Shrouding the Heavens: Starting by joining the Holy Land of Yao Guang

Chapter 41 Weapon Refining
Li Yao felt a chill run down his spine. He understood the implication in Zhang Chong's words: the other party was somewhat worried about the Holy Lord's lineage and the Supreme Saint's lineage, believing that they might force him to hand over the Divine Mark Purple Gold.

"I've enjoyed the benefits of being a powerful force, but it seems I can't miss out on the downsides either. What a load of crap!"

Li Yao didn't think Zhang Chong was exaggerating. Such things were all too common in powerful forces. Ji family's Little Moon, given the chance, would have people within the family want to kill her. Ye Fan's kindness to the Jiang family goes without saying, he even gave them the seed of the immortality elixir, but that still didn't stop some people from coveting his cauldron.

The bigger the forest, the more you'll find all sorts of birds—the ruthless, the ungrateful, the inhuman—you name it.

Among them, the Yao Guang Holy Land is the most outstanding, with numerous factions and the Ruthless lineage hidden in the shadows. Although Li Yao has the Rising Sun Divine Island behind him, under normal circumstances, there should be no situation where he cannot protect the Divine Mark Purple Gold.

But who can guarantee what will happen in the future?
Even Zhang Chong was hinting that he should use the Divine Mark Purple Gold as soon as possible, so that it could curb other people's greed to some extent.

"Can this really prevent others from coveting it?" Li Yao wasn't really sure; he had no confidence in the others.

Human nature is the most complex and ever-changing thing. When the benefits are great enough, many people will subconsciously forget about the risks.

"However, there is some good news: at least I won't end up like Ye Fan, being hunted down and robbed by the whole world."

Sometimes it's just a contradiction like this: the Yao Guang Holy Land both put pressure on Li Yao and at the same time helped him build a high wall, blocking out the dangers from the outside.

There are people within the Yao Guang Holy Land who covet the Immortal Gold, but they will not allow anyone outside to covet it. If anyone dares to extend their claws, the Yao Guang Holy Land will definitely strike swiftly.

Yaoguang Ward stretches over 200 li from north to south and 300 li from east to west, encompassing numerous wards and markets, one of which is called Refining Ward.

Beside it, there was a market town, filled with the rich fragrance of cinnabar. A gentle breeze carried the scent, and just smelling it was enough to invigorate one's spirit.

These two markets were built adjacent to each other, and their locations were not arbitrary but based on specific criteria.

Beneath the two markets lies an ever-flowing fire vein, which is why the Yao Guang Holy Land established the weapon-refining and pill-refining markets.

When Li Yao arrived at the weapon-refining workshop, he immediately felt an incredibly terrifying heat as soon as he stood outside.

"Senior brother." The guard at the gate saw Li Yao and quickly bowed.

Li Yao nodded to the two of them and asked, "How do I pay the fee to use the weapon refining room?"

“No need, Senior Brother is an elite disciple and can use the weapon-refining room for free,” one of the disciples quickly said.

Li Yao was stunned. He hadn't expected there to be any benefits. It seemed that the difference between elite disciples and ordinary disciples wasn't just in cultivation resources and scriptures, but also in other benefits.

"Senior brother, this is currently the best weapon-refining room with the best fire vein energy. This is the room's nameplate." The disciple handed over a jade plaque.

Li Yao took it and glanced at it. He saw that the top of the jade tablet had the character "天" (tian, meaning heaven) written on it, and below the character "天" was the number eleven.

"Eleventh room of the Heavenly Class." Li Yao shook the jade token in his hand and looked at the disciple, saying, "Thank you."

The weapon-refining room has four floors, divided into Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow. From bottom to top, the Heaven-class weapon-refining room is on the lowest floor.

Upon entering the weapon-refining room, the temperature surged again, and the increase became even more pronounced as Li Yao descended further.

Fortunately, this temperature was within Li Yao's tolerance range.

Unlike the Fire Domain, the weapon-refining room has been equipped with arrays set up by powerful individuals, which to some extent isolate the temperature of the fire vein's power. Moreover, the flames here are far inferior to those in the Fire Domain; they are probably not even comparable to the flames at the very center of the Fire Domain, let alone the flames at the sixth level.

Soon, Li Yao arrived at the Tianzi Room and found the door with the sign "Room Eleven".

The ancient rock-cast gate is very heavy. Due to the high temperature scorching it for many years, the walls here are incredibly hard and can withstand the bombardment of the cultivators from the other side.

Beside the gate, there is a recessed pattern, shaped exactly like a jade plaque.

Li Yao placed the jade plaque in his hand into the recessed pattern, and a faint light shone there. Then, flames flowed within the ancient patterns on the stone gate, like lava, and quickly spread throughout the entire stone gate.

"Crack!"

A slight sound was heard, the stone door rose, and a wave of scorching heat rushed towards us.

After removing the jade token, Li Yao entered the weapon-refining room, and the stone door behind him slammed shut two breaths later.

The weapon-refining room was not large, about 1.5 zhang long and wide, and nearly 2 zhang high. In the middle of the room, there was a well about 2 chi deep, but instead of water, there was an incredibly terrifying flame at the bottom of the well.

Li Yao walked to the entrance, and the powerful fire energy made his body feel a stinging pain. If it weren't for his extremely strong physical body, he would probably be in real danger at this moment. Even so, he was burning all over.

A dazzling divine light burst forth from within, protecting the physical body, and the burning pain immediately lessened considerably.

A wave of heat swept over him, and Li Yao's long black hair danced wildly. He sat down cross-legged and placed the jade tablet in front of him.

The material of this jade tablet is unknown, and it has been refined by a powerful figure, making it impervious to fierce fire.

This well was built by a powerful figure from the Yao Guang Holy Land. It can not only draw in the energy of the underground fire veins, but also enhance the power of the flames.

The jade tablet is not only the key to opening the weapon-refining room, but also the key to controlling the well.

Li Yao took out the Divine Source, crushed it directly, and extracted the Divine Mark Purple Gold from it.

It shimmered with a dazzling purple light, with a captivating glow. Although it was only the size of a fingertip, it was priceless.

Li Yao waved his hand, and the Divine Mark Purple Gold flew directly into the fire well, where it was scorched by the flames.

However, this was, after all, the Emperor's exclusive sacred object. The purple light emanating from it and the flames burning on it only slightly activated it, but could not soften it at all.

Seeing this, Li Yao began to manipulate the jade tablet to increase the firepower. With a soft hum, the runes engraved on the fire well lit up, and the underground flames increased in power as they passed through the fire well. The scorching heat immediately caused Li Yao's body to burn, and even his divine power could not block it.

Left with no other choice, Li Yao could only increase the protective divine light to safeguard his body. Otherwise, he might be fine for a short time, but in the long run, he feared that the divine marks and purple gold would not melt before he himself would be fully cooked.

Half a day later, Li Yao sat there quietly, manipulating the jade tablet to allow the fire well to enhance the flames and temper the divine mark purple gold.

However, his face was pale, and he had been using all his divine power to protect his body, which caused him to consume an astonishing amount of energy. His originally abundant divine power was now mostly depleted.

Half an hour later, Li Yao finally couldn't hold on any longer and had to leave the fire well and go to the edge of the weapon-refining room to recover his divine power.

(End of this chapter)