Tens of thousands of Fire Crows surged into the cave with reckless abandon, screaming "Ya Ya" ferociously and spitting flames at Ye Qin. Although Ye Qin desperately used his magical artifacts to fend them off, his spiritual power eventually ran low. He was forced to gradually retreat deeper into the cavern to buy time to recover his depleted fali (magical power).

Fighting, holding the line, unable to resist, retreating, and fighting again... No one knew how long this sunless existence stretched on, nor how many Fire Crows he had slain, or how many remained outside. Ye Qin simply had no capacity to dwell on such things; his entire focus had to be on self-preservation.

He had originally prepared two alternate exits on the far side of the mountain as escape routes, ready to slip out and flee elsewhere at the first sign of being overwhelmed. However, he hadn't anticipated that the massive flock of Fire Crows would completely envelop the entire mountain, pinning down every single tunnel entrance. The creatures' sentience far exceeded Ye Qin's expectations.

For Ye Qin now, even leaving had become an impossibility. Once outside, the ferocious throng of Crows would surely bury him alive. His only path to survival was to remain within this cavern, fighting this vengeful swarm until one side was utterly annihilated.

Presently, the majority of the mountain's inner caverns were occupied by Fire Crows. Fortunately, the cave system was deep and extensive. Even though he might encounter Crows almost anywhere inside, he still had ample space to evade them.

In one section of the tunnel, a group of more than a dozen Second and Third Tier Fire Crows, emitting strange "Ya Ya" cries, swept past, their fiery red wings beating furiously. Suddenly, a sharp, meter-long beam of sword light sliced through the cavern depths without warning.

Startled by the sudden attack, the dozen or so Crows descended into chaos, spewing balls of flame toward the flying sword. It was useless. They managed only one or two panicked squawks before they were utterly shredded and killed by the sword; not one escaped. The ten-odd scattered fireballs struck the cave walls, blasting away a fair amount of rock and sediment, causing a minor collapse in one section of the passage.

Ye Qin retracted his flying sword and skillfully swept his divine sense over every carcass. He detected a potent Fire Spiritual Qi within one of the Fire Crows. A thought sparked in his mind, and he sent a streak of white light toward that particular corpse.

From within its body, a crimson, glowing Fire Element Demon Core was forced out by the white light. It attempted to dart away, but Ye Qin’s fali firmly secured it, drawing the core toward him.

Ye Qin smiled faintly, extended a finger, and pinched the small Fire Crow Demon Core, tucking it away into a small pouch. He counted the number of cores in the bag, muttering to himself.

"Including this Third Tier core, I've gathered over thirty Fire Crow cores now. That should be enough to extract a drop of Essence Spirit."

Just then, he heard the rustling sound of a large flock of Crows approaching from the distant tunnels. Ye Qin's expression shifted slightly; at least several hundred Crows were heading his way, alerted by the recent sounds of slaughter. He could handle a few dozen easily, but hundreds were enough to give him a severe headache.

He lightly tapped his foot and vanished within the darkness of the cave.

A short while later, Ye Qin arrived at a concealed stone chamber. He shoved a massive, heavy boulder, sealing the entrance to the passage and isolating himself from the outside world.

This was a hiding spot he had excavated earlier within the mountain’s core. Both exit passages were blocked by multi-ton boulders, and illusion formations, woven with talisman flags, covered the openings, complemented by powders designed to mask his scent.

After fighting the Fire Crows for so long, he had realized that only by employing multiple methods simultaneously—concealing every trace—could he possibly avoid detection by these cunning creatures.

Only then did Ye Qin breathe a sigh of relief, relaxing his tense posture as he sat cross-legged in the stone room.

He took out the Secret Art of Extracting Demon Core Essence from his storage bag and carefully studied it, a look of solemnity crossing his face. In truth, he had read this Essence Refining Secret Art many times before and could recite it backward and forward. However, these Demon Cores had been obtained with immense difficulty, and in limited quantity. To avoid any wastage, he had to be cautious, ensuring no detail was overlooked.

After reading through it once and confirming everything was correct, he took out the lowest-grade Demon Core from his bag to begin the refinement.

This core floated in the air, enveloped by a sheath of white magical light.

Ye Qin rapidly chanted the incantations, executing the secret technique. A full hour passed before the core began to emit wisps of steam, forced by a powerful surge of fali, gradually dimming and shriveling until no spiritual energy could be squeezed out any longer.

But simultaneously, a tiny, intensely bright crimson speck appeared above it—extremely minute, yet containing astonishing spiritual energy.

Fire Crow Essence Spirit!

Ye Qin beckoned, using a small elixir bottle to collect the speck of red light. Once this initial attempt succeeded, he relaxed. He proceeded to refine the Essence Spirit from the remaining thirty-plus Fire Crow Demon Cores.

Several days later, Ye Qin finished refining all the cores, collecting a single, exquisitely pure drop of Fire Crow Essence Spirit.

This single drop seemed to possess an extremely intense spirituality, radiating an unnervingly fierce aura—an aura directly linked to the true nature of the Fire Crows. It was the essence distilled from dozens of Third Tier Fire Crow Demon Cores, and its sheer ferocity was naturally overwhelming.

"A Third Tier Fire Crow Demon Core alone is worth no less than six or seven hundred low-grade spirit stones. Over thirty of them are worth at least tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones—enough to buy ten ordinary low-tier magical artifacts. Yet now, they've all been refined into this drop of Essence Spirit. Using it to forge a Nascent Soul magical artifact... I wonder if it's worth the effort."

Ye Qin held the small vial, murmuring to himself, then offered a wry smile. Things had reached this point; he had no way back. He must succeed in forging the Nascent Soul artifact to justify the huge investment of effort over the past few years.

Currently, the raw materials for forging the sword were gathered: a Purple Ore Crystal of over three thousand years, and a drop of Fire Beast Essence Spirit. However, he only possessed about ten wisps of Blue Flame Earth Fire, and he still needed more.

He needed to cultivate a sufficient supply of Blue Flame Earth Fire within his Huozifu (Fire Purple Mansion) before he could commence artifact forging.

While Ye Qin was relentlessly hunting Fire Crows day and night within the mountain caverns to acquire cores for artifact forging, dozens of miles away, Hou Qianji and Tie Dadan, two disciples at the Red Cloud Sect's Qi Condensation stage, were growing increasingly anxious, eagerly awaiting the news of Ye Qin's demise. They had been ecstatic for the first few days. But after more than ten days, Hou Qianji and the others could only stare at the mountain peak, circled by tens of thousands of Fire Crows, and let out a mournful cry of helplessness.

It had been over a fortnight, yet why hadn't this flock of Crows dispersed?

Fire Crows were known for their extreme vengeance; they would never retreat until their foe was slain. Since the massive flock was still gathered around the peak, constantly emitting angry screeches, it was obvious that the senior cultivator had not yet died. They naturally could not collect any abandoned treasures, but abandoning the idea was something they deeply resented.

In the blink of an eye, their patrol duty deadline arrived. Hou Qianji and Tie Dadan had no choice but to return to the Red Cloud Sect to report.

A month later, they took on another mountain patrol assignment and returned to the vicinity of the peak.

Gazing at the mountain, their hopes were dashed once more.

The gigantic flock of Fire Crows still circled the peak. The number of Crows hadn't noticeably decreased; it was as if they had rooted themselves there, unwilling to leave. With their low-level Qi Condensation cultivation, the two dared not approach to investigate the situation. A mere few dozen Third Tier Fire Crows would be enough to overwhelm two mid-stage Qi Condensation cultivators, leading to their death on the mountain.

Hou Qianji, Tie Dadan, and the others accepted more than ten consecutive patrol assignments. Even the other disciples of the Red Cloud Sect found it strange why they had suddenly become so diligent, ceasing all prior complaints.

Despite their fervent, tireless waiting, they never saw the Fire Crow swarm leave the mountain peak, and their hearts sank into complete despair.

However, they did notice one significant change: the tens of thousands of Crows circling the sky above the peak had dramatically reduced, leaving only about a thousand, which still flew around the mountain day and night, emitting mournful cries.

They dared not think too deeply, assuming that most of the Crows had simply left on their own. After all, how could anyone kill tens of thousands of them? Even if the Red Cloud Ancestor himself came, he might not possess the capability, not due to lack of strength, but due to the sheer impossibility of the prolonged effort required.

Day after day passed. Ye Qin lived a life of near-total seclusion in the caverns of the Blazing Mountain Range peak, cultivating. He forgot the passage of time, forgot the persistent Fire Crow swarm outside, and forgot the grudges concerning Northern Qi, Great Zhou, the Chaotic Lands, Spirit Mist, Tianqiong Plain, and the Moon Lake cultivation world.

Except for the fleeting moments when he recalled Bing'er from the Azure Pill Sect, tens of thousands of miles away, and his family in the Wu Kingdom, almost no other thoughts remained in his heart—only a sense of calm and peace. Perhaps due to the effects of the Sit Wang Jing (Sitting in Oblivion Scripture) technique, its intermediate chapter, Returning to the Origin, had guided Ye Qin's state of mind to a realm of profound tranquility, unlike the extreme nature of the initial chapter.

Sometime later, Ye Qin suddenly opened his pitch-black, bright eyes. A dazzling gleam flashed deep within his pupils before receding, leaving them looking ordinary once more. His cultivation had clearly advanced significantly during this period of secluded practice.

The Blue Flame Earth Fire was now sufficient.

Ye Qin extended a hand, and a Purple Ore Crystal, several inches in size, materialized about ten feet in front of him.

Next, a wisp of Blue Flame Earth Fire, imbued with terrifying power, appeared from his Huozifu out of thin air. The temperature inside the stone chamber immediately began to soar as the flame hovered before Ye Qin's palm. Ye Qin then flicked his finger, sending the blue flame gliding smoothly to envelop the Purple Ore Crystal.

Ye Qin continuously channeled fali with both hands, increasing the intensity of the Blue Flame Earth Fire, attempting to melt the Purple Ore Crystal.

However, melting a Purple Ore Crystal was by no means easy.

Even a tiny inclusion of Purple Ore Crystal in an ordinary low-tier magical artifact was enough to significantly boost its power. If an entire artifact were made from this material, it would inherently be a high-tier artifact from inception; melting it would certainly not be simple.

It took a full month, during which Ye Qin depleted almost half of his Blue Flame Earth Fire, before that small piece of Purple Ore Crystal finally yielded. By this point, the temperature in the stone chamber was nearly hotter than a subterranean magma river.

Ye Qin was sweating profusely, forced to activate his protective aura to ward off the heat, while sending streams of artifact-forging incantations toward the molten material.