120: Crucible of Truth 1

The tearing force within the golden vortex almost ripped Xiao Yan's body apart. The seed of chaos in his right eye clashed violently with the Flame Lord's Fire circulating around him, each energy collision feeling like thousands of steel needles piercing his bones. After an unknown amount of time, the sensation of falling suddenly vanished, and he landed heavily on a soft... ground?

Xiao Yan struggled to get up, the sight before him freezing him in place—this was not the imagined molten Hell or the abyss of Chaos, but a massive, hemispherical, pure white space. The dome resembled an inverted bowl, with golden and silver runes flowing across its surface; the ground was translucent milky white, faintly revealing dark red energy surging beneath.

"Is this... the Chaos Furnace?" Xiao Yan murmured to himself, his voice echoing in the vast space.

"Only the surface of the Furnace." A familiar voice came from behind him. Xiao Yan spun around abruptly and saw the Star Lord's ethereal form floating there, more solid than it had been on the Star Observation Platform. "The Flame Lord calls this the 'Boundary of Chaos and Order.'"

The star point in Xiao Yan's right eye flickered slightly, resonating with the Star Lord's ethereal form: "Father... is this your true remnant soul?"

"A part of it." The Star Lord's ethereal form pointed towards the center of the Furnace. "Let's talk as we walk; there isn't much time left."

The two walked towards the center of the hemispherical space. As they drew closer, Xiao Yan noticed tiny cracks beginning to appear on the ground, with dark red energy pulsating through them like blood vessels. More unsettlingly, this energy seemed to react to his seed of chaos; whenever he walked past, it would subtly bulge, like a snake sniffing out its prey.

"The Origin of the Chaos Devourer is below," the Star Lord explained. "The Furnace is divided into three layers—the purification layer where we are now, the buffer layer in the middle, and the Chaos core at the very bottom."

Xiao Yan suddenly thought of a question: "Elder Yao once mentioned that the Chaos Furnace is a 'Divine Artifact that purifies all pollution,' but why does using it require such a huge price?"

The Star Lord stopped, his expression becoming complex: "Because it's not a 'Divine Artifact' at all... or rather, not entirely." He pointed to the ground. "See that dark red energy? The Furnace itself was created from a part of the Chaos Devourer."

This truth was like a bucket of ice water poured over Xiao Yan's head: "What?!"

"Fighting fire with fire." The Star Lord continued forward. "Back then, the three of us discovered that pure power of order couldn't eradicate Chaos, so we risked capturing a part of it and transforming it into the Furnace... like using the enemy's weapon against the enemy."

As they went deeper, the ground cracks became more numerous, and the dark red energy became more active. Finally, they arrived at the central point—a circular platform about ten meters in diameter, suspended above a massive pit. The platform was inscribed with three concentric rings, displaying crimson, ice-blue, and star-silver colors respectively.

"The Seal of the Three Lords," the Star Lord said solemnly. "The Flame Lord's Fire, the Ice Lord's Ice, and the Star Clan's Stars jointly imprison the Chaos core below."

Xiao Yan walked to the edge of the platform and looked down. The pit was bottomless, with dark red energy surging like tides, occasionally forming grotesque faces that quickly dissipated. Just gazing at it made the black threads in his right eye stir restlessly.

"You have three powers within you," the Star Lord said. "The Flame Lord's Fire, the seed of chaos, and the Star Bloodline. This strangely corresponds to the three-layer structure of the Furnace... it's not a coincidence, but fate."

Xiao Yan recalled the last sentence he hadn't clearly heard on the Star Observation Platform: "You said 'the Furnace itself is the container'... what did you mean?"

The Star Lord's ethereal form suddenly became unstable, as if disturbed by something: "There's no time for a detailed explanation... Simply put, the true meaning of the Three Spirits' Unity is not to inject the three powers into one person, but into the Furnace!"

He pointed to the triple rings: "The Flame Lord's Fire corresponds to the red ring, the Ice Lord's Ice corresponds to the blue ring, and the Spirit of the Plane corresponds to the silver ring. When the three are balanced, the Furnace will initiate the final purification... but it needs an 'initiator'..."

"Initiator?"

"The seed of chaos." The Star Lord's ethereal form became even blurrier. "Someone must carry a pure seed of chaos into the Furnace core... to act as bait and attract the full attention of the Chaos Devourer... This task..."

Xiao Yan instantly understood: "It can only be me."

The Star Lord did not deny it, a father's sorrow showing in his eyes: "The danger is beyond your imagination... If you fail, you won't just die... you will be assimilated by Chaos, becoming a part of it..."

Xiao Yan was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question: "Father, why did you merge with the Chaos Devourer back then?"

The Star Lord's ethereal form paused, then gave a bitter smile: "To buy you time... and to find its weakness..."

"Did you find it?"