The vast Yanhu Lake suddenly boiled over like water in an iron pot, stirring up the silt and sand from the ground and turning the clear lake water into murky water.
In the blink of an eye, the unidentified creature at the bottom of the lake revealed its true form and floated to the surface!
What an enormous thing this is!
Its terrifying body, resembling an island, is covered with jagged, iron-like scales.
Judging from its appearance, it was actually a terrifyingly large fish.
"Holy crap, what kind of fish has become a spirit? Damn, it ate a flying sword in one gulp? Damn it, I'd better run! I'll take the monster's treasure later!"
Chapter 102 The Gun Monster
After retreating a few miles, Jiang Liu thought for a moment and returned to his original observation position. It was the top of a small hill, offering a panoramic view of the entire Yanhu Lake.
Although that fish was terrifying, it was still just a fish. It could cause great disturbances in the water, but if it climbed onto land, it would just be a sitting duck!
The dangerous one is the one who slew the dragon.
"But I'm not one to be trifled with either!"
Looking down at the lake, the giant fish, relying on its strong body, showed no fear of the sword light.
Jiang Liu took out a high-powered telescope and found a vantage point to observe the battlefield in the lake.
The one fighting the fish demon was a middle-aged nun, hovering in mid-air, her body radiating golden light, clearly possessing Buddhist magic. What chilled Jiang Liu to the bone was that nine flying swords hung upside down behind her, impervious to wind and rain, seemingly about to pierce a hole in the heavens and earth.
Facing the towering waves stirred up by the giant fish, the nun showed no fear. Nine sword lights shot into the sky in an instant, continuously striking the giant fish. Through the telescope, despite the torrential rain, sparks could still be seen flying as the nine flying swords collided with the fish scales, scattering bursts of fire.
"What an incredibly strong body! Could this fish be one of those 'Gun Monsters'?"
Although Jiang Liu had read "The Legend of the Swordsmen of Shushan", he had forgotten the detailed plot and only had a general impression. He had a vague impression of the Gun monster, only knowing that it was a great demon suppressed in Yanhu Lake and that it seemed to possess the Yu Cauldron.
After observing the nun through the binoculars for a while longer, Jiang Liu put the binoculars away, concealed his aura, and left the Yanhu area.
This time, without looking back, they fled for thirty miles and hid in a farmer's haystack before stopping.
"The Green Robe's memory is still quite useful. Luckily, I found out early, or I wouldn't have been able to leave. It's actually the Divine Nun Utan, a powerful figure in her own right. I can't afford to offend her! I hope she didn't discover my spying just now."
Not long after Jiang Liu left, a golden light enveloped the entire lake, forming a golden net that blocked the Gun monster's escape route. The nine flying swords hanging upside down in the sky instantly froze the Gun monster, and the lake water that was about to overflow into the air immediately receded back into the lake. The wind and rain gradually subsided, and looking at the lake surface again, apart from a faint trace of blood, there were no more large fish or dragons.
The goddess Udumbara slowly landed back on the shore. A sword light flew from afar and landed, revealing a girl who was not yet twenty years old. She was in a sorry state. If Jiang Liu saw her, he would definitely find that she looked seven parts like Qi Lingyun.
Looking at the golden light on the lake, the woman asked, "Master, has the Gun monster been eliminated?"
“Xia’er, this demon Gun has cultivated for thousands of years; how can it be so easily destroyed? Master relied on Buddhist teachings to seal off the Yanhu Lake at the summit to prevent floods from harming living beings. If this demon Gun escapes the lake, it will surely bring forth a flood hundreds of feet high, turning mulberry fields into the sea wherever it goes. Although the flood will subside once the demon Gun enters the sea, the loss of living beings and farmland along the way will amount to more than a million. This will all be our sins, while slaying this demon will be a meritorious deed. However, the demon Gun’s physical body is incredibly strong. Only one of the two swords left behind by the Long-Browed Immortal, the Purple Ying and the Green Suo, can break through its impenetrable fish-scale armor. Moreover, it will require the nine Heavenly Dragon Subduing Demon Swords that I have forged to surround it and refine it for one hundred and eight days before its primordial spirit can be destroyed.”
The nun Youtan looked at the lake and sighed, then said, "I think the calamity of this Gun monster has not yet arrived. I am about to complete my cultivation and have many unfinished matters. I must rush to Qingluo immediately... Xia'er, you guard the nine Heavenly Dragon Flying Demon-Subduing Swords and trap this Gun monster. After I finish my journey to Qingluo, I will come and destroy this scourge."
"Master, Xia'er will guard the sword formation and never let this monster escape!"
The nun You Tan gazed at her reflection in the lake, her face full of contemplation. She said, "Xia'er, if there is any change, send a message to Huangshan and ask your senior sister Canxia to come and help you. Moreover, the Yu Cauldron that was originally being suppressed has fallen into the hands of the Gun monster. This is your opportunity, don't miss it!"
Entrusting the task of trapping the demon entirely to a girl named Xia'er, the goddess Utan transformed into a sword light and headed west.
Jiang Liu lay on his back on the haystack, so he could see clearly. After waiting for several hours, the nun Udumbara did not return, and Jiang Liu breathed a sigh of relief.
Returning to Yanhu again, about ten miles away, we saw a white mist covering the sky above Yanhu, which looked like the miasma of the mountains in southern Xinjiang, with dozens of golden lights occasionally flashing by.
To the average person, it looks like a mountaintop shrouded in dense clouds, a scene of impending rain but not yet raining, with only flashes of lightning and no sound of thunder.
Jiang Liu, skilled and daring, approached and saw that the area above the halfway point was completely shrouded in thick clouds, a chaotic scene. Only at the top of Yanhu Lake, the clouds were ablaze with color, and countless golden rays flashed like dragons and snakes.
"What incredible power! Only a terrestrial immortal could set up such a technique! Nine Cauldrons! I hope you won't disappoint me."
Jiang Liu gave a bitter smile, grasped the fragment of the Yangzhou cauldron, and stepped into the thick clouds.
Fortune favors the bold!
This request, however, has a limit: it must not put oneself in a life-or-death situation. If the nun Udumbara did not go, Jiang Liu would definitely turn around and leave.
The area of Yanhu Lake, spanning tens of acres, was shrouded in mist and rosy light, allowing only a ten-foot radius around the viewer to be seen, while the rest was filled with thick white vapor.
Guided by the fragments of the Nine Cauldrons, Jiang Liu kept his head down and walked cautiously, his Thunder Tribulation Sword already drawn. After traveling through the thick fog for a long time, winding and turning, the fog suddenly disappeared, revealing a lake as calm as a mirror. Only then did Jiang Liu realize that he had reached the lake shore.
As his palm warmed, the fragment of the Nine Cauldrons turned crimson. Jiang Liu couldn't help but loosen his grip, and the palm-sized fragment fell into the lake.
In an instant, the waves swirled and the mirror-like lake water suddenly boiled, as if a pot had boiled over, with bubbles rising several feet high, churning and expanding in all directions.
"Don't make such a commotion!"
Before Jiang Liu could finish his thought, a red light suddenly shot up from the thick fog behind him, and a girl in purple silk walked quickly towards him, making a hand seal, and a sword light shot towards him.
"Where did this fiend come from? Don't you dare destroy my sword formation!"
With a wry smile, Jiang Liu simultaneously mounted his sword and launched the Thunder Tribulation Sword at the sword light. At the same time, Jiang Liu transformed into a wisp of wind and rushed towards the girl, his speed no less than that of a flying sword.
The woman calmly took out a talisman from her bosom, chanted incantations, and exhaled a breath of innate five elements true energy, which immediately transformed into a light banner with thousands of rays of light, about ten feet high, covering her entire body.
Jiang Liu's punch, delivered with the "Shock Technique," caused the light pillars to sway, but it couldn't harm him in the slightest.
After unleashing dozens of punches, the light beam swayed, but the girl inside remained calm and composed, directing her flying sword to shatter the Thunder Tribulation Sword into dust, which then shot over as a sharp arrow.
"He's even stronger than Qi Lingyun! What a pity for my Thunder Tribulation Sword." Jiang Liu thought to himself that he was in trouble. If he didn't use thunder magic, he would have a hard time winning. He then summoned the "Nine Heavens Primordial Yang Ruler" and rushed out of the fog-covered mountains.
Chapter 103 Illusionary Divine Power
Protected by the nine golden flowers, Jiang Liu looked down and didn't see the woman chasing after him. Then he looked at the lake and his eyes immediately shrank to pinpoints. He saw a huge whirlpool rising from the lake, and dozens of acres of lake water were receding rapidly towards the bottom.
The array formed by dozens of golden rays receded and remained close to the water's surface. Apart from the thick fog that still enveloped the surrounding mountains, everything else on the lake was clearly visible.
Looking up again, a chill ran down my spine; nine gleaming swords hung upside down in mid-air.
Even a fool could guess that this scene was a sword formation set up by the goddess Udumbara, and the person controlling these nine swords was definitely the girl in purple.
"That was close! Luckily, the demon Gun appeared in time. Otherwise, the consequences of those nine flying swords attacking at the same time would have been unimaginable! Even with my Golden Flower Body Protection, it would have been difficult to escape unscathed!"
Back on shore, within a few breaths, the lake had dried up, revealing the sand and silt at the bottom. There was nothing unusual about the whirlpool in the center, but the fact that so much water had been drained in such a short time gave it an eerie feel, as if an ancient beast was there, its mouth agape with greed.
"Looks like they've really released a formidable monster! Tsk tsk, let her hold it off!"
The river flowed down to the mountain peaks on the west bank of the lake, gazing at the lake surface. The fragments of the Nine Cauldrons had fallen into the water, and no matter what, they had to be retrieved.
"The power of an entire province" is his most powerful attack method right now. Without the Nine Cauldrons fragments, his strength has decreased by at least half.
The young girl, Xia'er, who was riding a sword by the lake, was not in a hurry. She simply watched the dried-up lake water quietly.
What Jiang Liu didn't know was that the demon Gun was hiding in a ravine at the bottom of the lake, called the Red Ravine, which was originally a natural stone vault for sealing off demons. When the demon Gun was sealed off, the bottom of the ravine was entirely forged with magic, making it as hard as refined steel, with a net below and the Demon-Suppressing Yu Cauldron above.
This Yu Ding is one of the seventeen treasures used by Yu the Great to control the floods, and it possesses immense power.
Without a doubt, the target of the Yangzhou Ding fragments is definitely the Demon-Suppressing Yu Ding.
For thousands of years, the Red Ridge had been meticulously deciphered by a demon, who deciphered the secrets of the Yu Cauldron and used it for its own purposes. However, the Yu Cauldron was originally a treasure meant to suppress it; it could only be used, not taken out of the Yanhu region. As for the Taiyin Earth Net, it was even more unable to break through it.
Therefore, there was no other way out except Yanhu Lake, and they would never escape from below.
In fact, the demon Gun had a chance to escape from Yanhu Lake long ago, but he hid at the bottom of the lake for the sake of this cauldron, intending to refine it before escaping.
The lake's outlet has now been sealed off by the goddess Utan and suppressed with nine flying swords. The demon Gun is in a panic. Although he is reluctant to give up the power of the Yu Cauldron, what is there to be reluctant about compared to his own life?
As Jiang Liu pondered on the lake shore, he heard a series of high-pitched, long chants coming from the dried-up lakebed.
With a loud bang, the lake water surged out, filling the dried-up lakebed. A sound like ten thousand horses galloping filled the air, and a dark shadow slowly rose from the lake, revealing its entire body not far from the shore.
Jiang Liu looked closely and saw that it was a huge monster with nine heads, a snake's body, and many wings on its sides, about ten zhang long.
"Xiangliu? No, it only has the form, but no meaning. It is a manifestation of the lake water!"
Before Jiang Liu finished speaking, a sword light descended from the heavens. The spiritual energy above the lake suddenly fluctuated, as if an invisible giant sword had appeared in the air and slashed down fiercely at the turbulent lake surface. After a loud bang, the lake water churned violently, whipping up white waves and foam that fearfully scrambled to both sides, forming a deep trench several feet long, seemingly leading directly to the bottom of the lake.
Xiang Liu was also split in two, turning into a sky full of fine rain. Just as the sword light was sheathed, from where the demonic clouds surged at the bottom of the lake, another black shadow flew up, and soon revealed its true form, which was three bodies and two heads, with a dove-shaped body and a tiger-faced face.
The sword light flashed, tearing it apart once more.
It seems that countless ancient demons lurk beneath the water, one dying and another rising again, without ceasing.
Some have nine heads and two bodies, with lion-like shapes and dragon claws; some resemble zombies, with one leg and a strange howl; some resemble alligators and dragons, with eight horns growing outwards.
The young girl Xia'er wielded the Nine Heavenly Dragon Demon-Subduing Sword to fight off enemies, slaying more than a dozen demonic beasts without showing any signs of fatigue.
Jiang Liu stood at a distance, his eyes shining. Those demonic beasts conjured from the lake water were all forms of extremely powerful ancient demons.
"If I'm not mistaken, these demonic beasts must have been conjured by the Yu Cauldron. Yu cast the Nine Cauldrons and carved strange birds, beasts, gods, and monsters on them. These must be the demonic beasts from that carving period!"
As Jiang Liu had predicted, when the Yu Ding was cast, it contained everything: thunder, rain, wind, clouds, mountains, forests, swamps, and the forms of dragons, snakes, tigers, demons, and monsters.
This demon Gun used the divine power of the Yu Cauldron to conjure an ancient demon to fight. Although it only had its form, it was not to be underestimated. If it could not be killed, it would be enough to destroy the sword formation and help it escape from this place.
Seeing that the conjured demons were no match for the sword formation, a monster surged from the lake. It had a human head, a lion's face, a fish's back, and a bear's body, standing three zhang tall. Its disheveled hair completely obscured its face. Its ears were shaped like coiled dragons, each with a small snake coiled around it, its red tongue flicking as if breathing fire. From within its tangled red hair, a pair of fist-sized green eyes glared open, and its gaping maw revealed jagged fangs. It looked up at its head, then stared at Xia'er, seemingly filled with rage, wishing it could chew her to pieces.
However, knowing the power of the flying sword light above his head, he dared not attempt it lightly.
"The true form has appeared! Where are my Nine Cauldrons fragments?"
Jiang Liu looked the monster up and down but didn't notice anything, though he could vaguely sense the connection from the Nine Cauldrons.
Seeing the sword light slashing towards it, the demon Gun bared its teeth and bared its savage rage. With a monstrous roar, it opened its mouth, and a bronze cauldron the size of a thumb flew out with a puff of colorful smoke. At first, it was only a few inches long, but in an instant, the three legs stood erect, radiating light in all directions, and flew straight towards the sword formation above.
When Xia'er saw that Yao Gun had released the Yu Cauldron, she pointed the Nine Heavenly Dragon Subduing Demon Swords at it. The light screen then emitted boundless radiant light, pressing down tightly to envelop the Yu Cauldron, attempting to seize it.
However, she clearly underestimated the power of the Yu Ding, or rather, the power of the Nine Dings after they were combined with the Yu Ding.
That is no longer the Yu Ding; it should be called the Yangzhou Ding of the Nine Dings.
As soon as the sword light approached the cauldron, it was blasted away by a force powerful enough to shake the heavens and earth. With a "crack," one of the Heavenly Dragon Subduing Demon Swords snapped in two.
The demon Gun let out a loud laugh. Seeing a loophole in the great formation, it stirred up a demonic wind and tried to escape with the Nine Cauldrons. If it were allowed to enter the sea, there would truly be no way to deal with it.
Jiang Liu could not do as it wished. His connection with the Nine Cauldrons remained. With a wave of his hand, the cauldrons flew towards him. He stretched out his palm, and a small cauldron landed in his hand.
Chapter 104 The Power of the Nine Cauldrons
Jiang Liu grinned and blurted out, "Great skill, but it has limitations. The images of demonic beasts cast on these nine cauldrons are all ancient demons. Where am I supposed to collect their souls?"
Looking around, one could see countless demonic beasts cast on the cauldron.