Chapter 950 - Refining the Two Treasures

As soon as the Winter Crystal Leaf entered the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, it unleashed an even more terrifying icy energy as if sensing the looming threat.

Let's refine the Molten Flame Stone as well.

Time was running out, and he decided to refine the two treasures simultaneously.

The Molten Flame Stone represented fire, while the Winter Crystal Leaf represented ice. They were opposites in nature, like yin and yang. Their opposing nature made them easier to balance during the refinement process.

Then again, had time permitted, Liu Wuxie wouldn't have chosen such a reckless approach. He risked losing energy by refining both treasures simultaneously.

However, he had no choice. Fiery was in danger, and he had to finish his breakthrough quickly.

After the Molten Flame Stone was thrown into the cauldron, the scene inside transformed entirely. One side was a blazing inferno, and the other had endless frost. The two polar extremes crashed within the same space.

Demonic flames gushed from the bottom of the cauldron, fusing with the Molten Flame Stone. The surface of the Molten Flame Rock melted and dissolved into pure fire energy.

Though it looked like a flame, it didn't just contain heat; there was something that resembled light, but not quite.

The demonic flames couldn't contain the Winter Crystal Leaf, so Liu Wuxie had to wrap it in his true essence, breaking it down rapidly.

Terrifying icy laws gushed and formed into icy pearls, hovering above the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

......

Time slipped by as Fiery continued to flee. It didn't dare to rest and ran with all its might, not daring to stop even for a moment.

The news of a qilin's appearance began to spread like wildfire, and many people joined the hunt.

On its return journey, Fiery was intercepted multiple times. Though it had narrowly escaped being captured or killed, it came at the cost of sustaining more injuries, leaving behind a blood trail on the ground.

Fiery looked ragged, faint golden patterns shimmering beneath its fur as it worked tirelessly to heal its injuries.

......

Meanwhile, the energy contained in the Molten Flame Stone and Winter Crystal Leaf was too powerful. Even after spending five days refining the treasures, Liu Wuxie still wasn't done.

"I have to speed up! Desolate Devouring Art!" Liu Wuxie bellowed. When he circulated the Desolate Devouring Art at full force, terrifying true essence surged forward and wrapped around the Winter Crystal Leaf, devouring all the icy pearls.

When the icy pearls entered the desolate world, snow began to fall.

A breathtaking marvel unfolded before Liu Wuxie's eyes, leaving him momentarily stunned.

After absorbing the heavenly tree's essence and the Autumn Blossom Fruits, and now drawing in the energy of the Molten Flame Stone and the laws within the Winter Crystal Leaf, a profound transformation began: the four seasons manifested within the desolate world.

In the past, the desolate world had no day and night, nor were the stars fully formed. Aside from the five elements, there were only the elements of yin, yang, and light.

The moment the four seasons were introduced, the desolate world began to develop into a complete world, with its cycle slowly unfolding, and the seasons started to shift.

There was a cycle to everything in the universe, and the four seasons were just one of them.

With the full integration of the four seasons, the desolate world began to buzz once more as it expanded. Even the true essence stored in the desolate world had started to multiply rapidly.

"The Desolate Devouring Art has evolved again!"

The surrounding laws began to collapse and flow into the desolate world, whether it was the power of the five elements or the four seasons.

Each evolution of the Desolate Devouring Art brought unforeseen changes. The devouring force had increased, and Liu Wuxie could now devour the laws of heaven and earth in addition to spiritual energy.

Moreover, the rate at which he devoured was terrifyingly fast. As he drained everything from his surroundings, the space around him became barren, like a dead realm. All the surrounding laws had vanished, devoured by the desolate world.

"Time to make a breakthrough!"

The evolution of the Desolate Devouring Art was a welcome surprise to Liu Wuxie.

The Winter Crystal Leaf dissolved into tens of thousands of ice pearls, bursting apart inside the desolate world. They transformed into winter laws, coursing through his meridians.

Liu Wuxie's body grew colder as the winter laws surged through his meridians, and the gateway to the eighth-level True Profound Realm slowly emerged.

His breakthrough was imminent. This meant he had climbed from the fifth to the eighth-level True Profound Realm in one month, and the speed of his breakthrough had defied all logic.

"Break!" Liu Wuxie channeled his true essence to strike at the gate.

However, the gate didn't budge, and the force rebounded instead. The rebound force created a powerful shockwave that rocked Liu Wuxie's entire being, causing him to cough up blood from the impact.

"What's going on? Why is the gateway to the eighth-level True Profound Realm so much harder than the last?" Liu Wuxie muttered, his brows furrowed.

He had yet to realize that his breakthrough would be increasingly more difficult each time the Desolate Devouring Art evolved. Then again, the benefits were just as clear as the speed at which he devoured spiritual energy and laws from the surroundings would also increase.

Everything came at a price. The stronger his combat strength, the more resistance he would face when making a breakthrough.

He took a deep breath before channeling all of his true essence once more. It formed into a golden divine dragon, surging through his veins and crashing toward the gate.

"Open!" Liu Wuxie roared. He mobilized his laws to shield himself from the backlash.

He immediately felt the impact as spiderweb-like fractures appeared on his skin. Though he coughed up another mouthful of blood from the impact, he was able to make progress this time.

A hairline fracture had appeared on the gate, and it could be opened at any moment now.

"Again!" Liu Wuxie didn't hesitate to channel all his strength for the final push. If he failed to make a breakthrough this time, who knew how long he had to wait for the next opportunity?

His true essence roared within his body and shot out like a thunderbolt. The shock, this time, left his entire body numb, and he even nearly lost consciousness from the pain.

However, he had also succeeded as the gate to the eighth-level True Profound Realm shattered into fragments before fusing into the desolate world.

The moment the gate shattered, a monstrous power surge erupted from within him, breaking all the ice in the cave and sending them flying like ice arrows into the surrounding walls.

Millions of high-grade spirit stones instantly dissolved into a river of liquified spiritual energy and flowed into the desolate world.

After days of effort, Liu Wuxie had successfully reached the eighth-level True Profound Realm.

However, the Desolate Devouring Art didn't stop devouring everything in sight, resulting in the crumbling of the surrounding space. It wasn't long before the Molten Flame Stone began to release fiery liquid in the cauldron.

"Again!" Liu Wuxie had successfully made his breakthrough by relying on the Winter Crystal Leaf and still had the Molten Flame Stone's energy.

He didn't hesitate to channel the Molten Flame Stone's energy through his body, which felt like magma coursing through his veins.

The gate to the ninth-level True Profound Realm materialized ahead, etched with archaic patterns. Just looking at it alone was enough to make Liu Wuxie shiver.

"What's going on? This gate is at least twice the size of the last!" Liu Wuxie exclaimed, stunned.

He had nearly died from the backlash during his previous breakthrough. Even so, he had no choice; there was no turning back.

He had to open this gate to reach the pinnacle of the True Profound Realm and comprehend the laws of the Spirit Profound Realm.

After reaching the eighth-level True Profound Realm, his true essence had become stronger and denser than before, flowing within his body like a starry river.

Although the river's flow was slow, its power seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth.

Seeing this, he knew he could face opponents at the first-level Earth Profound Realm if he reached the pinnacle of the True Profound Realm.

This was a gamble. He had come to realize that the difficulty of each breakthrough increased with every rise in cultivation.

Back in the mundane world, facing an enemy whose cultivation was one level higher than his own was easy. After reaching the Southern Province, he could still barely manage it. However, the difficulty had increased even further when he had arrived at the Central Plains.

Differences grew subtle in the later stages of cultivation. It was not rare to see a battle lasting days between two cultivators at the same cultivation level. That was because the importance of raw combat talent would diminish greatly, and it would become a battle of mastery over Dao techniques instead.

When the starry river appeared before the gateway to the ninth level, it gathered the power of the five elements and four seasons and weaved them together.

The power of a hammer was devastating, but so was the rebound force. Liu Wuxie had suffered injuries during his breakthrough to the eighth level, and he couldn't afford to take another impact like that, as he would be left heavily injured.

However, water was different. It was capable of piercing through stones despite seeming soft. This concept suggested that the sharpest blade might not necessarily be the best.

The waves crashed at the gate repeatedly, but the gate did not budge.

Meanwhile, the number of people pursuing Fiery had grown to thousands, as divine beasts were a rarity.

A kunpeng had once appeared in the Southern Province, and the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion had one. But the bloodline was incredibly thin and diluted.

Although Fiery's bloodline may not be comparable to that of ancient qilins, it was similar to that of divine dragons. Even the azure flood dragon Liu Wuxie had encountered previously was pale compared to Fiery in terms of bloodline purity.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Knowing that worrying wouldn't change anything, Liu Wuxie kept trying, crashing the waves against the gate.

After ten million times, the gate finally began to shake. The process took six days, meaning only three days remained before the one-month mark.

If he still couldn't succeed by then, he would have no choice but to give up. The imprint he had left on Fiery constantly warned him about its safety, indicating that it was fighting for its life. But thankfully, he could also sense that Fiery wasn't in any immediate danger and merely suffered injuries.

This was why Liu Wuxie could still calm himself and focus on his breakthrough.

Hairline fractures began to appear on the gate as they spread out in a spiderweb pattern.

"Now!" Liu Wuxie roared as the gentle waves turned into a raging storm and slammed against the gate.

The impact produced a deafening rumble, and a large crack appeared on the gate, with a torrent of energy leaking out from behind it.

This time, Liu Wuxie felt he had come in contact with the dao itself, and all the dao techniques he had comprehended were elevated to a higher level. Even the comprehension of the spatial art that had remained stagnant suddenly clicked into place.

With each breakthrough, he not only refined his laws and strengthened his true essence, but also deepened his soul energy and awakened greater wisdom.

"Break!" Liu Wuxie roared, mustering all his power.

The river reshaped into a hammer and struck at the crack on the gate. When the ancient gate exploded into fragments and scattered into the desolate world, Liu Wuxie's aura underwent an explosive surge, blazing straight to the pinnacle of the ninth-level True Profound Realm. This left him one step away from the Spirit Profound Realm.