MM Racing Chapter 244 The King and the Cauldron
Chapter 244 The King and the Cauldron
Chapter 244 The King and the Cauldron
After Huo Yuhao left the test area, the Tianhe Wuchen members who had been waiting outside immediately stepped forward.
"Azure Dragon King," Wu Bufan of the Proud Sword Sect said quickly, "Ning Tian has brought a person named Xiao Xiao."
Among those under twenty years old in the Heavenly River Dustless Sect, Wu Bufan can be considered the strongest, second only to the Azure Dragon Guard and the Body Sect.
Although its martial soul, the Azure Steel Sword, has an ordinary name, its attack power is definitely at the level of a super martial soul.
In particular, Wu Bufan has already grasped the realm of man and sword as one, and his sword intent is pure and refined, making him a well-deserved genius of swordsmanship.
"Xiao Xiao?"
Huo Yuhao tried hard to recall the name, and finally remembered the person from Long Aotian's words: "From Shrek Academy?"
"Yes," Wu Bufan affirmed, "the second batch of students who dropped out of Shrek Academy, whose martial soul is the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron."
"Ning Tian believed that her martial spirit might have special value to the theory of Qi, so he brought her here personally."
"Furthermore, Xiao Xiao herself admitted that she also has a martial soul named Nine Phoenixes Come to Court Xiao."
"They are now waiting in the front hall of the Prince's Mansion."
A knowing glint flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes.
The Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron is a rare martial soul, and for a time, its lineage was even severed on the Douluo Continent.
When the Body Sect first attacked Shrek Academy, Du Busi even mocked them, saying that a promising talent had been ruined by Zhou Yi.
According to popular understanding, the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron is a combination of offense and defense, and also has a certain control over the field.
The Nine Phoenixes' Auspicious Flute is a martial soul that uses sound waves as a medium, excels at assisting control, and also has multiple functions such as purification and healing.
"understood."
Without pausing for a moment, Huo Yuhao's figure blurred, almost becoming a blurry afterimage, and he instantly swept across the courtyard.
In the main hall of the Prince's mansion, Ning Tian was speaking in hushed tones with the slightly flustered Xiao Xiao, trying to ease her tension.
"The core of Azure Dragon City's operation lies not in one's birth, but in—"
Before Ning Tian could finish speaking, Huo Yuhao appeared in the center of the hall without warning.
His inner eye, located between his brows, opened, seemingly able to pierce through all illusions, and looked directly at Xiao Xiao.
Upon seeing Huo Yuhao appear, Xiao Xiao jumped up almost reflexively.
She instinctively took a small step back, her body tense, and even her breathing became disordered.
Xiao Xiao came from an ordinary family, and her home was not far from the Xuanming Sect.
Therefore, she had seen Huo Yuhao standing high in the sky, pressing down the Great Wilderness Imprisoning Heaven Finger with three fingers towards the Xuanming Sect.
Those three fingers that tore through the sky were beyond Xiao Xiao's comprehension and were forever imprinted on her heart.
And now, the person who personally created that divine punishment appeared less than five steps in front of her.
Huo Yuhao's gaze lingered on Xiao Xiao's frightened expression for only a moment before he was certain that Xiao Xiao was alright.
"Your character is no longer worthy of the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron."
"The tripod is a national treasure, heavy and stable, as immovable as a mountain."
Huo Yuhao said directly, "You are currently restless, distracted, and timid. The Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron cannot even unleash one-tenth of its power on you."
Xiao Xiao swayed, almost unable to stand.
Huo Yuhao's words directly exposed her deepest fears and inferiority complex.
While still at Shrek Academy, Zhou Yi's shadow made her accustomed to suppression and concession, while Wang Dong's brilliance made her accustomed to hiding herself in a corner.
The various events that occurred after she enrolled in school were a huge blow to Xiao Xiao, who was very sensitive.
The immense pressure from Zhou Yi, the intimidation from the Body Sect, and the decline of Shrek Academy shattered Xiao Xiao's pride in her twin martial souls, leaving nothing behind.
Ning Tian frowned slightly, but did not say anything.
She could understand Huo Yuhao's intentions. If the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron truly played an important role in the theory of Qi, then a vessel owner with an unstable mind would only be a huge hidden danger.
Xiao Xiao currently lacks the aura that a Martial Soul Master should possess.
"I already know why you came to see me."
Huo Yuhao's voice was devoid of emotion: "But Qinglong City doesn't tolerate idlers. If you want to get something, you have to prove yourself."
He pointed to the courtyard outside the main hall: "Release your Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron and attack me with all your might once."
Xiao Xiao suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Attacking Huo Yuhao? This is the very person who single-handedly wiped out the Xuanming Sect?
"You dare not?"
"Or are you saying you don't even have the resolve to wield your martial spirit?"
"I—" Xiao Xiao's lips trembled, and immense shame almost overwhelmed her completely.
She mustered up her courage to come here, but she couldn't even withstand the first glance before Huo Yuhao completely rejected her.
Huo Yuhao's spiritual eye never actually left Xiao Xiao.
Through the Eye of the Mind, Huo Yuhao saw a faint, stubborn glimmer flickering within Xiao Xiao's heart.
Xiao Xiao recalled the three devastating fingers that flew above the Xuanming Sect.
I also recalled everything I saw at the Qinglong City Public Library.
"I—I know!"
Xiao Xiao's eyes were red and swollen: "I know I'm terrible, I know I've become very timid, I know I've let this martial spirit down!"
"At Shrek Academy, I didn't even have the courage to defy Zhou Yi, even though I knew they wouldn't expel my twin martial souls."
"Upon arriving in Qinglong City, even the guards' gazes made me want to run away."
Then she wiped away her tears: "But I don't want to do this anymore!"
"Why should I live in cowardice and shadow forever? Why can't I find my own value like those people?"
"I'm attacking!"
The voice wasn't loud, but it carried a resolute determination to go all out.
Xiao Xiao summoned the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, and the ancient cauldron hovered in front of her with a heavy hum.
The cauldron has three legs and two handles, and is engraved with blurry ancient runes. At this moment, under the frenzied infusion of Xiao Xiao's soul power, a layer of rapidly flowing halo appears on its surface, making the air around her stagnant and heavy.
"The cauldron trembled!"
Xiao Xiao's first and second soul rings lit up simultaneously, unleashing this combined soul skill.
Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected that Xiao Xiao's soul skill could bring him such an extra surprise.
If the Soul Skill Combo skill can draw inspiration from the tremors of the cauldron, it will undoubtedly be a giant leap forward!
Once the combined techniques of mind and body are mastered, the next step is the fusion of mental power and physical strength!
The timing of Xiao Xiao's arrival in Qinglong City was simply too perfect!
At this moment, Xiao Xiao pushed her hands forward, and the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron suddenly split into three large cauldrons, carrying an aura of mutual destruction, and crashed fiercely towards Huo Yuhao!
Even before the cauldron arrived, its immense suppressive power already enveloped the entire space, making the air seem like a viscous swamp.
However, Huo Yuhao simply raised his palm casually, his five fingers spread, the movement as gentle as if he were about to catch a falling feather.
His fingers did not touch the body of the cauldron, but gently pressed down in the void about ten feet away from the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron.
The Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, which had come on strong, suddenly stopped in front of Huo Yuhao as if it had hit an invisible barrier.
Xiao Xiao exerted all her strength to activate her soul power, and the three large cauldrons trembled violently, with a deafening buzzing sound.
The ancient runes on the cauldron flickered, as if struggling desperately but unable to advance even an inch further.
"combine."
Huo Yuhao's hand, which was suspended in the air, slowly closed its five fingers.
With the movement of his fingers, a vast yet exquisitely subtle power, like a giant hand, enveloped and compressed the three raging cauldrons.
The frantically struggling cauldron was forcibly kneaded together by invisible rules, instantly transforming from a split state into a single entity.
The cauldron trembled violently, its surface shimmering wildly, as if it were about to explode at any moment, yet it was held in place by an invisible force.
Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up as he quietly imprinted Xiao Xiao's Soul-Shaking Cauldron Technique.
He then strolled over to the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, reached out his palm, and grasped the cauldron's legs.
"Watch closely."
Huo Yuhao turned his gaze to Xiao Xiao: "What is the true 'Shock of the Cauldron'?"
The tripod is a national treasure and a weapon of kings.
Now held in Huo Yuhao's hands, the Azure Dragon King, it suddenly unleashed an aura completely different from that it had with Xiao Xiao!
Xiao Xiao looked at Huo Yuhao in disbelief, not understanding how he could also possess the soul skill "Ding Zhi Zhen".
"The tripod was not struck by brute force."
A deep, resonant clang, as if it had traveled from the ancient primordial era, reverberated outwards from Huo Yuhao.
The sound was not harsh, but it carried a powerful will to suppress the eight wastelands and stabilize the universe.
Huo Yuhao's mind and will resonated with Xiao Xiao's will deep within the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron through his palm in a way that went directly to his soul.
Seeing this, Ning Tian's eyes flashed with a hint of envy.
The members of Tianhe Wuchen most hope that Huo Yuhao will imprint their soul skills on them, and then receive Huo Yuhao's guidance through the soul imprint in their martial soul.
This is equivalent to a Title Douluo with the exact same soul skill, who, through their own martial soul, directly tells their own soul how to use this soul skill.
Huo Yuhao opened his Heavenly Heart Communicator, and the power of heaven and earth gathered around him, then condensed it all onto the Three Lives Soul Suppressing Cauldron!
"The tremor of the cauldron is the will of the cauldron to stabilize mountains and rivers, which resonates with the primordial energy of heaven and earth and shakes the origin of all things."
"Your cauldron is an extension of your will, a bridge connecting heaven and earth, not a hammer to smash people."
The Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron in Huo Yuhao's hand, whose surface was originally blurry and ancient, suddenly shone with a deep blue light as if it had been infused with life!
As the light swirled, it seemed as if the phantoms of mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon, and the stars rose and fell at the mouth of the cauldron!
Huo Yuhao exerted force with his arm and threw the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron high into the sky!
A visible, circular, cyan-gold ripple erupted from the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron!
The ripples were not violent impacts, but rather carried a unique rhythm, as if everything in this space was drawn to and assimilated by the cauldron.
The cyan-gold ripples spread out in layers, emitting a deep and majestic hum in the air, like the sound of an ancient ritual traveling through time.
In the courtyard, the flowers, plants and trees that were swaying in the wind suddenly came to a standstill.
The leaves stopped trembling, and the dust stopped falling, as if they had been stunned by an invisible force.
Ning Tian and Xiao Xiao felt an irresistible, overwhelming force pressing down on them!
This is the true power of the cauldron!
It is not a brute force collision, but rather using the cauldron as a medium and will as a guide to leverage the primordial energy of heaven and earth, forming a field and force that suppresses all things!
The tripod stabilizes the universe and guards the eight directions!
"The Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, in a sense, inherently contains the rudiments of a domain."
"The tremor of the cauldron is not due to force, but to momentum."
As Huo Yuhao's voice fell, the cyan-gold ripples slowly subsided, eventually merging completely into the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron.
The ancient-looking cauldron slowly rotates.
The runes on the cauldron still radiated a deep luster, but the overwhelming aura that suppressed heaven and earth had been contained.
Just now, it seemed no longer to be an object, but a miniature mountain, a fulcrum of a world.
With a flick of his finger, Huo Yuhao used the power of heaven and earth to return the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron to the completely stunned Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao subconsciously took her martial spirit, her fear and cowardice replaced by immense shock.
"Remember how you felt just now."
Huo Yuhao said, "Zhen Feizhuang, crush that cowardice in your bones caused by past setbacks. In Qinglong City, strength is your passport, and value is your talisman."
"If you want to gain respect and power, use everything you have to prove yourself."
"I hope you can understand why you are wielding the cauldron."
"The weight and weight of the tripod do not originate from itself, but from your heart."
Xiao Xiao's eyes began to fluctuate violently.
Huo Yuhao took in her reaction without offering any further explanation or comfort: "Commander Ning, take her to the city defense camp to report for duty, complete the formalities according to regulations, and train her using the Tianhe Wuchen special training method."
"Tell Cao Jinxuan that if he dares to give her special treatment, he can forget about joining Tianhe Wuchen."
"If she can hold out for a month, I'll let her participate in the battle for Lingdou City as a lowly soldier during the major battle."
"If she can't handle it, then let her stay in Qinglong City and be an ordinary patrol guard."
Ning Tian immediately bowed and accepted the order, then led the still dazed Xiao Xiao to the city defense camp.
That feeling of resonating with heaven and earth, of using one's own will to manipulate the origin of all things, is so unfamiliar, yet so longed for with a chilling intensity.
Seven days later, the garrison of the northern city wall of Qinglong City.
Xiao Xiao stood behind the battlement, holding a standard-issue spear taller than herself, with a soul-guided ray gun at her waist.
The seven days of reserve service were far more arduous than she had imagined, and far more real than any practical lesson at Shrek Academy.
Seven days may be just a fleeting moment for a Soul Master.
But for Xiao Xiao at this moment, it felt like she was going through a grueling ordeal of being reshaped from flesh and blood.
Heavy physical training, monotonous drills, strict military discipline, and tedious patrols and guard duty —
However, her former classmate Cao Jinxuan, who was her direct instructor, did not give her any special treatment.
The special training method of Tianhe Wuchen was originally a product of Huo Yuhao's joint discussion with the cultivation practices of the Tianxuan Continent and the Body Sect.
Its core is to squeeze out potential to the extreme, and to forge will and instinct under high pressure.
This training method far surpasses any existing training system in the Douluo Continent.
Xiao Xiao clumsily learned everything.
My hands were blistered from carrying supplies, and I almost fell off the city wall while on night patrol.
Countless times she gritted her teeth and persevered despite exhaustion and grievances.
Qinglong City shows no mercy to tears, but only recognizes sweat and perseverance.
The only thing that sustained her was the Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron that she would summon again and again in the dead of night.
Xiao Xiao stopped trying to imitate Huo Yuhao's earth-shattering power and instead tried to recall that feeling.
The weight and stability of the tripod.
And the presence of the ding (鼎) as a symbol of "stabilization" and "suppression".
As the sun rose on the seventh day, Xiao Xiao gritted her teeth, letting the sweat slide down her forehead and soak her clothes.
Her legs trembled slightly from standing for so long, but her eyes were much more determined than they had been seven days ago.
Today is the day Tianhe Wuchen and the Holy Dragon Brigade set off.
In the near future, they will join forces with the Eastern Army of Heavenly Soul to launch a strong attack on the eighteen strategic passes of the Western Border of Douling.
They will not return to Qinglong City until the Battle of Lingdou City ends.
No horns or commands were needed; an invisible will spread like ripples across the city walls.
At the same time, hundreds of city guards soldiers unleashed their martial spirit possession abilities!
In an instant, a beam of light shot into the sky atop the city wall, displaying a magnificent spectacle!
Hundreds of martial spirit auras of different attributes and forms surged and intertwined on the city wall!
This is their most noble and fervent military salute!
Every soldier possessing a martial spirit pushes their soul power to its limit.
They displayed the most powerful and glorious aspects of their martial spirits without reservation.
Standing in the middle, Xiao Xiao was so shocked by the sudden torrent of martial spirits that she almost suffocated.
But her fatigue vanished in an instant, and her blood began to boil.
Huo Yuhao's gaze swept over the guards on the north wall.
His gaze lingered on Xiao Xiao's position for an extremely brief moment, almost imperceptibly.
"march."
The moment Huo Yuhao turned his head, Xiao Xiao also summoned her Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron.
A deep, resonant hum emanated from where Xiao Xiao was.
The sound wasn't loud, but it had a strange penetrating power. Even the roars and booms of the many martial spirits on the city wall couldn't drown out this buzzing sound.
Without pausing, Tianhe Wuchen and the Holy Dragon Brigade slowly disappeared from Xiao Xiao's sight.
The clanging of the cauldrons atop the city walls still echoed, like a belated declaration.
The bewilderment on Xiao Xiao's face disappeared, replaced by an unprecedented calmness.
A soldier's calm as he grips his weapon.
She knew that the next month would be both her hell and her rebirth.
Only by overcoming this obstacle will she be qualified to enter Lingdou City.
Only then are they qualified to prove just how heavy the tripod in their hearts truly is.
The clanging of the cauldrons has subsided, but the fighting spirit is now at its peak.