Primordial Enlightenment Scripture

For years, in order to develop the furnace he had envisioned, Chen Daoxuan had poured most of the resources that should have gone toward learning Artifact Refining into it. Unfortunately, things had gone against his wishes.

Chen Daoxuan, who possessed memories of a past life, knew full well that research might be something that never yielded returns. But once it succeeded, the rewards would be equally astonishing.

"Thankfully, with the help of the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture, my speed in learning Artifact Refining far surpasses anything outsiders could imagine!"

Chen Daoxuan muttered.

The Primordial Enlightenment Scripture he spoke of was something he had discovered within his Sea of Consciousness five years ago, when he broke through into the Qi Refining Stage and opened up his Sea of Consciousness.

At the time.

It had drifted quietly at the center of Chen Daoxuan's Sea of Consciousness.

Mysterious, serene, and radiating a faint golden glow.

Chen Daoxuan had never seen the words written on this scripture before, yet he somehow understood their meaning and could recite them silently.

Translated, the name of this scripture was the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture.

The scripture was not long. Reciting it from beginning to end took exactly the time it took for one stick of incense to burn.

When he first began silently reciting it, he had not noticed anything unusual.

Only afterward did he feel that his Divine Sense was full, his mind clearer, and his entire being refreshed.

But after studying Artifact Refining knowledge for some time and making his first attempt at refining red copper ore, Chen Daoxuan discovered the terrifying aspect of this scripture.

Normally, even a first-tier Artifact Forger would feel mentally exhausted and have sluggish Divine Sense after refining Spirit Mines at high intensity for three days and nights.

Not to mention that Chen Daoxuan had only been a little rookie at Qi Refining Stage One then. His condition had been even worse.

He remembered that after refining red copper ore in the Earth Fire Chamber for the first time, he had collapsed straight onto the floor. His entire Sea of Consciousness had felt as though someone had stirred it to pieces.

Then, as if possessed, he began silently reciting the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture.

At that moment, something unexpected happened. Not only did his Sea of Consciousness, which had been a muddled mess, return to normal, but even his Divine Sense faintly grew stronger.

After that incident, Chen Daoxuan understood that the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture's value was immeasurable based on its ability to restore a cultivator's Divine Sense alone.

Although Spirit Herbs capable of restoring Divine Sense were not uncommon in the cultivation world, every one of them was exorbitantly expensive—far beyond what a small family like the Chen Family of Twin Lakes Island could ever hope for.

This was also why, despite advancing by leaps and bounds in Artifact Refining with the help of the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture, he did not dare reveal it easily.

Of course, aside from concealing the existence of the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture, he also needed to use the Artifact Refining resources his family provided to develop the furnace before him.

Thinking of this, Chen Daoxuan's gaze grew resolute once more. "No matter what, these five years haven't been without gains. Perhaps tomorrow will be the moment I succeed!"

Chen Daoxuan secretly encouraged himself.

According to his design, the furnace before him should be able to replace the process of cultivators refining Spirit Mines, just like steel furnaces on Earth smelted steel.

However, refining Spirit Mines differed greatly from refining ordinary ores.

That difference was Spiritual Aura!

For ordinary iron ore, refining it only required high-temperature smelting.

But Spirit Mines were different. While smelting them at high temperatures, one also had to fuse together the Spiritual Aura contained within the refined Spirit Mine.

That touched upon Chen Daoxuan's blind spot in knowledge.

He could tinker together a way to smelt ore at high temperatures, but according to the records in the Artifact Forging inheritance, fusing Spiritual Aura could only be done by relying on a cultivator's Divine Sense to slowly merge it.

Other than that, the family's second-tier Artifact Forging inheritance mentioned no other method.

Perhaps no other method existed in this world at all.

Chen Daoxuan had discovered that, according to the way cultivators thought, no matter what happened, the first thing they considered was solving it with their own strength rather than relying on external objects.

This was fundamentally different from Earth's civilization.

Whether in Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Talisman Crafting, or even battle, cultivators were more inclined to rely on their own power.

Even though possessing a powerful Magic Artifact could grant a tremendous advantage in battle, cultivators were still more passionate about improving their own cultivation.

This was also why Alchemists were often more sought after than Artifact Forgers.

Back to the point.

Aside from learning traditional Artifact Refining knowledge over the past five years, Chen Daoxuan had devoted all his thoughts to the furnace before him.

Calling it a failure would not be entirely accurate.

Based on its functions, Chen Daoxuan had divided the furnace before him into five parts.

They were the control system, the feed port, the heating and smelting system, the levitation system, and the discharge port.

At its core was the control system.

When it came to the control system, this was what Chen Daoxuan was proudest of.

That was because the Driving Formation at the heart of the control system was something Chen Daoxuan had created himself, based on Formation knowledge from the second-tier Artifact Forging inheritance and combined with his own ideas.

Furthermore, by using a sliding rod to control the distance between the Spirit Stones and the Driving Formation, he could control the amount of spiritual energy received by the Driving Formation, thereby controlling the temperature inside the furnace.

In other words.

With this furnace, only a few mortals working together were needed to melt red copper ore.

The only unsolved problem now was how to fuse together the Spiritual Aura within the Spirit Mine ore.

This problem had plagued Chen Daoxuan for nearly a year.

With the Driving Formation as a shining jewel before him, he was more inclined to create another new Formation for fusing the Spiritual Aura within Spirit Mine ore. Unfortunately, he had yet to succeed.

Chen Daoxuan stood before the furnace, holding a stack of blueprints in his hand.

Upon closer inspection, every sheet in the stack depicted orthographic and detailed drawings of the furnace before him.

Only one section was blank—the area at the bottom of the furnace.

Because according to Chen Daoxuan's design, this place should have been inscribed with a Formation capable of fusing the Spiritual Aura of Spirit Mine ore.

"Alas!"

After a long while, Chen Daoxuan let out a sigh.

Being just one kick away from the door was truly unbearable.

He pondered for a long time, until his head began to ache faintly, before slowly stopping his train of thought.

Setting down the blueprints in his hand.

Chen Daoxuan simply sat down cross-legged on the spot, closed his eyes, and began silently reciting the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture.

For him, silently reciting the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture and cultivating the Returning Origin Technique every day were habits as unshakable as thunder.

He silently recited the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture even more often than he cultivated the Returning Origin Technique.

That was because every time he refined artifacts, he ended up utterly exhausted, with sluggish Divine Sense. At such times, silently reciting the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture once would restore him to vigor, so naturally, he never tired of it.

As he silently recited the scripture.

Chen Daoxuan sank into a haze of chaos. At that moment, he was unaware of either the movement of the air or the passage of time, as though he had completely lost consciousness.

Very soon, the time it took for one stick of incense to burn had passed.

When Chen Daoxuan opened his eyes, his expression gradually turned solemn. This was already the ninth time.

This phenomenon had never occurred when he recited the Primordial Enlightenment Scripture before.

It was only during these recent recitations that another obvious change had taken place within him.

"I wonder whether this change is good or bad."

Chen Daoxuan looked at the Nine Stardusts revolving around the Golden Scripture like stars paying homage to the moon within his Sea of Consciousness, then muttered, "What the hell are these Star Dusts?"