With the experience he had gained, Chu Tian was confident. “Don’t worry, I can do it.”

Qiong Feng smiled approvingly and continued to observe. Chu Tian spent some more time practicing. From the 300th attempt onward, he succeeded consistently. At that moment, a system notification appeared:

“Ding~ Experience points full. Would you like to level up?”

Chu Tian didn’t expect to level up so quickly and exclaimed, “Level up!”

“Ding~ Congratulations! You’ve reached Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, Level 15. ‘Thousand Respect Demon Armor’ has reached Level 11. Identification System activated. Would you like to open the Level 15 Growth Pack?”

Before opening the gift pack, Chu Tian was already drawn to the identification system. “Identification System activated? What does that mean?”

The system responded:

* People are categorized as friendly or hostile. Hostile targets are further divided into ordinary monsters, rare monsters, minor bosses, and major bosses.

* Defeating ordinary monsters grants experience points.

* Defeating rare monsters might yield rare items such as fragments of magical treasures and abundant experience.

* Minor and major bosses might drop complete magical treasures, rare alchemy recipes, rare crafting recipes, rare symbols, or even special collectibles like Immortal Portraits, along with significant experience rewards.

Chu Tian was stunned. He had always thought Immortal Portraits only came from mysterious quests. Now, he realized they could drop from identifying minor bosses or above. He became excited. “This way, I can collect portraits much faster!”

Not only that, but there were rare recipes, symbols, and other valuable items. Overwhelmed with joy, Chu Tian burst into laughter.

Qiong Feng, noticing this, commented, “I say, is becoming a one-star spiritual engraver really worth this much excitement?”

Chu Tian wasn’t excited about that. He quickly composed himself and chuckled. “Master, you misunderstood!”

Qiong Feng said, “With your strength, achieving one-star status so quickly is thanks to your arm strength control being 20 times greater than normal. Use this advantage to start practicing two-star symbols.”

“Yes, Master!”

Under Qiong Feng’s guidance, Chu Tian spent five days mastering two-star and three-star symbols. He used up all his ordinary weapons but felt quite accomplished.

However, Qiong Feng poured cold water on his enthusiasm. “Your recent practice was all on ordinary weapons. Spiritual engravers are classified by the type of weapons they can carve: ordinary, spiritual, or treasured weapons. Even within the same star level, carving on higher-grade weapons is vastly different.”

Chu Tian asked skeptically, “Does that mean my skill on ordinary weapons can’t be applied to spiritual ones?”

“You can, but the required precision and force are different. You need more practice to adapt. Also, carving on spiritual weapons requires a treasured carving knife, which you currently don’t have.”

Chu Tian had only ever seen spiritual-grade items and couldn’t even imagine a treasured item. He smiled bitterly. “I’ll deal with that later.”

“Take your time. Transitioning from ordinary to spiritual weapons can cost billions of resources,” Qiong Feng remarked.

Chu Tian chuckled. “Master, this profession really burns money.”

“Don’t worry. You can sell the ordinary weapons you’ve successfully carved. Their value can at least double, and two-star ones can increase three to four times, while three-star ones can increase four to five times.”

Chu Tian glanced at his pile and found only 30 or so intact pieces. He smiled. “Alright, I’ll go sell them now.”

After bidding farewell to Qiong Feng, Chu Tian left, unaware of his master’s thoughts.

Qiong Feng sighed, “It took me six years to master three-star carvings on ordinary weapons, and he did it in just six days. Unbelievable.”

Chu Tian had no idea what Qiong Feng was thinking. He headed to the auction house and found Elder Xie, who smiled upon seeing him after five days. “So, have you given up on learning carving?”

Chu Tian laughed. “Seems like you don’t believe I can become a spiritual engraver, Elder Xie.”

Elder Xie shook his head with a smile. “That’s not it. I just speak from experience. It took me over a century to become a two-star engraver on ordinary weapons. This path is not only expensive but also grueling.”

Chu Tian smiled and tossed the 30 intact weapons over, grinning. “Got any good channels? Help me sell these!”