Chapter 85 - 60: The Melting Furnace Opens

A layer of white mist obscured the boundary between the outer and inner regions.

As they stepped into the mist, the world before them instantly transformed, as if they had entered an entirely different realm. Moments ago, they were standing in a lush forest, but after crossing the white veil, an endless desert stretched out before them.

Chang Le’an took a deep breath. Setting everything else aside, the Spiritual Power in this inner region alone was significantly denser than in the outer areas.

"Third Senior Brother, let’s hurry and find some treasures," Ye Zhaozhao urged.

Chang Le’an quickly agreed, and the two began trudging through the desert sands.

Along the way, Ye Zhaozhao continuously calculated the distance between herself and Li Shuang. She still had nine breaths of time left to unseal her true strength. With her Nascent Soul Stage Cultivation, she would only need a single instant to obliterate Li Shuang.

She sneered inwardly, "This time, Li Shuang is dead for sure!"

On her map, the red dot representing Li Shuang hadn’t moved for quite some time. She was likely delayed by something.

Regardless of the reason, with overwhelming power on her side, Ye Zhaozhao had nothing to fear. Now, the final step to killing Li Shuang was to temporarily shake off Chang Le’an.

Her eyes flickered with calculation.

Suddenly, the faint roar of a beast echoed in the distance.

Chang Le’an shuddered instinctively. They had been in the inner region for less than two hours, and they were already encountering a demon beast? He couldn’t tell if it was a demon beast born of the Secret Realm or a member of the Demon Clan!

Ye Zhaozhao’s eyes gleamed. Her opportunity had arrived!

She looked at Chang Le’an with an expression of absolute resolve. "Third Senior Brother, we will still have to rely on you if we want to find enough resources this time. I will go investigate that roar. Whatever the situation, I’ll lure the demon beast away so it won’t affect you. Once I’ve drawn it off, I’ll come back and reunite with you."

Hearing this, Chang Le’an was instantly moved to tears.

Li Shuang had deliberately used the Lion Wing Beast to frame him. But his Junior Sister? She was willing to risk her life to lure away a demon beast for his sake! And yet Li Shuang had the nerve to accuse them of being biased.

He thought, "Faced with such a wonderful Junior Sister, who wouldn’t be biased?"

Chang Le’an hurriedly said, "Zhaozhao, don’t go. Let’s just change directions."

Ye Zhaozhao’s face was resolute. "What if the demon beast chases after us? Wouldn’t that ruin your treasure-hunting plans again? Don’t worry, Third Senior Brother, I have the Dragon Roar Sword. Even though Long Yan is a Wasted Sword Spirit, he can still be of some use here. If I truly encounter a fatal crisis, I’ll forcefully command him!"

Hearing this, Chang Le’an felt much more at ease. She was right. He was just a Wasted Sword Spirit anyway. If worst came to worst, Long Yan could just burn more of his soul body.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Ye Zhaozhao, afraid he would ask too many questions, quickly flew off into the distance.

Chang Le’an didn’t chase after her. Staring at her receding figure with deep emotion, he swore to himself that he would not betray his Junior Sister’s trust and would find the treasures as quickly as possible!

With that, Chang Le’an carefully continued his exploration.

As soon as she was out of Chang Le’an’s sight, Ye Zhaozhao’s expression turned frigid. She had no interest in seeking out the source of the roar; she charged straight in Li Shuang’s direction.

The moment she laid eyes on Li Shuang, she would immediately unseal her strength and kill her without a second word. Otherwise, heaven only knew if this Heavenly Dao Female Protagonist would manage to rise from the ashes once again!

In the endless desert.

A trace of joy flashed through Li Shuang’s eyes. In her hand rested a peculiar red stone she had just sifted out from the gravel.

This boundless desert contained a rare mineral known as Fire Melting Gold. These ores appeared randomly within the endless layers of sand and were extremely difficult to identify. However, with the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace, searching for Fire Melting Gold was a breeze for her.

Since entering the inner region, she had continuously collected quite a bit of Fire Melting Gold. Counting the piece she just found, the progress bar for the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace had now reached one hundred percent.

This meant that as soon as she absorbed these ores, the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace would officially activate. The Melting Furnace was tied to her mother, making its activation a matter of utmost importance to Li Shuang.

Without any hesitation, Li Shuang commanded in her heart, "Absorb!"

As her silent command echoed, the Fire Melting Gold was tossed into the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace. The progress bar instantly surged to one hundred percent!

Under Li Shuang’s expectant gaze, the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace in her Sea of Consciousness—which had been slowly rotating all this time—suddenly ground to a halt. A bizarre light began to radiate from its surface.

A new stream of information flooded Li Shuang’s mind.

"Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace (Activated). All things can be refined; heaven and earth can also be refined."

Li Shuang’s heart trembled slightly.

She thought, "All things can be refined? Heaven and earth can also be refined? What an arrogant boast!"

But as more information surfaced, Li Shuang no longer doubted the Melting Furnace’s grand claims. This Melting Furnace... was truly heaven-defying!

"Refine items within one’s possession to obtain items desired in one’s heart.

"The rules of refining are as follows.

"1. Items being refined can be exchanged for desired items. All things in heaven and earth are within the scope of refining.

"2. If the items are of equal value, the exchange has a one hundred percent success rate.

"3. If the value of the refined item exceeds the desired item, the exchange has a one hundred percent success rate.

"4. If the value of the refined item is lower than the desired item, there are varying probabilities of success depending on the value difference. If the exchange fails, the refined item will not be returned."

Refining all things... Equivalent exchange...

A thoughtful gleam flashed in Li Shuang’s eyes. She felt that these rules were not as simple as they appeared on the surface. Equivalent exchange seemed fair, but it didn’t seem to offer her any inherent advantage.

However... did ’equivalent value’ in the Melting Furnace mean the same thing as in the real world?

For example, in theory, the value of one First-rank Spirit Grass was roughly the same as another First-rank Spirit Grass. But in reality, some First-rank Spirit Grasses were mass-cultivated and could be bought anywhere, while others were exceptionally rare or even extinct.

Could the value of these two types of First-rank Spirit Grass be the same?

If she could exchange an ordinary First-rank Spirit Grass for a rare Level 1 Spiritual Grass... she would never lack Spirit Stones again just by profiting off the difference!

The fourth rule also stated that if the value of the refined item was lower than the desired item, there was still a variable probability of success.

Theoretically, she could use low-value items to gamble on high-value ones. As long as there was a chance of success, then with sheer volume, that probability would inch infinitely closer to one hundred percent.

Li Shuang was just about to study the operating principles of the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace when she suddenly raised an eyebrow.

In the Langya Secret Realm, Spiritual Sense was heavily restricted. But because she possessed the Supreme Forget Emotion Technique, her sensing range was much wider than that of an ordinary person.

She sensed someone approaching her in a straight line.

For some reason, she felt an intense sense of crisis this time.

Lili was also quite perceptive; despite still being in the Sword Spirit Space, she had inexplicably become somewhat anxious.

Without any hesitation, Li Shuang quickly sped away.