"On the last day of quarrying, I tried channeling the energy we've cultivated into my strikes," Han Pengfei explained. "The stones broke away easily—and the energy increased instead of depleting."
"I think this energy functions like spiritual power, circulating under certain rules. We just haven't grasped the pattern yet," Jian Dan mused. "For now, we can only let it accumulate in our meridians."
"Well said. Tomorrow, we'll take turns quarrying while testing this theory."
"Agreed."
With their plans made, the two stopped talking. They sat down and entered a meditative state, silently wrestling with the mysterious new energy stirring in their bodies.
The next day, they departed together again, ignoring the other cultivators trying to make small talk or curry favor.
By the end of that day, they had both confirmed it—the energy they'd discovered truly originated from the Blackstone itself. But absorbing it passively wasn't enough. Left idle, it merely lingered at the surface of their skin before dissipating.
However, Han Pengfei cultivated the Thousand Clouds Palm, and Jian Dan practiced the Ice-Skin Jade-Bone Demon Body Art. Both techniques required active circulation of internal energy, so this newfound force was naturally drawn into their meridians. There, it began to condense and grow stronger, day by day.
Understanding this, the two kept their findings quiet and continued fulfilling their mining quotas.
On the third day, Han Pengfei was assigned his own shed—C-2, adjacent to Jian Dan's.
The old woman's demands escalated exponentially, but the two cultivators were able to draw on the strange qi, finishing their mining each day before exhaustion could set in. Their meridians swelled with energy, stretching to hold its ever-growing flow.
After surviving three Spirit-Devouring Rat swarms, the elder led them away from the sheds.
Though she appeared to shuffle slowly—three steps and a sway—the two had to hustle to keep up. Wisely, they followed in her exact footsteps, careful not to stray even an inch.
After half an hour, they arrived at a towering Blackstone mountain, nearly twenty zhang high. A one-person-wide cave entrance was carved into its side. The old woman entered without a word.
Jian Dan and Han Pengfei exchanged a glance, then followed.
Inside, the cavern opened up into a vast hollow chamber. At its heart stood a massive furnace, fifteen zhang tall. Beneath it, earthfire blazed, baking the entire space in blistering heat. The air shimmered. Waves of it crashed into them as if the mountain itself breathed fire.
"From today, your task is to smelt and forge the blackstone you've mined," the old woman declared. "Leave only when every piece is molten and shaped."
"Understood."
Jian Dan stepped forward. "Elder, what form must the forged items take?"
"That depends on what artifacts you wish to craft."
Nodding thoughtfully, Jian Dan bowed and retreated.
The old woman muttered, "The cultivation world truly has fallen… Each generation weaker than the last."
And with that, she vanished.
Jian Dan and Han Pengfei approached their respective furnaces, marked Yi-San and Yi-Si, beneath which their harvested Blackstone had already been piled in towering baskets.
Jian Dan stared at the mountain of stone—twice her height—with a blank expression. Brother Parrot, seeing that the crone had left, immediately fluttered out, circling the cavern before landing on her shoulder.
"Xiao Zhuzi, what do we do now?"
"What else? Time to work."
Across the cavern, Han Pengfei had already begun dumping Blackstone into the furnace. Jian Dan followed suit. The task of simply feeding their ore into the smelter took forty days.
Yet despite swallowing so much Blackstone, the furnace produced no molten stone.
Meanwhile, the temperature within the mountain rose by the day. Even Jian Dan, whose body had been tempered through cultivation, began to feel her skin burn. Several days ago, they had dumped in the last of their stone. They tried leaving the cavern—but the exit was sealed. No matter what technique they used, the stone walls didn't budge.
"Daoist Shan, any ideas?" Han Pengfei asked, wiping sweat.
"If we don't melt the stone soon, we'll be the ones liquefying."
"Is the temperature insufficient?"
"We can't amplify the earthfire without spiritual energy..."
Then it struck her.
"We do have that cultivated energy. Maybe it can fuel the flames."
"Worth a try."
Standing before their furnaces, they channeled their inner energy into the fires.
The flames leaped, swelling with renewed vigor.
"Brother Parrot," Jian Dan called, "is the stone melting?"
With effort, the parrot flapped higher. His wings felt heavier than ever. As he rose, a jet of hot air burst from the furnace top, tossing him into a dizzy spin.
"Brother Parrot! Get down—now!"
The bird beat his wings clumsily and stabilized himself. What he didn't see was a few of his feathers drifting down into the forge.
As they touched the Blackstone, they dissolved instantly. And then—the entire mass began to melt, like snow vanishing beneath the sun. Dark stone turned to glistening silver, and slowly, steadily, molten Blackstone began to flow.