Back in the workshop, he was now alone. He took out his Qi-Cauldron, and placed it on the massive stove. The Cauldron honestly isn’t very big, it’s about the size of a soup pot, but it is thick and heavy.

It’s inner part is clearly damaged, from incorrect use. He ran his fingers through the inner part, and sniffed it a little.

It’s probably some kind of incorrect mixture of materials, overheated. The Qi used to stabilise the cauldron was incorrect, so all of those different mistakes caused the cauldron to be damaged. Even the cauldron itself wasn’t that well made, even if the materials were good. With a good fresh stock of Darkbeast Steel, and a good forge, he’d make something twice as good.

Mingwei sighed. It’s really quite sad to see good material used so... haphazardly.

Oh well, he had to fix it first. He looked at this 4-star Liquid Metal Marrow, and back at his QI Cauldron. He needed to remove the dirt first, so he first started by filling the cauldron with water, and then, boiling it the conventional way, over a normal stove.

Once the water boiled, it helped to remove some of the regular dust, dirt and stains. Then, he poured away the hot water, and started scrubbing the inner part with a regular brush. This was a very long and tiring process, and took him the entire day. It was now clean, and shiny, but fundamentally, the cauldron itself is damaged from improper use. Not something regular clean and wipe can fix.

The next day, he needed to know where exactly the damaged parts are. So, he touched the cauldron with both his palms, and circulated his Qi in it.

His Qi acted like little feelers, moving through each and every part of the Cauldron. There are parts that had lumps, or had cracks, and that stopped the Qi from flowing.

Since a cauldron has to ‘contain’ whatever it is processing within itself, cracks meant leaks, and leaks meant imperfect processes. He committed where all the imperfections are to his memory. He would have a short window to fix it once he applied the Liquid Metal Marrow.

Ah. Next, he opened the small vial of liquid metal marrow, and poured it into the Cauldron. The liquid metal dissolved into the Cauldron itself, and Mingwei quickly touched the cauldron with his two palms, and sent his Qi into the cauldron.

He moved quickly, although the liquid metal marrow had dissolved, it would soon harden. He used his Qi to move the dissolved liquid inside the Cauldron’s structure, and to where the cracks and leaks are. This happened relatively quickly, and within an hour he was done.

Then, he waited. It would take a full day for the Liquid Metal to fully harden and it was important nothing was done during this time.

After a full day of letting his QI-cauldron rest, he checked it’s condition again. He smiled as he noted that it was repaired to the 4-star level!.

Darkbeast Steel Qi Cauldron (Damaged) -

5 star (damaged - 4 star).

Increased Qi storage by 10,000. (capped at 1 times of Current QI Storage)

Increased Qi Gathering by 500 per day. Alchemy - Supports 2nd refinement.

Forging - Supports 2nd enhancement

Pill production effects +10%

“OH!” He was disappointed when the forging and alchemy didn’t improve to the 3rd stage, but then, there’s the pill production effect boost! That’ll be helpful for the pillmaking process later!