?Chapter 1011: Volume 6 Spirit Treasures Chapter 1007 Giant Cauldron Chapter 1011: Volume 6 Spirit Treasures Chapter 1007 Giant Cauldron “`
In the vast hall stretching dozens of yards wide, bands of red mist swirled around.
Around a dozen flame columns stood erect around the perimeter of the hall, each entwined with lifelike statues of red dragons, emitting streams of red mist from their mouths.
These streams of mist converged without dispersing, shrouding a Giant Cauldron situated in the very center of the hall.
This cauldron stood six to seven feet tall with a simple, ancient design, making it a colossus compared to the cauldron furnaces Han Li had seen before.
However, what truly alarmed Han Li was that the cauldron, being baked by the red mist, was glowing a bright red all over, masking its original color, and radiating intense heat from its surface.
Even from twenty to thirty yards away, he felt as though he was standing in a volcano.
Ever since entering this hall, not only had his mouth become dry and his tongue parched, but his exposed skin immediately felt a searing sensation, as though being pricked by needles.
He believed that if it weren’t for a flash of brilliance that spontaneously formed a hazy azure shield around him, he would have suffered a considerable loss the instant he stepped into the hall.
However, faced with this situation, Han Li grew not angry but excited.
His gaze swept over the flame columns and then settled on the Giant Cauldron.
At that moment, the cauldron was motionless in the center of the hall, but from within it came rumblings of thunder.
With Han Li’s experience in Artifact Refining, it appeared that something within the cauldron was being continuously tempered.
It seemed that he might not leave empty-handed after all!
Source: Webnovel.com, updated on ?ον?0.??
Thinking this, Han Li exhaled and deftly avoided the streams of red mist.
With a few agile sways, he calmly approached the Giant Cauldron.
When he was six to seven yards away from the cauldron, Han Li slowed his steps and gradually circled around it, sensing the astonishing fire spiritual Qi emanating from its surface.
No matter what lay inside, after so many tens of thousands of years of tempering, it must have undergone some unknown transformation.
Even as his curiosity was piqued, he wasn’t about to recklessly open it.
After circling seven or eight times, Han Li stopped and began to survey the rest of the hall thoughtfully.
After so many years, these flame columns and the Giant Cauldron were still active, indicating there must be an Array that had been triggered for a long time nearby.
His task was to find and destroy the controlling formation, halting the flame columns temporarily to retrieve the treasure.
Since this Array was merely a controlling one, with no attempt made to conceal or hide it, Han Li soon found the spot, his pupils flickering with a blue light as a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Ignoring the Giant Cauldron, he raised a hand and a small golden sword, about three feet in length, shot out from his palm, striking the ground at a certain spot in the corner.
With a “boom,” that corner exploded in a burst of golden light, and the flame columns dimmed simultaneously as the dragons ceased spewing red mist.
When the golden light dissipated, a large hole a yard wide was revealed, surrounded by the shattered remnants of Array Plates, and the small golden sword floated leisurely above the pit.
With a single strike from the flying sword, an Array Plate buried in the ground was completely obliterated.
Consequently, a medium-sized Array that had been operating beneath the entire hall immediately ceased functioning.
After a faint smile, Han Li beckoned toward the distance.
The flying sword whistled back and spiraled into his sleeve, disappearing from sight.
In the absence of the flame columns’ replenishment, the red mist atop the Giant Cauldron finally began to disperse.
But Han Li did not immediately turn his attention to the Giant Cauldron; instead, he looked down at the ground with a sparkle of blue in his eyes, showing a look of surprise.
With the Array’s concealment gone, he discovered that a fiery red expanse lay dozens of yards beneath the ground.
The entire hall was built upon a pit of extremely high-quality earthfire.
No wonder the surrounding flame columns could provide a continuous, unceasing supply of mist.
Realizing this, Han Li withdrew his gaze and used the Brightsight Water to look towards the Giant Cauldron, intending to peer inside to see exactly what was being tempered before proceeding.
He was taken aback once again.
Before him was a hazy redness, even more intense than the pit of earthfire, preventing him from seeing clearly.
Before he had the chance to discern anything, the cauldron seemed to come alive with a humming sound, followed by a “puchi” as a layer of red flames emerged, rewrapping the cauldron within it.
Han Li’s mouth fell open, his face registering complete astonishment.
But after blinking his eyes and pondering for a moment, his expression turned joyous.
Apparently, after such prolonged refinement and absorption of the earth fire’s power, the cauldron had reached an incredible level of purity, allowing the once-ordinary Magic Artifact to advance on its own into a fire spiritual highly valuable treasure.
This caused it to become sentient.
This phenomenon, where a Magic Artifact self-advances through prolonged infusion of a specific type of Spiritual Power, was not without precedent in the realm of immortal cultivators, resulting in treasures of truly alarming power.
However, such treasures usually came about by a fortunate twist of fate.
Years ago, some Sects had tried a similar method to attempt to refine high-grade spirit treasures, but before long, all had given up.
Using this technique was not only extremely time-consuming, often requiring a thousand years or the effort of generations of Sect Masters, but the success rate was also pitifully low.
On the rare occasions it did succeed, the increase in power of the treasure was minimal compared to the time and resources invested, making it a completely uneconomical endeavor.
Moreover, this cauldron was surely not something an ancient expert intended to use this method on to upgrade its rank.
It was more likely that the ancient expert responsible for the Spirit Transformation Hall had been in the middle of refining something crucial and could not stop, but had to leave the mountain for some reason, thus had no choice but to activate the hall’s Array to continue refining what was in the cauldron.
They probably hoped that they, or their gatekeepers, could one day return to retrieve it.
“`
However, this could only happen after the mountain had been sealed for tens of thousands of years.
After all, even ancient experts wouldn’t be so idle as to use earth fire to temper something for over ten thousand years.
Otherwise, before the tempering was completed, the Sect Master responsible would have passed away due to the end of their lifespan.
Han Li’s eyes shifted slightly as he randomly speculated about the events of the past.
The flash of brilliance around his body intensified, resisting the heat that was nearly double what it had been before.
After pondering for a moment, Han Li suddenly slapped his hand against his waist and with a flip, a stack of blue formation flags appeared in his hand.
Subsequently, his figure darted rapidly around the hall, planting each formation flag into every corner of the grand hall.
Then, with a flash, Han Li returned in front of the Giant Cauldron and after scrutinizing the object in front of him for a while, a spell incantation began resounding from his lips.
A layer of bluish haze instantly formed a protective barrier within the hall, enveloping both Han Li and the Giant Cauldron.
The previously intense heat receded somewhat upon contact with the water-attribute barrier.
Han Li didn’t stop there.
He casually summoned a spirit beast pouch into the air, and out flew several half-foot long snow-white centipedes, each with a pair of wings fluttering rapidly.
These were the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes that had evolved a pair of wings.
After a series of extraordinarily agile circling, they converged above the Giant Cauldron, snapping their pincers and poised to strike.
Only then did Han Li ease his mind.
He rubbed his hands together, and a layer of Purple Apex Flames suddenly appeared on his palm.
He then unceremoniously reached toward the Giant Cauldron in the void in front.
A large purple hand materialized above the cauldron and, without any hesitation, grasped towards the lid.
The Giant Cauldron shuddered with a rumble as the reddish flames on it surged several times higher, condensing into a fiery bird that met the hand with a spew of flame.
As soon as the two came into contact, a loud explosion occurred, and amid the interplay of red light and purple glow, the Firebird actually held its ground against the purple hand, preventing it from pressing down immediately.
Seeing this, Han Li’s eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, but he did not hesitate to let out a low cry.
Upon hearing this, the several Six-Winged Frost Centipedes circling above the cauldron simultaneously opened their mouths wide, and streams of white fog surged down from the sky, enveloping both the Firebird and the cauldron below in an instant.
At the same time, Han Li pointed solemnly at the purple hand that was transformed from the Purple Apex Flames.
With the urging of the incantation, the hand swelled several times in size.
Aided by the immense strength of the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes’ cold air, its awe-inspiring might shattered the fiery bird.
Then, without any hesitation, the purple hand scooped towards the cauldron lid.
With a soft “clang,” although the cauldron’s Divine Skills should not be limited to this power, it lacked a master to control it and was easily sent flying several meters away by Han Li, revealing a mass of red light inside.
Han Li was about to take a close look at the contents of the cauldron but was suddenly startled by a harsh birdcall.
A streak of red light shot out from within the cauldron, aiming straight for the top of the grand hall at an incredible speed.
It forcefully pierced through two white centipedes, leaving them unable to react in time.
After a “bang,” the red light crashed into the blue barrier, causing it to dissolve and almost break through in an instant.
Although shocked, Han Li could not allow this entity to truly escape.
Without a second thought, his fingers flicked rapidly, sending out more than ten azure sword Qi streaks that vanished in a flash and struck the red light with pinpoint accuracy.
After a series of crackling sounds, the red light, though not deflected by the sword Qi, dimmed with each hit.
After more than ten successive strikes, it began to falter.
The red light seemingly realized the peril, vibrating as if to shoot out in another direction.
But suddenly, a burst of purple light flashed from behind it, and a large purple hand materialized out of thin air.
With the speed of lightning, it snatched the red light.
Then, the hand flew directly down towards Han Li.
At that moment, as the lid was removed, the Giant Cauldron seemed to have lost its will to resist.
The rumbling of thunder from within ceased, the surface flames dissipated on their own, and the cold air from the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes above directly froze it into a block of crystal-clear ice.
However, Han Li was no longer concerned with the state of the cauldron at this point; his attention was entirely captured by what he had just grasped in his hand.
“This is Sun Essence Fire!”
Han Li stared at the item, murmuring in amazement and uncertainty.
“Of course, this isn’t Sun Essence Fire, but rather the True Fire of Taiyin, which is on par with it.
It is one of the three Great True Spirit fires of the human world!” A pleasant voice that Han Li hadn’t heard in a long time suddenly drifted leisurely into his consciousness.
(First update!) (To be continued.
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