Chapter 583: Darkness and Loss, Level-6 Soul-Calming Cauldron |
Darkness — how should one understand it?
After struggling to survive in the Ice Abyss for sixteen grueling years, Xia Hong had thought he already had a profound understanding of those two words.
Before breaking through to the Warmth Realm, he could only move at night and had almost never seen the daytime world. Back then, because of his unfamiliarity with the surroundings and frequent attacks from Frost Beasts and Abominations, even at night he and the Great Xia people had to hide inside enclosed spaces. Though there was firelight, darkness remained the dominant theme.
Darkness brings both physiological and psychological blows. People who live long in darkness suffer severe bodily damage. In the Ice Abyss, humans who haven’t broken through to the Warmth Realm average only around forty years of life — a direct result of their bodies being constantly battered.
But the physical aspect is only one side. People who cannot face the light gradually become filled with despair about the future, and their minds become warped. They either grow cowardly like mice, or they become violent and irritable, sliding into extreme behaviors.
Among Ice Abyss humans the most obvious evolutions are two extremes: extreme fear of death and utter fearlessness. These two personality types are the most common.
Xia Hong was undoubtedly lucky. After arriving in the Ice Abyss he had the system at his side and he had Xia Chuan, a relative, plus the loyal Great Xia compatriots. The system gave him hope to grow stronger; the people gave him responsibility and courage to continue living in the Ice Abyss. Those two things together shaped who he had become.
He had long since emerged from the Ice Abyss’s darkness!
Because of that, when he looked back and objectively faced the hardships of his weaker days, he could truly understand how utterly despairing the Ice Abyss’s darkness had been when he first arrived.
Take population distribution across Mo'ao Chuan for example: in the vast Ice Abyss, the number of humans is absolutely in the trillions, perhaps more. It’s safe to say that most humans, without Xia Hong’s opportunity, would be living every moment in fear and despair facing the Ice Abyss’s darkness.
That alone proves how heavy the Ice Abyss darkness was. Even though Xia Hong now had Sun Manifestation cultivation, he still felt pity for weaker humans, precisely because he deeply experienced how suffocatingly oppressive that darkness could be.
He did not have the heart of a savior, but he didn’t mind, within his ability, trying to influence or change some people’s circumstances. And as his personal strength grew and Great Xia prospered, the reach of that influence naturally widened.
He believed heaven had sent him with a system to the Ice Abyss so that after ensuring his and his loved ones’ survival, he could still do something for this world.
Xia Hong had long thought that since he broke through to the Warmth Realm and saw daylight in the Ice Abyss, he had already walked out of its darkness and would never return to those sunless days.
Yet now he realized how wrong he had been.
Dark...
As far as the eye could see, it was pitch black!
This was a forest so dark it had reached the extreme. Xia Hong groped forward in the blackness. His eyes could only make out things within ten meters; beyond that limit, whether trees, hillocks, vegetation, puddles, even large rivers, lakes, or towering mountains, all collapsed into black silhouettes and shadows.
At least in the Ice Abyss forest there was always snow on the ground and icicles on the treetops, overall a gray-white base. If one was lucky, a few special spirit-plants would lend color to the snow forest.
Here, there was only black!
Not only black, but silence — a terrifying stillness.
In the Ice Abyss forest one often heard Frost Beasts making noises, and even areas devoid of beasts occasionally had twigs snap under ice or snow fall from branches. But in this pitch-black space there was no sound at all. It was absolute silence: no light, no wind, no water, no Frost Beasts — or if there were any, Xia Hong could not see them.
..........
Throughout the whole forest, the only sound was his slow footfall.
This place’s scale was unknown; it felt as if he were the only person left.
“Where the hell is this? That pool — wasn’t it connected to Red Dragon Lake? How did I get here... How long has it been? How long has it been? No, no, if this keeps up, before I even find a living being, I’m going to go mad...”
Xia Hong stopped and looked up. His face had grown haggard, his spirit nearly exhausted. Even the tone of those words carried a trace of despair.
Before, “sunless” had merely been a phrase Xia Hong used to describe despair. But when it became reality, he realized how terrifying those four words were.
He had come to this world from the pool in the golden palace!
From the first sight of the impenetrable darkness to this suffocatingly quiet terror, the moment he landed here he knew he was no longer in the Ice Abyss.
Fortune favored him in that he had brought the Sacred Cauldron with him this time.
When he first arrived his sight extended only one meter in front of him; in other words he couldn’t even see one meter away clearly.
Keep in mind he had Sun Manifestation cultivation: his skin membrane, flesh, and bones had all been remade once, and the combined effect of those three rebuilds gave his organs abnormal capability. In the Ice Abyss without sensory aids his vision could reach up to a li.
But in this world, not even one meter!
Not only was vision suppressed, this world also would not let fire exist.
He had tried countless times, but the world seemed to forbid flame. The firestones on him were useless; primitive methods like rubbing wood to make fire failed too.
If ordinary flame failed, what about a Small Torch?
When he entered Red Dragon Lake Xia Hong had not carried many supplies, but his Yang Xu Cauldron could consume Resources to generate Small Torches. Despairingly, even the Small Torch would not light.
Right now his ten-meter sight came only because he consumed Resources to activate the Sacred Cauldron inside him.
But ten meters was a mere drop in the bucket for someone trying to find an exit; it was of no real use.
This place felt like an eternal night with no difference between day and night. At first he had tried to keep track of time by feeling its passage, to mark dates by sensation, but the heavier the darkness became as he probed forward, the faster his sense of time blurred.
Now he had no idea how far he had gone, how long he had walked.
“This isn’t right. Back at Red Dragon Lake I didn’t find Xiahou Yong or Jiang Yiqing. Li Baobao jumped into the pool before me. There’s no reason she’d be back at Red Dragon Lake while I ended up here. Those three likely came here too...”
If Xiahou Yong and Jiang Yiqing were in the same situation, odds would be grim: both were only at the Warmth Realm.
But Li Baobao was different; she was Third Turn of the Tribulation Body Realm, stronger than him, from a feudal family, and carried many treasures. He didn’t know where she had drifted off to.
“Not necessarily. I have Yang Xu Cauldron support, and yet my sight is only ten meters. Her treasures can’t possibly trump my Yang Xu Cauldron, so she’s probably in a bad spot too!”
Xia Hong furrowed his brow. He wasn’t thinking of the three deliberately; he was forcing his attention elsewhere.
This endless darkness pressed on the mind. Even he had only held on through the initial stages; now his mood began to fray into intense agitation and confusion.
Losing track of time was an early sign he was losing control.
If he didn’t divert his focus and continued aimless searching, he might never find a way out — and go mad first.
“This ten meters isn’t so much my vision as the Yang Xu Cauldron’s illumination. Either this world’s level is too high, or it has special effects blocking human sight. I can’t keep wandering like this. I need another plan...”
Xia Hong inhaled several times, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes to meditate.
Since entering he had only focused on finding an exit and returning to Red Dragon Lake. The harder he tried, the more it felt like a dead end; he was trapped in this blackness with no escape.
“The Truth-Discerning Eye is useless here. The only thing I can rely on is the Yang Xu Cauldron. But aside from giving me ten meters of sight, it does nothing else. What else can I do... what else can I do...”
He suppressed his rising anxiety and kept thinking of countermeasures until —
Slap!
“How could I be such an idiot.”
【Resources: Wood 10.8 billion, Coal 8.7 billion, Iron 7.8 billion, Silver 600 million, Gold 3.5 million】
Xia Hong slapped his head and cursed his own stupidity, then quickly brought up the system resource data.
In recent years, as his power grew, he’d grown a bit complacent. When problems arose his first reflex was to rely on his own strength, and he had almost forgotten his greatest asset.
If the Yang Xu Cauldron can grant me a few meters of vision in this world, then it still has a suppressive effect here. If a level-5 Yang Xu Cauldron isn’t enough, why not just upgrade it!
【Yang Xu Cauldron (Level 5)】
【Upgrade Requirements: 1000 million Coal, 3000 million Iron, 1 million Silver, 10,000 Gold】
The resources required to upgrade the Yang Xu Cauldron were not outrageous. The one bottleneck over the years had been gold, but after he looted a large cache of gold under Red Dragon Lake, that obstacle no longer existed.
So what was he waiting for?
A flash of hope crossed Xia Hong’s eyes. With a slight movement of his mind, gold resources in the system dwindled. Immediately his internal Yang Xu Cauldron began to change rapidly.
He didn’t yet understand the rules of this world, so he couldn’t simply pull the Yang Xu Cauldron out. Upgrading it inside his body was the safest option.
As a vast, ancient sensation spread through his body, Xia Hong didn’t bother checking the cauldron’s changing appearance. Instead he quickly checked for functional changes.
【Soul-Calming Cauldron (Level 6): By burning wood, coal, silver, and gold, can greatly raise temperatures within a fifty-kilometer radius; can suppress Disaster-level Abominations, strongly attract Frost Beasts; can be used to smelt iron, silver, and goldware; can suppress and purify Souls, and aid Battle Body Golden Body growth】
【Special Function 1: Every 100 units of Wood consumed can generate one Small Torch, which can kill high-level Abominations, burning time one hour】
【Special Function 2: Every 200 units of Coal burned can produce one portion of Concentrated Fire Oil. This oil is harmless to humans but ignites upon touching Abominations, possessing extremely high lethality against them】
【Special Function 3: Every 500 units of Silver burned can produce one Suppress Specter Jade. Wearing a Suppress Specter Jade prevents Abominations from approaching】
【Special Function 4: All personnel within a camp can be transformed by this Cauldron to gain latent Great Xia Sacred Mark bloodline, with the host as bloodline ancestor】
【Special Function 5: Every 10 units of Gold consumed can generate one Soul-Illuminating Lamp. The lamp lets people clearly see evil spirits and resist disaster】
【Special Function 6: New fusion function — all materials output by the Soul-Calming Cauldron can be fused, greatly enhancing item effects according to quantity】
The radiation radius had grown from a twenty-kilometer radius to fifty kilometers. The description also gained a line: can suppress and purify Souls, aiding Battle Body Golden Body growth — clearly tied to the cauldron’s “soul-calming” name.
Besides, two new functions had been added: the Soul-Illuminating Lamp and material fusion.
The Soul-Illuminating Lamp could only be produced using gold.
Xia Hong immediately concentrated on that.
He seemed to have an idea. He turned his head slowly, scanning the surrounding darkness. A hint of guesswork flickered in his pupils. He calmly closed his eyes and began pouring his gold resources into the Soul-Calming Cauldron in his mind.
When the Sacred Cauldron activates inside him, he can control the resources it consumes. Previously he had used wood; now he used gold. Upon reactivation, his sight range immediately increased to twenty-five meters.
“A level-5 Sacred Cauldron’s illumination in the Ice Abyss is a twenty-kilometer radius; here the sight was ten meters. After level 6 it becomes a fifty-kilometer radius, 2.5 times larger, so sight should also multiply by 2.5...”
If illumination radius and sight scale proportionally, it meant the cauldron was being suppressed by this space.
The Sacred Cauldron could be suppressed by this space...
This world’s level was clearly higher than he had imagined.
A grave expression crossed Xia Hong’s face as he patiently waited for the gold to burn.
Soon his gold reserves dropped by ten units.
At the same time, an ancient-styled oil lamp quietly formed above the Sacred Cauldron inside him. Xia Hong nonchalantly retrieved the Soul-Illuminating Lamp and examined its description.
【Soul-Illuminating Lamp: Use the body as boat, the soul as guide, gather spirit-form to the eye, burn nether-fire on the top, connect yin and yang, illuminate the ghost realm. Burning time: one hour.】
Reading that obscure passage, Xia Hong frowned. He could grasp the general meaning, but the text didn’t explain precisely how to use the lamp.
Or rather, it had given instructions he didn’t understand how to operate.
“Use the body as a boat, the soul as a guide, gather spirit-form to the eye, burn nether-fire on the top — that must be the usage. I can roughly read the meaning, but what’s the specific method?”
Xia Hong looked at the archaic lamp in his hand and froze.
The first eight characters seemed to imply the lamp’s use was directly tied to the human body, unlike previous cauldron-produced items. But what did the latter two lines concretely mean?
“Spirit-form refers to the revered form, right? But I’m not even at the Tribulation Body Realm. What exactly is the revered form? I don’t understand at all...”
A surge of restless irritation rose in his heart. Confusion flooded his mind; an inexplicable rage welled up. He even felt sitting and thinking was a waste and nearly stood to keep moving.
“Breathe... Calm down, calm down. I don’t know how long I’ve walked, how far I’ve gone. I haven’t seen a living person. It’s all darkness. Walking on is useless. Calm down, calm down, think it through...”
The frustration and agitation stemmed from powerlessness. Since entering this world he felt himself duller. For example, he had thought of upgrading the Sacred Cauldron to break the deadlock only now. Facing the dilemma now, he had inklings in his head but lacked the final step; that irritation always appeared just before he could take it.
He shook his head vigorously, took deep breaths until his emotions settled, and pressed down the agitation. Then he quietly studied the Soul-Illuminating Lamp in his hand and started to think.
“Got it!”
His pupils flashed. He placed the lamp before him and closed his eyes, beginning to regulate his breath.
Soon a dark-red bone-form around eighty-five zhang tall floated behind him. Unlike the previous divine radiance, this bone-form now looked extremely withered, even hunched.
“What...”
Since arriving he had been focused on getting out, had not fought others nor settled down to properly cultivate. Seeing his bone-form change jolted him awake; sweat chilled on his forehead.
Withered and hunched didn’t fully describe his bone-form. Sun Manifestation cultivation is based on bone-form: early stage forms, mid-stage develops meridians, late stage grows flesh, pinnacle completes skin membrane. Once bone-form is perfect, the system is complete.
He was in the mid-to-late Sun Manifestation stage; his bone meridians should have been basically finished. But now many meridians on his bone-form were missing, many broken or incomplete, as if... as if something were chewing them away.
“Spirit-form likely means revered form. Sun Manifestation and Tribulation Body cultivation both revolve around bone-form; the revered form is likely a higher bone-form. So ‘gather spirit-form to the self’ probably means...” Xia Hong’s heart stirred. He activated his waning bone-form energy and concentrated it toward his eyes.
But the moment he did, his expression changed.
“My bone-form has weakened this much? Fifty... no, not even fifty jun, at most just over forty. How is this possible!”
Sun Manifestation strength originates from bone-form. Since entering this world he had never fought, so he hadn’t sensed his own body’s decline. Now when he mobilized his bone-form, the realization hit him and his face went pale with alarm.
With a weakened bone-form, energy was nearly drained. But the Soul-Illuminating Lamp was now his only way out, so Xia Hong had no choice but to continue concentrating his meager energy to his eyes.
Fortunately, as the energy reached his eye region, the lamp finally reacted.
More precisely, the dark-red bone-form behind him reacted first.
The bone-form opened its eyes, and a wisp of ghostly blue light shot straight toward the Soul-Illuminating Lamp. When the beam touched the lamp, it immediately hissed and crackled.
A spark formed. Unlike Ice Abyss’s reddish-yellow fire, the sparks on the lamp were ghostly blue, like ghost-fire from his former life — full of silence and stillness, utterly devoid of warmth. Xia Hong felt not the slightest heat.
Before the wick’s flame fully rose, a low, deep, extremely repulsive string of chuckles reached his ear.
“Half a day, and this boy’s spirit-form held out quite well. We’ve eaten for half a day and still haven’t finished him.”
“Nonsense. Bringing a physical body into the Dark Realm isn’t a simple matter.”
“We’re so lucky. This boy didn’t head toward Madam Jade. I’m close — just another half hour and my soul-body can fully condense.”
“I’m almost there too, hee hee hee...”
“After circling for a while, this boy probably doesn’t even know. Eat slowly; we’re not in a rush. We’ll all break through.”
“Too bad those three were left behind.”
“Stop dreaming. That woman is too strong. Her spirit-form has triple-element tribulation qi protection. We can’t approach her.”
“Don’t even think about her; she rushed toward the Bone Cavern with the other two. Maybe she’s already inside Madam Jade’s belly.”
“Right, right, focus on this one. So satisfying, so satisfying. Haven’t eaten such a plump spirit-form in a long time, hee hee hee.”
In the silent forest, a dozen such chuckling voices echoed in sequence, and crucially they sounded right next to his ear.
Cold sweat prickled Xia Hong’s spine. As the wick finally flared to life, he turned his head and glanced at his shoulder.
At that glance his pupils contracted sharply; his body convulsed and his heart filled with horror and shock.
Something was perched on his shoulder — and at that moment it looked him directly in the eye, meeting his gaze.
“Hey, look — is that boy looking at me?”