The Beginning of Refining

The formation Li Yunfan set up was obtained from a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the demonic path. It was called the "Demon Crystal Locking Formation". It could condense into a crystal in any direction within the formation to block the movement path of enemies within the formation.

Furthermore, the crystals formed by the formation are extremely sturdy, impervious to water and fire, and can only be forcibly broken by magical artifacts. However, as long as the formation is activated, the crystals can regenerate on their own, making them very difficult to deal with.

Li Yunfan suffered a considerable loss in this formation. If the demonic cultivator hadn't been extremely confident in his strength and wanted to kill Li Yunfan in battle, he wouldn't have been able to do anything to him for a while.

After the magic crystal took shape, the spirit fire continued to fall downwards, trying to burn through the magic crystal with its own heat. However, when it found that the magic crystal did not react, the flame trembled and flew upwards at an extremely fast speed.

However, Li Yunfan was already waiting for it in the sky. As soon as he saw the spirit fire rushing towards it, he waved his hand, and a ball of purple flame roared to meet it.

Just as the two were about to collide, Li Yunfan clenched his fist in the air, and the Purple Nether Heart Flame instantly spread into a purple fire curtain, enveloping the yellow spiritual fire within it, transforming it into a purple fireball the size of a human head, with yellow flames burning in its center.

After being enveloped, the yellow spirit fire instinctively launched an attack, its yellow flames suddenly becoming several times stronger, constantly contending with the purple heart fire.

With a series of crackling sounds, Li Yunfan's face turned pale, and his spiritual energy rapidly drained away. In just a short while, he had already lost about 20% of it.

There was nothing that could be done about it. If it weren't for his spiritual power, the Purple Nether Heart Flame alone probably wouldn't have been able to trap the Yellow Spirit Flame for long, since the two are fundamentally different.

The Purple Nether Heart Flame is a product of Li Yunfan's absorption and tempering of the Earth's Lung Flame; it is a flame created through acquired means.

This yellow flame was born from extremely hot natural magma. It absorbed a large amount of fire spiritual energy and gradually formed a seed of spiritual fire. After that, the seed was refined for countless years before it finally broke out of its shell. It is a flame born innately.

Feeling the massive loss of spiritual energy within his body, Li Yunfan knew he couldn't continue the stalemate, otherwise he would run out of spiritual energy and fall before he could subdue the spiritual fire.

So he raised his hands and placed them in front of his chest. After a series of dazzling hand seals, he uttered a low shout of "Gather!" The Purple Nether Heart Flame, which was enveloping the yellow spiritual fire, immediately emitted a dazzling purple light and slowly shrank into a purple fireball about an inch in size.

Seeing the fireball take shape, Li Yunfan could not hide his joy, and his eyes showed an extremely excited look. He raised his hand and gently waved, and the fireball formed by the Purple Nether Heart Fire immediately flew into his hand.

After removing the magic crystal locking array, he flew back to the cave entrance and used his divine sense to check on Yang Jingshen's condition. He saw that Yang Jingshen was sitting quietly in the cave with his eyes closed. Only then did he look down at the fireball in his hand.

Now that the spiritual fire has been captured, the next step is to absorb and refine it, so that I can break through the Nine Revolutions Burning Heaven Technique and successfully advance to the late Foundation Establishment stage.

Li Yunfan sat cross-legged facing the magma, which allowed him to better absorb the magma's fiery energy and help him refine the yellow spiritual fire. He then gently tossed the fireball in his hand upwards, and the fireball flew to a steady stop in front of him.

He then took out a pill and swallowed it, preparing to restore his spiritual power to its peak state so that he would have a better chance of refining the spiritual fire.

Several hours later, Li Yunfan slowly opened his eyes. He had fully recovered his depleted spiritual energy and was in peak condition. So he opened his mouth and swallowed the Purple Nether Heart Fireball directly into his body.

With his peak Foundation Establishment stage cultivation and the Purple Nether Heart Flame within his body, there was absolutely no need for him to absorb and refine the Earth Lung Flame step by step as he had done. With his abundant spiritual power and the protection of the Purple Nether Heart Flame, there was little risk in directly absorbing it into his body.

Take a deep breath, close your eyes again, place your hands in a mudra over your dantian, and begin refining the yellow spiritual fire using the Nine Revolutions Burning Heaven Technique.

Time flies, and three months have passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, Yang Jingshen, who was sitting cross-legged in the cave, suddenly twitched his brow, opened his eyes, raised his palm and flipped it over, and a peculiar jade tablet appeared in his hand. The surface emitted a hazy spiritual light, and upon closer inspection, a line of small characters appeared out of thin air on the jade tablet.

After reading the words on the jade tablet, Yang Jingshen's face immediately darkened. He turned his head to look at the mine and saw that it was still very quiet inside. After hesitating for a moment, he took out a ground-traveling talisman and threw it into the mine. Then he got up and walked back to the mine tunnel he had come from.

Upon returning to the large stone cave, Yang Jingshen once again took out a ground-traveling talisman from his storage bag and affixed it to his body. Without any hesitation, he immediately burrowed into the stone wall and quickly fled towards the ground.

Li Yunfan, who was refining the spiritual fire, was completely unaware of this.

At this moment, outside the main hall of the Yang family, Yang Taizhong, Yang Jinglong, and Yang Jingchen, along with the Yang Qingqi and Yang Qinghan sisters and dozens of angry Yang family disciples, were confronting a dozen or so people not far away.

Those people wore dark blue robes, unlike those of the Yang family, and were all Qi Refining cultivators at the eleventh or twelfth level. The two leaders were one at the early Foundation Establishment stage and the other at the middle Foundation Establishment stage.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator looked to be in his forties, slightly overweight, with a small tuft of beard on his chin. He was also dressed in dark blue clothes, clearly belonging to the same group as the dozen or so Qi Refining cultivators.

The Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivator, however, wore a black robe, was slightly thin, had sharp eyes, and sported a pair of mustaches, making him look extremely sinister.

"Yang Jinglong, we have come here today to discuss the ownership of the spiritual vein of Iron Flame Mountain with your Yang family. Yang Jingshen, as the head of the Yang family, has not even shown his face. Does he look down on my Qian family?" The mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator in blue stepped forward and said in a sinister tone.

It turns out that these people are from the Qian family, another cultivation family in Iron Flame Mountain, and this early Foundation Establishment cultivator is the current head of the Qian family, Qian Chongying.

Upon hearing this, Yang Jingchen, who was already somewhat impatient, immediately stood up and shouted.

"Qian Chongying, the Iron Flame Mountain spiritual vein is originally divided between the Yang and Qian families, one of each. What are you talking about ownership of now? I think you have ulterior motives!"

Qian Chongying narrowed his eyes slightly. Although he was of the same generation as the three Yang brothers, he was now a Foundation Establishment cultivator, while Yang Jingchen was only a Qi Refining cultivator. It was one thing for him not to address him as a senior, but he even dared to call him by his full name in front of so many people!

Before he could react, the black-robed cultivator behind him stepped forward with a sinister laugh.

"Brother Qian, does the Yang family have no sense of hierarchy? A mere Qi Refining cultivator dares to address a Foundation Establishment cultivator by his full name? I think they deserve a lesson!"