"WHAT!!!" The Supreme Elders shouted upon hearing what I said. It felt like a gust of wind blew in my direction.
"You're saying you beat a 9th rank, right? And you did it without hardly even moving." Azure Feather Divine Monarch asked, as he and the others gulped.
"Well, in some respect I guess you're right. But it isn't as simple as that. For starters this thing was recovering off of what amounts to basically nothing for a 9th rank. Sure it was over a long period of time so it could have grown a bit. However, it was also constantly fighting the chaos within the furnace. So in reality, at least as it had been just now… I'd probably put it somewhere in the peak 8th rank at most." I explained, finally relaxing fully and getting the small knots out of my muscles.
"Wait, if that's the case, then why did you have such a hard time with it? You've clearly demonstrated how powerful you are multiple times. I even have a first hand witness to your prowess. A single 8th rank shouldn't be able to give you that much trouble." Six Wood Divine Monarch asked, curiously.
My brow twitched slightly after hearing the question. To me it felt like a seriously stupid question, for which there were multiple reasons. And then I sensed the presence of two people that were on their way over. Traveling through the void.
"To put it simply, actually, I'll answer with a question. What happened to you when you reached 6 of the 7 materials needed for your breakthrough to the open heaven realm? Were you able to release your full strength without consequence?" I replied.
"Hmm, I personally didn't suffer all that much. Maybe this is a better question for someone who's directly broken through to the high ranks." Six Wood said, with a long sigh.
At that moment the two others had appeared. "Well, I can confirm that it did become more difficult with each resource I refined. However, it wasn't nearly as difficult as what Leiji had experienced recently." Smiles, one of the two who had come over said, answering the question.
"I too had a little bit of cracking going on with my own seal by the time the 6th element had been fully refined. Though in my case, I didn't lose any ability, one of those 7th ranks outside has first hand knowledge of it. He might even still have the scar." Yang Kai chuckled.
"Palace Master, and… Old An…" Azure Feather Divine Monarch said, pausing to correct his mistake. "Junior Brother Yang and Lady Smiles!" He said.
"Worry not, I only came because Su Yan and my Daughter were both struggling with something. It was clear that it was coming from my son. Smiles came along with me to make sure whatever it was, everything would turn out fine." Yang Kai said, waving his palm. "It seems like you've done something remarkable. Though with your ability to convert Ink into pure energy, I shouldn't be surprised." He continued, as he went to take a look of his own.
"Son, how are you feeling now?" Smiles asked, with a motherly worry, inspecting like I was a child that just got into a fight with bullies.
"Mother Smiles, I'm fine now." I said, getting a little red in the face. "Achem, in truth, I'm not done with this yet. I have a few more things to do." I continued.
Yang Kai looked at it with an interested sideways glance. "Oh? It seems to me like this Furnace has been improved to a perfect result every time. What else are you talking about? It better not be something crazy that leads to destabilizing you." He asked, clear with his concern.
"Oh that? That was the result of trying to repair that small universe. I figured having a fresh universe of the 9th rank would have been a great boon to the World Tree Senior. Unfortunately, the world was far in a way too corrupted. 30,000 years of constant reformation and destruction had led it to be too far gone. I could have done something, had it been right after the event. Though, I doubt I'd have lost against this thing's former self. It had just barely reached the 9th rank, and was done so through ink. Even if I couldn't do it alone, the aid of a few hardened 8th ranks would have been enough to tip the scales." I explained.
"Hmm, is it possible for you to do that time travel portal thing you did just before the wedding?" Smiles asked.
I shook my head once. "That was a special effect granted to me as a result of having two masters of the dao of time in both those places. And even then it was only as stable as it had been due to the help Star Boundary gave me." I answered.
"There's no point in asking anymore. Even if he could perform such a feat, it wouldn't be right to do it. Even with that portal he made previously, it would change enough of our current future that he might not exist if he changed it. Which would mean it couldn't be changed, thus landing us right back here." Yang Kai explained the paradox that would occur.
The Supreme Elders, to include Ma Fan, were all a bit solemn about that response. Though they did understand it. The Dao of Time boiled down into simple terms anyone could understand.
"Alright!" I said punching my fists together. "Let me have those furnaces. I'll pay you in free uses of the furnace. I'll grant you double the uses of the rank of artifact you present. So a 7th rank, you'll get 14, an 8th rank you'll get 16. And these uses will go to the forces that presented a furnace." I explained.
"Son, that seems a bit generous, right?" Yang Kai asked, then he felt the message I sent him. "Oh, that makes sense."
The Supreme Elders brought out the furnaces that they had been charged with bringing. I now had quite the large amount of furnaces to work with. Most of them were 7th rank in nature. Though there were a few 8th rank ones.
"Alright Ma Fan, do you have the ability to upgrade these furnaces? Ideally I'd like them all to be 8th rank in nature." I asked, putting Ma Fan on the spot.