Chapter 279 - 254: Heaven and Earth Furnace

A nearby Beastman keenly noticed the change in Rek'sa's expression and immediately barked at the human man, "What the hell happened? Spit it out!"

The human man was clearly displeased with the Beastman's bossy attitude, but intimidated by the might of Blood Roar Fortress, he suppressed his annoyance and recounted the information he knew.

After hearing him out, all the Beastmen present looked at each other in utter disbelief.

He single-handedly took down more than thirty Giant Dragons, wounded the peak-Legendary Azure Abyss Dragon, and then teamed up with Valin to kill it?

Was this something a Sword Saint who had only advanced a little over ten years ago could accomplish?

If the human man hadn't sworn he wasn't lying and insisted they could ask anyone in Darkness Fortress to verify it, they would have suspected he was just messing with them.

Rek'sa's eyes narrowed, his expression shifting uncertainly.

'I originally thought that Elf, Anton, was just lucky. He took advantage of the Dragon Race at their weakest, killed the Radiant Ash Dragon, and luckily earned himself the title of Fallen Dragon Sword Saint.'

'Otherwise, he wouldn't be too scared to even participate on the main battlefield of Darkness Fortress, choosing instead to cower in the rear and do business.'

'He doesn't have an ounce of the courage a powerhouse should have.'

'But now, it seems I've underestimated him.'

'This Elf... actually has some skill.'

The corners of Rek'sa's mouth twitched slightly, a flash of interest in his eyes.

'It's for the best. An era with only two or three worthy opponents would be far too boring.'

'One more will make things a bit more fun in the future.'

'Still, the current Anton is not quite there yet.'

'Only when he breaks through to the peak of the Legendary Tier will he be qualified to face me head-on.'

"Go back and rest for the night. We'll continue into the Subspace tomorrow," Rek'sa said, pulling his thoughts back to the present without turning his head.

"Yes, sir!" the Beastmen responded in unison.

Rek'sa said no more and strode toward Darkness Fortress.

'The appearance of this Subspace is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me.'

'The Contribution Points are secondary. The key is the chance to obtain the blood of a royal Giant Dragon.'

'I need the blood of a royal Giant Dragon to further strengthen the dragon bloodline within me.'

'If I succeed, I might be able to reach the threshold of the Saint level even faster than Grant.'

...

「Darkness Fortress, North District.」

Anton pushed open the courtyard gate and walked into the stone building.

The moment he stepped into the hall, doors on the upper floor began to open one after another.

The Great Elder, the Third Elder, and Romance emerged almost simultaneously, having clearly sensed his presence.

"Clan Leader."

The three of them descended the stairs into the first-floor hall.

Anton asked, "Where are the Second Elder and Cedric?"

His Divine Sense hadn't detected their presence.

"They've returned to the Eldron Plain," the Great Elder explained. "They both gained a great deal from the battle in the spatial node and have some new insights into the method of approaching divinity. They wanted to go into seclusion for a while to properly digest them."

Anton understood. "That's a good thing."

The Second Elder and Cedric were at a critical moment in their push toward the Legendary Tier. The most important thing for them was their comprehension and understanding of the Law.

Comprehending before the Dao Comprehension Stele is one method.

Life-and-death combat is also an excellent whetstone.

While the latter is riskier, the sparks of Spiritual Light that erupt on the brink of death are often more precious than those gained from quiet meditation.

"Let them focus on their seclusion. There's no need to rush back. The few of us are enough to handle things here in the Subspace for now."

Anton paused, then added, "I'm going back to the Cloud-Surging Flying Ship to refine a Magical Treasure. It will probably take about a month. You don't need to wait around here. You can return to Taichu City to cultivate or attend to your own affairs."

Romance and the Third Elder naturally had no objections and nodded in agreement.

The Great Elder pondered for a moment before saying, "I'll stay here."

Anton glanced at him, said no more, and gave a slight nod.

Unlike the others, the Great Elder walked the traditional cultivation path of the Dawn Continent.

Before Anton had created the Seed Pill Technique, the Great Elder was already on the verge of a breakthrough.

Switching to the Seed Pill Technique at that point would have been more trouble than it was worth, wasting hundreds of years of accumulation. Thus, he continued to adhere to his original cultivation system.

His advancement to the Legendary Tier was also thanks to his own years of accumulated experience and the aid of the Dao Comprehension Stele.

In the Dawn Continent's cultivation system, continuing to increase one's strength after advancing to the Legendary Tier depended on expanding one's Magic Power and deepening one's comprehension of the Law.

The former required either the slow grind of gradual accumulation or the piling up of Cultivation Resources.

The latter was purely a matter of talent.

For a person with mediocre talent, even if they were lucky enough to cross that threshold, the path ahead would be exceedingly slow.

Only true geniuses could continue to advance by leaps and bounds at this tier.

Of course, there were also shortcuts.

For instance, Blood Roar Fortress's method of fusing bloodlines used external power to forcefully break through one's own limits.

But that method was too risky and came with many side effects.

Even so, there were still many who yearned for it but couldn't obtain it, unable to even access such a shortcut, and could only rely on their own slow accumulation.

Fortunately, the Great Elder didn't have to rely entirely on that slow grind.

In terms of Magic Power accumulation, the astounding energy concentration in Taichu City was enough to make his Magic Power grow much faster than it would in the outside world.

In terms of Law comprehension, he could still use the Dao Comprehension Stele for his meditations.

Although the effects weren't as immediate as they were when he was at the Golden Peak, it was better than nothing.

'The traditional cultivation system of the Dawn Continent has too few methods for accelerating the comprehension of Law.'

Anton mulled over the problem. 'In the future, the Clan will only have more and more members at the Legendary Tier. It would be best to find a way to speed up their Law comprehension. We can't always rely on the Dao Comprehension Stele.'

The Silver Moon Race of today was more than a hundred times stronger than it had been a century ago.

Its economic strength and grassroots military power had developed on a solid foundation, which was why it was able to gather various resources for him and establish Taichu City and Nine Nether City.

The only thing he felt was still lacking was the number of top-tier combatants.

A normal Elf Clan needed at least one Legendary Powerhouse to hold the fort.

A Clan without a Legendary Powerhouse as its Clan Leader, even if it could maintain its name, wouldn't last more than two or three hundred years before inevitably declining into a weak Elf community.

The Silver Moon Race from over a hundred years ago was a prime example of this.

Large Elf Clans, on the other hand, often possessed several or even dozens of Legendary Powerhouses.

Those large Elf Clans that could become allies of the Jade Royal Court even had Saint Level combat power.

But the Silver Moon Race, including himself, currently only had two Legendary Powerhouses.

Although his strength far surpassed the average Legendary Tier, this didn't change the fact that they lacked top-tier combat power.

Given the Clan's current territory and scale, the number of Legendary Powerhouses was still far too low.

Therefore, it was essential to increase both the quantity and quality of their Legendary Combat Power.

Take the elite team that entered the Subspace this time, for example. If all its members were veteran Legends or higher, he would have dared to lead them to clear the spatial node all by himself.

After giving a few more instructions, Anton left the stone building and walked toward the Cloud-Surging Flying Ship.

The Flying Ship was still moored at the temporary site on the north side of the fortress.

On deck, two disciples from Taichu City were performing a routine inspection of the Array patterns on the hull. When they saw Anton approaching, they quickly stopped what they were doing and bowed respectfully.

Anton nodded slightly, climbed the gangway to the deck, and walked straight into the control room.

The cabin door closed behind him, sealing off all the noise from the outside.

He sat cross-legged in the quiet room. He didn't start immediately but first closed his eyes to focus, meticulously simulating the entire refining process for the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield in his mind from beginning to end.

The core of refining the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield lay in the number nine.

The heart's blood essence of ninety-nine dragon-type creatures, eighty-one restriction seals, a nine-layered nested Fire Spirit Array, nine energy output ports.

Every single step was related to the number nine, and not one could be omitted.

The most crucial part was to extract the essence contained within the blood of the ninety-nine dragon-type creatures and, through the guidance of the restriction seals and the Array, cause them to resonate and merge with each other, ultimately condensing into the form of nine Fire Dragons.

Once the nine dragons took form, a divine fire would be born.

Wherever the shield fell, it would burn the heavens and boil the seas.

Anton opened his eyes. With a flick of his wrist, a Red Gold Furnace Cauldron appeared before him.

This was the best quality Artifact Level refining furnace he could currently craft.

'Once I have some spare Contribution Points, I can exchange them for materials to refine a Profound Artifact-level refining furnace.'

Anton looked at the refining furnace before him, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

A refining furnace could, at its limit, be used to refine a Profound Artifact-level Magical Treasure.

To refine higher-tiered Spiritual Artifacts and True Artifacts, a refining furnace was no longer sufficient; one needed a 'Heaven and Earth Smelting Furnace'.

The so-called Heaven and Earth Smelting Furnace referred to using the heavens and earth as the furnace, a Spirit Vein as the fuel, and an Array to leverage the primordial spiritual qi flowing deep within the earth veins, turning the entire world into an intangible furnace cauldron.

The fire of a Spirit Vein was, in essence, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth. It did not reject materials of any attribute, could smelt rare items that a Spiritual Fire could not handle, and the materials it tempered possessed greater Spiritual nature and a more perfectly natural structure.

Magical Treasures refined on this basis were born with an extra touch of the Spiritual, making it easier for them to develop an Artifact Spirit.

However, setting up a Heaven and Earth Smelting Furnace was not easy.

First, one had to find a suitable Spirit Vein, which is to say, an Earth Vein Node.

Then, one had to set up an array cluster to guide and gather the earth vein's energy, allowing it to be converted into Spiritual Fire for Artifact Refining.

This was equivalent to creating an enormous furnace on an Earth Vein Node.

This was countless times more difficult than simply refining a furnace cauldron.

Obtaining an Earth Vein Node wasn't difficult for Anton.

At worst, he could just send troops to conquer a Dragon City in another region.

The key was setting up the array cluster capable of guiding and gathering the earth vein's energy.

That was equivalent to directly manipulating the energy flow of an entire Spirit Vein—a task far too difficult for a Golden Core Cultivator.

It was a task more suited for a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

'It's not too late to consider this after I advance to the Golden Core Third Stage.'

Anton shook his head, reined in his wandering thoughts, and refocused his attention on the cauldron before him.

He raised a hand, placed the Pill Furnace in front of him, and the Five Elements True Flame surged from his palm into its chamber.

The temperature deep inside the furnace began to rise sharply.

With a wave of his hand, dozens of rare materials flew out of his Qiankun Bag. As if guided by an invisible hand, they fell into the Pill Furnace in sequence.

Adamantine, Mithril, fire copper, flame sand...

The moment each material fell into the furnace, it was enveloped, calcined, and smelted by the Five Elements True Flame.

Impurities were stripped away and essences were purified, ultimately turning into pools of liquid metal of various colors, suspended and slowly rotating in the heart of the flame.

Once all the auxiliary materials were smelted, Anton finally took out the ninety-nine portions of dragon heart blood essence.

The crystal vials containing the blood essence refracted a dark red luster in the light.

He took the first vial, uncorked it, and poured the thick, mercury-like dark red liquid into the furnace.

The instant the blood essence entered the furnace, a blazing, bloody light erupted and shot about wildly within the chamber. A faint dragon's roar could be heard from within.

It was the remnant will of the Giant Dragon within the blood essence making its final struggle.

Anton's expression remained unchanged. The Five Elements True Flame suddenly flared, enveloping the bloody light layer by layer, grinding away the impurities and the remnant will bit by bit.

Time slipped by quietly with the flickering of the furnace fire.

Day and night blurred in the quiet room, with only the five-colored glow of the Five Elements True Flame flickering erratically.

Anton was completely immersed in the refining process, deaf to the outside world.

When the last portion of dragon heart blood essence was processed and had completely fused with all the auxiliary materials, he let out a long sigh of relief, a faint smile appearing on his face.

'The preliminary work is finally done.'

Next came the most critical steps: inscribing the restriction seals and nesting the Fire Spirit Array.

This would be an even longer and more tedious process, one that allowed for no mistakes whatsoever.