Vermilion Bird and Mysterious Tortoise, Beseeching the Plants of the Four Directions for Their Grace

On Floating Cloud Mountain, at the Truth-Seeking Abbey's Blazing Fire Peak, fierce flames blazed in the Eight Trigrams Furnace, its temperature rising rapidly.

Xuanming had already infused the furnace fire with a portion of Samadhi True Fire. Fused with the earth fire, it became all the more savage and domineering.

Yet under his exquisitely precise control, those unruly flames yielded to his direction, moving as he pleased, as naturally as fingers obeyed an arm.

Once the true fire reached the required temperature, he raised his hand and cast in numerous heavenly treasures, all precious fire-aspect materials. They melted into liquid, which he finally shaped into a treasured banner.

Several days later, a Dharma Artifact emerged fresh from the furnace.

Xuanming regulated his breathing and recovered. A day and a night later, he raised his hand to refine another treasure. This time, the flames in the Eight Trigrams Furnace burned hotter, and the Spirit Materials he added were of higher quality. Thirty-six days later, a banner-shaped Spirit Artifact was born.

At the sight, he smiled faintly, reviewed the details, summed up his experience, learned from his mistakes, and sought out gaps to remedy.

Once he had absorbed all of this into his own reserves of knowledge and restored himself to peak condition, Xuanming raised his hand and continued refining treasures.

The Spirit Materials he added this time were more precious, including the skeleton of a Firebird. It had been a Vermilion Bird with a trace of Vermilion Bird bloodline, a Golden Core Great Demon in life. Fond of eating the tender flesh of young women, it often concealed its movements and slipped into large human cities, changing its appearance and purchasing young women in great numbers under the pretext of taking concubines and buying servants.

A True Person of the Rising