Chapter 26: The Furnace of Flames

On Fire Clear Peak, representatives from the Fire Moon Sect, Xuan Yang Temple, and JadeSù Sect Sect sat together.
Ling Huo Shangren, Xuan Gu Shangren, and Ling Ji Shangren kept a watchful eye on the ocean monsters while exchanging spiritual messages.
“Brother Ling Huo, do you have any news about Qu Yi?” Xuan Gu Shangren asked.
It had been nearly two years since they came from Tian Feng Star to Cui Mu Star. All three were leaders of their respective sects, holding high status. Being away from their sects for such a long time might arouse suspicion among other leaders. Xuan Gu Shangren began to consider returning to Tian Feng Star. Though he was interested in the treasure Ling Huo Shangren intended to seize, the seemingly endless delay had shaken his confidence.
Ling Ji Shangren asked the same question.
Ling Huo Shangren glanced at the two of them and immediately sent a spiritual message: “To be honest, right before you arrived at the Fire Moon Sect, Qu Yi appeared and killed Huai Jin. If it weren’t for considering the fate of the Fire Moon Sect, I would have already captured Qu Yi.”
Seeing the expressions on Xuan Gu Shangren and Ling Ji Shangren’s faces, Ling Huo Shangren understood that they wanted to leave Tian Feng Star. Under the current circumstances, he certainly couldn’t let them go—otherwise, he would be alone against the ocean monsters, which would be dangerous. To keep them, Ling Huo Shangren had to share his discovery, hoping to boost their morale and continue holding off the ocean monsters while secretly searching for Qu Yi’s whereabouts.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Xuan Gu Shangren and Ling Ji Shangren’s eyes lit up, and their long-suppressed frustration seemed to ease a bit.
The Thunder Ice Crocodile noticed the expressions of the three and immediately shouted, “You three, are you plotting something? I advise you not to play tricks, or I’ll wipe out everyone from your three sects right now!”
Faced with the Thunder Ice Crocodile’s scolding, Ling Huo Shangren, Xuan Gu Shangren, and Ling Ji Shangren all felt awkward—fighting was out of the question, and there was no reason to argue.
However, Ling Huo Shangren’s eyes suddenly sparkled.
“Brother Lei Bing, have you ever wondered why I came from another planet to Cui Mu Star?” Ling Huo Shangren sent a private spiritual message to the Thunder Ice Crocodile.
Ling Huo Shangren realized that the most powerful forces now were the ocean monsters, and since Qu Yi intended to kill them to obtain their magic pills, he would naturally start with them. At this moment, he could use the ocean monsters to help capture Qu Yi, and then, once he got the Jade Sword, he could flee immediately.
The Thunder Ice Crocodile was stunned upon hearing this. It was reminded that there were no cultivators at the Outward Journey stage on Cui Mu Star, yet three of them had appeared suddenly—which was highly unusual.

“What’s the reason?” The Thunder Ice Crocodile immediately sent a message to ask.
Seeing that the Thunder Ice Crocodile was interested, Linghuo Shangren was pleased and promptly replied, “Because I discovered a low-grade spiritual weapon of fire attribute, and this weapon was on Qu Yi, a former disciple of the Xianyun Sect. I’ve been searching for him. Moreover, it was Qu Yi who killed all of you sea monsters.”
Cultivators at the Yuan Ying, Chu Qiao, and Fen Shen stages could only forge treasure weapons, while low-grade spiritual weapons could only be crafted once they reached the He Ti stage. Naturally, with this bait of a low-grade spiritual weapon, Linghuo Shangren believed the Thunder Ice Crocodile would be tempted as well.
Sure enough, upon hearing about the low-grade spiritual weapon, the lightning in the Thunder Ice Crocodile’s eyes intensified even more, and it immediately sent a message, “Then do you know where that Qu Yi is now?”
Obviously, the Thunder Ice Crocodile also wanted this low-grade spiritual weapon. After all, sea monsters were not good at forging weapons, and it was already difficult for them to obtain even treasure weapons. Now that there was a low-grade spiritual weapon available, they definitely had to seize it. Although it was only a low-grade fire attribute weapon, the Thunder Ice Crocodile could still utilize some of its effects.
Linghuo Shangren sighed before replying, “Brother Leibing, that Qu Yi has space-traveling talismans and is extremely vigilant. He will escape through space at the slightest sign of danger. Linghuo Shangren, Xuan Gu Shangren, and Ling Ji Shangren have been chasing him on Cuimu Planet for two years without success. Otherwise, would I wait on such a low-level planet as Cuimu?”
In the entire cultivation world, Cuimu Planet’s cultivation level was indeed among the lowest. Human cultivators only reached the later stages of Yuan Ying, while the Thunder Ice Crocodile, who was at the early stage of Chu Qiao, had achieved this level by chance.
“What should we do to catch Qu Yi?” the Thunder Ice Crocodile asked immediately.
The Thunder Ice Crocodile understood that since Linghuo Shangren had taken the initiative to talk to it, there must be a good plan.
Linghuo Shangren blinked and sent a message, “Brother Leibing, it depends on you. I know that Qu Yi has a special cultivation method that requires killing monsters to obtain their demon pills. Right now, the last remaining source of demon pills on Cuimu Planet is among your sea monsters. I want to ask Brother Leibing to arrange your monsters, especially those at the later stages of Jin Dan, to spread around your residence. As long as Qu Yi comes to launch a surprise attack, we can capture him together. As for that low-grade spiritual weapon, we can fight for it based on our respective strengths.”
Upon hearing this, the Thunder Ice Crocodile understood that Linghuo Shangren wanted to use sea monsters at the Jin Dan stage as bait to lure Qu Yi into a trap.

After a brief thought, a faint smile appeared on the Lightning Ice Crocodile’s face. Sacrificing a few demon beasts would allow it to obtain a lower-grade spiritual artifact—this was a good deal. As for Linghuo Shangren trying to compete with it for the lower-grade spiritual artifact, the Lightning Ice Crocodile simply ignored it. In the ocean, and more so in its stronghold, it was confident that Linghuo Shangren would be suppressed by it at every turn, so how could he get the artifact? “Alright, once we’ve eliminated the people from the Fire Moon Sect, you’ll come back to the ocean with me,” the Lightning Ice Crocodile agreed to cooperate. Upon hearing this, Linghuo Shangren’s face twitched briefly before calming down; he didn’t care about the fate of the Fire Moon Sect anymore. Xuan Gu Shangren and Ling Ji Shangren remained calm, but their spiritual senses were fully active. They sensed the changes in Linghuo Shangren and the Lightning Ice Crocodile’s expressions and naturally formed their own plans. … The Dimension Ball carried Qu Yi to a steaming mountain peak, where it landed. Qu Yi immediately stepped out of the Dimension Ball and spread his spiritual senses to survey the entire mountain. At that moment, there were three late-stage Golden Core demon beasts and two mid-stage Golden Core demon beasts on the mountain. All the disciples on the mountain had been killed. These five demon beasts were together in a flame palace, collecting an artifact cauldron. “Qu Yi, don’t you want to learn artifact refinement? Go and take that Panfire Cauldron,” the Voice of the Artifact God rang out in time. The Panfire Cauldron was a mid-grade precious artifact, just right for Qu Yi, who was still in the practice stage. Qu Yi smiled, then reentered the Dimension Ball, asking the Artifact God to float it into the flame palace. Soon, the Dimension Ball, now reduced to dust, floated into the flame palace, unnoticed by the five Golden Core demon beasts. The five beasts surrounded the Panfire Cauldron, hesitating to move it, fearing that doing so would activate a ‘Earthfire Core’ formation in the palace. If the cauldron was moved, the entire formation would trigger, causing the earthfire in the mountain’s veins to burst forth suddenly, harming all five beasts and likely killing them. The three late-stage Golden Core beasts—a Ice Seal, a Snowheart Sea Lion, and an Ice Bear—struggled desperately to figure out how to break the ‘Earthfire Core’ formation, but their limited knowledge of formations couldn’t help them solve it. At that moment, Qu Yi, Qing Wu Gui, Bai Man, and Wu Yuan all jumped out at the same time.

The moment they emerged, Qu Yi charged at the Ice Seal, Qing Wu Gui attacked the Snowheart Sea Lion, Wu Yuan pounced on the Ice-Turning Bear, while Bai Man, in addition to releasing the Turtle Dragon, also sent out her most powerful Blood-Sucking Mosquito.

Wielding the Red Nan Sword, Qu Yi thrust it into the Ice Seal’s body before it could react. The mixed true energy in his dantian immediately penetrated the seal’s body, completely destroying it. Naturally, the Ice Seal didn’t even have time to cry out before being killed by Qu Yi, and its demon core fell into his hands at the same time.

Qing Wu Gui simply used a single sword strike. A black energy stream shot out from his black sword and entered the Snowheart Sea Lion’s body. As the sea lion tried to use its true energy to protect itself, the energy was completely shattered, and its body was torn apart as well.

Wu Yuan was fierce. He pounced on the Ice-Turning Bear and bit down hard with its dragon head, immediately tearing through the bear’s body. The Ice-Turning Bear rolled violently, but its usual ability to create huge waves in the ocean was useless now. With a blood hole in its body, Wu Yuan’s powerful suction drained its vital essence in an instant, leaving it too weak to roll anymore.

The Blood-Sucking Mosquito and the Turtle Dragon attacked the two mid-stage Golden Core monsters simultaneously. The Turtle Dragon entangled the monsters, while the Blood-Sucking Mosquito took the opportunity to dive into their bodies, and in an instant, both monsters were devoured.

Qu Yi stored the five demon cores and then turned his attention to the Flame Cauldron.

“Instrument God, how do I acquire this Flame Cauldron?” Qu Yi asked with a smile.

Beneath the Flame Cauldron, a wisp of underground fire was erupting. Qu Yi didn’t know how to take possession of the cauldron without causing the fire to keep bursting out.

“There’s an Underground Fire Core Array here. I’ll tell you how to break it. Once you do, you can take control of this flame array,” the Instrument God said calmly.

The Instrument God was extremely familiar with arrays; no array in the world could stump him.

Soon, under the Instrument God’s guidance, Qu Yi ran to a corner of the hall to remove a rhombus-shaped flame totem pillar, then went to a wall to turn a hexagonal dragon-head flame control knob, and later went to another corner to take out a spirit stone from a hidden compartment.

…

After completing the sixty-four instructions given by the Instrument God, Qu Yi saw that the temperature throughout the Flame Hall dropped sharply, returning to normal, and the underground fire flames went out.

Qu Yi laughed heartily and immediately stored the Flame Cauldron in his storage ring.

At last, he had obtained the refining furnace.