"I just entered that mysterious space again. Luckily, I came back safely. I have two new cultivation techniques in my mind. One seems to be the hand seals and mental cultivation method for alchemy, and the other I don't know what it is, but it also seems to be a kind of mental cultivation method."
"Oh," Little Grass felt a little relieved, "Then don't try anything reckless, we need to find a way out."
"go out?"
Reminded by Xiaocao, Lin Yao realized his and Xiaocao's predicament. Although they had successfully returned to their own bodies, they were trapped in another unknown and mysterious space. It was like the outside world, but there was nothing there except a gray expanse and not even anything to support their bodies.
What's wrong with us?
"What else could it be? You just suddenly appeared here and dragged me in too, but after I came in, I lost contact with you. Now, thankfully you're back, but I just need to figure out how to get out of this godforsaken place."
Xiao Cao sounded somewhat discouraged. "I've searched the entire area, and I can't find anything within a 150-kilometer radius. There's nothing in the sky, on the ground, or in any direction. Where do you think we are?"
Suddenly, a thought struck Lin Yao: "Little Grass, do you think we might be inside the cauldron? This thing is amazing; I feel like we're inside it."
"Really? Then how do we get out?"
The little grass felt no joy. No matter what tricks she tried, it was useless here. There were no landmarks, no footholds. There wasn't even air, making it impossible for her to change Lin Yao's position.
Strangely, Lin Yao had stopped breathing from the beginning, yet he was still alive and well; he had even forgotten the instinct to breathe.
"Wait, I think I'm starting to get somewhere."
Lin Yao paused, then suddenly remembered the second cultivation technique he had just acquired. "I'll try that one."
"No!" Little Grass immediately stopped her. "Wait until I give you a spirit stone, so you won't be overwhelmed."
Xiaocao poured a stored spirit stone directly into Lin Yao's mouth and murmured, "We're so poor now. We have nothing but spirit stones. Even refining pills is causing so much trouble. May the Queen Mother protect us and keep us safe so that we can destroy 'Chen Ai's' clone."
At this moment, Lin Yao was pleasantly surprised. As his mind was immersed in the newly acquired mental cultivation method, he immediately understood its operation and function.
This is a technique for controlling a large cauldron. It not only allows one to enter the cauldron but also to absorb objects, storing them within its mysterious space. However, for living beings, once absorbed, they cannot leave. The cauldron will instinctively refine these living beings, much like alchemy.
The ability to absorb life forms depends primarily on the strength of the manipulator, that is, the strength of the cauldron's owner determines what level of life forms can be absorbed, and how many.
This is practically the Purple Gold Gourd from "Journey to the West," except that the Purple Gold Gourd can both take in and release living beings, while the cauldron can only take in but not release them. Any living being taken in has no way out but to be refined by the cauldron.
Having deciphered this information, Lin Yao activated his inner energy cultivation technique, and the hazy space immediately underwent a dramatic transformation.
"Yaoyao, watch out!"
The little grass cried out in alarm, feeling a great sense of danger at what she was seeing.
The one-meter-diameter "Tai Sui" that had been sucked into the cauldron lid earlier appeared before them, hovering in the air a dozen meters away. A dazzling bolt of lightning rapidly spun around the "Tai Sui," and this area was no longer gray; it was illuminated by the lightning and turned into a bright silver.
"It's alright, we won't be affected. We're inside the cauldron. We can store a lot of things here, so we won't have to pile up the materials for alchemy everywhere anymore. We can store them here and refine them slowly."
Ah~~~~~
Little Grass let out a long, drawn-out sound, then became excited, “Then let’s put Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Lili, Nannan, and Wenwen all in here, so we won’t have any worries when we fight ‘Morning Mist’s’ clones.”
“No…” Lin Yao said with regret, “We can’t put living things in here. Once they’re inside, they won’t be able to get out and will be burned to death by the cauldron.”
"Oh..." Little Grass was also disappointed. "Then we should be able to collect all these 'Tai Sui', right? If we collect the 'Tai Sui,' we can refine them into pills anywhere without worrying about being unable to leave. And when we need to leave, we won't need to send anyone to guard these 'Tai Sui'."
"That's true. I'll give it a try. I should be able to put these 'Tai Sui' into the cauldron."
After Lin Yao finished speaking, he activated his mental cultivation technique and immediately reappeared in the cave, where the motionless cauldron stood before him.
As Lin Yao and Xiao Cao had discussed, they decided not to refine pills in front of outsiders, so as not to let people know how many pills they had actually produced.
One by one, the super "Tai Sui" were collected into the cauldron. Six Heavenly-level experts led a group of Yi family disciples to work up and down, fixing hundreds of tons of steel into the mountain one by one. They collected each "Tai Sui" from the bottom up and then filled the mountain space with steel bars, cement and other fillers.
Five days later, all thirty-six top-grade alchemy materials, including the "King of Tai Sui," were put into the cauldron. The resulting tens of thousands of cubic meters of empty space were filled with various fillers. Apart from a few minor cracks in the temple walls at the summit of Zhu Rong Peak, the ordinary people on the mountaintop did not notice anything unusual. Even after Lin Yao and the others had all left, no one discovered that such a treasure had been taken from inside the mountain.
Relying on the rule of "not hitting a smiling face," the eldest elder of the Sun family, Sun Woxing, perfectly embodied the image of "Maitreya in the human world," and stayed by Lin Yao's side with the second elder of the Sun family, Sun Danran, refusing to leave.
Pei Tianzong, the eldest elder of the Pei family, followed suit. Most of the time, he was like a meditating monk, following Sun Woxing wherever he went, like a little shadow. However, he always kept himself the furthest away from Lin Yao. Obviously, he hadn't gotten used to this clingy way yet, so he had to use Sun Woxing as a shield, firmly following in Lin Yao's footsteps. He not only wanted to seek benefits for the Pei family, but also wanted to see more of the abilities of a master at the Transcendent Realm, so as to provide direction for his future cultivation.
The giant cauldron appeared out of thin air and then mysteriously disappeared, leaving all the Heavenly-level experts astonished. Afterwards, in order to ensure that the mountain would not collapse after the "Tai Sui" was collected, Lin Yao had to use the giant cauldron to absorb the "Tai Sui" in front of several Heavenly-level experts so that they could use their internal energy to support the mountain in time. Then, the Yi family disciples poured reinforced concrete and moved the filling materials.
The lid of the cauldron generated a suction force, drawing in the thirty-six giant "Tai Sui" (a type of rare fungus) with a volume of tens of thousands of cubic meters. During the inhalation process, all the Heavenly Realm beings felt a mysterious power. This unprecedented feeling changed their perception of Lin Yao.
True cultivators, the legendary Sumeru Space—all of this is beyond the reach of ordinary martial artists. Therefore, Sun Woxing disregarded everything and shamelessly followed Lin Yao, determined to demand the "benefits" of this protection, with the aim of ensuring that the Sun family could receive Lin Yao's favor in the future.
If Lin Yao can give the Sun family even a little consideration when choosing a successor many years later, it will be worth it for him to lose all face!
"Yaoyao, let's refine the pills first. It's unlikely that we can refine pills by ourselves. Look, everyone is following closely. If we don't refine the pills soon, it will delay important matters."
Xiao Cao sighed, saddened by the severe damage to his strength. Although he had obtained a trace of "Morning Mist's" spirit, he lacked the ability to refine and absorb it. If he couldn't find a particularly high-grade natural treasure to restore his original essence within two years, the outcome of Lin Yao's confrontation with "Morning Mist" would be self-evident. As for the cauldron's ability to absorb living beings, given Lin Yao's current strength, absorbing "Morning Mist's" clone was a pipe dream.
Lin Yao agreed. Putting aside the fact that the Pei and Sun families had rendered meritorious service as protectors, and that he would need to rely on the enormous power of the two great families in the future, he couldn't afford to play this game of procrastination just by looking at the time involved.
To kick someone out? That's something I simply can't do.
...
Lingyao Peak, one of the seventy-two peaks of Hengshan Mountain, is located to the left of Zigai Peak and is also an undeveloped, pristine mountain.
At this moment, an unusual phenomenon occurred in the sky near Lingyao Peak. The cold air from Siberia had not yet dissipated, and the originally cold and dry climate suddenly turned into a sky full of red clouds. The cold temperature also suddenly became hot and dry, as if the red clouds in the sky were a huge reflective heater, warming the mountains and forests below.
As the wind died down and the trees fell still, the once desolate winter forest suddenly came alive. Countless animals and insects of all kinds revealed themselves, becoming unusually active, and migrating away from Spirit Medicine Peak. This greatly surprised the five Heavenly-level experts and Duke Witte who were guarding the area.
An hour later, an immense pressure appeared in the air above Spirit Medicine Peak. Yi Potian, Pei Tianzong, and the others were shaken to their core and had no choice but to immediately sit down and meditate to resist it. Duke Witte, who was most affected, had already transformed into a bat the moment the pressure appeared and flapped his wings to fly far away with difficulty. He had an instinctive premonition that if he did not escape immediately, he would be bombarded to death.
A golden light suddenly appeared deep within the crimson glow. If anyone saw it, they would be surprised to find that it was golden lightning, descending from the sky and striking the top of the Spirit Medicine Peak. At this moment, Lin Yao was at the very top, and the cauldron in front of him was also shaking violently, emitting a rapid roar.
"Yaoyao, are you sure you're okay? There's a lightning bolt falling from the sky, and it's golden, but I don't feel any danger. What's going on?"