Chapter 2075: 2075

When the light entered his forehead, countless scraps of information flooded Long Chen’s mind.

“This Moon and Star Refining Furnace has actually participated in a battle with a Sovereign!”

This furnace was exceedingly old and had also been injured gravely. Its item-spirit was a shadow of its former self, and in order to nourish the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill, it had exhausted almost all its energy. 

When Long Chen had first touched the furnace and sent his immense Spiritual Strength into it, he had immediately received its recognition, which was why he had been able to open it. At the same time, he also obtained the recognition of the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill. Therefore, it had actually protected him rather than fleeing.

With the Moon and Star Refining Furnace in its badly damaged state, it was only able to communicate with Long Chen through the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill.

This was why the Mechanism Sect had viewed the Moon and Star Refining Furnace as garbage. They had done countless tests before confirming that its item-spirit was essentially dead, and there was no way to save it.

The item-spirit had essentially sealed itself off in order to survive for longer, waiting for a chance to heal.

Over time, countless master alchemists had tried to communicate with the Moon and Star Refining Furnace, but they hadn’t gotten any reaction, resulting in them assuming that the item-spirit had vanished.

However, in truth, this furnace had been waiting for someone with a powerful soul. As for Long Chen, his soul was definitely the strongest. Only Spiritual Strength on his level could possibly help the item-spirit recover, which was how he had gained its recognition.

Despite that, the damage to the furnace was too serious for it to express its own will. Long Chen could only try to communicate with it through the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill.

This Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill had managed to survive its pill tribulation, resulting in it gaining its own intelligence. It managed to transmit a few fragmentary images of the Moon and Star Refining Furnace’s origins.

The images were chaotic at first, but then they began to clear up. Long Chen saw a battlefield. There was one elder, who, in the last moments of his life, flung the Moon and Star Refining Furnace out of the battlefield.

Someone shouted for a Sovereign. Long Chen then saw a white-robed figure for just a moment before the images grew chaotic once more. Corpses were everywhere. There were mountains of withered bones and rivers of blood.

The images then shifted. He saw a mass of people looking at the Moon and Star Refining Furnace covetously. Then there was a fierce slaughter.

Long Chen guessed that the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill had long since formed within the furnace but had been constantly nourished within it. The pill had still been very immature during the battle, so its memories were hazy. Then when its master died, it went through countless years of slaughter, going through one master after another as they fought over it, in the end falling into the Mechanism Sect’s hands.

“Even in death, your master was thinking of you. This senior is a perfect model for my Dao.” Long Chen had a respectful expression. This alchemist had treated the Moon and Star Refining Furnace as well as the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill as even more important than his own life. He had been willing to die to send them flying out of the battlefield.

This pill was different from other pills. It had absorbed the essence of heaven and earth over countless years and had survived a powerful tribulation. If such a pill was eaten, it would be a waste of a treasure. Long Chen nourished it with his soul. In the future, he would find a chance to give it to Meng Qi. With its help, she could cultivate twice as fast with half the effort.

“To repair the Moon and Star Refining Furnace, the best option is refining pills.” Long Chen smiled. Although the item-spirit was on its last breaths, Long Chen was confident in being able to heal it.

Within his Pill Sovereign memories, there was a certain method to nourish furnaces through refining pills. Perhaps this was all the hidden workings of fate.

Long Chen had urgently needed a powerful furnace. But the Moon and Star Refining Furnace had needed someone who could heal it even more. So it was no coincidence that it had acknowledged Long Chen instantly.

Long Chen first used the Heaven Incinerating Flame to slowly warm up the furnace. He knew it was a powerful furnace, but any concrete details about its abilities would have to wait until the item-spirit awoke. As it was in its injured state, Long Chen didn’t dare to add too much power right at the start.

As he warmed up the furnace, Long Chen sank within his mind. After a bit of time, he began to search for medicinal plants within the primal chaos space.

“Fortunately, I took all the medicinal fields in the Yin Yang World. I didn’t even know that they were eleventh tier ingredients.” At the time when he had taken those ingredients, there hadn’t been eleventh tier medicinal ingredients in his memories. Fortunately, he was in a good habit of taking first and asking questions later.

“Seven Aperture Jewel Fruit, Autumn Water Sea Apple, Rootless Bone-Piece Grass…”

Long Chen picked out over two hundred precious medicines. After taking them out, he smiled. He actually had them all.

For higher tier pills, the requirements for the ingredients were even more stringent. For tenth tier pills or below, perhaps certain ingredients could be substituted if he were missing some, but he couldn’t lack even a single ingredient for an eleventh tier pill. It was a good thing he had them all.

Long Chen smoothly refined these precious medicines one by one. After not refining pills for a long time, he actually felt a bit ashamed.

His rise had started with the FengFu Pill. Refining pills was his foundation, but these years, he had been so focused on cultivation that he hadn’t even thought about his alchemy arts. The Pill Dao was the foundation on which he stood.

The medicinal plants that entered the Moon and Star Refining Furnace slowly withered. Their impurities were forced out, leaving only their essence in the form of powders.

Suddenly, a flash of fire snaked out, and the powders instantly turned to ash.

“As expected. Without the Moon and Star Refining Furnace working with me, it’s too taxing to refine eleventh tier pills on my own,” sighed Long Chen.

Such a scenario rarely happened to Long Chen. After all, refining medicinal plants into powders was one of the easier aspects of alchemy. But today, Long Chen was refining an eleventh tier pill. The requirements just for purifying the ingredients were extremely high. With even the slightest mistake, the refinement could fail. Without enough heat, the medicinal energy wouldn’t get locked into the powder. But if the heat was even a bit too high, it would incinerate the medicinal powders.

“I was too dependent on the Blazing Dragon Cauldron before. I should bring out my own abilities.”

Long Chen rubbed his hands, and with new motivation, his focus was razor-sharp.

Now that he was serious, that kind of mistake didn’t occur again. He refined thirty sets of the ingredients into powders before taking a slight break. When he started once more, what he took out was the Black Illusion Dragon Flame.

This Black Illusion Dragon Flame was not suited to refining pills. Its nature was too berserk, and even though Huo Long had already gained complete control over its power, its nature simply could not be changed. Furthermore, Long Chen had given all its gentle aspects over to the Pill Fairy when they had first obtained it.

He wasn’t using the Black Illusion Dragon Flame to refine anything. He simply wanted to get the Moon and Star Refining Furnace accustomed to a higher heat.

Very quickly, a smile appeared on Long Chen’s face. Although the feeling hadn’t been very noticeable when he had used the Heaven Incinerating Flame, he could clearly feel the Moon and Star Refining Furnace absorbing the energy of his Black Illusion Dragon Flame now.

That was a good sign. Long Chen’s special technique for healing the furnace involved healing it while refining pills. Now that it was absorbing his flame energy, the furnace was slowly awakening from its slumber. 

Long Chen increased the power of the Black Illusion Dragon Flame, but it didn’t affect the rate at which the Moon and Star Refining Furnace absorbed its energy.

After an incense stick’s worth of time, Long Chen had used over twenty different temperatures to test the furnace, only to get no reaction. He finally sighed and pulled the Black Illusion Dragon Flame back.

In its place, he summoned what appeared to be a ball of water but was actually fire. The flames danced in his hand like fine wine that had been ignited. A terrifying heat filled the room.

“Huo Long, work hard. With this kind of power, there’s no way for us to refine pills.” Long Chen frowned.

Huo Long had just gained control of the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame. Using it for fighting was no problem, but using it for refining pills was definitely forcing things.

Huo Long began to strengthen its control. The flame in Long Chen’s hand shrank slightly.

“Control doesn’t depend on size. The main point is the core energy. Ah, this is too difficult for you. We’ll work together.” Long Chen found that there was no way to explain such profound principles with words. Even a smart person wouldn’t be able to understand it immediately.

Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength surged, merging with Huo Long’s power. The Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame slowly became dimmer, and in the end, became as calm as water. Following that, a sudden burst of light came out of it like a volcano.

The volcano erupted and was suppressed time after time. After dozens of passes, Long Chen’s forehead was covered in sweat.

The Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame was too powerful. He and Huo Long were like two children trying to direct a dragon. Even though the dragon was obedient, it was still difficult to control.

Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength was starting to drain quickly. It was as taxing as when he fought all-out in battle.

“That’s about enough. Whether or not I can make some money will be up to this.”

Long Chen took a deep breath and sent the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame into the depths of the furnace. He also sent the powders inside. It was time to truly start the pill refinement.