“Uh…”
At that instant, every single person present was struck utterly dumb.
The Ji family Great Elder was a Second Level Martial Saint who had walked that realm for over a hundred years. The Jiangshan Sheji Cauldron was renowned across the entire continent.
Everyone had assumed that once the Great Elder brought out the Sheji Cauldron, he intended to kill Long Tutian and that Long Tutian was in mortal danger.
Who could have imagined that it would not be Long Tutian in peril, but the Great Elder himself being blasted away?
Lin Xiao’s face was likewise filled with shock.
Just moments ago he had been worried. The reputation of the Jiangshan Sheji Cauldron was simply too great, its presence too terrifying. He had thought Long Tutian would not be able to withstand it.
Yet in the end, it was the other side that could not withstand Long Tutian’s attack.
The supreme treasure of the Ji family, the cauldron said to settle the realm with one strike, was that truly all the power it possessed?
Of course, looking at it the other way, it was far more likely that Long Tutian was simply too powerful. Even the Jiangshan Sheji Cauldron wielded by the Great Elder could not stand against him.
Ji Lian and Zhan Meng, standing to either side of the Great Elder’s original position, were equally stunned.
They naturally knew the fame of the Sheji Cauldron, which was why they had not assisted earlier. Who would have thought the outcome would be this?
Now that even the Sheji Cauldron could not overpower Long Tutian, what method did they still have to bring him down?
“Worthy of the legendary figure of his generation. Invincible beneath Martial Saint in his youth. That title was truly no empty boast!”
“Back then he could sweep opponents several tiers above him. Now that he has become a Martial Saint, he has lost none of that brilliance!”
“The rankings among the three great powers are probably going to shift.”
“Not necessarily. The Ji family rose to become one of the continental hegemons. Their hidden reserves are beyond what we can see. But in the future, if Long Tutian advances one more step, then it will indeed be difficult to say.”
…
Whispers spread through the crowd, voices filled with astonishment. In their hearts, reverence for Long Tutian arose unbidden.
To reach the Martial Saint realm in his forties and possess such overwhelming strength, it was nothing short of a miracle.
The Ji family members all wore extremely dark expressions. That was their Great Elder, the number-two figure of the clan, yet he had actually been overpowered by Long Tutian…
They did not know how many more hidden cards the Ji family still held, but from this day forward, the Ji family’s title as the overlord of Yang Province would surely invite some scepticism.
After their initial shock, the elders and disciples of Canglong Gate felt a surge of joy.
If one day Long Tutian could lead Canglong Gate to become the foremost power in Yang Province, then perhaps all the old grudges of the past could be written off…
“You!”
The Great Elder, having stabilised himself after being blasted away, flew into a humiliated rage. In all his centuries of life, he had never suffered such disgrace.
He was the Great Elder of the Ji family! Wielding the clan’s supreme treasure, yet wounded by a junior. This was his personal humiliation and a humiliation for the entire Ji family.
If word of this spread, where would the Ji family’s face be? Where would the prestige of the Jiangshan Sheji Cauldron stand?
“Long Tutian, you court death!”
Roaring in fury, the Great Elder flicked the cauldron upward. His hands parted. As the cauldron fell, he slammed both palms heavily against its walls.
At the same moment, vital energy flashed in his palms, slicing them open. Blood flowed freely.
Immediately afterwards, those bleeding palms struck the walls of the cauldron with thunderous force.
CLANG!
A piercing sound rang through heaven and earth, sharp enough to rupture everyone’s eardrums, unbearably painful to hear.
On both sides of the cauldron, the Great Elder’s essence blood and lifeblood poured into the artefact. Terrifying power surged within it.
The engraved landscapes of rivers and mountains upon the cauldron lit up. The entire cauldron blazed with ten thousand zhang of green light, illuminating the whole region.
“Jiangshan Sheji Cauldron, Heavenly Cauldron Subdues Demons!”
With a thunderous shout that rolled like heavenly thunder, the Great Elder flipped vertically, body parallel to the ground, gripping the dazzling green cauldron with both hands as he charged horizontally toward Long Tutian.
At the same instant, even grander and more majestic phenomena of mountains, rivers, fertile fields, and verdant plains appeared. Everything within several hundred li became a vista of blue waters and green mountains.
Those landscapes of the realm were no longer mere illusions. They seemed almost materialised, solidifying as they swept toward Long Tutian at extreme speed.
Yet no energy beam shot from the mouth of the cauldron. It simply hurtled through the sky to smash into him.
The surrounding hundred-li radius that moved with the cauldron manifested solid mountain peaks that closed in to entrap Long Tutian, as though intending to seal him inside.
“Blood sacrifice to the Sheji Cauldron!”
Nearby, Ji Lian cried out in shock. The Jiangshan Sheji Cauldron was difficult even for a First Level Martial Saint to wield. Even their Great Elder could only barely activate it. To unleash greater power required a special method.
Blood sacrifice was precisely the Ji family’s secret technique for drawing forth even mightier power from the cauldron, far surpassing ordinary activation.
The price, however, was pouring in one’s own essence blood and a massive amount of lifeblood. The toll on the body was enormous.
A single blood sacrifice could require a light case of secluded recuperation for one or several years, or in severe cases decades or even a drop in cultivation realm.
If all of one’s essence blood were expended, death would inevitably follow the final attack.
Ji Lian had never imagined that the Great Elder would immediately resort to blood sacrifice.
But compared to the floating heavenly palace, a treasure potentially equal to the Sheji Cauldron itself, the sacrifice was worth it.
Only through blood sacrifice could they bring down Long Tutian, or even eliminate the threat forever.
Zhan Meng was equally stunned. As a Martial Saint, he had naturally heard of the Ji family’s blood-sacrifice method.
He had not expected the Great Elder to be so ruthless, resorting to blood sacrifice without even exchanging more blows.
Facing the oncoming, phenomenon-solidified Jiangshan Sheji Cauldron, Long Tutian’s tone suddenly grew grave as he transmitted directly to Lin Xiao, “This talisman will carry you five thousand li away. Enter the void fissure and seek a chance of survival!”
Immediately afterwards, Long Tutian flicked a finger backward. A beam of light shot out, enveloping Lin Xiao and hurling him at extreme speed diagonally rearward, straight toward the long void fissure.
ROAR!!!
A draconic roar shook the heavens. Long Tutian’s other fist blasted forward. Only five golden dragons burst forth this time, coiling as they charged toward the mouth of the cauldron held in the Great Elder’s hands.
CLANG!
The five golden dragons collided with the cauldron’s mouth. A colossal metallic clang exploded outward. The five dragons shattered into rolling shockwaves.
Yet the surrounding mountains and rivers and fields acted as tangible force, preventing the shockwaves from dispersing outward and instead funnelling them all toward Long Tutian.
But the cauldron gripped in the Great Elder’s hands was even faster. It gathered those rolling shockwaves and smashed horizontally toward Long Tutian.
Long Tutian’s other fist blazed with golden light as he swung sideways at the massive cauldron. A thunderous CLANG rang out. Long Tutian spat a mouthful of blood, his entire body hurtling backward.
The Sheji Cauldron was also momentarily halted by the force of his strike. Yet the surrounding phenomena remained solidified, covering hundreds of li. Long Tutian’s flying body crashed into the vast fields that had materialised behind him.
For some unknown reason, those fields acted like a cage, rebounding his body back inward.
The entire solidified landscape of rivers and mountains now bound Long Tutian within it.
And from the front, the Great Elder once again gripped the Sheji Cauldron and charged toward Long Tutian a second time.
