Cauldron Vessel Candle of Time

Lin Suri stood before an ink-wash painting, his breath calm, his hands clasped behind his back.

A voice came from behind him.

Limited by the viewpoint, even from the third-person perspective, Chen Lingxi could not see who was speaking.

Yet the speaker's tone was exceedingly arrogant as he continued, "Mother Qi is an extraordinary treasure. In the hands of mediocre people, it would be nothing but casting pearls before swine.

Within Yuan River Prefecture, aside from the authorities, Lu Baizhong, Mystic Wonder Abbey, and the Credit Peddler, no one else can contend with you and me.

Even in the capital, few know of the opportunity presented by Mother Qi. If you and I join hands, we may yet seize this great fortune."

The man sounded young and brimming with confidence, as though obtaining Ancestral Mountain Mother Qi would be as easy as reaching into his bag.

Lin Suri finally shifted his gaze from the ink-wash painting and turned around.

As his viewpoint changed, Chen Lingxi finally saw the speaker.

The man wore black robes and a faceplate that covered his face. Only his eyes were visible, and they seemed to have no pupils at all—merely a field of ghastly white.

"Ancestral Mountain Mother Qi is indeed a rare treasure. Whether Brother Chao Dao or I obtain it, our chances of finding a Cauldron Vessel in the future will greatly increase. Then we may attain the truth of heaven and earth, and attain great freedom besides."

Lin Suri spoke slowly...

Delight flashed through the black-robed man's eyes. Just as he was about to speak, Lin Suri gave a casual smile. "Unfortunately, there is only one Ancestral Mountain within Yuan River Prefecture, and likely only one strand of Mother Qi.

With only one strand, how are the two of us meant to divide it?"

The black-robed man seemed prepared for this. Smiling, he said, "Naturally, it goes to the highest bidder.

If Brother Lin is willing, I am prepared to offer a Cauldron Artifact Fragment as payment for us to join forces... Once we obtain the Mother Qi, I also have another great opportunity to gift Brother Lin, in exchange for sole possession of the Mother Qi.

If Brother Lin is unwilling, then name your price. If it is suitable, I am willing to sell the Mother Qi to Brother Lin."

A Cauldron Artifact Fragment?

Chen Lingxi clearly sensed Lin Suri's breath pause slightly at those four words before returning to normal.

"A Cauldron Artifact Fragment? What rank is it?" Lin Suri asked.

The black-robed man lightly swept his sleeve.

At once, a candle silently appeared in midair.

The candle was entirely black. It was impossible to tell whether it was made of metal, jade, or bone. Light falling upon it was like light falling into a well, without even a trace of reflection.

"This is a fragment of the Candle of Time. The Candle of Time is no ordinary Cauldron Vessel—it is a Golden Grotto Cauldron Vessel! Brother Lin, do you now understand my sincerity?"

A sharp gleam immediately flashed in Lin Suri's eyes, and much greater interest appeared on his pale face.

"Brother Chao Dao! You brought such a treasure to my Baosu Marquis Residence. Are you not afraid that I will summon the residence's retainers and martial arts experts to surround and kill you, taking this treasure for myself?"

The black-clad man surnamed Chao showed no fear at all. He smiled and said, "Brother Lin, you jest. Without obtaining a Cauldron Vessel, you and I will ultimately remain trapped, unable to free ourselves.

Though the Candle of Time Fragment is precious, it cannot compare to Ancestral Mountain Mother Qi, much less a complete Cauldron Vessel.

Why would Brother Lin lose the big for the sake of the small?"

"Moreover..." The smile in Chao's eyes deepened. "Leaving aside whether Brother Lin is willing to expose himself to Consort Chun's Mirror Listening Art in the capital, I have already reached the Qi Circulation Fifth Floor!

Although Baosu Marquis Residence has many martial arts experts, and Brother Lin is here as well, if I insist on fleeing, Baosu Marquis Residence has no Jade-Qi Realm martial artist... I fear Brother Lin would be unable to stop me."

Lin Suri fell silent. Several breaths passed.

Then he suddenly stepped forward and reached for the Candle of Time.

The smile in the black-robed man's eyes deepened further. He knew Lin Suri had agreed.

Black smoke suddenly billowed from his body, like dense ink spreading through water, and in an instant he dissipated...

"Brother Lin! We shall meet again at the Ancestral Mountain."

Chen Lingxi's consciousness shuddered violently. A chill shot from his heart straight to the crown of his head.

Through Lin Suri's eyes, he had clearly seen the black-robed man's garments dissolve into smoke, his faceplate dispersing like mist.

Even those pale pupils vanished completely.

"A kind of martial art? Or perhaps some trick to deceive the eye?"

Chen Lingxi was astonished, unable to comprehend the scene before him.

"No, it was not a martial art."

The thought had barely arisen before he denied it inwardly.

This was not a martial art—at least, not the martial path he knew, of surging blood and fused iron and fire. It was a more mysterious, more bizarre power.

"Mistwalking Technique... Could it be the Edict Cloud Posthouse?"

Lin Suri rarely spoke to himself, yet his gaze remained fixed upon the Candle of Time.

He watched it quietly for a long while before finally moving.

He walked to the painting on the eastern wall, moved aside a blue-and-white porcelain vase before it, then curled his knuckles and lightly tapped the mountain peak in the painting!

At once, a clear breeze drifted in. The ink-wash painting abruptly rolled up, and the wall behind it silently opened a narrow crack, revealing a secret chamber within.

Lin Suri entered the chamber. The wall closed behind him, and the room was immediately plunged into darkness.

Yet Chen Lingxi could still see everything clearly.

He clearly saw Lin Suri standing in the center of the secret chamber, holding the Candle of Time in both hands. His pale face remained expressionless, but his eyes were deep enough to inspire terror.

It was as if two vortices were slowly turning within those eyes.

Deep in the vortices, faint golden gleams emerged, like dragons and serpents twisting through the air!

At the same time, Chen Lingxi clearly sensed an immensely heavy stream of qi flowing from the vortices in Lin Suri's eyes.

This qi... was almost identical to the qi Chen Lingxi cultivated through breathing exercises in his dantian.

The sole difference was that Lin Suri's qi was immensely heavy, a hundred, a thousand times greater than Chen Lingxi's qi!

That strand of qi slowly flowed forth, drifting through the air before finally landing upon the Candle of Time.

In that instant, the Candle of Time began to float on its own.

Within its black body, a spot of dim crimson light lit up, like a single eye opening!

"Candle shadows sway through time; an inch of ash trades for mountains and rivers."

"A wisp of green smoke fades; white bones sing for a thousand years."

The two lines, like a gatha, resounded in Chen Lingxi's mind without warning.

He did not hear them with his ears. They were branded directly into the depths of his consciousness, ancient and withered, like a sigh flowing backward from the end of time.

Along with the verses, fine patterns surfaced across the black candle's exterior. At the center of its body, that point of dim red light slowly opened, transforming into a vertical eye.

Within the depths of that pupil, a face was reflected!

Chen Lingxi's breathing abruptly stopped.

It was not a human face—at least, not the face of a living person.

The face seemed to have been pieced together.

Its brows and eyes were childish and weeping, like an infant crying.

Its arched brows were spirited, like a youth with soaring ambitions.

Yet its cheeks bore the age spots of a decayed old man...

Traits from multiple stages of life appeared upon that face at once, and they seemed to be constantly changing, never settling into any fixed form!

Even though Chen Lingxi was using the Divine Chamber's supernatural power to witness where Lin Suri went, he still felt that the face, though clearly inside the Candle of Time, was somehow looking through the candle, through the Divine Chamber, through the divide between illusion and reality, directly at him!

An indescribably immense pressure made his consciousness increasingly sluggish!

"What is this thing?"

At that very moment!

A strange force suddenly arrived from outside, entering Chen Lingxi's consciousness in an instant. It restored his clarity and scattered his fear.

"The Divine Chamber?"

Chen Lingxi calmed slightly.

Yet Lin Suri remained respectfully bowed, slowly saluting the face within the Candle of Time!

"Greetings, Cauldron Venerable!"

The vertical eye on the Candle of Time shifted slightly. The fragmented face opened and closed its mouth, its voice low as the rumbling of earth veins. "Truth-Seeker, twenty-four years of age, Qi Circulation has reached the Fifth Floor, Spirit Aperture unopened." The voice paused, as if chewing over something. "You have seventy-one years of life remaining."

Lin Suri's expression did not change. He merely lowered his eyes and said, "Cauldron Venerable sees clearly."

"Since you have awakened me, you should know the rules." Light flickered and dimmed in the vertical eye. "An inch of time, an inch of gold; yet an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time! What will you offer, and what do you seek?"

The light from its pupil fell upon Lin Suri, making him resemble a vermilion-lacquered, gold-painted statue.

"What this junior seeks..." he said, "is spiritual energy!"

"Spiritual energy." The Cauldron Venerable repeated, its tone unruffled. "The spiritual tide of this world is still thin, like water on the verge of drying up. A thread of spiritual energy is priced beyond measure. How much do you wish to exchange for?"

Lin Suri bowed again.

"Enough..." he said slowly, "enough for this junior to break through to the Qi Circulation Sixth Floor."

"The requirements for breaking through are no small matter." The Cauldron Venerable spoke, and a trace of amusement entered its voice. "The Twelve Levels of Qi Circulation—each level is a layer of heaven! At the Fifth Floor, one cultivates the Qi Sea, closes the pores, and remains unstained by dust.

"At the Sixth Floor, the spiritual liquid in the Qi Sea undergoes Nine Revolutions, purging impurities. Spiritual energy must wash through the meridians and rebuild the foundation... Even in the Great World, this would require three years of arduous cultivation and a hundred Spirit Crystals."

It paused, its vertical eye narrowing into a deep slit. "You wish to achieve it in a single bound. The spiritual energy required must pour forth like silver bamboo through a broken dam!"

"Twenty years!" The Cauldron Venerable's voice suddenly became firm and ringing. "Twenty years of lifespan, in exchange for the spiritual energy to break through the Sixth Floor!"

Lin Suri's breathing suddenly quickened, and the secret chamber fell quiet.

"Twenty years of time, and it frightens you away?" The Cauldron Venerable's voice abruptly rose. Mockery appeared on that face. "You came here seeking truth, yet cannot bear to part with twenty years of your life?"

Lin Suri closed his eyes, as though weighing something.

Several more breaths passed before he finally opened them. "Please grant this junior spiritual energy, Cauldron Venerable."

"Good!" The Cauldron Venerable uttered a single word, and its vertical eye abruptly expanded.

Crimson light burst forth like a tide of blood, instantly flooding the entire dark chamber. It even shone through the walls, turning the secret chamber into a scarlet world.

Chen Lingxi's vision was filled with red light, his consciousness like a small boat cast into a raging sea, tossed about violently.

He endured the dizziness and stared fixedly at the center of the red light.

There, the Candle of Time Fragment seemed to be melting.

The edges of its black body began to blur, flow, and drip with strands of viscous silver-gray liquid.

The liquid wound through the air, intertwining with itself as it gradually outlined the shape of a tree.

At first, it was merely a sapling, sprouting branches and leaves. Then it grew madly, its trunk gnarled like a dragon, its bark cracked like tortoise shell, its slanting branches like halberds pointing skyward.

Within three breaths, the phantom of a towering spirit tree stood within the red light.

Its height was impossible to measure, its canopy filling the secret chamber's ceiling. Its roots sank into the depths of the void, and every leaf was crystal clear, silver light flowing through its veins.

At the heart of the tree, a mass of utterly pure spiritual energy was condensing.

"This is Spirit Amber." The Cauldron Venerable's voice came from the depths of the tree's shadow. "It gathers the essence of heaven and earth, condensing the spiritual tide of years. A single piece is worth a hundred ordinary Spirit Crystals, and it is easier to absorb, free of the danger of mixed impurities!"