Xuanchen Cauldron

Yuan Tian was naturally serious about this. If he was going to do something, he would either not do it at all or do it to the very best of his ability. Yuan Tian had no choice either—there were only a handful of Innate Spirit Treasure-grade cauldrons in the entire Primordial Wilderness, and who knew whether he would ever obtain one in the future? Since that was the case, he might as well devote all his strength to forging a cauldron of his own. Something he refined himself would be more convenient to use, after all. Did this count as a different kind of "Ah Q spirit"? That was a question worth discussing. If there was time later, everyone could talk it over together.

Since he was going to refine a cauldron, he first had to decide on its design. Yuan Tian pondered for a long while before finally settling on its form. Only then could he officially begin.

Yuan Tian first used his heartfire to refine top-grade artifact-refining materials one by one: Geng Metal, Gold Sand, Star Iron, Purple Cloud Crystal, Galaxy Purple Sand, and more. The materials floated in the air like heaps of molten gold and violet liquid. Needless to say, Yuan Tian was once again using the Heart Refining Method. Having used it several times, he had gained considerable insight into it, and wielded it as easily as moving his own hand.

Yuan Tian slowly removed the impurities from the molten gold and violet liquid in the air, then gradually fused them together before shaping them into the form he had envisioned. The entire process looked simple, as though it would take no time at all, yet these tasks alone consumed three times nine—twenty-seven years. Nothing was as simple as it seemed. At last, the shaping was nearly complete.

At this moment, Yuan Tian did not move his lips, while his hands continuously formed seals. One formation after another was struck into the cauldron that was about to take shape—reinforcement formations, blazing flame formations, wish-fulfilling formations, spatial formations, one after the next, as though they cost nothing. In the blink of an eye, Yuan Tian had placed two times nine—eighteen thousand formations into the cauldron. Every formation linked ring by ring, while the smaller formations combined into larger ones, raising the cauldron's functions and power to their utmost limits.

Thus, Yuan Tian spent another five times nine—forty-five years before finally completing all the formations. The cauldron was also on the verge of taking shape.

Though it was said to be on the verge of completion, it still took another nine years. After nine times nine—eighty-one years—Yuan Tian finally succeeded in refining his very own cauldron.

Eighty-one years. Although that was not a particularly long time for the beings of the Primordial Wilderness, Yuan Tian had never spent eighty-one years refining a single Spirit Treasure. Even when refining the Golden Dragon Scissors, he had spent only forty-nine years. This showed just how much importance he placed on this cauldron.

With a gentle beckoning motion, Yuan Tian summoned the cauldron still floating in the air into his hand. He forced out a drop of essence blood to recognize it as his master. The instant the essence blood vanished into the cauldron, a spiritual connection, like one of shared bloodline, rose in his heart. The cauldron had acknowledged him as its master.

Only then did Yuan Tian carefully examine it. It was a three-legged round cauldron. The Celestial Stars were engraved above, while mountains and rivers lay below, as though the entire Primordial Wilderness had been depicted upon its surface, adding another layer of mystery to it.

The more Yuan Tian looked at it, the more he liked it. But the cauldron did not yet have a name. It needed one; he could not keep calling it simply "the cauldron." That was far too ordinary.

"From this day onward, your name shall be the Xuanchen Cauldron," Yuan Tian softly said to it.

As soon as Yuan Tian finished speaking, the three characters "Xuanchen Cauldron" appeared upon its surface. The Xuanchen Cauldron also seemed delighted, swaying continuously to display its mood.

"What a spiritual Spirit Treasure!" Yuan Tian discovered that this Xuanchen Cauldron possessed even greater spirituality than the Golden Dragon Scissors. The Golden Dragon Scissors had already possessed more spirituality than ordinary Spirit Instruments of the same grade; its spirituality was roughly comparable to that of a Supreme-Grade Innate Spirit Treasure. Yet this Xuanchen Cauldron possessed even greater spirituality than the Golden Dragon Scissors. It truly had to be called a miracle. Under normal circumstances, the higher a Spirit Treasure's grade, the greater its spirituality. The Xuanchen Cauldron and Golden Dragon Scissors were of the same grade, both Supreme-Grade Acquired Spirit Treasures. Yet in terms of spirituality alone, the Xuanchen Cauldron could likely rival an ordinary Innate Supreme Treasure. Yuan Tian had never heard of anything like it before—a Supreme-Grade Acquired Spirit Treasure whose spirituality could contend with an Innate Supreme Treasure.

This was a true miracle. Now that the Xuanchen Cauldron had recognized its master, Yuan Tian naturally understood its functions.

Because Yuan Tian had incorporated no small number of spatial formations into the Xuanchen Cauldron, it possessed the ability to draw in and seize the magical treasures of others and enemies. In this regard, it resembled Yuan Tian's Five-Elements Heaven-Seizing Hand, Zhunti's Seven-Treasure Wondrous Tree, and Kong Xuan's Five-Colored Divine Light. It seemed that all famous cauldrons in the Primordial Wilderness possessed this function; the only difference was the extent of their power.

The Xuanchen Cauldron also possessed defensive power. Though it could not, like the Heaven-Earth Cauldron, ensure invincibility merely by being suspended above one's head, its defense was still exceptionally formidable. It was absolutely no weaker than a mid-grade defensive Innate Spirit Treasure. Compared to its defense, however, its offensive power was somewhat weaker and its methods of attack somewhat more limited. It had only one method: smashing. Even so, Yuan Tian was quite pleased. After all, the Xuanchen Cauldron's primary purpose was not defense or attack; those were merely supplementary. Its true purpose was pill refinement and artifact refinement.

As for the Xuanchen Cauldron's abilities in pill refinement and artifact refinement, they were exceptionally powerful. Although it could not, like the Heaven-Earth Cauldron, return acquired objects and acquired qi to their original state, much less refine Innate Spirit Treasures, it provided a success-rate bonus during artifact and pill refinement, increasing the success rate by twenty percent. Even a cauldron like the Heaven-Earth Cauldron, which was comparable to an Innate Supreme Treasure, increased the success rate by only thirty percent. Do not underestimate that twenty percent increase. As mentioned before, when Taishang Laozi refined the Nine-Turn Golden Pill, his success rate was less than thirty percent. If he used the Xuanchen Cauldron, his success rate would be nearly fifty percent. That was already an extremely high probability. For a pill-refining novice like Yuan Tian, it was simply wonderful.

The Xuanchen Cauldron provided a twenty percent success-rate bonus in both artifact and pill refinement, and its effects were especially obvious when refining pills. Not only did it offer a twenty percent success-rate bonus, but the medicinal potency of the pills it refined would also exceed that of ordinary pills by thirty percent.

Upon learning this, Yuan Tian could not help but be deeply shaken. This Xuanchen Cauldron was truly a heaven-defying treasure. Among cauldrons, it was likely inferior only to the legendary Heaven-Earth Cauldron, and it absolutely had the strength to contend with the Innate Spirit Treasure, the Creation Cauldron. Yuan Tian believed that with its aid, he could definitely refine vast quantities of spirit pills and Golden Cores. Although those pills could not greatly increase his cultivation, they contained vast amounts of pure spiritual qi. This would ease the problem of needing enormous quantities of spiritual qi whenever he cultivated. Yuan Tian had always harbored a thought: requiring a sea's worth of spiritual qi for cultivation as he did might obstruct his future path of cultivation. Of course, that was a matter for later. For now, let us refine pills first.