Chapter 4: The Soul-Calming Cauldron (Part 1)
The handsome old man vaguely guessed what Guo Shieru wanted to do and couldn’t help but remind him, “I still have many Soul Bead here. Would you like some more? Six hundred Soul Beasts aren’t strong enough.”
Guo Shieru replied excitedly, “They are strong enough! Just kidding—more than half of those six hundred Soul Beasts are advanced ones. That’s sufficient. Come on, let’s go up.” He put away the cauldron and flew outward using the altar, soon reaching Li Ran and Zhen Wuji.
Li Ran asked, “Was the refinement successful? What kind of sacrificial treasure is it?”
Guo Shieru smiled slightly, spat out the cauldron. The cauldron circled briefly in the air before hovering between the two of them. Li Ran’s eyes sparkled as he said softly, “A cauldron?”
Guo Shieru nodded. “That’s right—a cauldron! I call it the Soul-Calming Cauldron!”
Zhen Wuji said, “It happens to share the same surname as mine! Huh…” He pouted narcissistically and shook his head dismissively.
Guo Shieru said helplessly, “It has nothing to do with your surname. Senior, you’re overthinking it.”
Li Ran said, “Hmm, the name is nice. But what’s its use… no, how does it work? Is it a defensive sacrificial treasure?”
Guo Shieru grinned. “It’s not just defensive—it’s both offensive and defensive. Hehe, I don’t know exactly how powerful it is yet, but this place is definitely a great spot to test it.”
Li Ran and Zhen Wuji were very interested. They both wanted to know what made this sacrificial treasure, refined underground, so special. Seeing Guo Shieru’s confidence, Li Ran said, “Alright, how do you plan to test it?”
Guo Shieru replied, “Let’s go a bit higher, to the entrance of the cave!”
Zhen Wuji warned, “The entrance is already packed with countless Soul Beasts. Are you sure you want to go there? Maybe let Li Ran clear the way first. We can follow outside to test it. It’s too narrow here; we won’t be able to rescue you in time.”
Guo Shieru said, “No need. I’ll try first. I’ll be careful, hehe.”
Li Ran said, “Alright then. You go first. If anything goes wrong, retreat immediately. I trust you—you have enough strength to hold off for a while.”
The three of them quickly approached the cave entrance. At that moment, more and more Soul Beasts rushed down. The ones that had come earlier had already been scattered and captured by Li Ran and Zhen Wuji. A giant dragon-type Soul Beast contracted its body tightly and charged desperately toward the entrance.
Guo Shierou perked up and shouted, “Watch this!” As he spoke, he cast several spells. The Soul Suppressing Cauldron suddenly expanded to the size of a water tank, emitting a tremor. Hundreds of Spirit Beasts flew out of its mouth—each only a few meters long and seemingly small, but extremely condensed. The moment they emerged, they rushed forward like arrows.
Another beam of colored light shot out from the cauldron, instantly freezing the dragon-type Spirit Beast. The Spirit Beasts that flew out immediately attached themselves to its body, opening their mouths wide and biting down fiercely. Within seconds, they devoured the dragon-type Spirit Beast completely, leaving Zhen Wuji’s eyelids twitching in shock.
Li Ran smiled and said, “Not bad, but… not yet powerful enough.”
Guo Shierou laughed and said, “This is just one tactic. Don’t worry, I have other attack methods.” He pointed at the Soul Suppressing Cauldron as it moved rapidly toward the cave entrance. Every Spirit Beast that rushed in was devoured by the spirits inside the cauldron without exception.
The cave entrance dug out by Gu Xi Bi had expanded to hundreds of miles wide, resembling a giant sinkhole. Countless Spirit Beasts crowded inside, trying to enter the passage below. But due to the overcrowding, even though they could shrink their bodies, only a few could get in. They were packed like sardines, letting out shrill roars.
Guo Shierou quickly cast several spells and shouted, “Collect them!”
Countless beams of colored light shot out from the cauldron’s mouth, sweeping upward along the cave entrance. In the blink of an eye, the Spirit Beasts packed there were drawn into the Soul Suppressing Cauldron. Li Ran narrowed his eyes, shocked—this was too fast; dozens of Spirit Beasts were taken in at once. He then realized that the Soul Suppressing Cauldron could directly capture Spirit Beasts.
Zhen Wuji couldn’t help but cheer, “Great tactic! Excellent sacrificial artifact!” He felt a bit envious—this method was truly devastating.
Seizing the opportunity, Guo Shierou rushed out of the cave entrance and saw an endless sea of Spirit Beasts, packed tightly together. When they saw him, they let out earth-shattering roars, scaring Guo Shierou so much that he shuddered. He cursed, “Damn, that’s terrifying… so many… collect them!”
The Soul Suppressing Cauldron suddenly grew enormous, reaching a height of a hundred meters before stopping. Beams of colored light spiraled everywhere. Any Spirit Beast hit by the light would instantly shrink drastically before being pulled into the cauldron. In just over ten seconds, all the Spirit Beasts around the cave entrance were cleared away.
Li Ran gasped in awe and praised, “Impressive!”
Guo Shierou’s face turned red with joy. He had never felt this exhilarated before—this was absolutely insane.
Zhen Wuji kept shaking his head; he could never have imagined that Guo Shier would be able to create such an extreme sacrificial artifact that could directly capture Soul Beasts. It was the first time he had seen such an artifact, and it opened his mind to the idea that sacrificial artifacts could be used in this way as well.
Li Ran asked, “How many Soul Beasts can be captured?”
Guo Shier shook his head. “I don’t know. There’s a huge space inside the Soul Calming Cauldron, so I have no idea how many Soul Beasts can be captured.”
Li Ran said, “There are so many Soul Beasts here. You might as well give it a try… How many can you capture at most? Hehe, I’m really curious.”
Guo Shier smiled. “Okay, I’m curious too. Hehe, let’s give it a try.” He sat on the altar, enlarged the Soul Calming Cauldron, and suspended it above his head before flying toward the group of Soul Beasts. “Brother Li Ran, come with me. Help keep an eye out for me.”
Li Ran readily agreed, “Sure, Zhen Wuji. Let’s go together.”
Zhen Wuji smiled. “Interesting. Let’s go together.” The two of them protected Guo Shier as they charged toward the group of Soul Beasts.
A burst of colorful light spread out, sweeping up countless Soul Beasts and quickly bringing them into the Soul Calming Cauldron. Whether they were advanced Abnormal Symbol Beasts or mutated Symbol Beasts, they were all captured at lightning speed. In just a short while, tens of thousands of Soul Beasts had been taken in.
As more and more Soul Beasts entered, the crimson Soul Calming Cauldron gradually turned dark red, seemingly growing heavier. Gradually, Guo Shier noticed that the Cauldron began to vibrate. After taking a quick look, he saw that the captured Soul Beasts were fighting and devouring each other.
After thinking for a moment, Guo Shier decided to ignore it. He knew there was no need to intervene at this stage—it was the instinct of Soul Beasts. When they arrived in a new place, they first had to establish their own territory and status. Once they established their dominance, they could claim a piece of land for themselves and continue to grow.
As more and more Soul Beasts disappeared, the colorful light emitted by the Soul Calming Cauldron grew even brighter. Even the Soul Beasts in the distance couldn’t escape and were forcibly captured by the Cauldron.
Li Ran and Zhen Wuji were increasingly astonished. A seemingly small Soul Calming Cauldron could capture so many Soul Beasts—it was hard for them to believe, especially when they saw several Abnormal Soul Beasts at levels 16 or 17 being taken in as well.
Guo Shier seemed almost crazy, his face filled with excitement. The Soul Calming Cauldron had already captured over a hundred thousand Soul Beasts, and the fighting inside it had reached a frenzied level. Numerous Soul Beasts were being devoured by the higher-level ones, causing their numbers to drop rapidly, but the higher-level Soul Beasts were also beginning to level up.
There were fewer and fewer Spirit Beasts around, so Guo Shieru flew farther away. The interior of Bone Mountain was vast, filled entirely with Spirit Beasts, and he swept through it back and forth. Li Ran and Zhen Wuji were completely speechless. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before all the Spirit Beasts on the ground were collected.
Li Ran and Zhen Wuji also needed Spirit Beasts. They exchanged a glance, and Zhen Wuji said, “Let’s go find the ones we need. Shieru doesn’t need our protection. Heh, this guy… is simply terrifying.”
Guo Shieru smiled and said, “Alright, go hunt for Spirit Beasts yourselves.”
The two immediately rushed at the herd of Spirit Beasts. If Guo Shieru continued like this, they had no idea how many more Spirit Beasts they could collect.
As the three moved around, Li Ran and Zhen Wuji soon felt helpless. Guo Shieru’s collection speed was too fast. The colorful light swept like a giant broom—whenever it passed, nothing remained on the ground. And the speed kept increasing. No matter how fierce or advanced the Spirit Beast was, it couldn’t resist and was quickly drawn into the Soul Calming Cauldron.
The Spirit Beasts on the ground had become sparse and no longer crowded. Due to the Soul Calming Cauldron’s collection, the Spirit Beasts, which had been quietly packed together, became agitated and started fighting among themselves. The Cauldron seemed to have disrupted some kind of balance, awakening the Spirit Beasts.
Once the Spirit Beasts awakened, it became harder for Li Ran and Zhen Wuji to hunt them. Especially since the ones they wanted were high-level Spirit Beasts with great strength. Even though they had strong attacking powers, it was difficult to destroy them in one strike. They needed to fight hard to catch them. There was no comparison to Guo Shieru’s Soul Calming Cauldron—its colorful light could sweep away any level of Spirit Beast, pulling them into the Cauldron.
After collecting hundreds of thousands of Spirit Beasts, Guo Shieru finally stopped. His Soul Calming Cauldron was filled with chaos—countless Spirit Beasts had been devoured, and their numbers were rapidly decreasing. The level of the high-level Spirit Beasts kept rising, and even abnormally evolved Spirit Beasts above level 20 appeared.
Guo Shieru asked, “Elder Shuai, what should we do? How can we stop them from fighting?”
Elder Shuai replied, “Place some control talismans. Otherwise… there won’t be many Spirit Beasts left in your Cauldron. Though they may be of extremely high level, that’s not what you want to see.”
Guo Shieru nodded and said, “Okay, let’s reinforce it together!”
The handsome old man appeared, and the two of them discussed things briefly before starting to add more talisman arrays. In just a moment, they had added several arrays, and the chaotic Soul Calming Cauldron immediately became calm. The cauldron emitted a clear metallic ringing sound, and its color gradually deepened from dark red to black-red.
In such a short time, there were less than 200,000 spirit beasts left in the Soul Calming Cauldron. It was easy to imagine how fierce and terrifying the battles inside it must have been.
The handsome old man said, “Continue!”
Guo Shieru controlled the altar to keep collecting. Soon, his gaze focused on the sky above. He said, “Hehe, most of the spirit beasts on the ground have been collected. There are still many mutated birds in the sky. Hehe, if not for this place, even the Soul Calming Cauldron would be useless. Where else could we find so many spirit beasts?”
The handsome old man replied, “You also need plenty of Soul Nourishing Stones. Otherwise, even if you have the idea, you won’t be able to create such a sacrificial treasure.”
Guo Shieru smiled proudly and said, “Actually, I’ve had this idea for a long time. I just didn’t have the right materials. Using other materials isn’t impossible, but they’re not as good as Soul Nourishing Stones. With them, spirit beasts can be preserved and won’t gradually fade away. Hehe, I’m really lucky this time. I never expected to find so many Soul Nourishing Stones.”
The handsome old man sighed, “It’s not just luck. With this sacrificial treasure, your strength has increased by dozens of times… Sigh, it’s really disheartening. If I had such a treasure, I wouldn’t have died. Damn it…” He couldn’t help but curse again. He was extremely painful and angry about his failure and death.
Guo Shieru comforted him, “You’re not bad. If it weren’t for me, you would have continued to suffer in that broken altar. Who knows when…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but the handsome old man understood what he meant. If it weren’t for Guo Shieru, he might have remained trapped in the altar, gradually fading away over time.