Chapter 2041: Poor Student

This alone significantly increased Nanrong He's goodwill. Other immortals wouldn't even spare a glance for mortals, let alone allow someone to climb onto their back.

This was no time to be particular. He Lingchuan tilted his head towards the two guards and said, "Go on up."

The two guards also felt the soles of their feet burning unbearably, and having nowhere else to stand, they murmured, "Begging your pardon," and climbed onto the green ox's back with Nanrong He.

Once they were up, the surrounding heat immediately dropped by ninety percent, and their breathing became smooth.

Sudra's true form was a large water buffalo, capable of rapidly cooling the surroundings just by flicking its tail.

Elder Sudra saw He Lingchuan still standing on the ground. "Aren't you coming?" he asked.

He Lingchuan shook his head. "I'm resistant to high temperatures," he replied.

With the divine bone necklace, the true fire couldn't harm him. Here, aside from the slightly choking smoke, he felt no heat at all.

Elder Sudra fixed his gaze on him, letting out a sound of surprise.

He Lingchuan was like a humanoid black hole; all true fire that touched him vanished, leaving not a trace of heat.

Relying on his heat resistance, he jumped onto the cauldron wall and tapped around, especially circling the lid to check for any weak points.

This was not a futile effort. Lingguang's stone cauldron, for example, had a small crack near its lid, which Songyang Manor had gone to great lengths to repair. This was because the pill-forming process for some elixirs was extremely violent, causing high-speed impacts against the inner wall of the furnace, powerful enough to even punch holes through it.

However, after a thorough check, He Lingchuan was somewhat disappointed. This Wood King Cauldron clearly had self-repairing abilities. Though it looked a bit plain, he couldn't find a single scratch on its inner wall.

As he tapped, he asked, "Old Ox, you're so knowledgeable, isn't there any way we can get out?"

If only Aunt Zhu were here, even if the Labyrinth Spider Queen's ancient memories were occasionally incomplete.

"Hmm..." Elder Sudra had indeed been thinking. "Muxiu must have used some method to reinforce this cauldron. Even if I cause damage, it grows back in the blink of an eye."

That was true. He Lingchuan swung his halberd two or three times at the wall, creating three-foot-deep gashes, but they immediately recovered at a visible speed.

He Lingchuan speculated, "To deal with something like this, we either blow it up in one go, or we keep attacking until it can no longer recover."

The power of recovery isn't infinite for anyone.

But the question was, could they endure longer than this furnace?

Sudra suddenly made sounds of recognition. "Oh, right," he said, "my master once mentioned that before it became an immortal, it was caught and thrown into a furnace, almost being refined into an elixir."

Master Qianhuan himself was a large clam demon.

It was perfectly normal for cultivators to refine demons into elixirs.

Nanrong He's throat was dry, and the guards beside him had started coughing. Although they weren't directly attacked by the fire poison, the temperature inside the furnace was rising and would eventually smoke them dry. So Nanrong He quickly interrupted, "Then how did your master escape later?"

If these two mighty beings kept chatting, they would soon be medium-rare.

The old ox stammered, "W-well, this..."

*This is bad*, He Lingchuan thought. "Don't tell me you don't remember!"

"At that time, perhaps, probably, I just walked away," the old ox offered defensively. "Oh, it was such a long time ago! Master just mentioned it in passing."

Everyone couldn't help but raise a hand to their forehead in exasperation.

A bad student, this one was definitely a bad student.

Not studying properly could cost you your life at critical moments!

The space wasn't large. He Lingchuan thought for a moment, told the old ox to move aside, and then casually summoned a colossal object:

The Golden Armored Divine General!

Young Master He's golden-armored bronze general was tattered, but the Nine Nether Emperor's Golden Armored Divine General was splendid and fully upgraded. Ever since Yangshan grew and prospered, he had become as rich as a nation, willing to splurge — no, to invest heavily — in upgrading the Golden Armored Divine General and adding many new functions to it.

This Golden Armored Divine General was forged from secret refined steel, its entire body shimmering with beautiful golden light, sturdy and powerful.

It was five *zhang* (approximately 55 feet) tall, too large to stand upright here; it had to bend its back.

He Lingchuan pointed at the lid. "Smash it!"

The Golden Armored Divine General swung the giant hammer in its hand and powerfully smashed the cauldron lid upwards.

*Clang—Clang—Clang—* The resounding echoes lingered.

Golden Armored Divine Generals were typically used in city sieges and defenses. The materials and craftsmanship of He Lingchuan's model were top-notch; the giant hammer in its hand weighed three thousand *jin* (approximately 1.5 tons) and could easily be used as a battering ram. Previously, when the Black Armored Army attacked a certain Flash Gold powerful clan, it only took three strikes to dent their city gates and collapse a large section of the city wall.

With each strike it delivered, the cauldron itself vibrated violently.

Outside the cauldron, True Monarch Muxiu also swayed slightly and said with displeasure, "A dying struggle!"

Qingyang watched intently. "He always has something up his sleeve," she murmured.

He Xiao came from the Sea of Reversal; he must have many treasures. She felt a little worried.

"Unless this Golden Armored Divine General can smash through an entire mountain, it won't be able to harm the treasured cauldron," he added.

It would be a colossal joke if True Monarch Muxiu's treasured cauldron could be shattered by a siege weapon made by a mere mortal!

The Golden Armored Divine General's attacks had the same effect as the old ox's: they caused the walls to dent into large holes and crumble, sending dust scattering. But the wall was like rubber; the dented parts always automatically repaired and sprang back. Under He Lingchuan's command, it hammered the same spot more than ten times, creating a pit one and a half *zhang* (approximately 16.3 feet) deep from which many tree roots and broken branches fell, yet it still didn't break through to the outside.

The cauldron remained unbroken.

Seeing this, He Lingchuan had a question:

How thick was this cauldron's outer wall?

Another idea popped into his mind, so he issued three commands in a row to the Golden Armored Divine General:

"Grow!"

"Grow!"

"Even bigger!"

With each command it received, the Golden Armored Divine General grew significantly taller.

By the time He Lingchuan finished his three shouts, its height had increased from five *zhang* to twelve *zhang* (approximately 131 feet)!

Even ordinary hills weren't that tall.

The height of the space inside this cauldron was only about five *zhang*. He Lingchuan wanted to use the Golden Armored Divine General to prop it open.

Unexpectedly, for every *zhang* the Golden Armored Divine General grew, the furnace top grew three *zhang*!

After the Golden Armored Divine General reached twelve *zhang* tall, the distance from the furnace top actually increased.

"Damn it!" He Lingchuan couldn't help but curse.

"It's useless!" A sudden voice rang out. "The Wood King Cauldron has refined countless colossal beings, whose sizes were no less than your Golden Armored Divine General's. The treasured cauldron can change its size freely; trying to burst it open is a pipe dream."

That voice? True Monarch Muxiu?

That's right, the enemy probably had a way to spy on the situation inside the cauldron.

Qingyang, listening nearby, repeatedly waved her hand, signaling True Monarch Muxiu not to say anything more.

Against an opponent like He Xiao, saying more only leads to more mistakes.

After hearing this, He Lingchuan also secretly pondered. He jumped back to the ground and asked the old ox again, "How much longer can you last?"

"At this rate, another seven or eight hours would be fine," he replied. An immortal body was tough and impervious to water and fire, not to mention it was wearing an ox hide! For the Wood King Cauldron's true fire to refine it, it would have to race against time.