“No thanks.” The rock refused right away: “I’m doing fine in this place, just a time of tranquility. Another million years or so will be okay.”

“Haha, leaving you here to devour others? How many more do you want?” The bull sneered.

“It’s not my fault.” The rock put on an innocent expression: “Their greed is what killed them. If they had maintained their dao heart, they wouldn’t have become my food. Their heart is what devoured them.”

Holyfrost shivered after hearing this. This could have been her result if it wasn’t for Li Qiye warning her.

“Mere justification.” The bull said with disdain: “It doesn’t change the fact that you’re evil now.”

“Who cares? Devils and gods are the same in this world where the strong takes all. The only difference is the method.” The rock retorted.

“Do you remember when you were still a divine stone in the abyss? What was on your mind when you gained sentience and looked at the sun?” Li Qiye spoke with a special rhythm, almost like a captivating chant.

The rock fell into silence. In the next second, it could see the past again when it used to be a carefree rock.

“So peaceful and quiet… but maybe too peaceful, a bit more fun will be better…” The rock was in a daze while recalling the past and its initial thoughts and desires.

So much had happened afterward so it had forgotten its first thought.

“Ah!” Suddenly, a jolt of pain made it scream.

Li Qiye had sent down a dao flame when it let down its guard. This supreme flame engulfed the rock and began burning it.

“What, what are you doing?!” Struggling against the dao flame was futile for the rock even if it wasn’t suppressed by the mountain.

“I am changing you back to your original form. This dark power doesn’t belong to you. Someone simply placed it on you.” Li Qiye said flatly.

“No! No need for that! I’m content with being stuck here! That’s how it should be!” The rock shouted.

“Haha, the power of this tune is too weak and will take years to destroy you. Let Sir help.” The bull gloated on the rock’s misery: “It might be painful in the beginning but it will go fast. Just imagine how you were taken from the abyss back then and refined, that must have been unbelievably painful too…”

“Ah!” The rock screamed in agony while the bull spoke.

“Zzz…” It started to melt.

This rock had an incredible origin - a divine stone with a perfect physical constitution. Alas, it still couldn’t handle Li Qiye’s dao flame.

Black smoke oozed from the rock, seemingly the evilest poison in existence. It started eating the fabrics of space.

When touched by this smoke, any creature - whether it be the bird and fish or the grass and trees - would turn evil right away.

However, Li Qiye sent out more dao flame with his free hand and turned the smoke to nothingness.

“Zzz.” The rock had no chance of escaping the refinement. It was already suppressed by the mountain and locked by Li Qiye’s dao flame. 

It turned into black lava, wiggling back and forth in a creepy manner. It felt as if an evil entity had taken over and eventually replaced them.

More black lava came out as Li Qiye’s flame intensified. The melting process also accelerated.

It eventually stopped to reveal a tinier pebble within. The thing melted earlier seemed to be an outer shell.

The group became surprised to see this pebble inside.

“What’s that?” Holyfrost wondered about the black lava. She could sense the terrible dark power in it, enough to destroy an entire world.

“That’s another part of the rock’s true form. It has been corroded though. Fortunately, it is an amazing divine stone, able to keep a part of itself despite being refined by the darkness.” Li Qiye said.

“So this tiny piece is its real form?” She inquired.

He nodded in response and added more heat to his dao flame, intending on burning everything. Even the black lava was slowly being incinerated now.

It eventually turned into smoke then swiftly destroyed by him. Li Qiye clearly wanted to destroy this dark power in its entirety.

“Raa!” The lava itself screamed. It could sense that death was near so, in one last-ditch effort, it expanded and took the form of a great devil. A powerful shockwave shot out, wanting to break the fiery blockade in an attempt to escape.

Li Qiye naturally wouldn’t let it do so. He scowled and added more power. Just one drop of this flame could scorch an entire system to ashes.

The expanding lava was imprisoned again and started shrinking. It was furious and never stopped attacking the flame. Unfortunately, it was going against the tide. Finally, nothing was left of the dark power.

Only the true form of the black rock was left, around two-third smaller than before. It no longer made a sound, seemingly dead.

“Clank!” It has been refined back to its original form.

The dao laws from the mountain suddenly loosened. The supreme power imprisoning it also disappeared, freeing the rock as a result.