Chapter 141: Refining, the Buzhou Stone Box!

Hum—

As Qin Shuo's thoughts turned, inside the Taotie Cauldron, the ashen stone box suddenly burst forth with a blinding light.

Under this light, both the Taotie Cauldron and the Spirit-Link Mystic Jade trembled and buzzed, as if excited, yet as if fearful.

On the cauldron walls, the fierce Taotie with golden whiskers and silver armor seemed to let out a low growl, roaring at the Buzhou Stone Box.

The light gradually intensified, until finally, the entire interior of the Taotie Cauldron was a vast expanse of white, like a sea of light, and Qin Shuo could perceive nothing.

Boom!

As if a radiant sun had exploded in his sea of consciousness, an unimaginable sharp pain instantly flooded Qin Shuo's mind and spirit, as if it would tear his entire sea of consciousness apart!

"Ah!"

Qin Shuo could not help but let out a cry of extreme pain.

He clenched his five fingers, his knuckles whitening from the pressure, yet he still could not suppress the pain of his soul being torn apart, his spine ignited.

【Interrupt refinement?】

It seemed to sense Qin Shuo's near-collapse pain, and the prompt text of the Taotie Cauldron appeared before his eyes.

"Continue!"

Qin Shuo roared low in his heart, the intense pain making his whole body tremble, his brows knotted tightly, cold sweat soaking his clothes.

The excruciating pain lasted who knows how long, in a daze, Qin Shuo suddenly heard the roar of a golden dragon and the cry of a fire phoenix.

He snapped his eyes open, and a scene of molten lava covering the ground, blood and fire flowing everywhere, filled with ancient primordial exotic beasts, rushed swiftly toward him.

At the center of the battlefield stood a mountain piercing heaven and earth, like a heavenly-supporting pillar, towering straight into the firmament.

Before this mountain, as if the center of the world, hundred-zhang dragons and thousand-zhang divine eagles seemed like fireflies, insignificant.

Majestic, towering, vast, shocking...

That divine mountain seemed like a pillar connecting heaven and earth; all beings before it became insignificant, not worth mentioning.

Too majestic, too vast!

As the view rapidly zoomed in, a vast and magnificent epic scroll unfolded before Qin Shuo's eyes.

He felt as if he had traversed countless ages, returning to that ancient era when gods contended for supremacy and demons ran rampant.

There were divine beings treading the void, stepping on golden giant dragons; there were stalwart warriors wielding divine halberds, riding nine-headed giant snakes into the sky.

Moreover, there was a towering man wrapped in blazing flames, whose radiance surpassed even the sun in the heavens, holding a flame-tipped spear, commanding the three armies.

Golden Dragon, Fire Phoenix, Vermilion Bird, Nine-Headed Giant Snake...

These ancient divine beasts, only seen in myth and legend, now appeared one by one before Qin Shuo's eyes.

Those primordial beasts were each as massive as mountains.

Some fought separately, charging in all directions; others had barbarians wielding axes and gripping blades, clad in beast pelts and grass skirts, riding beasts, roaring and bellowing, their battle cries shaking the heavens.

Magma flowed like rivers across the land, floods raged, and all manner of living beings slaughtered each other on this battlefield.

Flames, gunpowder smoke, giant beasts, savages, floods...

Bones piled like mountains, the earth stained red with blood...

"Is this... the Buzhou Mountain Battlefield?"

Having just recovered from the intense pain, Qin Shuo was utterly shaken by the sight before him.

Almost as his thoughts turned, the wondrous scroll like an ancient epic before his eyes suddenly exploded.

In an instant, Qin Shuo felt those ancient giant beasts, ferocious birds, and flying creatures all lunging toward him!

Roar!

The next moment, a deafeningly real roar sounded in his ears, the intensely bloody stench accompanied by gunpowder smoke filling his mouth and nose.

What he saw before him was no longer a scroll, but had become real.

Scorching air, the roars of giant beasts, the clash of weapons on the battlefield...

Everything was so real!

"Have I... entered the Buzhou Mountain Battlefield?"

As the thought arose, various texts instantly appeared before his eyes:

【Scene: Buzhou Mountain Battlefield】

【Identity: Bear Cavalry Warrior of the Zhurong Clan!】

【Gonggong's Will: Only those with hearts as firm as iron and unyielding will can comprehend it!】

【Remaining refinement attempts: 0/1】

These few lines of information let Qin Shuo's heart settle.

Just as when refining ingredients before, he had not traveled through time to return to the ancient era, but had entered the remnant will of Gonggong within the Buzhou Stone Box.

Everything before him was the evolution of Gonggong's lingering will.

"Is this meant for me to personally experience this battle, to comprehend Gonggong's wrathful will in striking Buzhou Mountain?"

Qin Shuo pondered in his heart, his gaze sweeping forward.

What met his eyes were either bears and tigers, or leopards, plus various primordial giant beasts he could not name.

On the backs of these massive beasts rode warriors as tall as giants.

Each was mighty and valiant, arms as thick as pillars, either holding giant axes or gripping long spears, their dark faces smeared with mud pigments, fiercely formidable.

These warriors bore a solemn and condensed aura, each possessing the strength to seize tigers and leopards, now all silent and icy like stone, their eyes burning with soaring battle intent.

Clearly, they were the hundred-battle elites of the tribe, each peerlessly brave; even in this Shura-hell-like battlefield of the gods, their eyes showed not the slightest fear.

Only a surging excitement and hot blood, fiercely formidable.

Following their gaze, Qin Shuo looked far into the distance.

Before the camp, stretched out over unknown leagues, at the other end of Buzhou Mountain's base, stood dense ranks of beast-mounted armies as well.

The difference is that these beast cavalry units, besides land mounts like tigers, leopards, and war elephants, also include giant crabs, seahorses, flood dragons, and many other sea beasts.

Now lined up in a row, they seem capable of swallowing the heavens!

Above this formation, a burly man over three meters tall rides a nine-headed giant snake, wielding a water-blue divine halberd; with just a casual sweep, towering waves roar up behind him, sweeping toward Qin Shuo's formation.

Water God, Gonggong!

Without thinking, Qin Shuo immediately understood this person's identity.

He is precisely the ancient divine being who raged against Buzhou Mountain and left behind an undying will, Gonggong!

Cry!

The bird's cry pierces like a sword, piercing through the nine heavens.

At the very moment Gonggong launches his attack, a fire-red Vermilion Bird that blots out the sky spreads its wings and strikes the heavens, coming from across the void.

On its back, a tall man with fiery red hair flying like blazing fire holds a flame spear and charges forward.

His entire body is wreathed in raging flames, like an underground volcano erupting for ten thousand years; as he swings his spear, fire dragons roar, burning the heavens and boiling the seas, instantly evaporating the towering waves that hang like inverted rivers into mist, which is then instantly dried by the scorching heat.

Cry!

The Vermilion Bird flaps its wings, rolling up heavenly fire across the sky, burning and collapsing half of the firmament!

Even though they are several li apart, Qin Shuo still feels his skin sting as if burned by fierce fire, as though he is in a sea of fire and purgatory.

Fire God, Zhurong!

In mythological legend, he is the one who fought Gonggong, causing him to rage against Buzhou Mountain.

Oh~

A deep, majestic horn blast comes from behind!

The two army leaders battle in the sky, while the ground-based beast cavalry forces also gather their strength, ready to launch a full-scale assault!

"Kill!"

I don't know how many people on the battlefield are shouting.

Qin Shuo only feels his ears can no longer hear any sound; the black bear beneath him follows the beast cavalry ahead in a mad gallop, charging straight into the enemy formation.

Shouting, roaring, beasts galloping, the rumbling of giant beasts trampling the earth...

At this moment, the battlefield can no longer be described as terrifying.

The two formations collide like mountain-shouting and sea-roaring torrents, like two rushing rivers suddenly crashing together, raising thousands of giant waves.

In such a battlefield, Qin Shuo only feels his martial power is utterly useless.

Even though he possesses the Four Symbols Power, in such a torrent formed by ancient giant beasts, he finds it hard to gain an advantage.

Two mountain-like giant beasts collide fiercely, giant axe and long halberd clashing, blood spurting, tiger roars and bear cries, anger and howling filling the entire battlefield.

In just an instant, the entire battlefield boils over completely.

Qin Shuo, caught in the formation, finds his originally calm blood now completely ignited.

Then he sees a group of savage cavalry charging forward—some riding seahorses, some controlling flood dragons, some driving giant elephants—like a mountain flood bursting forth, like a tsunami sweeping in, facing the axe chops and spear thrusts of the tiger and bear cavalry, they do not dodge or avoid, but surge forward in a tumultuous impact.

Boom—

The two armies collide, giant beasts are flung up and smashed into the formation, instantly causing men and horses to overturn; some knights are struck down by halberds, trampled into mud by giant beasts.

Caught in the midst, Qin Shuo has no time to attend to anything else, only able to bury his head and charge forward.

He swings his Heavenly Halberd, sweeping down each charging beast cavalry knight one by one; even before he can deliver a finishing blow, he is swept forward by the ranks, cutting a path of slaughter all the way.

I don't know how many war beasts he has flung into the air, how many times he has swung his halberd, nor how many li he has charged through.

Qin Shuo only feels his Vajra Body can barely withstand it anymore.

His arms are sore and painful to the point of unbearable, like an ordinary person who has carried bricks for three days on a construction site and lugged cement for three days, so much so that even lifting his hand feels strenuous.

The battle rages until heaven and earth are darkened!

He has already forgotten why he came here; in his heart, only one thought remains: to split the enemy before him.

Roar!

Suddenly, the Bear Cavalry Warrior at the very front halts his charge, and Qin Shuo, along with the beast cavalry knight beside him, also stops.

He suddenly turns back, only then realizing that his unit has already broken through Gonggong's tribe formation.

Roar!

The warriors raise their halberds in triumph.

Splash splash splash~

Suddenly, a sound of surging waves echoes from above everyone's heads.

Qin Shuo looks up and sees Gonggong, who rides the nine-headed giant snake, appear above them at some unknown time.

Only then does one see him holding a halberd in one hand and clenching a fist pulled back with the other; behind him appears a colossal blue whale, its length unknown thousands of li, vast as if occupying half the firmament.

As the fist is pulled back, the giant whale slowly opens its mouth.

In a daze, it seems as if the waters of the four seas are swallowed into its belly, condensed into a huge water-blue fist.

The next moment, that immense fist containing the power of the four seas crashes down with a thunderous boom!

Boom!

The force arrives before the fist!

Before Qin Shuo is blown apart, he sees the sky crushed into a thin pancake.

The pancake presses down, instantly grinding everything beneath it into powder—including himself.