Chapter 162: Purple Energy Refining Cauldron

In the sixth level of the fiery domain, the purple mist was ethereal and hazy, appearing incomparably noble. This color, inherently an auspicious omen, paradoxically represented terror within this fiery realm.

The intensity of the fire energy was immeasurable; it had incinerated powerful figures into ash. It was extremely perilous, and even with the Bodhi seed in hand, Ye Fan dared not lower his guard.

After much searching, Ye Fan finally settled in a stone forest. This place was relatively quiet with thinner purple mist, making it suitable for a temporary stay. All around, scattered rocks lay in disarray, some resembling reclining oxen, others like bamboo shoots, forming peculiar shapes.

"How exactly should I use this purple fire to forge artifacts?" he wondered, furrowing his brows. Was he supposed to introduce the purple fire into his Sea of Suffering? That would be incredibly dangerous.

His physical body alone couldn't withstand it, and if it were introduced inside, who knew what terrible things might occur? Yet, if the fire wasn't brought into his body, how could he forge the cauldron? An artifact had to be refined within the body to truly integrate with oneself; there was simply no other way to unleash its full power.

"I'll try just drawing in a wisp," he decided. He sat holding the Bodhi seed, and within a three-meter radius, a pure land formed spontaneously, completely devoid of purple flames.

Ye Fan placed the seed on the ground, then moved to the edge, carefully and cautiously drawing in the purple fire, not daring to take too much. He used his divine power to extract only a single wisp. "Hiss!" Just then, that wisp of purple energy began to pulse, astonishingly igniting his divine power and rapidly dissolving a small portion of it.

Ye Fan was greatly startled. This purple energy was so incredibly potent that it could even obliterate divine power. No wonder it posed a threat to powerful figures; it was indeed extremely perilous.

Only when that wisp of purple energy was contained near the Bodhi seed did it stop pulsating, no longer harming his divine power, and completely calm down.

"What kind of fire is this?" Ye Fan murmured to himself. "Just a wisp of purple energy is so powerful; it could definitely cleave spirit treasures and pierce human bodies. It's truly astonishing." He carefully controlled it, allowing it to slowly approach his skin and touch a wisp of the Mother Qi of All Things that emanated from him.

Slight ripples emanated. That wisp of profound yellow (Mother Qi of All Things) suddenly became much more active, slowly flowing across his skin. At the same time, the purple mist, as if drawn in, moved in sync with it, flowing just above. "It really works!" Ye Fan exclaimed, a look of delight on his face.

At this stage, everything was in preparation for forging the cauldron. Only by truly understanding the purple energy could he introduce it into his body. Holding the Bodhi seed, he concentrated all his mind, allowing the purple fire to interact with the Mother Qi of All Things.

Like a gentle breeze sweeping across a lake, creating small ripples, that wisp of Mother Qi of All Things emitted strange fluctuations, seemingly absorbing the purple mist.

Ye Fan immediately felt a warmth, without any burning sensation. It was like warm water flowing across his skin, providing a very comfortable sensation.

With this initial success, a faint smile appeared on his lips. He circulated the mysterious techniques recorded in the "Dao Scripture," allowing that fine wisp of Mother Qi of All Things to flow across his body's surface, from his fingers to his arms, then to his neck, chest, abdomen, and thighs.

He observed carefully: after the purple mist merged into the Mother Qi of All Things, it remained very calm, neither struggling nor showing any signs of rampaging.

Afterward, he activated his divine power, injecting it into the Mother Qi of All Things, allowing them to blend. It remained very calm, without any abnormalities.

This wisp of Mother Qi flowed across his body's surface, like a warm spring breeze or a gentle massage, making him feel incredibly comfortable and relaxed. From all indications, everything was normal, and there was no danger.

Half a quarter of an hour later, Ye Fan guided this wisp of profound yellow essence into his body. Naturally, everything proceeded in an orderly fashion. He first allowed it to enter the flesh and blood of his arm, reasoning that if anything unexpected occurred, he could quickly block it.

He had to be this cautious. After all, this purple fire threatened even powerful figures; if he directly introduced it into his Sea of Suffering and an accident occurred, the consequences would be unimaginable.

As it moved through his flesh and blood, it felt like vital energy flowing, warm with a slight fluctuation. Still, to his surprise, the purple energy did not rampage upon entering his body.

After repeated attempts, Ye Fan guided this wisp of Mother Qi of All Things back to his Sea of Suffering, where it merged and integrated with the Mother Qi source. The Mother Qi near the purple mist became more active, but since there was only a single wisp of purple energy, it didn't truly cause any significant change.

In the initial stage, everything went smoothly without any danger. Ye Fan decided to start absorbing more purple fire; after all, a single wisp was far too little to forge a cauldron.

In this fiery domain known as "Purple Qi Coming from the East," the Mother Qi of All Things was active and relatively easy to control. The second time, Ye Fan directly drew in three wisps, and after absorbing the purple energy, they returned to his Sea of Suffering.

After repeated attempts, Ye Fan concluded that while danger certainly existed, it was manageable. He believed he could forge the cauldron using the purple energy.

Days later, he sat quietly cross-legged, continuously drawing purple energy into this pure land with his divine power, which was then absorbed by the Mother Qi of All Things.

By now, he gradually became bolder, simultaneously absorbing dozens of wisps of mist that flowed back to his Sea of Suffering along with the profound yellow, accumulating little by little.

Two days later, in Ye Fan's Sea of Suffering, the Mother Qi of All Things had turned slightly purple and felt warm. However, this was far from enough; to forge the cauldron, the fire energy needed to be vigorous and fiercely burning.

On the third day, Ye Fan increased the intensity of drawing in the fire. He sat still on a grindstone, his body like a statue, with wisps of purple mist swirling around him, making his physical form appear hazy.

On the fourth day, a mass of raging flames the size of a chicken egg pulsed within his Sea of Suffering. The purple mist continuously gathered, finally forming true flames, incredibly hot. Even though it was enveloped by the profound yellow, waves of heat could still be felt.

By now, Ye Fan no longer dared to draw in more purple energy. The fire energy contained within that mass of flames exceeded his initial expectations; it was like a purple sun burning within him. "Now's the time!" he declared, and began forging the cauldron.

He held the Bodhi seed, sat cross-legged on a green stone, and his mind was completely tranquil. In his sea of consciousness, a small cauldron appeared, with three legs and two ears, ancient and natural in its design.

This was the cauldron in his mind, and everything had to be forged precisely according to this image until it took shape, without the slightest deviation or flaw.

The Mother Qi of All Things surged, enveloping the purple fire. He hammered with his heart and forged with his spirit, his concentration as taut as a drawn bowstring. The purple fire burned, and the Mother Qi of All Things, enveloping the flames, continuously transformed, evolving toward the shape of a cauldron. After one day... two days... seven days, clanging sounds were actually emitted, as if real iron were being hammered, echoing far into the distance.

In the past, forging a cauldron wasn't difficult for him; it could take shape in half a month to a month. However, as soon as it left the green bronze block, it would immediately disintegrate, proving impossible to maintain.

Yet now, forging it with terrifying fire energy, it was surprisingly difficult for it to take shape. It was truly like refining the hardest holy iron in the world; countless hammerings merely transformed it into a formless mass.

Ye Fan was not worried; this was how it should be. Previously, what he did wasn't true cauldron forging; it was merely coalescing Mother Qi. Such a formation was like building a tall structure on a sandy beach, destined to collapse. Now, forging with a supreme fire source, this was true artifact refining, and once formed, it would be indestructible!

On the ninth day, the purple fire gradually weakened, then flickered out, completely consumed and extinguished. At this point, the Mother Qi of All Things had been refined into an irregular shape, far from its final form. "As expected of the Mother Qi of All Things," he mused, "even after such powerful fire energy was completely exhausted, it still couldn't be fully shaped..." It was important to remember that this purple fire could incinerate powerful figures, yet when used for forging the cauldron, it only just allowed the material to take an initial, crude shape, far from meeting his requirements.

Ye Fan stood up, stretched his limbs, then ate some food and drank some water, muttering to himself, "I wonder what's happening outside. Is anyone guarding the edge of the fiery domain?" He did not immediately resume forging the cauldron; instead, holding the Bodhi seed, he walked outwards, wanting to investigate.

After continuously passing through several layers of the fiery domain, he finally reached the red fire zone. Through the flames, he could see cultivators lingering in the distance. Ye Fan concealed himself, extending his powerful divine sense outwards, and everything nearby was immediately clearly captured in his sea of mind. After waiting for a long time, he finally heard someone speak. "So many days have passed. Can we finally leave? It's utterly boring here!" one person complained. "The sixth level of the fiery domain is where powerful figures forge artifacts. He would turn to ashes in no time if he went in there. Why bother making us guard this place? It's completely unnecessary."

Ye Fan silently retreated back into the depths of the fiery domain, no longer paying attention to those people. Nothing was more important now than forging the cauldron into its final shape.

Once again drawing the purple fire into his body, he did so with ease. In less than half a day, he gathered enough fire source. The purple flames were intensely hot, enveloped by the Mother Qi of All Things. "Clang, clang, clang!"

The sounds of hammering iron echoed again. He focused intently, concentrating his essence, qi, and spirit to forge the Mother Qi, slowly allowing it to take shape. This time it was faster; in just three days, the purple fire extinguished. "The Mother Qi of All Things is truly unimaginable..." he murmured.

Ye Fan realized he could draw more purple fire into his body; otherwise, he would always be giving up halfway, and he had no idea when the cauldron would finally take shape.

Finally, he continuously drew in fire, gathering a dazzling ball of light inside his body, as large as a fist. The Mother Qi of All Things barely managed to contain it; even a tiny bit more would cause it to overflow. The purple fire burned fiercely, flames surging, and the clanging sounds resumed as Ye Fan hammered with his heart and forged with his spirit.

"Puff!" Suddenly, something unexpected happened. This time, he had gathered too much purple fire, and during the forging process, it overflowed from the Mother Qi of All Things.

This wasn't just a wisp, or even dozens of wisps; it was a small mass, about the size of a dragon's eye, burning fiercely like a miniature sun, resembling a concentrated solar core!

Ye Fan's face immediately turned pale. He was not a Grand Elder of the Ji family, nor the Saint Lord of Yaoguang; his ability to forge artifacts here was solely due to his possession of the Bodhi seed. Now that the purple fire had burst out, it spelled disaster.

As expected, once the purple fire escaped the Mother Qi of All Things, it immediately turned violent, as if it intended to incinerate the nine heavens and reduce him to ash. "Boom!" Suddenly, his golden Sea of Suffering churned, raising boundless waves that blocked the purple fire, engulfing it within.

Something shocking happened: the purple flames were swept away by the golden seawater, immediately submerged and on the verge of extinguishing. "This..."

Ye Fan was greatly astonished. He hadn't expected his unique Sea of Suffering to possess such power, suppressing the purple fire.

With a flash of purple light, the flames rushed back into the Mother Qi of All Things, fortunately not extinguishing.

"Hahahaha..." Ye Fan burst into laughter, rising to his feet.

Containing the flames with Mother Qi was fundamentally a reluctant choice; it should have been the fire source containing the Mother Qi. He had originally been worried that forging the cauldron at such a slow pace would take forever, but now he finally had a solution.

Ye Fan immediately stood up and went to the most intense part of the "Purple Qi Coming from the East" fiery domain, where the mist was so dense it seemed like an unmelting liquid. There were some human-shaped ashes on the ground, clearly indicating that powerful figures also frequented this place.

Sealing off this area, he directly absorbed massive amounts of purple fire, continuously gathering it into his Sea of Suffering. The Mother Qi of All Things was completely enveloped, and he used his golden Sea of Suffering to suppress the purple fire, preventing it from leaking out.

The purple flames burned fiercely in his Sea of Suffering, relentlessly forging the profound yellow essence, and the clanging sounds were ceaseless.

One day... two days... Ye Fan didn't know how much fire energy he had absorbed, but he was like a blacksmith every day, and the purple mist in this area had visibly thinned. It wasn't until three months later that the clanging sounds finally ceased, and Ye Fan stopped drawing in purple flames.

At this moment, above his Sea of Suffering, a small cauldron took shape, ancient and natural. Its two ears symbolized Yin and Yang, its three legs stabilized heaven and earth, and its circular body encompassed chaos.

It seemed to embody both "Dao" and "principle," coming into tangible form and containing all things, subtly conveying a sense of the origin of heaven and earth and the natural law of the Dao. Forging the cauldron with purple energy had finally resulted in its complete formation!

However, Ye Fan was not satisfied. He felt this was merely a rough embryo, and he wanted to temper it with an even stronger fire source.