Qu Yirou dripped a drop of essence blood and a wisp of soul into a soul plate to refine a puppet-substitute talisman, then slapped a Swiftstride Talisman onto it.
The moment the puppet-substitute talisman was activated, it shot toward the giant cauldron at a speed like streaming light.
The instant it appeared, the flock of “birds” coiled in the sky sensed it. The swarm surged in from all directions like rolling black clouds, blotting out the heavens. The sight was so terrifying that the master of the Soul Chasing Pavilion instinctively wanted to steer the flying craft far away.
Just as she was about to move, she felt the craft had already begun to shift—then suddenly she felt a set of sharp talons grab toward her and squeeze hard—
Qu Yirou’s whole body jolted violently. She forced herself to calm down before she could breathe again.
The puppet-substitute talisman she had cast, the one carrying a wisp of her soul, had been snuffed out by the flock the moment it left her hand.
Now the “flock” was like a stirred hornet’s nest, frantically searching for any “enemy trace,” terrified of letting even one fish slip through the net.
The Duobao Spirit Monkey’s concealment skills were superb. It evaded the blood fiends’ search and parked the craft at the junction between the void and the great world.
Yu Mi watched the cauldron and the flock, then sent her voice with divine sense.
“Look. Whenever those blood fiends get within a certain distance of the cauldron, they instinctively shy away…”
The others had already noticed this. Within more than ten zhang around the cauldron, there wasn’t a single living thing.
While they were studying the cauldron, a blood fiend suddenly flew to a stop in front of the craft. Its blood-red eyes stared fixedly at the empty air ahead, as if suspecting there was an enemy hiding in that patch of “empty” space.
It blocked the craft from the front, so everyone on board naturally fixed their gaze on it.
The instant it felt the weight of their gaze fall on it, it became certain there was an enemy ahead. It beat its wings and lunged forward—only for something to yank it hard and drag it straight into the void!
A pulse of energy rippled out from where the big bird vanished, immediately alerting the surrounding flock. They all turned their heads toward that direction, saw nothing, yet still several flew over to investigate.
Meanwhile, under the Duobao Spirit Monkey’s control, the craft quietly shifted to another location.
Inside the craft, Yu Mi hurled the captured blood fiend—an enormous bird—down to the floor with a vicious slam. The bird screamed in pain, its claws and wings flailing as it struggled to get up.
It had barely moved when Yu Mi summoned the Nanming Lihuo Sword.
With one stroke, the bird’s beak was gone.
With another stroke, its talons were gone.
Then she flicked her wrist, flipped the sword, and pressed the blade to the bird’s forehead. The bird’s eyes instantly crossed, filled with raw terror as it stared at the sword tip at its brow.
It tried to inch forward a fraction, and the sword tip immediately drove in two fractions. The Nanming Lihuo flame along the blade had already begun to scorch its feathers.
The big bird was so scared it didn’t dare twitch.
Yu Mi suddenly thrust the sword forward, driving the tip straight into its forehead and erasing its soul and consciousness.
The bird’s eyes rolled white. It collapsed, completely still.
Yu Mi quickly took out a jade token and pressed it into the bird’s brow, using puppet arts to replace its soul sense and take control of its body, then had the bird fly toward the cauldron.
As the bird drew nearer to the cauldron, Yu Mi clearly felt a shudder rising from the depths of her soul. Every inch of her body and even her spirit itself was screaming at her:
Avoid it. Go around. Get close and you die.
That was the voice coming from the puppet jade token she had embedded in the bird’s head.
The bird rushed into the empty zone around the cauldron, the region where there were no living creatures at all. In that instant, all the surrounding blood fiends froze, turning in unison to look at the legless, footless “big dumb bird” charging toward the cauldron.
Under the gaze of everyone present—humans and blood fiends alike—once that “dumb bird” stepped into the domain field formed by the cauldron, it took less than a single breath to dissolve into a cloud of blood mist. Not even a feather or splinter of bone remained.
The blood fiends nearby all shuffled back a little further from the cauldron.
The few people present all sucked in a cold breath. None of them dared take the risk of getting close to the cauldron.
Yu Mi looked to Nanshan Yijian.
“Senior Nanshan, what do you think?”
Nanshan Yijian said, “This cauldron is not something we can lay hands on. We’d be killed by its domain before we ever touch it.”
Yu Mi asked, “Is there any way to break it?”
Nanshan Yijian replied, “Two. First, the cauldron recognizes a master. Second, you have enough strength to contend with it.”
He paused, then added, “This cauldron’s artifact spirit should have been scattered. If it still had an intact spirit, after so many years it would have repaired itself long ago, or, like the Xuantian Sword, it would have chosen a new master and lodged itself in a new vessel to slowly nourish and restore itself.”
Jade Shura’s eyes lit up.
“Then is there a way to make this cauldron recognize a master?”
Yu Mi and Qu Yirou both silently shot Jade Shura a look.
If this cauldron really was related to Ba, and it had now fallen back into Ba’s hands, and Ba had laid down so many methods here—how could it possibly not already have a master?
Qu Yirou said, “This place is too dangerous. Let’s pull back first and plan from there.”
The Duobao Spirit Monkey once more steered the craft out of the sealed sky dead zone, descending outside the main encampment before returning the vehicle to the Soul Chasing Pavilion Master.
Yu Mi had barely stepped down from the Pavilion Master’s craft when she saw a proud figure standing at the prow of the flagship, dressed in splendid golden robes.
Who else could it be but Si Ruo?
This did surprise Yu Mi a little. Shouldn’t Si Ruo at this time be leading Yue Nation’s people to break the geomantic formation over the Archaic Mountain Range?
Wang Ding emerged from the flagship and cupped his fists to Yu Mi and Qu Yirou, who was following behind.
“Arrow Envoy, Pavilion Master Qu, did all go smoothly?”
Yu Mi said, “A bit of trouble. Let’s talk inside.”
She saw Zi Tianjun coming out to greet them and also returned his salute.
Zi Yunshu boarded the flagship and used a sound-transmission jade slip to contact the Demon Saint, reporting everything they had seen.
Yu Mi, Wang Ding, Qu Yirou, Jade Shura, Zi Tianjun, and Si Ruo all sat down together and each recounted their experiences.
Things had not gone well for Yu Mi’s group, and Yue Nation and the Cleaver Gang had fared no better.
Si Ruo said, “The Nine-Dragon Blood River, the cauldron, and the blood fiends support one another. To break this feng shui array, the three must be dealt with simultaneously. If the cauldron does not move, the blood river will not dry. And if the blood river does not dry, blood fiends will spawn endlessly and can never be fully exterminated. The blood fiends are entrenched across the Archaic Mountain Range, guarding the blood river and the cauldron. Once they spread outward, the disaster will be beyond words.”
Wang Ding mused, “The blood fiends are newly awakened to intelligence and still extremely stupid. Given time, if blood fiends with high intelligence are born, the cultivation world will face another catastrophe. Right now, the blood fiends and blood river are still fairly manageable. The real problem is the cauldron…”
That primeval-relic cauldron—even damaged—was not something they could touch.
For a while everyone lapsed into silence.
When Zi Yunshu finished communicating with the Demon Saint and came out, she saw the chamber had fallen utterly quiet.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Yu Mi looked up at her.
“What did Holy Aunt say?”
Zi Yunshu hesitated slightly. She turned and sat down on a nearby chair.
“A-Sheng did not expect it to be a primeval relic. She has concerns.”
Si Ruo asked, “What concerns?”
Zi Yunshu drawled, “She’s worried that after solving the trouble caused by the primeval relic, some cultivators will jump out and point fingers again. She suggests that Her Majesty the Empress and Left Envoy Wang ask the cultivation world if they have the ability to move this cauldron away first.”
Si Ruo and Wang Ding both looked rather helpless.
The Demon Domain and the yao race held very deep prejudice against the cultivation world—but they had both understood the meaning behind Zi Yunshu’s words.
Zi Yunshu and the Demon Saint could figure out a way to resolve the problem of the primeval-relic cauldron, but they were unwilling to do so only for others to step out afterward, wag their tongues, and try to claim a share.
Zi Yunshu went on, “In my opinion, the proper course is for all the powers of the cultivation world to unite their strength and destroy Ba’s calamity together.”
Si Ruo said, “The Archaic Mountain Range lies within Yue Nation’s borders and is the sect grounds of the Xuantian Sect. I don’t think other factions have any standing to dictate how Yue Nation and the Xuantian Sect handle the trouble in the Archaic Mountains, much less criticize what becomes of the items within. Besides, treasures like this cauldron, which currently has no master, have always gone to the ‘virtuous.’”
That “virtuous” was, of course, shorthand for whoever had the strength to claim it.
Zi Yunshu stared at Si Ruo, her big lively eyes blinking and blinking, but she said nothing more.
Si Ruo said, “Fairy Yunshu, you might as well speak plainly.”
Zi Yunshu said, “Then I’ll be blunt. You want Princess Xueqing to act, don’t you? A-Sheng does have confidence she can persuade Princess Xueqing to take action. However—”
Her gaze swept over everyone.
“If Princess Xueqing goes through all that effort to settle the cauldron, and then someone jumps out shouting about how the cauldron doesn’t belong to the Demon Domain and shouldn’t be taken by the yao—what then? If you ask someone to act, you ought to offer benefits, right?”
She paused, then said, “We few here won’t say such things. But what about others? People from other factions? If they run to Princess Xueqing to demand the cauldron and get slapped to death for it, are they going to turn around and fetch reinforcements from the cultivation world to go make trouble in the Demon Domain and seek revenge? Then we’ll have yet another bloody conflict between the cultivation world and the Demon Domain. In the end, I still think this is something the cultivation world should solve themselves.”
Si Ruo snapped, “You make it sound like you’re not part of the cultivation world!”
Zi Yunshu replied righteously, “I have a flood-dragon body. I’m a yao cultivator.”
Si Ruo was choked speechless and glanced at Zi Tianjun, then rubbed her forehead, exasperated.
What she really wanted was to throw her sleeves and roar, “I’m done! If the disaster in the Archaic Mountain Range spreads, it’s not just my country that suffers.”
But as the ruler of a nation, she could not be that willful. She still intended to reclaim Yue Nation’s territory. If future generations opened the histories only to read: “Yue Nation’s land was lost under Empress Si Ruo,” while her seizing the Sacred Dao Sect’s grounds counted not as expansion, but as fleeing disaster—having her disgrace recorded for all time would be miserable enough to make one spit blood.
She looked to Zi Tianjun.
“Master Zi, you have nothing to say? The Archaic Mountains are, after all, Xuantian Sect territory.”
Zi Tianjun chuckled.
“Archaic Mountain Range may nominally be the Xuantian Sect’s, but Xuantian has not occupied it for even a single day.”
He waved a hand.
“Past matters… best left unspoken.”
Wang Ding straightened his posture.
“This has to be resolved, one way or another. I suggest everyone take a step back. Let the Xuantian Sect, Yue Nation, and the Cleaver Gang jointly issue a formal letter in our names, inviting that exalted one of the Demon Domain to act and eradicate Ba’s calamity. As for the cauldron—having it in the cultivation world at most gives us an extra blessed treasure ground, some extra flowers on brocade. But if it stays here, who knows what colossal disaster it might cause over long years? We all know which is lighter and which is heavier.”
He turned to Yu Mi.
“As for anyone who tries to interfere and stir up trouble over this matter…”
He smiled.
“Then I must ask the Arrow Envoy to have your Lord issue the Cleaver Decree and uproot them completely.”
He then looked to Si Ruo.
“And I hope Yue Nation will also…”
Si Ruo nodded.
“Agreed. If any other faction meddles in this matter, that is equivalent to meddling in Yue Nation’s internal affairs and provoking conflict. Yue Nation’s armies will wipe them out to the root.”
Yu Mi, Zi Tianjun, and Si Ruo, representing the Cleaver Gang, the Xuantian Sect, and Yue Nation respectively, drafted “state letters” to the Demon Domain, formally requesting Princess Xueqing’s aid in eliminating Ba’s calamity. The previously discussed terms were all written out clause by clause. After stamping them with their seals, they handed them to Zi Yunshu, who would pass them to the Demon Saint and journey to the Demon Domain to petition Xueqing.
With the “state letters” in hand, Zi Yunshu stepped through a domain gate straight back to the Xuantian Sect to find the Demon Saint.
The group rested briefly. After roughly three and a half hours, a ring of spatial ripples appeared in the air outside the flagship. A moment later, Xueqing, Xuan Yue, the Demon Saint, and Zi Yunshu appeared in everyone’s sight.
Hovering in midair, Xueqing released her divine sense, sweeping the surroundings, and immediately frowned.
The surrounding cultivators only felt an incomparably powerful aura appear out of nowhere. Startled, they all turned their gazes toward the source of the disturbance in the sky.
There they saw an incomparably beautiful woman standing in the air, dressed in a pure white fox-fur coat without a single speck of impurity. It was as if all color between heaven and earth had been drained away by her presence, leaving her as the only hue in that whole stretch of sky.
What made their hearts tighten the most, however, was her cultivation. Many of them could sense only an unfathomable depth—an overwhelming might, as if a casual stomp of her foot would collapse this entire region of heaven and earth.
Even Si Ruo, who had always been extremely confident in her own combat power, felt a profound sense of powerlessness in front of Xueqing. She herself was at the great perfection stage of Void Tearing, just a half-step from Tribulation—but in both power and realm, Xueqing felt far, far above her.
At Xueqing’s side, Xuan Yue—when she had just returned to the Xuantian Sect years ago—had only been at the Golden Core stage. Now she was already at early Void Tearing!
Everyone who knew Xuan Yue was utterly stunned.
From Golden Core to early Void Tearing in only seven short years!
Yu Mi and Zi Tianjun hurriedly flew up to greet Xueqing.
The surrounding cultivators watched from afar, not daring to get close.
Xueqing let out a soft, distant sigh.
The blood river surged and roared, flowing entirely with the blood of the living beings of this land. How many within Yue Nation could still escape? Those who could flee all had strength. The weak had long since turned into blood, now coursing within that river. The torrents of blood rolled on, churning with the wronged souls of those who had died so miserably.
Yu Mi and Zi Tianjun stood at Xueqing’s side, not daring to even breathe too loudly.
