Chapter 1815: Patriarch Lan Breaks the Sky-Piercing Well
The chaotic energy vanished, and what came into view was an ancient lamp. It was the simplest of oil lamps: a small bowl with a little clear oil, and a single wick resting on the rim.
But this lamp was not lit, and the oil seemed scarce.
Hua Du and the other five hall masters exchanged glances, then suddenly charged toward the oil lamp. Just as they rushed forward, Lan Yutian had already snatched the lamp into his hands.
Hall Master Hua Du quickly halted, but saw the other four hall masters still lunging at Lan Yutian. He immediately shouted sternly, "Don't go! Fall back—"
He retreated, but the four hall masters had no time to pull back.
As Lan Yutian held the oil lamp in his palm, the lamp ignited on its own. The flame emitted a strange purple light, and in an instant, the radiance illuminated the entire hall.
By the time Hall Master Hua Du had retreated to the hall's entrance, the purple light shone upon him. He felt as if everything about him was laid bare by that light—his techniques, his Dao, all thoroughly exposed without a single secret left!
Startled, he fled the hall at lightning speed.
In that fleeting glance, he noticed the flame's shape was extremely bizarre, like a purple evil eye with dozens of pupils!
He called it an evil eye because the purple pupil was vertical, much like the vertical eye on Qin Mu's forehead. But the pupil, combined with the flame's center, had forty-one layers. The pupil was purple, while the flame's core was a mass of chaos.
Under the light's illumination, it felt as if the purple evil eye had seen through all techniques and Daos, leaving no secrets hidden.
The moment Hua Du left the hall, the four hall masters inside suddenly let out a unified scream, then fell silent.
Hua Du's heart ached as if cut by knives, but he dared not linger. With a roar, he fled far away.
Inside the hall, Lan Yutian held the oil lamp, staring blankly at the flame.
What had just happened was truly strange. The lamp lit up, the flame became a purple evil eye, and that eye actually rotated within the light, its gaze falling on the four hall masters one after another.
The four hall masters were struck simultaneously by the evil eye's gaze. Their great Daos rapidly turned into green smoke, and even their Dao trees, Dao fruits, and their halls all dissolved into smoke!
They only had time to scream once before evaporating right before his eyes!
"Strange! Truly strange!"
Lan Yutian exclaimed, nearly throwing the lamp away.
When the light shone, he could see through the flame everything about those four hall masters—their divine techniques, their Daos, their Dao trees, fruits, and halls—all decomposed into the finest runes, as if broken down to the smallest particles.
But he hadn't expected the evil eye's gaze in the light to be so terrifying.
"Brother's lamp was made by stealing the Dao resonance of the Miluo Palace Master when he lectured here, using it as lamp oil, stealing the essence of his teachings as the wick, and using his chaotic Dao to form the evil eye."
Lan Yutian carefully examined the lamp oil and saw that after the four hall masters were killed by the evil eye, a small portion of the oil had been consumed. His heart tightened: "When the Miluo Palace Master teaches, whether it's the Miluo Palace's enlightened ones, hall masters, or young masters, none can surpass him in techniques or Dao. So when the light shines on them, they have no secrets. But the oil is limited; this lamp can't burn for long. I must deal with the other six divine treasures before the oil runs out! However..."
He flew out of the hall, heading straight for the Ancestral Court Cauldron.
"However, can this lamp defeat those six divine treasures?"
The oil lamp was a divine treasure, but the Sky-Piercing Well, Flying Smoke Purple Haze, Great Prison, Time Mirror, and other treasures were also forged by the Miluo Palace young masters. Whether the lamp could overcome them, Lan Yutian had no confidence.
When he entered the Ancestral Court Cauldron, he saw Xu Shenghua leading the Eternal Peace enlightened ones against the Miluo Palace enlightened army. Around the six divine treasures, fierce battles raged.
The power of the six treasures had completely suppressed the Ancestral Court Cauldron, rendering it unable to exert any of its might. Worse, the Miluo Palace hall masters and enlightened ones gathered around the six treasures, their power spreading in all directions, wounding Kai Huang, Qin Fengqing, and others.
The First Young Master Tai Shang's Sky-Piercing Well was the most formidable. It not only pierced through the Cauldron, creating a massive hole in the Ancestral Court, but also hung high at the center, straight up and down like a giant tornado, churning the winds and clouds, making the hole in the Ancestral Court grow larger and larger!
The Ancestral Court Cauldron's power, spanning tens of thousands of miles, was all being absorbed by this well!
This well was a treasure that pierced through the Destruction Calamity. From the outside, it seemed intangible, impossible to discern what it was made of, but its power was terrifyingly immense.
Kai Huang and others fought near the well, skirmishing and dodging as they battled the Miluo Palace enlightened ones and hall masters.
From time to time, Eternal Peace enlightened ones beside him were knocked into the well, letting out earth-shattering screams as they fell into the Destruction Calamity of the past universe!
Kai Huang himself was in constant danger, on the verge of being thrown into the well.
On the other side, the Second Young Master Wu Ji's Flying Smoke Purple Haze rampaged through the sky. Several Miluo Palace hall masters stood atop it, moving like the wind. This treasure, forged from Wu Ji's thirty-six layers of Heavenly Dao realm, occasionally erupted with the heat-death wind of the Guixu. Waves of that wind swept through, eroding the Ancestral Court's sky and earth, destroying the Cauldron's power. Xing Han led Eternal Peace enlightened ones charging into the smoke, but almost all died within it, and Xing Han himself had his physical body destroyed repeatedly.
The Great Prison, Time Mirror, and other treasures were equally terrifying, overwhelming even the Eternal Peace hall masters, let alone the enlightened ones.
The Ancestral Court Cauldron's mountains and rivers shattered. This first great artifact, forged over 3.5 billion years, was on the verge of destruction under the assault of the six treasures!
Lan Yutian held the oil lamp and flew toward the nearest treasure.
That treasure was forged by the Sixth Young Master Zhan Ji. When activated by the Miluo Palace hall masters and enlightened ones, it became chains like black dragons covered in bone spikes, weaving through the Ancestral Court's land and mountains, breaking the Cauldron.
As those black dragons shook their bodies, countless bone-spike spears shot in all directions, extinguishing Dao trees, piercing Dao fruits, and destroying the Ancestral Court's Great Luo Heaven, meeting almost no resistance.
Miluo Palace hall masters and enlightened ones stood on the black dragons' backs, relentlessly slaughtering Eternal Peace experts.
Lan Yutian activated the oil lamp, his heart uneasy: "Can this lamp defeat the Sixth Young Master Zhan Ji's treasure? The victory or defeat of Eternal Peace rests on this one move!"
The lamp's flame suddenly blazed brilliantly, its purple light radiating everywhere. The flame seemed to expand immensely, like a torch magnified billions of times.
Looking through the flame, Lan Yutian saw the purple evil eye also grow enormous. Within its forty layers of purple pupils, the chaotic evil eye slowly rotated, shining its gaze toward the black dragon chains!
In the sky and on the ground, the black dragon chains crisscrossed, constantly destroying the Ancestral Court Cauldron. Suddenly, under the light, the black dragons dissolved one by one into green smoke!
The Miluo Palace hall masters and enlightened ones on the dragons' backs lost their footing and fell, but as the evil eye's gaze swept over them, they too evaporated into trails of smoke!
"What a waste of lamp oil!"
Lan Yutian was both shocked and delighted, but also pained by the oil loss. He quickly withdrew his power and saw that the oil in the bowl had decreased significantly.
The oil had been scarce to begin with. Now, he wasn't worried about the lamp's power, but whether the oil would be enough to deal with the other five treasures.
Using the lamp to kill Miluo Palace hall masters and enlightened ones was effective, but the oil wasn't enough to eliminate them all. It could only be used against the young masters' treasures.
Wasting the oil on hall masters and enlightened ones was truly regrettable to him.
He immediately lifted the lamp and chased after the next treasure. Just then, Hall Master Hua Du led a group of enlightened ones to block his path.
Clearly, Hua Du had observed the lamp's secret and grasped the key. He feared dying under the lamp's strange power, but if he could exhaust its oil, Eternal Peace would have no chance!
Lan Yutian grew anxious, protecting the lamp as he fought desperately. But more and more enlightened ones surged in, trapping him tightly. Even more were coming, clearly willing to risk their lives!
Just then, lotuses bloomed from the void. Xu Shenghua stepped forward, each step a lotus, each lotus an Ancestral Court, and charged into the fray. He said calmly, "I'll hold them off. You go break the other treasures!"
Xu Shenghua blocked Hua Du and the others, giving Lan Yutian a chance to breathe. He immediately broke free and fled.
Soon, the Great Prison, Flying Smoke, Time Mirror, and other treasures were dissolved one by one under the lamp's light. The pressure on Eternal Peace's enlightened ones eased, but the battle had still cost heavy casualties.
The Ancestral Court Cauldron's lands were shattered. Looking around, all was devastation and ruin.
In Lan Yutian's hand, the lamp oil was nearly gone. His heart sank as he rushed to the last treasure: the Sky-Piercing Well.
The well had grown enormous, causing the Ancestral Court Cauldron to collapse continuously. Below the Cauldron was the vast Destruction Calamity, and the Ancestral Court's lands kept falling into the well.
The First Young Master Tai Shang's treasure was truly astonishingly powerful.
Lan Yutian activated the last of the lamp oil, and the light shone toward the ever-growing Sky-Piercing Well.
As the light struck the well, wherever the purple evil eye's gaze passed, the well annihilated into drifting green smoke. But the well kept growing, making Lan Yutian's heart sink.
The evil eye destroyed as much of the well as it grew, an unexpected sight he hadn't anticipated.
Finally, the oil ran out. The light gradually dimmed, and the wick burned shorter and shorter.
Panic seized Lan Yutian. Without the wick, what use was this lamp?
"Right! This lamp can reveal the secrets of anything. Before the light goes out, I can observe all the mysteries of the Sky-Piercing Well!"
He widened his eyes and looked through the flame at the well. In the light, the well was nothing but countless ever-changing Hongmeng runes, with infinite variations, endlessly self-generating!
Lan Yutian frantically memorized them, but the wick burned out, and the light faded.
"I can remember it! I can comprehend all the secrets of the Sky-Piercing Well! I won't forget those changes! I can find its weakness!"
Lan Yutian shouted, tightly closing his eyes, imprinting the process of the well's billions of Hongmeng rune transformations deep in his mind.
"Yes! The Sky-Piercing Well can be blocked!"
Suddenly, he opened his eyes, his heart rejoicing. In that moment, he saw a flaw in the well. With a whoosh, he threw the lamp's small bowl!
The bowl flew into the well with a roar, and Lan Yutian leaped in after it, following close behind.
Just as the bowl was about to fall into the Destruction Calamity, Lan Yutian shook his body. Countless arms extended in all directions, pointing at the well's walls, stabilizing each Hongmeng rune!
The well's rune operation paused for an instant. At the same time, the bowl expanded and sealed the well's bottom!
The Sky-Piercing Well immediately stopped functioning.
Lan Yutian's legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the bowl's bottom, weeping with joy.