"Could this... be the Demon Refining Pot?" Zhang Xiaohua did not dare be certain. After all, he had only seen the tiny teapot in Bai Yanqiu's hand, the enlarged teapot lid, and heard Huan Wuxin call it the "Demon Refining Pot." Yet the Demon Refining Pot before him seemed different from Bai Yanqiu's teapot!
As the spiritual connection between Zhang Xiaohua and the pill furnace vanished, the furnace let out a cheerful cry, instantly turned into a black speck, and flew toward the nine heavens, disappearing without a trace!
"I've suffered a huge loss!" Zhang Xiaohua watched the pill furnace fly away, utterly helpless and filled with regret!
Lowering his head, he looked around the Xiubei Stele again. The seven grooves had already vanished, leaving the surface perfectly flat!
Zhang Xiaohua's heart stirred, and he flew toward the Xiubei Stele again... Sure enough, the Xiubei Stele was no longer protected by that invisible barrier. Zhang Xiaohua easily approached it!
When he placed his hand upon the Xiubei Stele, a warm, jade-like sensation traveled up from his fingers. Immediately afterward, something like a heartbeat came from the stele as well!
"This... does the Xiubei Stele have life?" Zhang Xiaohua was once more shocked. Yet when his divine sense swept over it, he found that it differed from the Xiubei Stele beneath Yi Xiang Peak of the Incense-Passing Cult. There were no talismans upon it, nor any strange patterns. All he could sense was the same ancient aura!
Refine it! At that moment, this was Zhang Xiaohua's only thought. Against... this Xiubei Stele, refining it was Zhang Xiaohua's only means!
With that thought, Zhang Xiaohua sat cross-legged, placed his hand atop the Xiubei Stele, silently circulated his true qi, and used the method Huan Wuxin had taught him for refining stone steles,