The Nine Tripod Cauldrons Are Inanimate Objects

After a year of preparation, the Cauldron Inquiry Tournament officially began.

At your advanced age, you naturally couldn't participate and could only serve as a spectator on the sidelines.

While watching the matches, you made an unexpected discovery.

The remarkably ordinary disciple of the Limitless Sword Sect who saved you ten years ago was actually the sect master of the Limitless Sword Sect!

His name was unimportant; he had a title that everyone in the world knew much better—the Sword Master!

As you looked at the Sword Master, his sharp gaze immediately locked onto you, and he gave you a slight nod.

You also smiled politely.

Your relationship with him was just that—a pure nodding acquaintance.

The old monk appeared by your side.

"You know the Sword Master?"

"He saved me once and even gave me a jade token."

You took out that jade token.

The old monk took one look and smiled slightly.

"Amitabha..."

Following that, he returned the bronze war sword and the jade slip he had snatched from you last year.

"After this poor monk's appraisal, this sword has no affinity with my Buddha, and the cultivation method recorded in this jade slip is definitely not of the demonic path. Benefactor, you may use them with peace of mind."

You couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.

"No, you old bald donkey, you're way too cowardly. The Sword Master and I don't even have much of a relationship."

The monk smiled.

"Yes, you and the Sword Master have no relationship."

"Don't look like you don't believe me!"

"Yes, I don't believe you."

You felt like you were wearing the smile of a Wallfacer; no matter what you said, the old monk simply wouldn't believe it.

Forget it. Being able to get these two good items back wasn't bad.

The Flaming Iron Heavy Sword had been ruined from hacking, so having this Earth-rank bronze war sword as a replacement was quite nice.

The cultivation method in the jade slip was very complex. It was an Earth-rank martial art. You felt that just getting started with this technique would probably not be easy and would take quite a bit of time.

You had known this old monk for a year now.

Other than being a bit greedy, this guy didn't really have any other flaws.

Previously, when you were selling demon race materials in the market, he didn't secretly scheme against you or anything. He was even willing to spend spirit crystals to buy the things he needed.

The monk claimed his dharma name was Zhenpin, an uninitiated disciple of the Vajra Temple in Western Liang.

"Uninitiated? Doesn't that just mean they didn't accept you?"

"But this poor monk's heart yearns for it."

So, this old monk was actually a rogue cultivator.

You felt that his cultivation realm was significantly higher than yours, likely because he had better root aptitude.

However, it was very difficult for a rogue cultivator to surpass the Soul Tempering realm with just good aptitude, so he probably had pretty good luck as well.

The Cauldron Inquiry Tournament lasted for several months.

Various factions sent out their young disciples, fighting fiercely in the arenas.

You discovered that among these young martial artists under twenty years old, there were actually those in the Golden Body realm!

"These geniuses are too ridiculous. What kind of aptitude is that? Heaven-rank aptitude?"

In your three simulations, pursuing the martial dao across three lifetimes, you had eaten so much bitterness and traveled so many roads just to barely glimpse the threshold of the Golden Body realm.

Those wet-behind-the-ears youths had actually already achieved the Golden Body!

Seeing you complain about the geniuses, Zhenpin smiled and said.

"A martial artist's talent is not solely determined by their root aptitude. Comprehension, physique, dao heart, and the profoundly mysterious luck all come together to make up a person's talent."

"Are you trying to say that I'm not only inferior in aptitude, but I fall short by a large margin in every single aspect?"

"Amitabha..."

Finally, the results of the Cauldron Inquiry Tournament came out.

The peerless prodigy of the Limitless Sword Sect, Wan Jianyi, took first place.

This guy was simply too strong.

He was merely in the Golden Body realm, but his comprehension of the Limitless Sword Dao even surpassed that of some sect elders!

Put it this way: even the Supreme Elders of the Limitless Sword Sect treated him with utmost politeness. Those who didn't know better would have thought Wan Jianyi was the Supreme Elder!

"It has to be the Limitless Sword Sect, invincibly strong!"

You felt that Zhenpin's gaze toward you became even more respectful.

"Old bald donkey, this grand event has come to an end, and it's time for everyone to disperse. You're from Western Liang, right?"

"Indeed."

"I heard there are quite a lot of evil cults over there?"

"Benefactor, do not speak nonsense. It is merely a difference in beliefs; you cannot call those pagans an evil cult."

Then that meant there were a lot.

Right now, you couldn't break through to the Golden Body realm.

The Myriad Soul Banner said you needed to find an earth vein, which you definitely had to do, but this needle-in-a-haystack operation couldn't be entirely relied upon.

Since you were already old in this lifetime anyway, you were prepared to risk it all and go to Western Liang, the place with the most crooked paths and evil sects, to see if there were any evil cultivation methods to achieve a breakthrough.

"Old monk, you're definitely more familiar with Western Liang than I am. Could I trouble you to lead the way?"

"Benefactor, you speak too seriously. This poor monk is also returning to Western Liang, so we can simply travel together."

When the martial artists from all corners of the world were preparing to disperse and head back to their respective homes.

From atop the Nine Provinces Cauldron standing not far away, the Sword Master's uproarious laughter rang out into the sky.

"Hahahaha! We prepared the Cauldron Inquiry Tournament for this very item, bustling about for an entire year, only to end up with nothing more than an oversized brick!"

The martial artists from all factions were puzzled. They turned back one after another and gathered around the Nine Provinces Cauldron.

Previously, this cauldron had been protected by formations all around it, forbidding anyone from approaching.

Now that the formation had been obliterated by a single strike from the Sword Master's sword, anyone could get close and even reach out to touch it.

You also went to join in the fun.

You reached out and touched the Nine Provinces Cauldron.

It had an icy cold metallic touch, but it didn't seem to have anything special about it.

Suddenly, a simple and honest chubby face flashed before your eyes.

"Da Chun?"

You pulled your hand away from the cauldron's body, and when you touched it again, the anomaly was gone.

"What's going on?"

You looked at the other martial artists who came over to touch the immortal artifact and found that they showed no unusual reactions, only the novelty of touching a Great Dao Immortal Artifact.

You noticed that when those mighty martial artists capable of flight stepped forward to touch it, they all revealed expressions of immense disappointment.

"Why is it like this?"

"Where did the artifact spirit go?"

"Could it be that Great Dao Immortal Artifacts simply don't have artifact spirits?"

"If that's the case, why is it like a dead object, completely unable to resonate with or provide feedback to us?"

Listening to the conversation between the Sword Master and the big shots of other factions, you learned what was wrong with the Nine Provinces Cauldron.

Think of the Nine Provinces Cauldron as a computer.

The cauldron before your eyes was the hardware.

And the artifact spirit was the operating system and software.

Now there was only a bunch of hardware, while the operating system had vanished into thin air. This thing couldn't even boot up!

There was also no way to install a system for it, because this was a Great Dao Immortal Artifact, nurtured by heaven and earth. Humans couldn't even forge it, let alone create an artifact spirit for it.

From the Myriad Soul Banner, it wasn't hard for you to understand.

At the level of an immortal artifact, the spirit was more important than the physical body.

If the physical body was gone, the spirit could find another body to attach to and still unleash its power, though the effects would be discounted if it didn't match the original body.

[But if the spirit is gone, leaving only the physical shell, it becomes nothing more than an indestructible, lifeless object, completely incapable of serving even the slightest function.]