75: Heaven and earth are the furnace, refining the world.

"Bang!"

With a dull sound of shattering, that "heart of heaven and earth," which contained the Origin of a Small World and allowed a Nascent Soul Cultivator to control this place—regarded as a supreme treasure by countless people—was casually crushed underfoot by Chu He.

Golden energy fragments splattered in all directions, only to be bound by an invisible force, hovering in mid-air like a brilliant cloud of stardust.

Feng Ziyan and Uncle Fu were once again shocked to their core by Chu He's world-shaking action, unable to say a word for a long time.

That was the heart of heaven and earth!

Once refined, one could become the master of this world, where Words Manifest as Law, holding the power of life and death!

He just... crushed it with one foot?

Such a waste of a godsend! This was simply insane wastefulness!

Uncle Fu trembled with heartache, feeling as if his own heart had shattered along with it.

Feng Ziyan also looked on in disbelief; she completely failed to understand Chu He's actions.

In his eyes, was a treasure of this level truly worthless?

"The Origin heart of a broken Small World, so cluttered and impure, and it dares to be called the 'heart of heaven and earth'?"

Chu He seemed to see through their thoughts and curled his lip in disdain.

"Directly refining this kind of trash would only foul one's Dao Foundation; the loss outweighs the gain."

As he spoke, his hands formed seals, and he muttered an incantation.

"Heaven and earth as the furnace, creation as the smith, Yin and Yang as the charcoal, and all things as the copper!"

"Refine... for me!"

With his low shout.

The entire mountaintop, and even the entire third layer of the Small World, began to tremble violently!

Those golden energy fragments he had crushed seemed to be guided by something, beginning to spin frantically, forming a massive golden vortex.

Next, those Ten-thousand-year Medicinal Kings on the hillside—which were incredibly precious in the eyes of Feng Ziyan and Uncle Fu—were actually uprooted one by one, turning into streaks of light and flying uncontrollably toward the mountaintop, plunging into that golden vortex!

"No!" Uncle Fu let out a shrill cry, watching helplessly as those divine medicines were swallowed, his heart aching as if cut by a knife.

However, this was only the beginning.

Mountains, rivers, the earth... all tangible things in the entire Small World began to decompose at this moment, turning into the most primitive Origin energy, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, frantically surging toward the vortex on the mountaintop!

Feng Ziyan discovered with horror that the ground beneath her feet was becoming illusory, the distant mountains were melting away, and the sky was beginning to turn grey.

This world was being refined!

This man actually intended to use the entire Small World as material to refine something!

What a terrifying method! What a Heaven-Defying masterpiece!

"What... what exactly does he want to do?" Feng Ziyan's voice was trembling.

Chu He did not answer her.

His expression was incredibly focused, his hands constantly striking out mysterious hand seals.

The golden vortex, after swallowing the energy of the entire world, began to shrink and condense at an astonishing speed.

Under Chu He's control, the energy within was constantly purified, compressed, and tempered... those cluttered and useless energies were ruthlessly discarded by him, turning into nothingness.

Only the most pure and primitive life essence and world power remained.

This process lasted for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

When the last wisp of the world's Origin was merged, that massive golden vortex finally condensed into a pill the size of a longan, transparent throughout and radiating seven-colored light.

On the surface of the pill, Dao patterns flowed as if it contained a newborn world.

A life aura so thick it was extreme radiated from the pill; just a single sniff made Feng Ziyan and Uncle Fu feel the Qi in their bodies begin to boil, and their cultivation Bottleneck showed signs of loosening.

"This... this is..." Uncle Fu's eyes widened, and he stammered, "Could this be... the legendary... world golden core?!"

"You have some insight."

Chu He withdrew his seals, casually drew the seven-colored pill into his hand, weighed it, and a satisfied look appeared on his face.

"Although the Materials were a bit poor, the technique was okay. It can barely be considered a First Revolution world golden core."

After saying that, he performed an action that almost made Feng Ziyan's and Uncle Fu's eyes pop out.

He actually, like eating a jellybean, casually tossed that "world golden core"—which was enough to make Soul Transformation Ancestors fight to the death—into his mouth.

"Crunch."

A crisp sound.

Chu He chewed twice and then swallowed it.

"Hmm, the taste is okay, tastes like chicken, nice and crunchy."

He smacked his lips and commented.

Feng Ziyan: "..."

Uncle Fu: "..."

The two were already numb.

They felt that the shocks they received today were more than all the shocks combined from the past several hundred years.

Meanwhile, after swallowing that world golden core, Chu He felt an incredibly pure and majestic energy explode within his body.

His cultivation, which had just reached the peak of the Middle Stage Nascent Soul, began to loosen again, showing faint signs of Breakthrough toward the Late Nascent Soul Stage.

"Not bad, not bad, the effect is better than expected."

Chu He nodded with satisfaction.

This "Heaven and Earth Grand Furnace" technique was something he learned from a fragmented Cultivation Technique rewarded by the System, and he hadn't had a chance to use it until now. Trying it out today, the results were outstanding.

If he encountered such broken Small Worlds again in the future, he couldn't let them go to waste; he had to refine them all into Medicinal Pills to nourish his body.

Just then, the entire space began to shake violently, and huge spatial rifts appeared all around, as if it were the end of the world.

This was because the Origin of the Small World had been refined by Chu He, causing the entire space to lose its support and be on the verge of collapse.

"Let's go, this place isn't suitable to stay for long."

Chu He pulled the still-dazed Feng Ziyan, glanced at Uncle Fu, and said calmly: "Keep up."

After saying that, his figure moved, and he flew toward the spatial vortex leading to the fourth layer, located directly above the mountaintop.

Feng Ziyan and Uncle Fu did not dare to delay, hurriedly performing their movement techniques to follow closely behind.

The three turned into three streaks of light and plunged into the vortex before the world completely collapsed... After a bout of dizziness.

Chu He found himself beneath a vast and boundless starry sky.

Beneath his feet was a massive circular stone platform, its edges carved with ancient and mysterious star charts.

In the center of the platform stood nine massive stone pillars that reached into the sky.

Each stone pillar was coiled with a lifelike stone Dragon, radiating a desolate and majestic aura.

"Fourth Layer, Star Refining Heart Road."

A grand and cold voice echoed in Chu He's mind.

"Step onto the Heart Refining Road and endure nine baptisms of astral power. Success allows entry to the Fifth Layer. Failure results in the destruction of the Divine Soul."

Chu He looked up and saw that between those nine stone pillars, streaks of starlight connected into a winding and twisting path, leading straight to a faint light gate deep in the starry sky.

That should be the entrance to the Fifth Layer.

At this time, there were already many Cultivators on the stone platform who had entered earlier.

Each of them looked at that path of starlight with a solemn expression, their eyes filled with wariness.

One Early Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator could no longer hold back and was the first to step onto the path of starlight.

The moment he stepped into the range of the first stone pillar.

"Roar!"

The stone Dragon on the pillar seemed to come alive, suddenly opening its eyes and letting out a soul-shaking dragon roar!

Immediately after, a star in the sky brightened, sending down a thick beam of starlight that slammed heavily into that Nascent Soul Cultivator!

"Ah!"

That Nascent Soul Cultivator let out a shrill scream, his Protective Aura instantly shattered, and he was sent flying backward, spitting blood, his Divine Soul severely injured as he fell unconscious.

Although he wasn't dead, he was not far from it.

Seeing this scene, everyone gasped.

Just the first baptism of astral power was so terrifying!

Then how powerful would the remaining eight be?

This was no Heart Refining Road; this was clearly a road to Hell!

Just as everyone was hesitating.

An arrogant and provocative voice suddenly rang out.

"Hmph! A bunch of trash! You don't even dare to brave a mere Star Refining Heart Road, yet you're worthy of competing for the Soul Transformation Opportunity?"

Everyone looked toward the source of the voice and saw a young man wearing a magnificent golden robe, with a handsome face but incredibly haughty eyes, walking over surrounded by a group of people.

The young man radiated the powerful aura of the Middle Stage Nascent Soul, and his aura was condensed and his Foundation solid, clearly a top Prodigy from an extraordinary background.

Behind him followed two Late Nascent Soul Stage elders with deep auras, like guards, never leaving his side.

"It's the Saint of the Central Province Sacred Land, Ji Wuming!"

"Heavens! He actually came too!"

"It's said he was born with an Innate Saintly Physique, invincible among his peers, and can even challenge a Late Nascent Soul Stage!"

A series of low exclamations rose from the crowd.

The Central Province Sacred Land was a colossus even more powerful and terrifying than the Northern Desolation's Blazing Sun Sect or the Southern Region's Phoenix Clan!

And Ji Wuming was the most outstanding descendant of this generation of the Central Province Sacred Land!

Ji Wuming's gaze swept contemptuously over everyone present, finally landing on Feng Ziyan, who had just appeared with Chu He.

When he saw Feng Ziyan's peerless beauty and noble temperament, his eyes instantly erupted with undisguised amazement and possessiveness.

"What a stunning beauty! Such temperament, such looks, only I, Ji Wuming, am worthy of possessing her!"

Ji Wuming thought to himself, then strode toward Feng Ziyan.

He directly ignored Chu He and Uncle Fu standing beside Feng Ziyan, and with what he thought was a charming smile, he said to Feng Ziyan:

"Fairy, I am Ji Wuming of the Central Province Sacred Land. I wonder what your name is? Might I have the honor of braving this Star Refining Heart Road together with you?"

His tone was polite, but the high-and-mighty sense of charity in his eyes could not be hidden.

In his view, once he announced his name, this woman should be moved to tears of gratitude and throw herself into his arms.

However, Feng Ziyan only gave him a cold glance, not even bothering to say a word, and turned her head away.

After being "baptized" by Chu He, she had completely lost interest in this kind of self-righteous "Prodigy."

Compared to Chu He, this Ji Wuming in front of her was like an overgrown child, laughably naive.

The smile on Ji Wuming's face instantly froze.