Stranger Danger-Chapter 1774: It’s Afraid Of You

After arriving at the top of the Hanging Tree, leaves flew out of the canopy and formed stairs underneath their feet.

Every time they took a step, a stair would automatically appear underneath their feet and carry them upward. They eventually stepped into the void and disappeared from the Myriad Beast Forest Ascension Heaven.

When the duo reappeared, they found themselves standing in a world of fire.

“What is this place?”

Ye Qing waved his hand and dispelled large swathes of crimson gold fire with the Yin Yang Qi. Then, he examined his surroundings closely.

Wherever he looked, crimson gold fire burned. It was hot enough to melt metal like nothing.

“I do not know.”

Feng Qingyou shook her head before adding, “The fire is probably the Metal Melting Profound Fire.”

The Metal Melting Profound Fire was one of the extraordinary natural flames. As its name implied, it possessed the power to melt metal. It could melt any and all metal or crystal in a short period. Naturally, it was very deadly.

That said, this effect only worked on metals and crystals. It was much less effective against other objects.

“Let’s look around.”

The duo weren’t afraid of the Metal Melting Profound Fire. They began looking around for clues.

A while later, the duo arrived in front of a wall. It was inscribed with profound talismans. It was also the source of the Metal Melting Profound Fire.

Ye Qing tapped on the wall and received a metallic clang. It was neither metal, silver nor bronze, and yet it felt metallic. It was quite unusual.

“The wall is curvy.”

Ye Qing unleashed his demonic thought. A period of observation later, he added ponderingly, “It looks like a pot.”

The wall was narrow down below, wide at the center, and narrow up top. It was very much like the shape of a flower pot or an earthen pot.

“Are we inside a pot?”

“No. We’re inside a furnace, I think.”

Feng Qingyou refuted his guess. “A forging furnace to be exact.”

Ye Qing exclaimed in surprise, “A forging furnace? How do you know?”

“For starters, Metal Melting Profound Fire is mostly used to forge weapons or Strange Artifacts.”

Feng Qingyou explained, “The wall in front of us sounds metallic even though it is neither metal, silver, iron or bronze. So, it must be metal stone.”

“Metal stone is usually created together with a rare object of the Metal element. As it is exposed to metallic essence for years on end, it gains a metallic quality and becomes harder than metal despite being stone.”

“Metal stone cannot transmit true qi and spiritual energies though. That is why artificers rarely use it to forge Strange Artifacts.”

“Besides that, metal stone has a very important characteristic: it is immune to the effects of the Metal Melting Profound Fire. This is why some master artificers forged their forging furnaces with metal stone. This allows them to forge Strange Artifacts and other things with the Metal Melting Profound Fire without needing to worry about the integrity of their furnace.”

Feng Qingyou then pointed at the talismans on the wall. “These talismans are called the Metal Melting Profound Fire Talismanic Restriction. It is a restriction made to bear and nurture the Metal Melting Profound Fire. This restriction is commonly used during artifact forgings.”

“These all prove that we are inside a forging furnace.”

“We’ll know if we give it a try.”

Ye Qing threw a punch at the wall in front of him.

Thang!

The walls vibrated incessantly a loud metallic clang resounded throughout the area. The talismans flickered erratically before spitting out thick columns of Metal Melting Profound Fire. The fire burning in other places also fused into a fiery wave that was hundreds of meters tall and flooded toward the duo as if summoned by something.

Ye Qing raised his foot and stomped the ground. Thick, heavy profound light immediately washed out to the surroundings and repelled the incoming Metal Melting Profound Fire. Not a wisp of fire could approach them even a little.

Thang thang thang...

With that done, Ye Qing continued punching the wall in front of him. The clanging was unending, and large amounts of talismans were destroyed as a result.

A large hole appeared in the wall after the talismans were destroyed. Cracks were swiftly spreading in every direction.

Buzz...

Right before he would punch through the wall, every talisman in the furnace suddenly lit up. It was as if daytime had arrived without warning. At the same time, an inaudible sound echoed throughout the furnace.

The next moment, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou felt themselves being pushed upward by an irresistible force. Even the flames were also gushing upward like fountains. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

As they flew up, a series of clanging noises came from above their heads. It sounded like the sky was shaking. One last rumble later, the sky abruptly flew off like a cover.

At the same time, bright light poured down from above.

“It is a forging furnace!”

Hovering in the sky, the duo looked down and saw a cyan gold-colored, round-shaped and double-eared forging furnace.

The forging furnace was as big as a mountain. It was also covered in flames.

The thing they saw flying into the sky earlier was, in fact, the furnace’s cover.

It was at this moment something amazing happened. The forging furnace abruptly stood up straight on its four legs and... ran away.

As the furnace was massive, its footsteps were earthshaking as a matter of course. It was gone in the blink of an eye.

Whoosh!

Before Ye Qing or Feng Qingyou could regain their senses, the flaming cover in the sky flew after the disappeared furnace at high speed. If it could speak, it would probably say: Wait for me, man!

“Erm... what is going on here?”

Ye Qing looked at Feng Qingyou with a stupefied expression.

Feng Qingyou looked astonished as well. A long time later, she said uncertainty, “I think... it ran away... because the beating you gave it was too much?”

Ye Qing blinked. That... seemed like the only possible explanation.

It was at this moment Ye Qing realized something. “Wait a second. That forging furnace is sentient?”

It might even be sapient. After all, it was smart enough to ditch its attackers and run away.

Ye Qing’s eyes lit up. “Let’s give chase.”

Assuming it was sapient, then it must be a valuable treasure. Naturally, he wasn’t going to let it slip through his grasp.

Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou chased after the forging furnace.

At the same time, they kept a close eye on their surroundings.

Like most places, the vast, endless earth was covered in meandering mountain ranges and long, winding rivers. However, the mountains were completely barren. Not a single tree could be found on them. The rivers were devoid of all aquatic life, and the earth was devoid of plant life as well.

The only thing they saw were all sorts of weapons. There were sabres, spears, swords, halberds, axes, hammers, hooks, forks, whips, truncheons, clubs, lances, drums and more.

There were also all sorts of treasures. There were seals, bells, bronze mirrors, umbrellas, flags, lamps, furnaces, basins, alms bowls, pots, cups and more.

The weapons and treasures stood like forests on the mountains, piled up like rocks on the ground, and floated like fishes in a river. It was quite the grand spectacle.

“What is this place? Why are there so many weapons?” Ye Qing made a grabbing motion and summoned a long saber into his hand.

The saber was shaped like a crescent and glinted like the moon. It was cold like the nine frigid heavens and beautiful like a crescent in the sky.

An ancient script was inscribed to the hilt. It said: “A lone moon and cold stars illuminate the sky as one ~ Lone Moon Cold Star.”

“Lone Moon Cold Star? What a good name and an excellent saber. It’s too bad...”

Lone Moon Cold Star was clearly the crescent saber’s name. The saber itself was an excellent saber. It was forged using Moon Essence Metal and Flowing Frost Profound Stone. Moon Essence Metal was sharp yet tough, and Flowing Frost profound Stone contained the power of Profound Frost Supreme Yin. The inside of the saber was inscribed with countless profound and mysterious runes and restrictions as well.

If the weapon was intact, it was at least a Disaster-class Strange Artifact, if not greater. Alas, the runes and restrictions engraved to the saber were gone, and the blade itself had become perfectly mundane probably because it hadn’t received an influx of spiritual energies and origin qi for far too long. Even the power of the Moon Essence Metal and the Flowing Frost Profound Stone had disappeared completely.

In other words, the crescent saber looked awesome on the outside, but was really rotten on the inside. It was just a mundane weapon with no extraordinary powers whatsoever.