[Nine Heavens Profound Mirror]

Chusheng Market, Refining Lake.

The lake spans ten thousand hectares, a vast expanse of water.

At the bottom of the lake lies a natural fire vein, seized thirty years ago by the Chen Clan, a cultivation family, and converted into a treasure trove for artifact refining.

Shen Yue used his spiritual power to propel a small skiff, slowly steering it toward a small island in the middle of the lake that was venting heat.

This island was no ordinary landmass, but a small mountain formed by the accumulation of countless discarded refining scraps.

Shen Yue chanted a mantra, and a large golden hand appeared out of thin air. With a grab into the mountain of waste, amidst waves of heat, he hauled a hundred pounds of scrap onto his boat.

This was the "Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand." By condensing spiritual power into a phantom hand, it looked impressive, but in reality, it was used for nothing more than hauling scrap onto the boat.

His job was to transport and sort these scraps.

Spiritual energy is chaotic, the fire essence is violent, and the fire poison in my body is growing deeper.

These scraps possessed intense fire essence, and some still contained the lingering spiritual power of artifact refiners, hiding all sorts of dangers within.

Shen Yue had been here for two years, and while his cultivation had reached the third level of Qi Refining, he still couldn't stop the fire essence from invading his body.

Attacked by this heat every day, the fire poison accumulates, and my cultivation slows down more and more. Forget the path to Foundation Establishment; whether I can even live to thirty is a question.

Better not to have transmigrated!

On Blue Star before he transmigrated, an ordinary person could easily live to fifty or sixty without any accidents.

But as luck would have it, Shen Yue had an accident.

He hit the jackpot, was reincarnated, and arrived in this world.

His birth was quite good; he was the eldest son of a military family in a mortal kingdom, with astonishing martial talent. At seventeen, he passed the martial examinations and ascended the Golden Throne.

When he was twenty-three, Shen Yue's father participated in the struggle for the throne among the nine princes, and with a powerful stance, he had almost helped that faction ascend to the throne.

Alas, a woman suddenly appeared at the end, hovering in mid-air. With a single, airy sentence, she suppressed his father's entire faction, and he, too, suffered a terrible fate.

Yet, it was through this that he learned of the existence of cultivators in this world.

Shen Yue filled his small boat, steered it to the shore, and used the Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand to move the scraps back to his dwelling for sorting.

These scraps were discarded by the high-and-mighty artifact refiners of the Chen Clan; it would be a waste to throw them away.

But the refiners considered their status too noble to waste time sorting, so they found a group of "oxen and horses" to recycle and sort them, paying one or two spirit stones a month.

As for the Chen Clan, they were a renowned cultivation family under the rule of the Taixu Sword Sect. Not only did they have a Foundation Establishment Ancestor, but rumor had it they even had a False Core expert holding the fort.

The entire Chusheng Market was owned by the Chen Clan.

A hundred years of Qi Refining, two hundred years for Foundation Establishment...

Longevity and long-sightedness were within reach, yet also worlds away.

One spirit stone a month was simply not enough for cultivation.

Not to mention that most of his day was spent sorting scraps; just suppressing the fire poison consumed more than half a spirit stone.

Shen Yue always found it laughable when he thought about this.

He recycled scraps to earn spirit stones, but the spirit stones were used to buy medicine to treat the fire poison.

Isn't this just like his previous life, working to earn money only to get sick, and then spending that money on medical bills?

Without a miracle, the future was bleak.

Fortunately, Shen Yue had a golden finger.

He sat before the scraps, his right hand extended, and the golden phantom hand appeared in the air, sorting the waste piece by piece.

Deep within his consciousness floated a precious mirror with nine pages. The first page was already unfolded, and golden characters were flickering upon it.

[Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand +1]... [Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand +1]...

This mirror was named the [Nine Heavens Profound Mirror], consisting of nine great profound pages.

He had successfully unlocked the first profound page, the primary function of which was to record and permanently solidify the progress of his spell cultivation.

Simply put, his cultivation would only progress, never regress.

Furthermore, the second page was close to unlocking, though he did not yet know its function.

Suddenly, the profound page erupted with golden light.

[Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand (First Level → Second Level)]

A surge of enlightenment rushed into Shen Yue's mind. The phantom golden hand before him split into two, and his sorting speed increased instantly!

"General Shen!"

Just then, a young man strode into the room.

The visitor was Changqin Wuming, the very prince his father had supported to the throne.

"The number of artifacts the Chen Clan is refining has increased significantly recently. If we keep going like this, I fear we won't last half a year."

Changqin Wuming's expression was grave. "I've found someone in the waste-gas recycling sector. We can get in for two spirit stones, and we won't have to deal with the fire poison anymore. Are you coming?"

"It's just two spirit stones, give them." Shen Yue said without lifting his head, focused on sorting materials.

"You have spirit stones?" The Seventh Prince was startled; he didn't even have a source for them himself.

"I thought Your Majesty would provide them." Shen Yue cast a puzzled look his way.

"Me? Why should I... Nonsense, I am the True Dragon Son of Heaven! You are the general I personally appointed, the first martial champion of the new dynasty. A mere few spirit stones are nothing to this Emperor."

The Seventh Prince's face flushed red. After making his grand declaration, he turned and walked away without looking back.

Shen Yue shook his head, sighing at the fickleness of the world. A prince who had been one step away from ascending the throne was now reduced to worrying about his livelihood.

Compared to cultivators, the kings and generals of the mortal world are nothing.

Yet, the cultivation world is even more hypocritical and cruel.

The Seventh Prince is right. The Chen Clan has increased their refining quota, accelerating the fire poison. I must unlock the second profound page immediately!

The [Nine Heavens Profound Mirror] unlocked its pages by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, though Shen Yue later discovered that waste materials could also accelerate the process.

Originally, he had only used dregs to ensure he could meet the recovery quotas mandated by the Chen Clan.

But now that his [Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand] had advanced to the second level, his sorting speed had increased, and there would only be more recyclable materials in the future.

Therefore, he decided to let the [Nine Heavens Profound Mirror] consume the waste materials directly from now on.

Shen Yue opened his mind, and a vortex suddenly appeared above the pile of waste.

The vortex was like a black hole, greedily devouring the heap of scrap.

In just a moment, the entire pile vanished.

At the same time, the second profound page of the [Nine Heavens Profound Mirror] erupted with a dazzling, blinding golden light.

In an instant, it contracted violently and plunged into chaos.

Just as Shen Yue was about to investigate, the space around him also began to grow chaotic and dim.

The universe was vast and green, the earth rich and fertile.

Shen Yue stood on a tree branch as thick as a water bucket, his mind on high alert.

Is this... another transmigration?

But it seemed he had transmigrated to a rather decent place.

The spiritual energy between heaven and earth felt cool and moist, with the vitality of earth and wood flowing endlessly.

The Refining Lake was dominated by water and fire spiritual energy, but his primary root was Metal. Since fire countered metal, his cultivation speed had been sluggish despite having an above-average spiritual root.

But here it was different. The earth and wood spiritual energy were dense, and since earth generated metal, his speed in cultivating metal techniques here would definitely surpass that of the Refining Lake.

Shen Yue extended his right hand, and two Heaven Origin Golden Light Hands manifested before him, causing the tall trees on either side to tremble.

"Earth generates metal, and metal counters wood. Even the power of the Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand has increased significantly..."

This place was truly a blessed paradise for a metal spiritual root.

After checking his surroundings, Shen Yue focused a sliver of his consciousness deep into the [Nine Heavens Profound Mirror].

The mystery unlocked by the second profound page was precisely the ability to [Transmigrate].

Sensing the information on the mirror, Shen Yue breathed a sigh of relief.

He could travel here, and he could travel back at any time.

Shen Yue looked at this new world, his eyes burning with a desire to explore.

He first checked his own status.

Third level of Qi Refining, second level of Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand, two low-grade Separating Fire Talismans, and two Essence Recovery Pills for replenishing spiritual power...

"Enough."

Shen Yue leaped up, a light breeze beneath his feet, and headed in the direction where the earth spiritual energy was most abundant.

The Azure Green Ridge was terrifyingly vast; he traveled for half a day before finally seeing a winding path cutting through the forest.

The path was filled with swirling yellow sand, creating a natural barrier that obscured his view of what lay ahead.

Shen Yue tested it a few times and found that the yellow sand was not aggressive and offered little resistance. After some deliberation, he stepped onto the path.

As soon as he reached the path, Shen Yue saw twenty or thirty people fleeing in a frenzy.

"Run, brother! The Wu Family is coming!" A red-faced youth swept past him like a gust of wind.