Chapter 348: Chapter 208: Remove the Firewood from Under the Cauldron (2)
Canyuan True Monarch shook his head and said,
"Even if you could capture ten thousand Celestial Demons a day, it would be but a drop in the ocean compared to the endless hordes within the Demon Realm. It would only hinder your cultivation. This plan is not viable."
The Demon Realm was vast. Even if the Heaven and Earth Embryonic Membrane advanced one zhang a day, it would still take several hundred years to completely erase it.
"A single Demon-Catching Tripod would certainly be a drop in the bucket against the Demon Realm, but what if there were ten? Or dozens?"
Yang Jing said.
"You’ve mastered the method for refining the Demon-Catching Tripod?!"
Canyuan True Monarch’s eyes widened.
Yang Jing nodded.
"True Monarch, we only need to re-establish the Seven Luminaries Demon-Slaying Array outside the Demon Realm and have Cultivators operate the Demon-Catching Tripods from within it to capture Celestial Demons. We can advance on all fronts. These Celestial Demons can evade the Divine Sense of us Cultivators while in the Demon Realm, but they cannot hide from the Demon-Catching Tripod’s senses at all. Furthermore, with the protection of the Seven Luminaries Demon-Slaying Array, the High Tier Celestial Demons within the Demon Realm will be completely unable to harm the Cultivators operating the tripods from inside the array."
"Excellent!"
Canyuan True Monarch slapped his thigh. He never imagined that there was a real hope of resolving the Demon Realm issue—a problem that had plagued several of his predecessors as Northern Army Governor—during his own tenure.
"Haha! No matter what conspiracy the Outer Celestial Demons are plotting, if we just level the entire Demon Realm, what tricks could they possibly have left to play?"
He was so excited that he burst out laughing.
"Over thousands of years, the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion has collected countless confiscated Demon Sect Artifacts. You can take them all to be melted down and reforged. Don’t worry about the losses."
Canyuan True Monarch gave Yang Jing carte blanche.
He stood up and paced back and forth, trying to relieve his inner excitement.
"Yang Jing, what reward do you want? It’s a pity you’re not a Golden Core Cultivator. If you can truly pacify the Demon Realm, even a Nascent Soul Pill would be a worthy reward."
A look of envy crossed Meng Sima’s face. He had served the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion diligently for a hundred years, all for the sake of obtaining a Nascent Soul Pill.
Yang Jing shook his head. He knew that if he really did get a Nascent Soul Pill, he’d lose sleep over it.
Countless Golden Core Cultivators yearned desperately for such a great treasure.
"This disciple would like some Five Elements Spiritual Objects, such as Thunder Marsh Divine Sand and One-Element Heavy Water,"
Yang Jing said.
The Shenxiao Thunder Seal he had acquired by a stroke of luck could no longer keep up with the progress of his Power. If he were to bring it out during Magical Combat with the Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon, it would probably be destroyed in an instant.
He planned to use the Thunder Marsh Divine Sand to refine a Magical Treasure, but a hundred or so grains were nowhere near enough.
"A few Spiritual Objects like that are a minor matter. Although the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion doesn’t have them, I can have them transferred from the secret vaults of other Governor’s Mansions in a couple of days," Canyuan True Monarch said.
Thunder Marsh Divine Sand was a rare treasure for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, but for a Nascent Soul expert like him, he could collect a good amount just by flying up to the Nine Heavens. It would just take some time.
If they could really pacify the Demon Realm, these Spiritual Objects were indeed a small price to pay. But with the Demon Realm not yet pacified, it was all just talk for now.
Yang Jing nodded. He urged the Demon-Catching Tripod once more, spilling out the corpses of the Cultivators he had collected earlier.
"True Monarch, the High Tier Celestial Demons from before were able to leave the Demon Realm by possessing these Cultivators. This disciple suspects that some Cultivators may be secretly colluding with the Celestial Demons, providing them with bodies to inhabit."
"If we can identify these Cultivators, we might be able to uncover the identities of those who are colluding with the Celestial Demons."
Cultivators were well aware of the dangers of the Demon Realm and would not enter it without good reason.
If no Cultivators were cooperating with the Celestial Demons, then the bodies possessed by these High Tier Celestial Demons should have been mostly Demons, with few Cultivators. But after Yang Jing killed those High Tier Celestial Demons, he found the opposite to be true: there were more Cultivators than Demons.
This was completely illogical.
But if Cultivators were cooperating with the Celestial Demons and providing them with bodies, then it made perfect sense. The Northern Domain Seven Kingdoms were not the Western Domain; the number of Demons was not large, and how could hunting Demons be as easy as ambushing and killing Cultivators?
Canyuan True Monarch’s expression immediately turned grim.
He levitated the bodies, which were wreathed in Demonic Qi, and inspected them one by one.
"Xiaomeng, secretly dispatch people to investigate the identities of all these individuals. We must capture these traitors who collude with the Celestial Demons and make a public example of them!"
Meng Sima acknowledged the order with a solemn expression and collected all the corpses into his Storage Bag.
Colluding with Celestial Demons was a crime of the highest order in the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion.
After offering some more words of encouragement to Yang Jing, Canyuan True Monarch flew off with Meng Sima, returning to the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion. Besides the Demon-Catching Tripods, the key to Yang Jing’s plan was the people who would operate them.
The Demon-Catching Tripod was a Demon Sect Spirit Treasure, after all. It had to be refined by trustworthy individuals.
Furthermore, mobilizing manpower and re-deploying the Seven Luminaries Demon-Slaying Array were both extremely complicated and critical tasks. He had to return to the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion to oversee these matters.
Yang Jing let out a slow breath. In the previous battle, he had well and truly offended the Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon. This type of Celestial Demon was vengeful by nature; what’s more, he had even severed one of its arms.
’Under these circumstances, entering the Demon Realm to search for the predecessor’s Cave Mansion and obtain the Five Dragons Hibernation Scripture would be fraught with danger.’
So he had devised this plan to solve the problem at its root. Besides, the other Demon-Catching Tripods wouldn’t have a Cauldron Space, meaning the captured Celestial Demons couldn’t be refined in time. In the end, they would simply be a feast for his Wanhua Child.
With that, Yang Jing took out the arm of the Other-Transformed Self-Free Celestial Demon.
Wanhua Child stared at the arm with eager eyes, practically drooling.
Yang Jing gave it a light toss, throwing the arm to Wanhua Child.
"Refine this arm and advance to Tier Three, whether you can trigger the Spiritual Treasure Tribulation or not. Otherwise, you won’t be able to handle refining the massive number of Celestial Demons in the future."
Wanhua Child wrapped his arms around the Celestial Demon’s arm.
"As you command, Master!"
He immediately and impatiently drew the Celestial Demon arm into the Pot World.
As the arm was refined, the previously tranquil Ten Thousand Transformations Demon Prohibition inside the Demon-Catching Tripod immediately began to change, gaining a Spiritual Essence it had lacked before.
Wanhua Child felt a sense of light-headedness, as if drunk. He staggered two steps along the tripod’s rim before falling directly inside.
Yang Jing used his Magical Power to lift the Demon-Catching Tripod and place it outside. The tripod was, after all, a Spiritual Artifact he had refined. He could clearly sense the changes in the aura within it; its advancement to a Tier Three Magical Treasure was likely imminent. Triggering the Spiritual Treasure Tribulation was practically a certainty.
Although it was only an arm, the Demon-Catching Tripod took a full three days to completely refine it.
Inside the Demon-Catching Tripod, Wanhua Child sat cross-legged within the Cauldron Space. The various Restrictions inside the tripod twinkled endlessly in the space’s sky, like a Circulation of stars.
The core Ten Thousand Transformations Demon Prohibition was like a full moon, orbited by a host of stars.
Just as when the Celestial Waterfall Sword had undergone its tribulation, layers of tribulation clouds immediately appeared in the sky.
Unlike the Celestial Waterfall Sword, which had relied on the Essence Qi of the West Sea Great Saint to leap to this Realm, the Demon-Catching Tripod had reached this state entirely on its own power. Its Spiritual Treasure Tribulation would be much easier to overcome.
The Third Layer Thunder Tribulation bombarded the tripod’s body. The Demon-Catching Tripod simply withstood the blows with its physical form, then absorbed the Tribulation Thunder into itself for refining. It practically waltzed right through.
Yang Jing watched the Demon-Catching Tripod stand unmoving amidst the roiling Tribulation Thunder. ’Because it’s a Demon Sect Treasure, the Tribulation Thunder it attracts is even more intense than what the Celestial Waterfall Sword faced, yet it’s getting through it so much more easily.’
’The Demon-Catching Tripod was, after all, the ultimate treasure of the Western Demon Sect. Its foundation is truly profound.’
Once the Tribulation Thunder dissipated, the Artifact Spirit within the Demon-Catching Tripod, Wanhua Child, immediately flew out and knelt before Yang Jing.
"Thank you for your help, Master! Only with it could Wanhua achieve this!"
He then described all the various functions of the Demon-Catching Tripod to Yang Jing one by one.
At the Spiritual Artifact tier, the Demon-Catching Tripod was merely an Artifact Embryo with the simple functions of locking and imprisoning demons, completely unworthy of its grand reputation.
Only after advancing to a Tier Three Magical Treasure did its various wondrous abilities truly begin to manifest.
’Wonderful! It truly lives up to its reputation as a famous Magical Treasure!’
He channeled his Magical Power, and the Demon-Catching Tripod burst into blazing, pale Great Sun Demon Fire—the signature Magic of the Sun Demon.
