Zhang Ruochen stood about 1,000 miles above the Furnace of Heaven and Earth. Even at this position, the temperature of the divine fire was comparable to the Mortal-level Divine Purification Flame.
Creatures below the Demi-Saint level would be burned to death in an instant if they stood at his position.
Zhang Ruochen released a spiritual power to sense the temperature change from the Furnace of Heaven and Earth.
Soon, Zhang Ruochen divided the temperature of the Furnace of Heaven and Earth into five levels.
The temperature and residual fire from 300 to 1,000 miles away from the Furnace of Heaven and Earth were comparable to the Mortal-level Divine Purification Flame
The area within 300 miles of the Furnace of Heaven and Earth was comparable to the Envoy-level Divine Purification Flame
The temperature of the flames at the inner edge of the Furnace of Heaven and Earth was on par with the Emperor-level Divine Purification Flame that Zhang Ruochen had cultivated.
To Zhang Ruochen, the fourth level of the divine fire was no weaker than the Divine Purification Flame cultivated by Yanshen.
The fifth level was denser and filled with a destructive aura. Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power didn’t dare to probe into it. It was far more terrifying than the divine fire used by Yanshen.
In other words, the Furnace of Heaven and Earth could kill deities.
“The Xue Jue Family has dominated the Bloodysky Clan for tens of thousands of years. Their foundation is indeed extraordinary. They’re more powerful than many macroworlds in Celestial Court. One family could go against an entire world.”
Zhang Ruochen did not overthink. He took out the Mercury Gourd.
The gourd was yellowish-brown in colour and the size of a palm. It looked very ordinary.
The Mercury Gourd grew bigger and bigger as Saint Qi was poured in it. It became 300 meters long and released white water vapor. The high temperature around it cooled down which gave off a cooling feeling.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng squinted his eyes and looked carefully in a distance. Suddenly, his spirit jolted. “This should be a god-level plant. The size of the gourd is comparable to a star. It’s a natural dimensional divine treasure,” he said.
Even gods could only come across such a treasure by chance.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng looked envious. Kunlun is filled with rare treasures and the one that Zhang Ruochen had casually taken out made a Paramount Supreme Saint like him, envious.
‘What a pity! Such treasures could be regarded as divine materials to refine weapons. If they fell into the hands of a Archsaint Refiner, they would definitely be refined into a powerful Regal Artifact. After one or two Yuanhui Tribulations of nurturing, it might turn into a Supreme Artifact.’
Supreme Saint Qingsheng didn’t know how good Zhang Ruochen was at refining weapons. He was young and spent most of his time cultivating. His attainments in weapon refinery definitely couldn’t reach the level of a Master.
As for an Archsaint Refiner..
Impossible.
The Immortal Vampires had a Archsaint Refiner. Supreme Saint Qingsheng had been friends with him for thousands of years. It wasn’t too difficult to get him to help.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng was worried that Zhang Ruochen would waste this divine material that had the potential of a Supreme Artifact, so he couldn’t help but say, “Ruochen, refining weapons isn’t something that can be done in a day. Once you obtain the peerless material, you can’t rush it. This gourd of yours is very extraordinary. You can only maximize its value by asking the Archsaint Refiner to help you.”
Zhang Ruochen knew that Supreme Saint Qingsheng had doubts about his weapon refining attainments.
He was kind to remind him.
“The weapon refining attainments of the Archsaint Refiner are indeed unattainable. I am far from it. However, the Mercury Gourd must be refined by me personally in order to maximize its value,” Zhang Ruochen said.
“Huh?”
Supreme Saint Qingsheng frowned. He didn’t understand what Zhang Ruochen was saying.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t explain further. He took the Mercury Gourd and flew closer to the Furnace of Heaven and Earth. He entered a range of 300 kilometers and stopped.
“The temperature and residual fire here can meet the needs of the initial refining.”
Zhang Ruochen took out the sundial and put in two Godstones to turn it on.
Power of Time burst out from the sundial and enveloped the Mercury Gourd completely.
Zhang Ruochen spent six days walking around the Mercury Gourd more than 300 times. He carefully studied every inch of the gourd’s structure. After analyzing everything properly, he sat cross-legged in the void space.
Whoosh—
3,000 spirits flew out of his body and turned into 3,000 light-particle-sized Zhang Ruochens. Some landed on the surface of the Mercury Gourd, and some flew into the interior of the gourd.
One of the miniature Zhang Ruochens flew to the surface of the Mercury Gourd. It was as if he had landed on a vast planet. Beneath his feet was a yellowish-brown land covered with yellowish-brown plants that were harder than black iron. Some were like thorns, some were like mushrooms, and some represented flowers.
It was hard to imagine that the surface of the Mercury Gourd in a microscopic perspective was such a strange world.
As Zhang Ruochen officially began refining, the microscopic world of the Mercury Gourd’s surface underwent a huge change. Thick clouds and mist appeared in the sky. Water vapor filled the air and turned into a drizzle.
Thunder and lightning flashed and the earth trembled.
3,000 Zhang Ruochens had gathered Marks of Time and carved Dimensional Inscriptions on the vast earth of the planet.
Time passed day by day..
It took three years.
Zhang Ruochen’s spirits condensed 999,990,000 Marks of Time on the surface of the gourd planet, covering the inside and outside of the gourd.
“Finally, it’s done.”
Zhang Ruochen’s original body opened his eyes and withdrew all the spirits inside and outside of the gourd.
However, there were not only 3,000 of them, but 4,200.
Over the past three years, Zhang Ruochen had taken a large number of sacred pills to improve his spiritual power. That was why it had improved so much.
Whoosh
A large number of crystals flew out of Qiankun Realm and flew around Zhang Ruochen like shooting stars. There were 3,720 of them.
They were extremely precious Space-Time Crystals.
The inside of the Space-Time Crystals was a miniature space. It had three to four times the speed of time. It could be said that each of them was an incredible cultivation treasure.
Zhang Ruochen had obtained these 3,720 Space-Time Crystals from the Dragon Temple. He had always regarded them as priceless treasures and kept them just to refine his first artifact of Time and Dimension.
It took Zhang Ruochen half a year to embed all the Space-Time Crystals into the Mercury Gourd and combine them with the 999,990,000 Marks of Time.
The Mercury Gourd now shone brightly.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng’s face darkened as he saw this. As expected, Zhang Ruochen was wasting precious treasures. What was the Mercury Gourd now?
It was sparkling and colorful.
One word could describe it: vulgar.
The biggest problem of young people refining weapons is that they like to refine beautiful things. What’s the point? It’s a waste of the Mercury Gourd and Space-Time Crystals,’ Supreme Saint Qingsheng sighed, but he couldn’t blame him.
If it were Xue Chen and Xue Ningxiao, they would have been beaten up by Supreme Saint Qingsheng long ago to the point that their mother wouldn’t even recognize them for squandering like Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen put the Mercury Gourd inside the Furnace of Heaven and Earth and refined it with divine fire.
Half a year passed by. The Brand of Time, Dimensional Inscription, and Space-Time Crystals all merged with the Mercury Gourd. They were no longer separate.
After it cooled down, Zhang Ruochen was delighted. He flew to a place thousands of miles away from the Furnace of Heaven and Earth with the Mercury Gourd.
He looked at Supreme Saint Qingsheng in surprise and asked, “Why are you still here, Supreme Saint?”
Supreme Saint Qingsheng stared at the gourd in Zhang Ruochen’s hand with a constipated look. After a long while, he sighed and asked, “Did you succeed?”
“The first stage is considered successful! Since you are here, why don’t you help me test the power of the gourd?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng asked, “How?”
“Just stay where you are.”
Zhang Ruochen turned the Mercury Gourd into half the size of a human. He aimed the gourd at Supreme Saint Qingsheng, who was hundreds of feet away. Then, he poured his Saint Qi into the gourd.
Immediately, millions of Dimensional Inscriptions appeared inside and outside the gourd which emitted a white light.
Especially at the mouth of the gourd, Zhang Ruochen had carved 36 million Dimensional Inscriptions, forming a Dimensional Array. This Dimensional Array combined with the inscriptions inside and outside the gourd.
Boom
36 million Dimensional Inscriptions appeared at the mouth of the gourd. They turned into a circular Dimensional Array that covered hundreds of miles and began to operate.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng stood opposite the Dimensional Array with his hands behind his back as he faced a huge circle of light.
The Dimensional Array suddenly exploded with power.
At the same time, the array formation shrank rapidly from a diameter of hundreds of miles to the size of a fist in the blink of an eye.
Instantly, a terrifying and boundless dimensional pulling force exploded out and acted on the Supreme Saint Qingsheng’s body.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng’s body swayed slightly from the force.
After the pulling force disappeared, Zhang Ruochen looked at the mouth of the gourd and then at Supreme Saint Qingsheng. He was extremely disappointed as he sighed, “It seems that with my current dimensional attainments, the collapsing and pulling force of the Dimensional Array I refined is still not strong enough.”
He had failed!
The most crucial point in refining the Mercury Gourd was the Dimensional Collapse Array at the mouth of the gourd.
If its power was not strong enough, the Mercury Gourd would almost be useless.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng’s heart was racing with anger as he saw Zhang Ruochen muttering to himself. ‘What are you trying to do? You’ve just become a Neverwither Supreme Saint, and you want to suppress a Paramount Supreme Saint?’
‘Can you be any more ill-hearted?’
Supreme Saint Qingsheng was shocked when the power of the Mercury Gourd burst out.
Even with his cultivation of the Paramount Supreme Saint, he was slightly held back by that power.
What was a Paramount Supreme Saint?
It meant that he had already reached the end of the Saint road. Standing in the Saint Realm, he could sit and watch the divine realm.
Comparing a Neverwither Supreme Saint and a Paramount Supreme Saint was like comparing a speck of dust to a magnificent ancient mountain.
Supreme Saint QingSheng felt that Zhang Ruochen was faking his disappointment and that his actual intention was to show off. However, as an elder and the head of a family, he had to have a proper demeanor.
Supreme Saint QingSheng tried his best to sound calm. He said, “If the dimensional pulling force of the Mercury Gourd was within 300 meters, no living creature below the Thousand-Koan Realm would be able to resist it.”
“Oh! Really?”
Zhang Ruochen startled. He realized that it was normal for the Mercury Gourd to not be able to take him in since the other party was a Paramount Realm Supreme Saint.
Then, Zhang Ruochen asked, “Can’t I take in a Supreme Saint from the Thousand-Koan Realm?”
Supreme Saint Qingsheng thought for a moment and said, “It’s not impossible. It depends on the other party’s condition. A sneak attack at close range might succeed.”
Zhang Ruochen gave a sigh of relief and said, “That doesn’t sound bad. When my spiritual power improves, I can make the dimensional array at the mouth of the gourd stronger. Why don’t you help me test the Power of Time of the Mercury Gourd?”
“How do we do that?” Supreme Saint Qingsheng asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, “You just need to enter the gourd.”
Supreme Saint Qingsheng turned into a speck of light and flew into the Mercury Gourd.
Zhang Ruochen made the Mercury Gourd fly up and float above his hands. He poured Saint Qi into the gourd. Instantly, the 999,990,000 Marks of Time on the surface of the gourd turned into nine long Rivers of Time and wrapped around the gourd.
Zhang Ruochen turned the Mercury Gourd ten times to the left, then to the right.
He had planned to turn ten times as well, but after three turns, Supreme Saint Qingsheng forced open the mouth of the gourd and rushed out. He stared at Zhang Ruochen coldly.
Boom!
The Saint Aura of a Paramount Realm Supreme Saint could not be controlled and it burst out.
Zhang Ruochen was already a Supreme Saint, so he could barely resist the Saint Aura. He vaguely guessed what was going on. He was a little nervous. He coughed dryly and asked, “What’s wrong, Supreme Saint?”
“Are you trying to kill me? Zhang Ruochen, I’m your mother’s elder brother. I’m your uncle. Do you really want to kill me like this?” Supreme Saint Qingsheng said.
Zhang Ruochen asked tentatively, “Does time flow very fast?”
Supreme Saint Qingsheng was speechless. In the end, he put away his Saint Aura.
He had no choice. He could only blame himself. If he hadn’t been so curious and hadn’t stayed here, this wouldn’t have happened.
“When the gourd turns left, the ratio of time flow inside and out should be nine to one. However, there is an incredible place for self-cultivation that can accommodate hundreds of millions of cultivators cultivating inside.”
“When the gourd turns right, the flow of time inside becomes extremely fast. You only turned three times just now, and my lifespan was reduced by three hundred years.”
Supreme Saint Qingsheng really wanted to cry but there were no tears. He was already more than 10,000 years old, and every year of his lifespan was very precious.
Losing 300 years in an instant was even more painful than cutting off a piece of his flesh.
Supreme Saint Qingsheng stared at the Mercury Gourd with a complex gaze, he said, “Although this treasure of yours is not a Supreme Artifact, its value and potential, as well as its role in the increase of your battle strength, are far from being comparable to a Supreme Artifact.”
“Even a Hundred-Shackle Realm powerhouse that has attained the stage of Great Perfection will be refined by the Power of Time and turn into a pile of bones. There would be no time to break the gourd and escape.”
“However, a Hundred-Shackle Realm Supreme Saint that has reached Great Perfection is vigilant and much more powerful than Emperor Yu and the others. It is still too difficult to take them in.”
Zhang Ruochen touched his chin while he looked at the gourd with thought and said, “Is that so? Actually, the refining is not over yet. There’s still the second stage. After the refining is successful, I will try to suppress a Hundred-Shackle Realm Supreme Saint that has achieved the stage of Great Perfection easily. It would be best if I can suppress a Supreme Saint of the Thousand-Koan Realm.”
“There’s a second stage of refining?” Supreme Saint Qingsheng was stunned.
