“Heavenly Dao above! I, Tu Ruoxu, hereby swear on my soul!”

Qi Yuan raised three fingers to the sky, his expression a mask of grim determination.

“I am willing to take action to exterminate the Slaughtering Daoist, Han Lie. Once the deed is done, I will promptly return the Creation Cauldron to Laifu. If I violate this oath, may I suffer the torment of ten thousand thunderbolts and die a dog’s death!”

After spitting out the venomous curse, Qi Yuan subtly vented a precise wisp of aura from his Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul.

If you’re going to run a scam, you commit to the bit. He needed to sell the performance before Laifu’s questionable intelligence could find the high ground.

To Laifu, the effect was instant and convincing. A vast, ethereal pressure seemed to descend from the void, resonating perfectly with the oath. It was the undeniable stamp of the Heavens.

The last trace of doubt in Laifu’s heart evaporated.

“Excellent,” the Blood Spirit sighed, his voice trembling with relief. “Fellow Daoist Tu is indeed a man of his word. No wonder Master trusted you with his fortune.”

Laifu looked at Qi Yuan with newfound respect. “That aura… majestic, profound, connected to the very source of the Dao. Your oath has clearly been recognized by the Heavens. If you break it now, the backlash will be unimaginable.”

With a heavy heart, Laifu reached into his robes. He hesitated for a second, then pulled out a small, palm-sized object.

It was a tripod cauldron—or rather, a bipod. One of its three legs had snapped off long ago.

The cauldron was pitch-black, its surface dull and lifeless. It was covered in a web of hairline cracks and jagged chips, looking like something dug out of a reject pile at a pottery kiln. Yet, beneath the damage, dense, obscure patterns pulsed with an ancient, heavy rhythm, as if the object had existed since the dawn of time.

Seeing the broken artifact, Qi Yuan’s heart skipped a beat. Memories from the Slaughtering Daoist’s soul fragment surfaced instantly.

The Creation Cauldron.

Han Lie had found this thing in a random ruin back when he was a poverty-stricken rogue cultivator. At the time, Han Lie was so broke he would scavenge the copper wiring out of a burning building. He grabbed the broken pot purely out of habit—leave no trash behind.

He tried to sell it as an antique. No one bought it.

It was only later that he discovered its terrifying properties.

Despite looking like it would shatter if you sneezed on it, the cauldron was indestructible. Even Tribulation Crossing attacks couldn’t scratch it. More importantly, simply keeping it nearby increased cultivation speed by fifty percent.

It was this broken pot that allowed Han Lie to upgrade his mediocre Purple Mansion Nascent Soul into the legendary “Myriad Tribulations Soul Formation,” transforming him from a nobody into the world’s strongest rogue cultivator.

Han Lie suspected the cauldron had once held a wisp of “Heavenly Dao Creation Qi,” which was consumed during his breakthrough. Since then, it had remained dormant.

But staring at it now, Qi Yuan felt a gut instinct. The true power of this thing went far beyond a mere XP boost.

As soon as the cauldron left Laifu’s hands, the Blood Spirit’s aura plummeted.

He dropped from the Void Refinement realm down to Half-step Void Refinement. His face turned a sickly shade of blue, and the crimson light in his eyes dimmed to a flicker.

“Fellow Daoist Tu,” Laifu wheezed, handing the artifact over with shaking hands. “I entrust the Creation Cauldron to you. Once you have eliminated my master… you must return it immediately.”

His tone was desperate. The news that his master was alive had hit him like a bolt from the blue, shattering his dreams of freedom. Now, he was just a terrified, rebellious slave trapped in a cage.

The Blood Spirit Mark bound him to the cave. He couldn’t leave. If Han Lie returned before Laifu could scrub the mark, the punishment would be eternal torture in the eighteenth level of hell.

His only hope was this stranger.

“Rest assured, Senior.”

Qi Yuan took the cauldron with a beaming smile, tucking it safely into his robes.

“I, Tu Ruoxu, have a reputation to uphold. In the outside world, I am known as the Immaculate and Handsome Youth, the Honest and Reliable Gentleman.”

He scanned the room one last time. The shelves were bare. The floor was clean. He had successfully looted everything that wasn’t nailed down—and he had the nails, too.

“I will take my leave now. Senior, please deactivate the Blood Fiend Grand Formation so I can exit. Wait here for my good news.”

With a confident wave, Qi Yuan turned and strode out, leaving the weakened, hopeful steward behind.

Meanwhile.

At the outskirts of the cave dwelling.

“Phew… seventy-two tents pitched. Ten layers of defensive arrays active.”

Zhuang Qingyun wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Tu Ruoxu for approval. “Senior Brother Tu, everything is ready. What are our orders?”

Tu Ruoxu gazed up at the grey, lifeless sky. He stroked his chin, his eyes narrowing in calculation.

“We do not move yet. We wait for Fellow Daoist Qi.”

He pointed a finger at the damp air. “However, idleness is the enemy of survival. Observe the environment. Though desolate, there is moisture in the air. This indicates a hidden spiritual spring nearby.”

Tu Ruoxu’s eyes gleamed with strategic brilliance. “If we find the spring, we can irrigate this land. We can till the soil, plant spiritual herbs, and create a sustainable ecosystem.”

Zhuang Qingyun blinked, his brain short-circuiting.

“You… you want to start farming? Here?” He looked around the danger-filled pocket dimension. “Senior Brother, isn’t that… a waste of time?”

Tu Ruoxu shook his head, looking at Zhuang Qingyun with the patience of a teacher instructing a slow student.

“Junior Brother Zhuang, you must broaden your vision. This is not a skirmish; it is a protracted war.”

He paced back and forth, gesturing at the empty wasteland. “Amateurs talk tactics; professionals talk logistics. As the saying goes: Provisions must go before the troops move.”

“The spiritual Qi here is thin. We have pills, yes, but we cannot sit idle and eat the mountain hollow. If we rely on finite reserves, we will eventually starve.”

Tu Ruoxu tapped his storage bag. “I brought a treasure specifically designed to accelerate plant growth. Once we establish a farm, we will have infinite resources. We can outlast any enemy. That is a long-term strategy!”

Zhuang Qingyun’s jaw dropped. Realization dawned on his face, replaced by awe.

“I see! Senior Brother, your foresight is terrifying! I was too short-sighted. I will go prepare the seeds immediately!”

Just as Zhuang Qingyun turned to grab a hoe, a streak of light tore through the sky, rushing toward them at breakneck speed.

Zhuang Qingyun squinted. “Senior Brother Tu, you were right again! Look, Fellow Daoist Qi has returned!”

Tu Ruoxu frowned. He didn’t look happy; he looked worried.

“He is moving too fast. His expression is frantic. Could it be… a disaster has occurred?”

The two rushed forward to meet him.

Qi Yuan landed with a thud, dust billowing around his boots. He looked up and froze.

In front of him stood a fortified city of seventy-two tents, surrounded by layers of glowing geometric barriers. It looked like they were planning to colonize the place.

“Fellow Daoists…” Qi Yuan stared at the campsite, his expression twitching. “I was gone for less than an hour. Did you guys decide to move in?”

“Fellow Daoist Qi!” Tu Ruoxu stepped forward, grave and serious. “Report. What is the situation?”

Qi Yuan cleared his throat, suppressing the urge to laugh.

“To be honest,” Qi Yuan said with a straight face, “there is a terrifying existence residing in the central palace. A monster. It has the home-field advantage and is invincible. We cannot fight it.”

He gestured wildly toward the exit. “Also, the main vault? Completely empty. Someone got there before us. There isn’t a single scrap of loot left. Staying here is a waste of time and a risk to our lives.”

Qi Yuan had successfully cleaned out the Slaughtering Daoist’s entire net worth. He had the money, the weapons, and the cheat item. He had zero interest in fighting a desperate Void Refinement Blood Spirit.

Out of a shred of conscience, he decided to warn these two overly cautious weirdos.

“A terrifying existence?” Tu Ruoxu paled.

“Empty?” Zhuang Qingyun looked heartbroken.

The two stared at each other, then back at their freshly built tent city and their bags of seeds.