Chapter 3: The Refining Cauldron (Part 1)

Guo Shier smiled and said, “I know. You plan to get rid of something to make space for purification, right? Uh, you’re not planning to purify it right here, are you?” He knew Old Shuai often did unexpected things, so he wouldn’t be surprised if Old Shuai wanted to purify it on the spot.
Old Shuai clapped his hands and said, “Exactly what I wanted. Hehe, I do plan to purify it here… There’s simply no place to store this Soul-Nurturing Crystal. Which item in the altar’s symbol storage space would you be willing to discard?”
Guo Shier thought about it and agreed. He and Old Shuai had already thrown away many things, including some quite good materials. Although most of the materials were stolen, he didn’t want to discard any more, so purifying it on the spot was the best solution.
Old Shuai summoned the All-Purpose Pearl, from which countless threads sprouted and quickly wrapped around the crystal. Sitting on top of the altar, Guo Shier watched Old Shuai work busily and said with a smile, “If it weren’t for the All-Purpose Pearl, we’d have to throw away even more things… It’s amazing!” The threads struck the Soul-Nurturing Crystal and sank into it instantly. In just a few moments, the crystal shrank by a significant amount.
In less than twenty minutes, the huge Soul-Nurturing Crystal had shrunk to about two meters in size. It was crystal clear, like top-quality jade, with dazzling colors on its surface.
Although the symbol storage space was already full, it could still hold a crystal of this size. Old Shuai put away the All-Purpose Pearl and stored the crystal in the altar’s symbol storage space.
Satisfied, Old Shuai said, “Continue!”
The two continued digging along the mineral vein. Fortunately, with the magical Spirit Beast Gu Xi Bi, the digging went smoothly, and countless ores fell into the symbol storage bags along the way.
Soon, they realized they couldn’t collect all of these ores—there were simply too many.
Old Shuai stopped and said, “Kid, this won’t work. Let’s just purify them here. We only need enough Soul-Nurturing Crystals; it’s impossible to dig through all these ores!”
Guo Shier thought for a moment and said, “It’s best to collect enough Soul-Nurturing Crystals for Brother Li Ran and Senior Zhen Wuji, as well as the materials for the refining cauldron. Then we can stop.”
Old Shuai replied, “Good. I’ll go back to the altar to purify them. You continue to direct Gu Xi Bi in digging. Let’s see if I can create some space after purification.”

At the decomposition speed of the Xiebaina beads, a large amount of impurities were quickly thrown out of the altar, and the ore in the talisman storage bags diminished rapidly. Palm-sized Soul Nourishing Stones piled up—one by one—these being the result of preliminary purification. The old man couldn’t do much either; Guo Shier gathered the ore at an astonishing speed, so he had to make space.

After a whole day of digging, more crystals of Soul Nourishing Stones were unearthed, but none as large as the one found initially. Most were the size of fists. Every time such a crystal appeared, the old man didn’t purify it but placed it directly into the altar. These crystals were better than the initially refined ore.

Finally, the old man said, “Kid, that’s about enough. If we keep going, I’ll die!” Though he complained, he was actually more pleased than tired. These Soul Nourishing Stones were beneficial to him too, though not as useful as the Soul Nourishing Wood.

Guo Shier said, “Alright, let’s go back!” The two retraced their steps. It was then that Guo Shier realized they had dug a tunnel over 2,000 kilometers long. It took them several hours to return to where they started.

Li Ran laughed, “I thought you wouldn’t come out. Hehe, why did it take so long?”

Guo Shier sighed, “This ore vein is too long; there’s no end to it.”

Zhen Wuji wondered, “It’s normal there being no end. Do you really expect to collect it all? That would be excessive.”

Guo Shier blushed slightly. He had indeed thought that at first, but he hadn’t expected the rare Soul Nourishing Stone mine to be so vast. He said, “I didn’t expect it to be this big. Hehe, these are for you, and these are for Brother Li Ran.” He threw two large talisman storage bags, both containing Soul Nourishing Stones that had undergone preliminary purification.

Zhen Wuji and Li Ran took the large bags and examined them briefly, showing delighted expressions. Li Ran laughed, “There’s indeed plenty. It’s enough for me, with some left over.”

Zhen Wuji also said, “It’s sufficient. Hehe, though these are rare, they’re not very useful for our souls as professionals. They’re only useful for sacrifices, so they’re still decent materials.”

Guo Shier had an idea. He said, “Can we stay here for a few days? I want to refine a sacrificial treasure.”

Li Ran was surprised. “Are you kidding? Refining a sacrificial treasure here? This isn’t a good place for that.”

Guo Shier smiled. “I have a small idea. If it succeeds, we can obtain a large amount of sacrifices.”

Zhen Wuji asked, “A large number of sacrifices? Are you referring to those Soul Beasts outside? What kind of sacrificial treasure could capture such a huge group of Soul Beasts?”
Guo Shier said, “I just wanted to give it a try. There’s still time anyway. What do you think?”
Li Ran nodded and said, “If you want to play, go ahead. Hehe, I’m also curious to see what kind of sacrificial treasure you can create in a few days.”
Zhen Wuji smiled and said, “To forge a sacrificial treasure at this time, you’re really bold, hehe. But we’ve already collected enough Soul Bead, and I’m not short of sacrifices either. Let’s see what you can come up with.”
Li Ran said, “I have to say you’re extremely lucky to be able to bring that thing onto the altar as well. But… be careful. I have a feeling that thing doesn’t belong to this world. Be wary of it turning against you.”
Guo Shier nodded and said, “It’s fine. It’s already sealed. I don’t even know what it is. I’ll study it when I have time later. If all else fails, I’ll just discard it.” He was also a bit uneasy. With that black object attached to the Ancient Ink Lotus, he wasn’t sure what kind of reaction it would cause, and he wasn’t confident he could suppress it.
The handsome old man said, “Create a larger space below.”
Guo Shier quickly used the tentacles of the Ancient Xi Bi to create a huge space below. The handsome old man kept drawing virtual talismans on the altar to reinforce the walls of the space. In a short while, the two of them created and stabilized a space suitable for work.
The handsome old man said, “That’s good. Kid, how do you plan to forge it?” He wasn’t very clear about the concept of a cauldron, so Guo Shier had to do most of the work.
Guo Shier smiled and said, “It’s very simple. I’ll give it to you…” He pointed at the handsome old man’s forehead, transferring the concept of the cauldron as well as his own ideas, and said, “Think about it. Will this work?”
The handsome old man pondered for a moment before saying, “An interesting shape, an interesting concept. Hehe, I think it works… You have quite big ambitions, hehe. Alright, I’ll be in charge of designing the cauldron structure, and you’ll design the talisman array. This can be seen as a test. We might be able to improve it in the future.”
After discussing for a while, Guo Shier refined his ideas further and began to list the materials needed. Of course, Soul Nourishing Stones were the main component, but many other materials were also required. Fortunately, he had collected a large amount of materials, so choosing wasn’t difficult.

Guo Shier planned to refine a square cauldron. According to the concepts of his past life, the first step was to create a square cauldron body, with the main material being Soul-Nurturing Stones—refined ones at that, requiring a massive amount of them.

According to Guo Shier’s design, the original cauldron body would be 10 meters long and 8 meters high, and with the feet added, the total height would reach 14 meters. The old man suggested doubling its size, as once the refinement was successful, the cauldron body could be reduced in size. Thus, the larger the cauldron body, the easier it would be to refine, allowing for more magic arrays to be included.

Guo Shier asked, “Do we have that many Soul-Nurturing Stones?” The old man replied, “Enough. We’ve collected so many that it would be a waste not to use them.”

Guo Shier took out a jade talisman, listed the materials he needed, and handed it to the old man, saying, “Fill in the gaps—what other materials are required?” Although he had inheritance knowledge and his own ideas, his experience in refinement couldn’t compare to that of the old man.

The old man examined it briefly, pondered for a while, then recorded his thoughts on the jade talisman and gave it back to Guo Shier. He said, “I’ve added some materials and removed some. Consider whether this works for you.”

The two discussed back and forth using the jade talisman and quickly finalized the refinement plan. This was the first sacrificial treasure Guo Shier wanted to refine on his own. Even though the Moon Blade was his innate sacrificial treasure, he hadn’t put as much effort into it this time. He had a grand vision—if it could be realized, his strength would increase significantly.

The old man, though silent, was extremely impressed. Such a vision was simply incredible. He didn’t have much of an opinion on the cauldron’s appearance, but he deeply understood its function—it was inherently a high-grade sacrificial treasure.

“I’ll be in charge of purifying the materials, and you handle sorting them,” Guo Shier said after agreeing. “First, purify the Soul-Nurturing Stones. Hehe, this will free up some space. Our storage space is still insufficient. We must create a small secret realm eventually; otherwise, we’ll be at a disadvantage.” The limitations of his storage space forced him to discard many materials.

The Soul-Nurturing Stones were refined one by one, with the Hundred-Resolving Pearl playing a crucial role. This sacrificial treasure was an excellent tool for processing materials. If Guo Shier had used magic fire to purify the materials, it would have taken at least a hundred times longer—completely incomparable to using the Hundred-Resolving Pearl.

The largest piece of Soul-Nourishing Stone crystal was taken out. This time, the old man in handsome attire planned to refine it thoroughly before using this crystal to form the main body of the cauldron. The Jiebaina Pearl hovered in the air, with countless fine threads winding around the Soul-Nourishing Stone crystal. After initial purification, this huge Soul-Nourishing Stone needed further refinement not only to continue purifying it but also to directly form the main body of the cauldron.

Since the refined crystal was still not sufficient to craft the cauldron body, Guo Shier needed to keep throwing in smaller pieces of the refined Soul-Nourishing Stone. Working together with the old man in handsome attire, it took them a whole day for the main body of the cauldron to gradually take shape.

It was a hollow rectangular shape, with nothing on its surface except for a faint glow.

Once the cauldron body was formed, the next steps were to add four legs, two ears, and a lid. After completing these basic components, they were assembled together, and finally, the Jiebaina Pearl was used to refine the entire structure three times.

The old man in handsome attire stared at the cauldron hovering in the air and couldn’t help but exclaim, “What a peculiar shape! It has a grand presence and a sense of dominance. Hehe, I like it!” As soon as the cauldron was formed, he fell in love with this sacrificial artifact at first sight.

Guo Shier said, “Next, we need to add various materials.”

The old man in handsome attire replied, “You take control. You manage the Jiebaina Pearl sacrificial artifact, while I’m responsible for inserting the virtual talismans.”

Guo Shier agreed. He understood the old man’s kindness—by handling the refinement himself, the sacrificial artifact would become more closely connected to him. Additionally, he needed to infuse his own soul power into the cauldron, a process that no one else could replace.

Numerous rare metals and various precious materials were added one by one to the cauldron body, which were then dissolved using the Jiebaina Pearl. The old man in handsome attire immediately used virtual talismans to connect the materials with the cauldron, merging them together.

Guo Shier pointed at the Jiebaina Pearl, sending out hundreds of flame threads. He took out a piece of Soul-Nourishing Wood and a piece of Spirit-Storing Wood, wrapped the flame threads around them, refined them briefly, and then cast hundreds of spells. Virtual talismans fell on them like rain.