Chapter 1854 — The Wonder of the Seventh-Ranked One

Once out of the Jade Capital City, the power of Zuting's Primordial Cauldron burst forth in an instant. Refined by Shen Mu through three and a half billion years of ritual tempering, its might could have shattered even the walls of the Jade Capital City; only because that city is wrought of the third immutable substance had it held the Cauldron one measure in check. Now, with the Jade Capital City no longer pressing down upon it, the Cauldron's power could be said to destroy heaven and ruin earth; even if every Hall Master and accomplished Daoist of Miluo Palace joined hands, they would find it hard to contend with it.

Yet just as the Cauldron's might was about to erupt, several Hall Masters rose from within the Jade Capital City bearing an ancient well aloft, and descended from above into the Cauldron. That well was none other than the Heaven-Piercing Well of Young Master Tai Shang, a treasure Tai Shang had used to rescue accomplished Daoists of bygone cosmic epochs.

Those Hall Masters drove the Heaven-Piercing Well down with all their force, plunging it into Zuting's Primordial Cauldron, and at once the great Cauldron was pierced through, its power bleeding away. Lan Yutian, Xu Shenghua, and the other beings who cultivated the Zuting dao-realm system spared no effort, rousing the might of Zuting's great holy lands and hurling it at the Heaven-Piercing Well in an attempt to destroy it; yet the well was a strange thing indeed, linked within to the Great Calamity of Destruction, devouring every shred of Zuting's Primordial Cauldron's power, so that not the least force could take effect upon it.

"I will break this great well!

" Sword in hand, Kaihuang Shen Ye charged the ancient well, but several Hall Masters stood guard beside it, and Su Muzhe, Shen Wu, and a dozen or more Jingping accomplished Daoists, fearing Kaihuang Shen Ye could not prevail alone, hurried after him to lend their strength. Suddenly a strange treasure flew out of the Jade Capital City, trailing purple clouds for ten thousand li, likewise guarded by several Hall Masters, and was offered up into the sky above the Cauldron; seeing this, Xing An hastily led a dozen or more accomplished Daoists to intercept it.

The strange treasure was Flying Smoke, born of the cultivation Second Young Master Wuji had possessed when she attained the Dao; though it was called flying smoke, it was in truth a thirty-sixth-heaven dao realm formed of primordial qi, and its power was beyond measure. Second Young Master Wuji had been unable to brand the Guixu Great Dao upon the ultimate void, and so had cast off her own dao-realm cultivation, turning instead to the path of attaining the Dao through Guixu. Her dao-realm cultivation was poison to her, and so she had to sever it; yet she was, after all, a Young Master of Miluo Palace, and the cultivation she cut away was no small matter. Then more strange treasures flew out of the Jade Capital City: Hall Masters of Miluo Palace bore forth the treasures of Young Masters Zixiao, Lingxiao, Zhanji, and Wuzong, to press down the Cauldron together.

Had it been the Heaven-Piercing Well alone, it could not have subdued the Cauldron's might; but with the strange treasures of the other Young Masters added, the Cauldron's power was forever trapped circling within itself, unable to threaten the rest of Miluo Palace.

Six great strange treasures pinned the Cauldron's might down beyond hope of release. The Jingping accomplished Daoists had always been far fewer in number than those of Miluo Palace; deprived of the Primordial Cauldron and the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, victory would be as hard to win as to climb into heaven.

Taishi, Shangjun, Sishen, Heavenly Lord You, Shen Fengqing, Hua Xuanxiu, and the rest each fought their way forward, dropping into the Cauldron in an attempt to seize these strange treasures, while Miluo Palace's Hall Masters and accomplished Daoists kept guard beside the six great treasures, battling them in fierce combat. Elsewhere, Lan Yutian said to Xu Shenghua, "I am going into the Jade Capital City to take the treasure of Young Master Hundun, the seventh.

Stay here and hold them off—you must not let them break through! " Xu Shenghua glanced around and said, "There must be traps around Young Master Hundun's treasure.

Several of Miluo Palace's Hall Masters are missing. " "My Empty Hands Art is without equal under heaven.

" Lan Yutian rose into the air and said, "I shall not return empty-handed. " Xu Shenghua frowned, then smoothed his brow and drove the Golden Ship of World-Deliverance forward; aboard it were the remaining Jingping accomplished Daoists, and they charged the army of accomplished Daoists pouring out of the Jade Capital City.

Ahead, countless dao trees flew out of the city, dao fruits filled the sky, and numberless accomplished Daoists came charging at the Golden Ship of World-Deliverance. Xu Shenghua caught a glimpse of Lan Yutian's figure flickering through the thicket of dao trees before vanishing, and his heart eased a little: "Lan Yutian's thieving skills have not fallen off—they have grown more marvelous still.

In those years the Saint of Thieves took him stealing through all the heavens and myriad worlds, and laid a fine foundation for him. But then again, Nanxiang Yuanjun said that Young Master Hundun's treasure was pressed beneath the meditation cushion of Miluo Palace's master.

Strange. Why would the master of Miluo Palace suppress none of the other Young Masters' strange treasures, and suppress only Shen Mu's.

. .

" Just now, before Nanxiang Yuanjun dissolved into the Dao, she had said that Shen Mu's strange treasure was pressed beneath a meditation cushion.

To say it was pressed was in truth to spare a Young Master's dignity; Xu Shenghua's mind was like a bright mirror, and he knew she meant that Shen Mu's strange treasure was suppressed by Miluo Palace's master.

This bewildered him greatly.

Miluo Palace had seven Young Masters who forged seven strange treasures; the master of Miluo Palace suppressed none of them, and suppressed only Shen Mu's.

There was something uncanny in this.

"Lan Yutian has gone to steal the treasure; the venture is already perilous enough. I hope no new trouble sprouts.

But the worst of it is that he has no sense of direction, and the Jade Capital City is so vast.

. . " Lan Yutian threaded his way through the army of accomplished Daoists and the thickets of dao trees, and vaguely saw that some accomplished Daoists were attempting to brand their own Great Daos upon the ultimate void. Zuting had originally been sealed by Shen Mu, and even the ultimate void had been dissolved away by him with the Chaos Sea; now the Jade Capital City had long since broken free of Zuting, giving these accomplished Daoists their chance to brand the ultimate void. The reason the Jingping accomplished Daoists were stronger in battle than those of Miluo Palace lay not only in the Jingping Reforms, which had created many postnatal Great Daos, but also in the fact that Miluo Palace's accomplished Daoists were not complete in their attainment.

They had attained the Dao in past cosmic epochs, but not in the seventeenth epoch. If they could brand their own Great Daos upon the ultimate void, they would become complete accomplished Daoists, their cultivation and strength swelling enormously—and then Jingping would have no hope of victory at all.

"I must find Young Master Hundun's strange treasure quickly!

" His heart burned with urgency, yet he forced his state of mind to settle as much as he could, keeping his dao heart calm. The Jade Capital City was immeasurably vast, and this divine city held many secrets—one might even say it was more immense than Zuting.

To find the strange treasure suppressed by Miluo Palace's master would not be easy. A thought stirred in Lan Yutian's heart: "If I search step by step, who knows how many years it will take.