Chapter 78: Jia Zhengfeng Arrives in Person

Inside the great cauldron.

Wu Tie stretched out his arms and legs comfortably, like a traveler resting on a mountain lake at midsummer noon, carefree, his heart filled with an inexplicable ease and leisure.

The Formless Relic was merging with the first phalanx of his left index finger.

Some indescribable things were happening; Wu Tie could feel it, that phalanx was undergoing a qualitative change……or rather, an evolution……

Of course, the term "evolution" isn't quite precise either.

In short, it was wonderful and marvelous; Wu Tie felt the secret joy and delight of a weasel out shopping who suddenly finds a little hen.

Within the Formless Relic, that trace of remaining essence was merging with the golden light at his brow.

The Grand Righteousness refined away the evil force within that trace of essence.

Some of the relic's original owner's cultivation insights, some feelings about life, the world, and the natural cosmos of heaven and earth, were being slowly understood and absorbed by Wu Tie, like spring wind turning to rain.

Within that original essence, there were many memories of soaring hostility and bloody violence, but those bad, negative mental energies were dispelled by the Grand Righteousness, leaving only pure spiritual inspiration and the most essential experiential insights.

Compared to the pain Old Iron felt when violently transmitting countless pieces of information, this time Wu Tie's absorption of the Formless Relic's essence was easy and comfortable; his body and soul felt as if floating on clouds, unrestrained and carefree, so light-hearted he wanted to sing.

A faint, hazy gleam flowed out from the first phalanx of his left index finger, toward his whole palm, his left arm bone, and then his entire skeleton.

This was a tiny, insignificant essence within the Formless Relic; after merging with Wu Tie's entire skeleton, it did not directly grant him great power or astonishing abilities.

Only Wu Tie's aura underwent a slight change.

It was like a seed sown in fertile soil; the land hadn't undergone a cataclysmic upheaval, but now held infinite possibilities.

In the Nether Demon Mine, the Shi Family Elder and Chief Steward led a larger force deeper in.

Along the way, tens of thousands of variant dwarves kept attacking.

They moved slowly, their actions stiff; although their bone plates were unusually hard and their bodies became sturdy and heavy, they were nevertheless restrained by the Shi Family Elder's Juling Lamp.

Occasionally, a powerful warrior would mutate into a being that moved like flying and possessed limitless strength.

The Juling Lamp spewed streams of azure flame, blasting these aberrations into tumbling flight; the force advanced unimpeded, and these mutants posed little threat to them.

The Nether Demon Mine spanned over a hundred li in diameter; its winding shafts descended all the way, and the Shi Family Elder, Chief Steward, and their party, being strong, progressed swiftly; despite countless mutant obstacles, they reached the pit's bottom after five hours.

A hundred-zhang-wide fire pillar shot up into the sky; dense gray mist swirled rapidly, strands of gray vapor in the air drawing sharp whistles, forming a gray gas column that enveloped the fire pillar.

Terrifying heat and piercing cold flowed wildly through the air, clearly distinct yet mutually clashing and slaughtering each other.

At the mine's bottom, it alternated between scorching heat and bone‑chilling cold; the ground would sometimes form thin ice sheets, sometimes the stones were baked red.

The two fearsome forces stalemated, the air violently trembling, occasionally erupting with thunder‑like booms.

Several mutant giants, over a hundred mutant wolf‑ and ox‑tribe warriors, and dozens of mutant gray dwarves and lizardmen scrambled across the ground. They swirled around the fire pillar, occasionally letting out terrifying howls.

When the Shi Family Elder, Chief Steward, and their party arrived at the pit's bottom, those powerful mutant warriors simultaneously halted, their eyes flashing with green fire as they gazed at them.

"Careful……" the Shi Family Elder bellowed in a low voice.

Before his words faded, several stone giants howled madly, their massive bodies tearing the air, violently colliding to produce ring after ring of air blasts, dragging huge afterimages as they surged toward them.

The Shi Family Elder's Juling Lamp suddenly flared, blasting out human‑head‑sized clumps of azure fire that roared forth and smashed hard into each mutant giant.

The fire exploded, deafening; three or four stone giants were blown back by the bursting flames, but the tallest giant stubbornly withstood the fireballs' impact, roaring as it charged to the front of the group.

A heavy punch thundered out, the fist like a cannon; the terrifying roar made a dozen or so nearby Shi Family soldiers bleed from the ears.

Three Shi Family soldiers happened to be blocking that mutant stone giant; the heavy punch came, their bodies burst open, exploding into a sky‑wide blood mist. Dozens of nearby soldiers instantly turned completely red, uniformly coated in a layer of blood mist.

"Damn it!" the Shi Family Elder roared: "Last time we came, they weren't this strong……"

Before his words faded, over a hundred mutant wolf‑ and ox‑tribe warriors surged forward, each trailing white waves of vapor.

Shi Family soldiers and the Mist Blade's members formed ranks to meet the enemy, weapons of all kinds flashing forth, blades of cold light slashing and stabbing forward.

With a clanging clang, the charging mutants did not dodge at all; they thrust out their chests, letting every weapon hack and slash into them.

Amid the ear‑splitting shattering, each rune‑etched, formation‑embedded "Primordial Soldier" burst apart, sending showers of metal fragments flying back to tear deep, bone‑reaching gashes in the Shi Family soldiers and Mist Blade assassins.

Then a horde of mutant beasts, mad as dogs, crashed into the formation, howling wildly, slashing with sharp claws, biting with bared fangs, and even ox‑tribe warriors goring with their sharp horns……

Vast spouts of blood sprayed out; upon first contact, nearly a hundred Shi Family soldiers collapsed, drenched in blood.

As for the Mist Blade assassins brought by the Chief Steward, seeing the tide turn, they instantly turned into wisps and merged into strands of black mist.

They fled with incredible speed, suffering no losses; only the frontline Shi Family soldiers sustained heavy casualties.

The Shi Family Elder bellowed angrily, the scene in chaos, no one knowing what he was shouting. In his fury‑induced rage he drove the Juling Lamp, countless sparks spraying in all directions, exploding chaotically where they struck the mutants.

Boom after boom rang without cease, hordes of mutants blasted apart, bone shards flying and rolling.

The Shi Family Elder roared: "Charge that fire pillar……Since we've come, we can't return empty‑handed."

The Shi Family Elder felt anguish; those troops he'd brought were all his trusted die‑hards, and with his influence in the Shi Family he had managed to muster just over five hundred of them—each elite, and above all, each utterly loyal to him.

For the possible treasure that might appear in the mine, he had brought so many people in, yet before even seeing what the treasure was, he had already lost dozens……

Of the nearly hundred soldiers fallen on the ground, about sixty or seventy had been torn to pieces and were certainly dead, while another twenty or thirty lay there wailing, gravely wounded but still savable if treated promptly.

The Shi Family Elder could no longer attend to those wounded.

That fire pillar lay not far ahead; he had to see with his own eyes what the treasure was.

If he saw it, he could hope to subdue it. Judging by the awe‑inspiring power the fire pillar emitted, if he could grasp the treasure in his hand, he might even have a chance to sweep the Nether Demon Mine clean of its mutants……

The great treasure causing the Nether Demon Mine's anomaly……"hehe"!

The Shi Family Elder's face twitched; he thrust out a finger, bit it open, and dripped a large amount of fresh blood into the Juling Lamp's reservoir.

With the Shi Family Elder's blood replenishing it, the Juling Lamp's bean‑sized flame suddenly surged, a cyan‑white blaze shooting up over a foot high. Heat waves rolled, wind‑fire sounds rose "whoosh‑whoosh", showers of thumb‑sized sparks flew everywhere, blasting the surrounding earth and stone, shattering many mutants to pieces.

"Charge onward!" the Shi Family Elder bellowed, fierce in both tone and expression.

The Chief Steward, however, had not taken part in the fighting from the start.

Under the protection of several cape‑clad experts, the Chief Steward swiftly produced twelve blood flags over a foot tall, planted them in the ground, and hastily laid several intricately patterned metal discs between them.

When the Shi Family Elder roared for the force to charge, the Chief Steward gritted his teeth, slit his own wrist, and smeared the fresh blood over several basin‑sized metal discs.

The blood flags vibrated violently, and several metal discs burst out with blinding radiance.

"What are you doing?" the Shi Family Elder snapped back, shouting hoarsely at the Chief Steward. He stared fixedly at those metal discs emitting strong light, and suddenly countless fine red blood vessels appeared in his eyeballs.

He had never seen these metal plates……The Cangyan Realm was, after all, just a poor, remote rural area.

But from the mouths of the merchants who traveled to and from the Cangyan Realm and the outer regions, the Shi Family Elder had heard of this legendary thing……the teleportation array, a miraculous item that could transport a person or object to an extremely distant place in an instant.

Even if there is no passage between the two places, as long as a teleportation array is set up, even a completely sealed-off desperate situation can easily have a person or object transported into it.

The Chief Steward actually set up a teleportation array in such a short time—just seven or eight breaths.

Who was he going to bring over?

The Shi Family Elder instinctively raised the Juling Lamp, and a blast of fire shot toward the teleportation array.

Light and shadow flickered on the six metal plates of the teleportation array, and a tall figure appeared out of thin air.

The figure extended a hand, gripping the blue-white flame as thick as a bowl's rim with five fingers.

With a "Bang," even the fire that would have sent the mutated stone giant flying and rolling was crushed in one grasp by the figure stepping out of the teleportation array; sheets of scattered fire fell onto the nearby ground, scorching the rock with a continuous "hiss."

"Shixi, aren't you welcoming me?" the figure stepped out of the teleportation array.

"Vice……Vice Sect Master." The Shi Family Elder's body stiffened; the flame on the Juling Lamp suddenly shrank to the size of a mung bean, and though his normally straight posture instinctively bent forward, he quickly forced himself to straighten his back.

His eyes flickered, his face twitched, and Shi Family Elder Shixi looked at Jia Zhengfeng with a complex expression, a face that seemed both smiling and crying, looking quite remarkable.

"How……did you come in person?" Shixi straightened his back, looking at Jia Zhengfeng in a manner that was neither humble nor arrogant.

But upon closer look, one could see that his waist muscles and both legs were slightly trembling, and his body unconsciously leaned forward…

It was obvious that, deep down, he actually wanted to bow to Jia Zhengfeng, but his concern for saving face made him tense his body and barely manage to stand straight before Jia Zhengfeng.

"The Shi Family is one of the three great families of the Cangyan Realm."

"You, Shixi, are one of the six Grand Elders of the Shi Family."

"You are a prominent figure in the Cangyan Realm…"

Jia Zhengfeng smiled, his finger almost touching Shixi's nose. He chuckled heartily and said, "What's more, your Shi Family's Nether Demon Mine has also gained a fearsome reputation over the past few years……If any treasure were to appear in there, what grade of treasure do you think it would be?"

Shixi's face stiffened.

Jia Zhengfeng warmly patted Shixi's shoulder: "Since you already intend to join the Changsheng Sect, don't hesitate—be bold, openly and sincerely join, don't waver; the wonders of the Changsheng Sect can only be understood once you've comprehended them."

After laughing a few times, Jia Zhengfeng embraced Shixi's shoulder and warmly shook him a few times: "No more jokes, speaking frankly, honestly speaking, some treasures can help extend one's lifespan, especially ancient curiosities—who can guarantee there aren't life‑prolonging goodies inside?"

"I'm also afraid, afraid that Elder Shixi……if you were to obtain some rare treasure and suddenly change your mind, wouldn't the Changsheng Sect's plan to unify the Cangyan Realm be delayed?"

Jia Zhengfeng warmly brought his mouth to the ear of the utterly stiff Shixi and whispered with a laugh: "The Cangyan Realm is very important to our Changsheng Sect……so, since I've come in person, how could I possibly give Elder Shixi a chance to change his mind?"

Elder Shixi looked at Jia Zhengfeng with an embarrassed and awkward expression, muttering, "Just joking, just joking—I've already agreed to the Vice Sect Master, how could I possibly change my mind?"

"Well said!" Jia Zhengfeng gave Elder Shixi a thumbs‑up: "Well said, I like your open‑and‑honest nature."

"We're all our own people, our own people! Hahahaha!"

Jia Zhengfeng laughed booming, and in his bright laughter, light flickered inside the teleportation array, and one after another, tall, handsome, upright men and graceful, beautiful women walked out in succession.

After thirty‑odd handsome men and beautiful women had emerged, groups of three to five heavily armored soldiers appeared one after another.

They strode out of the teleportation array with heavy steps, and immediately the whole formation went forward to meet the mutating creatures swarming from all sides.

The Changsheng Sect's elite warriors were fearsome in strength; they formed exquisite battle formations, and a squad of three to five could effectively deal with the flying‑in mutating creatures. Their weapons were also superior to those of the Shi Family warriors, and their slashes could effectively shatter the black bone plates on those mutating creatures.

Jia Zhengfeng laughed loudly, one arm around Shixi's shoulder and the other warmly gripping Chief Steward Cang Lao's hand, as they walked toward the fire pillar at the bottom of the pit.

"Come, come, come, let's first take a look—what exactly is this superb treasure that shoots flames into the sky?"