Controlling the Cauldron

"Yu collected metal from the nine provinces and cast nine tripods. Five were made of metal to correspond to the yang principles, and four to represent the yin numbers. He instructed the craftsmen to use female metal for the yin tripods and male metal for the yang tripods. The tripods were always full to divine the auspiciousness or inauspiciousness of the weather!"

His body was continuously pulled into the cauldron by the gray mist power emitted by the Qingzhou Cauldron, and the Venerable howled for a long time on this dark and sunless cauldron.

He cried out to heaven and earth in vain.

This is indeed a formation within a formation. The formation itself has no offensive power; it is only used to isolate the aura emanating from the Qingzhou Cauldron.

The Venerable One also overlooked this isolation in the darkness; his attention was even drawn to the master of the terracotta warrior.

Compared to Yang Duanhe, who could inflict damage on him, these terracotta warriors were inferior in strength and were constantly defeated by him.

If time could turn back, the Venerable One felt he would rather fight these half-dead terracotta warriors head-on than show off his Movement Method to dodge.

All his troubles stemmed from this instinctive tendency to dodge.

Unbeknownst to him, the Venerable One approached the Azure Cauldron in the darkness.

"Can't we go near this cauldron?"

Zhang Xuezhou called out to the Venerable One, and then quickly maintained a certain distance from the giant cauldron.

The troubles the Venerable One faced did not stem from being attacked by two terracotta warriors wielding swords and spears; what truly put the Venerable One in danger was this three-legged giant cauldron.

Zhang Xuezhou had once cleansed his body under the Yuzhou Cauldron, thus removing all his bad luck. He never expected that such a giant cauldron would also pose a high risk, as even a top expert like the Venerable One would be unable to extricate himself if he fell into it.

His Excellency spoke quickly and began to explain, but Zhang Xuezhou felt that this explanation was completely useless.

"How far away do I need to stay to avoid being sucked into this cauldron?" Zhang Xuezhou exclaimed.

"I... I'm telling you about the Yin and Yang numbers so you can identify the cauldron," the Venerable One said, his face showing pain.

"Then what?"

"This cauldron is always filled with sacrificial offerings, thus allowing us to divine the fate of the nine provinces!"

"Were you sacrificed to this cauldron?"

"See if you can interrupt the sacrifice to the Qingzhou Cauldron!"

A trace of despair appeared on His Majesty's dragon head.

Zhang Xuezhou was a geomancer, not a priest; he was knowledgeable in Acupoint-Fixing Technique but not in ritual practices.

But His Majesty can only seek help from Zhang Xuezhou here.

He was imprisoned by the power of the Qingzhou Cauldron for several hours. His essence, qi, spirit, and physical body were all locked and difficult to escape. His ability to traverse between the virtual and real worlds was difficult to release. Even the Great Wilderness Creation Scripture could not transmit information. His original body, which was a hundred feet long, had been suppressed to only thirty feet. His body was also getting smaller and smaller.

Time was running out. Once he could no longer stabilize himself, he would be swallowed whole by the Qingzhou Cauldron, skin, flesh, and even his soul, thus becoming one of the cauldron's contents.

His Majesty originally came seeking the blood of the Ancestral Dragon to be buried with the Emperor Qin; he never imagined he would encounter such a situation.

He was not the only top-tier demon to perish in the Qingzhou Cauldron. As a top-tier Law Artifact that once suppressed the Nine Provinces, this giant cauldron has buried too many powerful demons and also buried too many tears of the Demon Race.

His Highness's eyes swept over the dragon, phoenix, and taotie patterns appearing on the Qingzhou Cauldron. He tried hard not to look at the gray mist billowing from the cauldron, lest he see the shadows of these once-powerful demons in the mist, and lest he lose his mind and be swept into it, ultimately turning into an inscription on the Qingzhou Cauldron.

"I don't know anything about rituals!"

Zhang Xuezhou glanced at the terracotta warrior who had leaped high with a long spear raised above his head, and then at the terracotta warrior who was wielding a sword and slashing at the Venerable One's body.

Lacking Yang Duanhe's top-tier strength and lacking the Dragon Scale Sword to counter the dragon's body, the two terracotta warriors could only inflict extremely limited damage on the Venerable One, merely causing spots of holes to appear on the Venerable One's scales.

While the Venerable One was trapped in the Qingzhou Cauldron, these two terracotta warriors had probably been mechanically chopping away for several hours.

Seeing that neither of the two terracotta warriors paid any attention to him, Zhang Xuezhou moved closer.

The bronze chariot served as an identification tool; the two surviving terracotta warriors clearly did not mistake him for an intruder, allowing Zhang Xuezhou to pass relatively safely and approach the Qingzhou Ding.

After examining the Golden Crow feather for a while, Zhang Xuezhou felt at a loss for what to do.

Do you have any ritual methods for offering sacrifices?

As long as it's not a suicide mission, Zhang Xuezhou will assist His Excellency to the best of his ability.

This doesn't mean that Zhang Xuezhou was desperately trying to please the Venerable One while he was in danger, but rather that without the Venerable One guiding him through the virtual and real worlds, it would be difficult for Zhang Xuezhou to leave this place.

If it weren't his business, why would he get so close to something so dangerous?

Ordinary people would hardly have a sufficient sense of danger regarding the Qingzhou Cauldron. Zhang Xuezhou felt that it was like an ordinary person facing an electrified transformer, while the Venerable One was an electric shock victim on the transformer, but because the electric shock was short-lived, he still had a breath left.

Zhang Xuezhou's immediate priority was to perform a ritual (to cut off the power) in order to rescue the wounded.

He exclaimed, which put the Venerable One in a difficult position as well.

"Among the Nine Cauldrons, five are Yang Cauldrons and four are Yin Cauldrons. If you can use your Law Power to manipulate the Yin and Yang within the cauldrons, you may be able to receive the sacrificial offering and thus release me!"

His Majesty exclaimed.

He had previously referred to himself as "the Venerable One," but now that air of superiority had vanished.

What Zhang Xuezhou understands, His Majesty understands as well. He knows very well that if he falls into trouble, Zhang Xuezhou will be in the same boat.

Zhang Xuezhou's misfortune won't bring him any benefit either. Without the Acupoint-Fixing Technique, once the formation here is restarted, even the Venerable One will be trapped in this mountain and river formation and unable to escape.

They gain different benefits, but when faced with a life-or-death situation, they cannot do without each other.

His Majesty was also trying his best to recall the past and guided Zhang Xuezhou to adopt possible solutions.

"The creations of those cultivated thousands of years ago were extremely simple, with very limited extensibility. The Qingzhou Cauldron is a three-legged cauldron, and the only possible positions for sacrifices are the middle and central points of the three legs. These combinations have limited possibilities. You can try different positions one by one to find the rules." The Venerable One's face showed pain as he said, "The safest person in a sacrificial ritual is the priest. Even if something goes wrong, it only means the sacrifice is ineffective; it won't suck you into the cauldron and endanger your life!"

"Just send a burst of Law Power to find the operating rules of the Azure Cauldron, right?"

Zhang Xuezhou asked a question, but the Venerable One did not respond.

Clearly, for Zhang Xuezhou it was just a matter of a few strands of Law Power, but it concerned the life of the Venerable One, making it difficult for him to be certain.

Although he reassured Zhang Xuezhou that the risk of his attempt was very low, the Emperor himself was extremely uneasy.

"If I had known he was useful, I would have treated him better and helped him excavate this place!"

There are no set rules in the cultivation world, but there are unspoken rules.

If Daojun were here, Your Excellency would naturally accompany Daojun on the exploration.

The reason for this is simple: it is merely that Daojun possesses the cultivation and strength to command the respect of the Venerable One.

It can be said that cultivation level has become an unspoken rule. Since Zhang Xuezhou's cultivation level is not equal to that of the Venerable One, the Venerable One will treat Zhang Xuezhou as a junior. No matter how open-minded the Venerable One is or how useful Zhang Xuezhou is, this subconscious mindset will still have an impact, leading to different treatment in actions.

Seeing Zhang Xuezhou driving the bronze chariot forward, and the Qin Dynasty terracotta warriors showing no ability to discern the situation, and then calmly entering the three legs of the Qingzhou Cauldron, the Venerable One felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

A surge of Law Power rose and fell into the Qingzhou Cauldron, causing the Venerable One's heart to tremble.

The second Law Power rose into the air again, followed by the third Law Power.

When Zhang Xuezhou drove the bronze chariot, stepped on the middle point of the three legs to unleash his Law Power, and finally entered the central position, the Venerable's heart pounded.

A purple aura of Law Power floated into the air, and the Venerable One felt the pulling force within the Qingzhou Cauldron rapidly increase.

As his internal Law Power surged out, his body, which was perched atop the Qingzhou Cauldron, had to shrink again.

"Wrong... wrong!"

The Venerable One felt a chill run down his spine, but instead of anxiety, he was filled with joy at the prospect of escaping the Qingzhou Cauldron.

Zhang Xuezhou made a mistake, but this simple method of using Law Power to pull things together proved that it could have a real impact on the Qingzhou Cauldron.

If Zhang Xuezhou succeeds in his attempt, he may be able to find relief from this ordeal.