Heaven Refining Inheritance

Hu Fangyuan reached out a finger and carefully touched its lotus petal.

The petal trembled slightly, releasing a wisp of warm vital energy that flowed into his body through his fingertip, easing his weary body a little.

Just then-

That faint, distant voice fell silent.

Yet without warning, a vast trove of information surged into Hu Fangyuan's mind.

The information flooded his consciousness like a tide, making his head feel as though it would split. He could not help clutching his head. But the information departed as quickly as it had arrived. Within a few short breaths, it had fully merged with his memories.

Hu Fangyuan gasped for breath, slowly lowering the hands clutching his head.

A flicker of shock crossed his eyes, then turned into wild joy, before finally becoming a complex emotion beyond words.

Because he had "seen" the contents of that inheritance.

The name of this inheritance was-

Heaven Refining!

Hu Fangyuan's martial soul was a furnace.

As a tool martial soul, whatever use this furnace had, it at least meant that Hu Fangyuan was a soul master with a means of attack.

Indeed, Hu Fangyuan had never managed to work out exactly what this drab gray furnace did.

In the three years since he had awakened his martial soul at six, the furnace had shown nothing special beyond its drab gray appearance. It had no sharp edge, no heavy striking force, and even its most basic soul power conduction was astonishingly slow.

Hu Fangyuan had once thought he had awakened a trash martial soul. Without his level-six innate soul power to back him up, he probably would never have secured the corresponding cultivation resources when competing with his older brothers and sisters.

Until now.

Only now, at the moment the inheritance named "Heaven Refining" flooded his mind, did he understand that this furnace was called the Heaven Refining Furnace.

Almost at a mere stirring of his thoughts, the drab gray furnace that had lain dormant in Hu Fangyuan's dantian for three years suddenly began to tremble!

Hum!

A deep hum came from within his body. Immediately afterward, Hu Fangyuan felt a searing heat in his right palm, followed by a tremendous suction force.

He instinctively opened his right hand.

A small tripod furnace slowly emerged from his palm.

It was only palm-sized, with three legs and two handles, drab gray all over, like a piece of junk picked out of some rubbish heap. Yet the instant it appeared, that drab gray outer shell peeled away in flakes, like shed skin!

Revealing its true appearance underneath!

It had an octagonal base, each corner curving slightly upward like the wings of cranes about to take flight. Cloud dragons, the eight trigrams, auspicious cranes, and other designs adorned the base. Every line was exquisitely detailed: the dragon scales could be counted, each crane feather was distinct, and the eight trigrams symbols were ancient and vigorous, as though they held the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.

The furnace's belly was full and rounded, with an open-mouthed kirin forming a fire gate at its very center. The kirin was carved so lifelike, its eyes wide and mouth open in a roar. Its mouth was the entrance to the furnace chamber, where firelight faintly flickered.

The tall handles took the form of two dragons playing with a pearl. Two coiling dragons wound around the handles, their heads facing one another across a round pearl inscribed with the ancient character for "refine."

Its three legs stood firm, each shaped like a beast's head: a lion, a tiger, and a leopard. All three heads faced downward, steadily supporting the entire great furnace.

The once dull, lusterless furnace now revealed its splendor!

A vast, ancient, majestic aura emanated from the Heaven Refining Furnace, making Hu Fangyuan's breath catch.

He stared blankly at the little furnace in his palm, his mind utterly empty.

Three years.

The trash martial soul he had carried for three years was actually such a divine treasure?

As Hu Fangyuan reeled in shock, the information within the Heaven Refining inheritance began flowing through his mind like a tide.

Within the Heaven Refining inheritance, humans were the spirit of all living things, and Gu were the true essence of heaven and earth.

These insect-like Gu were vessels that bore the countless Dao marks of heaven and earth.

Heaven and earth had their Dao, and the Dao had myriad paths.

Each path corresponded to a kind of power. The wood path governed vitality, followed by the blood path, lightning path, water path, fire path, luck path, refinement path...

The Dao was everywhere, yet difficult to grasp.

Ordinary cultivators could spend their entire lives comprehending no more than the barest surface of one or two paths.

But Gu were different.

Gu were vessels for the Dao marks of heaven and earth.

From its conception to maturity, a Gu worm constantly absorbed the corresponding Dao marks between heaven and earth.

A Rank 3 Gu already carried a substantial number of Dao marks; in a rank 4 Gu, those marks were condensed almost into tangible substance; at Rank 6, beyond Rank 5, Dao marks took form, and every movement bore the power of the Great Dao.

These were called immortal Gu!

Refining Gu worms meant gathering all manner of natural treasures from heaven and earth, using special methods to extract the Dao marks they contained, and injecting them into Gu eggs to eventually nurture complete Gu worms.

But in the world of the Douluo Continent, the laws were different, and so were the forms in which the Dao manifested.

In this world, the power of the Dao was called "soul." Martial souls, soul power, Soul Rings, soul skills-everything revolved around that single word, "soul."

The living beings here were born with martial souls, which served as their bridge to communicate with the Dao of heaven and earth.

Yet for that very reason, this world's laws rejected foreign vessels of Dao marks such as Gu worms.

Thus, if Hu Fangyuan wanted to refine Gu worms, he would have to use the Heaven Refining Furnace to bestow corresponding Dao marks upon the various materials. Only then could he successfully follow Gu recipes step by step, or devise his own methods of Gu Refining.

The Heaven Refining Furnace was the bridge connecting the laws of the two worlds.

It could transform this world's "soul power" into the "Dao marks" Gu worms required; it could also transform the power of Gu worms into "soul power" this world could accept.

With the Heaven Refining Furnace, Hu Fangyuan could forge a Gu Refining path in this world that belonged to him alone!

Hu Fangyuan's breathing grew increasingly rapid.

His eyes shone with an unprecedented light.

This path might be harder and more perilous than this world's original path of soul masters. But likewise, its end was broader and reached far higher!

Before Hu Fangyuan could come to his senses, blood-red light suddenly blazed from the Heaven Refining Furnace in his palm!

The bloody radiance gushed from the Kirin Fire Gate, crimson as blood and so dense it seemed about to drip.

The bloody light gathered and shifted in midair, finally forming a Gu worm shaped like a crystal skull!

The Gu worm was only fist-sized, resembling a miniature, dried human skull. Its surface gleamed with a dark-red, jade-like luster, and fine crimson veins covered the seams between its bones. Its eye sockets were hollow and deep, with no eyeballs in sight. Its lower jaw opened and closed slightly, and wisps of thin blood mist continuously seeped from the gaps in its skull as it flew.

It had no wings, yet could hover and circle through the power of blood, making faint clacking sounds of bones rubbing together whenever it turned.

The crystal-skull Gu worm circled once in midair, then flew toward Hu Fangyuan's chest.

Hu Fangyuan instinctively reached out with both hands and caught it.

It was warm to the touch and carried a faint bloody smell. Yet that smell was not unpleasant; instead, it held a strange fragrance that refreshed the mind when inhaled.

This was the first Gu worm bestowed upon Hu Fangyuan by the Heaven Refining inheritance.

A rank 4 blood path Gu!

Blood Skull Gu!

Its ability was to devour the blood essence of living beings and analyze their bloodline foundations, thereby raising a Gu Master's cultivation aptitude. Sacrificing bloodlines of the same clan was necessary to achieve its greatest effect.

Hu Fangyuan's gaze instantly settled on the crystal skull, unable to pull away.

Aptitude!

In this world, innate soul power could almost be said to determine everything.

Without innate soul power, one would remain a mortal for life, unable even to touch the threshold of becoming a soul master, and could only struggle to survive at the very bottom of society.

With innate soul power between levels one and three, one could barely become a soul master, but one's lifetime achievements would, at most, reach Soul Elder or Soul Ancestor. Going any higher was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Without innate soul power of at least level six, one would struggle to reach the threshold of Titled Douluo in an entire lifetime.

Even innate full soul power was merely the most basic requirement on the arduous road to godhood.

This world had never lacked geniuses.

With the Sun Moon Federation's enormous population, prodigies with innate full soul power were not uncommon either.

Nor were monsters with twin martial souls unheard of.

But among these geniuses, how many could truly make it to the end?

Most became stuck at the thresholds of Soul Douluo or Titled Douluo, unable to take that final step for the rest of their lives.

And Limit Douluo already stood at the pinnacle of this world.

Yet even a Limit Douluo-what of it?

After two or three hundred years, they would still be nothing but a handful of yellow earth!

Time was fair to everyone. Even if your authority overshadowed the world, even if your might subdued every champion, before time, you were nothing more than a speck of dust.

Unless...

You became a god!