Shrouding the Heavens

Chapter 163 Purple Qi Refining Cauldron

Within the sixth level of the Flame Region, purple hazy mist filled the air. It was called Purple Qi from the East. It looked precious and rare. This kind of color was originally a lucky omen. But in the Flame Region, it represented terror.

Just how hot the flames were was something that couldn’t even be measured. To be able to burn powerful figures into ashes, it was naturally extremely dangerous. Ye Fan didn’t dare lower his guard even while holding the Bodhi seed.

Ye Fan looked all around and eventually settled on a certain stone forest. This place was comparatively quiet and had thinner purple mist, so it was the most suitable for temporary residence.

It was surrounded by random stones. Some were like sleeping bulls, while some were like bamboo shoots. They were in all sorts of shapes.

“Just how am I supposed to use the purple flame to refine a Vessel?” He frowned. Could it be that he was supposed to draw the purple flame into his Wheel and Sea? That would definitely be extremely dangerous.

Even his physical body was unable to endure it, so if he were to bring it into his body, all kinds of terrifying consequences might occur. But if he didn’t draw it into his body, how was he supposed to refine his cauldron?

Vessels had to be refined within their owner’s bodies. Only then could it be in harmony with the body. There were no other methods. Only in such a way could it draw out its greatest might.

“I’ll just bring in a strand to test it out.”

Holding the Bodhi seed while sitting, the area within three meters of him became a holy land without the slightest purple flame. Ye Fan placed the seed onto the ground and then walked to the edge, carefully extracting the tiniest strand of it.

Just at this moment, the strand of purple Qi startled to pulse and actually ignited the divine energy, melting it into a ball.

Ye Fan was very surprised. This purple Qi was very vigorous, even capable of destroying divine energy. No wonder it even possessed a threat to powerful figures. It truly was incomparably dangerous.

Only when he finally brought that strand of purple Qi near the Bodhi seed did it stop pulsing. It no longer harmed his divine energy and became completely calm.

“Is this even flame? Just as strand of purple Qi is this difficult to deal with. It’s definitely capable of breaking spiritual treasures and piercing through the human body. It really is too shocking.” Ye Fan carefully controlled it, letting it slowly approach his abdomen, and touch the Origin Qi that had flowed out.

Fluctuations arose, and the Xuanhuan became much livelier, slowly flowing across his body. At the same time, the strand of purple mist followed it in synch.

“There really is an effect!” Ye Fan smiled.

Right now, everything he was doing was in order to prepare the refinement of his cauldron. Only by completely controlling the purple Qi could he draw it into his body. With the Bodhi seed in his hand, he focused his completely attention on merging the purple flame with the Origin Qi.

Like a breeze over a lake, ripples began forming on the Origin Qi, and the purple mist was sucked into it.

Ye Fan immediately felt a burst of heat. But it wasn’t a burning sensation. Instead, it was like warm water was flowing over his body.

He smiled at his initial success. Using the Dao Scripture’s mystical arts, he controlled that strand of Origin Qi to flow around his body, going from his hand to arm, his neck to abdomen, etc.

He carefully examined it. After the purple mist had merged with the Origin Qi, it had become much calmer. It didn’t struggle or have any sign of causing trouble.

He then urged his divine energy into the Origin Qi, letting it also merge with it. Everything was still calm, with nothing abnormal happening.

This strand of Origin Qi warmly flowed around his body, like a spring wind was gently massaging him, letting him feel peaceful and relaxed.

It appeared that everything was going well and that there wasn’t any danger.

Half an hour later, Ye Fan drew the Xuanhuan essence back into his body. Of course, he still was careful. He first let it enter the flesh of his arm. If something unexpected happened, he could still quickly stop it.

He had no choice but to be cautious. After all, this kind of flame was even capable of burning apart powerful figures. If he were to directly suck it into his Wheel and Sea and something unexpected occurred, the consequences would be too terrible to contemplate.

It penetrated through his body like Essence Qi. It warmed it up and nothing unexpected occurred. The purple Qi didn’t rebel within his body.

After this test, Ye Fan drew the Origin Qi back to his Wheel and Sea, merging it with the Origin Qi foundation. Due to the strand of purple mist in this Origin Qi, it became much livelier, but with just a single strand, there was no real change.

At this initial stage, everything was going smoothly without any danger. Ye Fan decided to begin sucking in more of the purple flames. Just one strand was too little to refine a cauldron.

Within this ‘Purple Qi from the East’ section of the Flame Region, the Origin Qi had become much more excited and easier to control. The second time, Ye Fan directly sucked in three strands to his Wheel and Sea.

After testing over and over, Ye Fan felt that while the danger did exist, it wasn’t something out of his control. He should be able to use the purple Qi to refine his cauldron.

Half a day later, he was silently sitting there. Using his divine energy, the purple Qi was constantly being drawn into this warded area, before then being absorbed by the Origin Qi.

By this time, he had gradually loosened his hand, and was simultaneously absorbing dozens of strands of purple mist. It used the Xuanhuan to flow back into his Wheel and Sea and condense there.

Two days later, Ye Fan’s Sea of Bitterness’s Origin Qi had become slightly purple and was much warmer. But this was still far from enough to refine a cauldron. The flame’s might had to ignite and blaze forth.

The third day, Ye Fan drew in even more flames. As he quietly sat there, his body was like a statue. Strands of purple mist lingered around it, turning the area around his body hazy.

The fourth day, his Wheel and Sea had a chicken egg-sized ball of flames. The constant collection of the purple mist had finally condensed into a flame with an incomparably hot temperature. Even when it was enveloped by the Xuanhuan, he could still feel bursts of heat.

At this point, Ye Fan didn’t dare to absorb more of the purple Qi. That ball of blazing flames burned at a temperature beyond his expectations. It was like a purple sun was blazing inside him.

“Now is the time!” He started to refine his cauldron.

Holding the Bodhi seed as he sat lotus position upon a stone, his heart was completely calm. A small cauldron appeared within his mind. It had three feet and two handles, simple and natural.

This was the cauldron of his heart. Everything had to be refined according to its specifications. When it took shape, there couldn’t be slightest difference compared to this image.

The Origin Qi surged and enveloped the purple flame. He used his heart to refine and his spirit to forge it. His focus was at its peak. It was like a drawn bow, ready to act any time.

The purple flame blazed. The Origin Qi was hazy as it enveloped the flame. It constantly changed shape, slowly taking the shape of a cauldron.

One day…two days…

Seven days later, a metallic vibrato rang out. It was like real iron, the sound ringing out for a good distance.

In the past, he had managed to refine a cauldron in just half a month to a month. But as soon as it left the green copper, it immediately fell apart.

But today, with this terrifying flame refining it, it wouldn’t easily take shape. It really was like forging the world’s hardest sacred metal. Even after hundreds of refinements, it wasn’t enough to complete its shape.

Ye Fan wasn’t worried. This actually was correct in his opinion. Before, it couldn’t be counted as really refining a cauldron. It was more like just gathering Origin Qi and molding it into that shape. It was like making a skyscraper out of sand. It was doomed to collapse.

But now with this top quality flame source forging it, this was true refining that could make it absolutely invincible!

On the ninth day, the purple flame gradually weakened. With a final flash, it extinguished and completely died out. At this time, the Origin Qi had been refined into an indistinct ball shape and yet to take real shape.

“It really is worthy of being Origin Qi. Even after this flame was completely used up, it still wouldn’t take shape…”

After all, this purple flame was capable of burning to death powerful cultivators. But it had exhausted itself while the cauldron only barely started to take its shape, and was far from the final goal.

Ye Fan stood up and stretched his muscles. After eating some foot and drinking some water, he muttered, “I wonder what’s going on in the outside world. Are there people guarding outside the Flame Region?”

He didn’t immediately start refining his cauldron again. He lifted the Bodhi seed and walked out, wanting to see what was going on outside.

Passing through the different levels of the Flame Region, he finally arrived at the scarlet flames. From a great distance he could already see cultivators pacing back and forth. Ye Fan hid low and used his powerful divine sense to probe them. Everything around them immediately became clear in his mind.

After waiting a long time, he finally heard someone speak.

“This many days have already passed. Can’t we leave yet? This place is really too boring.”

“The Flame Region’s sixth level is where powerful cultivators refine weapons. If he entered even for a short moment he would be burned to ashes. For us to be guarding outside really is overkill.”

Ye Fan silently retreated back into the depths of the Flame Region. Right now, there was nothing more important than refining his cauldron.

Once more absorbing the purple flame into his body, using his past experience, in just half a day he had gathered enough flame source for the purple flame to start burning again.

The metallic vibrato once more rang out. With his complete focus, the refinement of the Origin Qi slowly progressed.

This time he progressed faster, and in just three days the purple flame was exhausted.

“The Origin Qi truly is amazing…”

Ye Fan felt that he could probably absorb more purple flames into his body, otherwise it would never be finished. He really didn’t know how long it would take if it were to continue like this.

In the end, he continuously absorbed the flames. A blazing light gathered within his body, at least as large as a fist. The Origin Qi completely enveloped it. With just another strand, it might overflow.

The blazing purple flame surged, and the metallic sound once more rang out. Ye Fan was completely focused on his refinement.

Suddenly, an unexpected sound rang out. This time, he had gathered too much of the purple flame. While refining the cauldron, it had overflowed from the Origin Qi.

This was not a strand. This was not ten strands. This was a whole ball at least the size of a dragon eye. It was like the blazing concentrated essence of the sun!

Ye Fan’s face immediately turned pale. It wasn’t like he was a Ji Family Grand Elder or the Flickering Light Sacred Master. He was only able to refine here because of the Bodhi seed. But now that the purple flame had charged out, it was a complete disaster.

As expected, after the purple flame escaped from the Origin Qi, it immediately became berserk, wanting to complete burn him into ashes.

BOOM!

Suddenly, the golden Sea of Bitterness began to madly surge, blocking the purple flames and drowning it.

The shocking thing was that the purple flame was almost completely extinuguished when it was engulfed by the golden sea water.

“This…”

Ye Fan was extremely surprised. He hadn’t expected that his special Sea of Bitterness had such power and could suppress the purple flame.

Violet light flashed and the flame rushed back into the Origin Qi. It hadn’t been completely extinguished.

“Hahaha….” Ye Fan laughed and stood up.

Using the Origin Qi to envelop the flame was not the best choice. It should be the flame source that enveloped the Origin Qi. He had originally been very worried. The speed at which he refined his cauldron was too slow. But now, he finally had a way to fix this.

Ye Fan arrived into the most brilliant area of Purple Qi from the East. The mist was very dense there, almost taking a liquid state. There were a couple human shaped ashes on the ground that were clearly powerful cultivators that had been attracted here.

Arriving here, he immediately began to absorb a huge amout of the purple flames, collecting them in his Wheel and Sea. The Origin Qi was completely enveloped. He used his golden Sea of Bitterness to control the purple flames, not letting them rampage.

The purple flames blazed within his Sea of Bitterness, continuously refining the Xuanhuan essence, the metallic sound continuously ringing out inside him.

One day, two days…

Ye Fan didn’t even know how much of the flame he had absorbed. It was like he was forging iron, and this area’s purple mist even became a bit thin.

Three months later, the metallic ringing finally ended and Ye Fan no longer continued absorbing the purple flames.

At this time, a small cauldron had taken shape above his Sea of Bitterness. Simple and natural, two handles giving birth to Yin and Yang, three feet fixing heaven and earth in place, the body containing primal chaos.

Dao and Truth evolved from it, giving birth to all living things. There was a vague feeling of the Dao and the true nature at the beginning of the world.

He had finally succeeded in using the purple Qi to refine his cauldron!

However, Ye Fan still wasn’t satisfied. He felt that this was still just an embryo. He wanted to use an even more powerful flame source to refine it.

He also thought that after the cauldron was perfectly refined, he had to allow profound Dao Glyphs to form within it. Only then would it be the most powerful weapon.

“I still haven’t cultivated Dao Glyphs, but I do have those hundreds of ancient characters, each of which is a priceless treasure…”

Forgot to make a footnote for this last chapter, but Purple Qi/Clouds from the East is a Chinese expression foreordaining lucky events. I didn't make a footnote at the time because it didn't really have anything to do with how the author uses it, but it is a common term you find in such novels.