Soaring the Heavens

"..." Miao Yi was speechless. The old coot was bringing this matter up again. He really knew how to hit him where it hurt. Every time this matter was brought up, Miao Yi felt a terrible pain in his chest. But alas, he couldn’t possibly go back to the Supreme Fire Palace to pick up all those shattered fragments. He quickly tossed a glance at Qian’Er and Xue’Er.

Qian’Er immediately pulled on Yao Ruoxian’s arm and asked, "Father, have you finished refining Master’s transcendent artifact?"

Yao Ruoxian’s lips twitched, and he tossed Miao Yi a hateful gaze. He knew that this bastard was intentionally avoiding the subject and unwilling to argue with him. The brat was fully aware that the two girls were his weak spot, and so he made them speak on his behalf for everything he found difficult to ask. Had he not found it unbearable to see the pleading gazes on the two girls’ faces, Yao Ruoxian would’ve long given Miao Yi a good beating to let off some steam.

"Take it!" The object rattled as Yao Ruoxian tossed it straight at Miao Yi’s face.

Afraid that this was another one of the old man’s tricks, Miao Yi quickly dodged to the side and caught the artifact as it passed him by. After making sure that it was safe, he opened it up and found that it was actually a black-colored leather armor which took the shape of a sleeveless, scaled vest. Miao Yi didn’t really care what it looked like. He quickly injected the artifact with his transcendence energy signature and gained ownership of it. He then put it on straight away, wanting to test out its capabilities.

"Don’t test it out here. Go inside the cave. This house can’t handle your pyromaniac tendencies!" Yao Ruoxian suddenly barked.

Qian’Er and Xue’Er immediately left their father behind and excitedly went after Miao Yi. They were curious about the artifact’s capabilities as well.

Yao Ruoxian couldn’t help rolling his eyes at those two ungrateful girls. He then jumped down the bamboo bed and followed after them.

Everyone soon made their way to the cave that Yao Ruoxian had dug out to refine his artifacts. Miao Yi immediately closed his eyes to feel the changes within the armor artifact. As he slowly comprehended the basic mechanics, he suddenly let out a gasp of astonishment. He looked down at the Qilin head ornament placed where the armor’s collars intersected; he had just discovered that the ornament actually contained a very profound design. There was a small pocket dimension inside, and quietly floating within that pocket dimension was the Supreme Fire Crystal Qilin head that he’d brought back from the Supreme Fire Palace.

The formation core for this transcendent artifact was so blatantly out in the open. This was something Miao Yi had never seen before, at least not in the transcendent artifacts he was familiar with.

He looked up at Yao Ruoxian who was slowly walking into the cave. He pointed to the Qilin head ornament on his collar and asked, "What’s up with this?"

Yao Ruoxian briefly explained, "It’s a bit of a waste to use such a large chunk of Supreme Fire Crystal to refine a mere Second Grade Transcendent Artifact. That’s why I decided to refine it into an unsealed formation core instead of just hiding it away permanently. That way, you can take out the keystone that is the Supreme Fire Crystal anytime you want. Once your cultivation is high enough, I can recycle it into a formation core for a Third Grade Transcendent Artifact. In doing so, you’ll be able to make greater use of the Supreme Fire Crystal’s effects and also avoid wastage. The downside to this is that if someone were to steal the formation core, then this artifact of yours is as good as garbage. This is also the reason why most transcendent artifacts tend to have their formation cores hidden away and sealed off. It’s just like how transcendent arrays normally hide the heart of the array away so that it can’t easily be found by the enemy. Otherwise, once the heart is broken, so too shall the array crumble!"

"I can take out the keystone?" Miao Yi asked curiously.

Yao Ruoxian nodded.

Miao Yi quickly examined the artifact again with his transcendence energy. He focused on sensing the inner dimension hidden within the Qilin head ornament, and soon enough, he found the method of opening it.

As he manipulated his transcendence energy, the Qilin head on the collar of the artifact opened its mouth and released a white radiance which quickly expanded. Miao Yi hurriedly reached out and grabbed at the light. Seeing that it was indeed the Supreme Fire Crystal Qilin head, he couldn’t help clicking his tongue. He figured that this Qilin head ornament contained similar capabilities to a storage ring, but the dimension within seemed a little more complex than that. There were holes of various sizes situated around the spatial walls of the pocket dimension.

Miao Yi then brought the Qilin head closer to his chest, and the ornament on his collar opened its mouth once more, sucking the Qilin head back inside and returning it back to its original position.

"Back away a little. I’m going to give this a go."

There wasn’t a lot of space inside the cave and there was no place to hide. Miao Yi was afraid of accidentally hurting the other three, so he warned them beforehand.

Qian’Er and Xue’Er were about to exit the cave when Yao Ruoxian suddenly took out a crystal tablet. He then pointed at the crystal bracelets on the two young ladies’ wrists and said, "You two don’t have to be afraid. We have something that can counteract the effects of his transcendent artifact!"

Since the old man had put it that way, then Miao Yi had nothing left to worry about. He spread his arms, and flames started bursting forth from the tiny gaps between the scales of his armor. In the blink of an eye, Miao Yi was completely wrapped in flames. The fire quickly expanded, and with a violent rumble, the whole cave was instantly swept by an intense wave of heat.

With his entire body shrouded in flames, Miao Yi looked absolutely imposing, and his presence was nothing short of astonishing. Meanwhile, Yao Ruoxian, Qian’Er, and Xue’Er looked as if they were wrapped inside an eggshell. The burning fire was around one foot away from them, but it had no way of getting any closer than that. It was a rather peculiar sight indeed. That said, the three of them could still feel a tiny amount of heat coming from the powerful flames beyond the safety zone.

As he examined himself, Miao Yi chuckled in delight. With this, there was no way an enemy would be able to get close to him by normal means.

The powerful blaze quickly subsided and was reabsorbed back into Miao Yi’s black-scaled armor, and the cave returned to its gloomy self once again.

"Let’s see what you can turn into!" shouted Miao Yi with one arm raised and his palm spread open.

The black-scaled light armor he wore immediately started revolving around him as individual scales quickly gathered on his wrist. The scales then continued upwards to his palm, where they immediately grew longer and bigger. In the blink of an eye, the scales had morphed into the Inversed-Scales Spear in Miao Yi’s hand.

The difference between this Inversed-Scales Spear and the old one was that instead of a dragon’s head being attached to the tail of the spear, it was now replaced by a Qilin’s head. And the scales that were originally on Miao Yi’s armor had now transformed into the inverted scales that formed the spear.

Draconic roars erupted as Miao Yi struck forward with his spear. Then from the tip of his spear, a powerful flame burst forth. Having been imbued with Miao Yi’s transcendence energy, the destructive power of the flame was extremely powerful, and was capable of creating a blackened hole about the size of a pillar on the walls of the cave, with smoke rising from its incinerated remains.

Miao Yi pulled back the Inversed-Scales Spear and held it up at an angle. Then, violent flames started spewing forth again from the spear, encasing it completely with fire from top to bottom.

"Nice!" Miao Yi exclaimed. The flames on the Inversed-Scales Spear quickly subsided, and the spear itself immediately started revolving up his arm, turning back into the black-scaled light armor over his body.

Feeling the armor on his body, Miao Yi was ecstatic. With his spear art combined with the devastating force of this fire, it was easy to imagine the outcome if he ever had to battle someone. Even if he went up against an entire army by himself, he was confident he would still be able to hold his own. This was truly a powerful transcendent artifact!

Even Yao Ruoxian, the one who refined the artifact himself, couldn’t help shaking his head. He turned to his two daughters and sighed, "Oh my girls, I’m so sad for you two! All you can do is watch in envy as someone else gets the precious artifact! Initially, I wanted to cut that chunk of Supreme Fire Crystal into three pieces and make two transcendent artifacts for you as well. Sadly, even if I did do such a thing, you girls wouldn’t be able to control the finished product anyway. It’s tough even for me. All those who don’t practice any fire-type cultivation arts will naturally have difficulty controlling such a transcendent artifact—unless their cultivation was high enough that they didn’t need to fear the feedback from the intense flames. But even then, they wouldn’t be able to utilize this transcendent artifact to its full potential. Transcendent artifacts of the Five Elements are different from normal transcendent artifacts. They can only be wielded by someone who practices the corresponding element’s cultivation art. Thus, I have no choice but to let this brat have all the benefits. Haa—!"

Qian’Er and Xue’Er hurriedly waved their hands and said, "It’s alright, Father!"

Hearing the old man say that he had difficulty guarding against the might of the flaming spear, Miao Yi couldn’t help asking, "Old coot, do you think I can fight you with this transcendent artifact?"

Deep down he thought that if he could defeat the old coot with this transcendent artifact, then he would no longer have to act humble in front of him in the future.

Yao Ruoxian was taken aback by Miao Yi’s question. He had never thought of the brat as a good person in the first place, so as his mind steered towards the negative side of things, he quickly guessed the heinous intentions of the Great Manor Head Miao. Whoosh! A dark red mace artifact instantly appeared by his side. With a raised eyebrow, Yao Ruoxian said coldly, "I’ve always known you were a stinking brat! Go ahead and try me! We’ll see whether or not I can smash you and your artifact into a bloody pulp!"

As his gaze fell upon the old man’s Third Grade Transcendent Artifact, Miao Yi was a little dazed, and instantly broke out into a cold sweat. He had always been fearful of the old coot’s Third Grade Transcendent Artifact. How could he forget about this crucial fact in his excitement? ’Shit, that’s a Third Grade Transcendent Artifact for crying out loud. If that slams down on me, then this flaming spear will definitely turn into scrap metal right on the spot!’

He saw firsthand how the battle went down between the old man and that Commander Yuan back in the Sea of Constellations. A Third Grade Transcendent Artifact was enough to flatten a whole mountain in a single stroke. How could his flaming spear possibly withstand such a terrifying force!

Miao Yi hurriedly scrapped all his nasty intentions and smiled drily, "What are you thinking about? That’s not what I mean. I just feel that this transcendent artifact you refined for me is a little off."

Hearing someone criticizing the transcendent artifact he refined, Yao Ruoxian’s occupational habit immediately crept up. With furrowed brows, he asked, "What do you mean a little off?"

"Aren’t there too little transformations on this transcendent artifact? It can only morph into either a spear or light armor. I’ve seen other transcendent artifacts in the Sea of Constellations. Some of them can change into all kinds of shapes and sizes." Miao Yi could still remember the might of that Flowing Cloud Killer till this day.

Yao Ruoxian’s expression instantly darkened, and he was practically shouting at Miao Yi as he said, "Kid, do you have any idea what you’re talking about? If you don’t, then stop spouting nonsense like an ignorant fool! For a normal transcendent artifact, once the formation core is broken, then the artifact itself will be destroyed as well. Meanwhile, not only is the transcendent artifact I refined for you capable of transformation, you can even take out the formation core anytime you want and the transcendent artifact will not be destroyed. You can use it as a spear, or turn it into an armor artifact to protect yourself. Do you think that there are many people in the artifact-refining industry who can accomplish such a feat? If you want it to transform into all kinds of shapes and sizes, then that’s simple enough. However, you should know this: a transcendent artifact that’s capable of taking on multiple forms requires an equally large number of materials to refine. Do you think that something that can change into a mountain can just magically pop out of nowhere? Of course, you would first need enough materials to fill up an entire mountain to make it! As long as the transcendent artifact isn’t generating an illusion, then all its transformations require real materials to be refined. It would normally take the whole fortune of a large sect to create such a thing. How can your paltry little savings even compare?! And you’re still dreaming of having it transform into various shapes and sizes... Are you tired of living? You don’t like my transcendent artifact? Fine! Then give it back to me!"

"Don’t be so hasty! That’s not what I meant. I was just casually asking." Miao Yi laughed drily, then secretly glanced at the two girls, who immediately went up to placate Yao Ruoxian’s anger.

"You two... there’s really no helping you. I’m so frustrated!" Yao Ruoxian pointed at the two girls, then helplessly flicked his sleeves and left.

Qian’Er and Xue’Er turned to look at Miao Yi. He chuckled and said softly, "It’s alright. It’s normal for someone that’s agitated to behave a little strangely. I don’t mind it at all." He mused to himself, ’How many cultivators out there get to have their own personal Artifact Artisan?’

Feeling his light armor, Miao Yi felt that it might be a little too offputting to wear this over his clothes. He activated his transcendence energy, and the armor quickly transformed into the Inversed-Scales Spear in his hand. The spear artifact then immediately morphed again, revolving around his arm and into his sleeves, successfully becoming armor under his clothes. It was impossible to discern it from the outside.

Touching his body again, Miao Yi didn’t feel too unpleasant. The old man was definitely skilled when it came to refining transcendent artifacts. Miao Yi chuckled in satisfaction and waved his hand, "Let’s go! It’s almost time for the annual tribute. We have to be more alert."