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

The heat is kept out.

Yang Wanqing took a breath and looked into the furnace through the transparent spiritual energy barrier. The three-colored flames were swirling inside the furnace.

A reddish-orange light seeped out from the eight trigram patterns, bringing the entire Bagua furnace to life.

"Alright." Chen Hao withdrew his hand, turned and walked out of the hall. "The furnace is already lit, the Samadhi True Fire won't go out on its own. You can refine it slowly."

"Thank you, Master!" Yang Wanqing called out to his retreating figure.

Chen Hao didn't turn around, waved his hand, and walked out of the alchemy room. He found a stone table and bench in the outer corridor, put the teapot and teacups in his Qiankun bag, and sat down.

Brew tea.

They were incredibly relaxed.

Comments: "Chen Hao's daily life: He can drink tea anywhere." "His life is like that of a tour leader, sitting down at a scenic spot to drink tea and wait for the group to finish sightseeing." "Haha, so accurate."

Dan indoor.

Yang Wanqing had already rubbed her hands together and stood in front of the Bagua Furnace. The barrier blocked the direct heat radiation for her, but the temperature near the furnace opening was still ridiculously high.

She rolled up her sleeves above her elbows, and a thin layer of sweat had already formed on her forehead.

"Alright. Let's get started."

She picked up the dark red metal ingot, weighed it in her hand, and found it heavy.

It was heavier than any material she had ever used in Penglai. The moment the energy probed in, the internal texture of the metal ingot twitched slightly before returning to calm.

"He's got quite a temper," Yang Wanqing muttered, as he placed the metal ingot into the feeding trough at the furnace opening.

The metal ingots slid into the furnace along the channel.

And then... nothing happened.

Yang Wanqing waited for thirty seconds. The light patterns on the furnace wall flowed, and the flames burned, but throwing the metal ingot in was like throwing a stone into a river; not even a splash was made.

"...What happened?"

She peered into the furnace. The metal ingot lay quietly at the bottom of the chamber, its surface showing no signs of softening. The tricolored flames danced around it, but couldn't penetrate.

Yang Wanqing frowned.

She recalled the process of crafting artifacts in Penglai: lighting the fire, adding materials, using spiritual power to control the heat to soften the materials, then shaping, quenching, and engraving.

The first step, the fire, was already in place; the second step, adding the ingredients, was also fine. The problem was with the third step: her spiritual power couldn't control this Samadhi True Fire.

She didn't start the fire. Her master did.

She does not have the authority to control the Samadhi Fire.

What should we do then?

Yang Wanqing thought for a moment, then formed a fire-igniting incantation with his hands. It was a basic incantation passed down from his master, used to establish an energy connection with the refining furnace.

As soon as she made the incantation, a thin thread of spiritual energy emerged from her fingertip and extended towards the furnace.

The energy thread touched the edge of the Samadhi Fire...

"hiss!"

It bounced back.

Yang Wanqing flicked her fingers. Pain. Backlash from spiritual energy.

"This fire doesn't recognize me."

She bit her lower lip and thought for a while.

The furnace in Penglai was lit by her own fire, so their energies are naturally interconnected.

However, the Samadhi True Fire in the Eight Trigrams Furnace was poured in by Chen Hao, and it doesn't match her energy frequency.

If a hard connection fails, then we can only resort to a clumsy method: leveraging existing resources rather than relying on external forces.

Yang Wanqing squatted down and examined the structure of the furnace again.

There are eight vents, corresponding to eight directions. Each vent has an adjustable cover.

She tried turning one of the covers.

active.

The greater the angle at which the cover is opened, the higher the heat output from that direction.

"So that's how you play it." Yang Wanqing's hand speed increased.

She doesn't need to directly control the flame; she can indirectly control the temperature distribution in different areas of the furnace by adjusting the opening and closing of the vents.

It's a bit clumsy, but it works.

For the next two hours, Yang Wanqing struggled with the metal ingot.

Chen Siyao, standing on a shelf on the other side of the main hall, carefully took down the well-preserved bamboo scrolls one by one. She unfolded them, identified them, photographed them, and categorized them. A crystal display stand was placed nearby, transmitting the images back to Earth in real time.

Professor Li's team's dedicated line has always been open.

"The seventh volume contains the recipes, which record the proportions of three auxiliary ingredients and the timing of the cooking process," Chen Siyao said to the crystal recording the image.

The research institute replied immediately: "Received. It has been entered into the database. Ms. Chen, could you please film the 'Five Elements Mutual Generation' section in Volume 5 again? Some of the text was glared and unclear from the angle just now."

"Okay." Chen Siyao unfolded the fifth volume again and adjusted the angle.

She organized them, one roll at a time, focused, quiet, and with a steady rhythm.

Occasionally, Yang Wanqing's voice could be heard coming from the alchemy room...

"Oops! It's burnt again!"

"No, no, it's too hot..."

"Why is this material so hard?! It wasn't this difficult when I was refining it in Penglai!"

Chen Siyao didn't even look up. "You used low-grade ore in Penglai."

"I know! But it shouldn't be that much different!"

Yang Wanqing scooped the first piece of burnt residue out of the furnace, used an iron pair of tongs he had brought from Penglai, and placed it aside to cool.

The dark red metal ingot was deformed, its surface pitted and its edges charred. It was ruined.

She took a second one from the shelf.

"Again."

The second time, she learned from her mistake and reduced the vent setting by two levels. After the temperature dropped, the metal ingot finally began to soften slowly.

but...

Too slow.

An hour later, the surface layer had softened by less than three millimeters.

Yang Wanqing panicked. He turned up the air vent in one direction by one level.

As the temperature rises, the just-softened surface becomes brittle due to overheating and crumbles at the slightest touch.

"..."

The second one is ruined.

Yang Wanqing stared at the residue in her hand and remained silent for ten seconds.

Then she tossed the crumbs aside and took a third piece from the shelf.

"I don't believe it anymore."

Chen Siyao looked up from the pile of bamboo slips and glanced at her.

He didn't speak. He lowered his head and continued tidying up.

Comment: "Yang Wanqing's perseverance is truly amazing."

"If it were me, I would have given up long ago; both materials would be wasted."

"That's the difference between an ordinary person and a genius. An ordinary person will give up after two tries, while a genius can try a hundred times."

"No, shouldn't a genius succeed on their first try?"

"You have a misunderstanding about genius. Genius is someone who can keep going after failing, not someone who never fails."

the third time.

the fourth time.

the fifth time.

Yang Wanqing squatted in front of the Bagua Furnace for the entire morning.

Chen Siyao handed her water once during the session. Yang Wanqing took it, gulped down a couple of mouthfuls, wiped the sweat from her face, and continued.

"Qingqing, have something to eat. I still have bread and sausages in my bag," Chen Siyao said around noon.

Yang Wanqing shook his head. "Let me finish refining this piece first."

Chen Siyao had known Yang Wanqing for three years. She knew better than anyone how obsessed this girl was with food.

This was the first time I'd ever seen anything that could make Yang Wanqing refuse to eat.

She didn't try to persuade him further. She placed the bread and water within Yang Wanqing's reach, then turned back to continue organizing the bamboo slips.

in the afternoon.

The light remained unchanged; there is no concept of day and night in Jupiter's atmosphere, and the light source was always a uniform warm gold color.

But according to the time on my phone, almost eight hours have passed.

Yang Wanqing finally stopped.

She took something out of the furnace.

A dagger.

The dagger is dark red all over, about 20 centimeters long, with a thin blade and a smooth curve.

The blade was ground extremely fine, and it gleamed with a cold light under the warm golden light.

The handle is wrapped with silvery-white stardust, which forms a fine, non-slip texture after sintering.

The design is exquisite.

Exquisite workmanship.