Yin and Yang as Charcoal, Deities as Fuel

Seeing the First Emperor suffer the backlash of the rules and his corpse-divesting immortal body barely formed, Xu Fu felt he had transcended the cage and had no desire to remain entangled with this collapsing altar.

He bowed toward the First Emperor from a distance, his tone mocking:

"Your Majesty, the path to longevity has been paved for you. Forgive this subject for taking the first step; we shall meet again in the immortal realm! Farewell!"

Before his voice had even faded, his illusory form transformed into a gray-white streak of light, shooting toward the sky to escape this place of trouble.

"Thud!"

A dull, thunderous boom, like a strike against an ancient bronze bell, echoed outward.

The streak of light Xu Fu had become was repelled at an even greater speed, tumbling through the air several times before he could barely steady himself.

A massive, invisible yet tangible barrier revealed its outline for a fleeting moment, covering the entire sky above Langya Terrace. Complex hexagrams and runes flowed across its surface, completely sealing off the inside from the outside.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, why the rush to leave?"

A calm voice, seemingly originating from the nine heavens, resonated.

Chen Jin found it somewhat familiar and looked up.

There, amidst the phenomenon of the Sun and Moon Radiance, a colossal phantom slowly emerged.

The phantom occupied nearly half the firmament, its eyes like abysses, looking down upon the ant-like beings below.

It was none other than Jiang Yan, the current libationer of Jixia Academy.

He continued, his voice sounding like the decree of Heaven:

"The Sovereign, the Minister, the Assistant, and the Envoy—the great laws of alchemy. Your Majesty is the 'Sovereign,' the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers are the 'Ministers,' and this mountain of spiritual energy and the lives of all beings are the 'Assistants'... I have pondered repeatedly, and without you, the 'Envoy' to guide the medicine to the meridians, it is ultimately imperfect. You had best stay."

Jiang Yan's phantom chanted:

"Heaven and Earth serve as the furnace—"

As the words fell, the entire Langya Mountain shook violently. The steep, knife-cut rock faces collapsed inward as if they were wax softened by intense heat. The snow on the peak instantly evaporated into white mist, and the exposed rock turned crimson within seconds. The sharp peak, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, slowly sank and flattened.

Orange-red melt marks crawled across the gray-black furnace walls, while the summit's opening spewed smoke and fire. The crisp sound of shattering stone mingled with the low roar of magma.

The entire mountain had truly transformed into a colossal furnace.

"Creation serves as the craftsman—"

The wildly growing Heavenly Dao Purple-Veined Ganoderma burst with billions of golden, powder-like spores from its curling caps, drifting with the wind across the world. The gold-veined Lingzhi Mycelium twisted like living creatures; upon touching vegetation, it burrowed into roots, and upon touching living beings, it clung to their bodies.

This tide of golden mycelium, indifferent to friend or foe, fell within the scope of his "Creation," intending to "smelt" everything on Langya Terrace into materials for the alchemy furnace.

As the alchemists swung their talismans, mycelium instantly covered their forearms; mushroom caps crowded against stalks, and even the gaps in their Daoist crowns were embedded with tiny gills. When the Vermilion Birds flapped their wings, white fungi sprouted between their feathers, covering their backs in mere seconds, the gold-veined caps weighing their wings down. Thick stalks erupted from the joints of the iron men's bronze bodies, the dense mushroom caps splitting the metal shells.

Everything in the world had become a hotbed for nourishing the Lingzhi.

"Yin and Yang serve as the charcoal—"

Two distinct streaks of light suddenly tore across the horizon, turning Zhifu Island into the eye of the Yang fish and Sanshan Island into the eye of the Yin fish. Within seconds, the two patterns coiled like living things, and the Qi Territory instantly transformed into a Yin-Yang fish a thousand miles in diameter.

The Yin half was covered in thin frost, rivers formed ice patterns, and plants glowed with a ghostly light; the Yang half burned with pale fire, fields rolled with heat waves, and rocks reflected golden rays.

The Yin-Yang fish rotated slowly with Zhifu Island and Sanshan Island as its axis. At first, it was as slow as a pendulum, then gradually as fast as a flywheel. Amidst the roaring earth, the airflow whistled like dragon cries. Bands of mysterious black and crimson gold light flowed across the fish's body, swirling even the clouds into a spiral.

"All things serve as copper."

The smelting current of black and crimson gold surged violently. Wrapped in invisible, scorching energy, it instantly engulfed the heaven and earth, seemingly intent on dismantling and recasting everything.

In an instant, whether it was the Qin Elite Soldiers, the alchemists, the Shark People, or the Vermilion Birds, golden men, and even Xu Fu and the First Emperor, all felt an irresistible force of "smelting" acting upon them, seeking to recast their flesh, souls, and power into the "pill embryos" required by the alchemist.

Taking advantage of this cataclysmic shift, while everyone's attention was diverted, Chen Jin used his [Shapeshifting] ability to take the form of an ordinary Qin soldier. Pushing through the wildly proliferating Lingzhi Mycelium and the chaotic energy storm, he struggled toward the statue of the Lord of the Four Seasons at the center of the altar.

He tried to peel the golden mycelium from the statue with his hands, only to find that the mycelium was fundamentally linked to the statue's essence; forcing it off would only accelerate the statue's disintegration.

"Senior! How can this be stopped?" Chen Jin asked urgently, lowering his voice.

The statue's pained face turned slightly, and its remaining consciousness emitted a faint, intermittent thought:

"It... it is useless... the furnace fire is... already lit... the charcoal is prepared... there is no... saving it..."

As the words ended, more mycelium surged forward like a living thing, completely covering the statue's face and freezing even that last expression as it devoured it.

The statue lost all spirituality, becoming a "culture column" purely wrapped in Lingzhi, unable to convey even a final shred of intent.

Chen Jin's heart sank. He looked up at the massive phantom of Jiang Yan in the sky, and a chill rose from the depths of his soul.

He intends to refine a peerless pill that encompasses gods, men, emperors, and immortals!

This was a true deicide and immortal-refining, with the world as the stage and gods and living beings as the offerings!

Jiang Yan, this libationer of Jixia Academy, intended to treat the entire world as a furnace of medicine on his path to the Dao!

At this moment, the furnace fire was blazing, the ingredients were complete, and it only awaited the moment of completion!

Just as the golden Lingzhi Mycelium, like a tidal wave of doom, was about to swallow the last few corners of resistance—even as Xu Fu's corpse-divesting immortal body and the First Emperor's mercury barrier began to fluctuate violently and teeter on the brink of collapse—a sharp shout rang out from the edge of the altar.

"Enough!"

A figure tore through his disguise, revealing Chen Jin's true form.

His eyes flashed with a resolute light. Facing the overwhelming tide of golden mycelium, he did not retreat; instead, he stepped forward to meet it.

He held his hands in a hollow sphere before his chest, his aura suddenly turning as deep as the sea, as if a void universe had opened within his body. A powerful, peerless suction force erupted from him as the center!

[Swallow Sun and Moon] activated at full power!

The moment the wildly writhing Lingzhi Mycelium, attempting to assimilate him, touched his force field, it was as if they had encountered their natural nemesis. They were no longer devouring Chen Jin; instead, their own vast vitality and power of creation were forcibly stripped away, flowing like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, transforming into visible golden streams of light that surged madly into Chen Jin's palms!