Chapter 180: The Cauldron of Yu!
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
The heavy broadsword in Ying Zheng's grip was eight feet and one inch long, measuring one-and-a-half adult's palm from edge to edge, and the thickness of three fingers at its thickest part. The surface of the blade was as smooth and shiny as a mirror, emitting a pale purple mist and yellow light. Underneath the purple and yellow light and fog, there were vague images of rivers and mountains, woods and grass fields, towns and cities, and myriad living beings. Above all of these vague images, amidst the yellow and purple light and fog, was an image of nine divine dragons, baring their teeth and waving their claws, coiling up their bodies and wheeling in midair.
The broadsword greeted the hammers in the most formidable manner. Then came a loud boom, and sparks flew in all directions. A purple light burst out from the center of the collision, turning into a raging shockwave that spread in all directions and destroyed everything on their way. The tall waves that came rushing to the wooden cities were shattered when they were still tens of miles away. Wanying Dragon King had his body hovered still in the air, standing firmly on the cloud. But, there was a white mark found on his hammers. Both his hammers were damaged by Ying Zheng's broadsword. On the other side, Ying Zheng was knocked flying back several thousand feet away by the heavy hammers. The tremendous striking power made countless wounds open up on his body. A great amount of blood kept oozing out from these wounds, but his broadsword did not suffer any damage.
Ying Zheng heavily slammed onto the ground and sunk several hundred feet deep underground. Blood was coughing out from his mouth as he dragged the broadsword and slowly crawled out from the large hole. He gave a loud laugh, turned to Wanying Dragon King and said, "Foul dragon, how is the power of my sentient divine weapon - 'Sword of Qin Emperor'?" He then raised the broadsword high up and fiercely swung it down. Subtly, there were countless cries of 'Long live my emperor' that echoed out. As the loud cries pushed further in the air to where the tip of the sword was pointing, a deep trench several miles long was opened up on the ground.
Wanying Dragon King kept staring at the tiny white mark on his hammers, which was tinier than a hair. His face twisted, as frightening 'crackling' noises coming out from his throat. Clouds began billowing from around him like an erupting volcano as they shot and soared tens of thousands of feet high into the sky. After a full time it took to finish a pot of tea, the old dragon roared out furiously, "Little boy, how dare you damage my treasure?!"
He suddenly threw both hammers out from his hands. One flew straight towards Ying Zheng while the other one was thrusting towards Li Xin, who stood on top of the wooden wall and had sounded the bugle just now. The last dragon cry had forcibly repressed over fifty percent of Wanying Dragon King's dragon energies, which caused the force on his hammers to drop significantly, and even the Item Spirit in the hammers had its spirituality greatly refrained. That was the reason why they were damaged by Ying Zheng's broadsword.
For all the aquatic creatures, the deterring force coming from the cry of the Bugle of Ying Dragon was too powerful. Thus, Wanying Dragon King had decided to kill Li Xin first.
The hammers flew whistling out, bringing together violent thunderbolts that blotted the sky behind them. Over tens of thousands of thunderbolts came pouring down from the sky. With the two hammers as the center point came raging lightning and flames that filled every inch of the air. In the eyes of everyone around, there was nothing left between the heaven and earth except these two great hammers, enshrouded in blinding lightning and flying at a great speed.
"Li Xin, move away!!!" Ying Zheng gripped tightly on the Sword of Qin Emperor with both hands and gave a loud shout. At the same time, the eight flood dragons and a serpent behind his back gave a long and shrill roar. Once again, blood sprayed out from Ying Zheng's body, as his body suddenly became taller by one foot, and he swung the broadsword heavily towards the hammer that came from above his head. As the Nine Dragons Cauldron Grand Magic was cultivated using the blood essence and soul of flood dragons, it was a miraculous cultivation technique that allowed one to cultivate his corporeal body, souls, and magical power. Thus, Ying Zheng's pure muscle strength was incredibly strong.
However, the strength of Wanying Dragon King was way beyond the limit that Ying Zheng could deal with. He was an old demon who had been cultivating for several tens of thousands of years, and he had tempered his corporeal body to the limit any demon dragon could have ever reached, just one step away from transcending into a True Dragon. Also, the weight of the Thunder Hammers was extraordinarily heavy. When they were thrown out by the old dragon with all his strength, the force was more than enough to destroy a small planet.
*CLANG!!* With a loud clanging noise, the skin on Ying Zheng's arms exploded and peeled off, as blood and flesh shot into all directions while a great deal of pale-golden blood drizzled onto the ground and merged with the stream of blood that flowed from the dead bodies of countless aquatic demons. Once again, Ying Zheng was knocked into the underground by the hammer. Deafening noises came from the hammer as it shattered the ground and pushed Ying Zheng deeper, reaching to a depth of over thirty thousand feet. The tremendous force shook and made many cracks appear on his internal organs, nearly ripping his body apart.
Standing above the wall, Li Xin clenched the bugle tightly in his hand, disregarded everything he blew into it again. The cry of Ying Dragon echoed out, causing Wanying Dragon King to tremble and make his dragon energies drop by fifty percent again. He let out a long cry with raging flame of anger and gave Li Xin a fierce glare. He waved his hand towards the tidal waves in the distance, brought up several dozens of huge waterspouts and made them thrust towards the wall at a high-speed.
Li Si sprung up and stood before Li Xin, whose seven apertures were oozing with blood now. A scroll was seen hovering before his face, emanating a pale golden glow. With an easy grace, he wrote over one hundred 'Slash' on the scroll continuously, then flicked the writing brush, throwing them out from the scroll. They then turned into streams of pale-silver beams and greeted the heavy hammer.
The hammer was forcibly halted in midair as an invisible force was rapidly impacting it and generating loud jarring noises. Li Si suddenly shivered, as several dozens of lightning strikes suddenly shot out from the hammer and fell heavily onto his body. Abruptly, his black robe bloated, transforming into a clump of dark cloud that enshrouded his entire body. The lightning fell and pierced into the dark cloud, exploded and made it roll and disperse, inflicting severe damages to Li Si's body at the same time. He opened his mouth and coughed out a mouthful of blood.
A group of several dozen men who dressed like scholars came quickly behind Li Si. They lined up and formed a profound formation, taking out seals, writing brushes, scrolls, iron rules, iron chains, and some other objects. Then, they began reciting together, "The Law is written into books, placed in the feudal office and announced to the people. The Law follows the order of the Heaven and Earth, used to discipline the people. The Law attracts the Dao of Heaven and Earth and ingests all souls."
As the recitation went on, all sorts of strange and peculiar magical items began emanating golden glows that kept injecting into Li Si's body. In a blink of an eye, his body was shrouded in a strong golden light. Without hesitation, he took out a seal, raised it up in the air and gave a stern cry, "Follow the will of the Heaven, the Dao of Heaven and Earth will become the discipline of all souls! Fall while the going is good!"
Then, the seal flipped, unleashing a yellow beam that shot right towards the falling Thunder Hammer. A mournful cry rang out as the heavy hammer suddenly turned over and fell from the sky like a bird that had its wings broken. Wanying Dragon King was caught unprepared, and before he could understand what the principle behind Li Si's strange attack was, the yellow beam had forcefully fallen onto his body.
The yellow beam itself did not come with any offensive strength, but it did come with a peculiar force of commandment. The cloud shrouding the old dragon suddenly faded away, and he fell from the sky like an ordinary mortal, nearly having his face hit right onto the ground. Luckily, the old dragon could react on time. He gave a furious roar, quickly rode on a cloud and flew back into the sky. Yet, it was a very shameful moment for him, and his face turned red with anger.
Once again, Li Si waved the seal at the direction where the waterspouts were coming. "The Human Emperor is here. The mere demonic tactics of yours should dismiss now!" cried Li Si with a sneer. Following his words, the waterspouts controlled by Wanying Dragon King instantly shattered, sending all the water into every direction and bringing a violent rainstorm to the surrounding places.
Wu Qi's heart raced as he watched what happened, wondering how Li Si learned this technique of Dharma Words that behaved in such an evil manner. However, it was not a technique that suited Wu Qi. It was a magical technique that came with great restriction, and could only be used by borrowing the force of will from other people. It did not bring too many benefits to the one who cultivated the technique. Thus, Wu Qi was not interested at all.
Wanying Dragon King waved his hands and summoned back the two hammers, turned to Li Si and roared furiously, "All of you have to die here today! You nasty little juniors… This is outrageous!" Slamming both hammers onto each other, the old dragon's body expanded once again. But this time, he did not play any tricks, and instead, simply wielded the two great hammers like how a blacksmith struck at iron, thrusting towards the top of the wall in the most ferocious manner.
He did not care what kind of magical powers the opponents might throw at him, and decided to just crush all of them into meat pastes with his extremely powerful dragon body and tremendous strength.
Right at the moment when the old dragon became angry from embarrassment, Wu Qi suddenly discovered that outside the wooden city at the Qin army's campsite, a troop of tens of thousands of soldiers had been lined up in a strange formation. Right in the center of the formation, a great three-legged cauldron, dark-green in color and standing forty-nine feet tall, was erected. Xu Fu was seen bringing a group of several hundred practitioners, running madly around the cauldron while reciting strange incantations.
As the recitation of the incantation echoed out, the blood from millions of aquatic demon beasts that were killed in the battle, and the pale-golden blood that Ying Zheng dripped onto the ground previously, were all being absorbed into the great cauldron. The blood did not fly in the sky, but as if it had been teleported from where it was, simply vanished into thin air and suddenly reappeared inside the cauldron.
On the surface of the great cauldron were the images of farmers working in the field, fishermen casting nets, herdsmen grazing in a vast grass field, woodcutters chopping down trees, and also images of rivers, mountains, countless strange beasts, bugs, and fishes. As the fresh blood kept injecting into the cauldron, all sorts of lines and runes on the cauldron began emitting a faint glow. An ancient aura that made one feel suffocated, dignified and heavy like the feeling when one stood before a vast ocean or a bottomless abyss, began gradually emanating from the great cauldron.
This was...
A bright gleam flickered within Wu Qi's eyes. He knew the origin of this cauldron. It was a magical copper cauldron crafted by Yu the Great when he was on the mission of controlling the flood, using it to suppress the countless aquatic demons that the Dragon Ying had subdued. It was the 'Universal Water Spirits Divine Cauldron of Yu the Great', a frightful magical treasure that was used specifically in restraining all aquatic creatures.
This treasure had broken off from the classification of magical item, magical treasures, spirit items, and immortal items, as it was influenced by the virtue of successfully controlling the flood, and had evolved and become an Acquired Item of Virtue. It possessed an unprecedented power, and could be used to suppress the flow of fortune, enough to guarantee a kingdom a long-lasting fortune, and never to be disturbed by external factors.
To put it simply, the power of this great cauldron was incredibly strong. As long as it was placed inside a kingdom, anyone who intended to do some bad things to the kingdom would have to first weigh up his own overall strength. If he did not have sufficient overall strength, he would be killed by the cauldron. Thus, it allowed the kingdom to enjoy a long-lasting fortune.
As the immense aura gradually emanated from the Universal Water Spirits Divine Cauldron of Yu the Great, all the flood dragons, demons beasts, including the catfish-flood-dragon, had their bodies trembling violently. They could not control themselves and simply turned and fled into all directions, no one daring to even turn their heads.
Astonished by the aura, Wanying Dragon King turned his head and saw the great cauldron, which was now slowly elevating in midair. His long tongue rolled out, and he gave a shrill scream, "Damn it!! This is... this is... you bastards! How can you have this kind of a treasure?!"
Without the slightest hesitation, the old dragon put the hammers away, not saying a word as he simply spun. He transformed into a golden dragon of several thousand feet length, brought up a strong wind and fled at top speed. He flew at least one hundred times faster than catfish-flood-dragon and all the other aquatic demons! Although his cultivation base had nearly broken into the realm of Heaven Immortal, he too dared not to fight head-on with this cauldron, which according to the legends was a fearful treasure that could restrain all the aquatic clans under the heaven.
Noticing that all the demons were fleeing for their lives, Wu Qi hastily spun and transformed into a sheet of water vapor, merging into the water that could be found everywhere around him. As the water had now covered a land tens of thousands of miles wide, using the escape art of water was the quickest and the best approach.
Right after he reached a distance of nearly a dozen miles, he heard a loud boom coming from the sky above. A blinding green beam was seen shooting out from the Cauldron of Yu, hitting right onto the back of Wanying Dragon King. The old dragon halted as countless scales on his huge back were shattered into pieces, and a clump of heart blood, enshrouded in raging flame, immediately burst out from his mouth and reached a distance of several thousand feet away. He gave a painful howl and fled in panic, producing a loud wind breaking noise and disappearing in a blink of an eye.
Deep, muffled noises of explosion kept ringing out everywhere. Among the tens of thousands of Qin soldier who lined up in the formation, at least ten thousand of them could not withstand the frightening counterforce generated by the activation of the cauldron. Their bodies exploded, turning into a shower of blood that blotted the entire sky. At the same time, nearly half of the practitioners who stood beside Xu Fu were letting out miserable cries. Their bodies exploded, while all the remaining practitioners had their seven apertures bursting with blood and collapsed to the ground, unable to move even the tiniest bit.
Xu Fu's body turned stiff and fell straight down from the sky. He rolled his eyes and passed out.
It was an internecine outcome. Between Great Qin and aquatic demons, no one had taken an advantage in this violent battle.