Chapter 0005: The Five-Prison Divine Cauldron

Three days had passed since the Yellow Dragon Talent Test.
Over these three days, almost all the major nobles in the kingdom’s capital had visited Lu Tong one after another, ostensibly to congratulate Huang Xiong. As for their true intentions, they were rather intriguing.
Throughout those three days, Huang Long had stayed in his small courtyard, allowing the visitors to be stopped by the Huang family’s guards outside.
What Huang Long didn’t expect was that on the day of the talent test, King Oriel of the Lu Tong Kingdom would personally come. To avoid putting his parents in an awkward position, Huang Long, who originally didn’t want to see Oriel, had no choice but to leave his courtyard.
Huang Long looked at the staff in his hand, adorned with a ninth-tier magical beast crystal core. He shook his head. It was a gift from Oriel that day. However, this staff, worth 100,000 gold coins due to its crystal core, was considered top-tier by others but was nothing but trash in his eyes. Even the magical artifacts he had crafted from ordinary iron in his past life were far superior to it.
He had initially planned to give it to his mother but decided against it, feeling it was too humble. He would craft some better ones for his parents and elder brothers once his cultivation improved. As for this one, he would keep it for his subordinates in the future.
“However, it’s time to build my own power base,” Huang Long thought to himself.
In his past life, seeking a carefree life, Huang Long hadn’t taken in disciples, not even having a guardian fairy boy in his cave on Immortal Maiden Mountain. But this life was different. Now, he had parents, siblings, and his family—all of whom needed his protection.
Although the Huang family was one of the four major families in the Lu Tong Kingdom, its strength was still weak compared to the entire Hengyuan Continent. Even the Lu Tong Kingdom ranked only mid-tier among the more than 200 countries on the continent, far behind the five great empires. Only overwhelming strength could ensure a freer life—something Huang Long understood from both his past and present lives.
“In this life, I will be the master of my fate and of everything in this world,” a powerful aura emanated from Huang Long.
In his past life, though he was one of the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan School, his fate was always controlled by Yuan Shi. But this time, he would never allow such things to happen. Moreover, he possessed one of the three innate treasures—the Chaos Bell. He was convinced that he would soon stand at the pinnacle of this world.
The next day, Huang Long listed dozens of medicinal herbs and over a dozen types of iron ores, then sent Ling Zhi, the guard assigned by his father, to various herbal shops and ironmonger stores to make the purchases.

Dozens of medicinal herbs were used by Huang Long for alchemy. Whether it was to build power in the future or to enhance one’s own strength, various elixirs were extremely important. Since Huang Long had now reached the stage of refining essence into qi, practicing with Qi-Boosting Elixirs could double the results. Normally, it would take at least three to five years to break through from refining essence into qi to reaching the stage of refining qi into spirit, but with Qi-Boosting Elixirs, this could be reduced to within a year, or even achieved in just a few months.

As for the dozen-odd types of iron ores, Huang Long used them to forge cauldrons. Whether for alchemy or to create magical artifacts later on, cauldrons were necessary. Before long, Ling Zhi had the dozens of medicinal herbs and dozen-odd types of iron ores listed by Huang Long delivered by the shopkeepers. These herbs and ores were not uncommon in the Hengyuan Continent, and since they were in the royal capital of King Lutong, they were easily available.

Seeing the mountains of medicinal herbs and iron ores piled up in the courtyard, Ling Zhi was puzzled and couldn’t help but ask Huang Long, “Second young master, why do you need to buy these medicinal herbs and iron ores?” Could it be that the second young master was sick? But it didn’t seem so—then what was the need for these herbs? And what about those iron ores?

Huang Long, looking at the herbs and ores before him, was in high spirits and said with a smile, “These are great items. With these, in half a year, you’ll be able to break through to the eighth level of warrior.”

Ling Zhi was a guard assigned to him by his father, so he was trustworthy. Therefore, Huang Long didn’t intend to hide anything from him regarding alchemy. Seeing Huang Long’s serious expression, Ling Zhi laughed and said, “So the second young master can also joke.”

He was now almost forty years old and had been stuck at the seventh level of warrior for five years. Whether it was mages or warriors, after reaching the seventh level, it became extremely difficult to break through each subsequent level. Some even remained at the threshold of the seventh level for life. His own cultivation talent was decent, otherwise he wouldn’t have reached the seventh level by his thirties. But to break through to the eighth level, he thought it would take at least another five to six years.

Yet, the second young master before him, who was only six years old, claimed he could break through to the eighth level in half a year. Naturally, he regarded Huang Long’s words as a joke.

Huang Long smiled and didn’t explain further. Even the strongest warriors in the Hengyuan Continent wouldn’t claim they could raise a seventh-level warrior to the eighth level in half a year, let alone such a claim coming from a six-year-old child.

When Ling Zhi left the courtyard, Huang Long told him to stay outside and said that no one was allowed to enter without his orders. Then he set up a small array in the inner courtyard, stood in front of the pile of iron ore, and waved his hands—dozens of pounds of iron ore floated up from the ground. Next, Huang Long spat out bursts of his innate true fire, which enveloped the iron ore in the air and continuously refined it.

As time passed, under Huang Long’s innate true fire, the iron ore melted and merged together, with impurities removed. The hundreds of pounds of iron ore shrank to a liquid the size of a few fists.

After more than an hour, Huang Long formed hand seals and instantly inserted dozens of large arrays into the liquid. Among various magical artifacts, cauldrons are particularly difficult to craft, requiring a combination of various arrays—such as arrays for filtering impurities from pills, arrays to control true fire during pill refinement, and arrays to adjust the properties of the pills.

While the quality of medicinal materials is crucial for pill quality, the grade of the cauldron also plays a decisive role. For example, a cauldron of the innate spiritual treasure level and an ordinary treasure-level cauldron, when used with the same medicinal materials to make pills, will yield pills of different qualities.

After inserting dozens of arrays, Huang Long shouted loudly, “Condense!” He pointed with his hands, and a beam of golden light shot into the liquid. The liquid began to move and change, and with a hum, bright light emerged, revealing a five-legged cauldron in the sky.

The cauldron was not large, only half a person’s height, with a dark golden color and a faint yellow glow flowing across its surface. It had five legs, one for each of the five directions—east, south, west, north, and center. On top of the cauldron were two ancient characters: “Five Punishments.”

The Five Punishments Divine Cauldron was finally forged!

Huang Long panted heavily from exhaustion but looked at the divine cauldron with great joy. Although its grade was not high, only at the middle-tier treasure level, its grade could surely be improved in the future by using better iron materials for reforging and through continuous nourishment with pills.

With the divine cauldron ready, Huang Long took a brief rest before starting to refine pills. The mountainous pile of medicinal materials in the courtyard was enough for him to make one bottle each of the “Qi-Boosting Pill” and the “Foundation-Strengthening Pill”.