Apotheosis

The vivid yellow lotus flames became unusual golden red, and each flare emitted intense heat.

Since the fire's strength had grown steeply, it would be impossible to withstand, and Zen's face paled as he watched the red lotus flames shot at him.

As expected, the fire was far more potent than it was earlier.

Searing pain coursed through Zen as the golden-red flames slammed him. Just like the day he was in the cellar, Zen's body inexplicably turned to dark red.

Usually, any average person ravaged in such a high-temperature fire would mummify as the moisture sizzled into the air leaving the dried husk burning until it exploded raining ashes and soot everywhere.

However, Zen's body was anything but average. Instead of being destroyed by the lotus flames, he slowly turned red hot, glowing like an excellent mysterious weapon.

Small golden foils that lay deep in Zen's skin were drawn out and hovering over his skin. Now covered in gilded shimmering fragments, Zen's entire body sparkled brilliantly gleaming.

While his body glowed bright red, the golden flecks became ornate obscure tadpole text and spun. The speed they spun increased faster and faster at a hypnotic rate until, unexpectedly, small whirlpools formed on the surface of Zen's skin.

As the whirlpools grew, the suction they produced drew the lotus flames from the furnace to Zen and sucked into the whirlpools.

The fire was refining his body!

Surprisingly, his body drove all the fire into him.

One after another, flames were absorbed into Zen's body through every pore on him, including his arms, legs, and neck ...

It was more excruciating than any pain he had experienced of his flesh. As the lotus flames went through his skin, they burned every inch from outside to the inside of him.

To endure the searing pain, Zen clenched his mouth.

What he sustained physically was mild compared to what his soul had suffered from the black flame back when he was in the cellar.

Zen felt the toxic Bone-smashing Powder with Ten Flavors gradually fading beneath the burning fires.

While his body reacted to the flames, Zen felt a giant furnace come to life in his mind. It had always been there, dormant and quiet until touched by the black flame. Suddenly, the calm furnace blazed out of control, flames growing and blazing. The flames hit Zen's consciousness and flashed out his brows!

There in front of Zen, the black flame appeared like a living creature.

An odd cry ripped from the black flame when it emerged before it rushed at the Hell Fire Sword.

When the Hell Fire Sword was forged by Evil Lan, it glowed red as though it was sitting in a blazing fire for a long time. As soon as the black flame touched this allegedly top grade, priceless mysterious weapon -- the Hell Fire Sword, it melted instantly leaving a few drops of hot metal where it had been laid.

A look of shock was on Zen's face when he saw the power of the black flame, and he wondered, 'What the hell is this black flame? How can it wreak such horror?'

After the Hell Fire Sword melted, the eerie flames rolled the iron that remained before vanishing into Zen's sea of consciousness. Panic swept over him. He knew his body was as hard as a mysterious weapon; however, he couldn't put the molten metal in his head, could he?

It astonished Zen that he was fine, and could see in his mind that the black flame sent the drops of iron to the cyan dragon on the wall of the ancient tripod.

In his mind, the large vessel was decorated by nine dragons with their eyes closed, except the cyan dragon. As Zen watched, he saw the dragon lift its head, roar loudly and consume the drops of iron. After swallowing the iron drops, magical changes occurred, and the dragon's dull gray scales changed.

A single scale on the dragon's tail began emitting a green brilliance, giving it the appearance of a flawless emerald.

It was unexpected when the remnants from the Hell Fire Sword activated a scale of the dragon engraving!

What Zen was seeing unfold in his mind amazed him.

Simultaneously, Zen felt a surge from the scale, and strength flooding into his body.

His vigor increased radically because of the scale and Zen could feel the intense power as it grew!

All the events left Zen wondering, 'Is it feasible for me to activate many, or even all of the dragon scales while the black flame devours more mysterious weapons?

That's it! Yes, that's it!' Zen's face brimmed with ecstasy as he put the pieces together. His experience being forged in the fires of the kiln gave Zen a deeper understanding of the great furnace.

If one dragon scale forcibly increased his po

wer several times, what would happen if tens of thousands of the cyan dragon scales were all stimulated? Not only the cyan dragon but, above that dragon, he saw white, purple, black and blue dragons...

Counting nine dragons carved into the great furnace left Zen wondering, how incredible his might would be if he stimulated the scales of all of them!

Zen wet his lips nervously and shook his head, struggling to wrap his head around the fantastic idea. This was all so far beyond his vision.

As he pondered what he knew, he realized how difficult it was to trigger the dragon scales.

According to Evil Lan, the Hell Fire Sword was a topmost mysterious weapon and extremely valuable.

Since it was only the essence of such a treasure that initiated a single dragon scale, Zen imagined how many it would take to light up thousands of them. 'Even if all the treasures in the entire eastern region were smelted, it would barely light up all the cyan dragon's scales, and not even touch the other eight dragons above the cyan dragon, '

concluded Zen silently as he discerned. He needed to analyze everything thoroughly and not act hastily.

Determined to guard himself against arrogance and impatience, Zen sat cross-legged in the blazing fire, as the golden whirlpools on his skin sucked in more lotus flames, and continued to forge his body.

Outside the furnace, Evil Lan was looking in, with an expression of doubt as he watched the strange scene. Unable to sense the presence of his Hell Fire Sword any more, he wondered if it had been merged into the boy. Evil Lan couldn't sense the boy's life energy either though.

Noticing that the fires he released into the furnace were dwindling, Evil Lan was curious about what was going on in there.

Maybe, he managed to create his spiritual weapon! Was it possible he succeeded?

As every weapon refiner knew, when the refining process neared completion, it entered the condensing stage which was when the treasure absorbed a large quantity of fire before it came out.

The amount of fire consumed during the condensing stage varied depending on the rank of the treasure. The higher the level, the more fire the weapon would devour.

Thinking back to when he forged the Hell Fire Sword, Evil Lan remembered that during the condensing stage it absorbed fire for two hours before it was completed.

Three hours had already passed today...

Since the higher the class of the weapon meant the more fire it needed to absorb in the condensing stage, and therefore the more time it took, Evil Lan thought it was highly likely that the new treasure in the furnace was a spiritual weapon!

Thinking about it excited Evil Lan and his heart suddenly started racing as he concluded, 'Yes! It has to be! Only a spiritual weapon can absorb as much fire as this throughout the condensation process.'

Without hesitation, Evil Lan immediately breathed more fire from his body into the furnace immediately.

Though Evil Lan sent a ton of fire into the furnace, it appeared there was a small black hole in the furnace which devoured as much fire as Evil Lan sent in.

Six hours later, Evil Lan was panting and drenched in sweat.

As a weapon refiner, Evil Lan was further along than other refiners and maintained more control over fire than the others his rank. While being a half-step into the nature level, releasing too much fire at once was still difficult for him.

At the same time, Evil Lan was concerned about whether or not he had done enough. A weapon refiner knew precisely how vital the condensing stage was. If he didn't correctly refine the weapon during the condensing stage, the weapon within the furnace wouldn't be forged successfully!

Impatient as he was, Evil Lan could only grit his teeth as he waited and fed the dying fires.

Twenty hours later......

Squeezing the final fires out of his body, when Evil Lan couldn't keep himself up anymore, he plopped down to the ground, exhausted and gasping for air.

He sat slumped on the ground gulping in air and recovering for some time, and then, he got up slowly. Evil Lan took several black pills out and popped them into his mouth. It wasn't too long for him to feel rejuvenated, and replenished after he swallowed the pills and headed for the furnace.

Still unsure whether or not he had succeeded, Evil Lan had a puzzled look on his face as he stood in front of the furnace.

Reaching out tentatively, Evil Lan turned the handle and opened the door. He could not sense anything still, which gave him an unsettling sensation. Just as the door swung open fully, a golden fist slammed into his face with the brutal force.