In the Great Zhou capital, Lin Yu secluded himself in the hostage manor, consolidating the foundation of his Myriad Manifestations Grade Eight cultivation.
"Kid, I've finally refined all those pills you fed me a few days ago!" The Cauldron Lord's voice suddenly sounded in Lin Yu's mind.
Lin Yu immediately paused his cultivation, asking curiously, "Cauldron Lord, what's the harvest this time?"
"Hehe! I've concocted several pills. Compared to current ones, their medicinal power is far superior!" The Cauldron Lord cackled, immensely proud.
"Cauldron Lord, what pills did you refine? Stop keeping me in suspense—show them quickly!" Lin Yu pleaded with a helpless smile. The Cauldron Lord was perfect in every way except for loving to tease.
The God-Eating Cauldron flew out from Lin Yu's sea of consciousness and hovered before him, releasing a rich medicinal aroma. A soybean-sized white pill emerged from the cauldron and landed in Lin Yu's palm.
"This is the Hundred Herbs Soul-Restoring Elixir, refined by extracting the essence from the pills I devoured. It can revive the dying and regenerate bones—even those on the brink of death will recover after taking it!" The Cauldron Lord grinned, and before Lin Yu could speak, three golden pills leaped from the cauldron into his palm.
"These three are Demon-Suppressing Golden Elixirs, capable of expelling demonic qi and restoring sanity to possessed individuals." The Cauldron Lord chuckled. "Too bad you only bought common pills. If I had rarer, more powerful ones to devour, I could refine a pill that boosts your cultivation by one rank, causing only seven days of weakness afterward without reducing your cultivation. Want it or not?"
"Such a pill exists?" Lin Yu gaped at the four pills in his hand, then at the Cauldron Lord. "If you can refine that pill, I'll go after the First Prince immediately!"
His heart raced. As the Cauldron Lord said, the First Prince might surpass Myriad Manifestations. Even at Grade Eight, Lin Yu lacked confidence—but a pill boosting him to Grade Nine would let him slay the prince.
"Difficult! Refining that pill requires countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures, rare even to find one. Collecting them all is harder than you cultivating and finding more Myriad Manifestations demon cultivators for me to devour. That might get you to Grade Nine faster!" The Cauldron Lord advised. In this age of declining spiritual energy, heavenly materials were scarce, and even it found refining such a pill daunting.
"Cauldron Lord, the Great Zhou royal family must have hoarded many treasures over the years. Let's raid their treasury—maybe we can gather what you need." Lin Yu grinned. The royal family's treasures were wasted in storage; better devoured by the cauldron. As the emperor-proclaimed National Protector, using some royal treasures was only reasonable.
"The treasury? Worth a visit," the Cauldron Lord said, tempted by the word.
"Third Uncle?" Chu Chu's voice came from outside the courtyard.
Lin Yu rose to answer. Days had passed since the capital's demon calamity—what had Chu Chu been up to?
Chu Chu stood in the courtyard, charming in a green dress. Seeing Lin Yu, she smiled sweetly, skipping over to link her arm with his, as innocent as ever.
"Third Uncle, did you stay in the manor as I asked?" Chu Chu pulled him to sit, whispering, "I've been patrolling the city with elders to fight the demon calamity. You wouldn't believe it—several outbreaks happen daily, and people are fleeing to the countryside."
"Demon calamity?" Lin Yu looked at her with a wry smile. "Those fleeing to the countryside are in greater danger."
"Third Uncle, you guessed it!" Chu Chu marveled, eyes shining with reverence.
"What?" Lin Yu was confused.
In the capital, royal cultivators and guards handled outbreaks. Countryside villages, however, faced unchecked calamities, often destroying entire settlements. The幕后黑手 (mastermind) targeted easier prey.
Chu Chu whispered, "No outbreaks in the capital for two days, but five villages outside were ravaged, countless dead." She added, "The emperor ordered cultivators and guards to patrol, and our sect joined the effort—we came to investigate the National Protector but now help fight the calamity."
"These are stopgap measures. The real solution is finding the calamity's source," Lin Yu shook his head. The Zhou court surely knew this but couldn't locate the culprit.
"It's said the Blood Demon Lord is behind it," Chu Chu whispered, relaying what she heard from sect elders.
"Blood Demon Lord?" The name sounded familiar.
"Legend has it he was slain by Han强者 (experts), but Zhou suspects he survived and has resurfaced." Chu Chu nodded, repeating Zhou's speculation.
"So it's him?" Lin Yu recalled the Demonic Heaven Sect mentioning the Blood Demon Lord, who'd been重伤 (severely wounded) by Han experts and needed vast blood to recover. No wonder he wreaked havoc in Zhou.
Lin Yu smiled faintly. If he encountered the Blood Demon Lord, he'd eliminate this remnant of the Demonic Sect.
After chatting for a while, Chu Chu revealed she'd leave the capital with elders to patrol villages, unable to visit until her return. Lin Yu sent a wisp of spiritual energy into her—enough to save her in danger.
That night, Lin Yu headed for the royal treasury, deepest in the palace near the emperor's quarters, guarded by imperial cultivators. Using his Saint Emperor Sword Body to conceal his aura, he lurked in shadows, eyeing the courtyard with a fake treasury building and a rockery. Two Purple Mansion cultivators blocked the fake treasury, but the real treasury lay beneath the rockery, as the Cauldron Lord sensed.
Stepping from the shadows, Lin Yu released a crushing威压 (aura), knocking the cultivators unconscious. Approaching the rockery, he found a polished stone—likely the treasury's trigger. Infusing spiritual energy, he opened the hidden passage, ready to plunder the real treasury.