Chapter 685: The "Difficulty" of Re-entering the Flame Space

[The Soldier Nurturer has refined professions such as Master Artificer, Forger, Celestial Spirit Caster, Holy Relic Artificer, and Master Elemental Enchanter from the Morning Fire Embers. The fusion and metamorphosis are complete.]

[Discovered Holy Profession—Celestial Mark Forger: You may take up this profession upon completing the professional requirements.]

[Professional Requirement 1: You must be a Tier Seven Professional, and all your current professions must be Top Level. (Completed)]

[Professional Requirement 2: Spend three years before a Forging Furnace without any external assistance, using only your bare hands and the most basic hammer and anvil to forge ten thousand different types of artifacts. (Completed)]

[Professional Requirement 3: Collect Stellar Gold Essence, the Trunk of the World Tree, the Core of Still Water, Nirvana Embers, and Soil of the Heart Vein, and smelt them into your body through a forging ritual. (Completed)]

[Professional Requirement 5: Personally destroy a creation you consider your life’s work, and comprehend the pain and emptiness. (Completed)]

[Professional Requirement 4: Forcibly extract the attached Spiritual essence from a Morning Star Artifact. (Complete the professional requirement and take up the profession to receive an additional reward.)]

He was surprised that it had actually transformed into a Holy Profession. And a forging-type one at that?

Su Chen found it unexpected that the vast majority of the professional requirements for the Celestial Mark Forger were marked as completed. This was likely thanks to the Morning Fire Embers; only one requirement remained unfulfilled.

“The Morning Fire Embers actually have the effect of substituting for the completion of professional requirements…” Su Chen murmured in surprise. As for a forging-type Holy Profession, he had truly never heard of such a thing.

What could he do with it? Forge Morning Star Artifacts?

Su Chen had little desire to strike iron, but there was no telling if it had other wondrous uses. Even if it was purely blacksmithing, it could still stack professional development efficiency; after all, it was a six-in-one fusion.

“Extract the fused Spiritual essence from a Morning Star Artifact,” he read aloud.

Although only one requirement remained, the difficulty was far from low. A Morning Star Artifact was the absolute lifeblood of a Morning Star Tier. Extracting the attached Spiritual essence from one was tantamount to destroying the Morning Star Artifact altogether.

His first thought went to the Red Thunder Star’s Red Thunder Cauldron. However, the Spiritual essence of that cauldron was the Great Venerable Red Flame Thunder Resonator himself, and its materials had even been used by the Ancient King to create a protective barrier.

Morning Star Artifacts… He mentally ran through the possibilities. There were currently only two Morning Star Tiers within the Sect. Chu Lingyuan went without saying, but as for Qin Yun’s Morning Star Artifact…

Wait. His eyelids suddenly twitched. It seemed Qin Yun hadn’t brought her Morning Star Artifact back. Could she have left it behind in the Flame Space?

Not just her—there were other Morning Star Tiers who had died in there. Their weapons should logically still be inside as well.

Forging a Morning Star Artifact consumed an exorbitant amount of materials, but the individuals who had entered the Flame Space were all core pillars of the major Sects. Naturally, they had the means to forge them.

Extracting the Spiritual essence of a Morning Star Artifact… a damaged Morning Star Artifact should also work. After all, the requirement emphasized the Spiritual essence, not the Morning Star Artifact itself.

Su Chen was gradually learning to discern the true focus of these requirements.

However, he had roughly explored the Flame Space previously and hadn’t discovered any remains of Morning Star Artifacts.

Thinking it over, Su Chen realized that to fulfill this requirement, he would have to figure out exactly where the Morning Star Artifacts belonging to Qin Yun and the others were located.

Going in to search directly was obviously impossible. Right now, there seemed to be only one guy who would know.

The Taixu Residual Spirit had been continuously tortured by the Great Venerable. Su Chen hadn’t bothered to check on it during this period, but now was the perfect time to ask.

With a slight shift of Su Chen’s mind, the agonized wails of the Taixu Residual Spirit immediately echoed in his ears, before gradually fading and morphing into harsh, ragged pants.

He wondered why a Spirit Fragment could still pant…

“Taixu,” Su Chen called out again.

“Stop!” Hearing his voice, the Residual Spirit responded instantly, shrieking, “Make him stop!”

Torture targeted at a Spirit Fragment was the most terrifying kind; it was a severe pain that struck straight at the Soul. Moreover, the Residual Spirit was trapped in an unknown space devoid of any concept of time and space, making the torment feel as though it would last for all eternity.

“I have some questions I want to ask,” Su Chen said flatly.

“Ask…” the Taixu Residual Spirit rasped.

This kid was utterly ruthless, affording him absolutely no opportunity to negotiate. Even as a prisoner, the spirit remained deeply curious about the secrets of Su Chen’s origins, hoping that he might glean a few clues through their conversation. If it was just trivial information, he was willing to answer to avoid further pointless torment.

Seeing that the Residual Spirit was finally willing to cooperate, Su Chen didn’t start by asking any questions that might expose his true motives. Instead, he returned to a previous question. “What did you mean when you said you are both the Final Ruins and the Sun?”

After a moment of silence, Taixu replied, “You can understand it literally. It involves many things, including the origins of the Sun Flame.”

“Oh? Tell me about it,” Su Chen said noncommittally.

This information wasn’t much of a secret. The Residual Spirit continued, “The Master of Sun Flame was named Taixuan Ye. The reason he fell here was because he was schemed against by one of the Final Ruins, who intended to corrupt him.

“The two sides entangled for many years and ultimately perished together. As for me, I was formed from the corrupted portion of Taixuan Ye.”

So that was it. No wonder he was so familiar with the Flame Space and possessed so many methods.

Enlightened, Su Chen continued his questioning. “According to what you said, why was the Spiritual essence of the Sun left behind here? Under normal circumstances, shouldn’t it be safeguarded by the faction Taixuan Ye belonged to?”

“That is only possible for the Spiritual essence of those below the Moonlight tier. At the Sun Tier, one’s Spiritual essence fuses entirely with themselves; it is impossible to strip it away,” the Residual Spirit explained.

The Spiritual essence fuses with oneself—was this the defining characteristic of the Sun Tier? Deep in thought, Su Chen asked, “Is the faction Taixuan Ye belonged to located in the Abyss Realm?”

The Residual Spirit replied, “That’s right. However, I am merely a partial Spirit Fragment. A lot of the information I hold regarding the Abyss Realm is highly fragmented, so I don’t know much.”