Wandering the Four Seas - Chapter 144: Eternal Dead Silence

Madam Bai decided to gift the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron, forged by Bai Wuhai, to Luo Jinghong for solving the murder case.

Su Ye helped avenge her husband and obtained the Twin Dragon Jade-Faced Mirror left behind by Bai Wufeng.

The courtyard in the Mo Residence where blue paper cranes danced had been sealed with a magical array, blocking all fluctuations of vital energy.

"I never imagined there would come a day when I would use the Great Evolution Creation Art again," Su Ye could not help but sigh in his heart at the unpredictability of fate.

Luo Jinghong sat by the stone table, smiling radiantly.

"Weren't you always very confident in yourself? As long as it is used by you, even a demonic treasure will have to assist in righteous deeds."

"That may be so, but if one forces them to act righteously, it would be no different from what Bai Wuhai did, leading to the destruction of the demonic treasure's spirit."

"You are not a master craftsman; do you have the confidence to reshape the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron?" Luo Jinghong rested her chin in her hands. "Although Bai Wuhai was brutal by nature, in the field of artifact forging, he was undoubtedly a peerless genius."

"Heaven and Earth, Xuan and Huang, actually signify the vastness of the sky and the breadth of the earth. Containing the ultimate principles of the universe, it cannot transcend the numbers of Qian and Kun, Yin and Yang," Su Ye smiled. "I do not understand artifact forging, but I am deeply versed in this principle."

Luo Jinghong's eyes shone as she gazed infatuatedly at Su Ye.

She had worshipped many people in her life.

Elders of the Cloud Heaven Sect and masters of the inner courtyard... peerless geniuses encountered on the path of cultivation... the elites among the demon-suppressing masters... and all sorts of unfathomable, miraculous abilities...

There seemed to be a magical charm about Su Ye.

He knew everything, understood everything.

Clearly, he was only at the initial stage of the Returning Origin Realm, yet his temperament and understanding of nature and the cosmos far surpassed those high-and-mighty masters within the sects.

A pristine white flame formed from sword qi danced lively at the bottom of the Huayang Azure Dragon Pill Furnace.

Su Ye sat cross-legged in meditation, his hands forming the advanced lotus seal.

Using the Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain Formation as a conduit, he reinforced his mental and spiritual clarity.

When he had searched for a way to improve the lotus seal on Mount Potala, struggling to reconcile the balance between hardness and softness, the sound of Sanskrit had surged within his spiritual consciousness.

It was precisely the Buddha and the Bodhisattva.

The Buddhist power blessed by the Buddha was fierce and divine; the Buddhist power blessed by rhubarb Bodhisattva conquered motion with stillness.

The Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron was enveloped in a sphere of light, hovering above the Azure Dragon Pill Furnace.

On his left hand, the golden physical form of the Buddha sat upon a lotus platform, solemn and majestic.

On his right hand, the golden physical form of the Bodhisattva stood upon a lotus platform, her eyes filled with compassion.

"Buddha, Bodhisattva, this disciple intends to reverse the extremely evil Great Evolution Creation Art to purge the dark and evil power within the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron. I beseech the two great beings to bestow supreme Buddhist dharma to aid this disciple in reshaping the artifact spirit."

Only by destroying something could it be rebuilt, changing the jade cauldron's artifact spirit from its very roots, could one avoid its slow decay after the dark and evil power was extracted.

The two primeval supreme beings radiated Buddhist light, from which stepped forth a compassionate Bodhisattva of golden hue.

The golden light was too dazzling to discern her adornments.

The Bodhisattva's voice was clear and resonant as she spoke softly:

"This humble monk obeys the Buddha's decree and has come specially to help you reshape the spirit of the spiritual treasure."

Su Ye asked respectfully:

"This disciple dares to ask the Bodhisattva's monastic name."

"This humble monk is the Azure Lotus Bodhisattva, entrusted by the Buddha's decree to protect and uphold the worldly Buddhist followers across the three thousand worlds."

"This disciple offers his advance gratitude to the Azure Lotus Bodhisattva."

Su Ye had once seen Master Azure Lotus's sarira in the Pure Water Nunnery.

A Bodhisattva yet to attain full sainthood had the closest ties to the dust of the mortal world.

Su Ye transformed his sword qi into spirit, and in accordance with the technique remaining within the spiritual sword sheath, he operated the Great Evolution Creation Art in reverse.

As the evil Qi flowed through his meridians, Su Ye, who was deeply versed in the mystic arts of the Qimen Dunjia, perceived the formidable nature of this technique.

Reversing heaven and earth, inverting Yin and Yang.

Corresponding to divine-tier techniques, it could be called the pinnacle of evil arts.

Life corresponds to death, righteousness corresponds to evil...

A circular black dot emerged in the palm of Su Ye's hand, aimed at the slowly rotating Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron in mid-air.

An endless suction slowly stripped away the evil portion of the artifact spirit.

Black dust peeled off the surface of the jade cauldron, gathering into a smoke-like substance that drifted toward the palm of Su Ye's hand where the black dot was concentrated.

The Azure Lotus Bodhisattva's clear voice rang out:

"Benefactor Su may increase the power of the seal.

This humble monk will inject an equivalent amount of Buddhist power the moment the evil thoughts detach, ensuring the artifact spirit is not harmed."

With the Bodhisattva's words, Su Ye laid aside the worries in his heart.

The speed at which the technique operated quietly increased severalfold.

The black dot in his palm expanded until it filled his entire hand.

The smoke and dust drifting from the surface of the jade cauldron formed two streams of black smoke, which coiled and merged into the black sphere.

There were no energy fluctuations, nor was there any enhancement gained.

This black sphere seemed to be dead silence itself.

What it represented was death itself.

Without increase or decrease, it would only assimilate the matter merging into it into death.

The evil thoughts within the artifact spirit of the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron ultimately perished by the very technique that created it.

Karma was fickle indeed.

The last wisps of black smoke drifted away, and the artifact spirit suddenly grew feeble.

Just as it was feeling lost, a beam of golden light containing vast Buddhist power descended from the sky, enveloping the jade cauldron within it.

A cyan giant dragon coiled, opened its cavernous maw, and swallowed the Buddhist light of the firmament entirely.

It exhaled a breath, injecting it into the jade cauldron.

In the span of a breath, it was reborn anew.

Su Ye's spiritual consciousness stood up, pressed his palms together, and bowed:

"This disciple offers his heartfelt thanks to the Azure Lotus Bodhisattva."

The Azure Lotus Bodhisattva returned the greeting with palms pressed together, chanting a Buddha's name softly:

"Amitabha."

Accompanied by the golden forms of the two great beings, they gradually faded away from the Ten Directions Dream Realm unfolded by Su Ye.

Luo Jinghong sensed the Buddhist power emanating from the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron and said in pleasant surprise:

"Brother Su, you used Buddhist power to replace the dark and evil power within the cauldron, bringing about a new balance. You truly deserve to be called a genius!"

"Now that you use this imperial cauldron again, you won't need to fear being consumed by it," Su Ye smiled. "Combined with your original Taiyi Creation Cauldron, making reasonable use of the two artifact-forging cauldrons will be enough to forge the vast majority of spiritual treasures in this world."

"I might not necessarily be able to suppress this jade cauldron."

"I believe you can surely make it submit to you."

"Why?"

"Its artifact spirit has been reborn anew, much like a newborn infant yearning for something to lean on. Initiating submission at this moment will encounter no obstruction whatsoever."

"Really?" Joy appeared on Luo Jinghong's face.

When subduing the Taiyi Creation Cauldron, Shopkeeper Hu had contributed immensely.

He set up a magical array to suppress the Taiyi Creation Cauldron's artifact spirit while using secret techniques to amplify Luo Jinghong's bloodline power, making the Taiyi Creation Cauldron mistakenly believe she was a semi-immortal-tier artifact forger, thus successfully securing its submission.

That process could well be described as deception.

The process of the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron submitting was a hundred times easier.

Puncturing her ring finger, she dripped a drop of her vital blood.

The newly born artifact spirit sensed the cultivator's spiritual energy and, before it even realized how powerful it was, muddle-headedly acknowledged its master.

Luo Jinghong sensed another aura appearing within her spiritual consciousness.

To her pleasant surprise, the Taiyi Creation Cauldron, which she previously could not fully subjugate, surrendered along with it.

"Hahaha..."

Su Ye looked toward the source of the sound and saw Luo Jinghong laughing incessantly, sounding somewhat like a honking goose.

After a long while, it finally stopped.

Luo Jinghong asked:

"I am sitting upon two divine-tier artifact-forging cauldrons. What about you? What benefits did you gain?"

"The Twin Dragon Jade-Faced Mirror."

"It simply cannot compare to the Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Cauldron," Luo Jinghong mused. "...Do you need me to help you forge a few more spiritual treasures?"
"You don't need to be so courteous with me, and besides," Su Ye paused briefly before continuing, "during the forging process just now, I comprehended yet another technique. It is called 'Endless Dead Silence'."