Chapter 257 - Chapter 257: 257 The Second Divine Cauldron

Chapter 257: 257 The Second Divine Cauldron

On this day, Huang Family Town was bustling with excitement. Little Fourth Huang, Huang Laogen’s fourth son who had disappeared for several months, had returned. He had brought back a multitude of material possessions, packed into large and small boxes. It seemed he had lucked out big time and made a fortune.

Huang Laogen’s household was a carnival of activity. Anyone with a shred of relation or familiarity flocked to his residence to congratulate him.

The center of attention, Little Fourth Huang, also known as Huang Yongkang, the youthful hero, sneaked off to the outskirts of the town, visiting an old dilapidated temple.

Just a few months prior, it was here that he encountered his karmic opportunity and embarked on the path of cultivation.

If it were not for that ethereal couple, he would have been just like any common child, stuck in the inconsequential town of Huang Family, oblivious to the expansive universe and the mystical immortal methods.

“I remember, it was here,” he muttered.

Huang Yongkang walked up to a strangely bulging patch of ground and unhitched a black cloth bag from his waist. With a flick of the bag, a white tiger, covered in white fur, sprang from it.

He ordered, “Dig up the thing beneath.”

The regal beast gave him a wronged look. It was the king of beasts, reduced to a digger.

Yet, intimidated by the boy’s authority, it diligently started digging. Its sharp claws sliced through dirt as easily as through tofu. It wasn’t long before it hit a hard object, causing sparks to fly.

“My goodness, it seems this dilapidated temple is not as plain as it looks!” Huang Yongkang said, somewhat surprised.

The tiger demon’s claws could penetrate steel with ease, yet they were unable to scrape the object beneath, making it clearly extraordinary.

It wasn’t long before the buried entity was revealed – a timeworn stone tablet.

On it were written three complex characters.

“I did remember correctly. What’s written here is indeed the ancient script the old man taught me,” Huang Yongkang exclaimed with joy.

“The old man treats that map of his like a treasure. It even marked the location of the Huang Family Town, with these three characters written next to it.”

He possessed the knack of remembering things at a glance. As a child, he had accidentally ventured to this old temple and seen the characters on the tablet.

At the time, the tablet hadn’t been entirely buried in the ground yet. He remembered being curious about the writing and had copied it down, asking the town’s most knowledgeable teacher about it. However, even the teacher hadn’t recognized the characters.

But some time ago, he caught a glimpse of those three characters on the esteemed map that the old man always carried. He had been watchful ever since.

That map, that old man possessed, was anything but ordinary. Every time he flipped it, the location of some treasure was quickly discovered.

It was precisely because of this that he had been able to seize numerous opportunities and elevate his cultivation level over the span of just several months.

During this trip back home, Huang Yongkang was not only eager to return to his roots but also to verify his recent speculations.

“As I thought, this is another treasure site,” he affirmed.

His eyes lit up as he pulled out a copper mirror from nowhere and poured his True Essence into it.

As soon as the mirror lit up, it revealed a hidden prohibition on the stone tablet.

Excited, he put the mirror away, took several steps back, summoned a flying sword, and commanded, “Break!”

The flying sword hit the prohibition on the spot.

Accompanied by a cracking noise, a burst of azure light shot into the sky. The stone tablet shattered inch by inch, revealing a dimensional passage.

With a brief glance into the passage, Huang Yongkang saw a massive copper tripod. Within the tripod, a stunningly resplendent flower was blooming.

The flower seemed to tremble slightly before turning to reveal an incredibly beautiful woman’s face.

The face opened its eyes, which put him in such a fright that he felt his spirit might leave him.

“Nascent Soul!” he shouted, swiveling to escape, only to discover he was paralyzed. His True Essence felt like it had turned into ice. Even his Magic Treasure, which was connected to him by blood, didn’t obey his instructions.

He was done for.

Huang Yongkang’s heart was chilled.

Having just begun the Foundation Establishment Stage of cultivation, he stood no chance against a being of the Nascent Soul stage. There was no way for him to have imagined a Nascent Soul stage monster lurking inside.

He had truly brought disaster upon himself.

All this time, he had ridden on a wave of continuous success, embarking on adventures with the old man, acquiring various chances along the way. Within just a few months, he had reached the Foundation Establishment Stage.

He had achieved a realm that countless independent cultivators would never attain in their lifetimes.

He had begun to let success go to his head, and had decided to venture out on his own, without the old man.

Now, he had finally met his match.

The flower extending from the other side of the dimensional passage unfurled a leaf, stretching it toward the young boy’s body and wrapping him tightly.

Then it started to drag him inside.

Help me!

Huang Yongkang was in such a panic that he felt like his cries for help were falling on deaf ears. He regretted his actions – if he had known, he would never have left the old man behind due to greed…

Just as he was about to be pulled into the dimensional entrance, a knife’s energy descended from the sky, severing the leaf wrapped around him.

A savior descended from the sky!

Huang Yongkang regained his ability to move and crawled away from the dimensional passage.

“It’s you again,” a somewhat familiar voice echoed from the skies.

He looked up and saw two familiar figures in the sky – the ethereal young man and woman, who appeared to have descended from the heavens.

He never thought that they would save him again.

What shocked him even more was the seismic change in their cultivation levels. When he last met with them in No Return Mountain, they were just at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Now, they had soared to the Golden Core Stage.

The old man had always said that his karmic fortunes were deep, and his cultivation speed was a rare phenomenon throughout the ages.

But compared to the man before him now, he didn’t amount to much.

Gu Yang did not expect to see that yellow-faced boy again as soon as he entered Shuiyue Dongtian.

In just a few months, the boy had reached a cultivation level equivalent to that of the Golden Body realm.

This was a far cry from the ordinary person he had been the first time they met.

By chance, Gu Yang saw the boy in danger and took the initiative to save him.

However, Gu Yang’s attention was quickly drawn to a spatial portal. The extraordinary power that emitted from it indicated a presence within the Unleaking Realm.

That boy had a knack for getting into trouble, attracting a being from the Unleaking Realm, no less.

Gu Yang had originally intended to mind his own business and leave with Ye Lingbo. But catching a glimpse of a huge tripod within the spatial portal, his heart stirred.

“A Kyushu Ding?”

The style of this gigantic tripod was identical to the Wu Earth Divine Ding that he had obtained before.

It was quite possibly one of the Kyushu Ding.

A spiritual treasure indeed!

This was definitely an energy goldmine.

Believing the risk was worth taking, Gu Yang opened the simulator and initiated a simulation.

Before the battle, he needed to confirm if he could be victorious.

After a moment, he received the results and told Ye Lingbo, “Wait for me here.”

With that, he unsheathed the Phoenix Feather Knife and rushed in.

Down below, Huang Yongkang gasped when he saw the man charging bravely towards the Nascent Soul monster.

As expected, he was indeed a fearsome cultivator capable of killing a Golden Core practitioner during the Foundation Establishment stage.

He recalled at No Return Mountain, this imposing figure, then at Foundation Establishment stage, slaughtered a Golden Core practitioner of Ancient River Sword Sect as easily as killing a dog.

Now, having ascended to Golden Core stage, he considered the Nascent Soul monster as insignificant.

Such courage made Huang Yongkang’s spirit soar.

Inside the spatial portal, a peculiarly shaped flower began to grow rapidly. Its countless leaves enveloped the man, forming a massive barrier around him.

A terrifying surge of power made Huang Yongkang tremble in fear. Even after activating his full cultivation, he was still so overwhelmed it was hard to breathe.

This Nascent Soul monster was terrifying!

Its powerful aura alone was enough to literally crush him to death.

At this moment, he felt a piercing fear in his heart, as a wave of indescribable energy surged over him.

What kind of power is this?

In his shock, a flash of a blade unfolded before his eyes.

For a moment, he thought he was dead and his mind went blank.

Somewhere in the distance, he heard the faint sound of a thunderclap.

When the smoke cleared, he slumped to the ground, drained of all strength. His body quaked uncontrollably.

That was so terrifying!

The Nascent Soul monster that was on the other side of the spatial portal had been reduced to ashes under that one strike.

A single strike slaughter of a Nascent Soul!

A sense of bewilderment washed over him. How could there be such a powerful Golden Core in this world?

Gu Yang eliminated the parasitic flower monster residing in the Nine Divine Ding with a single thunderous strike. It was a clean kill.

Not that his strength was enough to instantly slay an Unleaking Realm powerholder. It’s just that the flower monster had lost its mortal body and was reduced to a Nascent Soul. It had no magical treasures to protect it.

He used Shenxiao Six Extinctions, the bane of Nascent Souls. Without the protection of a mortal body and magical treasures, the Nascent Soul was instantly obliterated, disappearing without a trace.

It could only be said that the Nascent Soul monster was ill-fated.

[Gained 50 energy points. Current balance is 128 points.]

Fifty energy points, only half of what a complete Unleaking realm being is worth, but it was enough to tell how far its strength was from that of a complete Unleaking realm being.

“This Shuiyue Dongtian is indeed my treasure trove. I easily gained fifty points.” Gu Yang thought happily.

Of the three Dongtian worlds he had visited so far, he still felt that Shuiyue Dongtian was the best. Its cultivators were easy to deal with, and they possessed numerous magical tools.

He approached the colossal bronze tripod and reached out to touch it.

The tactic of operating the bronze tripod was engraved on its surface. He had already mastered it in the previous simulation.

Within moments, the colossal bronze tripod started to shrink until it was the size of a fingertip and rested in the palm of his hand.

This tripod was the Wood God Ding.

“It’s a pity that it’s not a fire attribute.”

Gu Yang felt a slight sense of regret. Among the Nine Divine Ding, the one that would be the most useful to him was the fire attribute God Ding.

His “Phoenix Dance Nine Heavens” required the assistance of Divine Fire.

“Wood God Ding…”

At this time, Ye Lingbo also walked in. Looking at the small ding in Gu Yang’s hand, her expression looked somewhat complex.

Gu Yang asked in surprise, “You recognize this ding?”

Each of the Nine Divine Ding had identical appearances. It was impossible to determine the attribute of a ding based solely on appearance.

Since Ye Lingbo could immediately identify it as the Wood God Ding, she must have known of it beforehand.

She nodded, inhaled deeply, sat cross-legged on the ground, and started to run her True Essence.

Buzz!

Inside the space, countless spots of light gathered in front of her. Gradually, they formed into a sword shape.