Chapter 123: Burning the Sky, Boiling the Sea
"This sulfurous smell is actually mixed with dragon's saliva incense!" Young Master Lu's expression was solemn as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, pondering to himself.
His seventy-two Qingyang Swords seemed to sense their master's danger, automatically forming a Sword Array to tightly protect him.
Just then, the dark red seawater of Fallen Immortal Reef suddenly boiled violently, churning like it was being cooked.
The three ring-shaped volcanoes, like enraged giant beasts, suddenly spewed forth rolling lava, which rapidly solidified in the air, forming a massive "Heaven, Earth, Human" Three Talents Array, emanating a heart-palpitating Aura.
The Zhenhai Tiger Talisman and Burning Sky Cauldron Array Diagram in Young Master Lu's embrace also seemed to sense this powerful force, simultaneously glowing red, echoing the Three Talents Array from afar.
Not far away, Cold Moon, stepping on a lotus formed from xuanming ice soul, floated gracefully like a Fairy.
Her fingertips flowed with the unique moonlight of Guanghan Palace, and her cold, beautiful face revealed a hint of imperceptible anxiety.
"Hand over the Tiger Talisman, and this Palace will allow you to enter the Guanghan Pool to reshape your Meridians," Cold Moon's voice was clear and cold, as if from the Nine Heavens.
However, before her words finished, a dark green corpse Qi suddenly gushed out from Yin Jiuyou's burial sky coffin.
The burial sky coffin, as if controlled by an invisible large hand, smashed heavily onto the volcanic rock, and dark green corpse Qi continuously seeped from the cracks in the coffin lid, like a group of evil spirits roaring.
"Although Guanghan Pool is miraculous, it has also frozen three Nascent Soul Cultivators to death.
This kid has such severe loss of vital blood, it's more cost-effective for him to become a living corpse in my Nine Nether Valley," Yin Jiuyou's voice came from the burial sky coffin, carrying a hint of playfulness and greed.
"You two are quite impatient, aren't you?" Accompanied by this delicate voice, Su Meiniang slowly emerged from the pervasive sea fog like a ghost.
Her figure was graceful, her steps light, as if she had merged with the surrounding mist.
And the glazed cup wrapped in her fox tail held a crimson liquid, appearing especially eerie in the hazy mist.
"Young Master Lu, how about drinking this cup of Blood Marrow Brew, and Big Sister takes you to find a pleasurable place?" Su Meiniang's lips curved slightly, revealing a charming smile, her beautiful eyes flowing with myriad charms.
However, just as Young Master Lu's hand was about to touch the glazed cup, the crimson liquid within the cup suddenly came alive, transforming into a venomous snake, baring its fangs, and lunging directly at him.
Young Master Lu, seeing this, remained calm.
He lightly raised a finger, and a Sword Qi instantly shot out, accurately hitting the venomous snake.
However, unexpectedly, the venomous snake, upon contact with the Sword Array, was shattered into a cloud of blood mist by a powerful force.
The blood mist spread, dyeing the surrounding mist dark red.
Just then, Young Master Lu suddenly noticed something unusual.
He looked closely and saw three Soul Devouring Gu hidden within the blood mist!
These three Soul Devouring Gu were pitch black all over, emitting a nauseating Aura, clearly extremely vicious poisonous creatures.
They appeared and disappeared in the blood mist, as if they could pounce on Young Master Lu at any moment.
Young Master Lu snorted coldly.
He quickly slid out half a scroll of the "Xuanji Array Diagram" from his sleeve, muttering incantations.
As he chanted, the runes on the Array Diagram began to flicker with faint light.
"Fairy Leng, do you know that xuanming ice soul is hidden at the bottom of Guanghan Pool?" Young Master Lu suddenly spoke, his voice echoing in the mist, carrying a hint of faint mockery, "Elder Yin's corpse puppets probably can't withstand that extreme cold power, can they?"
With that, he deliberately shook the Array Diagram in his hand, and a missing part of the Array Diagram was immediately revealed to everyone.
And that missing part was precisely a taotie pattern of the Burning Sky Cauldron!
This taotie pattern, as if magical, instantly attracted the gaze of the three Nascent Soul Cultivators present.
Their eyes were fixed on that taotie pattern, as if they had been put under a spell, unable to move away.
Just then, the volcano cluster suddenly trembled violently, as if affected by some force.
Immediately after, thousands of rusted ancient swords slowly emerged from the lava.
These ancient swords were covered with ancient inscriptions, appearing mysterious and solemn under the firelight.
Even more surprisingly, the inscriptions on these swords resonated with the Tiger Talisman in Young Master Lu's hand, emitting a buzzing sound.
As the resonance intensified, these ancient swords, as if endowed with Life Qi, automatically pieced themselves together in the air, finally forming a complete "Fallen Immortal Sword Art"!
Cold Moon's face changed slightly upon seeing this.
She unhesitatingly flicked her sleeve, and an extreme cold Qi swept out like surging waves, instantly freezing the ancient swords within a ten-zhang radius into ice.
However, surprisingly, the ice crystals only lasted for an instant before being easily shattered by the sharp Sword Qi emanating from the ancient swords.
Cold Moon stared at the shattered ice crystals, her brows tightly furrowed, and said in a deep voice, "This is the residual Sword Intent left by ancient Sword Cultivators!" Her voice revealed a hint of solemnity and shock.
Just then, Cold Moon suddenly formed a hand seal, muttering incantations, and a ray of light flew out from her hand, transforming into a giant mirror, which was precisely her Lifebound Treasure — the Guanghan Mirror.
The mirror surface of the Guanghan Mirror shimmered with cold light, like a Cold Moon hanging high, casting its clear, cold radiance onto the Array Diagram in Young Master Lu's hand.
"You already knew that a Sword Tomb was hidden within the volcano cluster?" Cold Moon's gaze was as sharp as a cold star, fixed on Young Master Lu, as if trying to see through his eyes into his innermost thoughts.
Young Master Lu smiled faintly, and calmly replied, "This Junior merely took advantage of the situation."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly threw the Array Diagram in his hand into the lava pool as if it were discarded shoes.
The Array Diagram spun rapidly in the air, as if pulled by an invisible force, falling straight into the scorching lava.
Unexpectedly, the moment the Array Diagram fell into the lava pool, the previously missing taotie pattern of the Burning Sky Cauldron, as if ignited by the ground fire, quickly emerged, perfectly fusing with the other taotie patterns on the Array Diagram.
Just then, the complete Array Diagram burst forth with dazzling light, like the first ray of dawn, piercing through the darkness.
The three volcanoes, as if stimulated by this light, suddenly spewed out three-colored flames: green, white, and red.
Like three fire Dragons soaring into the sky, they intertwined in mid-air to form a giant cauldron shape.
On the belly of the cauldron, some ancient inscriptions vaguely appeared.
Upon closer inspection, these inscriptions were precisely the missing "Artifact Refining Chapter" from the Taixu Secret Canon!
Yin Jiuyou's Corpse King Claw, like a ferocious giant Dragon, suddenly grew three zhang long, grabbing towards the cauldron with a fierce Aura: "This Old Man has been searching for this Burning Sky Cauldron for three hundred years!"
However, the moment the claw wind touched the cauldron body, the Chaos fire spewed from the cauldron's mouth, like a fierce fire Dragon, wildly retaliated along the corpse Qi, instantly burning his right arm to charcoal.
Su Meiniang, like a cunning fox, threw out a mermaid silk, like a nimble snake, wrapping around Yin Jiuyou's waist: "Elder Yin, this hand cannot be crippled, you still need to keep it to draw my eyebrows."
"Do not touch the cauldron body!" Cold Moon's expression was solemn, and the Guanghan Mirror shot out xuanming ice soul divine light, intending to freeze the cauldron.
Young Master Lu seized the opportunity to press the Tiger Talisman onto the Array Core, and the cauldron suddenly inverted, three-colored flames pouring down like a torrent: "Fairy Leng's xuanming ice soul essence Qi is just what I need to refine the Nether Cold Flame!"
The moment the flames and xuanming ice soul touched, the entire sea area surged with a sky-obscuring white mist, and the piercing sound of melting metal came from within the mist.
Nine fox tails suddenly pierced out from the white mist, and Su Meiniang's true form appeared from the Void Realm: "Young Master Lu, a good scheme, but do you recognize this?"
She held a bronze fragment engraved with a taotie pattern in her palm, and the fluctuations emitted by the fragment were surprisingly from the same origin as the Burning Sky Cauldron.
The Tiger Talisman in Young Master Lu's embrace suddenly trembled, and Yao Race characters appeared in the light and shadow projected by the cauldron inscriptions — "Cauldron shattered for three thousand years, fragments suppress the eight directions."
"So Madam Su is a descendant of the Zhenhai Great Sage?" Young Master Lu's Sword Array suddenly changed, the seventy-two Flying Swords forming the Greedy Wolf Devouring Heaven Array, "No wonder you can control sea Yao to besiege Penglai."
He threw out three thunder-fire Talismans at the bronze fragment, but the Talismans were absorbed by the fragment, transforming into three electric pythons that counter-attacked.
Cold Moon's Ice Soul Sword suddenly slashed horizontally, cutting off the electric pythons and at the same time freezing Su Meiniang's left leg: "Guanghan Palace records state that three thousand years ago, a Yao Race member fled with a fragment of the Burning Sky Cauldron."
She used her sword tip to pick up an ice crystal, and a wisp of golden Sacred Blood was sealed within the crystal, "This drop of Great Sage's essence blood, Madam Su, you've hidden it for three hundred years, haven't you?"
As the three parties faced off, a Dragon's roar suddenly came from the seabed.
All the ancient swords in the lava pool flew up, assembling into a hundred-zhang giant sword above the cauldron.
A phantom appeared at the hilt of the sword, surprisingly an old man clad in scales: "You Human Race thieves, how dare you covet my Race's Sacred Artifact!"
The old man's phantom flicked his sleeve, and the giant sword, with the momentum of splitting mountains and seas, slashed down, the Sword Qi aftershocks crushing the reefs within a hundred li into powder.
Young Master Lu suddenly bit his tongue, spraying his essence blood into the gap of the Tiger Talisman: "Since Senior knows of the Sacred Artifact, do you recognize the Zhenhai Great Sage's Bloodline?"
In the golden light bursting from the Tiger Talisman, the old man's phantom's offensive suddenly stopped, and the giant sword trembled three inches above his head.
Seizing this opportune moment, he flashed and grabbed Cold Moon's Guanghan Mirror: "Fairy, you want to obtain xuanming ice soul, when else would you act?"
A cold glint flashed in Cold Moon's eyes, and the Guanghan Mirror suddenly shot out an extremely Yin cold Qi, but it was not directed at the old man, but directly at the bronze fragment in Su Meiniang's hand.
Yin Jiuyou's burial sky coffin took the opportunity to crash into the cauldron, and thousands of corpse maggots flew out from the coffin, gnawing at the cauldron's inscriptions.
The entire Fallen Immortal Reef sea area fell into Chaos, with three-colored flames and ice and corpse Qi intertwining into a death net.
"Not chaotic enough..." Young Master Lu quietly retreated to the volcano, embedding the Tiger Talisman into the core of the Array Diagram.
The Burning Sky Cauldron suddenly shrank to palm-size and fell into his hand, the Chaos fire seed flickering within the cauldron illuminating the bloodstains at the corner of his mouth: "Thank you, three Seniors, for your fire Qi, xuanming ice soul, and corpse evil, which just happen to complete the three flavors needed to activate the cauldron!"
The moment the cauldron recognized its master, seventy-two underwater volcanoes erupted simultaneously.
The lava condensed into crimson chains in the air, temporarily trapping the three Nascent Soul Cultivators.
Young Master Lu was about to escape, but an underwater crystal palace rose from the seabed, and a Dragon-horned youth stood at the palace gate: "Human Race, since you bear the Karma of the Tiger Talisman, do you dare to enter the Flood Dragon Palace to break my Race's thousand-year blood curse?"
"Mr. Lu is most afraid of being in debt," he feigned refusal, but his feet stepped on the Sword Array, approaching the palace gate, "But if there are Dragon Blood Fruits in the palace that can replenish essence blood..."
Before he finished speaking, three Nascent Soul killing moves had already broken through the chains and pursued him.
The Dragon-horned youth sneered and flicked his sleeve, and a waterfall-like water curtain descended at the palace gate, sweeping everyone into the Flood Dragon Palace Forbidden Land.
The world behind the water curtain was inverted and chaotic, with mummified Human Race Cultivators hanging from coral trees, and the remnant souls of Yao Race generals sealed in pearl shells.
The Dragon-horned youth flicked his fingers, shaking off the pursuers, and when he turned around, his pupils had become vertical: "This Seat is Ao Lie, the seventh-generation Bloodline of the Zhenhai Great Sage.
The Tiger Talisman in your hand lacks the Flood Dragon Palace Seal, and will backfire in three more quarters of an hour at most."
Young Master Lu carefully caressed the gap in the Tiger Talisman in his hand, as if feeling something.
Suddenly, as if he had discovered a secret, he slammed the Burning Sky Cauldron onto a certain spot on the palace wall.
"Fellow Daoist Ao, look at the Nine-Headed Serpent totem on this wall, it seems to need Chaos fire to activate it," Young Master Lu's voice was calm, but it revealed a hint of imperceptible tension.
Ao Lie heard this and quickly looked at that part of the palace wall, and indeed found that the moment the cauldron fire touched the Nine-Headed Serpent totem, a crack actually appeared in the wall.
As the crack gradually widened, a strong, nauseating smell of blood rushed to their noses.
Through the crack, they could see a huge blood pool behind, with a thousand-zhang-long Dragon bone immersed in it.
The Dragon bone was pitch black all over, with traces of blood still clinging to it, as if telling of its past glory and tragedy.
By the blood pool, a stone tablet stood, engraved with ferocious characters: "Blood debt must be paid with blood, Human Race Cultivators who enter this Array shall feed the Dragon with their souls!"
Ao Lie's face changed drastically upon seeing this.
He suddenly erupted, his Dragon claws like lightning, gripping Young Master Lu's throat, and roared, "You knew this was a trap all along?"
Young Master Lu's face was as pale as paper, but he did not struggle, allowing Ao Lie's Dragon claws to tightly grip his throat, not even caring that blood had already begun to seep from his throat.
He merely smiled faintly, and a jade token suddenly slid out from his sleeve.
The jade token was engraved with the Xuanji mark, emitting a faint light.
"Fellow Daoist Ao, do you know the origin of this jade token?" Young Master Lu's voice, though somewhat hoarse, was still calm, "This is Xuanji Old Ancestor's Lifebound jade token.
Three hundred years ago, he fell here.
And on this jade token, there is Dragon Blood."
Before he finished speaking, the jade token suddenly lit up, and a dazzling light shot directly at the Dragon bone in the blood pool.
At this very moment, the previously lifeless Dragon bone suddenly opened its hollow eye sockets, and a powerful Aura gushed out from it.
Immediately after, the entire Flood Dragon Palace began to tremble violently, as if it could collapse at any moment.