Flames were jumping with vitality coursing through them as Li Qiye controlled the fire of the cauldron. He used this power to refine and empower this treasure.
His fire mastery changed the cauldron fire into all kind of shapes. It resembled the rain of spring that carefully bathed the treasures or would be like the raging storm to morph it. Other times, it would turn into an icy fire to encapsulate the item...
Considerable changes appeared with the refinement process in terms of colors. This showed a fundamental shift in essence.
At the same time, his vitality continued to nourish it without fail. This made the treasure inside seemed to have its own life, as if it was a beating heart.
“Boom!” It suddenly turned into a continuously-rotating sphere before changing into little needles. All the needles were together just like a hedgehog. Next, it changed again into stacking pieces just like the formation of a wall...
It continued this amazing process with the different forms. The treasure was made from the precious ancestral trees on top of other precious metals using an incredible technique. After the arduous process, a magical treasure finally came out.
“Bang!” It instantly jumped out of the cauldron after completion and scurried away like a cannon shell but was instantly grabbed by Li Qiye.
This shell-like treasure was the size of an adult’s thumb with three adjoined colors - neither gold, jade, or wood. Even the finest scholars would find it difficult to recognize the materials.
It was jumping up and down while trying to escape from Li Qiye’s fingers. He smiled and said at its struggle: “Since I’m your maker, you should obey me.”
With that, supreme laws circled around his fingers and imprinted themselves into this treasure, giving it no room for resistance.
The treasure finally calmed down after the imprintation. It stopped moving and finally submitted.
Li Qiye smiled while looking at it: “If you have eighteen transformations, let’s call you the Ancestral Eighteen Explosions then.”
He didn’t care whether it agreed with the name or not before putting it away. Just like that, he had a treasure jewel with this name.
It belonged to the foreign dao category unlike life and true treasures. To a certain extent, it didn’t require a powerful cultivation. Its power depended on itself and because this one was made from an amazing material like the ancestral trees, it had an unbelievable advantage in this regard.
He took out another item and placed it on the table after putting this away. It was the yellow cloth again.
A female shadow condensed on the cloth. It was the girl that Li Qiye had always called a brat with an extremely ancient identity.
“Hey, were you dead or something? I yelled for so long and you didn’t answer at all.” The girl inside was miffed.
“What’s the hurry, you’ve been in there forever? You’re not a living person either, the passage of time does nothing to you.” Li Qiye said leisurely.
The girl has been anxious all this time since Li Qiye ignored her completely while refining his jewel.
“You...” She almost vomited blood from anger. If she could come out of the cloth, she would strangle him to death right now!
“You should be as calm as the water and unperturbed for all eternities after being sealed for so long.” He teased.
The girl scowled since there was nothing she could do while being trapped in this cloth.
“Where is this place?” She eventually calmed down and asked.
“Northern Grand Sea, a vast aquatic region. We’re still in Mortal Emperor.” He said with a smile.
“Never heard of it.” She shook her head.
He chuckled: “It’s no surprise that you don’t know. It didn’t exist back in your era and you’re not all omniscient anyway.”
“You’re not omniscient either.” She became annoyed again.
“That’s definitely true.” He smiled: “For example, there are still a few things hidden from your era. I know that the world can be destroyed but certain items can still continue to exist.”
The girl became alert again with this topic.
He replied: “No need to be alarmed, such things are easy to guess. Plus, your identity isn’t hard to guess either since you can survive after the end of the ancient era.”
“So what? This doesn’t mean that you know it.” She said coldly.
“That’s fine. You should know by now that a character of my level has been searching through time for a long time now. I know many matters unbeknown to others.”
With that, he stared at the girl and asked slowly: “For example, in your epoch, what was the ultimate weapon? Where is it hidden? In other words, what is the item left behind from your epoch?!”
“I don’t know.” She denied instantly: “How could I know such an untouchable thing? I was only an insignificant character during that golden period.”
“An insignificant character?” Li Qiye couldn’t help but laugh: “You still survived after the destruction of the world, how can you be an insignificant character? You might have been cursed and trapped in this cloth, but you have never been a nobody.”
The girl didn’t want to say anything else because that would only reveal more information. This was someone capable of derivating even more clues from every little things.
“Okay, let’s move on from the boring stuff, why did you want to see me in the last couple of days?” He grinned.
The girl slightly opened her mouth but didn’t want to speak.
“Don’t worry, I’m a man of principle. Even if you have some kind of treasures here at the Grand Sea, I won’t take it all for myself. It’ll be a transaction of sorts for us.” He said during her moment of silence.
“How, how do you know?!” The girl became startled because this was a secret. Few during her epoch even knew about it so no one in this generation should know.
“Just a guess.” Li Qiye said with smile: “I have been to many places yet you had no reaction. But you became anxious the moment we got here. This showed that this place is special to you, something is calling for you here.”
“You!” The girl became surprised again. Only silence was the prudent move in this situation.
“Another item existing through the long years. This must be an amazing treasure, highly coveted by everyone.” He nonchalantly said.
She finally spoke: “Fine, how about this? Take me to a certain place and take an item out. It shall belong to me. In the future, I will pay you a handsome amount.”
“Is that so?” He said leisurely: “But I am someone who wants a lot, an unimaginable greed, you might say.”
“What do you want?” She said slowly: “Just name the price, everything is possible.”
“No, you are wrong.” He shook his head: “The key point is what do you have? That’s the only thing you have to negotiate with me. I’m very picky, three or five incredible treasures alone aren’t enough.”
“Don’t try to name an exorbitant price.” She was very dissatisfied.
“Maybe what’s considered an exorbitant price to you is only a normal transaction to me. I have too many treasures to count Do you think that ordinary treasures, even those of the emperor level, can move me? Let’s talk about the top items from your epoch instead.” He casually said.
The girl became quiet again. The truth was that she had no advantages to speak of when negotiating with him since she needed his help at the moment.