Start from Wusheng

Chapter 1204

The Heavenly Pillar pierces the sky and takes root in the earth, surrounded by demons and compacted earth and rocks.

But these are all insignificant shells; the core lies in Zhou You suppressing the Heavenly Maiden.

He also knew that these things could not suppress the Heavenly Maiden, so he transformed his physical body, blood and qi, and fist intent into miniature nine cauldrons, and used the power of the nine cauldrons to suppress the Heavenly Maiden.

The fifty states under heaven, with their profound virtue and abundant resources, all ultimately return to the Nine Tripods.

Even a trace of the artistic conception gained from imitating the Nine Cauldrons would be enough to suppress evil spirits like the Heavenly Maiden.

Zhou You's physical body transformed into nine tripods, and his meaning remained attached to them, yet it did not disappear.

He noticed that under the suppression of the Nine Cauldrons, the Heavenly Maiden's power had fallen into silence, and she had entered a deep sleep.

"Pity……"

Zhou You thought to himself that this round had moved to the settlement stage, and he, Chong Jiu, had ultimately failed to achieve his goal and become a Martial Saint.

But suppressing the celestial maiden before leaving wasn't a complete loss.

As for the Queen of Enchantress, let her be left to future generations. If the human race is not up to par, it deserves to perish.

I don't know if, after my consciousness fades and I open my eyes again, I will have returned to my hometown, or entered the next cycle of rebirth...

Well, after a long time, Zhou You found that he was very energetic and did not feel tired or weak.

This doesn't seem like a sign of impending doom.

Suddenly, he realized that he had "recharged" in another way. The Nine Cauldrons were the spirit and essence of his eyes, arms, legs, torso, and fist intent. Theoretically, the Nine Cauldrons combined were him.

However, in order to suppress the Heavenly Maiden, the Nine Cauldrons remained inside the Heavenly Pillar, moving around and suppressing the Heavenly Maiden.

Although the celestial maiden is in a deep slumber, when her true form is extremely powerful, the unconscious power she emits can break through the cracks and escape into the outside world. Even a single petal or a trace of fragrance could potentially pollute living beings in the outside world and create new demons.

The former wicked demon was someone who, by chance, received a wisp of fragrance from a celestial maiden and willingly abandoned the human race to become a demon.

If it is a mediocre person who is corrupt, it will be acceptable. But if it encounters another wicked and treacherous person who is ambitious and has extraordinary means, it will surely cause trouble again and bring chaos to the world.

and so……

The nine cauldrons trembled and flew up, spinning once and crushing large petals and fragrances into powder.

Afterwards, small cauldrons continued to fall, suppressing the interior of the Heavenly Pillar.

Within this space, the flow of time is meaningless.

The celestial maiden was so powerful that she could create things from nothing, even demons. The place where she slept, the interior of the celestial pillar, was permeated and assimilated, becoming her unique space. The whole process took many years.

Without continued suppression, one day the Heavenly Maiden will inevitably assimilate and corrupt the Heavenly Pillar, turning the prison into an open palace. Zhou You didn't know how Lord Shen had suppressed it before, but he must have been extremely busy.

It was also in the confrontation with the Heavenly Maiden that he gained a deeper understanding of the concepts of suppression and protection, and his thoughts transformed from human martial arts to a cauldron.

As one of the nine tripods, it not only imitates their form but also deeply understands their essence.

No wonder the Martial Saint had to lift the Nine Cauldrons to ascend to the throne; if one cannot bear the weight of the Nine Cauldrons, one will not know the true meaning of the world.

The Nine Tripods bear the weight of countless lives across fifty states. Their weight represents responsibility; lifting them signifies having the strength and conviction to protect all living beings—both are indispensable.
Those who failed to ascend to sainthood were either lacking in strength or lacking in faith, and were reduced to ashes under the Nine Peaks and Nine Cauldrons.

Originally, according to Zhou You's career plan, once he had explored and reached a certain level on the ladder of advancement, he would be able to gauge the weight of the cauldron. For others, the cost of trial and error was high; failure meant certain death, but his situation was different.

Zhou You has mastered the eighteen laws of the Nine Cauldrons, which allows him to simulate the Small Cauldron Trials, equivalent to a 'preliminary exam'.

Plans can't keep up with changes, and weapons couldn't destroy the celestial maiden, so they had to use their own flesh and blood to fill the void, transforming her into a pillar of heaven to suppress her.

He transformed himself into the Nine Tripods, losing the right to lift them, but experiencing their weight in another way.

As time goes by, the concept of age gradually fades after losing one's physical body.

Besides suppressing the celestial maiden and shattering the leaking power, Zhou You spent more time focusing on experiencing himself, immersing himself in a state of tranquility between sleep and wakefulness.

During this state, I occasionally felt a few vibrations.

The first shock came when he remembered measuring the flow of external affairs by counting.

He remembered that it was fifty years after he transformed into the Heavenly Pillar when the tremor came suddenly, startling him into thinking that someone was attacking the Heavenly Pillar.

But after a moment, the tremors stopped, and the pillar was unharmed.

After a while, his counting became disordered and he could no longer continue; his sense of time also disappeared.

The second tremor came suddenly, but it passed quickly and did not damage the Heavenly Pillar.

Three times in a row, he thought that some foolish person was attacking the Heavenly Pillar in an attempt to release the Heavenly Maiden.

Back then, Lai Hantian and Ao Donglai both survived. They should have recruited many disciples to continue protecting the Heavenly Pillar.

That's what Zhou You thought, until the next tremor struck...

Rumble!
The entire pillar of heaven was trembling slightly, with tremors of varying magnitudes coming from all directions, but the Nine Cauldrons itself remained unmoved, unaffected in the slightest, without the anomalies seen in the previous three times.

After a long while, the commotion subsided, and everything returned to calm.

Afterwards, hundreds of similar tremors of varying sizes occurred, all of which were tremors of the Heavenly Pillar, but his Nine Cauldrons remained unaffected.

The conclusion is that the trembling of the Heavenly Pillar was the aftershock of the external attack, because he had transformed into the Nine Cauldrons and was of the weight of the world, so he was unaffected.

So here's the question: In the first three times, the Heavenly Pillar didn't move, but he trembled inexplicably. What was the source of this tremor?
Could it be... the true form of the Nine Cauldrons?
Zhou You waited patiently until the fourth tremor arrived, finally confirming that the vibrations hitting him originated from the Nine Cauldrons themselves. This tremor was the sound of someone lifting the Nine Cauldrons, attempting to ascend to the Martial Saint realm.

Unfortunately, it was still too far from the main body, so it could only sense the movement but could not know the outcome.
This world is vast and boundless, with countless hidden masters. Most of the 'half-saints' who ascend the ladder to heaven are hidden away, cultivating in seclusion, and do not easily appear.

It's also possible that for a semi-saint, a few hundred or even a thousand years is just a fleeting moment. They might appear on a whim, but spend most of their time secretly cultivating.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why the Queen of Enchantress, who had adopted 108 sons, would still restrain herself from plotting and refrain from any major actions aimed at destroying the world.

It was only after Zhou You transformed into the Nine Cauldrons and split them into their own that he realized that in a corner where no one was paying attention, a half-saint was holding up the Nine Cauldrons, attempting to break through the threshold of the Martial Saint.

After all, since the last Martial Saint, there has been no Martial Saint in the world for a long time. All martial artists ultimately dream of, strive for, and aim for one word: Martial Saint.

"Hmm, I wonder if anyone has succeeded. Also, is there really no living Martial Saint in this world?"

Zhou You sometimes thought that the Martial Saint was like a dragon, and dragons could hide in the heavens, invisible to the naked eye of mortals.

It is said that the Martial Saint has long since disappeared, but the Nine Cauldrons still exist, so the path to becoming a Martial Saint has not been completely cut off, and there is still hope.

(End of this chapter)