Chapter 106: Devouring the Bronze Cauldron

“How do you know I can handle it?” Lu Jin asked back.

“Because… because if  you can’t handle it, then both of us are going to die here today!”

Lu Jin hadn’t expected Yan Mo to say something like that. He rolled his eyes slightly. “I’ll do my best.”

“Senior Brother Lu Jin, I’m counting on you!” Yan Mo even made a cheering gesture toward him.

“Aren’t you going to help?” Lu Jin asked.

“I can’t even beat those bats! Good luck, Senior Brother!”

Lu Jin was speechless.

Right then, the swarm of bats surged forward again. Each bat possessed terrifying combat strength; any cultivator who hadn’t reached the Jindan Realm would likely find nothing but death here.

Although Yan Mo had been hiding her cultivation, even showing only a 2nd Layer Jindan during the testing, Lu Jin had long since seen through her. She was currently at the 5th Layer Jindan.

She had completely concealed three layers of her cultivation.

While he didn’t know her exact purpose, Lu Jin could guess most of it. Anyone capable of mobilizing the Guardian Dragon Guard was likely a member of the Tianxuan Empire’s imperial family. However, he didn’t have much interest in her identity. As long as it didn’t interfere with his ultimate goal, everything else was secondary.

As for why Yan Mo, with her 5th Layer Jindan cultivation, chose not to act now, Lu Jin simply chalked it up to her being difficult.

Boom!

The Hell-Suppressing Sinfire Sword whistled through the air, instantly piercing and detonating a bat.

A sudden roar erupted as the vast Spiritual Qi within the bat exploded. The shockwave caused the underground space to tremble violently, looking as though it might collapse at any moment.

“Maybe you should head up first?” Lu Jin said to Yan Mo, seeing the instability of their surroundings.

“I’m definitely not leaving! Don’t get distracted, Senior Brother! Hurry up and wipe out all those annoying things!” Yan Mo replied.

Lu Jin took a deep breath. “Fine.”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

As the Hell-Suppressing Sinfire Sword screeched through the air, the giant bats were skewered like candied haws. As the flames on the sword’s blade vibrated, they were all reduced to nothingness.

“Well done!”

Yan Mo narrowed her beautiful eyes from the side, but she didn’t relax her guard. In fact, she grew even more tense. A faint golden glow emerged in her palm, as if she were waiting for the right moment to strike.

What puzzled her, however, was that although Lu Jin’s destruction of the powerful bats caused violent tremors, the aftershocks were quickly swept away.

To Lu Jin, it was such a shame  to let that pure array power go to waste. Moreover, it could cause serious damage to the environment. They were deep underground; if it collapsed, the consequences would be unthinkable.

But even though he quickly eliminated the bats, the impact of the array continued to spread incessantly. A violent surge of Spiritual Energy erupted from the nine chains, sweeping over them like waves, layer after layer.

In that case… I’ll devour as much as comes!

Lu Jin let out a cold sneer. The devouring power of the Heaven Burial Coffin whistled forth, enveloping the entire space.

As Lu Jin’s cultivation continued to rise, his control over the Heaven Burial Coffin became increasingly proficient. The devouring force reached an unprecedented level of terror.

Buzz…

As the devouring continued, the pure Spiritual Energy fed back to Lu Jin by the Heaven Burial Coffin poured steadily into the Golden Core within his body.

Inside his Dantian, the Golden Core shone as resplendent as a blazing sun. Vast energy circulated within it, accumulating at a rapid pace, giving Lu Jin the sensation that another breakthrough was possible.

Although he had only recently broken through to a new realm, the Spiritual Energy here was simply too massive. He didn’t know exactly what power was contained within that bronze cauldron, but the constant infusion of this vast Spiritual Energy truly made him feel like a breakthrough was imminent.

The entire devouring process lasted for the duration of half an incense stick.

Yan Mo’s expression shifted from initial surprise to absolute shock. She watched the scene before her with wide eyes, yet a deep sense of disbelief remained.

Was all that massive array power really being devoured and absorbed by Lu Jin? Just what kind of treasure was hidden on his person?

Despite her vast experience and knowledge, she had never seen such a powerful method. The more she saw, the more she became convinced that she hadn’t chosen the wrong person.

Kacha!

Suddenly, one of the chains on the bronze cauldron snapped instantly because the energy within it had been completely drained.

Immediately following that, the other chains snapped one after another. The bronze cauldron fell to the ground with a thunderous boom, creating a massive roar.

“Eh? It’s done?” Yan Mo was stupefied by the sight.

Lu Jin had managed to bring down the bronze cauldron simply by devouring everything?

But at that moment, streaks of black light surged out from the bronze cauldron like a tide. In the blink of an eye, the entire space was dyed in a murky, dark atmosphere. Simultaneously, a massive ghost face emitting a green light emerged from within.

“The demon has appeared!”

In that instant, Yan Mo suddenly made her move!

The ball of golden light in her palm shot out instantly. All her previous preparation seemed to have been for this very moment.

The golden light surged out, transforming in mid-air into a giant golden palm. Radiating an intense golden glow, it lunged toward the ghost face.

The ghost face was originally hideous and terrifying, but upon seeing the attack of the giant golden hand, it let out roars of demonic sound. As it roared, the giant golden hand grabbed the ghost face directly in its grasp.

The golden light vibrated, and the ghost face trembled, struggling violently in an attempt to break free.

“Behave yourself!” Yan Mo said excitedly, talking to herself with satisfaction as she watched the giant golden hand. “This Golden Buddha Palm is actually quite good. I suppose you sent the right item!”

Lu Jin frowned as he watched Yan Mo’s technique.

“That thing of yours is decent, but unfortunately, your realm is too low. I’m afraid you can’t exert its full power.”

Before Lu Jin could finish his sentence, a kacha sound suddenly erupted from the giant golden palm. Seeing cracks spreading across it like a spiderweb, Yan Mo was instantly alarmed.

“This demon’s power is too great! I’m afraid I really can’t hold it!”

Boom!

Before her voice had even faded, the giant golden palm exploded. Yan Mo’s figure retreated in a disheveled state, her eyes filled with trepidation.

“Even the Golden Buddha Palm couldn’t trap it? It’s over, it’s all over…”

Her goal for this trip was to subdue this demonic creature, but even after using her trump card, she couldn’t take it down. Her heart was in a state of panic.

“Roar!”

After the demonic creature broke free from the restraints of the Golden Buddha Palm, roars erupted from its fanged maw. A second later, the roars turned into human speech: “Yan Mo, die!”

Following the ghost face’s roar, a staggering amount of Spiritual Qi surged out of the bronze cauldron, madly blasting toward Yan Mo’s position.

At the critical moment, Lu Jin’s eyes turned cold.

“Take this!!”

Swish!

The Heaven Burial Coffin shone with brilliant light. A staggering devouring force whistled out, swallowing the bronze cauldron in the blink of an eye.

Everything on the scene instantly fell silent.

Yan Mo watched this scene in disbelief, feeling for a moment as if she were in a dream.

“Senior Brother Lu Jin, what method did you just use? That was way too incredible!”

Hearing Yan Mo’s question, Lu Jin did not answer.

When the bronze cauldron entered the Heaven Burial Coffin, for the first time, it did not feed any Spiritual Energy back to him.

***

Footnotes:

TN1: Golden Core (金丹): Also referred to as Jindan. The stage where a cultivator condenses their energy into a solid core.

TN2: Golden Buddha Palm (金佛掌): A powerful technique, likely of Buddhist origin, used by Yan Mo.