Chapter 421 — The Cauldron Shakes the Mountains and Rivers

He drew out a great hammer — flat at the head, with a sharp spike at the back — and struck the Earthquake Cauldron with a deafening clang.

Emperor Jingping's Preceptor tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Within the estate all was well enough, but beyond it, for a hundred li around, the mountains suddenly convulsed, shuddering as though dancing. Peaks swayed, earth heaved, rocks split, and countless trees toppled in an instant!

Qingyou Shanren was furious. He reached out and snatched the hammer from Tuxing Feng's hand, only to nearly be crushed flat beneath it. He let go in a hurry and roared, "Three-Inch Nail, are you mad?"

Tuxing Feng picked up the great hammer as though it weighed nothing. "I know these things well. One knock is fine. It's desolate around here, no people... no people nearby, right?"

Shen Mu shook his head. "No one lives nearby. But Patriarch Tuxing, please do not act so recklessly."

"Let me try!"

The Xuanwu Patriarch, Xuan Shengwu, stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Three-Inch Nail, you strike the Earthquake Cauldron, and I'll see whether I can suppress the earthquake waves."

Tuxing Feng's eyes lit up. He laughed, "The Xuanwu Shield is famed as the strongest defense — perhaps you can hold back the Cauldron's shock! Good, let's try it!"

Shen Mu was about to stop them when Granny Zhu suddenly reached out a hand to bar his way, shook her head gently, and said softly, "Shen'er, what they revere is the Human Sovereign Seal, not you. They will not obey your words. Let them try. Until they batter their heads bloody, they will not go with you to stand against the High Heavens."

Shen Mu said no more. "Preceptor, take the cauldron outside the hall and let them try."

Emperor Jingping's Preceptor poured out his mana, lifted the Earthquake Cauldron with utmost care, and carried it out of the great hall.

Everyone came outside. Xuan Shengwu, serpents coiling around him, bellowed, and layers upon layers of turtle-shell runes flew out, sealing the Earthquake Cauldron on every side, layer locked into layer, forming a system of nearly a hundred seals, streaming with radiance!

Tuxing Feng swung the spiked hammer and struck the Earthquake Cauldron hard. With a world-shaking boom, the energy within burst forth.

That all-destroying wave in an instant shattered Xuan Shengwu's hundred layers of strongest defense. His face changed drastically; the Xuan Turtle and the Coiling Serpent roared in unison, revealed their true forms, and transformed into a giant Xuanwu to suppress the wave — but at once they were shaken until they spat blood, their enormous bodies flung high and toppling backward!

Everyone's expression changed. Each unleashed their strongest defensive arts, striving to seal the energy. For a time nothing was heard but ceaseless roaring and trembling. Every one of them opened their divine treasury and summoned their primal spirits; broken, incomplete divine bridges spanned the sky, and standing upon those ruined bridges, the primal spirits poured out their mana as one, pressing down together upon the Earthquake Cauldron!

The energy within the Cauldron subsided for a moment — then erupted again. One towering figure after another was sent flying in all directions, crashing with resounding booms around the estate.

Pale-faced, the crowd rose to their feet and looked at the vermilion cauldron, the shock on their faces impossible to conceal.

Though they had blocked that terrifying energy, they had all taken some injury in the process.

"Three-Inch Nail, how much of the Earthquake Cauldron's power did that one strike of yours unleash?" Xuan Shengwu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, resumed human form, and called out.

Tuxing Feng shook his head. "Not even one percent of its power..."

Hearts sank.

The strongest figures in the world were all gathered here, and even together they could not fully withstand one percent of the Earthquake Cauldron's power. If the gods of the High Heavens came and unleashed the full power of these treasures...

Fearing Tuxing Feng would act up again, Emperor Jingping's Preceptor hastily put the Earthquake Cauldron away and said, "There are seventeen more treasures like this one. These eighteen treasures are extremely difficult to move. The slightest carelessness will rouse the energy within."

"One is enough to destroy the whole of Jingping. Seventeen — what extravagance."

The Kun King's eyes flickered. "This is no longer a matter for the human race alone. It is a matter for every race that lives in this world. If the power of the eighteen divine demonic treasures erupts, the races of my ocean will not escape either."

Tuxing Feng said, "Every Earthwalking clansman underground will be shaken to death."

The Wing King said, "Storms and thunder will fill the skies. My Wing Clan cannot escape either."

"Then it is settled..."

Shen Mu looked around the room and said in a low voice, "We set out now, to intercept the High Heavens!"