It Came to Life

Hanyu retreated all the way back to the place where he had landed at the bottom of the cliff before finally sitting cross-legged.

The Glazed Bottle had finally quieted down. A stream of dark-golden energy continuously spewed from its mouth, enveloping the bottle.

Every wisp of energy could be seen entering the bottle as soon as it drew near, only to be absorbed by the bottle after being expelled.

Hanyu sat there blankly for an entire hour before the Glazed Bottle finally stopped absorbing the energy and instead drew back all the remaining energy scattered outside.

Pffft!

It was like letting out a satisfied burp. A cloud of dark-golden energy emerged from its mouth, rose into the sea of consciousness, and instantly blossomed into wisps of flame.

The flames soon gathered into a sea of fire, blazing furiously.

Oh no, my head's on fire.

Hanyu's expression changed, and his heart filled with panic.

He sprang to his feet and was about to put out the fire, but then froze.

How was he supposed to put out a fire in his head? Pour water into his head to douse it?

The sea of fire completely enveloped the Glazed Bottle, continuously tempering it.

Hanyu suddenly lost himself in a trance. A wondrous sensation completely connected him to the Glazed Bottle.

Suddenly, a childish voice rang out beside his ear.

"I was suffocating to death! You idiot took more than a year to revive me!"

Hanyu was badly startled. He didn't know whether his head had been damaged by the fire and he was hallucinating. The Glazed Bottle had come alive! It could talk!

"You're the one who came back from the dead."

Hanyu was stunned for a moment. This thing could actually hear his thoughts. What a terrifying ability.

"I'm Little Glazed, the Artifact Spirit of the Glazed Bottle."

The childish voice spoke...

A full hour later, Hanyu's face was pitch-black.

He felt the urge to destroy the Glazed Bottle again.

"So, before you revived, producing one pill a day was merely the Glazed Bottle absorbing the side effects from the people taking the pills so it could revive you faster?"

The key was that all his efforts had been useless. In the Artifact Spirit's eyes, the Glazed Bottle itself merely produced pills at random according to its rules and instinct. Thus, those outrageous pills for breast enhancement, beauty, lactation, aphrodisiac effects, and all sorts of other nonsense had not returned any energy at all.

Hanyu's tears nearly fell despite himself. Heaven knew how he had endured the past year and more for those absurd, useless pills. Sometimes, in order to give the pills away, he had even spared the elderly.

From now on, can I finally escape this kind of life?

"Nope. If no energy returns for a long time, I'll fall into slumber again. By then, you might have to face an even more famished Glazed Bottle."

Hanyu imagined the Glazed Bottle continuously firing pills in his mind. His lips trembled, and he shuddered at the mere thought...

"But after reviving, I can produce pills three times a day, or not produce any at all. It's best to produce them among groups of cultivators, and someone like Xiao Shui, a Child of Destiny, offers the highest returns."

"So, Hanyu, let's go pluck Young Master Xiao again!" Little Glazed grew especially excited at the mention of Young Master Xiao. Even its childish voice carried the feeling of sharpening a blade in preparation.

"Isn't that a little inappropriate?"

Hanyu hesitated. Plucking the same person repeatedly seemed a bit excessive.

"Then do you want his Fire Element Supernatural Power or not?"

Wang Xuanbei was carried out of Xiao Mansion. Zhang Kui and the sobbing Qiu Susu settled him into the carriage they had bought.

At this moment, he no longer looked the least bit high-spirited. His white robe had been burned full of holes, most of his hair had been singed away, and his entire body was charred black, looking as if he had only half a life left.

"Let's go!"

Zhang Kui sighed and was about to raise the whip and set off.

"W-wait..."

From inside the carriage, Wang Xuanbei spoke in a feeble voice.

"Send... send word... back... I'm not willing to accept this..."

Lu Dayou's expression turned strange, and his thick brows squeezed together.

"What did you say? The little brat from the Xiao Clan beat the Tianshui Sect's senior disciple half to death?"

Had he gotten up too violently that morning? Or was he hallucinating from overindulging the previous night? He had always said they ought to exercise some restraint.

The Prefectural Guard confirmed it again and again. "That disciple was carried out after being burned until only half his life remained. It's estimated that half the city's residents saw it."

"This isn't a dream?"

Lu Dayou still looked disbelieving. Wasn't the Xiao Clan a merchant family? When had they ever produced a cultivator, much less right under his nose?

He had seen the little brat from the Xiao Clan before. He was indeed utterly ordinary. Could it be that he had been hiding his strength all along, pretending to be a pig while eating tigers?

"It's said that a Medicine Master entered the Xiao Clan's main residence that day. The Xiao Family's young master took one of his pills and then dealt with the Tianshui Sect's disciple."

That was even more outrageous than Young Master Xiao beating a Tianshui Sect disciple.

"Impossible."

Lu Dayou flatly denied it.

The Prefectural Guard lowered his head and said, "A whole group of Xiao Family members personally saw the young master of the Xiao Clan take the medicine."

Lu Dayou stared dumbfoundedly. Could it be that their group of failed prefectural governors had been away from the cultivator world for too long, and the cultivation world had now changed with each passing day?

When had cultivators become so worthless? One pill could equal years of arduous cultivation. Wouldn't that make him a complete joke for bitterly guarding an entire prefecture while waiting to break through?

The Prefectural Guard glanced up at his dazed superior and quietly withdrew.

In the end, Hanyu still couldn't resist the temptation of the Fire Element Supernatural Power. He sneaked back into the city, only to run straight into Qiu Susu standing foolishly in the street, looking as if her soul had left her body.

Qiu Susu seemed to have lost her soul, her heart a tangled mixture of emotions.

Xiao Shui's figure appeared at the end of the street. Upon seeing Qiu Susu, he walked over slowly, his expression complicated.

A Bronze Certificate and a letter appeared in his hands at the same time.

The Bronze Certificate had been issued fifteen years ago, with a Marriage Contract printed on it. The letter bore the handwritten signature of the Xiao Clan's patriarch and was a Divorce Letter.

The engagement had been arranged in the name of the Lineage fifteen years ago. Fifteen years later, the engagement was canceled in the name of the Lineage as well.

When Qiu Susu accepted the Bronze Certificate and the Divorce Letter, her expression was exceedingly complicated, and her heart was a jumble of emotions.

She had indeed obtained what she wanted, but she didn't seem as happy as she had imagined.

The Senior Brother she worshiped most was still lying there half-dead. He didn't seem quite so powerful anymore, either.

"Brother Xiao..."

Qiu Susu hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping herself.

Xiao Shui's brows drew tightly together. He had never hated anyone so much in his life, especially someone who had nearly become his partner. Every time he thought of it, he felt like vomiting.

"From now on, just call me Young Master Xiao."

Xiao Shui cut her off with a somber expression and walked away without looking back.

Qiu Susu could only hold the two things in her hands and stand bitterly where she was, smiling more miserably than if she had been crying.

Hanyu secretly watched the entire scene unfold, feeling immensely refreshed.

"This is much more interesting than those storytellers constantly slaying demons and eliminating evil. It begins with a broken engagement and ends with a face-slapping."

"I wonder, if that woman took a pill to enhance herself too, would it be forcing the old lover to submit, or would she slap him back instead?"

An amusingly malicious thought suddenly arose in Hanyu's mind.

"Could it be that the two of them might join forces and beat you to death?"

A voice suddenly asked from behind him.

"That's impossible."

Hanyu blurted it out without thinking. A moment later, he froze and turned around to see a middle-aged man in sky-blue brocade robes staring at him with a strange look...

After staying up all night, I had a deep, heavy dream. Each and every one of my reader brothers turned into a level-fifteen Jiang Ziya, flying through the sky with staffs raised as they canonized me!