The Black-and-Yellow Furnace

As he came to understand the Dao within his heart, he no longer feared the future.

"Even if heaven collapses and earth crumbles, I alone shall endure forever."

"When I seed the Dao in my flesh and bring forth its supreme fruit, I shall roam free through the nine heavens."

He watched the once-relentless torrential rain gradually ease.

A shaft of golden sunlight pierced through the mountains and rivers, falling straight upon him and bathing him in a sacred golden glow.

"It's time to continue my journey through the Great Wilderness. More importantly, I need to find resources for the Flesh-and-Blood Seed Dao."

Though he had resolved to follow the path of supremacy through the flesh, the resources it demanded were beyond counting.

Even setting aside his future cultivation, the very first step, the "Flesh-and-Blood Seed Dao," required considerable resources.

With that thought, he lost any inclination to keep cultivating and walked out of the cave.

The warm sunlight on his skin and the delicate, fresh fragrance drifting through the forest after the rain put him in a fine mood.

He took out the map and checked it. Once he knew where the Stone Kingdom lay, he continued his journey of tempering himself.

Li Kai had given him the map. He wondered whether it was still useful after all this time.

Still, having it was better than blundering aimlessly through the forest.

He had never expected that the kindly old Village Chief had also ventured into the outside world in his youth.

The old man had drawn this map himself, and somehow, after all its twists and turns, it had ended up in his hands.

Perhaps because the skies had cleared after the rain and heaven's might had receded, he spotted a Five-Colored Pheasant before he had gone far.

The pheasant was darting through the forest, with a Stone-Armored Tiger possessing four Cave Heavens chasing behind.

"Looks like human cultivators aren't the only ones who enjoy eating Five-Colored Pheasants. Even savage beasts love them."

"Wonderful. Looks like meat's back on the menu!"

Without the slightest hesitation, he made his move.

He had heard Grandpa Village Chief say that Five-Colored Pheasants were a staple on immortals' tables. He wanted to find out how they tasted, too.

Within the forest, the Five-Colored Pheasant, sporting five-colored feathers and a large crimson comb, kept dodging attacks from behind.

The pheasant raced forward with all its might, but just as it looked back to check on the Stone-Armored Tiger and turned forward again-

A small hand, translucent as white jade and shimmering with a glazed luster, filled its vision.

Cluck, cluck, cluck-

Its brilliant golden pupils abruptly contracted, but before the pheasant could dodge, that little hand clamped firmly around its neck.

Li Dao looked at the Five-Colored Pheasant, which stood nearly as high as his waist, and delight spread across his face.

This was wonderfully nourishing stuff. The more flesh-and-blood energy he stored now, the easier it would be when the time came to seed the Dao.

Seeing that the little hand belonged to what looked like a child, the Five-Colored Pheasant struggled furiously.

But the moment Li Dao looked its way, its entire body stiffened.

The oppressive might he exuded was even greater than what the pheasant had felt when facing heaven's lightning earlier.

The pheasant felt that if it moved again, its head would part from its body in the next instant, turning it straight into a dead chicken.

"At least you know when to yield."

Li Dao withdrew his gaze and looked toward the Stone-Armored Tiger charging at him like a small mountain.

Its fangs resembled hooks hanging from heaven, its eyes were crimson as blood moons, and its powerful limbs were like stone pillars.

With just a light swipe of its savage claws, it reduced an ancient tree so thick that ten people were needed to encircle it to dust!

The Five-Colored Pheasant the Stone-Armored Tiger had been laboriously pursuing had, in the mere blink of an eye-

Ended up caught in a human boy's hand.

Seeing its prey stolen, a savage fury swept through the tiger's entire body in an instant.

Its limbs slammed against the ground, and it sprang into the air, hurtling toward Li Dao.

It descended with the crushing weight of Mount Tai, its vicious claws as sharp as divine daggers forged a thousand times.

They instantly sliced through the air, and a terrifying pressure swept in all directions.

In its beastly eyes, each larger than a fist, the tiger already saw Li Dao and the Five-Colored Pheasant in his hand dying together on the spot.

An air of peerless dominance and disdain filled its gaze.

Clang-

But in the next instant, a sound like the peal of a great bronze bell jolted it out of its fantasy.

Before the tiger's attack arrived, Li Dao stood unmoving. He merely lifted his right foot and stamped, sending rays of black-and-yellow light blooming outward.

A black-and-yellow furnace instantly rose around him, blocking the Stone-Armored Tiger's ferocious strike in one stroke.

After Li Dao came to understand his own Dao, the Black-and-Yellow Smelting Furnace had also undergone a distinct transformation.

Its once-flamboyant black-and-yellow radiance had become more restrained and solid.

Across the furnace's formerly bare surface, runes had appeared, their power latent and their intricacy profoundly mysterious.

Clang, clang, clang-

Feeling the furnace beneath its feet, hard as divine iron, the Stone-Armored Tiger grew enraged and increased its force again.

Yet its strength raised only a few ripples across the furnace, without producing even a crack.

Ripples stirred within Li Dao's heart as well.

Though he had known that this profoundly mysterious "Dao" would transform his treasured technique, he had never expected it to become this powerful.

Bang, bang, bang-

While Li Dao marveled inwardly, the Stone-Armored Tiger found that it could not even break through a human boy's defense.

The crimson in its eyes deepened, and a treasured bone covered in runes at its forehead began to glow.

In the next instant, sharp stone pillars burst through the ground, pointing straight at Li Dao.

Crack, crack, crack-

Under the Stone-Armored Tiger's relentless bombardment, cracks finally appeared across the Black-and-Yellow Furnace.

Seeing this, Li Dao waited no longer. He had only wanted to test its strength, and now he had a rough understanding of it.

His body shuddered, and the dimming Black-and-Yellow Furnace blazed with divine light once more.

Ripples swept outward, pulverizing the stone pillars pressing against it inch by inch.

He stepped forward with his left foot into a bow stance. Divine power surged within him, and his blood and vital energy roared through his body.

He raised his right fist, strands of divine light winding around it.

He watched the Stone-Armored Tiger leap up again, preparing to crush down from above and shatter the Black-and-Yellow Furnace.

-Boom!

As the tiger descended, Li Dao threw a punch, colliding heavily with it.

The Stone-Armored Tiger shot away like a cannonball, only coming to a stop after smashing through several ancient trees.

"Roar-"

Shaking its head, the Stone-Armored Tiger slowly emerged from the dust.

That punch left it feeling as though something inside its heart had shattered. It had never imagined that a mere little human could possess such tremendous power.

But Li Dao gave it no chance to react. He stamped hard against the ground, accompanied by an explosive crack through the air.

His figure vanished from its original position like a phantom and instantly appeared before the Stone-Armored Tiger.

His fist, carrying brazen, overwhelming force, landed on its body again.

Crack, crack, crack-

The stone armor covering its body shattered instantly.

Only then did the Stone-Armored Tiger remember to unleash its treasured technique again, but it was already too late.

Punches fell like rain, giving it no opportunity to fight back.

In mere moments, the once-imposing Stone-Armored Tiger lay utterly defeated in a pool of blood.

Even in death, it could not understand. This was only a human child, and it had eaten such children before. How could he possess such immense strength?

Li Dao did not look at the savage beast lying in its blood. Instead, he turned toward the Five-Colored Pheasant, which was preparing to flee.

-Cluck, cluck, cluck!

Feeling the chill coming from behind, the Five-Colored Pheasant abruptly stopped.

The moment Li Dao arrived before the pheasant, it dropped to one knee.

It even began tracing something in the soft earth beneath its feet.