When I saw the Yanzhou Cauldron in the fatty's hand, I was overjoyed. "Uncle Lin has been keeping this cauldron, hasn't he? How did you get it?"
The fatty laughed. "When we came here, my father gave it to me. He told me that I've grown up and that it's time for him to give it to me. Then, he told me something about the Nine Cauldrons. I didn't understand the details. Anyway, he wanted to give it to me, so I took it!"
After listening to the fatty's explanation, I finally understood.
Officer Wang had told me that the Nine Cauldrons were born to protect the Saints. They had been passed down from generation to generation, just to wait for the Saints to appear.
After I made the seal, they recognized me as a Saint and began to fulfill their duty to protect the Saints.
Officer Wang had done that, and so had Uncle Lin. However, compared to Officer Wang, Uncle Lin was too old. It wasn't suitable for him to follow me around. That was why he had given the Gun Prefecture Cauldron to the fatty.
Moreover, Uncle Lin was an elder who had watched me grow up. If he wanted to follow me to deal with things, I wouldn't be able to ask him to do it. The fatty and I had grown up together. We knew each other very well, so we didn't have any grudges when talking to each other. It was easier to get along with him.
Besides, when Uncle Lin and Officer Wang had gone to Chiyou's Jianwei Tomb, they had received a signal from their respective cauldrons. From this, we could see that Chiyou's tomb was closely related to this small cauldron. It was highly likely that we would need it on this trip. Perhaps Uncle Lin had thought about this and had prepared in advance.
I had to admit that the older, the wiser. If it weren't for Uncle Lin, I was afraid that the fatty and I would have died here.
While I was thinking about this, I reached out to receive the Yanzhou Cauldron and quickly poured my wizard energy into it.
The time limit Wuyue had given me was almost ten minutes. I didn't dare to linger. After filling the Yanzhou Cauldron with my wizard energy, I flew up and headed toward the second Nine Palaces Formation.
At this moment, Wuyue was still controlling the mysterious zither music. Although the other eight bronze statues in the Nine Palaces Formation were heading toward her, they were too big. Only one of the bronze statues in the formation could get close to her. Moreover, the mysterious zither music slowed them down, so they weren't a threat to her.
I aimed at the bronze statue with the keyhole. After dashing toward it, I quickly put a small cauldron into its abdomen.
Just like the previous time, as soon as the small cauldron was in the keyhole, the group of bronze statues stopped and fell to the ground.
The bronze statues behind them rushed toward me one more time.
Since they had taken the initiative to approach me, it saved me a lot of effort. I glanced around and found the keyhole. Then, I dashed forward again.
Although Wu Yue had been focused on dealing with the bronze statues and hadn't communicated with me, she obviously understood the current situation and cooperated with me tacitly.
At first, the sound of the zither was very low, and it didn't have much control over the statues. When I dashed forward, the zither became louder and restrained the statues. It reduced the danger that I had to face.
With our tacit cooperation, I quickly broke seven of the Nine Palaces Formations. When there were only two left, I dashed toward the keyhole again. However, although Wuyue's zither music was louder this time, it wasn't as good as before. She couldn't control the bronze statues. When I dashed toward them, the bronze statues' arms attacked me at the same time.
In just a blink of an eye, I was in danger. The bronze statues had many arms, and when they attacked me, they completely sealed the space around me. I couldn't retreat even if I wanted to. I gritted my teeth and increased my speed to the max, trying my best to rush toward the keyhole.
Of course, the bronze statue's arms were much faster than mine. Fortunately, I was ahead of them by the time I arrived. Finally, when the bronze statue's arms were about to hit me, I put the small cauldron in my hand into the keyhole.
After dealing with another Nine Palaces Formation, there was only one left.
However, Wuyue's voice sounded. She seemed a little weak as she said to me, "Mister Zhou, I can't maintain my zither music anymore. I can only try my best to attract the bronze statues for the last Nine Palaces Formation to create an opportunity for you."
When she couldn't completely control the last bronze statue, I had already realized it, so I wasn't surprised. I nodded and said, "As long as you can create an opportunity, you can leave the rest to me."
After cultivating for so many years, I had encountered countless dangers along the way. I had long trained my mental fortitude. I had to break this Nine Palaces Formation. It would be great if Wuyue could continue to control the bronze statues. If she couldn't, I could only rely on myself. There was no room for hesitation.
Then, I took a deep breath. When the bronze statues rushed over, I had already found the keyhole. I immediately leaped forward.
Wuyue's zither music sounded again, but it was so weak that it was almost inaudible. She didn't have much control over the bronze statues. As soon as I rushed over, the bronze statues focused their attention on me and surrounded me.
I purposely slowed down and didn't rush to the bronze statue where the keyhole was. Instead, I let the nine bronze statues surround me first.
After surrounding me, the nine bronze statues pounced at me at the same time, just like how they had dealt with Wuyue.
With a shake of my hand, I had already taken out the Armor Stripping Sword. After looking at the position, I chose the statue opposite the keyhole. With my Emotionless Sword Path, I took the initiative to attack it.
Wuyue had said that in this formation, every bronze statue had the power of a Yang God Celestial Master. However, as soon as I started fighting, I felt that Wuyue had underestimated them. These bronze statues were probably at the Complete Yang God Realm. The power they emitted was far stronger than those I had seen on the Heavenly Grand Ritual.
Although the Emotionless Sword Path was powerful, the gap between our realms was too big. When I attacked, the bronze statue didn't even try to dodge. It simply waved its hand and attacked me.
The bronze statue was huge, and one of its hands was as big as my entire body. When it waved its hand, the air around it whistled violently. If my cultivation had been lower, I wouldn't have been able to deal with its palm. Just the air that it stirred up could have blown people away.
I gritted my teeth and didn't retreat. Instead, I let the Armor Removing Sword collide with the bronze statue's palm.
With the sound of metal colliding, I felt as if I had been hit by a speeding train. My head buzzed, and I almost lost consciousness. The Armor Removing Sword in my hand flew out and I didn't know where it had landed.
My right hand, which was holding the sword, split open and started to bleed.
A casual attack from a bronze statue at the Complete Yang God Realm wasn't something I could deal with.
I had known this for a long time, but I still chose to attack it. It wasn't because I wanted to survive, but because I wanted to borrow its power to get closer to the statue with the keyhole!
While I was being hit, I focused on the angle at which the Armor Removing Sword had collided with the statue's palm.
Even though I was severely injured by that palm, it was just as I had expected. My body was sent flying back like a bolt of lightning. It was much faster than when I had sprinted, and it was even faster than when the bronze statue had waved its arm.
Since my back was facing the statue with the keyhole, I didn't know what was happening behind me. I gritted my teeth and tried to stay conscious. I held the last Nine Prefectures Cauldron in my other hand as I prepared for the last step of breaking the formation.
As the wind whistled past my ears, it seemed that only an instant had passed before my body violently crashed into something. My extreme speed brought with it an extremely strong impact. This collision caused me to spit out another mouthful of blood. This injury wasn't any less serious than the injury I had received from the bronze statue's palm strike.
However, this was the moment I had been waiting for.
After spitting out a mouthful of blood, I roared and mobilized all of the True Yuan in my body. I forced my body to turn around in midair. I raised my head and saw that the place I had just collided with was the chest of the bronze statue with the keyhole!
I could vaguely hear the sound of wind whistling in my ears. I guessed that the bronze statue had also attacked me. However, everything had already been decided. I glanced around and quickly found the location of the keyhole. Using the last bit of my strength, I took two steps forward and put the last Nine Prefectures Cauldron in my left hand into the keyhole!
Mission accomplished!