At the core of the terrestrial fire deep within Penglai Immortal Island stood a towering black furnace a hundred zhang high. On its body were carved patterns of the sun, moon, stars, mountains, and rivers, which at this moment, under the glare of the scorching earth fire, seemed alive, flowing with mysterious light. Ouyezi, the overseas number one alchemical master, stood before the furnace. His white hair danced wildly in the heat as his hands, tempered through a thousand years of refinement, traced profound runes in the void.
"The heavens are the bones, the earth is the veins, the Zhou Tian star formation—hear my command!" Ouyezi's voice echoed through the spacious alchemy chamber. As his words fell, seventy-two streams of light flew from his sleeves, precisely entering each node of the terrestrial fire great array. The entire island began to tremble slightly, and the earth fire eye at the furnace's base erupted with a roar. The seven-colored Chaos fire burst skyward, turning the entire furnace wall into transparent glass, emitting a chilling heat.
Tang Xiaoqi arrived stepping through the air, his expression solemn and focused. First, he took out the Crimson Flame Sword fragments from his left sleeve. The fragments let out mournful vibrations in the air, as if recounting thegrim battles of the past. Then he held out the cracked wok in his right palm, its surface flowing with dim black light, yet one could still sense the extraordinary power within. Behind him, East Sea Dragon Palace Crown Prince Ao Qin opened a dragon scale jade box, and the True Dragon Reverse Scale rose into the sky, silver light falling like a reversed Milky Way; Phoenix Clan emissary Feng Qingyin flicked her finger, and the Phoenix Divine Gold transformed into a stream of light and entered the fire sea, instantly causing a clear phoenix cry and making all fires bow in reverence.
"It's still not enough!" Ouyezi's beard and hair stood on end, his voice carrying the unique authority of an alchemy master. "Northern Sea Dark Ice Iron! Western Mountain Shouyang Copper! Southern Departure Cinnabar!" With each shout, a precious material flew from the hands of watching cultivators. The Three Realms True Fire Stone exploded into gorgeous star rain in the air, ten-thousand-year Warm Jade Marrow transformed into azure waves rippling in the furnace, Taiyipure gold condensed into Geng-Xin Qi orbiting... A total of thirty-three kinds of heavenly treasures wove into a magnificent aurora within the furnace, each one a rare treasure in the cultivation world.
Xiaoqi pointed his fingers like swords, extracting a drop of his life blood containing Spirit Transformation Dao rhyme from his brow. The moment this drop of blood entered the fire sea, the entire furnace suddenly fell silent for an instant. The originally violent Chaos fire suddenly became docile, gently cradling all materials like a mother's hand. The Crimson Flame Sword fragments began to soften, the cracks in the wok seeped out Chaos energy, the True Dragon Reverse Scale transformed into a silver stream meandering within the furnace, the Phoenix Divine Gold unfurled into golden brocade covering all materials...
"Now is the moment!" Ouyezi's hands formed a profound seal, and immediately the Zhou Tian star map appeared on the furnace wall. The Four Symbols—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—rose from the four directions of east, west, south, and north,spewing their life origin energy. The watching overseas cultivators all changed color—they recognized this as the legendary Four Symbols Refining Method, using the Four Symbol Holy Beasts as furnace workers to reestablish yin and yang. This technique had been lost for a thousand years!
Xiaoqi closed his eyes in concentration, and scenes from his past emerged in his sea of consciousness: his father Xu Zhan wielding a sword to defend the manor, his serene bearing; Qingxu Temple Master Xuan Lin's earnest teachings in the temple; Third Senior Sister Liu Yun practicing swordplay in the morning mist, her heroic posture... These precious memories transformed into the purest protecting Dao rhyme, and along with the Southern Void True Fire he pushed forward with both palms, were injected into the furnace. The flames suddenly split into thousands of strands, each carrying different memory fragments, weaving invisible karmic threads among the materials.
"Clang—"
A clear ringing sound echoed between heaven and earth. Ouyezi actually used the void as his anvil and Dao as his hammer, beginning to forge the preliminary artifact embryo taking shape. Each strikematched the rhythm of heaven's laws, the sea around Penglai Immortal Island rose and fell accordingly, the clouds in the sky gathered and scattered. Within the furnace, the outlines of a sword and a wok gradually appeared—the sword's surface revealed dragon patterns and phoenix inscriptions, the wok's bottom flowed with taiji and yin-yang patterns.
Suddenly, the furnace fire ran wild! True Dragon energy and Phoenix spirit collided against each other, the Four Symbols' power lost balance. Seeing they were about to fail, Xiaoqi let out a long cry and leaped into the fire sea. Using his body as a bridge and his heart as a guide, the Green Lotus source bloomed around him, completely absorbing the violent energy into his body. The scorching flames burned his skin, causing it to crack inch by inch, blood flowing from all seven apertures, yet he always maintained the mysterious hand seal, sustaining the alchemy balance with immense willpower.
"Dao is achieved!"
Forty-nine days later, at midnight of the forty-ninth day, Ouyezi's voice shook the nine heavens. The furnace lid burst open with a roar, ten thousand zhang of rosy clouds scattered the star clusters. The Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword transformed into a crimson-gold rainbow streaking across the sky, and wherever it passed, clouds parted and mist scattered. The Creation Universe Wok gently rotated, its rim drooping Chaos airflow, incorporating the entire immortal island's spiritual energy, then expelling it, cycling endlessly, eternally.
The sword fell into Xiaoqi's right hand, its clear chime like a phoenix wailing and dragon singing. The wok returned to his left hand, its rise and fall subtly matching the Zhou Tian operation. The two quasi-immortal artifacts connected to his blood felt ten times stronger than before, as if becoming an extension of his body. Dragon scale and phoenix feather patterns on the sword ridge glowed and dimmed with his breath, the taiji pattern at the wok's bottom slowly rotated, and one could vaguely see a small world being born and destroyed within.
All overseas cultivators present bowed their heads,shocked by the birth of these unmatched divine weapons. Feng Qingyin slightly nodded: "On the day an artifact is completed, tribulation should arrive." The words had not yet faded when thunderclouds had already gathered above the nine heavens. Yet Xiaoqi's left hand shook the Creation Universe Wok, and the countless thunder lights were actually absorbed like hundreds of rivers returning to the sea into the wok's bottom. His right hand drew lightly with the Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword, and a crack opened in the void, sending the subsequent heavenly tribulation into exile.
Ouyezi slumped to the ground, gazing at the artifact completion phenomenon and murmuring: "I have refined artifacts for a thousand years, yet only today do I understand what creation truly means..." Xiaoqi's hand stroking the sword blade trembled slightly—he clearly sensed that these two artifacts that had accompanied his growth had embarked on the path of transformation toward true immortal weapons. This reforging not only gave the divine weapons new life but more closely bound them to his own Dao path.