Chapter 130: Inquiring the Cauldron, Mountains and Rivers (Combined Volume)

The bridal chamber was awash in vivid red.

The lively festivities outside and the joyful bridal chamber seemed separated, as if they were two different worlds.

The bridal chamber was decorated with distinct water palace features, clearly different from ordinary mortal wedding chambers.

It was not a single shade of red, but rather dominated by gold!

Pairs of mandarin duck shells were brought in as decorations, hung on the walls, while each luminous pearl replaced the painted dragon-and-phoenix red candles in ordinary wedding chambers.

Probably the only things in common were the mandarin duck dragon-and-phoenix quilt and the bride's large red phoenix crown and rosy veil.

Bai Li Ying sat upright at the head of the bed, gazing at the dragon-and-phoenix painted lanterns on the table, her clear eyes now somewhat hazy; from those lanterns, she did not know what she saw, and after a moment, it turned into a faint smile.

Just then, noisy sounds came from outside the house, and someone outside shouted.

"The prince consort has returned to the chambers!"

Bai Li Ying suddenly seemed to awaken, and then she heard the sound of the bridal chamber doors being opened, a wave of wine scent greeted her, and a figure slowly approached her.

As if recalling something, that figure emitted strands of magical energy that washed over his body, and after a moment, the faint wine scent completely dissipated.

At this moment, Bai Li Ying felt a gentle gaze fall upon her, and a soft laugh came.

"Princess, there's no need to be so restrained!"

Saying this, he lifted her veil.

"Zhang Lang!"

Seeing Zhang Jian, Bai Li Ying blinked her eyes, her cheeks slightly flushed.

Zhang Jian simply sat casually at the bedside, gazing at the extraordinarily beautiful dragon maiden before him, and he smiled as he spoke.

"Princess, do you know that today's princess is more beautiful than at any other time!"

The dragon maiden spoke softly. "My lord overpraises me; Li Ying is merely of common grace, able to serve my lord, yet it is Li Ying's fortune!"

Seeing the dragon maiden still somewhat nervous and hesitant, Zhang Jian no longer hesitated.

He casually picked up the wine cup on the table and smiled.

"Princess, let us drink the nuptial cup!"

The dragon maiden's eyes glistened with autumn waves; hearing this, she likewise took the other cup of plain wine from the gold tray and they drank from the same cup.

After completing this final ritual, the two gazed at each other, and thereafter everything proceeded naturally.

Within the bridal chamber, only the sound of rolling red waves and the harmonious music of zithers and se could be heard!

……

In the following period, Zhang Jian mostly stayed in the Bai Shui Dragon Palace to accompany the dragon maiden, while beginning to use refining secrets to forge his natal magical artifact!

With the resources of the dragon palace supporting the attempt to forge his natal magical artifact, progress was indeed very smooth.

One month later, deep in the dragon palace, beside the earth-fire spring!

At this moment, Zhang Jian emitted strands of magical energy from his hand; these energies fell into the depths of the cauldron, and soon the depths of the cauldron began to emit layers of red rosy clouds, within the fire-cloud rosy clouds, a small cauldron with a red-gold exterior was rapidly taking shape.

Around the small cauldron, as the earth-fire refined it, the cauldron walls began to outline the shapes of mountains and rivers.

As it formed, suddenly from the depths of the void, as if an invisible qi mechanism flowed in, it entered the cauldron walls, causing the mountains and rivers on the cauldron walls to rapidly solidify into substance.

"The terrain of Fengyang Commandery?"

Gazing at that map, Bai Li Ying in the distance blinked her lovely eyes slightly.

She confirmed she had not misseen, for the fine line representing the river at the center of the map was clearly the Bai Shui within Fengyang Commandery.

Beside her, the Bai Shui Dragon Lord had a solemn expression, his dragon eyes emitting fierce brilliance; seeing more, he felt awestruck.

"To seize the great fortune of a commandery with a small cauldron—this cauldron artifact is truly extraordinary; that the Tong Shan Dao Tong could create such a magical artifact is indeed formidable!"

"

Bai Li Ying had long learned from Zhang Jian of the marvelous nature of this cauldron artifact, and thus said: "Father, seizing the great fortune of a commandery—will there be no backlash?"

There was some worry in her eyes.

Bai Shui Dragon Lord, upon hearing this, shook his head.

"Naturally there will be!"

"If so, is Zhang Lang not in danger?"

Bai Nu laughed: "A Yu has always been steady-natured!"

"Since A Yu decided to forge this natal magical artifact, he must have full confidence; otherwise he would not act rashly—let us simply wait and see!"

At this moment, Zhang Jian indeed sensed a layer of pressure from the unseen.

That invisible pressure pressed upon his soul's depths, as if it wanted to crush his soul, fortunately two special destinies blocked this grand backlash.

He felt this change in his heart, still with some fluctuation.

There was a hint of ease in his mind.

He had long known that forging the Qian Yuan Gold Cauldron, such a marvelous artifact that seizes fortune, would certainly provoke a backlash from the commandery's fortune.

But he had already considered it; forging this special cauldron as his natal magical artifact, he had hope of success.

First, he had repeatedly saved countless commoners within and outside Fengyang Commandery—first relieving the drought, then resolving the Phoenix Calamity, redeeming innumerable lives; in the unseen, he had already gained the favor of part of Fengyang Commandery's fortune.

Second, the Zhang family had grown into a prominent clan of the commandery, their influence spread throughout Fengyang Commandery inside and out, invisibly also reducing his backlash.

Lastly, Fengyang Commandery currently had no commandery governor in place, equivalent to being unguarded; he, using the Qian Yuan Gold Cauldron to seize the commandery's fortune, transforming it into his foundation, could reduce the backlash to a minimum.

Lastly, it was the two special destinies successfully condensed in the depths of his life palace.

Especially the Chi De True King Destiny, if given the opportunity to establish, could directly transform into the Hidden Dragon Rank.

This rank possesses extremely strong endurance against backlash, and suppressive ability.

As he had expected, at this moment, the unseen black qi in the unseen was completely absorbed by the two destinies, blocked.

This was the resentment born from part of the commandery's living beings who could not be saved or liberated.

At this moment, Zhang Jian circulated the 《Tong Shan Qing Jing Bao Lu》, a layer of pure magical energy flowed around his body, silently penetrating the destinies, yet the magical energy directly refined the resentment, transforming it into a pure stream of magical energy refinement.

This kind of refining ability is truly overbearing.

The Dragon King's divine eyes opened, and he also sensed the refining scene, secretly shocked.

At the same time, he somewhat understood why Zhang Jian insisted on walking this path of the mortal world.

"Ordinary cultivators mostly choose places rich in spiritual energy for cultivation, fearing impurities in the spiritual energy, and their choice of spiritual energy is highly dependent, whereas this son-in-law of mine is the opposite—he seems to pick no spiritual energy at all, which strangely matches the attribute of this great cauldron, no wonder he chose such a magical artifact as his life-bound artifact; once cultivated, his cultivation would surely be like adding wings to a tiger!"

Bai Nu quickly understood the crux of it.

Cauldrons have always been used for refining since ancient times.

Boom—

At this very moment, above the White Water Dragon Palace, a muffled thunderous sound suddenly rang out.

"Thunderfire?"

Zhang Jian's keen spiritual sense also detected an extremely terrifying thunderous power emerging in the depths of the void.

Seeing the divine thunder appearing above his head, he was not startled; instead, his eyes showed a hint of eagerness to try.

The Qianjin Golden Cauldron is made of special material; many runic prohibitions inside require not only the power of earth fire to form, but also the power of thunder to forge, so as to finally penetrate and melt numerous heavenly golds into one.

Even this thunderfire is drawn by the unique runic formation inside the Qianjin Golden Cauldron.

It imitates a portion of the divine tribulation that divine path cultivators trigger upon reaching a certain realm.

Boom—

After the muffled thunder echoed eight or nine times in succession, as if beginning to vent, illusory azure thunderballs floated down from the void above, like fireballs, striking the Qianjin Golden Cauldron one after another.

"Now!"

However, Zhang Jian saw the opportunity; when the thunderbolt pierced the cauldron and landed on the small Qianjin Golden Cauldron, he quickly executed the artifact-refining technique, guiding the auxiliary materials around the cauldron to fly toward the Qianjin Golden Cauldron.

Most of those auxiliary materials were various gold ores, with a portion being extremely precious mountain spirit medicines.

The spirit medicines directly turned into spiritual energy and merged into the Qianjin Golden Cauldron, replenishing the formation of the artifact's runic veins, to prevent the entire artifact structure from being directly destroyed by thunder.

One wave after another of thunderballs fell from above.

As time went on, the thunderballs became denser and thicker.

Zhang Jian also felt a wave of extremely dangerous qi.

This is actually the divine tribulation that ordinary deities undergo every three hundred years.

The ancestral founder of the Tongshan Dao Lineage used this fortune, drawing thunderous power for his own use.

Zhang Jian had never cultivated the Nine Heavens Thunder Control Technique, yet he could draw the power of refining divine thunder; he could only grit his teeth and hide aside, but even so, he was struck by several thunderballs, narrowly blocked by his magical power, not struck dead on the spot.

However, under the bombardment of the thunderballs, his magical power seemed to completely evaporate, and he still lost some vital energy, needing ten days to half a month to recover.

But paying such a price is worth it.

Only seen, after the thunder tribulation ended, the golden Qianjin Golden Cauldron deep within the cauldron rolled and turned, swallowing countless spiritual energies, a hazy purple light flowing out from within.

It emitted a thick purple aura from its entire body.

The aura is extraordinary!

This intermediate-grade artifact has already been successfully refined!

But upon seeing that purple aura, Bai Nu's expression changed. "This aura is... Dragon-Tiger Qi?"

Zhang Jian, upon hearing this, smiled and said: "Not so; this is the power of the state gods. This Qianjin Golden Cauldron contains the great fortune of a prefecture, and can naturally transform into state god power, to suppress its own great fortune; however, its essence is similar to Dragon-Tiger Qi, possibly even higher in essence than Dragon-Tiger Qi!"

Upon hearing this, Bai Nu frowned.

"I must take back my previous words; you are playing with fire!"

Zhang Jian, upon hearing this, shook his head and smiled: "Father-in-law, do not worry; this treasure is miraculous and boundless; once successfully refined, as long as I do not lightly use the state god power, others will not know!"

At this moment, seeing that heavy, almost dissipating hazy purple aura, a hint of smile appeared in his eyes.

"I intend to use this great fortune to forge another foundation!"

With a wave of his hand, the Qianjin Cauldron rolled and turned, transforming into a streak of golden light that entered his brow, and an invisible purple aura surged and merged into his life palace.

This invisible purple aura merging into the life palace immediately caused the blue-purple light to flow on the two major life patterns; then another stream of purple aura merged into the life palace, forming a third special blue-purple life pattern beside it.

This life pattern is very special, like a miniature state god king cauldron.

It exudes a mighty power to suppress mountains and rivers.

This is the Asking the Cauldron, Mountains and Rivers Life Pattern.

Another prerequisite life pattern for the Hidden Dragon Life Pattern.

Moreover, it is a special life pattern required for the four types of state god king cauldrons in the《King Cauldron Subduing Demons Secret Record》.

Upon the emergence of this special life pattern, Zhang Jian clearly felt his absorption and gathering of spiritual energy increasing.

To some extent, the《Tongshan Purity Treasure Record》is actually a special method of life pattern cultivation; the stronger one's life pattern, the greater the heaven and earth, state god spiritual energy it can ultimately contain, and the stronger the magical power.

Zhang Jian even had no doubt that if one day he could obtain the Son of Heaven Life Pattern, he might use this to forge the foundation of the Primordial Spirit Dao in one step, achieving an immortal Dao body.

……

The golden cauldron entering the body, Zhang Jian's spiritual energy gathered around him, like a funnel merging into his body, aiding him in constantly refining the spiritual spring in his dantian, letting the jade-colored spiritual spring evolve into a golden liquid state.

Seeing this, the Dragon Maiden could not help but say to Bai Nu:

"Father, the path Zhang Lang has chosen is truly too perilous; I would rather Zhang Lang abandon this miraculous artifact and choose another way!"

Seeing Bai Liangying's emotional appearance, the White Water Dragon King glanced sideways, his expression somewhat smiling, yet he shook his head and said.

"To wear the crown, one must bear its weight!"

"You also need not worry needlessly; now the Great Qian Cauldron vessel is unstable, omens have appeared; for your son-in-law, this is indeed an opportunity, and even if he cannot succeed, behind him there is still the Tongshan Dao Lineage, which allows advancement or retreat!"

The White Water Dragon King did not quite agree with this.

Whoever obtains a high person does not come out unscathed from various tribulations.

The immortal Dao body is not so easily obtained.

……

Half a month later

Before the White Water Dragon Palace, Bai Liying coiled her hair, her entire demeanor gradually shifting, gaining a touch of charming allure from being nourished by rain and dew.

Only the clarity and purity in her eyes remained unchanged.

Zhang Jian gazed at Bai Liying's reluctant figure and smiled: "Princess, please stay!"

Bai Liying nodded slightly, simultaneously handing Zhang Jian a small conch shell: "My lord, if you have need, simply blow the conch horn—I will come to meet you!"

At this moment, she felt some reluctance in her heart, but just as she had told Zhang Jian before her wedding, romantic affection forever occupies second place, while the aspiration for longevity holds first.

Zhang Jian also understood this very well.

He was no different.

Now, having completed his natal magic artifact, the Qian Yuan Golden Cauldron, he prepared to depart Fengyang Commandery for Haojing.

At this time, less than half a year remained until the spring examinations.

He needed to set out early, lest he be caught unprepared.

Since he must go to the capital to take the exams, naturally he could not bring the dragon maiden, only able to let her remain in the Dragon Palace, awaiting his triumphant news.

After bidding farewell to Bai Liying and not far off, Bai Nu, Zhang Jian's form instantly transformed into a great stream of light, flying out of the White Water River.

Yet facing him came a fierce chill sweeping in.

Outside, unnoticed, it had already become late autumn to early winter.

Hail fell from the sky, furious frost and snow raged.

……

Fengyang Commandery City

On the cold long street.

Before Changning Street.

At this moment, the entire Qi household stood at the doorway, craning their necks in anticipation: Qi Yi, Qi's grandmother, Qi Wan Shi, Qi Yu Hua, and Qi Yu Zhu.

Soon after, Qi Yuan Si appeared before the street, wearing thin garments under the protection of several personal guards, which brought great joy to the already anxious Qi family members.

"Second brother!"

"Yuan Si!"

"Father!"

The grandmother stepped forward with her cane, Qi Wan Shi, though anxious in her heart, feared the grandmother might fall, and hurried forward to support her.

"Mother, father!"

Qi Yuan Si also smiled as he stepped forward, gazing at familiar faces, feeling as if he had returned from another world.

Qi Yi also couldn't help but show a smile: "Being able to return is good!"