188: The Furnace of Heaven and Earth
Logically speaking, Wild Rank Beast Masters should be able to see the information of Beasts at Star Rank and below. If they still can't see it now, it can only mean that this Beast has surpassed the Star Rank.
However, it was clear that the Heaven and Earth Furnace had not yet surpassed the Star Rank, and Luo Chen was still able to see its detailed information.
race: Heaven and Earth Furnace
Rank: Earth Star Intermediate
Type: Mysterious
Category: Artifact-Type Beast
State: Resting
Aptitude: Peerless
Skills:
1. Mother of Artifacts (Heaven Tier): The origin of Artifact-Type Beasts, the creator of all artifacts. It can use specific materials to create Artifact-Type Beasts that can integrate rule runes, and can also enlighten existing artifacts to make them Artifact-Type Beasts.
Each creation of an Artifact-Type Beast will allow the Heaven and Earth Furnace to grow.
Every active Artifact-Type Beast in the world will give the Heaven and Earth Furnace a certain bonus.
All Artifact-Type Beasts will have all their attributes halved when facing the Heaven and Earth Furnace.
2. True Source Fire (Earth Tier): The Heaven and Earth Furnace possesses an extremely pure flame internally. This flame can not only smelt all kinds of materials in the world and create Artifact-Type Beasts, but also be released to fight enemies.
3. Artifact Mark (Earth Tier): The inner wall of the Heaven and Earth Furnace is imprinted with the marks of the Artifact-Type Beasts it has created. Through these Artifact Marks, it can borrow some abilities from certain Artifact-Type Beasts.
4. Myriad Artifact Spirit Array (Earth Tier): Domain Skill. The Heaven and Earth Furnace summons thousands of artifact phantoms. As time passes, more and more phantoms solidify. Solidified phantoms will possess 50% of their original prototype's abilities.
5. Magma Eruption (Profound Tier): The Heaven and Earth Furnace summons magma to erupt from the ground in the target area.
6. World in the Belly (Profound Tier): The Heaven and Earth Furnace possesses an extremely vast space internally.
7. Heavy Strike (Profound Tier): The Heaven and Earth Furnace uses its body as a weapon, striking the target with immense force.
8. Gravity Manipulation (Earth Tier): The Heaven and Earth Furnace can change the gravity within the target area.
9. Heaven and Earth Barrier (Earth Tier): The Heaven and Earth Furnace manifests a phantom of its own form, using it as a barrier to protect the target.
10. Law Manifestation (Earth Tier): ...
Evolution Path: Currently unavailable.
Back at his residence, Luo Chen was still thinking about the information he saw regarding the Heaven and Earth Furnace, the first Star Rank Beast he had ever seen. It didn't seem to have much difference from Beasts of other Ranks.
However, the [Mother of Artifacts] and [Myriad Artifact Spirit Array] truly opened Luo Chen's eyes. Didn't that mean the more Artifact-Type Beasts there were among humans, the stronger the Heaven and Earth Furnace would become?
But after a while, Luo Chen felt relieved. After all, this Beast was the founder of a school of thought, so it was quite normal.
He just didn't know if it could borrow power from Artifact-Type Beasts that had already died. If it could, that would be truly heaven-defying; it would only grow stronger with the passage of time.
Just as Luo Chen was in a daze, the little furball suddenly jumped to his side and pointed outside, signaling Luo Chen to go out and look.
Luo Chen was a little curious. He followed the little furball to the window. It turned out that the sky was already overcast, and snowflake-like particles were falling from the sky with soft 'pitter-patter' sounds.
It's snowing?
Luo Chen checked the calendar. It was August 29th; it should only be early autumn, right?
Could it be that the calamity was about to begin? So fast? Luo Chen felt a sense of being caught off guard.
Compared to Luo Chen's inner worries about the future, the little furball seemed much more at ease. It seemed very curious about the fine snow, happily hopping around in the courtyard.
“Creak.”
Luo Chen pushed open the door and stood in the courtyard. He could feel the temperature dropping rapidly. The temperature, which should have been around 31-32 degrees Celsius, had dropped to 14-15 degrees in just a short while.
These temperature changes had little to no effect on Beast Masters above Spirit Rank, but for Fierce Rank and ordinary people, while still acceptable for now,
they feared the temperature would continue to drop. No one knew how low it would go, and perhaps that would be the true beginning of the disaster.
“Rustle, rustle, rustle.”
Luo Chen extended his slender palm, allowing the ice particles formed by the snowflakes to fall onto his palm.
Snow pellets are the most common form of first snow; it probably wouldn't be long before a sufficiently large snowfall occurred.
However, Luo Chen quickly discovered something strange. After these snowflakes melted, they didn't form water vapor, but instead dispersed into dense spiritual energy.
Does calamity also mean new life? Luo Chen mused thoughtfully.
Looking into the distance, the world became even more serene, with a misty white everywhere.
...
“Heaven and Earth Ice Shard, the calamity has begun.”
A long, drawn-out sigh echoed from the palace complex in the capital. An old man with white hair walked through layers of wind and snow, alone, towards an ancient council hall.
Looking down from above, one would find no trace of anyone else moving in the entire palace complex except for the old man.
Opening the door, he gently shook a small bell on the redwood long table.
The small bell swayed, and layers of ripples appeared around it, but no sound was emitted.
However, the old man didn't mind; it seemed the small bell had achieved the effect he desired.
He sat in the main seat, his eyes slightly closed, as if waiting for something.
Soon, figures appeared one after another in the other six redwood seats.
Four men and two women, including Luo Chen's master, National Elder Zhuang Sheng, and Fang Chengan, with his square, national-character face.
The other four were precisely among the current six State Elders of Huaguo.
As for the one sitting in the main seat, it was even easier to guess: the current Grand Elder of Huaguo, Zhang Jing.
“The calamity has begun. How are the various parties responding?”
“The original secret realm migration plan needs to be revised, as Fierce Rank secret realms have already begun to collapse and merge with Earth Star.”
The first to speak was Fang Chengan, his face showing a very clear hint of worry.
Upon hearing this, a look of surprise also appeared on the old man's face. “Secret realms merging with Earth Star, has it compressed the existing environment?”
“No.” Fang Chengan shook his head. “The process of its merging is more like it expanded a blank area on Earth Star, perfectly filling in the territory of that secret realm.”
“So, the area of Earth Star is increasing?”
“Currently, it seems so. And I don't know if all secret realms will eventually shatter? If so, that would be a bit troublesome.”
A glint flashed in Grand Elder Zhang Jing's eyes. He turned to the strong man on his right, the first in line, and said, “Cheng Ying, you are to deploy the army and constantly monitor the movements of Beasts outside each city. Any siege attempts must be nipped in the bud.”
The strong and handsome man named Cheng Ying nodded heavily, “Understood.”
Zhang Jing was accustomed to Cheng Ying's taciturn attitude. He then turned to the woman on his left, the second in line, and instructed,
“Meng Li, you are to arrange for the aristocratic families and forces to keep a close watch on the secret realms they guard. Report any special circumstances immediately.”
Meng Li was a very gentle woman. She replied, “Yes, Grand Elder.”
After making these arrangements, Zhang Jing looked at Zhuang Sheng on his left, the first in line, signaling him to speak.
Zhuang Sheng gently stroked the table. “The Super City plan must begin on a large scale immediately. I hope everyone can actively mobilize their various resources to assist.”
However, his words were immediately met with opposition.
“The calamity has just begun, and we don't yet know if it's truly that severe. Is it not a bit rash to abandon our Huaguo territory so proactively?”
The one who refuted him was the middle-aged man on Zhang Jing's right, the second in line, who looked rather thin.
Zhuang Sheng's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked thoughtfully at the middle-aged man. “So, Zeng Qinghui, State Elder Zeng, you do not agree with my prophecy?”
“Not so, not so. It's just that to hand over such vast territory to the Beasts so readily seems a bit too childish. Besides, prophecies are never 100% accurate.
Why not wait and observe the development of the situation before making a decision? It's indeed a bit too early now.”