Chapter 81: Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Backup

In the Bone Demon Holy Cauldron, or according to his true name the Formless Divine Cauldron, Wu Tie woke up.

His whole body felt warm and hot, as if soaking in a hot spring; his mind was free of worry, all negative emotions washed away.

His heart brimmed with energy and fighting spirit, passion overflowing, vast and mighty.

He felt nothing in the world was an obstacle he couldn't overcome, no difficulty he couldn't conquer; nothing to worry about, nothing to fear; as long as he strove, everything could be done, as long as he strove, everything should be done.

Wu Tie raised his left hand and quietly examined the first joint of his finger beneath the fair flesh, its hue slightly dark and dull.

Having absorbed the essence of the Formless Relic, this first finger bone seemed to enter a strange metamorphosis; Wu Tie could feel its interior undergoing an earth‑shaking change, a transformation greatly beneficial to him and to this bone joint.

But the benefits of this change, Wu Tie could not yet enjoy.

His greatest gain was that his state of mind had been restored to perfection.

A young child, faced with a great upheaval, his father and elder brothers slain before his eyes……

He fell into the abyss, wandered a secret realm, struggling in that cruel, unfamiliar secret realm……

Even if he encountered Old Tie……

That guy is hardly one who would comfort or soothe people.

He only would use his unique way to hammer and temper Wu Tie, shaping him into the qualified warrior Old Tie envisioned.

That guy didn't care that Wu Tie was actually just a child.

He even goaded Wu Tie into actively provoking enemies, slaying them…… without a thought for how a eleven‑ or twelve‑year‑old child killing until flesh flew would inflict psychological trauma on Wu Tie.

Wu Tie, fortunately, had stumbled along this way, but he never had a chance to heal his inner self.

Then Old Tie, just when Wu Tie had come to rely on him as an emotional pillar…… fell into a sleep from which no one knows when he might awaken. To Wu Tie, this old guy seemed already 'alas, alas'.

Unbeknownst to him, Wu Tie's heart had become riddled with wounds, leaving severe aftereffects.

In the long run, he stood a great chance of mutating into a murderous maniac, or some kind of perverse, terrifying violent element.

Fortunately, here Wu Tie obtained a Formless Relic left behind by a great being.

That tiny bit of essence, though, merged with some of that great being's life insights, experiences, and trifling life experiences, and harmoniously blended with Wu Tie.

Wu Tie's young, fragile, trauma‑scarred mind was miraculously restored to perfect wholeness.

At this moment, Wu Tie's heart was calm and steady, like a square, stable cauldron; his state of mind was lively and lucid, like a flawless white pearl; his spiritual energy was lively and fervent, like a tree growing vigorously.

In short, his 'spirit' had reached a state that could be called the pinnacle of perfection.

A ball of fierce, bright golden light glowed at his brow, his whole body lucid and translucent. Compared to before merging with the Formless Relic, this golden light had seemed somewhat dull, but now it was like a mirror wiped clean of dust—its brilliance and luster hard to put into words.

"Father… three elder brothers… I will avenge you."

"No, I will surely become the sage Old Tie speaks of…… and bring you back from death."

"Old Tie, believe me—I will surely find the most suitable body for you, to wake you from your slumber."

"Ha, maybe I don't even need to look—if someone can forge your body, why can't I? I'll personally forge you a human‑headed dog's body…… heh, you'll surely like it."

Wu Tie laughed to himself for a while, then leapt up, stepping upon vast gray‑black mist, and began to survey his surroundings.

In every direction lay hazy mist, within which countless strange phantoms flickered in and out of sight.

Faint wondrous sounds came from all around, varying in thickness, soft or loud.

Wu Tie waved his hand to dispel a few nearby mists, furrowed his brow at the boundless haze, and said in a low voice: "Am I inside the Formless Divine Cauldron? This treasure—how can I get out?"

"Huh? Huh?" Wu Tie suddenly furrowed his brow.

Before him the mist swirled rapidly, then formed a hundred‑zhang‑wide vortex hovering before him. Accompanied by a faint, lovely melody, a huge black lotus blossomed out of the vortex.

Back at the site where the Bull Hero fell, in the pool before that great hall, Wu Tie had seen a lotus.

Thus, when this black‑mist‑formed lotus slowly drifted forth, Wu Tie finally recognized what it was.

A three‑foot‑wide black lotus hovered before Wu Tie; then a thread of milky light rose from the flower's center, gradually pulling apart a thin veil of light to either side. Two twisted, foot‑sized characters emerged from the veil—Wu Tie recognized them as the words 'cause and effect'.

When Old Tie was still at the Ancient Divine Arms Camp, teaching Wu Tie various combat skills and survival tactics, he also did not neglect cultural lessons.

He taught Wu Tie several kinds of complex ancient script.

Thus Wu Tie recognized that these two characters were written in an extremely archaic, obscure bronze‑cauldron script, just like the external《Formless Bone Demon Scripture》; seeing them, a trickle of information naturally flowed into his mind.

It was straightforward, frank, moreover extremely crude and wild.

Leaving behind the Formless Relic, especially that trace of essence left by the great being within it, plainly told Wu Tie: 'You owe me a favor, so you must repay it…… if you don't, just stay in this cauldron and slowly simmer to death!'

"A certain great being who had long since perished, on the verge of vanishing, laid everything on the line to leave a backup plan—" thus spoke!

Wu Tie was stunned.

Then he laughed.

"Actually interesting—I did indeed take your benefit…… feelings, this means I have to repay a debt, right?" Wu Tie shook his head, then nodded: "You mean……"

As information kept flowing in, Wu Tie's complexion gradually turned vivid.

His eyes flickered as he stared at the two characters 'cause and effect' for a long time, finally pointing at them helplessly.

"Aren't you afraid you miscalculated?"

"Actually, you really did miscalculate—at the very least, the time you were dug out was several years early……"

"Still, a slight error is understandable…… but those miners outside, and the experts of the Shi and Lu families, truly are pitiful."

"Looking at it this way, you really aren't a good person…… I truly cannot rely on my own strength to leave this cauldron."

Wu Tie looked around for a long time, he threw fierce punches and kicks, but no matter how hard he tried, all around was endless gray‑black mist; he could see no end to this haze, nor did he know how to escape.

After a quarter hour, Wu Tie enveloped himself in an invisible force field and tried to dash outward, but like a headless fly he buzzed in the gray‑black mist for a long time; his vision flashed with light and shadow, and he found himself back before that black lotus.

Having exhausted every means, Wu Tie finally discovered he indeed could not rely on his own strength to break free from this cauldron.

He held the White Tiger Rend divine weapon in his hand, yet he could not locate the cauldron's main body, nor could he attack it.

Wu Tie sat cross‑legged on a patch of mist, quietly gazing at the lotus and the two characters 'cause and effect'.

"What is the power of creation? Do I possess it?"

"You fellow, these words you left behind…… I can hardly believe them."

He raised his head, gazing at the thick, immeasurable gray smoke clouds above, and Wu Tie suddenly laughed: 'But I have no time to waste here. If I really slowly stew to death here, when will I be able to bring my father and elder brother back to life?'

If I really stew to death here, when will I be able to wake Lao Tie?

I'm still young, I still have many things to do.

I'll make a bet: I bet you didn't set a trap to harm me so many years ago. I bet you have the power to harm me, but your character is good, so you won't harm me!

After all, speaking of nothing else, just this great cauldron... If you really wanted to harm me, I'd already be dead now, right?

Wu Tie vigorously shook his left hand, looking at the first joint of his left finger, he let out a long sigh: 'From now on, don't be so greedy; this time I really got tricked by you.'

After sighing, Wu Tie gritted his teeth, the White Tiger's Fracture emitted a blade of light, and he lightly made a cut on his left wrist pulse.

The crimson blood gurgled out, passing through Wu Tie's bottomless smoke clouds below, dripping into the depths of the great cauldron.

Blood continued to flow, Wu Tie took nine deep breaths, and began to recite the mysterious secret art transmitted from the two characters 'cause and effect'—the Holy Demon Soul-Splitting Curse.

This is a scripture of just over three hundred characters.

It was awkward to pronounce, the tones very complex; although each word of the scripture was etched in his mind, on his first attempt, when he reached the fifteenth word, the tones shifted too quickly and his intonation was too strange, directly throwing off the rhythm.

Helpless, he could only start over from the beginning.

Thus, mistake after mistake, recitation after recitation.

When nearly half of the blood inside his body had flowed out and his face had turned deathly pale, Wu Tie finally completed a full recitation of the Holy Demon Soul-Splitting Curse. The golden light cluster at his brow suddenly throve violently, excruciating pain struck, and his vision went black at once.

The golden light cluster at his brow split into two roughly equal masses; one mass of golden light slowly flew out from his brow and swiftly headed downward.

Wu Tie was drenched in sweat, his body trembling uncontrollably.

His bones emitted a faint tremor; the energy stored within his body was frantically absorbed by his bones, transformed through the marrow, and new blood dripped into his body... yet blood continued to flow from his wrist.

Wu Tie's skin just slightly withered away.

The nutrients and energy stored within his body were continually depleted, his muscles withered at a visible speed, gradually turning into skin and bone.

Just as Wu Tie went limp, utterly lacking strength to support himself, the characters 'cause and effect' on the black lotus quietly shattered, and the black lotus turned into a stream of light that entered his severed wrist.

The wound on his wrist quickly healed, leaving no trace.

Within the shattered black lotus, a black banner over three feet long silently appeared; its pole was an unknown strange animal bone, slender and straight, its surface bearing faint, agile wind patterns that flickered in and out of sight.

The banner's cloth was over six feet long, more than twice the length of its pole.

On the banner's cloth were rolling clouds and wind patterns; gusts blew the clouds, causing them to constantly swirl and tumble on the cloth, with a faint wind sound emanating from it.

Wu Tie grinned, grabbed the pole, bit his tongue tip, and sprayed a drop of blood onto the banner's cloth.

He faintly felt a mysterious connection arising between himself and the banner.

You took half of my soul power and released about as much blood as three times my whole body... Well, I don't know what use you have, but I hope you're somewhat useful... After all, you should count as an ancient treasure, right?

Wu Tie lightly waved the banner, and the surrounding boundless gray-black smoke clouds instantly emitted sharp whistles; strands of smoke rushed toward the banner and quickly vanished into it.

In just a few breaths, the boundless smoke clouds around Wu Tie were completely swallowed by the banner; the banner in his hand grew heavy, its cloth moving on its own, occasionally striking his body with a crisp 'pap-pap' sound.

The next moment, the Formless Divine Cauldron where Wu Tie stood shattered.

The entire great cauldron broke into the finest particles, transforming into streams of seven-colored, bewildering light that swiftly flowed downward toward Wu Tie.

'Waste, waste, too wasteful!' Wu Tie stared blankly at the collapsing Formless Divine Cauldron, heartbroken to the point his mouth corners twitched.

'Senior, no matter who you are, for a last shred of life... you did this... directly destroying an ancient treasure of boundless power and profound mystery... you're too extravagant.' Wu Tie simply squatted on the ground, quietly watching a cluster of seven-colored light the size of a water jar spin rapidly before him.

Everything, it was simply inconceivable.

Wu Tie never expected that someone, long ago, would have laid out a final path to survival for his future self many years later.

This was not merely pure 'power'...

'This is wisdom!' Wu Tie sincerely marveled.

Through the transparent seven-colored light, Wu Tie saw a drop of blood the size of a mung bean, emitting a faint white glow.

An extremely faint, almost soul-like fluctuation of aura spread from this tiny drop of blood.

Weak to the extreme, on the brink of total collapse, it actually existed between being and non-being...

Such a weak drop of blood, which could vanish at any moment, still managed to obtain half of Wu Tie's soul power and plasma equivalent to three times his total blood volume, only then condensing under the mighty power of the Formless Divine Cauldron.

It's hard to imagine how weak this drop of blood was before receiving Wu Tie's 'selfless aid'.

The blood trembled slightly; the seven-colored light formed from the shattered Formless Divine Cauldron suddenly collapsed toward the blood's core.

After waves of light swirled, finally a white egg the size of a fist appeared before Wu Tie.

Pure white, opaque, without any pattern, crystalline and clear, appearing fragile and tender, this white egg hovered before Wu Tie, faintly exuding a sense of intimacy and affection.

'Well, I still have to learn to raise a child.' Wu Tie sighed, helplessly raising his head and muttering: 'I'll count it as my debt to you; I'll raise the legacy you left behind, and then we'll be even.'

'I also didn't prepare to cultivate the Formless Bone Demon Classic; actually... I don't owe you too much, right?'

Helplessly shaking his head, Wu Tie grasped the white egg in his hand.