The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Chen Siyao followed them through the door. A photo crystal was affixed to her shoulder, the camera pointed forward.

Inside the gate was a wide passageway. There were five pillars on each side, which was not of ordinary size.

Each column is over one meter in diameter and over ten meters high, with intricate cloud patterns and Bagua (Eight Trigrams) designs carved on its surface.

At the end of the passageway is a screen wall; after passing the screen wall, the view suddenly opens up.

The entire view of the Tushita Palace was revealed.

Facing east, the building is supported by nine massive pillars. The roof is covered with gray glazed tiles, each tile engraved with a tai chi symbol.

The palace complex was clearly divided into zones. Chen Siyao scanned the area and, based on the information she had previously studied and the plaques and signs, roughly identified the layout.

Heavenly Gate. Mysterious Classic Platform. Five Materials Palace. Heavenly One Golden Pool. Blessed Land of Immortal Gathering. Elixir Chamber. Supreme Purity Hall.

Seven major regions.

Yang Wanqing was already turning his head to look. "Where is the alchemy room? Where is the alchemy room?"

"Northwest direction," Chen Siyao pointed.

"Walk!"

Yang Wanqing dragged Chen Siyao and ran in a northwest direction. Chen Hao did not follow.

He stood in the central plaza, glanced around at the surrounding buildings, and then found a step to sit down.

He took out a square table from his Qiankun bag, along with a teapot and tea leaves.

Drink tea.

The live chat was filled with comments like: "?? God Chen Hao, are you here for a vacation??"

"People have been here more than once; there's absolutely no novelty about it."

"Good heavens, drinking tea in Laozi's palace, what a show!"

Chen Hao wasn't watching the live stream, nor could he see the comments. He held his teacup, leaned against a pillar, and closed his eyes.

The main hall of the alchemy room was larger than Chen Siyao had expected.

The moment I pushed open the door, a musty smell hit me – not moldy, but a dry, metallic scent mixed with minerals.

The hall was dimly lit. The photographic crystal automatically brightened the image.

Then she saw it.

In the very center of the main hall.

A stove.

Eight Trigrams Furnace.

It stands four meters tall. The entire body is bronze in color, with an octagonal prism structure. Each side is engraved with a trigram, and the top of the furnace has a lid with a dragon-shaped relief on it.

Below the stove body is a circular base with eight vents on the edge, corresponding to eight directions.

Yang Wanqing had already rushed to the stove and was craning his neck to look.

"It's huge!" she said. "Much bigger than I imagined! This must be the divine tool Laozi used to refine elixirs!"

Chen Siyao walked around the Bagua Furnace. The furnace was well-preserved, with no cracks and clear patterns.

The ashes at the bottom of the furnace have been cold for who knows how many years, if there were ever any ashes at all.

"Wait." Chen Siyao stopped behind the stove.

There's a row of shelves there.

On the shelf were metal ingots. Ingots of various colors, some with a dark red luster, some with a cold silver-white, and a few that were completely black with faint, moving patterns on their surface.

"This is not just an alchemy furnace," Chen Siyao said.

Yang Wanqing walked around to take a look.

She stopped in her tracks.

"These are... materials for refining weapons?"

"The Eight Trigrams Furnace isn't just for refining elixirs. It also for forging artifacts." Chen Siyao pointed to the metal ingots on the shelf. "Look at these, their quality is extraordinary."

Yang Wanqing's breathing rate changed.

She chose the path of cultivating artifacts. From the very beginning until now, all the materials she'd encountered were low-grade ores found in the side hall of Penglai. But these before her...

She reached out and picked up a dark red metal ingot. It was extremely heavy and slightly warm. The luster on its surface flickered the moment her spiritual energy touched it.

"Yao Yao".

"Um."

"My hands are itching."

Chen Siyao glanced at her.

"I want to try." Yang Wanqing examined the metal ingot from all angles. "I'll use this furnace to forge something."

"Then give it a try."

"Really?"

"Nobody's stopping you."

Yang Wanqing put the metal ingots back on the shelf and began searching through the main hall.

She was very efficient; she could clearly distinguish between raw materials, auxiliary materials, and tools.

The learning and inheritance over these past few months has not been in vain.

She searched around and picked out three materials: a dark red metal ingot, a handful of silvery-white fragments, and a small bottle of well-preserved liquid.

"That's enough. Let's try a small one first." Yang Wanqing placed the materials in front of the stove, then turned to look at the stove's structure.

The base has eight vents. The fire inlet is located on the lower front of the stove, an arched opening just large enough to accommodate the fire source.

Yang Wanqing squatted down and looked into the fire pit. It was empty.

"It needs to be lit," she muttered to herself.

Then she remembered.

She took a bag of charcoal from her handbag, leftovers from last night's barbecue. She also took a lighter.

The charcoal was stacked up. A lighter was pressed, and flames leaped up. The charcoal was burning.

Yang Wanqing pushed several pieces of burning charcoal into the fire inlet of the Bagua furnace.

I waited for a minute.

The furnace walls showed no reaction whatsoever.

It's cold.

Yang Wanqing pressed his hand against the furnace wall. It was truly cold. Not the kind of cold that comes from "not yet warm," but one that conducted heat completely.

She added a few more pieces of charcoal. The fire burned even brighter.

Three minutes passed.

The furnace walls were still cold.

Yang Wanqing panicked. "What's going on?" She went around to the front to look at the fire; it was burning brightly, there was no problem.

"Yao Yao!" she called out, turning around. "What happened? Has my weapon-refining skill deteriorated? I passed the assessment back in Penglai!"

Chen Siyao walked over from the other side of the main hall. She had just been flipping through a shelf on one of the walls, where there were bamboo slips.

She glanced at the charcoal fire in the stove, then at the unresponsive stove walls.

I thought for three seconds.

"Qing, this stove might not work with ordinary fire."

"what?"

"Think about it... what level is Laozi? If his Eight Trigrams Furnace could be lit with just a handful of firewood, then that level would be too low."

Yang Wanqing was stunned.

"You mean...we need Samadhi Fire?"

"Highly likely."

Yang Wanqing slapped his thigh.

"Yaoyao, you're so smart! That must be it!" She stood up, wiping her hands on her clothes. "I'll go find my master! I'll ask him to light the fire for me!"

After saying that, he rushed out of the hall.

He ran a couple of steps and then turned back.

"Yaoyao, wait for me here! Don't wander off!"

"I'm not a three-year-old. Go ahead."

Yang Wanqing dashed out of the alchemy room like a gust of wind.

Chen Siyao shook her head.

She turned around and went back to the wall where she had been looking at the bamboo slips.