Shrouded Sky

Chapter 162 - Refining The Cauldron With Purple Qi

It truly was a small cauldron, no more than an inch tall. It didn’t shine with blinding light or emit terrifying godpower. What it radiated was a sense of nature and grandeur.

Yes, it was tiny, even minuscule, but it gave off an overwhelming and majestic presence. It didn’t feel like a weapon, it felt like a mountain range, a starry domain, a world shaped by Dao and the natural laws.

The Motherly Energy of All Things was exceedingly rare, a true treasure and sacred material for artifact forging. It was already nearly impossible to find, let alone its source root, which existed only in legends. And now, that very source had been forged into a cauldron.

Ye Fan could hardly remain calm. He peered within, inspecting the cauldron more closely. The black-and-gold surface embodied heaven and earth. With three legs and two ears, the upper rim was smooth and round, merging Dao with Law.

He tried to summon it with his mystical techniques, but was shocked, the tiny cauldron was as heavy as mountains and rivers. He couldn’t move it.

“This…” Ye Fan was stunned. It was incredibly heavy, like facing a towering mountain.

“Rise!” he shouted, pouring all his godpower into the cauldron. Finally, it rose. Ancient and plain, it floated quietly in the air, like a primal stone from the dawn of creation, unshakable.

“Go!” he whispered, trying to send it into the distance.

The inch-tall cauldron trembled slightly, and instantly, all the surrounding boulders silently crumbled into dust. The stone forest vanished before his eyes.

“The Motherly Energy of All Things… forged into a cauldron. It’s truly terrifying!”

Ye Fan recalled the cauldron, feeling both joy and concern. It was far too heavy. He could barely wield it. If it hadn’t been refined within his body and bonded to him, he wouldn’t be able to control it at all.

This cauldron already showed signs of greatness. If it could one day be etched with Dao and Law, it might even evolve into an ultimate weapon!

Ye Fan wasn’t in a rush to head to the seventh layer of the Flame Domain, where the multicolored cloud flames waited. There was time to refine the cauldron later. For now, he needed to improve his own cultivation.

True strength came from within. Without it, even with a divine cauldron, he couldn’t wield it freely.

Right now, his physical body was powerful and his godpower vast. If he settled down to train, he was confident of a breakthrough in a short time.

Ye Fan chose a stone forest, carved out a cave, and sat inside with the Bodhi Seed in hand, silently cultivating.

Back in the depths of the Sunset Glow Mountains, within the hidden space of the Peacock Monarch, he had nearly completed a breakthrough. He only needed half a step more to reach the Celestial Bridge Stage. Here, he was confident he could cross to the other shore.

Time passed. Ye Fan remained still, meditating deeply. After a month, he reached the peak of the Celestial Bridge Stage and began to refine the fist-sized source.

But just then, something strange happened, his vision blurred. He couldn’t see clearly anymore, as if he’d lost all direction.

“What’s happening?” Alarmed, he feared someone had set a trap. But there was no killing intent, no surge of godpower, everything was quiet.

He unleashed his divine sense, scanning the area. But all he saw was endless mist, nothing more.

“My five senses… my spiritual awareness… why is everything going dull? Did something injure me?”

Ye Fan quickly calmed down, thinking deeply. Then realization dawned.

“Could it be…?”

He thought of a possibility, a condition he had overlooked. In the Celestial Bridge Stage, there was the danger of “being lost.” The Dao Scripture briefly mentioned it, but offered no details. He had never paid it much attention.

Throughout his training, Ye Fan had always focused on the core teachings of the Dao Scripture, ignoring the lesser-known warnings. He never imagined he’d face this now.

The human body is full of mysteries. Cultivators who wish to escape the Bitter Sea and discover other secret realms of the body must first cross that sea.

Only by forming a Celestial Bridge, a bridge above the Bitter Sea that leads to the Other Shore, can one escape this constraint. This is the Celestial Bridge Stage, a crucial turning point.

But how long must the Celestial Bridge grow? Where must it extend to reach the Other Shore? Some spend their whole lives chasing illusions, trapped on this side of the Celestial Bridge, this is the danger of being lost.

At its worst, the five senses are stripped away. Spiritual perception disappears. One becomes a shell, blind and deaf, truly terrifying.

Most cultivators, when forming their Celestial Bridge, encounter mist that clouds their path. But this is usually mild. With calm focus, they can walk through it.

Ye Fan, however, had progressed smoothly until now, without any obstacles. But now the true danger hit. Endless fog rose, illusion veiled his senses, and his path forward was blocked. This was the real trial of being lost.

“To cross the sea is to reach the Other Shore!” Life and death hung in the balance. He had to push through. There was no retreat, if he failed, his five senses would be permanently lost. He’d be truly lost.

Ye Fan set aside the source stone and tucked the Bodhi Seed into his robe. He wanted to face this challenge unaided, without relying on any external power.

A true cultivator must overcome this test alone. Otherwise, their future cultivation would be haunted, and their spiritual sense dulled forever. This was a test of the heart, not one to be bypassed with tools.

In a way, the “calamity of being lost” was a blessing in disguise. If one succeeded, both body and soul would be cleansed. Instincts would awaken, and subconscious power would grow. One could see through illusion and touch the origin.

Ye Fan closed his eyes and became still as stone. Half a month passed before he whispered:

“I will not be lost…”

In his vision, mist sealed everything. He was trapped. Even within his Oceanic Wheel, he could only see a short section of his Celestial Bridge, with no sense of where to go.

This was a life-and-death ordeal. Many legendary cultivators had recounted this trial as a pivotal moment.

Ye Fan’s five senses continued to fade. His spiritual perception neared collapse. He couldn’t hear, couldn’t see… he was deaf and blind.

“I ask my heart, where is the Other Shore?”

Still calm, he pondered deeply and tried to peer through the fog.

“The Other Shore… the opposite shore? Must it be across the sea? Can we not turn back?”

“No, on the path of cultivation, there’s no going back. Only forward.”

The mist remained. His five senses dulled further. He felt on the verge of losing everything. It was the gravest danger he had ever faced.

“There’s a saying, the greater one’s potential, the harder it is to escape this test. I won’t be discouraged. I should feel grateful.”

Ye Fan’s mind remained composed. Instead of panic, he found a deeper confidence.

Half a month passed again, but he still hadn’t emerged from the fog.

Two months total passed. His five senses had been completely stripped away. He could perceive nothing.

“The Other Shore… it’s not over there. Why search for it? Wherever I go, it is there. Where I stand, that is the Other Shore.”

Ye Fan spoke softly.

Rumble!

The fog roiled and rapidly dispersed. Clarity returned. Everything was suddenly visible again.

In that instant, the fog vanished. His five senses returned, sharper than ever. A mysterious radiance enveloped him, as if he were undergoing a sacred baptism.

He had passed the life-or-death trial and overcome the calamity of being lost. His instincts were sharpened. His divine sense surged outward, covering a vast range. His body and soul felt reforged.

Immersing his awareness into the Oceanic Wheel, he saw the Celestial Bridge had become thicker, translucent like a beam of purple-gold light stretching across the sea to the unknown.

He stepped forward, just as he had said: “Where I go, there lies the Other Shore.”

His Celestial Bridge sparkled brilliantly as he crossed the Bitter Sea and reached its end, a land of purity cloaked in drifting clouds.

High in the sky, he caught a glimpse of a grand Dao Palace.

Floating clouds veiled it. The palace vanished, and he couldn’t see it again. But Ye Fan felt no disappointment. He had just reached the Other Shore, it was too soon to enter that secret realm.

According to legend, the Dao Palace Realm corresponded to the chest cavity. It held five god-spirits. Cultivating this realm triggered strange and mystical changes.

“The Valley Spirit does not die, it is called the Mysterious Female. The gate of the Mysterious Female is the root of Heaven and Earth.”

These five god-spirits corresponded to the five elements. Their refined energies connect Heaven and Earth endlessly, generating Dao force.

Having reached the Other Shore, Ye Fan could feel the changes in himself. His essence, energy, and spirit were all elevated. His godpower surged. His Bitter Sea had grown to the size of a palm, sparkling and radiant.

He felt like a single punch could shatter the sky, a single step could crack the earth, an illusion born of newfound power.

He did not act immediately. Instead, he picked up the fist-sized source stone and began refining it, intending to stabilize his current realm.

He didn’t expect to perfect the Other Shore realm in one go. That wasn’t realistic, he had only just arrived.

The source stone was pure and flawless, radiating brilliant colors and packed with unimaginable energy. Ye Fan refined it for half a day before fully absorbing it.

Then, he spent ten more days in silence, finally awakening, his cultivation complete.

“What is this…” Ye Fan exclaimed in shock as he peered into his Oceanic Wheel.

The golden sea shimmered, but something new had appeared on its surface, vibrant and green.

“What is that?”

Stunned, he saw a strange plant growing on the golden ocean, vague and hazy, like a blue-green lotus surrounded by chaotic mist!

“How is this happening?” He was utterly shocked, unable to understand how this change had come about.

Then, as he looked up, he froze again, the sky above the Oceanic Wheel was no longer blank or void, but a blue expanse, like a true sky.

Ye Fan was amazed. Reaching the Other Shore had triggered a series of transformations.

“The heavens… the lotus… is my Celestial Phenomenon beginning to emerge?”

But then he shook his head and muttered, “No, this is only the early evolution of the Oceanic Wheel. It’s not a true phenomenon yet!”