Shennong World-Creating Cauldron, Shennong Ruler

"Hah... hah..."

Lianshan lay beside a cliff on a green mountain, exhausted like a beached fish, gasping for air with his mouth open.

Xu Yanwu looked at Lianshan with disdain. "So useless. You've only run five or six hundred li and you're already this pathetic?"

"..."

Lianshan opened his mouth, wanting to say something. But considering that whatever he said would likely result in him getting beaten by Xu Yanwu, he decided against it.

Xu Yanwu brushed some dust off a nearby blue stone and sat down, crossing his legs. "I'll give you five minutes to recover your strength. We'll hunt around here today."

Xu Yanwu took a deep breath of the mountain air, a hint of excitement in his pupils. "There's so much Honkai Energy in the air. I feel like there will be some good prey here!"

Xu Yanwu unslung the large beast-skin bag from his back and opened it, revealing a large, dark green cauldron.

It was a square cauldron with four legs, decorated with elegant bronze patterns on its walls. Faintly visible within the patterns were intricate, dense text, and in the center of the patterns, five ancient characters stood out clearly.

[Shennong World-Creating Cauldron]

"I'll leave our pot here for now. We'll cook meat right here later."

After speaking, Xu Yanwu's eyes widened, and he formed his index and middle fingers into a point, aiming at the Shennong Cauldron before him. "Grow!"

As Xu Yanwu shouted, the Shennong Cauldron's size suddenly increased dramatically, growing from something one person could embrace to over three meters tall before slowly stopping.

"Hmm, this size will do for now."

Xu Yanwu nodded with satisfaction.

Lianshan had also caught his breath by this time and got up from the ground. "Brother Xu, I've wanted to ask for a long time."

"What do you want to ask?"

Xu Yanwu glanced at Lianshan sideways.

"Uh..." Lianshan scratched his head and asked, "Why is the cauldron you forged called the Shennong Cauldron, Brother Xu?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

Xu Yanwu said with disdain. "This is the cauldron for you, kid."

"But Brother Xu, you also gave me this..."

Lianshan reached for the case on his back.

"That's for fighting. This is a pot for stewing meat. Are they the same?"

Xu Yanwu maintained his disdainful expression, as if Lianshan had asked a foolish question.

"But..."

Lianshan still wanted to say something.

Why are both things you gave me so magical...

Like this Shennong World-Creating Cauldron, which can change size and whose concoctions have miraculous effects.

And this one I'm carrying on my back...

Xu Yanwu glanced at Lianshan and said calmly, "No more 'buts'. I think we still have enough time. Shall we spar a bit?"

"..." Lianshan's mouth twitched. "Let's not, Brother Xu..."

"What are you chickening out for? Do you think I'd bully you? Hurry up, get your gear!"

Xu Yanwu assumed a fighting stance, raising his hands. A huge, square shield appeared in his left hand, and a large axe was held in his right.

This is the Gan Qi that Xu Yanwu specially forged for himself, after all, to match Xing Tian's identity...

"Haven't you bullied me enough already..."

Lianshan muttered softly, his hand also resting on the wooden case on his back. He slightly increased the distance, staring at Xu Yanwu not far away.

"What? You're not going to take it out? My precious item that I specially made for you." Xu Yanwu said with a sly grin. "Let's have some fun with it."

"What precious item... Isn't this what you named the Shennong Ruler?" Lianshan retorted, flicking his finger to open the lid of the wooden box and drawing out the item within.

It was a ruler with dark green patterns, about four and a half feet long, one foot wide, and two fingers thick.

Similar to, yet different from, the Shennong World-Creating Cauldron, the Shennong Ruler's surface also had ancient text, but it was formed by those dark green patterns, giving it a natural, uncarved feel.

Shennong World-Creating Cauldron, Shennong Ruler.

These two items were the greatest treasures Xu Yanwu had given Lianshan over the past two years.

Created with the power within Xu Yanwu's body, these two artifacts far exceeded Xu Yanwu's expectations. He even felt that they were in no way inferior to the Divine Keys created by Doctor MIE using Herrscher Cores!

If Doctor MIE's thirteen Divine Keys were her "Man-made Weapons of the Gods," forged with divine power, Then the Shennong Cauldron and Shennong Ruler were the "God-given Weapons of Mortals," sincerely gifted by Xu Yanwu, a god from another world, to Lianshan, a mortal.

It was truly hard to say which of the two was more powerful.

However, for Lianshan, this was undoubtedly a stroke of good fortune!

Even if Xu Yanwu and Lianshan, these two fools, didn't truly understand the value of the Shennong Cauldron and Shennong Ruler...

"The Shennong Ruler is indeed a precious item, isn't it?"

Xu Yanwu swung the great axe, the sound of it cutting through the air ringing out with each pass, a testament to the blade's sharpness.

"Come on, attack me. Let me see just how strong you've become."

Lianshan bent his body slightly, his spine compressing like a spring, ready to unleash a fierce assault at any moment.

"Brother Xu, please guide me."

Lianshan's body straightened like a drawn bow, and he shot towards Xu Yanwu like an arrow loosed from it. He spun his body sharply in mid-air, bringing the Shennong Ruler in his hand down with a mighty chop, as if to cleave the very land beneath them.

"Excellent!"

A sharp glint flashed in Xu Yanwu's eyes. Lianshan's combat style was honed over two years of constant battles against Honkai Beasts. However, Xu Yanwu had also spent two years fighting Honkai Beasts. Moreover, Xu Yanwu was surprised to find that his body seemed to possess muscle memory for the incoming attack. Combined with his immortality, Xu Yanwu's combat skills were no less refined than those of veterans who had fought for decades.

As always... what exactly did my body go through before I found it!

Still, complaints aside, he had to deal with the incoming attack.

He raised the bronze shield in his left hand, blocking the path of the Shennong Ruler as it descended from the sky. The two collided, producing a deafening clash.

"CLANG——————"

The immense sound spread from the mountaintop, startling large flocks of birds that lived on the mountain.

It also disturbed some Honkai Beasts slumbering within the mountains.

As Lianshan's next attack landed, Xu Yanwu's body sank, the mountain rock beneath his feet cracking under the force.

"Good lad! You've got some serious power!"