925 Engulf the Enemies
“Because you’re here!”
The air was filled with an intense silence after Chen Fan spoke.
From the millions of cultivators inside the city, to the bystanders such as the Wu Family and Luo Changshen, everyone was floored.
“Elder, what does Chen Beixuan mean?” Jiang Han asked in confusion.
“He wants to use humans as ingredients. That’s absurd and preposterous. ” Elder Chenyan rounded his eyes in anger, but he couldn’t hide the immense fear in his heart.
The revelation stunned everyone in the Alchemy Guild.
Cultivators harnessed energies from nature and transformed them into vitality and Spirit force. In theory, they were perfect for brewing elixirs, just like any spirit medicine.
That did not mean one should do that.
Morality aside, any cultivator who could be used in the brewing process had to be a force to be reckoned with. Creating a Heavenly Pill required the best and the purest energies, so average Golden Core Cultivators simply wouldn’t be enough to be considered. Only mighty cultivators such as Ji Xuanzong and Feng Chengzi who were able to kill a Connate Cultivator with one drop of blood might have what it takes to become part of the Heavenly Pill.
Before this point in time, Chen Fan had been thinking about obtaining the Heavenly Medicines inside the Alchemy Guild, however, he no longer needed to do so.
“How dare you!”
“Enough!”
“Insolence!”
Thirteen elders shouted their outrage and fury.
“You want to use me in the cauldron? You’re dreaming. Let me take you back to the Hu family so you can repent of your sins before my son’s tomb.”
Hu Guimin scoffed.
“Boom!”
His arms turned into two violet claws the size of two mountains. The surface of the claws had a metallic sheen while the paws were covered with fur. They were the paws of a Heavenly Fox. Two furry paws that were lined with sharp claws suddenly bore down from the sky.
“He was the one who fought us earlier.”
Zhao Juexian’ face changed colors.
“Hm!”
Chen Fan rose to his feet slowly and then pointed a finger at the paw. A thousand meter long finger appeared in the sky through the clouds and plunged into the paws.
“Azure Thearch… G.o.d Shattering Jab.”
Bang!
The thousand meter long finger shattered the two purple claws. However, it had given the thirteen elders time to charge up their energy and attack at once. They knew Chen Fan was a mighty cultivator and Hu Guimin alone would not be enough to bring him down. Their only hope was in team work.
“Boom!”
A unthinkably terrifying wave of energy was swept across the landscape, crus.h.i.+ng everything in its path.
Hundreds of mountain peaks that surrounded Chen Fan crumbled under the pressure. The powerful attack forced the Medicine City to turn on the Heavenly Arrays. Without that protection, half of the city would have been reduced to dust.
“Boom, boom!”
Rays of Qi Energy soared above the sky and filled up the firmament.
Everyone knew how powerful a Longevity Roll elite was, and many of them had seen it with their own eyes. Those Longevity Roll elites could take on a hundred Golden Core Cultivators at once and shatter everything a hundred miles around him.
No one could even imagine the combined might of the thirteen Longevity Roll elites.
Crack!
In countless horrified eyes, a dark gaping hole was opened in the sky as the blow shattered everything that was not under the protection of the Heavenly Lord’s protection spells. If the Heavenly Lords didn’t bless the land with their might, the blow would have punched through the planet’s crust and reached its core.
However, he wasn’t finished yet.
The area around Chen Fan suddenly turned blurry as all matter disintegrated into smithereens. The s.p.a.ce was contorted and folded, ushering forth countless violent dimensional storms. All Elixir Qi was intermixed, becoming deadly to whoever dared to venture into the storm of chaos.
“Such power! Is that the real strength of the Longevity Roll elites?”
In the Alchemy Guild, Jiang Han and Elder Chenyan looked up and were terrified. Their horror was shared by the Alchemy Guild Master. Qiao Qiao who had appeared before the tower clenched her fist tightly as she looked toward the other side of the city wall.
“A Cultivator can improve his level of attainment, but not the level of his Golden Core. It was determined at the moment of Thunder Tribulation. People such as Feng Chengzi who were born in a Heavenly Lord Family have cultivated Heavenly Arts since childhood and inherited tremendous talents. Therefore, they were able to form superior-grade Golden Cores. Two thousand years of diligent cultivation have further tempered their raw talent.
“Their raw strength might be on par with the young elites on the Longevity Roll, but their Divine Powers are far superior.
“The combined attack of the thirteen cultivators should be as deadly as that of a Heavenly Lord.”
Luo Changshen heaved a sigh.
“Brother Luo, what would you do if you were in that position?” Violet Moon Fairy asked, batting her lashes.
“If I were in that position, I would take them by surprise, killing one or two before they could join forces. After that I will just run away. Or, I would concede defeat from the outset and seek revenge later. However… ”
Luo Changshen shook his head as a derisive light flickered in his eyes.
“If I were him, I would never put myself under such risk. He has the strength but lacks the wits. He is a dimwitted brute.”
An admiring smile broke over Violet Moon Fairy’s face.
“Just so, Chen Beixuan is a stubborn fool. Anyone with a brain would have to hide somewhere and wait for danger to pa.s.s. His enemies in the Beihuang Region would not overreach to other Heavenly Regions to bring him back. But ohh no, he decided to be the cool guy and show up in front of Medicine City. I think years of study in the alchemy lab turned him into a cretin.” Wu Wendin fumed.
“Ancestral Patriarch, are you sure there’s no way to save him?” Wu Qinyan asked with a pleading look.
“We will have to bring the Zhenhai Tripod Cauldron. Otherwise, not even the Ancestral Patriarch would be able to help him,” Wu Baisu said.
Hearing the words, Wu Qinyan lost all hope.
The Zhenhai Tripod Cauldron was the Wu Family’s most prized treasure. It was used to guard the family against many perils and it would not be used for other purposes unless necessary. Most families would treat such a treasure like their most prized possession.
The fact that none of the thirteen elders had brought their Heavenly Treasures was indicative of how much they valued them.
“Hehe. If that kid would have agreed to marry you two and become a member of the Wu Family, the old man might have been able to get the permission to use the Zhenhai Tripod Cauldron. But not now,” Wu Wendin said with a smirk.
Suddenly, countless jets of energy were shot out from the center of the battlefield.
“Nine Illusions of Heavenly Fox!”
“Annihilation of the Dark Sun!”
“Divine Thunder of Singularity!”
Thirteen elders attacked with abandon at the same time, using their power at the fullest.
Seven purple fox paws ripped open the sky, issuing forth a gust of dark wind that was able to corrode steel. Meanwhile, a huge divine thunder hung above the mountain ranges. The world-shattering energy within the lightning flashed from time to time.
“Surrender or die!”
A roaring noise was shot through the mountain.
The elders revealed their Dharma Forms one after another.
Those ghastly apparitions were surrounded by dark clouds and a continuous rumbling of thunder. Their faces were indifferent as they looked down at the mountain and Chen Fan as if he were an insect. It was apparent that their next attack would level the mountain.
Zhao Juexian’s face turned pale.
A smile surfaced on Situ Cheng’s face. It was a slight curl of the lips, and it gradually broadened until he burst out laughing. He looked to Chen Fan, poison and vengeance pouring out from his eyes.
“Dear Elixir Monarch Chen, what would be your choice now? Are you going to keep on holding your chin up and accept your doom, or will you kneel and beg for your life? I really wish to see the latter happen.”
“Are you crazy? If the blow lands on us, you will die too,” Yun Yier shouted at him hotly.
“Hehe… I am but a dead man the moment I lost the Alchemy Battle to Chen Fan. I have nothing to lose now. All I want to see is Chen Fan’s demise.”
Situ Cheng laughed.
Lin Wuhua and the others looked to Chen Fan.
They knew that Elixir Monarch Chen was their last hope to turn the tables around.
“Master, maybe we should pull back for now,” Zhao Juexian spoke under his breath.
“I agree, Senior Chen. Let’s ignore their empty threats for now. You are the Elixir Monarch, they wouldn’t dare to harm you. If they do, the overlords from other Heavenly Regions wouldn’t let them get away unscathed,” Mu Hongti said.
Yun Yier widened her eyes while Situ Cheng kept his cold smirk on his face.
After a while, Chen Fan finally rose to his feet. The Treasure Cauldron of a Hundred Medicines s.h.i.+ned with a golden glow, a sign that the Heavenly Pill was near completion. The area around Chen Fan was the last bastion amidst a violent energy storm. The roaring of beasts mixed with claps of thunder threatened to turn the world upside down in an apocalypse.
“Senior Chen,” Lin Wuhua murmured the name quietly; her eyes were filled with concern and distress.
Chen Fan turned around and gave her a comforting smile. Then he shot Situ Cheng a cold glance. “I will show you the real Art of Alchemy.
“Watch and learn!”
Chen Fan took a step forward and stomped the ground with a thunderous thud.
“Essence Qi of Heaven and Earth at my command.
“Cauldron Form!”
Suddenly, the earth shook as if it were an earthquake. A brilliant light came up from the depths of the earth.
Countless jets of Qi energy rose to the sky. The smallest Essence Qi strand was the size of a giant dragon, while the largest was the size of a mountain. Those were the Spirit Veins buried deep underground, and Essence Qi Veins hidden in the clouds.
There was an unthinkable amount of power that lurked under the surface of reality. Only the most powerful cultivators could tap into their energy for a brief moment. However, Chen Fan had forced them to reveal themselves, reshaping them into a Cauldron.
The top of the cauldron reached the zenith of the firmament and its enormous body filled the s.p.a.ce between heaven and earth.
The surface of the cauldron was covered with images of mountains and rivers under the sun and the moon. The three-legged cauldron was more than five thousand meters tall and its bowel had engulfed everything on the battlefield including the thirteen elders.
Even the cultivators who stood a few thousand miles away could see the behemoth.
“This is?”
Many people widened their eyes in disbelief.
Elder Chenyan took a step forward as the Guild Master wore a shocked and incredulous face. Wu Wendin widened his eyes in fear as if he had seen a ghost.
“The sky and the earth are his cauldron; the sun and the moon are his fuel; the lives of those cultivators are his herbs. The world is in his servitude. He is a… Heavenly Lord!”
Luo Changshen heaved a sigh.
The world had suddenly become silent as everyone grappled with reality.