I Was Forced to Marry a “Trash” Cultivator, But She Turned Out to Be a Reborn Empress!

Chapter 243: Breaking Records, Shaking the Foundations

The smelting of the Mystic Nether Black Iron proved far more arduous than the spectators had anticipated. Time slipped away like sand through fingers, and before anyone realized it, three days had passed.

On the white jade platform, the atmosphere was heavy with exhaustion and tension. The participating masters wore grave expressions, their foreheads slick with sweat as they poured their spiritual energy into their flames, not daring to relax for even a heartbeat.

In stark contrast to the strained efforts of his competitors, Shen Xian appeared tranquil, his demeanor as calm as a stillness in a storm.

Suddenly, the 3,600 threads of fire within the Burning Heaven Cauldron trembled. As if possessing a life of their own, they began to weave together.

Each thread traced a perfect, complex arc through the air, crisscrossing in a dizzying geometric dance without ever touching one another. They formed an invisible, three-dimensional net of thermal energy.

Even more astonishing was the sound—or rather, the feeling. The fire threads began to pulsate with a specific rhythm. Every vibration was calculated, transmitting a precise frequency directly into the most fragile lattice nodes of the Mystic Nether Black Iron.

“This is…” Elder Mo’s pupils contracted to pinpoints. “Resonance Smelting? I have only ever seen descriptions of this technique in fragmented ancient texts.”

Below the stage, several senior artifact refiners shot to their feet, their eyes glued to Shen Xian’s hands.

“To control Fire Spirit Qi to such a microscopic degree…” a white-haired old man sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. “It is truly rare.”

Chi Xiaozi frowned. The disturbance in the ambient spiritual qi disrupted the rhythm of the flames dancing atop his seven oil lamps. He was forced to adjust his breathing instantly, fighting to stabilize the rhyme of his Nine Revolutions Flame Dragon Art.

Elder Xuanji’s hand paused. The bronze carving knife he wielded hovered millimeters above his material. A flash of surprise cut through his focus.

“Using fire as strings and the artifact as a zither… such attainment in fire control is indeed extraordinary.”

However, the old master quickly regained his composure. He resumed his ‘Golden Touch’ technique, though his movements were noticeably more cautious, wary of the unseen pressure radiating from Shen Xian’s station.

Shen Xian’s hands remained steady as bedrock. The pulsation frequency of the fire net shifted constantly, adapting to the changing state of the ore.

At times, the fire threads brushed gently over the surface like silk; at other times, they struck key structural points with the percussive force of a war hammer. Throughout the entire process, not a wisp of spiritual energy leaked. Even the temperature around the cauldron remained controlled within a hair’s breadth.

“Look at the Black Iron!” someone gasped.

The transformation was visible to the naked eye. The pitch-black ore was becoming translucent. It wasn’t the muddy, slag-filled melting caused by high heat; rather, it looked as if the impurities were being stripped away by a divine carving knife, revealing a structure as clear as crystal.

Master Chi Lian’s blue-purple flames wavered dangerously. He snorted cold breath, his face darkening as he performed a series of rapid hand seals to lock his fire down.

Fairy Bing Po’s brows knitted together. The flame resting in her ice lotus flickered, its rhythm thrown into chaos.

In the spectator stands, Ai Xiao couldn’t mask his excitement. He clenched his fists, eyes shining.

“This! This is the true Great Dao of Fire Control! It isn’t about whose flame burns hotter or brighter; it is about whose control is more absolute!”

Elder Mo’s eyes burned with intensity.

Initially, he had merely found this young “Wang Yu” to be a talented junior. Impressive, but within expected parameters.

Now, he realized he had made a grave error in judgment. He had underestimated this person completely.

In the center of the arena, Shen Xian’s expression shifted slightly. His Soul Formation Divine Sense unfurled like an invisible ocean, penetrating the core of the material.

The Mystic Nether Black Iron was now entirely transparent, save for twelve microscopic black specks—stubborn impurities hiding deep within the molecular structure.

The 3,600 fire threads instantly altered their trajectories. Like a school of predatory fish, they dove into the liquid metal, wrapping precisely around the twelve impurities.

“Frequency-splitting control?” Elder Mo gasped, losing his composure. “He is controlling thousands of threads to vibrate at different frequencies simultaneously? That requires a Divine Sense of terrifying magnitude!”

Time continued to flow.

Another day passed.

Suddenly, a crisp ding rang out across the plaza.

The mass of Mystic Nether Black Iron in Shen Xian’s cauldron erupted with blinding silver light. It transformed into a sphere of liquid starlight, swirling with a mesmerizing, mercury-like sheen.

Shen Xian flicked his sleeve. The fire threads within the Burning Heaven Cauldron retracted instantly, and an invisible force gently lifted the perfectly smelted material into the air.

The entire venue fell into a deathly silence.

Elder Mo’s eyes widened. He instinctively looked at the massive hourglass recording the duration of the trial.

It had been less than five days.

This speed was not just fast; it was absurd. It smashed the previous records by more than half.

This wasn’t just an Azure Nether City record; this was the fastest time recorded since the inception of the Refining Assembly across the entire region.

In this small, peripheral city, a refiner had just displayed fire control techniques that far surpassed the standard of a fourth-rank master.

Chi Xiaozi and Elder Xuanji froze. Their movements halted mid-air, shock plastering their faces.

The Mystic Nether Black Iron in front of them was barely seventy percent smelted.

The silence broke. The spectator stands exploded into chaos.

“Four days! He finished in four days?!”

A refiner in green robes jumped up so fast his chair toppled over. The jade slip he had been using to take notes clattered to the ground, forgotten.

Beside him, an elderly cultivator with trembling hands pulled out a copper mirror Dharma Treasure, checking the time repeatedly. “The fastest record from the last session was ten days and three hours. This… he cut it down by more than half!”

Stewards from the major merchant associations were already scrambling, pulling out transmission jade talismans to beam the news back to their headquarters.

“Quick! Notify the President!” a purple-robed steward shouted, his voice shaking with adrenaline. “Azure Nether City has birthed a monster! A true Grandmaster is rising!”

On the viewing platform, Qiu Ruoli watched the crowd’s frenzy. For reasons she couldn’t quite articulate, a strange sense of pride swelled in her chest.

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her usually icy lips.

On the high platform, the judging Elders huddled together in a frantic whisper.

One red-faced Elder wiped sweat from his brow. “Elder Mo, this result… surely we must verify it? It defies logic.”

Elder Mo didn’t answer immediately. He descended from the platform, walking straight to Shen Xian’s workstation.

He inspected the floating sphere of liquid starlight. He checked its viscosity, its spiritual conductivity, and finally, he produced a gold-testing Spirit Stone to measure its purity.

The stone glowed with a blinding intensity.

The well-traveled Elder of the Hundred Arts Sect took a deep breath to steady his racing heart. He turned to face the crowd, his voice amplified by spiritual energy.

“After rigorous inspection, the Mystic Nether Black Iron smelted by Wang Yu has reached a purity of ninety-eight percent. The time taken was four days and five hours. The result is valid!”

The announcement was like pouring a basin of water into a vat of boiling oil.

BOOM.

The noise of the crowd hit physically.

“Ninety-eight percent?!”

“Madness! Even the supreme talents of the Holy Lands only manage ninety-five percent in the preliminaries!”

“That’s not a dark horse. That’s a dragon hiding in a snake’s skin!”

Chi Xiaozi’s face turned an ugly shade of gray, then flushed red. The fire jade in his hand groaned under the pressure of his grip.

He stared daggers at the swirling silver sphere in front of Shen Xian.

“Hmph. Just a clever trick,” he muttered, though his voice lacked conviction. “The real competition is in the crafting, not the smelting!”

Despite his brave words, his hands moved with frantic urgency. The seven fire dragons roared, their flames intensifying as he desperately tried to close the gap.

The other masters felt the crushing pressure. The tempo of the competition had just been shattered.

Amidst the chaos and the worshipful gazes, Shen Xian remained untouched. He looked at the judge with a bored expression.

“Elder Mo, may I leave?”

According to the intelligence provided by Chen Min, there was a month-long break between the preliminaries and the second round. Shen Xian had no interest in standing around like a zoo animal; he had items to refine and profits to calculate.

Elder Mo blinked, taken aback.

Usually, a refiner who achieved such a heaven-defying result would bask in the glory, networking with the powerful and enjoying the adoration.

But this man… he didn’t care. It was as if this record-breaking feat was merely a chore to be checked off a list.

This air of detached arrogance only made Elder Mo appreciate him more. A true seeker of the Dao.

“You may,” Elder Mo replied.

Shen Xian nodded. He signaled to Qiu Ruoli and Ai Xiao, and the trio walked toward the exit.

The crowd parted like the Red Sea. Cultivators stepped back, their eyes filled with awe and fear, creating a wide avenue for him to pass.

The male cultivator who had mocked Shen Xian days ago was now pale as a corpse, trying to shrink behind his companions, wishing the ground would swallow him whole. His friends kept their heads low, terrified of drawing the Grandmaster’s attention.

As Shen Xian disappeared into the city streets, the eyes of the representatives on the high platform glittered with calculation. Shadows detached themselves from the viewing stands—spies sent to uncover the origins of this mysterious “Master Wang.”