Chapter 178: Might of the Golden Palace

Chen Lingxi traveled to Lunan Prefecture, descended into the Nanju Twelve Mountains, and retrieved the many treasures he had left behind.

Most of these treasures belonged to Rong Chun and the Crown Prince, Ying Chi, and could hardly be considered precious.

Chen Lingxi dumped all of them into the Gold-Swallowing Toad, producing two medicinal pills.

His gaze then fell on the Cauldron Vessel Fragment—the Beast-Fighting Palace.

This tiny palace model still overflowed with an ancient aura. The swirling energy stirred a touch of greed in Chen Lingxi's heart.

'The Cauldron Vessel rule for this Beast-Fighting Palace is to hold death matches within it, sacrificing the fallen beast gladiators to empower treasures.'

'Moreover, this Cauldron Vessel possesses extraordinary power. It could even empower the Purple True Treasure Vase to such a terrifying degree.'

'What if... I catch a bunch of martial artists, throw them into the Beast-Fighting Palace, and use it to empower my own treasures?'

The thought left Chen Lingxi itching to try.

But then he remembered the Time Candle!

He remembered the words 'cauldron calamity'!

His mind instantly cleared, and he frowned.

'Thinking it over, many Cauldron Vessels incite greed, tempting people to claim the fragments for themselves to advance their cultivation.

Just looking at this Beast-Fighting Palace today spawned such thoughts in my head. How terrifying.'

Chen Lingxi shook his head, banishing the thought.

He raised his hand, and the Beast-Fighting Palace slowly floated into the air.

The Method of Qi Observation activated in his eyes.

He gazed at the Beast-Fighting Palace and immediately saw countless auras swirling across it.

A mysterious, ancient aura was the strongest, almost entirely shrouding the miniature palace.

Beneath that, countless other auras—some strong, some weak—flowed over its surface.

Chen Lingxi observed it carefully. After a long while, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Emperor Daye tampered with this Beast-Fighting Palace. His residual aura really is still on it."

His eyes burned brightly. Circulating the Qi-Gathering Technique, he extracted a wisp of that aura from the Beast-Fighting Palace.

This wisp of aura was incredibly faint, on the verge of dissipating entirely.

Chen Lingxi sighed inwardly, 'Good thing I didn't stay in seclusion to push my spiritual qi cultivation to the Tenth Floor.

If I had waited another half a year, Emperor Daye's aura on this Beast-Fighting Palace would have completely vanished.'

Chen Lingxi captured the wisp of aura and wrapped it in his own, completely isolating it from the world before sealing it inside a jade pendant.

'In this grotto-heaven, Emperor Daye is the only one who wields a Cauldron Vessel.

Barring any accidents, the Dao-Absorbing Fruit in my hand will need to absorb Emperor Daye's aura to harness the power of his Cauldron Vessel.'

After gathering the qi, Chen Lingxi hesitated again.

'Emperor Daye's Enemy-Locking Formation is still on the Beast-Fighting Palace. If I carry it around for too long, the people in the imperial palace will definitely notice.

With my current cultivation, there is no way I can break this Enemy-Locking Formation.

But leaving this Cauldron Vessel behind in the Nanju Twelve Mountains would be far too much of a waste...'

Chen Lingxi pondered for a moment, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

With a wave of his hand, the Gold-Swallowing Toad he had just put into the Vast Void Pouch appeared in his palm once more.

'This Gold-Swallowing Toad is also a Cauldron Vessel with quite a few wondrous uses.

I wonder if it can swallow other Cauldron Vessel Fragments?'

His eyes burned with anticipation. He acted on the idea immediately.

Chen Lingxi channeled a strand of spiritual qi into the Gold-Swallowing Toad while extending his divine sense to envelop both the toad and the Beast-Fighting Palace.

In the next moment...

A shocking scene unfolded.

The flowing light on the Gold-Swallowing Toad began to ripple. The Cauldron Vessel seemed to come alive as it opened its mouth and swallowed the Beast-Fighting Palace whole!

Rumble!

A muffled boom echoed from the toad's belly!

At the same time, Chen Lingxi's pupils constricted.

Inside the cave, a face made of mist instantly condensed in the air.

Chen Lingxi was no stranger to this misty face.

He had seen it back when he was fighting as a beast gladiator in the Beast-Fighting Palace. It was the face of the Venerable Cauldron!

At this moment, the majestic, middle-aged Venerable Cauldron erupted with an aura of absolute fury.

He glared down at the Gold-Swallowing Toad.

"Insolent! You dare swallow my Cauldron Vessel Fragment?!"

Astonished, Chen Lingxi involuntarily stumbled back a few steps.

Then, a mysterious aura poured out from the Gold-Swallowing Toad, condensing into a massive phantom.

The phantom was not humanoid. It looked like a long snake... No... not a snake. It had horns on its head, and three claws extended from its belly.

It was a flood dragon!

As the flood dragon phantom materialized in the air, two beams of spiritual light shot from its eyes, landing squarely on the middle-aged Venerable Cauldron.

The two massive phantoms crammed the entire cave.

The middle-aged Venerable Cauldron had been boiling with fury, flames dancing in his eyes as waves of killing intent rolled off him.

But the moment the flood dragon hovered in the air and cast its spiritual light!

The middle-aged Venerable Cauldron suddenly took a sharp breath, lowered his head slightly, and said respectfully, "Greetings, True Person..."

"This lesser cultivator was presumptuous and offended the True Person. I am willing to accept my punishment."

The spiritual light in the flood dragon phantom's eyes remained fixed. A moment later, Chen Lingxi clearly heard the resonant roar of a dragon.

Woven within that roar was a clear message.

"Send ten thousand Spirit Crystals to Fenglong Inner Peak."

As the message landed, the massive flood dragon phantom shattered and vanished.

The misty avatar of the middle-aged Venerable Cauldron also began to thin out, while the Gold-Swallowing Toad a short distance away continued to happily chew on the Cauldron Vessel Fragment.

Just as the Venerable Cauldron's avatar was about to completely dissipate, he suddenly turned his head and locked eyes with Chen Lingxi.

He gave Chen Lingxi an indifferent glance.

His eyes were completely calm, entirely devoid of killing intent.

Yet it felt as though he was carving Chen Lingxi's face and aura deep into his memory.

In the next instant, the middle-aged Venerable Cauldron faded away completely.

Chen Lingxi stood there, somewhat dazed.

'The Gold-Swallowing Toad really did swallow the Beast-Fighting Palace.

Moreover... the masters of these two Cauldron Vessels manifested avatars and briefly clashed right here in this grotto-heaven!'

Recalling the scene that had just unfolded, Chen Lingxi's heart pounded.

Cauldron Vessel Fragments generally had two origins.

The first was that upon the death of the Cauldron Vessel's master, the vessel would shatter, drift into the turbulent void, and rain its fragments down into grotto-heaven secret realms.

The second was that the master of the Cauldron Vessel would intentionally shatter it themselves, scattering the fragments across the heavens in search of opportunities.

'It seems neither master of these two Cauldron Vessels has perished.'

'They sit high above in the Great Xuanzhuo Realm, letting their Cauldron Vessels seek out opportunities for them.'

Chen Lingxi's eyes flickered. After a moment's thought, he used the Method of Qi Observation on the Gold-Swallowing Toad again, but discovered nothing.

'After traveling through the turbulent void, the easily extracted master's qi has already been completely worn away.

As for the profound and mighty power still inside the Cauldron Vessel, I have no way of extracting it.'

Chen Lingxi shook his head, finding it a pity.

If he could extract the auras from these Cauldron Vessel Fragments, the Dao-Absorbing Fruit would have so many more options.

'During their brief clash, the master of the Beast-Fighting Palace saw that flood dragon and didn't dare show the slightest hint of defiance, allowing the Gold-Swallowing Toad to swallow the Cauldron Vessel Fragment.

And after all this, he probably still has to scrounge up those Spirit Crystals and head to the Fenglong Peaks to grovel.'

Chen Lingxi's eyes glinted.

He recalled the middle-aged Venerable Cauldron addressing the flood dragon as [True Person].

'It seems that flood dragon is a Golden Palace True Person.'

'And the master of the Beast-Fighting Palace should be at the Dao Foundation Realm.

The Golden Palace Realm is only one major cultivation tier above the Dao Foundation Realm, yet the difference in deterrence is massive.'

'And those Fenglong Peaks... aren't they where Liu Changle cultivated in the Great Xuanzhuo Realm?'

As his thoughts reached this point, he suddenly remembered the lingering gaze the master of the Beast-Fighting Palace had leveled at him.

So eerily calm and unreadable, yet staring so intensely.

Chen Lingxi instantly understood.

'By feeding the Beast-Fighting Palace to the Gold-Swallowing Toad, I've definitely drawn that Venerable Cauldron's ire.'

'This man is deeply scheming. He knows that many of the reincarnators have terrifyingly powerful backgrounds, so he held back his hatred and killing intent, merely memorizing my aura and face...'

'If he ever investigates and finds out I have no backing, the moment I return to the Great Xuanzhuo Realm, he'll definitely vent his fury on me.'

Chen Lingxi's eyes widened, and he let out a bitter chuckle.

"I just wanted to test it out. I didn't expect to earn myself a disaster!"

Feeling a pang of regret, he took the Gold-Swallowing Toad and quickly left the Nanju Twelve Mountains so the forces of the Imperial Court wouldn't track him down.

The following day, Chen Lingxi was just preparing to use Vision Roaming on Lin Suri.

His eyes suddenly flickered, and he pulled out the Gold-Swallowing Toad.

The toad's belly was bulging tight. With a flash of spiritual light, it spat out a medicinal pill!

Chen Lingxi's pupils constricted!

He could sense an incomparably heavy aura constantly swirling over the pill.

An unimaginable energy flowed through it. A vast, ocean-like volume of spiritual qi churned within, seemingly on the verge of overflowing.

"To think this pill... contains such impossibly pure spiritual qi."

Chen Lingxi's eyes widened, his breathing turning ragged.

"With this pill, I can rapidly step into the Heaven-Facing Realm, perhaps even reaching perfection on the Tenth Floor in one go."

Overjoyed, Chen Lingxi's eyes gleamed with excitement.

All of yesterday's regret was instantly thrown out the window.

"Right now, my chances of survival in this Qi-Depleted Grotto-Heaven are already slim. It's not even certain whether I'll ever make it to the Great Xuanzhuo Realm. Why the hell should I be scared of one Dao Foundation cultivator?"

Chen Lingxi thought for a moment, a vicious streak flaring in his heart. With a flick of his sleeve, another Cauldron Vessel appeared before him.

It was the Taotie Urn.

"As the saying goes, when lice are numerous, they do not itch! I might as well feed this Taotie Urn to the Gold-Swallowing Toad too!"

He acted on the thought instantly, pushing the Taotie Urn toward the Gold-Swallowing Toad.

But this time, the spiritual light on the toad flared as it hopped in front of the Taotie Urn. It opened its massive mouth, preparing to swallow the urn whole.

But a split second later.

The Gold-Swallowing Toad seemed to sense something. Its spiritual light instantly died out, and it reverted into the lifeless form of a sculpture.

"You're not going to eat it?"

Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow.

He suddenly remembered the terrifying aura he had felt when he first connected with the Taotie Urn.

'The aura of the Taotie Urn's master is exceptionally deep and oppressive. It's highly likely he practices some Method of Life Devouring.'

'Even the flood dragon from the Dragon-Revering Sect doesn't dare offend him.'

Chen Lingxi put the two Cauldron Vessel Fragments away. After thoroughly studying the brand-new pill, he stored it safely away as well.

"An unintentional whim, but the harvest is huge."

Chen Lingxi sat cross-legged on a cloud, sinking his consciousness into the Divine Chamber.

He activated the Vision Roaming Divine Ability.

A dozen breaths later, Chen Lingxi stood up and looked toward the north.

"I need to find my Daoist Friend Lin and ask him properly... just what the Great Divine Ability of the Dao Foundation Realm is."