Chapter 137: The Heaven and Earth Furnace

After the beautiful female disciple of Jialan Peak left, Er Gou came to Lin Fan's side, rubbing his hands together nervously.

“Sect Leader, what do you think of your disciple?” Zhang Er Gou revealed a lecherous smile as he asked.

“Not bad, what’s up?” Lin Fan glanced at him and asked.

“Well, that is, your disciple’s life’s great matter…” Zhang Er Gou was really a bit embarrassed to bring it up; saying it outright would be too blunt, too embarrassing.

Lin Fan looked at Zhang Er Gou helplessly. At this moment, he finally understood—this Zhang Er Gou was a toad lusting after a swan.

Lin Fan sighed, appearing somewhat resigned. “Er Gou, you are the disciple I value most in this sect, and in the future, you will be the seventh sect leader. I have high hopes for you. Do not disappoint me.”

Zhang Er Gou had only wanted the sect leader to make an introduction for him, and if lucky, solve his life’s great matter. But he never expected the sect leader to say such words to him, which caught him completely off guard.

“Mm, rest assured, Sect Leader. Er Gou will definitely not let you down.” Zhang Er Gou’s expression suddenly turned serious.

He had been stunned by the sect leader’s words just now. The disciple most valued by the sect leader, the seventh sect leader of the Holy Demon Sect—all of this made Zhang Er Gou feel that the burden on his shoulders had grown even heavier.

He hadn’t expected the sect leader to think so highly of him. No matter what, he must not let the sect leader down.

“Mm, go on.” Lin Fan waved his hand, then walked into the house.

Zhang Er Gou watched the sect leader’s back and nodded firmly. The romantic feelings he had just harbored were instantly cast aside. Compared to the sect leader’s regard, what were romantic attachments?

The sect leader trusted him so much—how could he let the sect leader down?

One day.

Lin Fan was in the alchemy room specially built by Di Mo, refining a furnace of pills. This was another batch of high-grade pills requested by the outer sect prodigy Jian Wudi.

“Success.”

“Boom…”

Within his sea of consciousness, the furnace lid flew open. A pill exuding a fragrant aroma, radiating three colors of light, drifted down into his palm.

“Ding, congratulations on refining the Earth-grade upper-rank Three-Colored Divine Pill.”

“Ding, congratulations on your secondary profession Alchemy leveling up.”

“Ding, congratulations on your secondary profession Alchemy reaching level twenty, unlocking advanced mode.”

“Ding, congratulations on your secondary profession Alchemy skill upgrading to Heaven and Earth Furnace (0/20).”

“Heaven and Earth Furnace: Smelts heaven and refines earth, transforms all things.”

At this moment, Lin Fan was overjoyed. His alchemy skill had finally advanced, and this upgrade to the Heaven and Earth Furnace piqued his curiosity.

Smelts heaven and refines earth, transforms all things—what unique features could it have?

Moreover, it seemed that the Heaven and Earth Furnace was not the final stage; it could still advance to the next level.

Lin Fan entered his sea of consciousness and silently invoked the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

In an instant, Lin Fan’s mind trembled. Within the sea of consciousness, a furnace appeared, its top touching the heavens and its base grounding the earth. This furnace was far more powerful than the one he had used before, with raging flames that seemed to envelop the entire crucible.

An ancient, timeless aura emanated faintly from the furnace, as if gazing upon it transported one to a primordial era.

…

Lin Fan now prepared to experiment, wanting to see what the Heaven and Earth Furnace could do.

Previously, alchemy could only process herbs and such. Now that it had advanced to the Heaven and Earth Furnace, he wondered what effects it might have.

He tossed a Speed Essence Pill into the Heaven and Earth Furnace, adding no other pills, and let the blazing heavenly fire burn continuously.

In an instant, a faint light flashed, and a pill shot out from the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

“Ding, congratulations on refining a Yellow-grade mid-rank Speed Essence Pill.”

“Ding, congratulations, experience +0.”

…

Lin Fan was astonished. The Speed Essence Pill he had refined earlier was only Yellow-grade lower-rank, but now, after tossing that Yellow-grade lower-rank pill into the Heaven and Earth Furnace for refinement, its quality had improved. This was truly surprising.

However, after advancing to the Heaven and Earth Furnace, refining ordinary pills no longer granted experience. It seemed that future leveling would be more difficult.

The experiment did not end there. If it were only this, it would hardly deserve the name Heaven and Earth Furnace.

At this moment, Lin Fan tossed the upgraded Yellow-grade mid-rank Speed Essence Pill into the Heaven and Earth Furnace, then took out a Purple Frost Sword, a Xuan-grade mid-rank longsword he had looted from Ni Mantian in Cangling Prefecture.

Lin Fan had never used this sword before. Now that he was in Donglin Prefecture, it was useless. He wanted to see if this sword and the Speed Essence Pill could interact.

“Refine!”

At this moment, the flames in the Heaven and Earth Furnace raged fiercely. Lin Fan even saw the Purple Frost Sword melt into a stream of liquid within the furnace, merging with the Speed Essence Pill.

Lin Fan was full of anticipation. He didn’t know what kind of pill this would produce.

If it turned out to be a divine pill, that would be truly remarkable.

Lin Fan knew this was the first experiment in alchemy history. If pills could truly fuse with weapons, it would be a groundbreaking innovation in alchemy.

In an instant, the lid of the Heaven and Earth Furnace opened, and a pitch-black pill appeared in Lin Fan’s palm.

“Ding, congratulations on refining the Earth-grade lower-rank Sword Intent Essence Pill.”

Sword Intent Essence Pill: Formed by the Speed Essence Pill absorbing sword intent.

This was a new product, and it looked like it could be consumed.

Sword intent… sword intent.

At that moment, Lin Fan slapped his thigh and suddenly understood.

Ni Mantian, as the chief disciple of the Sword Pavilion, had superb swordsmanship. The Purple Frost Sword, having accompanied her for years, had naturally absorbed her sword intent over time.

Now, refined together with the pill in the same furnace, the pill had naturally absorbed that sword intent.

The Heaven and Earth Furnace refines heaven and earth; what it refines is merely the will.

The Purple Frost Sword was an inanimate object; no matter how it was refined, it could not become a pill. But whether it was a weapon or anything else, if it had been used by someone, it would retain the will of that person’s cultivation.

At this moment, Lin Fan understood.

The Heaven and Earth Furnace was indeed impressive, but it wasn’t enough. He needed to experiment further.

Lin Fan tossed the Sword Intent Essence Pill into the Heaven and Earth Furnace, then took out a high-grade longsword. He had used this sword before, so it naturally contained his own will.

At this moment, Lin Fan stared intently, not blinking.

Suddenly, Lin Fan frowned. Failure?

“Ding, congratulations on failure. This pill cannot withstand three refinements.”

Failure and still saying congratulations—how annoying.

Three refinements?

It seemed that the Yellow-grade lower-rank Speed Essence Pill could only withstand two refinements. He wondered if pills of slightly higher grade could withstand more refinements.

But by the end of the experiment, Lin Fan was completely reckless.

The number of refinements was not determined by the pill’s grade; other pills were like the Speed Essence Pill, able to withstand at most two refinements. Any more would result in failure.

He didn’t know if he had yet to discover new rules or if it was truly the case. It seemed he would need to explore further in the future.