Chapter 280: Life Furnace?
Violet Fate Celestial Land. The holiest place in the Sect.
There were many legends regarding this particular Celestial Land. All of them, however, had something to do with the almighty Reverend Violet East, who had founded the Sect tens of thousands of years ago.
Many years after the Sect’s Founding, this Celestial Land gradually came to be the location where the Violet Fate Sect grew its medicinal herbs. Eventually more types of medicinal plants came to grow there than in the entire rest of the Southern Domain put together.
That was the location of the East Pill Division’s Dao Reserve. Within the Violet Fate Celestial Land, at the far end of the limitless stretches of medicinal plant fields, was a mountain so tall it seemed to have no top!
This mountain, which could be seen from an incredible distance, was known as Violet East Mountain!
According to one legend, in his later years, Reverend Violet East sat atop this mountain and slowly passed away in meditation… afterward it became a place of pilgrimage.
At the foot of the mountain was an enormous pill furnace glowing with a seven-colored light. It looked exactly the same as the furnace on top of Eastern Emergence Mountain, except somehow more real. It emanated an archaic aura.
Suddenly, the air at the foot of the mountain began to ripple like liquid. Multiple figures emerged, and when the ripples faded away, Meng Hao, Chu Yuyan, Ye Feimu and the others were all there.
In front of them was the shockingly high mountain. Starting at the foot of the mountain, ten small paths zigzagged up toward the top. Each path began there, and then took different routes to the top.
As to which path to select, that would be based on the feeling each candidate got from the paths. In any case, it was easy to see that there was little difference in the difficulty of traversing the various paths.
Meng Hao looked up toward the peak of the imposing mountain. Its higher regions were blurry, and it was actually impossible to see the peak itself. Nor was it actually possible to even estimate how tall the mountain was.
Meng Hao wasn’t the only one looking up at it. The other nine people around him, including Chu Yuyan and Ye Feimu, were gazing toward it.
Other than the ten paths, the main thing that filled their vision was the enormous pill furnace!
After some time passed, Ye Feimu’s eyes glittered with determination. He turned to glance over at the others. His gaze did not come to rest upon any of them. His supercilious expression seemed to say that he knew he would become a Violet Furnace Lord, and that none of the other candidates were able to match up to him.
His pride and dignity seemed to fill him with one hundred percent confidence that this title of Violet Furnace Lord belonged only to him!
He shot toward the pill furnace and sat down cross-legged in the spot directly east of it.
Chu Yuyan looked at him and took a deep breath. Her eyes also filled with the glow of determination.
“You might be Grandmaster Pill Cauldron, who I admire so much, but now the time has come for me to go up against you….” Closing her eyes, she sat down next to the Pill Furnace.
After her, Meng Hao and the others approached and selected various positions to sit down. The first phase of the competition had begun; it was time for the candidates to acquire their Life Furnaces!!
Meng Hao had no clue how to actually get the furnace. However, as soon as the ten of them sat down cross-legged around the seven-colored pill furnace, the glow around it began to flicker, and then suddenly shot out toward the candidates.
A tremor ran through Meng Hao’s body, and he suddenly sensed something calling to him, murmuring within his mind. He reached out to touch it with Spiritual Sense, and suddenly his mind reeled, and he felt as if he had lost contact with his body.
He could no longer see the mountain or the Celestial Land. Instead, a strange world stretched out in front of his eyes.
It was boundless and filled with curling mists. A six-colored glow was everywhere, a glow that was missing the color violet. It pierced through the mists, shining everywhere. Meng Hao looked at everything mutely. He couldn’t feel his body, but he was somehow there. He suddenly realized that by concentrating, he could move.
His body was not here in this world, only his will. The world sped by in front of him as he shot through the mists. As he moved, occasional beams of bright light would shoot past him.
It seemed like this place had no end. Everything was a blur….
Inside the Celestial Land, beneath the mountain, next to the pill furnace, Meng Hao sat there cross-legged. His expression seemed to be constantly changing, as if he were lost in a dream. All of the others around him looked exactly the same. Their expressions seemed to flicker with surprise, confusion and thoughtfulness.
Meanwhile, outside of the Violet Fate Celestial Land, atop Eastern Emergence Mountain, ten glowing, richly colored screens suddenly blossomed up out of the pill furnace. Images gradually became clear on the screens, depicting each of the people within the trial by fire.
As they sat there cross-legged, their expressions were clearly visible to all of the alchemists of the East Pill Division who sat on the mountaintop, as well as the representatives from the other Sects and Clans who had come to observe the proceedings.
Each and every action of the ten within the Celestial Land was clearly visible to everyone.
The mountaintop was peaceful, and everyone seemed to be dividing their attention between the ten various screens.
Lin Hailong looked at them and murmured to himself, “Every Violet Furnace Lord trial by fire requires the candidates to proceed through four regions and face four tests. However, before facing the tests, they must acquire their personal Life Furnaces. The Life Furnace is the key… the type of furnace acquired will depend completely on the good fortune of the alchemist….”
Meng Hao lost track of time as he proceeded on through the endless emptiness. All he could see was mist, and the six-colored glow. There was nothing else.
After a very long time had passed, Meng Hao was starting to feel tired. Suddenly, a violet glow flickered up ahead of him. Meng Hao peered forward. His attention was seized by this violet glow that suddenly appeared in a world which lacked violet.
The violet glow didn’t move, but just sat there, flickering. Suddenly, a pill furnace became visible within the glow, about the size of an infant’s fist.
Magical symbols circulated around the pill furnace, which emanated a violet light.
Just as Meng Hao’s will moved forward to touch the pill furnace, it suddenly shot backward, streaming magical symbols. Before Meng Hao could get any closer, it sped off into the distance.
Meng Hao muttered to himself for a moment, then proceeded forward. Not much time passed before he caught sight of another violet glow, within which was another pill furnace. It looked a bit different than the other one, as it had three legs. However, as Meng Hao approached, it too disappeared off into the distance.
“So,” Meng Hao thought to himself, “I have to select a furnace, and the furnace has to select me….” He decided to stop moving, and instead calmed himself and settled his will. “I’ll use my Dao of alchemy to communicate with this world created by the Mother of Furnaces. I will search the emptiness for the Life Furnace that is fated to belong to me….” With that, he figuratively closed his eyes.
Time passed, a very, very long time. Meng Hao gradually grew calmer. Soon, within his mind, he saw nine spheres of will; these nine spheres were the other candidates within the trial by fire.
He could sense them, and they, in turn, could sense him.
It was a strange feeling. They couldn’t see each other, but they could feel each other. Meng Hao and the other nine relied on their Dao of alchemy to sense this world, and to attempt to draw out their own personal Life Furnace.
Gradually, Meng Hao could see one beam of glowing light after another appearing around the other nine people. Chu Yuyan had attracted seven or eight pill furnaces of various colors.
As for Ye Feimu, he had dozens spinning around him; all of them seemed to desire to be selected by him.
The other people had two or three at the minimum.
Meng Hao was the only person who only had one pill furnace in front of him. His heart sank momentarily before he calmed himself.
“In my Dao of alchemy,” he thought, “my body is the pill furnace and my heart is the pill formula. Few people can conform to this philosophy, therefore, it is difficult for me to attract a suitable Life Furnace.” He began to murmur, sending his will out in all directions. “Pill Furnaces, if you follow me, you will reach the pinnacle. Come with me, and become eternal!”
Suddenly an almost countless number of glowing lights appeared throughout the nothingness of the world. More than ten thousand of them flickered in all corners of the world. The pill furnaces trembled, as if they were reacting to Meng Hao’s voice.
“In my Dao of alchemy, my body is the furnace and my heart is the formula. I will refine all the myriads of things in nature; I will refine the transformations of the sun and moon. Such a refining requires a furnace, my Life Furnace. Follow me for a life of transformation….” His will surged out, growing stronger, increasing the number of pill furnaces that reacted to him to over one hundred thousand. Half among them began to quiver violently, seemingly excited, and yet hesitating.
“I vow that whichever pill furnace follows me will never be destroyed. It will never shatter!” His will echoed out, growing even stronger. Among the fifty thousand trembling pill furnaces, ten thousand of them began to emit droning noises.
“I vow that whichever pill furnace follows me will concoct medicinal pills of the stars, and will give birth to Pill Spirit! This is my personal vow!” His will soared, and in that instant, within the ten thousand pill furnaces, one thousand began to drone even louder, and emit even brighter, glittering auras.
“I vow that whichever pill furnace belongs to me, when I achieve my Dao, it will incarnate a body!” His will thundered out. Among the thousand pill furnaces was a violet furnace which suddenly shot out of nowhere, heading directly toward Meng Hao.
Meng Hao formless eyes opened, and in front of him, he saw a nine-legged violet furnace!
It shone with a flickering, violet glow as it floated in the air in front of him. Magical symbols emanated off of it. It was obvious from a mere glance that it was completely beyond ordinary.
“This is the Life Furnace which belongs to me, selected from within the void….” Meng Hao’s eyes shone brightly, and he slowly lifted up his hand to take hold of the furnace. It was at this exact moment that suddenly, a powerful screaming noise shook the entire world.
The pill furnace in front of Meng Hao began to tremble, as did all the pill furnaces hovering around the other nine candidates. They all seemed… terrified….
Something violent and shocking was about to happen!
—–
This chapter was sponsored by Robert Kunzi