Chapter 504: Chapter 458: Chaos Qi
Over the years, Xingchou was always protected by the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon; they hardly ever met.
Now Xingchou suddenly wants to form a Nascent Soul, and Jiang Yuebai speculates that she plans to use the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation to split open this place and escape.
Jiang Yuebai and Lu Nanzhi exchanged a glance; the Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi here are extremely abundant, and they have nothing else to do but cultivate every day.
They must also feed the cauldron daily; each time they exhaust their internal power and then cultivate again, their power sees minor increases, and the efficiency of their Internal Energy Circulation improves.
Thus, both of them feel as though they are on the verge of reaching Golden Core Perfection, having initially agreed that if worse comes to worst, they would attempt Nascent Soul formation together.
They wondered whether, if their tribulations met, they could split open this place and if it could incidentally kill the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon, even better.
Now Xingchou is trying to form her Nascent Soul first to test whether this method will work.
Jiang Yuebai fully activated the Eight Arrays Plate; eighteen layers of arrays protected her and Lu Nanzhi, with the Primordial Magnetic Ruler and White Vine ready to defend at any moment.
Meanwhile, both Jiang Yuebai and Lu Nanzhi have the faint illusion of the Barbarian God shimmering over them, except Jiang Yuebai’s is golden and Lu Nanzhi’s is black.
Lu Nanzhi tightly gripped the Ice Soul Sword and said cryptically to Jiang Yuebai, "If she successfully forms her Nascent Soul, regardless of whether she can escape, she might attack us."
"Let’s wait and see."
Just as Jiang Yuebai spoke, an enraged roar issued from the abyss below; a furious black fog surged toward Xingchou’s side.
A dragon’s roar pierced through the black fog; the Black Dragon beside Xingchou soared with crimson flames, fiercely clashing with the fog.
But the disparity in strength was evident; the black fog transformed into two dragon claws, seizing the Black Dragon and tearing it apart forcefully.
Jiang Yuebai inhaled sharply, witnessing the human-sized Black Dragon being torn into two pieces, its Dragon Blood splattering everywhere.
"Red Rainbow!!"
With Demonic Qi raging throughout, Xingchou was stricken with fury; she spewed a mouthful of blood, her aura quickly declining, not only failing to form a Nascent Soul but harming her foundation.
Yet the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon did not let her go; its black fog claws struck down heavily on her. Xingchou resisted with all her might, but to no avail, being sent flying against a distant rocky wall and spewing more blood, left barely alive.
Jiang Yuebai and Lu Nanzhi were tense all over. Clearly, using the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation was not viable; the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon was ready to injure anyone, making formation impossible.
The black fog claws transformed into a lock chain, binding Xingchou and pulling her into the abyss, leaving no trace.
Just when it seemed to be over, Jiang Yuebai suddenly sensed an overwhelming pressure rushing towards them, instantly shattering the eighteen arrays of the Eight Arrays Plate into pieces.
Jiang Yuebai swung the Primordial Magnetic Black Sand; the White Vine transformed into a thousand hands, each wielding a long spear, aiming at the black fog for Soul Slaying.
Zheng!
Lu Nanzhi’s sword struck after, a single ice flower shattering mountains and rivers, piercing into the black fog.
Boom!
The energy wave exploded; knowing they were outmatched, they instinctively struck back, being violently blown away by the overwhelming force from the fog.
With intense pain in her back, Jiang Yuebai spat out old blood, feeling as if she was falling apart.
She looked up, her pupils constricted.
The black fog transformed into a palm, gripping Lu Nanzhi’s neck tightly, suspending her in mid-air, unable to break free despite her struggles.
"My patience is exhausted, three more years; if you cannot succeed, you shall all remain buried here!"
The angry voice resonated fiercely in Jiang Yuebai’s Sea of Consciousness, while the black fog dragged Lu Nanzhi and vanished into the abyss below.
Jiang Yuebai frantically lunged forward but was thrown back by a suddenly appearing barrier over the abyss, crashing against a rocky wall and falling to the ground.
Furious, Jiang Yuebai pounded the ground, yet she was helpless; she wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and rushed to the edge of the abyss, shouting below.
"If you dare harm her even slightly, I will die fighting but take you down with me!"
Bang!
An invisible force struck Jiang Yuebai’s chest heavily; she was flung against the rocky wall once more, though this time it was clear it was holding back, not severely injuring her.
Then, a powerful Divine Thought forcefully entered her mind, showing her a fleeting image.
Lu Nanzhi was thrown into a pitch-black space surrounded by black fog.
Jiang Yuebai sat up, clutching her chest, swallowing the blood that churned within.
What is this? Are they just collateral damage?
It had been fine before, agreed for thirty years, so why the sudden change of heart? Is it dying?
Jiang Yuebai thought angrily, cursing the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon viciously to die quickly, to choke on its breath would be best!
After sitting to recover for a while, Jiang Yuebai stood up; the abyss had been sealed, and the White Vine she had buried underground had withered completely, incapable of probing further below.
She was unable to approach the nine Dragon Heads either; left alone in this vast place.
Angry as she was, it was futile, and her top priority was to quickly cultivate the technique; only by succeeding could she have bargaining power.
Jiang Yuebai entered the Lotus Platform Cave Heaven, moving the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron to the center of her small world.
The branch given by the Divine Tree transformed into the shape of a Phoenix Tree, holding up this world.
Jiang Yuebai sat cross-legged beneath the tree, placing the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron before her.
She and Lu Nanzhi fed it every day for nearly ten years and gave a fair amount of nine-headed dragon blood, yet the cauldron remained motionless.
"It must be that the nine-headed dragon’s blood is too inferior, which is why it can’t synthesize chaos energy. Take your incompetence out on others, useless!"
Jiang Yuebai summoned a vortex of spiritual energy, opened the lid of the cauldron, and tossed in some dragon bone.
The dragon bone was spat out by the cauldron as soon as it entered, nearly hitting Jiang Yuebai in the face.
"Even at this point you’re still picky! Damned cauldron!"
Jiang Yuebai’s face was filled with anger. After thinking it over, there was only one last option left—she had to bleed heavily herself.
"Go and bring everything from the storeroom except for the dragon bone. Leave five stalks of each spirit plant in the spiritual field, and pull up the rest to bring here."
After instructing the little demons, Jiang Yuebai began taking things out from her storage bracelet and storage ring.
She had over 930,000 top-grade spirit stones, more than 300 Five Elements Thunder Pearls, over 100 Continuous Pearl Jade Talismans, and more than 100 each of Water Thunder Talismans and Jian Palace Thunder Talismans.
Ten merfolk pearls, two rolls of mermaid silk, the last two bottles of Ao Juan’s blood, two dragon scales, three pieces of dragon skin, five pieces of ten-thousand-year phoenix tree wood, eight phoenix feathers, two pieces of phoenix eggshell, and a large heap of materials obtained from the demon clan.
Jiang Yuebai left 10,000 top-grade spirit stones, 20 thunder pearls and jade talismans each, three merfolk pearls, and one roll of mermaid silk in the ring, leaving none of Ao Juan’s possessions. She would request more next time she found her.
She kept three pieces each of ten-thousand-year phoenix tree wood and phoenix feathers, a large piece of phoenix eggshell for life-saving needs, and one piece of high-quality demon clan material each.
Her spiritual artifacts and magic treasures could not be used; everything else was packed into the storage bracelet.
She even released the last three ghosts from the Earth Evil Slaughter Bag to prepare to throw them in.
Little Green hurried over from a distance and directly carried away the long-haired water ghost, ignoring even the most promising long-tongued ghost.
Jiang Yuebai didn’t have the time to argue with Little Green; this time, she primarily focused on a complete variety, so having two ghosts would suffice.
The little demons returned one after the other from the spiritual field and storeroom, bringing back everything that could be spared along with the other spiritual beasts from the Lotus Platform Cave Heaven.
Jiang Yuebai used a vortex of spiritual energy to open the cauldron lid and, without hesitation, threw the entire storage bracelet inside.
It was still like a stone sinking into the sea; despite the plethora of items inside, not a single ripple was stirred.
"All of you, step back to avoid being sucked in by the cauldron. I’m going to see if today, after putting in ninety-nine percent of my assets, I can finally satisfy you!"
The little demons and spiritual beasts continued to transport items while Jiang Yuebai persistently threw them in.
More than an hour later, after Jiang Yuebai hurled the last blade of grass within hand’s reach, the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron still showed no reaction.
"Do you really need to swallow the heavens to be satisfied?!"
Jiang Yuebai was about to burst with rage. With a resolute heart, she directly extracted the spiritual vein pulse she had acquired last time and angrily tossed it in.
Jiang Yuebai craned her neck, yet there was still only a continuously rotating gray vortex inside the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron, exuding a strong suction force, with no intention of spitting anything out.
Jiang Yuebai looked up and saw the little demons watching her from a distance. The little demons shivered all over and dispersed.
"I’m not that crazy; why are you running?"
Jiang Yuebai felt utterly dejected. Did she have to sacrifice all her assets, leaving nothing behind, for it to work?
She had two dragon scale daggers. She took out one and threw it in, along with the Lotus Purification Bottle and the Night Condensation Smoke Stick, both fourth-grade magic treasures, tossing them in as well.
Now, aside from the five spiritual artifacts in her Dantian, she only had the Taihe Umbrella, Eight Arrays Plate, Taiyin Fan, and Refusing Fire Cauldron left.
Jiang Yuebai also took out the Refusing Fire Cauldron and tossed it in, still to no avail.
The breeze blew gently, causing the leaves to rustle.
Jiang Yuebai suddenly looked up and saw the phoenix tree transformed from the divine tree branch, her eyes gradually brightening.
She released her puppet avatar; ninety-nine fire dragon small swords emerged in unison, a gale sweeping away fallen leaves, instantly clearing all the leaves on the phoenix tree, which were drawn into the vortex inside the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron.
Buzz!
The Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron trembled, and the vortex within showed signs of expansion.
Jiang Yuebai clenched her fists in excitement and continued manipulating the puppet avatar to chop down all the branches on the phoenix tree except for the trunk, hurling them into the cauldron.
As more branches transformed by the divine tree Jianmu were thrown in, the vortex within the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron violently shook and expanded, gradually escaping Jiang Yuebai’s control and forming a tornado that pierced straight through to the heavens of Lotus Platform Cave Heaven.
Fierce winds howled, Jiang Yuebai’s long white hair fluttered, and she took a few steps back, watching the sky. The clouds were stirred into a massive vortex, with grass leaves flying upwards as all the power within Lotus Platform Cave Heaven was drawn in.
Boom!
A bolt of purple lightning came crashing down, splitting the cloud vortex and plunging directly into the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron. The entire cauldron was instantly engulfed by the purple lightning, with lightning splashing and crackling.
Jiang Yuebai hurriedly backed away; this purple lightning had been silently shining in the void outside the Lotus Platform Cave Heaven since her Foundation Establishment and the purple lightning heavenly tribulation during Core Formation.
Untouchable, elusive.
A dragon roar reverberated, and the nine dragons on the cauldron soared into the cauldron, a force of immense grandeur and primitive wildness suddenly bursting through the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron and crashing into the sky.
At that moment.
In a dark space, behind a black mist, Lu Nanzhi discovered an empty palace.
