Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Many cauldron souls flitted about in the valley. Some even moved in groups.
The candidates went about performing their appointed tasks. The veterans who had taken the test hundreds of times sat leisurely on the cliff, while the newcomers were already trying their best in the valley.
They picked up a cauldron amid a pile of broken ones and held it in their hands for a while. Eventually, a soul whizzed over and entered it.
Some of the cauldrons trembled for a while before stopping. Others shook violently before flying out of the candidates’ hands and landed on another pile.
Those that managed to subdue a soul cheered and hurriedly rushed up the cliff, while those that did not were dejected and frustrated.
It was extremely lively in the valley.
Meanwhile, loud clanging sounds could be heard in a corner of the valley.
“Treasure, treasure! Where are you?”
Someone was busy searching through a small mountain of cauldrons. He burrowed into the pile while sending cauldrons flying. Soon, he upended the entire mountain.
His speed increased as he went through the second mountain, the third, and so on.
“Damn! Is that kid a mole? How can he dig so fast?”
Everyone was shocked when they saw that.
The kid was so fast that he sent broken cauldrons flying everywhere.
After their shock, they burst into laughter.
“He’s trying hard not to be that prodigy’s grandson!”
Su Zhengyu was collecting cauldron souls. He glanced over, sneered, and continued to collect souls. He already had five cauldrons under his feet.
There was a ball of light swirling in those cauldrons. Clearly, those were souls.
Everyone could not help but exclaim when they saw that.
“No wonder he’s the prodigy of Wood Cauldron Mountain. He’s already collected five souls in just a short while.”
Then, they turned their heads to another prodigy. The young man from Medicine King Valley with a large gourd on his back was in the middle of collecting souls, and he already had five cauldrons next to his feet.
In the blink of an eye, he collected another one and turned it into six.
Not far away was the female prodigy from Wood Cauldron Mountain. She also had six cauldrons next to her.
“Damn! Those little b*stards aren’t making our lives any easier!”
Everyone was extremely frustrated as they watched.
They hated young prodigies the most for taking away the qualification spots from them. Now that there were three prodigies, there were only seventeen spots left for the taking.
“That kid is still the best. I really like him!”
Their gazes toward Tang Hao became friendlier, and they started to think that he was actually quite adorable. It would be great if all the kids were like him!
In half an hour, Tang Hao had gone through all the piles of cauldrons.
He made his way out of the valley.
The other candidates mostly stayed in the valley, and Tang Hao did not meet anyone on his way out. His surroundings were hazy, and he could not see too far ahead of him.
Out of the valley, pill cauldrons were scattered sparingly on the ground.
After about eight minutes of walking, Tang Hao arrived in front of a river.
He was surprised when he looked closely. The water in the river was black and smelled foul. There was also a pitch-black fog lingering on the surface.
Large piles of disused pill cauldrons could be seen above the river surface.
Tang Hao walked along the river bank for a while. Where the fog was thin, Tang Hao could see the towering peaks and ruins of buildings beyond the other side of the river.
That was the ruins of Myriad Realms Mountain that Grandpa Wei had mentioned.
Tang Hao hesitated for a moment but eventually crossed the river and went there.
There was nothing of value left in the ruins. Tang Hao was after going around the place once.
After walking and digging around, Tang Hao returned to the riverside. That was the only place with pill cauldrons, but the water was poisonous, not to mention the black fog that lingered on top of the water.
Tang Hao tried tossing a few pebbles, but they were corroded in the blink of an eye.
He clicked his tongue and furrowed his brows.
“No! I still have to give it a shot!” A moment later, Tang Hao clenched his teeth and muttered.
He remained persistent in finding the treasure.
He pointed his palm toward several pill cauldrons above the surface and tried to draw it to him with capturing sorcery. One of the cauldrons trembled and flew over with a puddle of water.
Tang Hao hurriedly avoided it and began to capture the second one.
He captured more than a dozen in a row, but all of them were badly corroded.
Eventually, Tang Hao could not capture any more cauldrons. The ones left were beneath the river surface.
“Dammit, I’ll go all out!”
He stood by the river and hesitated for a long time. Finally, he gritted his teeth fiercely. He carefully activated the power of the divine bone and many of his defensive artifacts, then dived into the river.
Glug glug glug!
The foul stench of the river water was nauseating.
In the blink of an eye, the first light barrier shattered. Soon, the second one shattered too.
Tang Hao grabbed whatever he could touch and tossed it toward the riverbank. When he could not take it anymore, he quickly swam up to the bank and caught his breath.
To his disappointment, there was not a single useful pill cauldron.
He did not give up. Several times, the river water shattered all the light barriers and corroded his skin. Even though he had the power of the divine bone to protect him, he suffered slight damage to his skin and flesh.
He quickly swallowed a few rejuvenation pills, then sat down cross-legged and meditated.
Just like that, he picked up all the cauldrons from the river.
He climbed up from the river one final time, swallowed some pills, and healed himself. Then, he went over to check his harvest.
While going through yet another pile of broken cauldrons, his gaze suddenly landed on a pitch-black cauldron.
The cauldron was intact, and not a single trace of corrosion or rust could be seen on its exterior. It meant that it might still be useful.
Tang Hao was excited. He rushed over, wiped the cauldron clean, and inspected it carefully.
He could not recognize the material, but he could tell that it must be very powerful to be able to remain intact after being submerged in corrosive water for millennia.
He tried channeling qi into it, but there was no reaction at all.
That was expected. After all, only disused cauldrons would be thrown there.
“Heh! That guy is in trouble!”
He did not find the legendary supreme treasure, but it was enough for him to find something that was intact.
After searching for a while more, even dredging the riverbed, he went back into the valley.
Three hours had passed. The veterans on the cliff could not sit still anymore and went into the valley to collect souls.
Most people only needed to collect one. However, Su Zhengyu and the other two prodigies continued to compete with each other to collect the most souls.
After all, they were all prodigies. They did not want to lose to each other.
The cauldrons next to their feet began to pile up and continued to increase in size.
“Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two… Oh my god! He’s going to break through forty! What amazing affinity!”
Cries of surprise rang out.
The certification test had been running for almost a thousand years, and the highest record was only fifty-three. Anyone who successfully collected more than forty souls was a prodigy with extraordinary talent worthy of praise in the southern region pill-making world.
