My CEO Bai Fumei’s wife

The moment Qin Yu's fingers touched the dragon head handle of the Chaos Refining Furnace, all the runes on the furnace wall lit up, but the way they lit up was wrong; it wasn't the gentle light of recognizing its master, but rather a repulsive light.

A scorching force burst out from the furnace wall, knocking his hand back three inches, leaving a charred mark on his palm. This burn was even more severe than the backlash he suffered when absorbing energy in the Soul Refining Furnace.

"She has a temper."

Qin Yu didn't pull his hand back; instead, he pressed it forward again, this time with a layer of true dragon energy covering his palm.

The furnace reacted even more violently, the entire bronze furnace swung three times in the air from the stone platform, and finally stopped in the farthest corner of the secret room, its dragon head facing outwards, like a beast protecting its prey in a show of defiance.

"What are you, covered in blood and death, that dares to touch me?"

The sound came from the furnace, not the hum of an ordinary artifact spirit, but an old human voice, each word carrying the arrogance accumulated over tens of thousands of years. Qin Yu went through Ouyang Lian's remaining memories in his mind, and there was no mention of the furnace being able to talk in those memories, which meant that no one in the Heavenly Craft Pavilion had ever come into contact with the original will of the Chaos Refining Furnace.

"My name is Qin Yu, and I'm here to take you away."

"Take me in."

The furnace spirit's voice rose slightly, as if it had heard the funniest thing in tens of thousands of years.

“Three thousand years ago, the first master of the Heavenly Craft Pavilion tried to refine me. He was a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, but his hands were burned to charcoal by my furnace fire. Since then, no one in the Heavenly Craft Pavilion has dared to mess with me. You, a mere early-stage Nascent Soul brat, are not even qualified to add fuel to my fire.”

Qin Yu didn't argue with it. He simply sat cross-legged on the floor of the secret chamber, took out the Nine Dragons Sword and the Falling Moon Divine Bow from his storage ring, and also took off the Purple Sun Divine Armor. The three magical treasures were laid out in order, each radiating a different kind of spiritual light.

"What are you doing?"

The furnace spirit's tone changed from arrogant to wary. It began to tremble slightly in the corner, not because Qin Yu's cultivation level posed a threat to it, but because it saw things on the armor plate that shouldn't exist there.

"The wood grain pattern has been integrated into the metal base and hasn't exploded yet... How did you do that?"

"Heaven-defying tribulation lightning".

Qin Yu ran his fingers along the green lines of the nail plate. The seams were indeed uneven, and in some places, the wood essence and metal origin were still secretly fighting. If he wore it for another six months, the structure would loosen.

"It's made by forcefully kneading with the power of Heaven. It has an effect, but the technique is crude, and long-term use will cause problems."

The furnace spirit remained silent for three breaths, enough time for Qin Yu to determine that it knew how to repair it but didn't want to speak.

"You won't tell me because you think I'm not worthy to use your fire."

"You are indeed unworthy. The fusion of Yi Wood and Metal requires the Chaos Furnace Fire to be fully refined. You can't even get close to me, so it's pointless for you to say anything."

"What if I happen to run into you?"

"If you encounter me, I will acknowledge you as my master. No one has ever done this in tens of thousands of years."

These words were tantamount to a bet. When Qin Yu stood up, a power that he had never released before began to circulate within his body. It was neither the aura of a true dragon nor the heaven-defying tribulation lightning, but the ball of purple-gold energy that had been fused together after the two collided in the core of the Soul Refining Furnace.

He had always kept this thing as a byproduct at the bottom of his dantian and didn't take it seriously.

But the spirit's reaction showed that this thing was far more important than he thought.

"That aura about you..."

The furnace spirit's voice changed; the arrogance was gone, replaced by an urgency that even it couldn't suppress.

"The power of chaos, the true dragon belongs to yang and the tribulation lightning belongs to yin. When yin and yang collide in extreme environments, chaos is formed. You fused them together in that soul refining furnace."

"So this thing is called the power of chaos."

Qin Yu looked down at the purplish-gold light in his palm. The light was not strong, but the texture was as thick as a drop of solidified molten metal.

“Three thousand years.” The furnace spirit trembled, not from fear but from excitement. The entire furnace slowly floated back from the corner, and the dragon head handle turned towards Qin Yu.

"The condition set by the Creator for recognizing a master is the power of chaos. I have waited for three thousand years, and the Heavenly Craft Pavilion has used seven generations of pavilion masters to meet this condition. Yet you, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator, have brought it with you."

"So now I can touch you."

"It's more than just a bump. Bring me that armor, and I'll forge it for you."

The moment Qin Yu pushed the divine armor to the furnace, footsteps came from outside the secret chamber. It wasn't just one person; at least seven or eight people walked into the forbidden area at the same time.

His divine sense probed through the walls of the secret chamber and outwards. The puppet array on the second floor was being shut down from the outside, while the Magnetic Sealing Array on the first floor had been restarted, with a strength more than ten times that of Ouyang Lianbu's.

Someone noticed he had come in.

"Blood Fiend, I know you're inside."

The voice came from the direction of the forbidden area entrance. It was the voice of a young man. He spoke slowly but each word was heavy, carrying a sense of entitlement and pressure. Qin Yu had seen this feeling in Cang Lan before. It was the unique arrogance of someone who had been pampered since childhood.

Zhuge Chuchu's voice rang out in the soul link.

"Tie Wuhen, the senior disciple of Tiangong Pavilion, is at the peak of the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm. He is the closed-door disciple of Pavilion Master Ouyang Zhu and holds a higher position in Tiangong Pavilion than Ouyang Lian."

How did you know?

“In Ouyang Lian’s memory, Tie Wuhen had always wanted to subdue the Chaos Furnace, but the conditions were not right. He had been secretly competing with Ouyang Lian for this matter for fifty years.”

Qin Yu hadn't been able to get his hands on something for fifty years, but the furnace spirit recognized him as its master the moment an incense stick burned. If word got out that this was true, Tie Wuhen would probably vomit blood on the spot.

"Hand over the control of the forbidden area's formation to me, and I'll give you a way out."

Tie Wuhen paused for two breaths after Qin Yu finished speaking, then smiled.

"Give me a way out."

Laughter echoed through the forbidden passage. The seven elders of the Heavenly Craft Pavilion who had come with him were also laughing. Their cultivation levels ranged from the early to the middle Nascent Soul stage. On their own territory in Iron Mountain City, facing a thief who had trespassed into the forbidden area, they couldn't think of anything to be afraid of.

"Do you know where you are standing? The secret chamber is the convergence point of the entire Heavenly Craft Pavilion's spiritual veins. If I cut off the supply of spiritual veins, you won't even be able to circulate your spiritual energy inside."

Tie Wuhen pressed his palm against the wall of the passage, and a command was transmitted through the array to the surrounding area of ​​the secret chamber. The spiritual energy that was originally flowing into the wall was completely cut off at this moment.

The air in the secret chamber became dry and stuffy. Without the replenishment of spiritual energy, the combat power of any cultivator would be reduced. Qin Yu still had 70% of his spiritual energy reserves in his dantian, but if he were to fight a war of attrition against seven or eight Nascent Soul stage cultivators in an environment without the replenishment of spiritual energy, he wouldn't last even an incense stick's time.

"Come out and leave the Chaos Refining Furnace, and I will not pursue the matter of you impersonating Ouyang Lian and trespassing into the forbidden area."

Tie Wuhen spoke as if he were talking to a child who had made a mistake, condescending yet with a hint of condescension.

"The Chaos Refining Furnace is the most prized treasure of the Heavenly Crafts Pavilion. You, an outsider, cannot use it even if you take it. If you know what's good for you, come out on your own. I will let you off the hook because you are young and ignorant."

Qin Yu's response was a crisp metallic clang.

The lid of the Chaos Furnace opened in his hand, and the chaotic furnace fire inside spewed out from the dragon head handle, illuminating the entire secret chamber with dark golden flames.

"It can't be used."

Qin Yu threw the first piece of the Purple Sun Divine Armor into the furnace. The moment the chaotic furnace fire enveloped the armor piece, the originally uneven seams of the Yi Wood began to heal automatically. The metal essence and the Yi Wood essence truly fused into one under the catalysis of the furnace fire.

"Who told you I couldn't use it?" (End of Chapter)