His entire vision was suddenly engulfed by an overwhelming crimson. For a breathless moment, He Yiming could perceive no other color whatsoever.

The fierce heat radiating from nearby made his skin prickle with phantom pain, and the clothes on his body instantly disintegrated into fine ash. Had it not been for the Red Wolf King hide armor he wore close to his skin, he would have been completely exposed.

Even so, that very armor felt as if it were on the verge of melting away.

He Yiming narrowed his eyes slightly, and after a brief pause, he slowly opened them again.

The muscles in his face twitched faintly, and his eyes held a look of vacant astonishment that defied description. He looked up at the brazier in his hands, then down at his own body and the Treasure Pig beneath his feet.

Man and pig stared at each other once more.

Before them, everything had been reduced to scorched earth; all existence had vanished.

The trees on that land hadn't just been burnt; they were gone, completely vaporized under the unbelievable power of the Fire Element.

The blackened ground spread outward from He Yiming in a fan shape.

Within ten zhang, there was nothing left but charred soil. Beyond that ten-zhang radius, although it was still scorched earth, there were scattered remnants of what had once been there. However, these fragments had merged so completely with the ground that even He Yiming could not discern what they originally were. This condition continued to spread until, roughly thirty zhang away, things slowly began to normalize.

This stark difference indicated that the area within ten zhang of He Yiming had borne the full brunt of the Fire Element's might. Once past that boundary, the force gradually lessened, finally dissipating entirely beyond thirty zhang.

He Yiming took a deep breath, but instead of the cool, crisp air he might have expected, his lungs filled with a thick, acrid smell of burning.

Fortunately, his True Qi reserves were immense; otherwise, that single inhalation would have choked him to death.

Casting a look filled with lingering fear toward the destruction ahead, He Yiming was certain that such violent Fire Element energy was far beyond anything he could defend against. Had he been standing at the absolute epicenter, even with his mastery of the Wind Element's core truth, his skill in Earth Burrowing, or even the achievement of coalescing the Flower of Fire, he would still have been utterly vaporized.

While mastering the Flower of Fire allowed one to command the Fire Element throughout heaven and earth, the human body possessed an inescapable limit. Exceeding that limit meant the Flower of Fire would cease to be a shield and instead detonate, becoming the perfect tool for self-annihilation.

In a momentary trance, a thought flashed across He Yiming's mind: if a Venerable were facing this surge of Fire Element power, could they survive within the sea of flame?

The thought vanished as quickly as it came; He Yiming certainly harbored no insane desire to find a Venerable and test the hypothesis.

He clearly remembered that the giant dragon had merely exhaled a casual stream of flame, yet that single breath had wrought such colossal devastation.

If the Nine Dragons attacked together, unleashing their full potential...

A chill swept through He Yiming’s heart. He was beginning to lend credence to the legends surrounding the rumored Eight Hundred Li Flame Mountain.

Perhaps that story was truly the result of a Divine Dao master wielding the Nine Dragons Furnace battling a Divine Beast.

He lowered his head, gently grasping the scalp of the Treasure Pig with one hand, murmuring almost to himself, "Did I cause this?"

As if to confirm his burgeoning sense of guilt, the Treasure Pig nodded vigorously.

He Yiming, however, paid it no mind. He closed his eyes instead, falling into deep contemplation.

He replayed everything that had just occurred, an experience that felt utterly dreamlike.

What surprised him most was the audacity he’d mustered to launch a full-power strike against the giant dragon.

The very notion of his own boldness in that moment struck him as deeply incredible—where had such courage sprung from?

Shaking his head, he knew now, even an idiot could see that the brazier in his hand was genuinely the legendary Divine Artifact, the Fire Dragon Furnace. Yet, this item, while possessing unimaginable power, was also a blazing hot potato.

He was certain that if even a whisper of its existence got out, even if he fled to the ends of the earth, countless people would relentlessly hunt him down until they seized the artifact or eliminated him entirely.

In that instant, he made a firm resolution: no one must ever know he possessed such a formidable Divine Artifact. Perhaps when his strength allowed him to stand above all others, he could reveal it openly. But this was definitely not the time.

A sudden impulse struck him, and He Yiming turned his head, looking down at the Treasure Pig. He asked with surprise, "Treasure Pig, how did you get in just now?"

When he established that mysterious connection with the Nine Dragons Furnace, the Treasure Pig had inexplicably followed, and the massive fire dragon’s attitude toward the pig had clearly been more favorable than toward him. This left him feeling deeply suspicious.

The Treasure Pig tilted its head, seemingly puzzled as well, its small eyes half-closed in apparent distress.

He Yiming offered a wry smile, rubbing the pig’s scalp. "Never mind, don't think about it."

The Treasure Pig visibly relaxed, immediately raising its head once more.

Though the reason remained elusive, this incident made He Yiming realize that the Treasure Pig’s origins were far from ordinary.

Placing the Nine Dragons Furnace back against his chest, He Yiming hesitated.

For some inexplicable reason, following the recent upheaval, He Yiming felt as though an inexplicable link had formed between himself and the Nine Dragons Furnace.

This connection wasn't mediated through True Qi, but rather through a pure, spiritual resonance.

It reminded him of the Book of the Divine Dao—the events that transpired in that fixed, peculiar space were unforgettable. But once he gained the recognition of that realm, he could enter it at will, using True Qi as the conduit.

Holding the Nine Dragons Furnace, He Yiming deliberated for a long moment before finally deciding to try once more.

He raised the Nine Dragons Furnace high above his head, his hands beginning to move rapidly.

It seemed an intangible force supported the furnace atop his fingertips, allowing He Yiming to once again execute the hand seals for controlling the Fire Element and channeling them into the artifact.

He Yiming’s eyes suddenly brightened. He sensed that this time was vastly different from before.

He could distinctly feel the immense power residing within the Nine Dragons Furnace, but this power no longer felt utterly unattainable. Instead, he sensed a faint capacity for communication.

He Yiming’s hand seals continued to dance, and as they moved, the power within began to loosen correspondingly.

Slowly, bit by bit, energy emerged from the Nine Dragons Furnace, growing rapidly like a single spark of kindling.

Beads of sweat began to form on He Yiming’s brow.

He had never imagined that manipulating the power within the Nine Dragons Furnace would consume so much True Qi and take so much time.

His fingers felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, moving only millimeter by millimeter.

At this moment, his state was completely different from when he hadn't controlled the furnace and its power.

He Yiming’s True Qi surged outward, and by the time he painstakingly completed the final hand seal, injecting the guiding energy into the Nine Dragons Furnace, his internal True Qi reserves were nearly depleted.

He let out a long breath, his eyes shining with an extreme, almost overwhelming excitement.

He had succeeded! He had drawn forth the power within the Nine Dragons Furnace using his own strength. Although the amount summoned was nowhere near the total volume contained within, it was infinitely better than the awkward stagnation he faced initially.

Sensing the changes inside the Nine Dragons Furnace, the familiar, boiling reservoir of vast power made He Yiming acutely aware of just how formidable the Fire Element within was.

He shifted his stance and gently turned the lid.

An equally colossal surge of energy erupted instantly, and once again, his vision was reduced to nothing but that sheet of crimson light...

The might of the Fire Element this time was in no way inferior to the single wisp of flame breathed out by the giant dragon. This, perhaps, was the strongest output He Yiming could currently guide with his capabilities.

After a long moment, He Yiming burst into loud laughter, his voice brimming with sheer joy.

Anyone who inadvertently obtained such a treasure and managed to puzzle out a method for its use would naturally feel this intense elation.

Lifting his head, He Yiming was filled with soaring spirits, his chest swelling with a fierce desire to shout aloud and vent the emotions churning within him.

However, before he could utter a sound, his eyes abruptly contracted.

In his field of vision, two streaks of light suddenly appeared. These two lights were clearly descending from the sky, heading directly toward his location.

An inexplicable sense of foreboding washed over He Yiming.

Without hesitation, he clutched both the Nine Dragons Furnace and the Treasure Pig tightly to his chest. Then, a mist-like energy enveloped his body, completely shrouding the Treasure Pig within it.

Almost at the precise moment the misty power enveloped them, He Yiming plunged into the earth below.

The entire sequence was lightning fast. From spotting the streaks of light to burrowing underground took merely the blink of an eye.

Furthermore, the ground beneath him had already been transformed into scorched earth, and even the space where he stood had absorbed residual shockwaves, making it indistinguishable from the rest. Thus, from the surface, there was no visible trace that anyone had executed an Earth Burrowing technique here.

The two streaks of light in the sky were not traveling at full speed; they maintained a measured velocity as they approached.

This was not the pinnacle power of the Wind Element, but true flight through the air, as effortless as birds, which was utterly unbelievable.

However, their speed was not significantly faster than the maximum velocity of a Venerable, suggesting a profound apprehension regarding this area.

Regardless of how deliberately these two lights paced themselves, the journey was quickly completed. When the streaks arrived above the patch of scorched earth, they circled twice before plummeting like shooting stars.

P.S.: Five updates today. Hoping for five again tomorrow, though I have calligraphy class tonight, sigh... So many people guessed the furnace! I have nothing to say! You are all too clever.