Chapter 1257: Meeting the Ascending Dragon Cauldron Again
Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
Yi Yun's expression sank when the elder mentioned Song Bowen at that moment.
His murder of Song Bowen yesterday was executed flawlessly. Anyone in Myriad God Ridge, no matter how imaginative they could be, would not have guessed that Song Bowen was killed by Yi Yun.
Yet, this elder that he had never met before apparently saw through everything. Just a voice transmission charm was sufficient to incur his suspicions.
"Have some tea. This is excellent Skyrain Tea. It was prepared by Lanqin."
As the elder spoke, he tapped his finger gently. The tea set he placed on the table automatically flew up and poured Yi Yun a cup of tea.
Yi Yun silently drank the tea and waited for the elder to continue.
The elder said with a smile, "There's no need for you to worry. I'm not going to investigate your whereabouts yesterday. I called you here to ask you something. On the day you entered the sect, during the test of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, did you feel anything special?"
As the elder spoke, his turbid eyes seemed to emit a glow. He stared at Yi Yun's face as though he wanted it to reveal something to him.
"I did not feel anything special."
Yi Yun truly did not have much of a sensation. If there was anything to speak of, it was that he sensed an energy fluctuation coming from the Purple Crystal. But that should have been impossible for the elder to perceive even if he could see through everything.
"Follow me."
The elder got up and led Yi Yun into the deeper sanctums of the hall.
They passed through a dark corridor and went down a staircase. After more than a hundred feet of stairs, the room opened up to a wide stone chamber.
In the middle of the stone chamber was a bronze cauldron the size of a house!
The cauldron was engraved with a coiling dragon. When standing in front of it, one could sense the inundations of a boundless and majestic aura!
Ascending Dragon Cauldron!
Yi Yun held his breath.
"This is the second time you are seeing this cauldron. You might not know it, but this Ascending Dragon Cauldron holds the fate of infinite generations of our Myriad God Ridge."
As the elder gazed at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, his eyes flashed with a mesmerized look.
"If you are able to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, you would be the one to render the greatest service to the Myriad God Ridge. It's even possible that you could become the next sect master."
The elder patted Yi Yun on the shoulder as he hung an encouraging and genial smile on his face.
However, this form of encouragement only left Yi Yun sneering secretly. Next sect master? Did he think that he was a child? Ignoring the fact that he could not become one, he didn’t want to be bothered with being one.
Yi Yun said in a deadpan manner, "Master, I'll probably disappoint you. During the test, Martial Uncle Mo Shanqing had me make a second attempt at triggering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron but I failed."
The elder shook his head with a smile. "You don't have to worry about that. No matter how great a person's wisdom root is, it pales in comparison to a god's. And the Ascending Dragon Cauldron is a divine item. It's already very impressive that you managed to trigger it once."
"As your master, I naturally have means to awaken the potential in your blood. I'll make your blood truly trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!"
Just as the elder finished speaking, there was the sound of footsteps coming from the stone stairwell. Yi Yun turned to look and his heart sank slightly. He saw an old servant bringing a young girl down the stairwell. And that girl was none other than Snake Girl!
"Yi Yun, you are here too?"
Snake Girl was somewhat surprised to see Yi Yun.
Yi Yun frowned. "Master, what is this about?"
"Nothing. Light has shone down on our Myriad God Ridge for us to recruit both you and Snake Girl in the last recruitment test!"
"If the both of you can completely awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, your names will be recorded in the history books of the Myriad God Ridge, immortalizing you. Isn't this something to be proud of and look forward to?"
The elder smiled. However, his words only left Yi Yun with a sense of disgust.
Whatever the elder said at that moment came across to Yi Yun as excuses to obtain the treasures within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. His talk of meritorious achievements sounded like a joke to Yi Yun.
No matter how powerful the old man was, he did not know of the existence of Old Snake. It was even more unlikely that he could guess that Old Snake knew more about the secrets of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron than he did, and that he had already told Yi Yun everything.
"Stretch your hand out."
As the elder spoke, his jaundiced eyes flickered.
"What for…?"
Snake Girl asked in a daze.
"You were instructed to stretch your hand out, so do it. Why do you ask so many questions!?"
The old servant behind Snake Girl urged her impatiently.
Snake Girl had no choice but to stretch out her hand.
Yi Yun had a heavy expression. He had guessed what the old man was trying to do but he was not sure. The old man made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He was like a venomous snake that lurked in the dark.
Compared to him, the man actually named 'Old Snake' was like an angel.
Speaking of that old man, who knew where he was? With the Myriad God Ridge's sect master summoning him, Old Snake should have stuck around to protect him in secret. Without his help, Yi Yun’s life was truly not his own.
Despite these thoughts running through his head, he still extended his hand.
"Cha!"
A cold beam streaked and, with a tiny bit of pain, Yi Yun's wrist was lacerated.
Yi Yun frowned slightly. He strongly disliked having his life determined by others.
The elder that was standing in front of him was his master in name but, in fact, Yi Yun was just a valuable experimental subject to the old man.
"Fill it to the brim."
The elder said without any expression. Out from his interspatial ring, a three-inch-tall bronze tripod flew out. It had three legs and a handle and resembled a miniaturized bronze tripod.
"And you too."
Snake Girl's wrist was cut open as well.
The vessel used for Snake Girl was many times bigger than Yi Yun's. It was the size of a small basin.
"So much blood is needed?"
Snake Girl was dismayed. Yi Yun only had a cup of blood but she had to fill a small basin.
"Compared to the things you are going to do, this bit of blood is nothing!"
Although Snake Girl was unwilling to do so, she still let out her blood.
And at that moment, Yi Yun closed his eyes to focus. He converged the Purple Crystal aura within his body as much as he could. He tried his best to make the blood that flowed out of him turn into ordinary blood.
However, the elder clearly did not sense that. He was oblivious of the Purple Crystal's aura.
He watched the blood that flowed out of Yi Yun with a blatant flash of excitement.
When the blood filled up the bronze tripod, the elder took out a jade bottle.
He opened it and poured out a drop of red liquid, which seemed to be a drop of blood.
The elder appeared to cherish the drop of blood immensely, as though the blood was a most precious treasure.
"There are only six drops left… There is one fewer drop with every drop used…"
The elder muttered to himself as he gently tapped the bronze tripod in Yi Yun's hand. The blood immediately flew out and formed a spherical ball of blood.
The blood sphere constantly shrunk and, in moments, it reduced to the size of a drop of blood.
Yi Yun watched from the side. He knew that the elder had the concentrated all the blood essence in his blood into that drop of blood.
Moments later, the elder repeated the sequence of events for Snake Girl. He reduced the basin of her blood into a drop of blood.
Yi Yun was somewhat enlightened. The amount of blood extracted was determined by the purity of the blood according to the elder's standards. All of this was done to refine a single drop of blood.
As such, the elder had three drops of blood to attempt an awakening of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!
This was the purported method of awakening the potential in their blood.