Clearing Out the Monsters, The Little Cauldron's Mutation

"Honorary Lieutenant General?" Teng Qingshan was surprised.

"Yes!" Wang Hai laughed. "Actually, given your contributions, Qingshan, even the rank of General would be more than enough. But since you haven't fully joined the military, this is the highest rank we can bestow. It's also to make it easier for you to lead the Special Operations Team. Please, don't refuse."

Looking at Wang Hai's sincere, hopeful gaze, his weary but resolute face, and the gray hairs at his temples, the words of refusal Teng Qingshan had prepared died in his throat.

"Very well, Chief, I accept. However, the Special Operations Team won't be necessary. They can't keep up with my speed, and even fighter jets can't operate over long distances right now; bringing them along would only be a burden. But I can provide guidance to Martial Artists in the military who have talent for cultivation."

"That works too. I almost forgot that you are a powerhouse capable of standing against a million troops alone. At this stage, there really is no need for you to bring others along," Wang Hai said, slapping his forehead with a laugh. "It's just that these are extraordinary times, so the conferment ceremony will have to be kept simple."

"Those are minor details," Teng Qingshan smiled. "Without further ado, I'll head out to clear all the threatening Monsters within a hundred-kilometer radius. You can have the army follow behind to build strongholds and advance steadily."

"Agreed. It all depends on you, Qingshan."

Leaving the command center.

Teng Qingshan mounted his Samsara Spear and began circling Yangzhou City to purge the Monsters.

However, the number of Monsters was simply too high, and they were constantly migrating between different regions, so it was impossible to clear them out entirely or ensure not a single one remained.

At least, it was impossible at this stage.

Thus, Teng Qingshan flew at low altitude as he always did. Whenever a pack of Monsters appeared in his field of vision, he would dive down and sweep through them with his Flying Daggers.

These Monsters, whose strength was at most that of a Beast General, naturally had no ability to resist.

But because the area requiring patrol was so vast, even with Teng Qingshan's speed, the clearing process remained slow.

Just as Teng Qingshan was purging the beast herds.

Other surrounding provinces were also making preparations for migration.

The migration of hundreds of millions of people was no small matter.

Every aspect required meticulous preparation.

Not to mention the threat of Monsters they would face along the way.

More than ten days later.

Relying on the high mobility of a Spiritual Telekinetic, Teng Qingshan had completely cleared the hundred-kilometer area surrounding Yangzhou City.

The large, established beast herds had all been wiped out, and individual Monsters, once encountered, could not escape death.

Now, apart from a few sporadic Monsters that had wandered in, this area was basically free of threats.

However, the area was too large, and for the foreseeable future, Teng Qingshan would need to patrol it from time to time.

And throughout this high-intensity process of clearing Monsters.

Teng Qingshan had not neglected his cultivation.

Especially the daily high-intensity manipulation of Flying Daggers to slaughter beast herds.

This had made Teng Qingshan's control of his psychic power increasingly refined, and his understanding of it grew deeper.

At the same time, the amount of domain energy he could imbue into his Flying Daggers continued to increase.

For this reason, Teng Qingshan even created his own unique techniques for controlling objects, though these techniques still required constant refinement.

What truly surprised Teng Qingshan was that during the high-intensity hunting of Monsters, the mysterious Nine Provinces Cauldron in his mind seemed to show some unusual activity!

Night.

On the third floor of the Xingyi Sect headquarters by White Horse Lake.

Teng Qingshan sat before the floor-to-ceiling window, cultivating as he always did.

After his routine Source Energy and psychic power cultivation ended.

Teng Qingshan focused all his heart and mind, diving deep into his consciousness.

At this moment, the fire-red sphere in the center of his Consciousness Sea was reduced to only a small core, with the rest having decomposed into psychic power.

It was expected that this Psychic Power Sphere would only be completely absorbed once his physical fitness reached the absolute limit of a high-level War God.

His consciousness delved deeper.

In the deepest part of his Consciousness Sea.

The Nine Provinces Cauldron, hidden within the mist of psychic power, seemed to have undergone a different change as it drifted.

"Huh?"

Teng Qingshan had been immersed in clearing Monsters these past few days. Aside from passively receiving the fragmented future visions transmitted by the Little Cauldron, he had spent all his time cultivating.

This morning, after clearing the last herd of Iron-Haired Boars, the Little Cauldron in his mind had suddenly throbbed.

At the time, Teng Qingshan had been busy collecting monster materials and hadn't rushed to check it.

Now that he finally had a moment of leisure, he hurried to investigate.

As his focus condensed onto the Little Cauldron.

Teng Qingshan finally discovered something different from before.

The Little Cauldron, which had been completely illusory, had now solidified by a fraction!

Whoosh!

Just at this moment.

The Little Cauldron transmitted another message.

A moment later.

Teng Qingshan opened his eyes.

"So, when I kill Monsters, the Little Cauldron automatically absorbs their soul energy. After absorbing the soul energy of over one hundred thousand Monsters in total, the Little Cauldron has finally begun to gradually solidify from its completely illusory state."

Feeling the changes in the Little Cauldron, Teng Qingshan was filled with joy.

This Little Cauldron, which had accompanied him since his first life and protected his consciousness through two transmigrations, had essentially saved him twice.

Teng Qingshan naturally held deep feelings for the Little Cauldron.

Upon transmigrating to this world, the Little Cauldron had been struck by a mysterious blood-colored light, turning from a physical object into nothingness.

At first, Teng Qingshan had worried for a long time.

It was only after the Little Cauldron began to transmit scenes of the future and became even more miraculous that Teng Qingshan slowly let go of his worries.

At this moment.

The Little Cauldron had actually begun to materialize.

This made Teng Qingshan even happier.

The message the Little Cauldron just transmitted told Teng Qingshan that it needed more and stronger soul energy!

Although the number of Monsters Teng Qingshan had hunted previously was staggering, exceeding one hundred thousand.

The vast majority of them were Beast Soldier level Monsters and miscellaneous beasts below the Beast Soldier level; he had hunted fewer than one hundred Warlord Level Monsters...

However, fortunately, the sheer quantity was large enough to finally cause a qualitative change in the Little Cauldron, allowing it to take this crucial step.

According to the information from the Little Cauldron, it had now completed less than one-billionth of its materialization... To make the Little Cauldron fully materialize and manifest would require an endless amount of soul energy... Of course, it was not truly endless, but relative to the current Teng Qingshan, the required soul energy was simply too exaggerated.

Teng Qingshan suddenly felt a bit fortunate that he had come here.

In this place.

The universe was vast and boundless.

It was home to trillions of life forms and countless powerhouses.

Even if the soul energy required by the Little Cauldron was incredibly exaggerated, as long as he became strong enough, killing a single powerhouse would yield more soul energy than the sum of all the Monsters he had killed so far.

Therefore, there was still hope for the Little Cauldron to fully materialize.

"I wonder what mysterious abilities the Little Cauldron will have once it absorbs enough soul energy and manifests in physical form."

Teng Qingshan suddenly felt incredibly expectant.

The current Little Cauldron already possessed the miraculous ability to foresee a portion of the future.

Furthermore, it could hide within his consciousness in an illusory state.

These things were beyond Teng Qingshan's current scope of understanding.

Once the Little Cauldron could materialize and manifest, it would surely have even more miraculous abilities.

This was, of course, a good thing.

Perhaps I will have to embark on an endless path of slaughter in the future...

Teng Qingshan thought to himself.

The Little Cauldron required far too much soul energy.

If he didn't actively engage in slaughter, how could he obtain such soul energy?

"Since that's the case, I'll start by purging the Monsters on Earth!"

As long as they were flesh-and-blood creatures, they all possessed souls.

Hunting these Monsters would naturally allow him to absorb soul energy.

Although this energy was meager.

Even a mosquito's leg is meat, no matter how small.

As long as the quantity was large enough, the accumulated energy would still be quite substantial.