Chapter 167: Poison King Cauldron

Wang Lin's gaze flickered as he stared at the Black Stone Bridge for a long time. For the past three days, he had been observing the stone bridge without ever stepping onto it.

This hazy, gray world was desolate and empty, save for this stone bridge.

Wang Lin remained silent for a moment, then waved his right hand backward. Instantly, the forty-two hurricanes suddenly dispersed, stopping their rotation and transforming into tens of thousands of Small Beasts, which roared as they spread out in all directions.

Wang Lin slightly closed his eyes, using the Second Devil Head to perceive these Small Beasts. As the numerous Small Beasts scattered, they flew toward the surroundings, and only the faint sound of whistling gradually drifted away until it was almost inaudible.

After a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes, leaped out, and flew toward the northwest. As he flew, the numerous Small Beasts slowly converged from all directions, forming a hurricane behind him.

Before long, Wang Lin paused and stopped. Before his eyes appeared a Stone Monument about thirty zhang tall. The monument was slightly red and emitted a Sinister Qi. A few Small Beasts were currently clinging to the monument, flapping their wings and making buzzing sounds.

Seeing Wang Lin approach, these Small Beasts immediately flew toward him and merged into the hurricane. Wang Lin looked at the Stone Monument and saw three large characters written on it: Road of No Return.

These three characters were filled with a sense of vicissitude. After Wang Lin looked at them for a while, his gaze suddenly fell upon the lower right corner of the Stone Monument. After concentrating for a moment, he waved his right hand, and a strong wind swept past. Amidst the swirling dust and stone powder, a line of small text appeared in the lower right corner of the Stone Monument.

"I crossed the Land of Earth Element, subdued its Beast King, and entered this Road of No Return. This place is quite interesting, so I leave this message. If a successor has Destiny, remember to carefully ponder the words 'No Return'."

Wang Lin's expression was calm, but his heart was startled. The small text was identical to the characters he had seen when he first entered the Black Pagoda in the Land of Earth Element, clearly written by the same person.

Judging by the meaning between the lines, the Land of Earth Element was incredibly simple for this person. Even the powerful Heaven-Reaching Hurricane Beast King could be subdued by them.

However, upon reflection, Wang Lin narrowed his eyes. If what this person said was true, why was the Beast King still in the Land of Earth Element? What this person said was likely somewhat false. After all, the meaning of 'subdue' is self-evident; the single character 'subdue' implies subservience.

Of course, it's also possible that this person truly subdued a Beast King, but over countless years, another one was simply born in the Land of Earth Element.

Whether it was true or false, Wang Lin had no interest in carefully discerning. His gaze once again fell upon the three characters of the Road of No Return, and he remained silent.

After a long time, he turned and flew toward the Black Stone Bridge, the group of hurricanes following closely behind him.

Returning to the stone bridge, Wang Lin slapped his Storage Pouch, and the Devil Head Xu Ligou immediately crawled out. It stared jealously at the hurricanes, muttering internally, "So what if they're subordinates? What's so great about that? I won't get any subordinates to follow me either!"

Wang Lin pointed at the stone bridge, and the Devil Head Xu Ligou immediately perked up. This time, instead of his usual haggling, he was full of vigor, glancing triumphantly at the hurricane. He secretly thought, "See? Master Evil Star still values me! Otherwise, why wouldn't he let the Second One do this kind of thing?"

When he looked at Wang Lin, a fawning expression appeared on his face. Without a word, he flew toward the stone bridge. After flying a long distance and encountering no danger, he circled around it a few times before flying back.

Wang Lin frowned slightly, extending his right hand. Immediately, a Small Beast flew out of the hurricane. The Small Beast lay on Wang Lin's palm, its tiny eyes fixed tightly on Wang Lin, unmoving.

Wang Lin flicked his right hand, and the Small Beast immediately flew toward the Black Stone Bridge. As soon as it took three steps, the Small Beast trembled and stopped moving forward. Wang Lin's gaze was solemn as he stared intently at the Small Beast.

He saw the Small Beast trembling, slowly turning around, its eyes filled with terror. At that moment, a Vortex immediately appeared on the stone bridge beneath it, swallowing the Small Beast instantly before returning to normal.

Wang Lin fell silent for a moment. He now understood that this stone bridge was the only way to pass through the Road of No Return. He pondered briefly and once again urged several Small Beasts to fly toward the bridge, but the outcome was the same.

However, Wang Lin noticed one detail: if several Small Beasts flew together, only the first one would undergo the change. After it was swallowed, the remaining Small Beasts would experience the change sequentially, and so on.

Wang Lin's eyes flickered, and he muttered internally, "No Return… No Return… meaning once you step out, you cannot come back…" He remained silent for a while, still choosing not to step forward rashly.

Instead, he sat cross-legged outside the stone bridge and took out two Storage Pouches from his embrace. One of them was black with gold thread, which he had stolen from the Mysterious Corpse inside the Immortal Cave of the War God Temple that contained the Divine Dao Art carvings.

Unfortunately, there was a force on this Storage Pouch preventing Wang Lin's Divine Sense from entering, making him unable to open it. Wang Lin knew that the opponent's Divine Sense was inside, and only by erasing it could he open the pouch.

However, this Divine Sense was extremely powerful. After Wang Lin tested it a few times, he gave up and instead wrapped his own Divine Sense around it, preventing the inner Divine Sense from connecting with the outside world, thereby ensuring its owner could not sense it.

Although Wang Lin was willing but unable to completely erase the Divine Sense, hiding and containing it was something he could achieve with his extreme realm Divine Sense.

The other Storage Pouch was the one he had just seized from Meng Tuozi. The Divine Sense on it had completely disappeared, indicating that Meng Tuozi must have died.

Wang Lin sneered internally. When he opened it and looked inside, his eyes lit up. As expected of a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator's accumulation over thousands of years, the Storage Pouch contained no less than three hundred thousand Spirit Stones, piled up densely like a mountain, and all of these Spirit Stones were High Grade.

What made Wang Lin's eyes shine even brighter was the presence of two quietly resting rhomboid Crystal Stones emitting a halo—they were the rare Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

Wang Lin's heart pounded. Just these two Top-Grade Spirit Stones alone made this risky snatch worth the effort.

Besides that, there were some bottles and jars. As for Magic Treasures, there was only the Small Green Cauldron broken into two halves. Other than that, there were no other Magic Treasures.

Wang Lin pondered briefly and immediately understood that since Meng Tuozi had been trapped for many days, his Magic Treasures must have been used up long ago.

In fact, his guess was correct. Meng Tuozi originally had quite a few Magic Treasures, and every single one was Nascent Soul level or above. However, repeated attempts to break out of the Black Pagoda caused him to massively deplete his Magic Treasures, especially the time he broke out using over ten Spirit Beast Substitutes as a price. He threw out Magic Treasures in handfuls, even sacrificing Magic Treasures to self-destruct just to carve out a bloody path, but sadly, he ultimately failed.

Because of this incident, there were no other Magic Treasures in his Storage Pouch besides the Green Cauldron.

Besides these, his Storage Pouch also contained many Jade Slips. Wang Lin took them out one by one and placed them against his forehead to examine them. The more he read, the happier his expression became. Most of the Jade Slips contained records introducing various aspects of Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and Spirit Beast summaries.

These items were extremely useful to Wang Lin now. At the very least, he wouldn't encounter situations where he didn't recognize valuable Materials as he had in the past.

Moreover, Meng Tuozi specialized in Alchemy and Poison Refinement. The Jade Slips in his Storage Pouch provided detailed introductions in these areas. Wang Lin read for a long time, and his knowledge increased by more than a hundredfold compared to before.

Apart from these, a Dark Green Jade Slip caught Wang Lin's attention. Inside this Jade Slip was a set of Cultivation Technique, whose name consisted of only one character: Ming.

Let's temporarily call it the Ming Art. The Ming Art detailed a Divine Ability that could be called earth-shattering and ghost-wailing. It was a Dao that entered through poison, divided into nine layers. According to the description on the Cultivation Technique, upon reaching the sixth layer, even a Soul Transformation Stage cultivation would find it hard to survive the Poison Attack.

However, this set of Cultivation Technique was extremely overbearing. If one were to Cultivate it, they would need to endure what ordinary people could not, using various Poisons to stimulate the body, thereby reaching the Realm of being entirely poisoned.

Furthermore, unless one could Cultivate to the ninth layer, the Realm of Returning to Simplicity, the body would not expel the toxins and Cultivate the true Ming Poison, thus returning to normal. Before reaching that point, the body would undergo various mutations, the most obvious of which was the growth of pustules.

After Wang Lin finished reading, he fell silent for a moment and gave up the idea of Cultivating this Cultivation Technique. Meng Tuozi's foul odor must have been caused by Cultivating this Ming Art. Although Wang Lin didn't care about the Physical Body, the Jade Slip mentioned that the deeper one Cultivated this Ming Art, the more toxins accumulated in the body, and there was a certain possibility that the poisonous Qi would surge up into the Sea of Consciousness, causing one to lose their mind and become a Walking Corpse that only knew how to kill.

This was the true reason he ultimately gave up Cultivating it. Wang Lin's eyes flickered. Although this Cultivation Technique could not be Cultivated, it contained many Spells that could be executed if paired with poison.

As for the Jade Slip containing Meng Tuozi's lifelong experience in Poison Refinement, Wang Lin had already read it carefully and was quite tempted.

He took out the bottles and jars from the Storage Pouch and identified them one by one according to the introductions in the Jade Slip. Almost all of them were Poisons; only one jade bottle contained the Anti-Poison Pill that Wang Lin had consumed before.

Wang Lin saw in the Jade Slip that this type of Anti-Poison Pill was only moderately effective. Only by consuming it in conjunction with a poison containing a slight toxin could its anti-poison effect be maximized.

Wang Lin placed everything from the Storage Pouch into his own Storage Pouch, then tossed Meng Tuozi's Storage Pouch onto the ground. Next, he picked up an item, and his expression became solemn.

This item was precisely Meng Tuozi's Lifebound Treasure, the Small Green Cauldron.

Although this cauldron was broken in two, immense Spiritual Qi still emanated from it. However, this Spiritual Qi was filled with toxins, especially the Green Mist that could destroy Divine Sense, making Wang Lin extremely cautious when examining it.

He knew that if one were to list the most precious items in Meng Tuozi's Storage Pouch, besides the Ming Art Jade Slip and the Top-Grade Spirit Stones, it would definitely be this Green Cauldron. After all, this cauldron was Meng Tuozi's Lifebound Treasure, forged and refined with his Body Fire over thousands of years during his Soul Transformation Stage cultivation.

When he checked the Jade Slips just now, there was an introduction regarding the Small Green Cauldron. When the Ming Art was Cultivated to the second layer, one needed a poisonous object inside the body to serve as a treasure to suppress the poisoned body.

This small cauldron was originally an imitation of the legendary divine treasure Medicine King Cauldron. Although it was an imitation, it was not inferior to the true Medicine King Cauldron in terms of Materials; what it lacked was merely the tens of thousands of years of accumulated essence of Spiritual Qi from plants and trees that the Medicine King Cauldron possessed.

This cauldron was originally the supreme treasure of a certain third-grade Cultivation Country. Meng Tuozi spent hundreds of years meticulously planning, joining its sect, and eventually becoming a Disciple of the Sect Leader with his extraordinary talent. Only then did he get the chance to approach it. Afterward, he seized the cauldron, killed his master, and fled all the way into the Cultivation Devil Sea, using this cauldron as his Lifebound Treasure.

He forcefully refined a Medicine King Cauldron into a Poison King Cauldron. If he hadn't died and had cultivated the冥决 (Ming Jue) to the ninth layer, this cauldron, although still unable to compare to the legendary divine treasure Medicine King Cauldron, would not have been far off and could truly be called the Poison King Cauldron.

Unfortunately, he died before achieving success. Due to Destiny, this cauldron has now fallen into Wang Lin's hands.

Wang Lin's mind replayed the description of this cauldron from the Jade Slip. After a moment of silence, he thought that if he also Cultivated the 冥决 (Ming Jue) and refined it to a certain extent, he could swallow this treasure and make it his Lifebound Treasure. Unfortunately, Wang Lin no longer had plans to Cultivate the 冥决 (Ming Jue), so this green cauldron was a bit difficult to handle.

Wang Lin was quite unwilling to let such a treasure go unused. He had gone through so much trouble, wasn't it all to make himself stronger? Although it wasn't time to form his Nascent Soul yet, and this cauldron wouldn't directly boost his chances of forming one, being in such a dangerous place, if he could use this green cauldron, his chances of survival would definitely increase significantly.

Wang Lin's face was ashen. He looked up at the endless black stone bridge, his eyes flashing. Without another word, he spat out a ray of Crystal Light. The Crystal Light Flying Sword immediately circled around and then hovered in front of him, emitting a chilling glow.

Wang Lin looked at the Flying Sword, a hesitant expression on his face. Then, gritting his teeth, he slapped it fiercely with his large hand without a second thought. The Flying Sword immediately trembled, letting out a sword cry, and streaks of blood-red fine lines appeared on its blade.

These fine lines were the essence blood that Wang Lin had condensed using the Blood Refining Art when he was in the State of Zhao. Although the Flying Sword and his Physical Body were destroyed together later, the Blood Refining Art was extremely domineering, having been forcefully imprinted on the Sword Spirit.

This Sword Spirit was originally an intangible and spiritless object, but after many years in Wang Lin's Sea of Consciousness and experiencing the evolution of the Soul Devourer with him, the Sword Spirit developed a trace of Spiritual Consciousness, which allowed it to be preserved completely.

It wasn't until Wang Lin used the Artifact Refining Art of the God of War Temple to re-refine a sword embryo for it that this Flying Sword finally completed its Sword Spirit transfer.

It can be said that this Flying Sword had achieved countless glorious military exploits for Wang Lin, and the number of people who died by it was innumerable. Over time, the Killing Intent within the Sword Spirit accumulated more and more, and it had already become a malevolent weapon.

Wang Lin's eyes showed solemnity. His right hand moved slowly through the air, following the blood threads on the sword. As his right hand waved, the blood threads on the sword became redder and redder. Finally, the entire Flying Sword made a cracking sound, actually breaking off along the blood threads, turning into fragments that fell to the ground.

In mid-air, only streaks of blood threads remained, floating within, and a faint sword shadow flickered in and out of view.

Wang Lin took a deep breath, patted his Storage Pouch, and the Reaction Furnace flew out. He pointed at the green cauldron, and immediately the two halves of the green cauldron flew into the Reaction Furnace. The moment they entered, green mist instantly enveloped the Reaction Furnace, and hissing sounds emanated from within.

A cold glint flashed in Wang Lin's eyes. He continuously struck out several Hand Seals, which, passing through the green mist, imprinted themselves on the Reaction Furnace. The furnace immediately stirred, slowly beginning to rotate. Gradually, its rotation became faster and faster, until the green mist enveloping it was driven, forming a green Vortex.

Wang Lin beckoned with his large hand, and the fragments of the Crystal Light Flying Sword on the ground were drawn into his grasp. He held one piece, staring at the rapidly rotating Reaction Furnace. After a long while, he flicked his right hand, and a fragment transformed into a ray of Crystal Light, flashing and disappearing, accurately entering the high-speed rotating Reaction Furnace.

The moment it entered, the fragment immediately turned into liquid and melted into the furnace.

Wang Lin watched intently, continuously flicking his right hand. Within an hour, he threw all the fragments inside. At this point, he slowly exhaled, striking out several streams of Spiritual Qi with both hands onto the Reaction Furnace.

At this moment, the rotation speed of the Reaction Furnace immediately doubled. Only a rotating mass could be seen, its detailed appearance unclear. The green mist Vortex above it, at first glance, seemed to be stationary, but upon closer inspection, one would find that it wasn't still, but rather rotating too quickly, creating an illusion.

"Still not enough!" Wang Lin murmured to himself. With his Divine Sense, he could clearly see that the high temperature generated by the rotation within the Reaction Furnace was still insufficient for the green cauldron inside. The green cauldron was only slightly red, but it had not melted.

Wang Lin's eyes flashed, and with a slight thought, several items immediately flew out of his Storage Pouch. He didn't even glance at them, grabbed one, and flicked his right hand, accurately dropping it into the Reaction Furnace.

The moment this item fell in, a cluster of green flames suddenly erupted. Although the Reaction Furnace's speed remained the same, the temperature inside instantly doubled. The green cauldron's color had completely turned red.

But there were still no signs of melting.

The item Wang Lin had just thrown in was a special Artifact Refining Material from the God of War Temple called Chicken Blood Stone. When catalyzed by spiritual power, it could generate high temperatures.

If too many Chicken Blood Stones were thrown in, it would not only fail to increase the temperature but would immediately lower it. So, after Wang Lin threw in a few more pieces, he put the rest away.

At this point, the temperature of the Reaction Furnace had reached a terrifying level, but the green cauldron was only glowing red and still hadn't melted.

Wang Lin pondered for a moment, then consecutively threw in dozens of other Artifact Refining Materials from the God of War Temple, such as Purple Moon Vine, Fragmented Flower Stone, and Blue Moon Wood. After he individually threw these items into the Reaction Furnace, a multicolored smoke roared out, forming a shape like an illusory cauldron.

Upon the appearance of this illusory cauldron-like smoke, it immediately dispersed the green mist Vortex. Finally, it strangely retracted from its diffused state, along with the scattered green mist, rapidly shrinking back into the Reaction Furnace.

At this moment, the Reaction Furnace emitted rumbling sounds, and gradually, faint cracks appeared on its exterior. Wang Lin focused his concentration, staring intently at the small cauldron inside. He saw that the two halves of the green cauldron had begun to melt, but its melting speed was too slow. If it continued at this rate, the Reaction Furnace might shatter before it completely melted.

Wang Lin's eyes flickered, and he raised his right hand. A cluster of blue flames floated in his palm. As soon as these flames appeared, the surrounding temperature immediately dropped. This was precisely the Yellow Springs Ice Flame, formed after Cultivating the Yellow Springs Ascending Aperture Art to Major Achievement.

This Ice Flame had already merged with Wang Lin's Golden Core, making it seemingly inexhaustible. However, excessive use would still cause some damage to his Golden Core.

Therefore, even now, he only used this Ice Flame as a trump card, rarely deploying it casually.

At this moment, seeing that the Reaction Furnace could no longer withstand it and was about to shatter, Wang Lin pushed his right hand forward without hesitation. The Ice Flame immediately flew out and quickly touched the Reaction Furnace.

Wang Lin was highly concentrated, his eyes unblinking, carefully controlling the Ice Flame to slowly approach, especially the minute control of the Spiritual Qi, which could not have the slightest fluctuation, maintaining the stable low temperature of the Ice Flame as much as possible.

In this instant, the cracks on the Reaction Furnace suddenly increased, but before they could spread, they were immediately covered by the Ice Flame, forcefully solidifying them.

In just a few breaths, Wang Lin was already covered in sweat. He was taking a risky gamble; if controlled well, it could help solidify the Reaction Furnace, but if there was any error, the result would be an accelerated shattering of the Reaction Furnace.

At this time, with the Ice Flame reinforcing the Reaction Furnace, the shattering situation was alleviated. However, if the low temperature of the Ice Flame was not restricted, it would inevitably have a fatal impact on the melting of the green cauldron inside. Therefore, Wang Lin was even more cautious at this moment, doing his best to limit the low temperature of the Ice Flame to a balance point where it could solidify the furnace body without affecting the melting of the green cauldron.

Slowly, the green cauldron gradually melted. During this period, Wang Lin dared not be negligent in the slightest. After an unknown amount of time, the green cauldron finally completely melted, becoming a pool of deep green liquid spread within the Reaction Furnace.

Wang Lin exhaled, formed Hand Seals with his right hand, and struck out a ray of spiritual light, imprinting it on the Reaction Furnace. Immediately, the furnace body vibrated and stopped rotating. Wang Lin grabbed with his large hand, and the green liquid inside the furnace floated out.

Within this pool of liquid, a faint, illusory small cauldron flickered in and out of view. Wang Lin knew this must be the Cauldron Spirit of the Poison King Cauldron. Without hesitation, he beckoned with his right hand through the air, and the Sword Spirit floating in mid-air immediately flew out and merged into the green liquid.

At this instant, the Cauldron Spirit immediately stirred and likewise merged into it. Wang Lin's gaze was solemn. These two different spirit bodies did not attack or devour each other as Wang Lin had speculated. Instead, after a brief standoff, the Cauldron Spirit immediately transformed into streaks of green Spiritual Qi, drilling into the Flying Sword's Sword Spirit.

The two quickly fused together. At this point, Wang Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief. He tapped several times with both hands, and immediately the pool of liquid slowly solidified, transforming into a six-inch long dark green small sword according to Wang Lin's will.

On both sides of the sword body, two rows of densely packed small thorns grew out, and streaks of green light flashed on the sword thorns, looking quite astonishing.

At this time, the Flying Sword had completely taken shape, dark green throughout, and it even contained the poison of the Poison King Cauldron. If one were to be touched by it, even if not killed by the sword itself, they would certainly die of poisoning.

This Flying Sword, even if a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator were to be ambushed and stabbed by it, would be hard-pressed to escape death. After all, the poison it contained was from Meng Tuozi's Poison King Cauldron.

However, after re-refining it, Wang Lin no longer dared to swallow it into his abdomen to nourish and refine with his Golden Core. Even when using it, he had to be extremely careful, otherwise, if he were to be stabbed, he would also surely die.

There was simply no antidote for the Poison King Cauldron's poison; no one could cure it except Meng Tuozi.

Wang Lin was full of ambition, especially the sharp thorns on the Flying Sword's body. These were his killing move. With just a thought, those sharp thorns would break off and shoot out, making it impossible for others to guard against.