Night of Despair

Here is the translated text:

Staring at the Purification Furnace before him, Yu Hong continued to read the manual, finding the method to activate it.

He extended his hand, gently pressing it against the surface of the furnace, and True Yuan surged into it.

Sssss.

The Qingyuan Heavenly River Miao Technique True Yuan, carrying a white light that was impartial and harmonious, swiftly poured into the Purification Furnace.

The next second.

A layer of transparent light circle spread out from inside the Pill Furnace.

This light circle ignored the protection of the safe house, traversed walls, passed over the attic outside, through the surrounding mountains, and kept expanding to a farther range.

It stopped only when it reached about ten thousand meters.

Soon, within this range of ten thousand meters, all Red Values began to plummet swiftly, as if disappearing into thin air.

At the moment the Purification Furnace successfully activated.

Inside a hole, on another Wanxue Palace ruin.

Feng Xuezi lowered his hand, having just killed a group of monster Sword Cultivators, and turned his head towards the direction where Yu Hong was.

"Is this... the feeling of a Purification Furnace!? And the effect is actually this strong?"

Behind him, the short-statured Corrupt Traveling Merchant also suddenly appeared, looking in that direction with equal amazement and doubt.

"It is indeed a Purification Furnace, and it's not of ordinary quality," the Corrupt Traveling Merchant remarked with a hint of surprise and shock.

"Was it your doing?" Feng Xuezi looked towards him, only to see the Corrupt Traveling Merchant equally bewildered.

"How could it be? The main vein has long since disappeared, the Heavenly Venerate mysteriously vanished, and no one has known how to craft a Purification Furnace for a long time," the Corrupt Traveling Merchant shook his head.

"But I remember you possess a Purification Furnace," Feng Xuezi frowned.

"Mine broke long ago, with only a little bit of Purification Ability left, and I gave it to a new entrant..." the Corrupt Traveling Merchant paused abruptly.

"Wait, that direction..." He seemed to confirm something.

"Who did you sell it to? The new entrant? Was it that Yu Hong, or Quan He?" Feng Xuezi became solemn.

"It was Yu Hong!" the Corrupt Traveling Merchant promptly replied, all the usual eccentricity gone.

This was because the Purification Furnace was too crucial for them now!

"Could he have repaired the Purification Furnace!? But no, the effect of my former Purification Furnace isn't even close to this..." the Corrupt Traveling Merchant's expression shifted.

"Why bother thinking? Let's go and see for ourselves," Feng Xuezi said with some urgency in his voice.

"You can't go out; I'll take a trip!" The Corrupt Traveling Merchant decided quickly, then vanished from sight.

In the next instant, he appeared directly outside Yu Hong's safe house, within a hundred meters.

Standing on the hillside, he looked toward the three-story building-shaped Black Black Spirit, feeling the air that was extremely pure, without any trace of Red Value. His heart was filled with indescribable shock.

"Is it really... this guy...!?!"

He looked towards the direction of the safe house, momentarily lost for words.

This feeling... was like an adult, coming across a kindergarten child they found pleasing to the eye along the way, and decided to give them a broken phone they were about to discard.

Unexpectedly, a few days later, upon checking back, finding that this child not only repaired the broken phone but upgraded it to the latest high-tech foldable screen!

This stark contrast left the Corrupt Traveling Merchant's mind buzzing... he suddenly felt a bit numb.

"No, I need to confirm!" If it was indeed... truly Yu Hong's doing... then..."

At once, he flickered again, appearing directly at the door of the safe house, then extended a hand to knock on the door.

Knock knock knock.

He could indeed rush straight in, but that wouldn't be polite.

He attached certain importance to this kid, Yu Hong.

Unlike Feng Xuezi.

He has spent his life looking for a sliver of possibility. He doesn't care about the future of Yu Xuezi or Feng Xuezi; he traveled extensively, only because he calculated that waiting here might result in some small gain.

Thus he waited for more than five hundred years.

And now, finally... finally, he sees a sliver of hope he's waited for so long.

"Is it you?" Suddenly Yu Hong's voice came from within. "Corrupt Traveling Merchant... Is there anything?"

He didn't bother to open the door, just spoke across it.

The Corrupt Traveling Merchant didn't mind. His face naturally revealed a peculiar smile.

"Just now, I sensed a sudden presence of Purification Power here... Zheng Rouze... Can you tell me what's happening??"

For countless years, he had traveled far and wide, and coming to Mining Star was an accidental discovery of Feng Xuezi's plotting, leading him to calculate a sliver of hope here.

Waiting for centuries, now he seemed to finally see a glimpse of dawn, which made him unconsciously feel a bit anxious.

He cared little about Wanxue Palace, but hope, he must grasp!

"Senior... Could you feel it?" Yu Hong paused for a moment, unexpectedly finding the safe house could not block the Purification from the Purification Furnace.

"Ten thousand meters around, as clear as day, any living being can feel the change," the Corrupt Traveling Merchant chuckled softly.

"I see..." Yu Hong paused, knowing there was no hiding it, and immediately started thinking quickly. The Black Mark was definitely not to be disclosed, but he could showcase his strong repair ability and research prowess as before.

Immediately, he showed a calm demeanor. Even though the other couldn't see him through the door, who knew if the mysterious guy could somehow see through him.

So, his facial expression management also had to be flawless.

"Truth be told, junior repaired and enhanced the small Pill Furnace you sold to me previously. I used some materials I'd collected during my wanderings in a Source Disaster to upgrade it, and the effect turned out quite nice." Yu Hong said honestly with a sincere tone.

"...You? Able to repair a Purification Furnace?!" The Corrupt Traveling Merchant expressed disbelief. It's not hard to repair one of these, but the issue is there's no one left outside. It's impossible to find an Artifact Master to repair them, and we can't do it ourselves.

That's why he had given Yu Hong the previously broken Purification Furnace.

As for selling it, the price was equivalent to giving it away.

"It's alright, it's not that difficult, is it?" Yu Hong hesitantly replied through the door.

He felt the strengthening process took only a few hours, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

"..." The Corrupt Traveling Merchant took a deep breath, lowering his head even more. "It seems, young brother is a repair expert..."

He couldn't help laughing oddly, clearly a joyous laugh, but from his throat, it turned into a creepy weird laughter that also sent a chill down Yu Hong's spine.

"How about we make a deal?" The Corrupt Traveling Merchant quickly stopped the eerie laughter that made Yu Hong's whole body tingle, and spoke again.

"What kind of deal? Senior, just say it straight." Yu Hong quickly replied.

"Sell me your repaired Purification Furnace, and I can give you whatever you need, as long as I possess it..." The Corrupt Traveling Merchant smiled.

"As long as you have?" Yu Hong's mind started to figure out. "But junior requires nothing; even cultivation resources are adequately prepared."

"Think carefully... you'll find some needs..." The Corrupt Traveling Merchant chuckled sinisterly. "Even if I don't have it now, I can soon retrieve it for you..."

Retrieve it??!

Hearing this, Yu Hong's heart stirred.

His immediate task now is to cultivate rapidly to improve his realm and strength, and to achieve this goal, refining Cultivation Technique Traits is one aspect, and the other is to enhance his own aptitude.

The former merely requires extensive cultivation.

The latter can be achieved by strengthening the Outer Eye to consequently enhance the intensity of Yu Hong's entire qualification.

So if he could get a stronger Outer Eye, for further enhancement...

"Junior requires, a sufficiently powerful being's eyeballs." Yu Hong immediately voiced his needs.

"Sufficiently powerful? That I cannot accomplish. The outside world now makes it very hard to find anyone," the Corrupt Traveling Merchant spoke lowly.

"The eyeballs of Source Disaster Monsters would do!" Yu Hong added.

"Is that so?" The Corrupt Traveling Merchant was briefly stunned, then surprisingly began to ponder genuinely.

"My power is limited; it's hard for me to find such items for you, yet... I have something here, although damaged, if you could repair it to well condition, might provide you significant help." He smiled, "You seem to have cultivated the Chaotic God Sky Eye Skill of the Sky Wish Sect, haven't you?"

"Senior knows this skill?" Yu Hong was stunned, increasingly feeling the profundity of this figure.

"Naturally, I know... but this skill doesn't have a high upper limit, since after forming in the later stages it can't enhance the eye strength anymore. Are you asking me to find a strong eyeball to replace?" The Corrupt Traveling Merchant quickly guessed Yu Hong's thoughts.

"Senior's impressive!" Yu Hong realized he had underestimated the other party's level.

"You don't need a replacement eye, the rejection can be very dangerous; I have something here, though damaged, if you can repair it, you can use it to absorb external eyeball core pupil power to strengthen yourself," the Corrupt Traveling Merchant spoke deeply, carrying a hint of temptation.

He was testing, testing whether Yu Hong really possessed repairing abilities and the extent of his repairing range.

Of course, it was real; he had many damaged treasures collected over the years, repair them, and they could be used; he indeed wasn't lying to Yu Hong.

This was an open plot, as long as Yu Hong truly needed it, he couldn't refuse.

"Senior, is what you say true?!" Yu Hong was immediately delighted upon hearing this; if he could absorb pupil power to blend and enhance, he didn't dare imagine how much he could strengthen his Outer Eye.

"Of course it's true... come, give me the Purification Furnace, and this... will be yours."

The Corrupt Traveling Merchant extended his hand, and in his palm suddenly appeared a beautifully crafted Triangular Crown made of purple crystal.

Moments later.

The Corrupt Traveling Merchant carried the Purification Furnace and vanished before Yu Hong.

Meanwhile, Yu Hong held the purple crystal Triangular Crown, a look of seriousness mixed with joy on his face.

The Corrupt Traveling Merchant hadn't lied to him.

The first moment he got it, he tested it using the Black Mark, realizing this thing indeed had the function to integrate pupil power and enhance oneself, in perfect synergy with the Chaotic God Sky Eye Skill!

Although it seemed somewhat damaged, even a good one wouldn't be his turn to use. After all, its value was undoubtedly too high.

He had always felt a pity that after the stages of Chaotic God Sky Eye were completed, the Outer Eye could no longer be enhanced, only replaced. But now, he could finally continue to enhance it.

While using the Black Mark to strengthen, also further integrating pupil power, he couldn't even predict to what extent his qualification could be enhanced in the future.

On the other side,

The Corrupt Traveling Merchant appeared with the Purification Furnace in front of Feng Xuezi.

"It's indeed the Purification Furnace! And better functioning than the one I previously had, even before it broke! Larger too!" The Corrupt Traveling Merchant remarked with emotion, placing the furnace in the center of Wanxue Palace.

"Confirmed it's Yu Hong who repaired it?" Feng Xuezi questioned skeptically.

"Confirmed. I also gave him something needing repair, to test his real skill. If even the Purple Extreme Crown can be repaired..."

"Purple Extreme Crown? The iconic treasure of the Sky Wish Sect Sect Hierarch?" Feng Xuezi arched an eyebrow.

"Exactly..."

"..." Feng Xuezi looked at the Purification Furnace that was rapidly purifying near Red Values after being placed on the ground, feeling the ambient Red Value Radiation drop rapidly.

The monster Sword Cultivators approaching slowly from afar also began to fade and retreat, seemingly dreading this inconspicuous little furnace.

"So, now do you still think they're just mere geniuses?" The Corrupt Traveling Merchant's eerie laughter rang out beside him.