Nangong Wuhen appeared at the edge of Broken Remnant Cliff in a sorry state.
His dark robes were torn and bloodstained, and the composure and arrogance on his face had vanished without a trace.
The spot on his chest was empty. All that remained of the shattered life-saving jade pendant were a few crumbs the size of rice flour grains embedded in the fabric.
He stood at the cliff's edge, looking down at the churning purple-black poisonous mist below.
The mist was as thick as a pot of boiling, murky soup. Bubbles constantly swelled and burst on its surface, each releasing a wisp of pungent, putrid stench.
Even from dozens of zhang away, Nangong Wuhen could still sense the terrifying corrosive power within the poisonous mist.
He did not jump down.
He had heard of Broken Remnant Cliff's reputation more than once.
The Heavenly Sword Sect's records stated clearly that the poisonous mist beneath Broken Remnant Cliff in the Cangwu Mountain Range came from the decaying remains of an ancient venomous python. Even those at the peak of Heavenly Origin would struggle to return once they entered; only those in the Divine Sea Realm could enter and leave safely.
His current condition was nowhere near his prime.
Although the jade pendant had blocked the fatal damage from that strike of ten-thousand-year Sword Qi, its remaining force had still severely injured his meridians.
His combat strength was at most thirty percent of its usual level. Rashly entering Broken Remnant Cliff would be no different from seeking his own death.
"You bastard. The Heavenly Sword Sect's Holy Son, are you? I, Chu Yunfei, will remember today's grudge. Wash your neck and wait."
The words Chu Yunfei had spoken before falling off the cliff still echoed in Nangong Wuhen's ears.
His voice had been so weak it was almost inaudible, but he had bitten out every word with a certainty that made Nangong Wuhen deeply uncomfortable.
As though he truly believed he could come out alive.
"Damn it."
Nangong Wuhen slowly clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
Tonight's outcome had gone far beyond his expectations.
What he had thought would be the simple matter of crushing an ant and taking a sword along the way had turned into a disaster: he was seriously injured, his life-saving jade pendant was lost, and his target had vanished right before his eyes.
Not only had he failed to kill Chu Yunfei, he had also lost a priceless life-saving treasure.
His grandfather, the head of the Nangong Lineage, had personally refined that pendant. Sealed within it was the full-powered strike of a Divine Sea Realm elder, and the entire Nangong Lineage possessed only three.
And the cause of all this was nothing more than a piece of trash in the Qi Condensation Realm.
Nangong Wuhen drew a deep breath, suppressing his surging fury.
A moment later, cold rationality returned to his gaze.
The Giant Que Sword had fallen into Broken Remnant Cliff along with Chu Yunfei.
Given Chu Yunfei's current state-his Qi Condensation Realm cultivation, his battered body, and his divine soul riddled with holes from the forbidden technique's backlash-his chances of surviving a fall into Broken Remnant Cliff approached zero.
"Hmph. Ignorant fool. You still think you can come out alive after falling into Broken Remnant Cliff? Dream on."
Nangong Wuhen sat cross-legged. He needed to heal as quickly as possible, then find a way to explain the jade pendant to his Lineage.
As for Chu Yunfei.
Dying in Broken Remnant Cliff was the best outcome.
If he was not dead...
Nangong Wuhen narrowed his eyes slightly, then closed them.
There was no way he was still alive.
As for the Giant Que Sword, he could only retrieve it after finding a way to descend safely.
Beneath Broken Remnant Cliff.
Chu Yunfei's fall lasted far longer than he had imagined.
The cliff face was sheer, as though carved by a blade. His body kept plummeting along the rough rock, jutting stones and dead branches scraping countless fresh wounds into him along the way, but these superficial injuries were nothing compared with the damage inside his body.
The purple-black poisonous mist grew thicker and thicker.
At first, it was only an occasional trace of foulness at his nose. Gradually, it became an omnipresent, viscous, heavy presence.
The poisonous mist coiled around him like something alive, burrowing into his body through his nostrils, his mouth, and even the pores of his skin.
Agony.
The instant his first breath entered his lungs, Chu Yunfei's entire chest felt as though it had been filled with molten iron.
Pain spread from his lungs to every limb and bone, every cell giving a silent wail under the poison's assault.
His blood began to change color. Its normal deep red rapidly turned dark beneath the poison's influence, and the blood seeping from his wounds took on an eerie, inky sheen, as though someone had injected ink into his veins.
Chu Yunfei's body finally slammed into a pile of rubble at the bottom of the cliff.
There was no cushioning, no spiritual power shielding him. His flesh alone took the impact of a fall from dozens of zhang.
At that moment, his body, tempered by the Boundless Creation Scripture, displayed resilience far beyond that of ordinary people. Had another Qi Condensation Realm martial artist fallen from this height, the impact alone would have pulverized their bones.
But although Chu Yunfei's bones broke in many places, they did not shatter.
He lay facedown on the rubble, covered in blood, and all of it was black.
Poisonous mist churned around him, so dense that he could barely see anything three feet away.
Every breath of poisoned air sent a stab of pain through his body, as though countless needles as fine as ox hair were piercing every inch of his skin at once.
His consciousness repeatedly drifted between haziness and clarity. The poison was spreading through his blood toward his sea of consciousness.
If the poison invaded his sea of consciousness, his already fissure-riddled divine soul would shatter completely under its corrosion.
At that point, never mind cultivating-he would not even be able to live as a normal person.
Deep within his sea of consciousness, Xiaoxiao Dragon's voice suddenly rang out.
"Brat, hurry and summon the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate! Refine it all!"
Her voice was urgent and weak.
Protecting Chu Yunfei's divine soul had already consumed most of her remnant soul's strength. Now, faced with the poison's corrosion as well, she herself was on the verge of giving out and falling into slumber.
But her tone held more agitation over Chu Yunfei than concern for herself. If this brat died here, she could forget about continuing to exist.
At the sound of Xiaoxiao Dragon's voice, Chu Yunfei's consciousness abruptly cleared a little.
That's right!!
The Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate could refine all things.
Terrifying though the poisonous mist was, it was ultimately just a special substance between heaven and earth. In theory, it could be refined.
Chu Yunfei gritted his teeth and summoned the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate from within his body.
A fist-sized bronze cauldron flew out of him and landed on the rubble before him.
The Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate was bronze all over, its surface covered with ancient inscriptions. As those inscriptions came into contact with the surrounding poisonous mist, they glowed faintly, releasing a thin layer of bronze light.
With a hum, the lid sprang open on its own, and an invisible suction erupted from the cauldron's mouth.
As though drawn by a massive whirlpool, the surrounding purple-black poisonous mist began converging on the cauldron's mouth at a speed visible to the naked eye.
When the liquid-thick mist touched the inscriptions along the rim, it gave off faint sizzling sounds, like grease dripping into a hot pan, as a mysterious force broke it down, transformed it, and refined it.
The first area to clear was the space within three feet of Chu Yunfei.
Once the poisonous mist dispersed, he could finally breathe relatively clean air. The burning pain in his lungs eased slightly, and his consciousness grew clearer.
The Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate's absorption range continued to expand.
From three feet to one zhang, from one zhang to three zhang... it kept spreading outward.
Before the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate, the seemingly endless poisonous mist was like prey meeting its natural predator, devoured without a trace remaining.
Next came the poison inside his body.
Chu Yunfei pressed the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate against his chest, guiding its refining power deep into his meridians.
Under that refining power, the poison that had already seeped into his blood began to break down. His black blood gradually regained its normal deep-red hue, and the meridians clogged by poison became clear again.
The process lasted nearly half a two-hour period.
When the final trace of poison was drawn out of his dantian and refined, Chu Yunfei let out a long breath of turbid air.
That breath was black, lingering in the air without dispersing before the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate's lingering force sucked it away as well.
Chu Yunfei sat before the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate, his legs crossed.
The forbidden technique's backlash, Nangong Wuhen's heavy blow, the impact of the fall, and the poison's corrosion-these four layers of injury together had pushed him to the brink of death.
But the deadliest part, the poison, had already been thoroughly dealt with by the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate. Though his remaining injuries were severe, they would not kill him.
His robes had long since been reduced to strips of cloth. The crisscrossing wounds across his flesh were shocking to behold, and the white edges of broken bone could faintly be seen at the fractures.
Chu Yunfei began to close his eyes, turning his attention to the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate.
Subtle changes were taking place within the cauldron.
The refined poisonous mist had not vanished into thin air. Instead, it had been transformed into another substance inside the cauldron.
The inscriptions on the cauldron flickered, and a low hum came from within, as though something was taking shape.
Chu Yunfei's heart skipped a beat. From what he knew, this divine cauldron could not only refine all things, but also extract the essence they contained during refinement, turning dross into opportunity.
The poisonous mist of Broken Remnant Cliff came from the remains of an ancient venomous python, as well as all the poisonous things in the surrounding area.
The ancient venomous python was a ferocious beast from antiquity, its body containing exceptionally pure spiritual power of heaven and earth. Its remains had decayed for ten thousand years, and all their essence had seeped into the poisonous mist.
This mist was a lethal poison.
But after being transformed by the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate, it might become...
Chu Yunfei suppressed the stirring in his heart and quietly waited for the changes within the cauldron.