Chapter 2804: Witch Palace, Nine Cauldrons
Watching the tidal waves formed by the collision between the Origin Divine Sea and the Phoenix Anomaly Beast, Xue Butcher was dumbfounded, feeling that Zhang Ruochen's figure at this moment was outstanding and majestic, making even him, a true god, feel admiration.
Too strong!
Was this the legendary Envoy of a Path?
The Eternal Origin, the spokesperson in the mortal world?
Xue Butcher suddenly felt that as a god, one should have pursuits and goals—to seize Esoterica, become an Envoy of a Path, become a Lord of a Path. But thinking that he was still struggling for a Supreme Sacred Artifact, his mood instantly plummeted to rock bottom.
The cultivators of the Yama Clan who were still conscious were all shocked by the power Zhang Ruochen had unleashed, realizing that the most brilliant figure of this era had officially soared to the Nine Heavens, gaining a voice that could influence this great age.
With such power, which force would dare to underestimate him?
"Is this the power of the Origin Envoy?"
Yan Wushen's eyes were dazed as he let out a faint sigh.
In the Origin Divine Temple, he had also obtained a portion of Origin Esoterica, but not even one percent, leaving a gap between him and the Origin Envoy. This difference in the quantity of Origin Esoterica had become the chasm between his and Zhang Ruochen's combat power.
But Yan Wushen was ultimately an extraordinary figure, and his mind quickly calmed.
Because he understood a principle: in the end, gods must rely on cultivation base and spiritual will. Having the identity of Origin Envoy only meant temporarily walking ahead.
Chi Yao was well aware that even if Zhang Ruochen was the Origin Envoy, he had only just grasped this power, while the Dragon-shaped Anomaly Beast and Phoenix Anomaly Beast were terrifyingly strong, not something he could contend with yet.
So, she used her divine Qi to sweep up the Yama Clan cultivators and rushed into the glazed light curtain of the Heavenly Gate.
Being repelled by a tiny human infuriated the Phoenix Anomaly Beast. The feathers on its body burned with black flames, and a metallic claw reached straight for Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands together, fully releasing his spiritual power to control the Origin Esoterica and Origin Rules.
"Whoosh!"
A pure white, flawless Origin Divine Lotus bloomed in midair.
The flower was like a world, vast and indistinct.
"Boom!"
The Phoenix claw descended, colliding with the Origin Divine Lotus. Instantly, two completely different forces—black and white—burst outward, shaking even the glazed light curtain of the Heavenly Gate.
Taking advantage of this momentum, Zhang Ruochen flew into the Heavenly Gate with the force of the impact.
The Phoenix Anomaly Beast and the Dragon-shaped Anomaly Beast, which caught up a step later, shrank their bodies, transforming into two giants dozens of meters tall. However, one had a dragon head, and the other had a phoenix head.
They were clearly wary of the Heavenly Gate, hesitating about whether to pursue.
"Gu ya!"
A strange cry came.
The enormous skull head of the Ghost-type Anomaly Beast hung within a mass of oppressive ghost clouds, appearing above the Phoenix Anomaly Beast and Dragon-shaped Anomaly Beast.
The Abyss of Darkness had a strict hierarchy.
The Phoenix Anomaly Beast and Dragon-shaped Anomaly Beast immediately knelt on one knee, bowing to the skull head.
"Whoosh!"
Unexpectedly for the Phoenix and Dragon Anomaly Beasts, a gust of yin wind swept around them, and their bodies uncontrollably flew toward the Ghost-type Anomaly Beast's mouth.
"Roar!"
"Clang!"
Dragon roars and Phoenix cries rang out continuously.
The Phoenix and Dragon Anomaly Beasts each used their methods, revealing their true forms, spewing divine flames, struggling fiercely, and contending with the skull head.
But moments later, they were still swallowed into the mouth. The moment they entered, crushed by the Ghost-type Anomaly Beast's powerful divine force, their dragon and phoenix divine bodies exploded, turning into two masses of black blood Qi.
Xiao Hei, hiding ten thousand miles from the Heavenly Gate, was so frightened that the cat fur on his head stood on end, like a hedgehog head.
"So brutal, even devouring its own kind, no humanity! No, they aren't the same kind, and it isn't human either. But it's too strong—one bite and it devoured a dragon and phoenix. No wonder even back then, the Five Pure Sects couldn't keep a single Ghost-type Anomaly Beast."
Xiao Hei had arrived near the Heavenly Gate long ago. If not for the appearance of the Dragon and Phoenix Anomaly Beasts, he would have already rushed to join Zhang Ruochen and the others.
Further away, other gods were hidden in the shadows, witnessing this scene. There was no helping it—the Dragon, Phoenix, and Ghost-type Anomaly Beasts were too massive; one mouth could hold hundreds or thousands of mountains.
The Ghost-type Anomaly Beast did not pursue into the Heavenly Gate, instead turning into a patch of ghost clouds and disappearing into the darkness.
Xiao Hei lay prone on the ground for a long time, feeling like he was turning into a cat. Only after confirming that the Ghost-type Anomaly Beast had left did he slowly stand up and rush toward the Heavenly Gate.
He had long recognized the two heavenly pillars as the former Heavenly Gate.
Since the Heavenly Gate was here, there might be relics of the Middle Ages Sacred Realm inside.
...
Below the Heavenly Gate, sacred light shone brilliantly, and star cores sparkled, casting the sky in blue.
But entering the Heavenly Gate revealed a completely different scene.
Before them stood an ancient and strange colossal building, taller than the two heavenly pillars, exuding a weathered aura with a hint of primeval charm.
On the building, there were silver horns hundreds of meters long, serving as flying eaves and beams. Xue Butcher recognized them as the horns of an extinct ancient divine beast.
A divine dragon skeleton thousands of miles long lay across the third floor of the building, still emitting dense evil Qi.
Divine stones had been polished into pillars, supporting the building's main beams.
Just one such pillar was priceless.
Xue Butcher charged forward but was firmly held back by Zhang Ruochen.
This place was too eerie. Such a massive building, with no visible top or edge, could only be compared in Zhang Ruochen's experience to the Truth Divine Temple and the Destiny Divine Temple. It was too strange.
If that divine stone pillar were so easy to take, it would have been carried away long ago by Yinshi Tian and Yan Huanyu, who had been here before. Why would it still be standing here?
Just as Zhang Ruochen and the others were observing their surroundings, an old man at the Unbounded Realm with weaker spiritual power showed a fascinated expression, somewhat dazed, and slowly walked toward the giant building ahead.
Yan Wushen immediately shouted, "Come back!"
Just as he was about to reach out and pull him back, the old man at the Unbounded Realm emitted black smoke from his entire body. The smoke grew thicker and thicker, and finally, he turned into a charred corpse, collapsing to the ground.
A Great Saint at the Unbounded Realm had died in an instant.
No one present even knew what had just happened. What had killed him?
Xue Butcher, who had been looking like a resentful wife, feeling that Zhang Ruochen was hindering his chance to get rich, saw this scene and gasped, his Adam's apple bobbing as he stepped back.
"What's going on? What just happened?"
"Why did Elder Meng die so suddenly? Could it be a curse?"
"The power of time?"
"This place is too strange. Elder Meng wouldn't have walked forward for no reason; he might have fallen under an illusion."
...
At that moment, a voice came from behind: "It's not a curse, not the power of time, not an illusion. It's witchcraft!"
Everyone turned to look.
Xiao Hei stepped through the Heavenly Gate, wearing a dark robe and black clothes, a hood over his head, looking extremely cool. He strode forward and said, "You shallow cultivators, don't you recognize that the building standing before you is the Witch Palace recorded in the 'Ancient Witch Complete Book'?"
Then, Xiao Hei approached the charred corpse and said, "This was caused by black witchcraft. Once hit by this witchcraft, no matter how high your cultivation or how abundant your blood Qi, your life force will wither and your blood Qi will drain away in a very short time."
Xue Butcher said, "In the Ancient Era, when the rules of heaven and earth changed, the universe was no longer suitable for cultivating witchcraft. Witch cultivators could hardly achieve anything great. Who could kill a Great Saint at the Unbounded Realm?"
Yan Ting added, "That's right! Witchcraft, like Qi cultivators, disappeared from the river of history in the Ancient Era."
"What do you know? This Emperor has read ten thousand books and traveled ten thousand miles. The knowledge I possess is not something you juniors can compare to!"
Then, Xiao Hei pointed to the nine bronze cauldrons at the base of the ancient building in the distance.
The bronze cauldrons were ten thousand meters tall, as large as mountains.
A thick layer of green rust covered the cauldrons, obscuring the original patterns on their surfaces. But one could still see that each cauldron had a statue on it—human-shaped, or half-human, half-beast forms.
However, the rust was too deep to make out clearly.
Xiao Hei said, "These are the legendary Nine Cauldrons, forged by the Nine Ancestral Witches. The Nine Cauldrons suppress the world, distributed across the nine great directions of the universe. With the great calamity from the end of the Ancient Era to the beginning of the Primordial Era, the Witch Palace collapsed, the Nine Cauldrons disappeared from the world, and the path of witchcraft completely declined, no longer a match for Qi cultivators."
Hearing the words "Nine Cauldrons," every cultivator present was deeply shaken.
The Nine Cauldrons were too famous. Legends of them had spread across the various eternal undying great worlds of the Heavenly Court and the Ten Clans of Hell. They were truly the supreme divine artifacts of the universe.
In ancient times, countless Heavenly Venerable-level powerhouses had consulted ancient texts and spent their entire lives searching for the whereabouts of the Nine Cauldrons.
He who obtains the Nine Cauldrons commands the world, with all clans obeying and all heavens paying homage.
Xue Butcher didn't believe at all that the cauldrons before him were the legendary Nine Cauldrons. He argued with Xiao Hei, "If you say the Witch Palace has already collapsed, how did it appear here?"
Xiao Hei glared at him and said, "How many eons have passed since the Ancient Era? That the Witch Palace collapsed is a widely accepted legend, but legends aren't necessarily true. When the real Witch Palace stands before you, will you still believe the legend? Seeing is believing, hearing is doubting—you don't even understand that? How did you cultivate to the divine realm?"
"Show some respect when you speak," Yan Ting said.
Xiao Hei bared his teeth, ignoring her.
The crowd was already somewhat convinced, because the aura emitted by the Nine Cauldrons and the ancient building was indeed ancient beyond words, not something from within the last ten million years.
This was enough to make one's blood boil!
If the news were spread, even God Venerable-level existences would personally rush to the Ancient Desolate Ruins City.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fixed on one of the bronze cauldrons. He found its shape somewhat similar to the Zhang family's heirloom divine artifact, the Jade Emperor Cauldron. But it was only similar in outline; everything else was vastly different. Even the number of cauldron legs and ears differed.
All the cultivators, including Chi Yao, Xue Butcher, and Yan Wushen, were observing the Nine Cauldrons and eager to approach them.
But the earlier death of the old man at the Unbounded Realm was too strange, making them very cautious, unwilling to advance in person.
Zhang Ruochen, however, maintained a calm mindset. He didn't really believe that the true Nine Cauldrons would be so casually placed here. He asked Xiao Hei, "When you came in just now, did you see a Dragon-shaped Anomaly Beast and a Phoenix-shaped Anomaly Beast?"
"I saw them. This Emperor has already driven them away!"
Xiao Hei waved his hand lightly, looking as if it was no big deal.
Zhang Ruochen stared at him.
Xiao Hei grew impatient and said, "What's with that look? Even if you don't believe in this Emperor's strength, you should at least believe in the cultivation of the Ice Emperor, right? How could this Emperor only have one Ice Soul Cold Pearl on him? Besides, if this Emperor hadn't driven them away, how could I have gotten in?"
He deliberately raised his voice so that the Yama Clan cultivators and Xue Butcher could hear.
Xue Butcher's expression actually changed slightly. He sighed inwardly, "The treatment of a disciple and a biological son is indeed different. If I were the biological son of the Death God Venerable, I would probably have such powerful trump cards too. I hate not being born into a God Venerable's family!"