Chapter 418: Earthquake Cauldron
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
The head was very huge, and the bump that had swelled wasn't small either. However, the person wasn't high when he tunneled out from underground. He was only five foot, and his face was covered with a scraggly beard that grew in all directions.
"Chief of Earth Travelers, this manor was constructed by the four sovereigns of High Heavens. They put much of their capital into its construction," Qin Mu explained right away.
"Those wretches again!" The dwarf jumped out and landed on the floor with a thump. Even though his body was short, he was astonishingly heavy. He raised his head and said, "Country… giant, are you the human emperor? Did that haughty human emperor die already?"
He didn't wait for Qin Mu to reply, unable to contain his joy. "That's good! Did he die miserably? He must have died miserably, right? Hahahaha, I knew that guy would die miserably, being so haughty every day, calling us frequently to counterattack. It would have been fine if it was just once or twice, but if one stands frequently beside the river, how can the shoes not get wet? The more he played, the sooner he should have lost. But now he's already dead, right?"
Qin Mu turned his head back around, but he didn't see Village Chief. 'Village Chief was here moments ago, so where did he run to now?'
"I'm Tuxing Feng of Earth Travelers, the current chief. My ancestor was Earth Lord from Founding Emperor Era, and our whole family was this short. You should have seen the Earth Shrine in Great Ruins before, right? What they worship is the ancestor of our family."
The dwarf was entertaining in conversation, and he also talked fast. "Our race is very good at giving birth, thus there were Earth Lords everywhere during Founding Emperor Era, and so were Earth Shrines. Every mountain had the gods of our Earth Travelers.
"However, among our people, the smaller you are the better. Ever since Founding Emperor Era ended, our bloodline has gotten mudded, and we've been growing taller and taller. At my height, I can be considered a giant among Earth Travelers, and I would be despised by my ancestors. That reminds me, I have twenty-eight brothers, but I'm the eldest. My second brother is called…"
Qin Mu coughed and said, "Everyone, please head inside."
Suddenly, a demon wind swept over. Five men and women with strange appearances stood on the pitch black devil wind. "Chiefs of the demon race, Five Immortal Elders are here on Human Emperor's invitation."
Qin Mu was astonished. Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor went to stand beside him and said, "These five people are all of the demon race, and their abilities are extremely strong."
Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly. Five immortals—Fox, Yellow, White, Willow, and Rat— was a saying of the mortal world. Fox Immortal was a fox, Yellow Immortal was a weasel, White Immortal was a hedgehog, Willow Immortal was a snake, and Rat Immortal was a rat. The five of them were the chiefs of the demon race and represented the five elite races among the demons.
The First Generation Human Emperor had even saved the demons when he was saving the people of the world back in the day, so even the chiefs of the demons offered their treasures when forging the Human Emperor's Seal together.
"Five guests, please!"
Qin Mu invited everyone into the manor and entered the main hall to take a seat. Village Chief also came, but as everyone looked at the old man who resembled a rod, they didn't recognize him at first.
Other than Village Chief, Butcher, Mute, Blind, Old Ma, Cripple, Deaf, Apothecary, and Granny Si also sat down in their respective seats. Tuxing Feng looked at Village Chief repeatedly, finding him quite familiar, making Village Chief slightly awkward.
After a moment, Hermit Qing You brought You He and You Yu over and greeted Qin Mu before greeting Village Chief with a smile. "We are late!"
"Little Qing'zi, Little You'zi, and Little You'zi!" Tuxing Feng couldn't contain his joy and jumped up to shout, "You guys are still alive? I thought you guys were dead! Little Qing'zi, your relationship with the previous human emperor was quite good. Has that scoundrel died?"
Hermit Qing You looked slightly awkward when he pointed to Village Chief. "Isn't Old Human Emperor still around?"
Village Chief was ashamed, wishing to hide somewhere. Tuxing Feng and the rest laughed out loud and went forward to greet him. "We long recognized you, but we just wanted to tease you."
"Even though you frequently called us over, we missed that time we spent with you!"
"To be able to fight with you during our years was our greatest honor!"
Village Chief was suddenly full of tears and choked on his words.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was deeply moved. The previous generation sword god had so many close friends, which was something he could not hope to reach.
Old Rulai and Old Dao Master arrived as well, and everyone was lively again.
"Humans are still prospering, as expected of the race that's able to rule the land." King Kun saw more and more human experts arriving and saw that the other races could only make claims as an equal when added together. This made him sigh ruefully in his heart.
Willow Immortal looked at Qin Mu. "Human Emperor took out Human Emperor's Seal, so what mission do we have this time?"
Willow Immortal was a woman, and from her name, it would seem like she was a willow tree that had turned into a demon, but as a matter of fact, she was a green snake who had the bloodline of the green dragon turned demon. It wasn't known how long she had lived, but even though she said herself to be old, she didn't look it.
Humans had at most the lifespan of eight hundred and years, but the lifespan of other races surpassed that limit. Qin Mu could not guess how long Willow Immortal had lived. However, since most of the strong practitioners had fought along with Village Chief before, they couldn't be too young.
The other immortals, White, Yellow, and Rat were all men, with Fox being the only other woman.
"Intercept High Heavens." Qin Mu surveyed his surroundings and said, "Fellow senior brothers and senior sisters, I guess you have already seen the stone statues and treasures in Eternal Peace, right? The gods of High Heavens will come forth to release natural disasters in the treasure and activate the astronomical phenomenon. Earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and tempests will all rush through the land. It is certain that all of your clansmen will find it hard to survive through that as well."
Everyone scrunched their eyebrows. On their way, they had indeed noticed numerous stone statues, and if it truly was as Qin Mu said, when the disaster burst forth, their people would be unable avoid being wiped out as well.
"Before I came, I brought over a treasure that had appeared from underground. Ladies and gentlemen, please take a look," Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor said.
He took out a taotie sack and carefully opened it while circulating his magic power to lift up a red circular cauldron before carefully placing it on the ground.
Everyone surrounded and examined it in detail. The cauldron was vermillion red in color, and there were flames spilling out from inside it. Time and time again, balls of flame would burst forth and float around the cauldron. It had an area of six ares, and in the center, there was an opening which was sealed tightly by a huge cover. Sealing runes were all around it.
There seemed to be boundless terrifying power inside the cauldron that was continuously trembling. The hall was also trembling continuously while the glazed roof tiles on the roof were rattlings in a regular pattern.
The entire manor was trembling while the trees were shaking gently around it.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was extremely careful as though he was scared of activating the violent energy in the cauldron.
"This is Earthquake Cauldron." Tuxing Feng stood by the huge cauldron, then walked two rounds about it. His voice was like thunder when he said, "Earthquake Cauldron contains the power of an earthquake, and if it's unleashed, tens of thousands mountains in Eternal Peace Empire will be razed to the ground! My ancestor had once forged this kind of treasure on the emperor's order and used it to collect the energy of earthquakes everywhere."
He took out a sharp horn-shaped hammer. The front of the hammer's head was flat while the back was a sharp horn. He hit Earthquake Cauldron with a loud clank.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor wanted to stop him, but it was too late.
The manor was fine, but the mountains in a radius of three hundred yards from it trembled violently and shook as though they were dancing. The mountain ranges shivered while the earth churned. Mountain rocks shattered and countless trees collapsed in an instant!
Hermit Qing You was furious and snatched the hammer away. He almost got squashed to the ground by its weight, so he immediately let go while shouting furiously, "Three Inch Nail, are you crazy?"
Tuxing Feng picked up his huge hammer and held it as though it was very light. "I'm extremely familiar with this kind of item, and it's fine giving it a knock. The area nearby is desolate and there's nobody… There's nobody nearby, right?"
Qin Mu shook his head. "There's no one living nearby. However, it's best if Chief Tuxing isn't so reckless."
"Let me try!" Black Tortoise Chief Xuan Shengwu went forward and said solemnly, "Three Inch Nail, knock the Earthquake Cauldron. I want to see if I can suppress the shockwaves."
Tuxing Feng's eyes lit up, and he smiled. "Black Tortoise Shield is known as the strongest defense, so you might just be able to suppress this Earthquake Cauldron! Alright. Let us try!"
Qin Mu was about to stop them when Granny Si stretched her hand out to stop him and shook her head gently. She said in a low voice, "Mu'er, what they respect is Human Emperor's Seal and not you, so they won't listen to you. Let them try. If they don't suffer, they won't fight High Heavens with you."
Qin Mu immediately stopped wanting to dissuade them. "Imperial Preceptor, bring this cauldron out and let them try."
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor's magic power flooded out, and he carefully brought Earthquake Cauldron out of the hall.
Everyone went after it, and Xu Shengwu with a flying serpent coiled around him stepped forward. He gave a shout, and layers of tortoiseshell runes flew out to seal the area around Earthquake Cauldron, all of them locked together. This formed a system of seals with nearly a hundred layers shining with flowing light and overflowing color!
Tuxing Feng raised his sharp horned hammer and knocked heavily on Earthquake Cauldron, which resulted in a world-shaking boom as the energy inside instantly exploded out.
The destructive shockwave broke through all hundred layers of Xu Shengwu's defense, and his face changed instantly. The black tortoise and the flying serpent shouted in unison as the man revealed his true body, transforming into a huge black tortoise to suppress the shockwave with all his strength. It caused him to cough up blood while his huge body was blown into the sky!
Everyone's expression changed, and they each executed their strongest defensive methods to seal the rampant energy with all their strength. In a split second, numerous rumbles rang out as everyone's divine treasures were opened one after another. Their primordial spirits rose as the broken divine bridges stretched across the sky with them on top, and magic power burst forth at the same time, suppressing Earthquake Cauldron together!
The energy shockwave calmed down for a moment before erupting once more, blowing all the humongous figures in all directions, smashing them into the surroundings of the manor.
Everyone's face went pale white, and they stood up to look at the vermillion cauldron with disbelief
Even though the terrifying energy had been blocked by them, it had injured all of them as well.
"Three Inch Nail, how much power of this Earthquake Cauldron did your hammer activate?" Xu Shengwu asked loudly as he wiped away the blood on the corner of his mouth and returned to his human form.
Tuxing Feng shook his head and said, "It's not even one percent of Earthquake Cauldron's power…"
Everyone's heart sunk.
The strongest people of this world were all gathered here, and they couldn't block even one percent of Earthquake Cauldron's power. If the gods of High Heavens came down and activated the full power of such treasures…
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor feared that Tuxing Feng would want to fool around once again and quickly put away his Earthquake Cauldron. "There are still seventeen treasures that are similar to this. They are hard to move, and any carelessness would activate the power within them."
"One of them is enough to destroy Eternal Peace Empire, so eighteen is sure extravagant." King Kun's gaze flickered as he spoke. "This is no longer the matter of humans alone, but a common threat against all races that are living in this world. If the power of the eighteen treasures was to burst forth, my people in the sea would also find it hard to escape."
"All Earth Travelers underground would probably die from the tremors," Tuxing Feng said.
"When the tempest fills the sky, it'll be hard for my people to escape unscathed as well," Queen Yi echoed him.
"In that case…" Qin Mu surveyed his surroundings and said solemnly, "Let us set off now and intercept High Heavens!"