Immortal Refiner

”I never imagined that prematurely hatching these three golden silkworm eggs would cost me nearly fifty years of my lifespan,” Li Qing murmured, his brow furrowing slightly as he gazed at the three golden silkworms that had just emerged from their eggs.

The vitality of these three Little Golden Silkworms far exceeded his expectations.

Having been hatched by Li Qing himself, the silkworms immediately showed affection, constantly crawling toward him.

Despite their extraordinary vitality, the silkworms were still quite small, barely as thick as his thumb and only four or five inches long.

Li Qing extended his hand, and the three Little Golden Silkworms crawled into his palm. Sensing his presence, they nuzzled their heads against his palm.

Staring at the three adorably clumsy silkworms, Li Qing couldn’t help but question his life choices. Did I really spend fifty years of my lifespan just to hatch these little cuties who only know how to be cute?

Yet despite their endearing appearance and diminutive size, these newly hatched Golden Silkworms already possessed the strength of late first-tier demon beasts.

Li Qing sighed, gently nudging the silkworms’ heads. He couldn’t shake the feeling that spending fifty years of his lifespan on this had been a bit of a waste.

”Well, they did absorb the life essence from a pile of silkworm eggs. The final three golden silkworm eggs must have had an exceptionally solid foundation. It’s understandable that they’d be more difficult to hatch.”

”I hope you three little guys won’t disappoint me in the future.”

With those words, Li Qing retrieved several pieces of low-grade Water Azure Iron from his storage pouch.

This spirit gold was barely suitable for refining high-grade water-attribute magical artifacts, making it of little use to Li Qing at his current level.

However, it was perfect for feeding these little creatures.

Soon, the three Golden Silkworms demonstrated their ability to devour metal!

Upon sensing the Water Azure Iron, they immediately crawled onto the pieces and began consuming the water-attribute spirit gold.

To Li Qing’s surprise, though the little creatures looked frail, their teeth were remarkably sharp. In just a few bites, they had gnawed the Water Azure Iron into a pockmarked mess.

Before long, the Water Azure Iron was completely devoured, leaving not a single scrap behind.

After finishing the spirit gold, the three little creatures’ bellies swelled noticeably. They promptly curled up in Li Qing’s palm and began snoring soundly.

”So I’ve raised three more gluttons,” Li Qing chuckled wryly. He imprinted each Golden Silkworm with a divine sense imprint before tucking them into his robe.

And so, the three Little Golden Silkworms clung securely to the inner lining of the Golden Jade Garment he wore, settling in with surprising harmony.

For now, Li Qing put the matter of the Little Golden Silkworms out of his mind. This unique vital essence, condensed at the cost of his own lifespan, truly possessed remarkable power.

It could even accelerate the hatching of insect eggs!

But he had a more critical task at hand: to test whether this strange vital essence could reignite the extinguished Spirit Devouring Demon Flame.

”Normally, without any other methods, reigniting the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame would require patiently waiting a century or two for it to spontaneously rekindle,” he mused.

”However, since the Seven-Colored Life Essence can revive dormant spirit herb seeds, perhaps it can also revive the source fire seed of the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame!”

With that, Li Qing retrieved the small, ink-black flood dragon from his dantian qi sea.

The black flood dragon still emanated an aura of deathly stillness, identical to when he had first brought it out of the Spirit Devouring Realm.

”Transform life force, condense vital essence!”

Heavenly spirit fire held extraordinary significance for Li Qing. Not only could it accelerate his cultivation, but it could also enhance his combat prowess!

He was determined to awaken this flame at any cost, and he hesitated not a moment.

What was a mere sacrifice of some lifespan? Having cultivated to this point, he no longer needed to worry about such trivial matters.

With that, Li Qing once again formed a peculiar hand seal.

As his lifespan dwindled, the Seven-Colored Life Essence within his body, which had just been depleted, began to replenish itself from thin air.

Buzz!

Gazing inward, Li Qing watched as the Seven-Colored Life Essence steadily increased.

1,960 years... 1,947 years...

In the blink of an eye, Li Qing had once again sacrificed 120 years of his lifespan, condensing a massive cluster of extraordinary Seven-Colored Life Essence!

With a subtle mental command, he channeled the vibrant essence into the Black Little Flood Dragon.

The Seven-Colored Life Essence vanished instantly, absorbed as quickly as water meeting a parched seabed.

Li Qing raised an eyebrow, then accelerated the flow of vital essence.

Before long, all the Colored Life Essence he had just expended 120 years of lifespan to create had been completely absorbed by the black flood dragon.

”No change? Could it be ineffective?” Li Qing frowned deeply, pressing his hand against the Black Little Flood Dragon’s body.

”Wait! It’s working!”

Li Qing’s eyes widened as he felt a faint warmth emanating from the dragon.

Indeed, it was working.

He remembered clearly that the Black Little Flood Dragon had been ice-cold before, but now it radiated a subtle heat.

He wasn’t worried about the effect being weak—he was only concerned about it having no effect at all!

Having confirmed its effectiveness, Li Qing steeled his resolve and immediately resumed converting Colored Life Essence.

Boom!

A torrent of Colored Life Essence surged forth from his body, pouring entirely into the Black Little Flood Dragon.

This time, the changes in the creature were even more pronounced. Its body began to tremble visibly!

After absorbing a massive amount of Li Qing’s Seven-Colored Life Essence, a wisp of pitch-black flame ignited on its surface.

Boom!

The dark flame rapidly spread, engulfing the entire black flood dragon in an instant!

The Flood Dragon vanished, leaving before Li Qing only a fiercely burning mass of black spirit fire.

This fire burned with extreme intensity, far surpassing the heat of Li Qing’s own pill fire.

Within moments, the floor beneath it began to melt, transforming into molten lava!

The source fire seed of the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame had finally awakened!

A wave of overwhelming joy surged through Li Qing’s heart. Yes, he had finally obtained a true second spirit fire!

To prevent his cave abode from being melted into magma, Li Qing immediately contained the black, demonic spirit fire in his hand.

With a subtle mental command, he suppressed the terrifying heat it continuously emitted, forcing it to retract its temperature.

”Wait, why has its form reverted to a simple fire seed? Where’s the black flood dragon form it showed earlier?”

Staring at the fire seed, Li Qing quickly grew puzzled again.

He had studied records about the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame. To unleash its full power, this spirit fire should transform into various demon beast forms to confront enemies.

Yet now, the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame only displayed its most basic flame form. No matter how he urged it, he couldn’t transform it into a demon beast form.

”That’s it. The spirit fire’s source fire seed was extinguished once before. The various forms it had memorized vanished when it was rekindled.”

The black flood dragon form he had seen earlier was merely a form the previous owner of the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame had imprinted by slaying a black flood dragon.

Now that the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame belonged to Li Qing and had been awakened from its extinguished state, it was essentially reborn.

Having been reborn, the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame naturally existed only in its most basic form.

This meant that if Li Qing wanted to transform the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame into a demon beast form in the future, he would have to start from scratch, accumulating power bit by bit.

”Though it’s somewhat lacking, this is still sufficient for now,” Li Qing murmured, playing with the newly revived flame.

He snapped his fingers, and wisps of black spirit fire suddenly flickered to life at his fingertips.

Having successfully formed his golden core, Li Qing’s cultivation had deepened significantly, and his mastery of the Crimson Blaze Heaven-Burning Art had soared accordingly.

The most immediate manifestation of this progress was his enhanced control over heavenly spirit fires.

”The essence of the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame lies in its name: ’Spirit Devouring.’ This fire can devour spiritual energy, unleashing unimaginable power.”

”With this, even mid Core Formation Realm cultivators will pose little threat to me.”

With these words, Li Qing stored the Spirit Devouring Demon Flame’s source fire seed within his dantian qi sea.

But in the very next moment, a shocking transformation occurred!

(End of the Chapter)

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