Chapter 2: Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace

The moment the Skill Tree indicated it was illuminated, Su Han saw some new information appear on the Skill Tree, which had transformed into a fiery tree:

Option 1: Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace (Incomplete).

Option 2: King's Dominating Aura (One Country).

Looking at the two skills on the Skill Tree, a sense of enlightenment dawned on Su Han. The Skill Tree was indeed illuminated, but while it offered two skills, he could only choose one.

Skill One: Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace. Judging by the name alone, even though he had no idea what it was, it certainly sounded profound and incredibly impressive. However, no matter how amazing it might be, it couldn't overcome the word "Incomplete" attached to the end. What did "incomplete" mean? It meant it wasn't whole!

Looking at Skill Two: The legendary King's Dominating Aura! Invisible and untouchable, yet undeniably real. According to ancient legends, once the King's Dominating Aura was unleashed, everything within sight and across the four seas would bow in submission. It was absolutely a passive Divine Technique!

Therefore, faced with a choice between the two—an incomplete skill and the King's Dominating Aura—Su Han did not hesitate to choose... the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace (Incomplete).

Nonsense, he had never even thought about becoming an emperor, so what use would he have for the King's Dominating Aura? Just to make his body tremble slightly and have lackeys bow down in reverence? He didn't need the King's Dominating Aura for that at all. His identity as the Crown Prince of Prince Jing's Residence, the future Young Prince, was more than enough. Besides, this King's Dominating Aura was restricted solely to Jing Country.

As for the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace, although he didn't know exactly what it was, the name alone gave off an extraordinary vibe. Even if it was incomplete, it had to be far better than the King's Dominating Aura. As for how he knew—wasn't it obvious? The Skill Tree had ranked this incomplete skill in the first place!

Upon making his choice, with a mere thought, a strand of Dao Rhyme was extracted from the burning Skill Tree in a vision only Su Han could see. It transformed into a streak of light and sank into his Sea of Consciousness.

The next moment, a massive amount of information flooded his mind. Despite the sheer volume, it seeped in silently and gently, like a fine spring rain, causing him no discomfort whatsoever. As the information poured in, Su Han received and assimilated it without any hindrance. By the time the influx ceased, the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace skill, born from that strand of Dao Rhyme, had become deeply ingrained into his very instincts.

Simultaneously, a passage of text surfaced in Su Han's mind:

"Transform the body into the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace, take the Three Thousand Great Dao as the fire, and cultivate the Furnace-Nurtured Hundred Scriptures. When the scriptures are complete, the heavens will struggle to destroy you, and the earth will struggle to claim you."

Interpreting this text, a wave of wild ecstasy surged through Su Han's heart. Based on the meaning of these words, this so-called Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace couldn't truly be considered a skill; rather, it was something akin to a Cultivation Method. To cultivate according to this method, one needed to use their own body as the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace and the Three Thousand Great Dao as the furnace fire to achieve the Furnace-Nurtured Hundred Scriptures.

Once the scriptures were complete, one would theoretically be invincible across heaven and earth. After all, neither the heavens could destroy them nor the earth claim them. However, intuition told Su Han that this passage was absolutely exaggerating. If mastering this thing truly created an existence that heaven couldn't destroy and earth couldn't claim, as mentioned in the scriptures, then this Cultivation Technique would absolutely not be tolerated by the world. After all, the heavens weren't stupid.

Skipping past this seemingly boastful text, Su Han was just about to continue reading when an inexplicable sense of crisis suddenly welled up in his heart. He instinctively wanted to hightail it out of there, but just as he lifted his foot, a sharp pain flared in his ear. A small hand had pinched it tightly.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Turning his head, he looked at his mother. Even though she was over forty, she remained as beautiful as a teenage girl. Su Han forced a smile onto his face that looked worse than a crying grimace.

"Mother, I saw you arriving and was worried you might get tired standing, so I wanted to fetch a chair for you."

The hand pinching his ear released its grip. The Princess Consort gave a faint nod and said, "Go on."

Rubbing his throbbing ear, Su Han walked bitterly into the house. When he returned, he was carrying two chairs. Watching his mother sit down, Su Han laughed awkwardly. "Mother, what brings you to my humble courtyard?"

The Princess Consort sat in her chair, not even sparing him a glance, and simply replied with a cold snort.

At a loss for what to do, Su Han's eyes pleaded with his father, who was sitting next to his mother, urging him to quickly say a good word on his behalf. True to being his biological father, Prince Jing easily deciphered the meaning behind Su Han's gaze and blinked at him a few times.

Su Han understood the message immediately—he couldn't help.

Su Han's face darkened. He blinked his left eye three times, his right eye twice, and then held up one finger. He was signaling, "Three bottles of Snowflake Brew, two grand feasts, plus a love poem for you to please your wife."

Prince Jing shook his head, taking the opportunity to fleece his own son. He blinked his left eye five times, his right eye three times, and then splayed all five fingers of his right hand.

Su Han nearly rolled his eyes in anger. He had never seen a father so willing to leave his son in the lurch. He blinked his left eye three times, then his right eye three times. After a moment's thought, he held up three fingers on his right hand.

Prince Jing shook his head, indicating he refused to haggle.

Su Han glared at him and was just about to curse him for being disloyal when the Princess Consort spoke up with a cold expression.

"What are you two doing, winking and making faces? Do you think I'm blind?"

Prince Jing and Su Han quickly lowered their heads, indicating they wouldn't dare. However, with his head bowed, Prince Jing mischievously raised an eyebrow at Su Han, his face full of schadenfreude.

Gritting his teeth, Su Han blinked both eyes twice simultaneously—deal.

Prince Jing instantly beamed with joy, looking exactly like a weasel that had just successfully stolen a chicken. He was tempted to use the opportunity to raise the price even further, but realized it might damage his credibility and make future deals harder, so he hesitated and ultimately gave up the thought.

Seeing his mother's darkened expression, Su Han shot a fierce glare at the disloyal Prince Jing, urging him to quickly think of a solution. Having secured his benefits, Prince Jing proved somewhat reliable. He coughed twice to draw his wife and son's attention before fixing a mock-stern gaze on Su Han's face.

"Han, this tree in your courtyard was planted by The Ancestor himself one thousand three hundred years ago. Now that you've burned it down, shouldn't you give your father... shouldn't you give your mother and father an explanation?"

After saying this, Prince Jing covertly winked at Su Han. The meaning was clear: I can only help you this much; you'll have to spin the rest of the nonsense yourself.

Su Han fully understood his father's intention and immediately nodded. "Father, Mother, the reason I burned this tree is entirely because I received guidance from The Ancestor in a dream."

"Oh?" The Princess Consort took the offered excuse, her gaze landing on Su Han's face. "The Ancestor instructed you to burn down the very tree he planted with his own hands? Do you really think your father and I would believe such an excuse? Or do you think His Majesty would believe it?"

Su Han kept his head bowed. "Mother, every word I speak is the truth."

"Truly?" the Princess Consort asked.

"Truly," Su Han affirmed.

The Princess Consort nodded. "I believe my dear Han wouldn't lie to deceive us, but without any proof, I'm afraid His Majesty won't buy it."

Su Han instantly caught on and bowed with his hands clasped. "Mother, you might not know this, but for the past half-month, I have dreamt of The Ancestor imparting his Cultivation Technique to me every single day. Unfortunately, my natural talent is too poor, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't learn it.

"Last night, after yet another fruitless attempt, The Ancestor comforted me in my dream. He said it wasn't that my aptitude was poor, but rather that because I have lived in the courtyard where he once resided since childhood, my cultivation talent has been suppressed by his lingering Dao Rhyme.

"To be able to cultivate normally, the only way was to destroy the Dao Rhyme he left behind. The Ancestor pointed out in my dream that the true vessel containing his lingering Dao Rhyme in this courtyard is this ancient tree he planted one thousand three hundred years ago.

"As long as I burned this tree to the ground, my cultivation talent would no longer be suppressed."

Listening to her son's utter nonsense, the Princess Consort pondered for a moment before turning to look at Prince Jing.

Catching her drift, Prince Jing thought for a second and asked, "Since you knew the reason, why didn't you just inform your mother and me and move to another courtyard? Why did you absolutely have to burn down the tree left by The Ancestor?"

Su Han replied, "Father, you might not know this, but I had the exact same question. However, The Ancestor told me in the dream that because I have lived in this courtyard for so long, I had already formed a karmic connection with his Dao Rhyme. Even if I moved out, I would still be suppressed by his Dao Rhyme unless the ancient tree containing its residue was completely destroyed."

Prince Jing and his wife exchanged a glance, both secretly nodding in agreement. This answer was more than enough to fob off—ahem—to formally respond to the Emperor's impending reprimand.

"In that case, it seems your mother wrongly blamed you." The Princess Consort stood up, her expression softening as she smiled at her son. "Since The Ancestor thinks so highly of you that he would instruct you to destroy the ancient tree he planted just so you could cultivate... from today onwards, you must cultivate diligently. Do not let The Ancestor's painstaking efforts go to waste."

Hearing his mother's words, Su Han's face instantly turned sour.

The Princess Consort, however, looked like a triumphant rooster. She held her head high, shot her husband a look, and the two of them turned and walked out of Su Han's courtyard.

"Do you think Han's nonsense can actually fool His Majesty?" she asked.

Prince Jing pondered for two seconds. "Although I am smart, I am not that much smarter than my older brother. Even I could easily tell that Han was spouting pure nonsense. Even if my brother is a bit duller than me, if he gives it some thought, he'll likely figure out that the boy was lying through his teeth."

The Princess Consort nodded. "So what if he figures it out? He wanted an excuse, and we gave him one. Does that Iron Head Child dare to punish my son? You worthless man! Did you give up the throne to him back then just so he could punish my son?"

Hearing this, Prince Jing actually nodded in strong agreement. The Iron Head Child... er, his older brother, the Emperor, probably really didn't dare to make his wife unhappy. After all, if she were to bring up all the dark history of how the Emperor had once tried to court her, every single instance was full of youthful absurdity. Thinking of this, Prince Jing's slight worry for his son completely vanished.

The carefree Prince Jing was now busy debating whether the Snowflake Brew his son personally crafted would pair better with the Eight Great Bowls or braised dishes. He wondered if extorting a grand imperial feast out of him would be pushing it too far.

The Princess Consort's voice rang out again. "Right, after we get back, pick out a few easier Cultivation Techniques left by The Ancestor and send them to Han. Since he spun this nonsense about The Ancestor imparting skills in his dreams, we have to at least put on a show. Who knows, maybe the next time our son gets into trouble, this connection of having received dream teachings from The Ancestor might actually be of some use."

Prince Jing thought about it, found his wife's reasoning sound, and nodded in agreement. After nodding, Prince Jing was just about to consider whether he should pick a few specific dishes from the grand imperial feast to taste when he suddenly noticed the red glow in front of him dimming.

Turning around, he saw that the fire in his son's courtyard was gradually dying down and on the verge of burning out. Staring at the fading flames, Prince Jing asked out of nowhere, "Speaking of which, didn't we completely forget to have someone put out the fire?"

The Princess Consort nodded, looking as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Why would we put out the fire?"

Prince Jing gave his wife a surprised look. "That... is the tree planted by The Ancestor's own hands."

"But didn't The Ancestor pass away over nine hundred years ago?"

Prince Jing nodded, and the Princess Consort continued, "Since our son wanted to burn his tree, he naturally had his reasons for burning it. Why should we save a tree that our son wants to burn? Just because it was planted by The Ancestor's own hands back then?"

Prince Jing gave it a thought. She was absolutely right! As expected of his Princess Consort, her words were... incredibly sound!