Over the course of three years, the three of them gained a lot, and the improvement of their strength was just a side note. Money wasn't the main gain either. In fact... the greatest gain for the trio was the adjustment and correction of their own combat skills to make the strong stronger, while patching up any holes and flaws, thus perfecting their battle techniques.
For Xin Yun, the greatest gain from this venture wasn't money or the boost in strength—those were givens. His ultimate prize was successfully obtaining the first Divine Artifact and crafting the prototype of the Sky-opening Axe. Now, as Xin Yun and his companions finally returned to Mountain Sea City, the Chaos Cauldron had just finished refining all five metals and completed the process of reflecting on the Innate. The essences of the metals were absorbed by the eight fragments, with their basic abilities simultaneously activated.