Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 551 - 530: Fire Divine Furnace (2/5)

Chapter 551: Chapter 530: Fire Divine Furnace (2/5)

Zhou Heng suppressed the fleeting odd feeling in his heart and hummed a tune all the way back to the inn.

Having obtained an artifact that was likely of an absurdly high rank, his mood was naturally fantastic. But after returning to the inn, Zhou Heng immediately tiptoed, because he should be looking for a way to find a method to undo Yang Lanxin’s restrictions, rather than bringing back a pill furnace.

Although he wasn’t afraid of Yang Lanxin, dealings between men and women weren’t about fear or its absence.

It’s better to be low-key.

But, is this really a pill furnace?

Zhou Heng only felt it looked like one, but its size seemed too small. How much material could such a tiny space hold?

Back in his room, he shut the door, took out the pill furnace, and began to study it carefully.

Looking at it from the left, from the right, Zhou Heng couldn’t find anything peculiar. He tried to introduce his divine sense into it. If the pill furnace was a magic artifact, then by implanting his divine sense, he could make it recognize him as its master.

But to Zhou Heng’s disappointment, the pill furnace had no response, as if it truly was just an extraordinarily ordinary furnace.

Of course, that was impossible!

The less it reacted, the more it demonstrated the furnace’s extraordinariness.

Otherwise, if it were easy to make it recognized a master, this pill furnace would not have been buried in the blacksmith shop, only to be discovered by Zhou Heng now.

But what use was a treasure if it couldn’t be utilized?

Zhou Heng tried over and over, but the pill furnace was like a stubborn rock, showing not the slightest reaction to his divine sense.

One hour, three hours, twelve hours.

Zhou Heng became angry. Impatient, he activated the bloodline of the Gold Devouring Clan, intent on devouring this stubborn iron!

But... there was no reaction.

The bloodline of the Gold Devouring Clan had no effect on this pill furnace, as if a peerless beauty had stripped naked only to find the man before her was an impotent eunuch.

That strong?

Zhou Heng thought to himself, should he use the Black Sword and hack wildly? But he immediately shook his head, the Black Sword was indeed indestructible, but his own strength was too weak, unable to truly unleash the power of this high-tier Immortal Artifact.

The Black Sword probably wouldn’t be of any use.

What to do then?

If the Black Sword couldn’t do it, surely the Overturning Heaven Palm and Feiyu Seven Swords would be even more useless!

Wait, wait, he still had one more weapon!

Bone Talisman!

Although the Bone Talisman was incomplete, retaining less than one percent of its power, a Bone Talisman was still a Bone Talisman. If it could be triggered, its power would definitely surpass Zhou Heng’s current strongest battle power.

But the Bone Talisman couldn’t be triggered manually, so if he encountered an enemy, Zhou Heng would be without any means. But a pill furnace was an inanimate object, which made things much easier.

Zhou Heng grabbed the pill furnace with both hands and, after steeling his heart, slammed it down on the top of his head.

—The Bone Talisman was supposed to react to an attack, huh? This should do the job!

Indeed, when the pill furnace hit the top of his head, the Bone Talisman reacted violently, radiating golden light and unleashing its terrifying power.

Bang!

The pill furnace instantly flew out of his hands, zooming away and embedding itself into the wall.

It didn’t break!

Zhou Heng touched his head, feeling something wet and sticky—He was bleeding!

This pill furnace was really solid, enduring the rune’s strike without breaking!

Once more!

Zhou Heng walked over, pulled the pill furnace out of the wall, and after sizing up his head, was about to give it another go.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! I yield to you, one more hit and I, your lord, will fall apart!" A voice suddenly surged in Zhou Heng’s mind.

This was the fluctuation of a divine sense!

Zhou Heng was shocked, but then immediately turned his gaze toward the pill furnace in his hands, a strong sense of disbelief welling up in his heart.

Even if this pill furnace was a magic artifact, the so-called Artifact Spirit was just a gathering of runes and nature’s spiritual energy with a certain will to live. Like the Hundred Ghosts Sword, its ability to summon Ghost Shadows was the effect of its internal array patterns and not an active action of an Artifact Spirit.

Only living beings could possess intelligence!

"What are you?" Zhou Heng asked coldly.

"Don’t be nervous! Don’t be nervous! Your lord here is the pill furnace in your hands. Hehe, but please don’t slam your lord into the rune again, your grandpa here is old and can’t withstand such torment!" the pill furnace spoke.

Having a conversation with a pill furnace— what kind of bizarre experience was this?

Zhou Heng snorted and said, "I’m very dissatisfied with that answer! You’re a pill furnace, so how can you talk?"

"The great me doesn’t have a mouth, so how could I talk? I can only convey my divine sense!" the pill furnace said with a touch of pride.

Bang!

Zhou Heng smashed the pill furnace onto the top of his head, where a flash of golden light occurred, and the pill furnace immediately let out a scream, getting knocked into the wall.

"Kid, you’re quite merciless, ouch, ouch, it’s serious! It’s serious! The great me has actually developed a crack, I’m gravely injured! Gravely injured!" the pill furnace wailed as if it had lost a dear parent, howling mournfully.

"How do you possess spiritual wisdom?" Zhou Heng asked again, making a gesture as if he were about to smash it on the top of the head once more.

"I’m really scared of you!" the pill furnace lamented with a sigh, "Why am I so unlucky to think I could live a peaceful life, only to come across a little pervert!"

"I can hear that!" Zhou Heng said coldly.

"Alright! Alright!" said the pill furnace, sensing the mood since Zhou Heng’s expression was quite unsavory, indicating he might smash it again any moment, "The great me was originally a piece of Sun Essence Gold, nurtured by billions upon billions of years of nature’s spiritual energy until, at last, I developed spiritual wisdom!"

"But the great me was unlucky, before I could even cultivate Divine Skills, I was taken by a bastard and refined into a pill furnace!"

"Since then, the great me has been trapped inside, becoming the artifact spirit of this pill furnace and was even given a lame name like ’Fire Divine Furnace’!"

"Alas, pitiful me, as a spirit of heaven and earth, I was meant to live a life of luxury and spice; but now, look at me, I’m stuck refining pills for others every day—woe is me, the heavens are blind!"

It wailed and howled incessantly.

This thing really has no class, just like Black Donkey—they must be brothers!

Wait a second, alchemy?

"You can refine pills?" Zhou Heng suddenly became interested. The implication from the artifact spirit was that Sun Essence Gold must be an extremely precious metal, or else it wouldn’t have developed spiritual wisdom. That someone actually refined such precious metal into a pill furnace must have had a special purpose.

"Nonsense, the great me is Sun Essence Gold, inherently extreme in yang and ferocity. With runes inscribed upon me, I can refine any pill given enough materials!" Fire Divine Furnace boasted once again, sharing a lack of decency that could truly compete with Black Donkey.

"Can you refine pills by yourself?" Zhou Heng laughed.

"An easy task—no, no, no, the great me cannot refine pills, hehehe, just now my brain was clouded with lard, talking nonsense. You just listen and let it be, don’t take it to heart!" The pill furnace suddenly realized something was amiss and hastily tried to clear itself of any responsibility.

Zhou Heng chuckled menacingly, lifting up the Fire Divine Furnace and gesturing in front of his forehead, full of threatening intent.

"Stop, stop, stop, the great me concedes!" shouted the Fire Divine Furnace desperately, "The great me can refine pills, all pills! Woe is me, what evil have I done to deserve such fate? After sleeping for a million years, I still hadn’t fully woken up and now I have to toil again!"

A million-year nap wasn’t enough for this lazybones? He still hadn’t woken up?

Zhou Heng suddenly realized that this Sun Essence Gold took billions and billions of years to cultivate its spiritual wisdom. Although he didn’t know if the years were exaggerated, considering billions of years as a unit of time should indeed be correct. So a casual million-year nap was actually not long at all.

A million years? Could it mean... the Immortal Realm was in chaos!

Indeed, a pill furnace capable of alchemy by itself was an extraordinary treasure. Under normal circumstances, how could it end up in a blacksmith shop? Surely, it was during the chaos of the Immortal Realm that its original owner perished, and no one recognized the value of the treasured object.

Had it not been for the Bone Talisman on Zhou Heng’s top of the head that could threaten it, probably this lazy creature would still be sleeping.

... It was time to buy some herbal ingredients and let this creature do the refining!

In both the Mortal Realm and the Immortal Realm, pharmacists, that is, pill masters, were priceless talents, and each one required a significant expense to train. In the Immortal Realm, a One Star Pill Master could walk unhindered, at least in Immortal Cities from the tenth to the twelfth level, they were highly sought after. Even the Moonlight Emperor would treat them with utmost respect upon meeting.

Take Evil Cloud Pharmacist, for example, a mere Two Stars Pill Master, but their standing within the Mo Family was quite high. Even Mo Yuyan, the fourth young miss, had to respectfully address him as master.

Pharmacists, their role naturally lied in mixing medicines and alchemy.

Among these, mixing medicines belonged to the lower stage; higher-tier medicines needed to be refined into pills!

If one could transform herbs directly into pills, even if only the most ordinary pills, just the price difference alone could make one rich!

There’s actually no difference between the Mortal Realm and Immortal Realm; money is needed for everything!

And this money is Immortal Stones, Lower Grade Immortal Stones, Middle Grade Immortal Stones, Upper Grade Immortal Stones!

Zhou Heng didn’t need to use Immortal Stones to cultivate, but he did need them to purchase things he was interested in, such as... precious metals, such as rare Spirit Fruits!

Immortal Stones, the more the better.

He had to try it immediately, hoping that the Fire Divine Furnace hadn’t been bragging, or else... he would burst it with runes!

"What kind of pills can you refine?" Zhou Heng inquired.

"The great me can refine any kind of pill, just tell me what you, young fellow, wish to refine!" Fire Divine Furnace boasted arrogantly.

"Good... I want to refine pills that can enhance cultivation levels. What materials do you need?" Zhou Heng asked again.

"Heavenly Origin Grass, Nine Transformation Fruit, Blue Heart Juice..." Fire Divine Furnace rattled off a whole list of ingredients.

Zhou Heng nodded, then tried to collect the Fire Divine Furnace into his Dantian Space. Whoosh, the furnace actually went in!

Immortal Artifacts, truly high-end, classy, and upscale!

He made a trip to Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, which was just like the markets in the Mortal Realm, with everything in stock, and even the clerk added an extra sentence while checking out, saying, "Guest, why don’t you try this testing stone, maybe you are the master we’ve been looking for!"

Full of zest. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)