I Am the Artifact Spirit of the Hunyuan Cauldron, Cang Jue

Back at the inn, Xue Mingzhao closed the door behind her and lined up the ten battered alchemy cauldrons on the table.

With a swipe across her fingertip, a bead of blood immediately welled up.

Taking a deep breath, she dripped blood onto them one by one.

The first one, no reaction.

The second one, no reaction.

The third, the fourth... all the way to the ninth, none of them reacted!

Xue Mingzhao’s lips twitched. Surely it wouldn't be the very last one.

Holding onto a final shred of hope, she dripped blood onto the last alchemy cauldron.

In the next instant, the bead of blood was sucked in with a whoosh, so fast it seemed as if it feared she would back out.

The cauldron shuddered violently and began to shake. The dusty grime coating its surface crackled and fell off in chunks, like an old man who hadn't bathed in ten thousand years finally being kicked into a bathhouse.

Once the rust peeled away, dense ancient runes were revealed beneath. The entire cauldron transformed from a piece of scrap metal into a proper, bronze-colored alchemy cauldron, buzzing with a low hum like it was finally yawning after a ten-thousand-year slumber.

A deep, clear male voice echoed in her mind, carrying the hoarseness of someone who had just awakened and the ancient weariness of countless ages.

“Qi Condensation?”

After a brief silence, the other party seemed to have fully digested this absurd fact. His tone returned to a flat, solemn state. “I am the artifact spirit of the Hunyuan Cauldron, Cang Jue.”

A flash of genuine delight swept through Xue Mingzhao’s eyes. She had actually bound this ancient supreme treasure. Feeling inwardly jubilant, her tone lightened quite a bit. “You can just call me Xue Mingzhao or Mingzhao.”

Cang Jue said formally, “You are my master. Calling you by your name directly goes against the rules.”

Xue Mingzhao thought for a moment. “Then call me Boss.”

Cang Jue: “...That is not—”

“Either call me by my name or call me Boss. Take your pick,” Xue Mingzhao interrupted directly. She didn't want to waste time fussing over a form of address.

Cang Jue fell silent for a long moment, likely weighing which was more absurd: addressing his master directly by her name, or calling a little Qi Condensation girl “Boss.”

After a long while, as if resigning himself to his fate, he squeezed out two words: “...Fine, Boss.”

Before Cang Jue could get used to the new title, the Chaos Spiritual Root chimed in immediately, its tone arrogant. “I'm the boss here! You're number two, and this newcomer cauldron is number three!”

Cang Jue paused.

He shared a blood-essence contract with his master, so by all accounts, he should be able to sense the presence of other contracted spiritual tools or beasts on her.

Yet, even after examining his master thoroughly inside and out, he found absolutely nothing.

This voice clearly originated from within his master, but it did not belong to any contracted creature.

He asked hesitantly, “Who is speaking?”

Xue Mingzhao pointed at her dantian with a helpless expression. “I forgot to introduce you. This is the Chaos Spiritual Root living in my dantian. It's always talking out of turn. You don't need to pay it any mind.”

Cang Jue fell completely silent.

A spiritual root? One that could speak and possessed self-awareness?

Having lived for tens of thousands of years, he had seen divine bones, ancient Dao physiques, and peerless core vessels. He had witnessed every prodigy and phenomenon in the world, yet he had never heard of a spiritual root developing intelligence and speaking.

Seeing this, the Chaos Spiritual Root sneered, “Another country bumpkin. I was born when heaven and earth first opened—”

Without even raising her eyelids, Xue Mingzhao cut it off. “If you don't behave, I'll immediately have Cang Jue refine a Nirvana Pill to replace you. He knows every pill formula; there's nothing he can't refine.”

“When the time comes, I'll have Cang Jue refine them batch by batch. If one pill doesn't work, I'll take two. If two don't work, I'll eat a whole bottle. Who knows, maybe I'll directly trigger a nirvana rebirth and get a compliant supreme-grade spiritual root.”

Chaos Spiritual Root: “...” “You only ever use that to threaten me.”

In truth, it just had a big mouth. Coupled with being mysteriously stuffed into this body with no way out, it had been harboring a nameless fire, wanting to pick a fight with anyone it saw.

But it was actually quite pleased about Cang Jue's arrival.

It couldn't win an argument against Xue Mingzhao, but surely it could handle this cauldron, which looked clumsy and tongue-tied?

This newcomer looked incredibly easy to bully.

If Xue Mingzhao knew what it was thinking, she would probably roll her eyes.

You're a spiritual root that can't even take human form. What else can you do besides bicker with me all day? Who could you possibly bully?

Cang Jue knew that a Nirvana Pill was typically used when someone was injured beyond cure. Taking it meant burning away one's entire life to start anew.

Survival was not guaranteed, but it was often the only path left.

But since when could a Nirvana Pill reconstruct a spiritual root?

However, sensing the dynamic between the girl and her spiritual root, he tactfully chose not to expose her bluff.

Seeing that Cang Jue didn't object, the Chaos Spiritual Root felt as if its sky was collapsing.

Before, it had held onto a shred of hope that Xue Mingzhao was just talking nonsense. Now that even this honest, dull cauldron had silently agreed, it really wanted to cry.

“Fine, fine, you're the boss, and I'm number two.”

Sensing the dejected mood in her dantian, the corners of Xue Mingzhao’s mouth curved up slightly.

Scared now? Good. Work diligently from now on.

She didn't provoke the Chaos Spiritual Root any further, cradling the cauldron in her hands, growing more and more satisfied the more she looked at it.

She suddenly recalled the original book's description of the Hunyuan Cauldron. Not only could it refine supreme-grade pills without any pill toxins, but it also held all the ancient pill formulas in existence.

Her eyes lit up, and she asked tentatively, “Cang Jue, do you have the kind of pill where eating just one directly raises you by a minor realm?”

Cang Jue’s tone was calm. “I do. Consuming it allows one to break through a minor realm, but it is only effective for those below the Golden Core realm. With Mas... Boss's current Qi Condensation cultivation, eating it would only cause your body to explode.”

Xue Mingzhao immediately extinguished the thought. “I was just asking.”

She would wait until after she reached Foundation Establishment. Right now, she was still too weak.

She laid out the spiritual plants and fruits she had gathered from the mystic realm one by one, completely covering the table. “Cang Jue, how many pills can you produce in a single batch? How long does it take to refine one batch?”

Cang Jue’s voice was deep and steady, filled with absolute confidence. “How many?”

“You will get as many as you have materials for.”

Xue Mingzhao’s hand paused. “If I put in a hundred sets of ingredients, you can produce a hundred pills?”

“Yes.”

“A thousand sets?”

“Also possible.”

“Ten thousand sets?”

“Yes.”

Xue Mingzhao took a deep breath. Looking at the table covered in spiritual plants, she began to click the abacus in her mind.

She had originally planned to sell these spiritual plants with her master tomorrow, but now that she had the Hunyuan Cauldron, refining them into pills would naturally be far more profitable.

A hundred sets of materials yielding a hundred supreme-grade pills... how much did a single supreme-grade pill sell for again?

She closed her eyes and listed a long string of zeros in her mind, nearly laughing out loud.

The sect's future pills and her own cultivation needs were all taken care of!