Stranger Danger

The four bronze cauldrons were round-shaped and three-legged. Pictures of flora and fauna, farms and livestocks, rivers and mountains, and sun, moon and stars were engraved on their surface. They looked both ancient and heavy.

Despite having lost all of their energy, Ye Qing could still sense a kind of sacredness and solemnity from them.

The four cauldrons were none other than the God Continent Cauldrons. They were the national relic of the human ruler, Shi Huang thirty thousand years ago.

In the “Artifact Records of the God Continent”, this was stated:

“Thirty thousand years ago, the nations were at war, the conflicts were endless, the Strangers were everywhere, and the people suffered. It was then the indomitable and unstoppable Shi Huang appeared out of seemingly nowhere to wipe out the evils, pacify the nations, and unite all under the heavens in the God Continent.

After uniting the province, Shi Huang scoured the world for fine metal and forged the national relic known as the God Continent Cauldrons using the Will of the Empire and the Will of the People of all nine provinces[1].

There are four God Continent Cauldrons in total, and each was one placed at a cardinal direction. Together, they secured the fate of humanity and repelled the Strangers.

As the God Continent Cauldrons were forged using an unprecedented amount of Will of the Empire and the Will of the People, and it was worshipped by all under the heavens, it was unquestionably one of the ultimate treasures of humanity. So long as the four God Continent Cauldrons still existed, humanity’s destiny would never wane, and the realm would forever be secure.

One day, the four God Continent Cauldrons disappeared without warning, and humanity suffered a massive degradation in fate and Will of the Empire. As a result, countless Strangers, demons and monsters spawned in the God Continent and split what was a united realm. The ensuing chaos lasted an entire century before it finally came to an end, and by then, humanity had suffered a huge blow. The conflicts were endless, and the lands of the God Continent knew idyllic peace no longer.

No one had ever seen them again… until now. Ye Qing had never expected to find the God Continent Cauldrons—the so-called ultimate treasure and national relic of humanity—here of all places.

Unless he was gravely mistaken, the celestials of the Kunlun Ruins must have stolen the God Continent Cauldrons. Only they possessed the power to do such a thing without being detected by anyone.

Ye Qing had no idea what the hell was wrong with these celestials. Just what on earth had spurred them into stealing humanity’s God Continent Cauldrons? Without exaggeration, they were directly responsible for the fracturing of the continent and the lives lost that occurred after the loss of the Strange Artifacts. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they left the Strange Artifacts here to collect dust in this god forsaken place until its spirituality was completely gone, and it was no more than a pile of ordinary metal. It was easily one of the most wasteful and indirectly harmful actions he had ever seen in his life.

Thankfully, there was one silver lining to all this. Although the God Continent Cauldrons had completely lost their spirituality, the spirit materials used to forge them were rare and precious. He knew this because the Earthly Sovereign Bell was unconsciously vibrating with sorrow and desire inside his mind.

It felt sorrow because the Earthly Sovereign was one of the saviors of humanity, and the Earthly Sovereign Bell one of the divine artifacts that protected them. It was similar to the God Continent Cauldrons and so could naturally empathize with its pitiful end. It was also sad that humanity had lost a guardian artifact of its way.

As for desire, it was because the spirit materials used to forge the God Continent Cauldrons remained priceless even though its energies were all gone, and the Will it accumulated had completely vanished. They were materials that had been worshiped by the Will of the People and nurtured by the Will of the Empire for a long time too. To put it bluntly, they were beneficial for its recovery.

So yes, the Earthly Sovereign Bell desired to devour the cauldrons.

It pitied its compatriots, so it would eat them. There was nothing wrong with this logic whatsoever.

Ye Qing knew what it was thinking and so did not hesitate to put away the four cauldrons even as he cursed the celestials for their wastefulness. He was planning to feed them to the Earthly Sovereign Bell after they were out of this place.

“Wow! That’s a big mountain!”

The floating mountains were joined in a line per se, so the duo had been flying from mountain to mountain. Not long after they left the mountain containing the four God Continent Cauldrons, a lofty, massive mountain abruptly appeared before their eyes.

To call the mountain gigantic would be the understatement of the century. To make a comparison, it was bigger than all the mountains they had flown through before.

Just like the other mountains, this mountain was floating in the sky as well. But unlike the other mountains, this mountain was upside down.

Besides that, the celestial qi of this mountain was a hundred, no, a thousand times richer than any other place. They were so rich Ye Qing and Yi Pin could visibly see them circling the mountain and forming rainbow lights here and there. It was picturesque and holy like a true celestial mountain.

“This is incredible! Just incredible!”

Yi Pin’s eyes lit up as he plunged headfirst into the rainbow light. Then, he began devouring the celestial qi greedily.

Earlier, Ye Qing did not notice anything probably because the concentration of celestial qi was too thin. He simply thought that Yi Pin’s method of inhaling the celestial qi was rather ordinary and outright ugly. It looked like an ordinary person panting like a dog after heavy exertion.

Now though, he realized that Yi Pin’s consumption method wasn’t ordinary after all. In fact, it was extremely profound.

It wasn’t just Yi Pin’s mouth that was opening and closing. His pores were inhaling and exhaling at the exact same time. As if they were a mouth or a nose, they were inhaling the celestial qi into his body and expelling the murky qi.

Even stranger, his body was like a furnace that flawlessly ingested the celestial qi he inhaled. Not a single speck of celestial qi was wasted. As if that wasn’t enough, the process was unbelievably fast as well. Ye Qing did not think he could beat Yi Pin in this department even if he tried to compete against him with all his might.

Perhaps the strangest thing of it all was how ordinary the method appeared to be. It elicited no unusual phenomenon or illusion whatsoever. For all intents and purposes, he looked like an ordinary person who was breathing really, really deeply. It was both strange and magical.

In just a few breaths, Yi Pin had consumed an ungodly amount of celestial qi, and he showed no signs of stopping at all. In fact, the speed at which he was consuming the celestial qi was growing faster and faster.

Ye Qing could not help but frown at this. No, it wasn’t because Yi Pin was positively devouring the finite resource that was celestial qi. It was because he was consuming celestial qi at what felt like an unhealthy rate.

Celestial qi was a kind of natural spiritual qi. Although it was normally profound and harmless, consuming it in excess could certainly hurt one’s body. For example, a starving person should abstain from excessive consumption no matter how delicious the food that were placed in front of them. Otherwise, not only would they not benefit from the food, they would be hurting themselves instead.

Still, Ye Qing relaxed after a moment of observation. Like a black hole, his body was consuming the celestial qi endlessly without being affected in the slightest. His complexion looked healthy and lustrous as well.

In fact, as Yi Pin continued to devour more celestial qi, his skin gradually became smooth and translucent, his white hair slowly began to turn black, and his aura became unspeakably terrifying and intimidating.

A Sage? I knew this old liar was extraordinary.

Ye Qing knew from the beginning that Yi Pin wasn’t who he pretended to be. His wealth of knowledge and experience were sublime, and his origins were mysterious. He also dared to run all across the world and somehow survive despite being a Spirit Purifier only. It wasn’t obvious at first, but after some time, Ye Qing gradually realized that Yi Pin was a lot more than who he seemed. Now, the old man was exuding the energy of a Sage.

This meant that Yi Pin was a Sage—or at least a Half-Sage—in the past. Unfortunately, he met some sort of great tribulation and plummeted down the cultivation levels as a result.

“Destined one…”

After confirming that Yi Pin was fine, Ye Qing closed his eyes and began inhaling the celestial qi as well. It was at this moment a voice suddenly appeared inside his heart.

“Who is it?!”

Ye Qing abruptly opened his eyes and unleashed his demonic thought like a tidal wave. However, he wasn’t able to find anything.

“You have come, destined one!”

The voice rang inside his heart again. It was warm and gentle, but also solemn in a way that would not take no as an answer. He also felt a distinct sense of superiority in the voice.

1. The God Continent is the nine provinces. ☜