Maven and Nesilia floated above the valley spectating on what was going the ground. Ye Yuyan pointed out at the man tribulation and Illathar commanding the chains to attack.
Hundreds of crimson chains burst out from the graves and wrapped around the two. The man tribulation tried releasing a sanguine aura to dispel the chain but more chains wrapped around it. Even Illathar was nothing more than a sitting duck as the chains wrapped around him.
"How is he sealing Illathar?!?" Nesilia said with a slight tremble in her voice, earlier those chains couldn't hold him yet now they could? What exactly had changed?
"I'm not sure it must be a method master prepared." Maven said uncertainly as Illathar's body was dragged to the furnace by the chains.
"Stop it please!" Illathar begged as his body was pulled right into the furnace, the man tribulation was next.
The chains tugged hard pulling the tribulation towards the furnace. But the man tribulation was unwilling, the red lotus on its forehead started to manifest into reality as the chains started to crack.
"Hmph, displaying slight skill in front of an expert." Ye Yuyan snorted as the red lotus on his forehead manifested, its oppressive aura destroyed the red lotus on the man tribulation and rendered the thing unable to move.
Like a dead fish, it was dragged into the furnace by the chains. Nesilia and Maven watched unsure of what was going on. The red lotus seemed to suppress the entire valley even making the tribulation clouds go silent.
"What is he doing?" Nesilia said as she turned to Maven.
"I don't know." Maven said as he shook his head
The valley for the first time since the fighting had begun was silent. The blood chains receded back into the graves disappearing. The only sound was the crackling of flames coming from the grave.
"From the beginning, your purpose was to be nothing more my ingredients." Ye Yuyan said coldly as the furnace lid shut trapping Illathar in there with the human tribulation.
A long time ago Ye Yuyan had stepped onto this path, it is a path with many names. Some call it the demonic but it is most commonly known as the path of the fallen. It for those who have fallen from the grace with the noble path.
The principles of the noble path are simple, the value of life, the value of bonds, and the value of one's race. In ancient times humanity lived under the yolk of otherworldly beings and only by combining their efforts did they overthrow their oppressors.
Humanity grew stronger and stronger but within them grew infighting. This was a fundamental part of human nature but the righteous path refused it.
It threatened the very existence of the noble path and it was decided those that fought against them had relinquished their humanity and taken up a demonic cause. This type of thinking justified the extermination of all people that didn't agree.
But no matter how they tried to suppress human nature it would never surrender. The ultimate creed of the Fallen path was simple, to live true to one's desires.
The Nobles restricted themselves and accepted the bonds of their family, lovers, and sects. They became paragons of human virtue but they are living a lie.
Walking the fallen path requires a heart of sacrifice, it requires that one relinquish his heart. Without that much, man would not deserve the air that he breathes.
'I chose this path long ago and I will not turn back.' Ye Yuyan thought with conviction as scarlet flames roared transmitting heat into the furnace.
"Argh!" The pain screams of Illathar could be heard echoing from the furnace.
"Is he cooking them?" Nesilia said with horror
"No, I think it's something else." Maven said unconvincingly
"Five elements combine!" Ye Yuyan yelled as he tapped the furnace, suddenly the pentagon formation started to buzz.
From inside the furnace, five different lights burst out. It seemed as though a world was about to form from the power of the five elements. The lid burst open with heavenly light with a mix of deathly energies.
"Heaven's Way, I call to you!" Ye Yuyan roared to the skies as a pillar of 9 colored light ascended to the firmament. The silent tribulation clouds suddenly rumbled and roared down at Ye Yuyan. With a frantic fervor, the clouds turned completely black.
"Summon the wind!" Ye Yuyan yelled and the heaven's responded releasing a massive gale.
"Call the rain!" The clouds rumbled as it started to pour from the sky, the raindrops started to gather inside the furnace.
"The furious skies bring down retribution!" Ye Yuyan said as the clouds rumbled again and a lightning bolt struck down entering the furnace. Immediately after a thunderclap echoed throughout the valley making even the furnace shake.
"Again!" Ye Yuyan yelled and the lightning struck into the furnace disappearing.
"Again!" Ye Yuyan repeated as the sky rumbled, even more, releasing more and more lightning.
"One last time!" Ye Yuyan yelled as the heaven's reciprocated and sent a lightning bolt the size of a thigh. It burrowed into the furnace and disappeared as if it had never existed.
The furnace hummed as the scarlet flames danced below it, inside the furnace gathered the essences of the grand dao. Ye Yuyan guided them together with a deft hand and smelted them using the scarlet flames.
Inside of the furnace, Illathar and the Man tribulation were fighting off various elemental powers. The formation released hundreds of auroras that were filled with various elemental powers and occasionally a tribulation bolt would strike them.
Illathar tried to dodge an incoming sword strike from the metallic forces but failed and it ripped off his right arm. Before he could recover it, scarlet flames burnt it into embers that were absorbed by the furnace.
"What the hell is this?" Illathar roared as he tried to escape out of the formation.
Maven stood on the air and watched enraptured by the laws the furnace was releasing. Around the furnace was the humming of the grand dao and the sublimation of the highest heavenly laws.
"He's taking Heaven and Earth as a furnace!"Maven yelled out with realization, this entire time Ye Yuyan was building up Illathar and the Man tribulation using heaven and earth! This reminded him of a tale he had read from the Lunar Canon.
The Bearer of Adversity was said to have refined heaven and earth into his own personal world. From that, he founded the long-forgotten refining dao.
"What is master's relationship with the Tribulation Bearer?" Maven couldn't help but ask before he could follow that train of thought, the lid of the furnace burst open relaxing 9 different colors into the air.
Ye Yuyan tapped out on the air releasing a cacophony of lights, each light held the power of a grand dao. The Daos assembled until they numbered 3000 light points around Ye Yuyan. The red lotus on Ye Yuyan's glabella awakened as it appeared at his feet constantly rotating.
"With the 3000 Daos as a base!" Ye Yuyan said as he gathered the 3000 light spots together into one clump.
"The five elements in a formation" From the furnace came out the 5 elemental powers as a mist, they formed a pentagon that wrapped around the 3000 Daos.
"Tribulation as my catalyst." Ye Yuyan said as he guided out from the furnace the essence of the man tribulation.
Man is the highest of all creatures and the man tribulation the highest of all tribulations. The swirling 9 colored essences struck the 3000 Daos like lightning, each Dao started to transform as it took on a black hue.
"Refine!" Ye Yuyan yelled as the tribulation essence went wild within the formation. The light flashed almost burning the 3000 Daos at once. But somehow the Daos still survived and emanated an even darker hue.
"That law it's like Illathar's!" Nesilia said surprised as she saw more and more of the black hue forming.
Ye Yuyan's red lotus hummed with intense desire, especially the third leaf which wanted its Daos back. Ye Yuyan used his perception to guide two essences out of the furnace, the first was a blue essence that was shaped like a frost stalactite.
The other was dark energy with a single light spot at the center of it. No matter how the dark energy moved, the light spot would remain firmly in the center.
These essences were the essences of Illathar! Inside of the furnace, his entire body was refined and turned into pure energy for Ye Yuyan to absorb.
The moment Ye Yuyan removed Illathar's essence the refinement had finished. The 3000 grand Daos and the formation fused as one becoming a condensation of dark laws. Ye Yuyan guided Illathar's dark laws and fused it into the refined laws.
"Long ago the world was one then the one became two. Two became four and four refined the world into five base attributes. From this was born the 3000 Daos and the world we live in." Ye Yuyan said as a profound light flashed in his eyes.
The two laws fused together perfectly and the white spot emerged at the center but this time it was even stronger. It radiated with a heavenly power that one could not defame.
The Red Lotus under Ye Yuyan's feet started to expand as it gathered all the refined essences towards it.
"I have finally created the power of yin!" Ye Yuyan laughed with great abandon, his great plans had finally come to fruition. With this, he could track down the heavenly dao and reach the pinnacle of cultivation