Earth Spirit Bead?
Ye Qiu stared at the white Buddhist bead, his heart shaking. He had never imagined Wu Hua still carried a supreme Buddhist artefact.
He had been careless!
Far away, Yun Xi, Hu Zi, Long-Browed Zhenren, Mo Tianji, Lin Da Niao, and all the Azure Cloud Sword Sect disciples paled the instant the Earth Spirit Bead appeared.
The pressure from a divine artefact was simply too terrifying. Even standing at a distance, their souls felt as though they would shatter.
“Ye Changsheng, so what if your combat strength is overwhelming? I possess a divine artefact. What do you have to fight me with?”
“Be a good boy and accept death.”
“Today not only will you die, everyone on your side will die with you.”
“Hahahaha…”
Wu Hua laughed unrestrained.
The Earth Spirit Bead hovered above his head, its radiance growing ever more brilliant. Clearly, the artefact was awakening.
“Hmph. You think you’re the only one with a divine artefact?”
Ye Qiu gave a cold snort and immediately summoned the Cosmos Cauldron.
Boom!
The cauldron floated above Ye Qiu’s head, cascading strands of golden light. It looked extraordinarily majestic.
Yet Ye Qiu’s soul, however, still trembled. The might of the Earth Spirit Bead was simply too great.
Wu Hua’s pupils contracted. He stared at the Cosmos Cauldron for a moment, then sneered with contempt. “With your current strength, you cannot unleash the true power of a divine artefact. There is no way you can block my Earth Spirit Bead.”
“When I left the Great Thunderclap Temple, my master, fearing the unexpected, personally inscribed runes upon the Earth Spirit Bead. In other words, I can bring forth its strongest power.”
“In its day, this Earth Spirit Bead once slaughtered a powerhouse who was infinitely approached the Great Emperor realm.”
“Who would have thought… Ye Changsheng, on the verge of death, you would deliver another divine artefact straight into my hands. Hahaha…”
Wu Hua laughed wildly, beside himself with excitement.
Ye Qiu’s expression darkened.
Wu Hua was right. With his present cultivation, he could not draw out only a fraction of the artefact’s true might.
He remembered the last time—when he killed Xu Yourong—how, at the critical moment, a wisp of Divine Sense from the Limitless Heavenly Venerable had suddenly appeared.
It had been the infant qilin’s divine beast blood that activated the cauldron, allowing Ye Qiu to smash that wisp of Divine Sense.
But now…
Did he have to use divine beast blood again?
At that very moment, the little white fox suddenly appeared at his side.
“What are you doing here?” Ye Qiu was startled and immediately barked, “It’s dangerous. Leave at once!”
After the Earth Spirit Bead appeared, even his fleshly body had nearly crumbled and his soul was restless. Fortunately the Cosmos Cauldron shielded him from part of the pressure.
Yet the little white fox, with no defence at all, strolled casually to his side, completely unharmed.
The fox ignored his order to leave. “Ye Changsheng, I’ll help you fully activate this divine artefact, but you must promise me one favour.”
“What favour?” Ye Qiu asked.
“I haven’t decided yet. I’ll tell you when I do. Deal?” the little fox said.
“You’re not afraid I’ll agree now and go back on my word later?” Ye Qiu asked.
“If you dare renege, I’ll beat you to death.” With those words, one of the tails behind its rear shot skyward. A single drop of essence blood flew out and landed on the Cosmos Cauldron.
In an instant, the drop of blood spread rapidly.
Boom!
A vast imperial aura erupted from the cauldron, sweeping across heaven and earth.
The cauldron’s surface blazed with light. Countless runes flowed without cease. Mountains and rivers carved upon it seemed to come alive. Fish, insects, birds, and beasts leapt from the bronze, circling the cauldron while issuing cries that sounded like the chanting of gods.
Everyone watching from afar felt the same thing with crystal clarity: in the presence of this cauldron, they were weaker than ants—weaker even than specks of dust.
They trembled uncontrollably, their souls quaking. Fortunately they were on Ye Qiu’s side; otherwise a single thought from him would reduce them to nothingness.
Although the cauldron’s physical size did not change, its might had increased millions upon millions of times.
Once fully activated, the pressure from the Earth Spirit Bead vanished completely for Ye Qiu.
At this moment he felt with absolute certainty that even if a true Saint descended in person, he could smash them with one strike of the cauldron.
Invincible!
On the other side, though the Earth Spirit Bead’s radiance grew increasingly dazzling and its aura ever more powerful, compared to the majesty of the Cosmos Cauldron it was pitifully weak.
Moreover, the Earth Spirit Bead began spinning frantically, emitting a mournful whine as though terrified.
“How can this be?!”
Wu Hua could no longer remain calm.
Ye Qiu declared proudly, “A grain of rice dares to vie with the sun and moon for brilliance? Overestimating yourself.”
Boom!
Carrying boundless might, the Cosmos Cauldron smashed towards the Earth Spirit Bead. Sensing mortal danger, the bead did not hesitate; it swept up Wu Hua’s primordial spirit and fled toward the horizon at extreme speed.
This supreme Buddhist artefact had completely cowered before the Cosmos Cauldron and turned tail.
Boom!
The cauldron struck empty void. In an instant, the void shattered and reformed, as though chaos itself was being split apart.
Though the Earth Spirit Bead escaped swiftly and evaded the direct strike, the sheer force of the cauldron’s attack was too overwhelming. Even a trace of residual power cracked the bead.
Crack, crack, crack…
A long fissure appeared across the Earth Spirit Bead’s surface.
“Ah…” Wu Hua’s primordial spirit screamed in agony. Ye Qiu saw cracks appear on the spirit as well, but in the next moment both bead and spirit vanished into a rift in space.
When Ye Qiu tried to command the cauldron to pursue, he found himself drained. The cauldron’s light dimmed, returning to normal as it settled above his head once more.
“Damn it, that bald donkey still got away.” Ye Qiu was annoyed.
“Don’t be angry. You should be happy,” the little white fox said. “Wu Hua’s cultivation is destroyed and his primordial spirit cracked. Even if the holy monk of Mount Sumeru can heal him, he won’t recover in this lifetime.”
“For the short term at least, he will not reappear.”
“As for that Earth Spirit Bead—a supreme Buddhist artefact—now bears such a massive crack. It cannot be easily repaired and will never again display the might of a true divine artefact.”
“This battle has brought you enormous gains.”
The little fox continued, “This time I used my essence blood to activate the artefact for you, but essence blood is ultimately an external force. To truly command this cauldron, you need genuine cultivation.”
“If your cultivation were sufficient, neither the Earth Spirit Bead nor Wu Hua could have escaped. A divine artefact can shatter the void itself. Even fleeing into spatial rifts would mean certain death.”
“So, Ye Changsheng, you must diligently raise your cultivation.”
The little fox lay beside Ye Qiu’s heel. As it spoke, its voice grew weaker, clearly exhausted.
Losing one drop of essence blood was equivalent to losing one of its lives.
It had already spent one drop earlier helping Ye Qiu find that supreme opportunity. Now it had lost a second life.
“Though I’m unwilling we didn’t finish Wu Hua off, I still have to thank you.”
Ye Qiu scooped the little white fox into his arms.
At that exact moment, the golden coffin beside the broken cliff trembled once more.
Clang!
