Heaven and Earth Furnace

At dawn the next morning, just as the sky began to brighten, Xu Yan was awakened by footsteps outside.

He slowly rose from his meditation cushion and pushed open the door.

Opposite him was Tushan Jiuyuan's cave dwelling. By coincidence, she emerged from hers at the same time as Xu Yan.

"Fellow Daoist Tushan." Xu Yan cupped his hands to her.

Tushan Jiuyuan's pair of demonic eyes, their pupils vertical slits, settled on Xu Yan. She halted, her scarlet fur-lined robe snapping in the wind. Her Dao-body aura was formidable, and Xu Yan could feel the dense Mystic Qi washing over him.

"You..." Tushan Jiuyuan was just about to say something.

The door to the cave dwelling on the left had opened at some unknown point. A figure in purple robes walked straight between them, neither hurried nor slow, as though no one in this world was worthy of a second glance from her.

Murong Ziyao's expression was cold. She treated the two of them as if they did not exist and walked straight past them.

Tushan Jiuyuan's gaze darkened slightly. A flicker of killing intent seemed to pass through the corner of her eye before she swiftly returned to normal.

"Brother Xu!"

From the other side, Qin Yiren approached at an unhurried pace, her silver robes fluttering and a faint, almost imperceptible smile on her cool face.

At the sight of this, Tushan Jiuyuan withdrew the words she had intended to say and headed alone out of the cave dwellings.

"Fellow Daoist Qin," Xu Yan replied.

Qin Yiren's beautiful eyes seemed thoughtful as she watched Tushan Jiuyuan's departing figure. "Brother Xu, do you know that Heavenly Fox disciple?"

"We have met once, but we are not acquainted," Xu Yan said, shaking his head.

Qin Yiren gave an "Mm" and did not press further.

The two chatted idly as they walked out of the palace halls.

Outside, morning light poured down, making the empty Spirit-Sealing City seem especially desolate and chilly.

Scattered cultivators, their expressions varied, silently made their way toward the western side of the city. Naturally, they were headed for the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

Xu Yan and Qin Yiren also left the city, riding Mystic Qi and following the crowd as they sped westward.

Whoosh—

A fierce wind howled past their cheeks. The farther they went in that direction, the more the world itself seemed to grow faintly scorching.

The forests beneath them shifted from emerald green to withered yellow. Farther ahead, even grass and trees vanished from sight.

The earth looked as though it had been baked by searing heat. Invisible waves of heat steamed upward, leaving only cracked, crimson ground. Spiderweb-like fissures stretched into the distance, dry beyond measure.

Xu Yan could feel that the spiritual energy between heaven and earth had become unusually restless, like a pot of water on the verge of boiling.

Over nine hundred li, Xu Yan and Qin Yiren flew at full speed.

"What intense fire-elemental energy," Qin Yiren said, surveying heaven and earth with a slight furrow in her brow.

"It is not merely fire-elemental energy." Xu Yan seemed to ponder this as he activated the Edict Script to sense the surrounding world. "All five elements are present, but the fire element suppresses the rest. It is as though... something beneath the ground is smelting all things."

Under his perception, the energies beneath the earth veins were mottled and chaotic.

In the distance, they could already see the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

It resembled a mountain, yet it was not quite a mountain. It stood roughly fifty zhang tall and fully three hundred zhang wide. Seen from above, it looked like a giant mouth rising from the earth.

It seemed to endlessly inhale and exhale the energies of heaven and earth on its own. The entire furnace-shaped mountain was dark red, its surface covered in crisscrossing patterns like dried blood vessels, or perhaps some ancient array inscriptions. Crimson lava flowed through the gaps.

Vaguely, Xu Yan could make out quite a few disciples who had already climbed onto the furnace and stood along its edges, peering down inside.

Jiang Qingcheng stroked his chin as he looked within. "Heaven and earth as the furnace, creation as the craftsman. This truly is a marvelous place."

"According to the Divine Sect's ancient records, this Heaven and Earth Furnace was moved here from overseas by the Patriarch," someone said.

"The furnace fire has burned without rest for endless ages. Why leave such a divine artifact within the Immortal Treasury?"

A disciple voiced his confusion.

Why not move a Heaven and Earth Furnace like this into the Divine Land? If the great powers of the sect used it to refine pills and forge artifacts, then over endless ages, who knew how many more precious pills and Dharma artifacts the Divine Sect would possess!

Xu Yan and Qin Yiren arrived as well.

The two landed on a crimson boulder at the edge and, like the others, peered down into the interior.

An abyss!

Inside lay a bottomless abyss. Yet faintly, they could see many spirit pills shining deep below, as though they might emerge from the furnace at any moment.

However, a thin shield of Dharma power sealed the furnace mouth. Dense Edict Scripts flowed across it, clearly forming an exceedingly intricate ancient array.

Xu Yan appeared thoughtful. He activated the [Miaoyuan] Edict Script with his divine sense and tentatively made contact with the ancient array.

[Taiyi God-Lock Array: An ancient Mystic Gate array, capable of sealing off the energies of heaven and earth.]

As Xu Yan examined it, someone spoke from the other side.

Tuoba Ke, a disciple of Nine Star Kui Island, held an array disk and declared sternly, "This array is the Taiyi God-Lock Array. There is only one array eye. If we join forces and attack the Dragon Gate to the true north, that will suffice!"

Jiang Qingcheng nodded. Sweeping his gaze around, he narrowed his eyes and called out, "Everyone, let us make this clear beforehand. If ancient pills emerge from the furnace, do not fight over them. Hand them to Fellow Daoist Jiang, then bid for them separately at auction!"

Jiang Beixuan had a considerable reputation among this generation's prodigies.

Yet he was remarkably low-key. Though he belonged to the Patriarch's lineage, no ill conduct of his had ever been heard of outside. Moreover, his strength and cultivation were the highest here, his Pulse Opening nearly complete, so the disciples generally accepted his authority.

"Enough nonsense. Do it!"

Tushan Jiuyuan declared sharply.

She struck first. With a shake of her scarlet Daoist robe, boundless Mystic Qi roared from within her Dao body and crashed toward the array eye with the force of mountains and seas toppling.

"Fairy Jiu Yuan, what tyrannical Mystic Qi!" Jiang Qingcheng laughed. The more Tushan Jiuyuan treated him this way, the more animated he seemed to become.

As he spoke, a green sword shot from his sleeve with a howl, expanding to five zhang in length as it buzzed toward the array eye with killing intent.

The disciples struck one after another, none holding anything back.

Since they had already reached an agreement, no one would be foolish enough to fight or launch a sneak attack at this moment—unless they bore an irreconcilable blood feud.

For example, Xu Yan kept the greatest distance from the disciples of Nine Star Kui Island.

Earlier, in the middle region of the Immortal Treasury, Murong Yan had loudly spread word that Xu Yan had killed Huangfu Ziyang. Yet the news apparently had not reached the latter half of the Immortal Treasury. Not a single Nine Star Kui Island disciple here paid him any mind.

But with Murong Ziyao's temperament, even if she knew Xu Yan had killed Huangfu Ziyang, she likely would not care in the slightest. From Xu Yan's dealings with her these past few days, she scarcely seemed like someone of the mortal world.

Buzz!

Xu Yan did not bring out the Wenjin Shuttle. Instead, he controlled the Green Pattern Dharma Sword and sent it slashing toward the array eye.

At his side, Qin Yiren also struck without hesitation.

The most eye-catching of all was Jiang Beixuan. His white robes billowed, and the spirit vein within his body shone brilliantly like a blazing sun. Yet it was not a fire-element spirit vein, but scorching white Mystic Qi.

The Mystic Qi within him surged like a mighty river. Every thread of Dharma power and Mystic Qi was exceedingly sharp, like blades and swords!

"What kind of spirit vein does this man possess...?" Xu Yan muttered casually.

"White Heroic Steel Body, Mist-type Spirit Vein."

Not far away, Jiang Qingcheng stood atop a fiery-red boulder. He seemed to have heard Xu Yan's mutter. Raising a brow as he looked over, he narrowed his eyes and said, "Fellow Daoist Xu, your Primordial Spirit Vein is quite rare as well."

"It cannot compare to Brother Jiang. With only a green sword, you have entered the ranks of this generation's prodigies," Xu Yan said with a shake of his head.

Jiang Qingcheng was quite an oddity. His spirit vein was merely an ordinary five-element wood vein, and he possessed no special physique. Even the green sword in his hand was only an ordinary high-grade Dharma sword.

Yet his foundation was exceptionally solid, and his Dharma power held not the slightest trace of instability. He was at the eighth level of Pulse Opening.

"Hahaha, I like hearing that." As Jiang Qingcheng laughed, he pressed his palm down sharply. The green sword attacking the array eye grew several degrees sharper at once, buzzing intensely!

With everyone joining forces, they continued their assault for half a day before faint cracks seemed to appear in the ancient array.

They withdrew their techniques and rested for an hour each. Once they had recovered to their peak condition, they rose and continued breaking the array.

Thus, after one day and one night, a crack suddenly rang out from within the ancient array inscriptions like a thunderclap, resounding throughout heaven and earth.