Chapter Fifty-Three: Triple

The night passed without incident until dawn. Only then did Liuchou and the two pavilion guards, weary and exhausted, finally return. The monster he had suspected never appeared, but Liuchou was now certain in his heart—his deduction was correct, and the demon had already begun to reveal its tail.

Though the sounds last night had been scattered, faint, and barely audible, Liuchou’s ears caught them clearly and crisply. He noticed the moment the thing lightly touched the eaves, but, not having full confidence, he had not acted. He resolved to stoke the fire further, luring this demon into the ruined temple to capture it.

When he awoke, Liuchou repeated his old trick, preparing a weasel to cook in the City God Temple. But this time, he left Qi Se and Ren Fu behind at the pavilion, choosing to go alone—for a beast that had yet to take human form was no match for him. Rather than let the others hold him back, it was better to work alone, giving him the freedom to unleash his full strength.

“The night is cool as song, singing a tune of sorrow,
Grievous cries recount the woes of the six realms;
Frost rises, snow and ice freeze the land three inches deep,
Half a pot boils, cooking a lifetime of loneliness…”

Liuchou sat alone by the fire, watching the bubbling cauldron. Fragrant steam rose as he stirred the pot with a branch. Suddenly, he heard a faint, plaintive singing—half weeping, half lamenting—drifting in from nowhere, its source uncertain, its destination unknown. The song tugged at something deep within his heart, stirring inexplicable pity. Turning his head, he saw a woman in red approaching gracefully. Her brows and eyes were as if painted, her lips like crimson, her cheeks like petals—a hundred charms intoxicating, a thousand kinds of tenderness evoking compassion, dreamlike and illusory, as if conjured from a dream.

In a daze, Liuchou stood up without reason, moving toward the woman in red. She smiled enchantingly, her allure blooming, and extended a hand that swayed gently. Liuchou began to smile foolishly, slowly leaning his face toward her, letting her soft palm caress his cheek. A flood of satisfaction filled his heart; he wished never to wake from this, forgetting life and death.

Her hand stroked his face, while the other slowly rose, encircling his neck. As Liuchou reached to embrace her, the woman only smiled lightly, allowing him to hold her, her jade-like palm already reaching behind his ear—

But Liuchou’s movements suddenly halted, mirrored by the woman in red, whose hand stiffened at the same instant.

He had not been bewitched by her charm. She wanted to snap his neck, while he was poised to crush her waist. Yet in the instant he was about to strike, he sensed something unusual.

Even the blood moon could not confuse Liuchou’s mind; how could such paltry enchantment take hold?

His expression changed in a flash. As the blood in his eyes deepened, the temperature around him began to rise. The woman’s body started to melt in the heat, dissolving into mist, blurring and distorting Liuchou’s figure. This was the “Blazing Sun” technique, a demon art acquired upon reaching the second level of the Myriad Demon Codex.

It allowed his entire body to radiate heat, as if basked in sunlight.

With a muted swish, the iron-shod staff materialized in Liuchou’s hands. Gripping it with both hands, one forward and one back, he assumed a strange stance—half ready to attack, half ready to defend.

With a roar, the ground before him exploded, sending the boiling pot flying into the air. Broth and dust sprayed everywhere in a violent eruption! Amid this swirling haze, vague shadows flickered.

Sharp screeches pierced the air as shadows, black as mist and swift as lightning, shot toward Liuchou!

His left eye narrowed, his body crouched, and then he launched himself like a cannonball into the muddy spray. His staff spun like a dragon, tracing clear arcs that cut across the darting shadows.

Thumps sounded in quick succession—each shadow struck by the staff, yet the sensation surprised Liuchou. It was not flesh and blood, but something tough and leathery, like oxhide, absorbing much of the force and even dispersing it, quite unexpected. In a split-second decision, Liuchou twisted his wrist, switching from a sweep to a thrust, stabbing the last two shadows straight through the head and bursting them apart—finally killing them!

He landed and spun, sweeping the staff in a seamless defensive arc.

The shadows he had struck away rushed back at once. Countless impacts rattled against his staff-formed wall, blood and flesh spraying. The force of their assault was astonishing—they rebounded instantly, suffering even greater injury than from his direct blows.

This wave of attack was swift in coming and going. Like maggots on a corpse, Liuchou darted forward, striking each airborne shadow in the forehead, crushing them all to pieces. Blood and viscous fluid spattered the ground.

These things were not living beings, but “Feral Revenants”—a kind of mutated monster formed from the corpses of cats or similar creatures, which refused to rot or decay.

The brief skirmish let Liuchou gauge their capabilities—roughly equal to low-level demonic beasts in power, but with toughness like a cultivator who had formed a core. Yet, for Liuchou, they posed little challenge; the real enemy had yet to appear, as these were clearly only puppets.

He knelt beside a thoroughly destroyed cat revenant, placing his hand gently on it. Instantly, the corpse trembled violently, its jaws gaping to reveal sharp, white fangs. Liuchou silently circulated the Myriad Demon Codex within, sending a strange sensation from his palm into the revenant’s body.

This was the third transformation in the seventy-two “Earthly Fiend” arts of the Codex’s second level: the “Nether Link.”

It was a vivid sensation, as if Liuchou’s consciousness extended tentacles into the monster’s body, and in a breath, his mind touched a new world. It was like opening a door to a realm of darkness and cold, not vast, but filled with boundless suffering and hatred—piercing and marrow-deep.

A chilling voice suddenly rang out in Liuchou’s mind. As he touched the other’s spiritual world, the other detected him at once, forging an instant connection.

“Who are you? Why have you slain my servants?”

For a moment, that voice was the only thing in existence! The silent world boiled over, hatred bursting forth as blood rained from the sky—humans, beasts, monsters with faces and tongues, writhing masses of flesh and tentacles—all surged at Liuchou, countless and unending, impossible to destroy.

The world brimmed with these monstrosities. Cold, darkness, heaviness, desolation, hatred—every feeling surged into Liuchou’s mind, far beyond what any human or demon could bear. Once it flooded in, it could seize his mind and capture his soul.

Slightly startled, Liuchou felt the torrent rush in, battering his inner world.

But—

As this force poured in, it suddenly discovered itself adrift in a boundless cosmos.

Liuchou’s spiritual world was incomparably vast—far beyond any single human or demon, greater even than countless souls combined.

There was a deep night sky, star-studded, mountain ranges winding for thousands of miles, mighty oceans—the expanse was endless. Though Liuchou himself stood upon a ruined planet, behind him stretched infinity.

The invading power entered his world, only to be instantly drawn out into the universe, scattered into countless points of light, dissolving at once.

At that moment, Liuchou thought of nothing, did nothing; he only marveled at the comfort and contentment, as if someone were unlocking and expanding his mind, filling it with knowledge and erasing its flaws—opening a half-closed door, letting him glimpse the whole.

After nearly half an hour, Liuchou’s body suddenly shook. The cat revenant beneath his hand crumbled to dust, vanishing completely. At the same instant, a peculiar message appeared in his mind:

“The Demon-Refining Vessel has gained four hundred and six units of Primordial Essence. Jiawu Vessel unlocked...

‘Jiawu Vessel... Divine Armament Cauldron... Ghostly Axe Divine Weapon... vacant... available for use...

Jiashen Vessel contains sixty-seven units of Spiritual Essence remaining—unlocking requires two thousand three hundred and thirty-four more units...’”

Thus, the third layer of the Demon-Refining Vessel was revealed. But what were these so-called “Divine Armament Cauldron” and “Ghostly Axe Divine Weapon”?

A single thought, and the answer flooded his mind. It seemed that when the power had unlocked the vessel, it had also left some information behind, making certain things clear to him.

It was the vessel’s origin!

The Demon-Refining Vessel itself was an artifact, once owned by one of the legendary Five Saints—a master of one of the Five Elements, Lu Ya the Immortal, who wielded the Fire of Heaven.

In the primordial chaos of the world, spiritual essence and the universe were one and inseparable, gradually giving birth to myriad consciousnesses. The first to comprehend the true meaning of the cosmos was the Sage Pangu, who, after enduring thirteen thousand five hundred tribulations in the void, finally understood and sought to ascend beyond the ninety-nine heavens, to become an immortal and eternal “Post-Celestial Saint,” or True Saint.

So, Pangu exerted all his might to cleave the primal barrier between heaven and earth, separating chaos and creating the present world. Spent of his essence, he became the mountains and rivers, merging with the wilds.

After Pangu, five others grasped the laws of the world and attained the status of Innate Saints. Each comprehended one of the Five Elements: the Metal Soul, Patriarch Hongjun; the Root of Wood, Grandmaster Yangmei; the Source of Water, Master Kunpeng; the Essence of Fire, Lu Ya the Wanderer; and the Soul of Earth, Mother Nuwa.

The Five Saints followed Pangu’s path but found ascension impossible—the world lacked the power of living beings, later known as the power of faith. Thus, Mother Nuwa created humans to fill the world, while Patriarch Hongjun sent three disciples—Heavenly Lord Yuanshi, the Virtuous Lord of the Way, and the Lord of All-under-Heaven—to establish the three teachings and gather followers, seeking sanctity.

Unexpectedly, before the Five Saints succeeded, three humans—Suiren, Fuxi, and Shennong—reached sainthood first, ascending to the ninety-nine heavens and becoming True Saints even before the Five.

This was the tale of the Three Sovereigns.

…Of the ancient times, this was all Liuchou remembered. Beyond that, all was hazy. He knew these fragments, hidden within the Demon-Refining Vessel, were the memories of its original master, Lu Ya the Wanderer. Why they were left was unknown.

Naturally, later generations had their own accounts—that the Five Saints, when Pangu split the heavens, retrieved three supreme treasures: the Investiture List, the Map of Rivers and Mountains, and the Book of Life and Death, appointing rulers for the heavenly court and using the Investiture List to order the world, thus forming the present age.

Afterward, the Five Saints ascended in turn, finally becoming True Saints.

Liuchou did not wholly believe this. If it were so, Lu Ya would not have left this relic behind, nor sealed messages within it—there were surely hidden secrets yet unknown.

Lu Ya had left behind the Demon-Slaying Vessel, famed for its exploits in the War of Investiture. It was originally two pieces: the Demon-Refining Vessel and the Demon-Slaying Flying Blade. For reasons unknown, Lu Ya separated and sealed them, leaving them for posterity.

Even the Demon-Refining Vessel alone had six layers. When the sixth was unlocked, the sealed Flying Blade’s location would be revealed, and its glory restored.