If you don't give up, I'd like to be your adoptive father.

Chapter 1186 The Tragic Story of Master Dong
"Fellow Daoists, don't run! Grand Tutor Yu isn't here, it's us~~"

As soon as Lu Jin Gong let out a shout, he was immediately grabbed by Guan Zhenren, who pulled him so hard that he almost lost his breath, and his shout came to an abrupt halt.

"Don't shout, don't shout, we really don't have Grand Tutor Yu here!" Master Guan said urgently in a low voice.

Lu Jin Gong said in surprise, "I was just saying that there is no Grand Tutor Yu here! Judging from their reaction, there is no Grand Tutor Yu here either. If there were Grand Tutor Yu, they would have been captured long ago."

Guan Zhenren was speechless and quickly whispered, "They are no longer our 'fellow Daoists'!"

They defected from the Qin Dynasty and became our enemies.

If we have Grand Tutor Yu backing us up, of course we're not afraid of them coming back to kill us.

But now that Grand Tutor Yu is gone, what if they realize what's happening and launch a surprise attack?
Are you going to fight them with magic?

"Master Guan, do not worry, I'm here! If they really turn their backs on us, the Immortal Slaughtering Sword in my hand is not just for show." Lu Jin Gong's voice was firm and powerful.

The sword on his back hummed in response to his fighting spirit.

Guan Zhenren glanced at the golden greatsword, which was as wide as an adult's palm, and couldn't help but think to himself: If you were holding your sect leader's "True Immortal-Slaying Sword," I certainly wouldn't be worried, but the sword in your hand is just a low-quality imitation.

"Fellow Celestial Masters, look! There's a dragon in the river, the river god of the Dan River. Even the Dragon King of the Dan River has been disturbed; he seems to be searching for something in the river," the wandering deity pointed to the river and loudly reminded them.

Master Guan looked intently, and although the river surface reflected the faint moonlight, he could not see the scene at the bottom of the river.

He made hand seals and chanted incantations, activating his "Celestial Master's Heavenly Eye." His eyes flashed with brilliant blue light, and sure enough, he saw a phantom several tens of feet long swimming rapidly beneath the river's surface.

It neither swims forward nor retreats, but rather keeps circling within a certain area.

Seemingly sensing the gazes of the crowd, the phantom was rapidly fading and shrinking, about to disappear completely.

“My old friend Ao Zhen, an old friend from Xianyang has come. Why don’t you come out and greet him?”

Master Guan lowered his body, standing only ten feet above the river, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

The dragon king at the bottom of the river was in a dilemma.

After waiting for a full ten breaths, He made a decision and transformed into human form, flying out from the bottom of the river.

It is a blue dragon that is two meters tall.

Although it has transformed into human form, one can still see its blue beard and hair, and its blue skin covered with dragon scales.

He didn't look very old; his demeanor and bearing were like someone in their early forties.

"Master Guan, what brings you to my Danshui River so late at night? I have no interest in entertaining you right now." The Dragon Lord said expressionlessly, his tone somewhat cold.

Master Guan paused for a moment, then smiled faintly and said, "Grand Tutor Yu sent us here, so what?"

The Dragon King's expression froze, fear and awe spreading uncontrollably across his face like the dampness of a rainy day.

"Where is Grand Tutor Yu?" He not only softened his tone but also spoke cautiously, his voice very soft and gentle.

Lu Jin Gong curled his lip, stepped forward, and naturally exuded the aura of a veteran sword immortal.

"To be honest, we don't know where Grand Tutor Yu is either."

But you surely know who we are.

"Old Dragon, I ask you, what just happened here? What were you looking for in the river?"

Upon hearing that Grand Tutor Yu was not here, the Dragon Lord visibly breathed a sigh of relief. The awe in his eyes vanished almost entirely, and his tone and posture straightened.

"Fellow Celestial Masters, it is indeed I, the Dragon Lord of the Water, but what happened tonight was too sudden and too mysterious. I just arrived to investigate and I am still completely baffled!"

Master Guan sighed, "Ao Zhen, we've known each other for many years, can't you just tell me the truth?"

Just as Long Jun was about to sneer, Guan Zhenren added, "Do you really have to wait for Grand Tutor Yu to personally question you?"

"Grand Tutor Yu didn't come, did she? The incident happened so suddenly, none of you know where she is." The Dragon King became nervous again, looking around anxiously.

Master Guan said irritably, "The theft of the Great Yu Cauldron was indeed sudden. But she didn't come today, and she won't be back tomorrow? You are the Dragon Lord of the Danshui River, we all know the location of the Dragon Palace, where else can you run to?"

Ao Zhen chuckled and said, "My old friend, you're really joking. Where could I, the mighty River God of Danshui, possibly run to? Why would I run?"

Lu Jin Gong said impatiently, "Old Dragon, stop talking nonsense and explain things clearly."

Ao Zhen hesitated for a moment before reluctantly saying, "It seems that the Great Yu Divine Cauldron just fell into the Dan River."

"They really did lose the divine cauldron." The celestial masters weren't too surprised.

I was already shocked.

The previously defected Taoist master let slip the secret.

Moreover, they kept diving in and out of the river, clearly looking for something.

At this moment, in this situation, only the Divine Cauldron could make them so crazy and so focused.

Master Guan asked, "When did this happen? Why did the divine cauldron fall into the river?"
Tonight, thieves did indeed infiltrate the Black Ice Platform and steal the Phoenix Cry Black Mountain Cauldron that Grand Tutor Yu had placed at the foot of the mountain.

The thief also stole Master Yu's Ancestral Dragon Secret Technique, enabling him to control the cauldron with dragon energy, just as skillfully as controlling a sword with energy.

Will the flying sword fall from the sword immortal's hand? No.

Although the divine cauldron was enormous and heavy, theoretically it shouldn't have fallen.

A look of surprise appeared on Ao Zhen's crab-like face as he said, "The Ancestral Dragon's secret techniques can also be leaked?"
I heard that when the Grand Tutor was transmitting the Dharma, he made you all swear an oath to "reveal the ways of Heaven."

"You old dragon, how tactless of you! Is this the time to discuss such trivial matters as leaking the Heavenly Dao?" Lu Jin Gong said impatiently.

—Betraying the oath to defy the Heavenly Dao is a trivial matter? You immortals, could it be that during the great calamity, the calamity energy entered your minds, causing you to become mad and rebellious, caring about nothing?
Ao Zhen thought to himself, but quickly explained aloud, "I'm really not lying to you, I really just arrived not long ago."

Master Guan knew that my Dragon Palace was actually located at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Dan River.

The Yangtze River is four or five hundred miles away from here!

I truly do not know why the divine cauldron fell.

I didn't even know the Ancestral Dragon's secret techniques had been leaked, and I'm not sure who was controlling the cauldron. Please wait a moment.

He sank down, stood on the river surface, and opened his mouth to let out a dragon's roar into the water.

"Splash~~" Seven or eight river demons emerged from the water and bowed down, with the Dragon Lord at the center.

"Li Liang, the river patrolman, come out and tell me loudly what happened earlier," the Dragon King shouted.

A carp spirit, two and a half meters tall, floated up on the water and loudly proclaimed to the assembled celestial masters: "Reporting to all the great immortals, I am the patrol yaksha of this section of the river."

Just before dawn, a shrill scream suddenly came from the river.

He must be a powerful deity.

The mere aura emanating from him when he howled in pain was enough to make the little god tremble all over and freeze his soul.

He was a hundred feet above the river at that time.

Normally, the river is full and the waves are high in summer, but suddenly the wind stops, the waves become calm, and the river no longer flows eastward.

However, it only lasted for two or three breaths before a three-zhang-tall black cauldron suddenly fell from the sky.

The scene, as if time had frozen, was shattered by the giant cauldron.

It was as if a huge rock had shattered the glazed murals of the Dragon Palace. The wind rose and the clouds surged, the river roared, and the little god came back to life.

Before the little god could do anything, a series of streaks of light flew down from the sky, revealing a group of Qi cultivators, including seventeen or eighteen immortals.

The little god was terrified. He lay on the riverbed, his body buried in the silt, not daring to move at all, and watched them search everywhere for the big cauldron.

Strangely enough, the black cauldron, which was taller than a house, disappeared after sinking to the bottom of the river.

It looked like it had been swept away by a flood.

But it's so big and heavy, how could it have been swept away by the underwater current?

"Alright, enough with the nonsense."

The Dragon King interrupted his mutterings and turned to the assembled Celestial Masters, saying, "Did you all hear that clearly?"

The cauldron fell into the Danshui River. I wasn't there, and my men didn't dare to do anything underhanded.

After those immortals left, I ventured into the riverbed to investigate.

Lu Jin Gong looked at the river demon and asked, "What did that wailing immortal do? Who did he encounter? What did he say?"

The carp spirit said, "He probably didn't encounter anyone; he was the only one calling out from the sky."

What he did was unclear to the little god, who was in the water.

His screams were so loud that the little god heard them clearly.

He cried out—"How is this possible? How did it malfunction? Ouch, my leg~~"

This demon is quite talented; she used her hoarse voice to perfectly mimic Master Dong's tone and emotions.

If there are any acquaintances or friends of Master Dong here, they might recognize him directly by his voice.

Although the Taoist priests who were listening were not familiar with Master Dong, they could all feel Master Dong's shock, confusion and pain at the time through the cries of the fish demon.

Lu Jin Gong frowned and said, "There were no enemies intercepting us, and we weren't ambushed. Why is the thief who stole the cauldron screaming in pain? And what happened to his leg?"

The fairy said, "I vaguely saw that he only had half a body left, and his lower body was crushed by the cauldron. We didn't find the cauldron in the river, but we did find a lot of flesh and blood."

As he said this, he couldn't help but lick his thick fish lips, his face showing both relish and greed.

The flesh and blood tasted exceptionally delicious.

They are genuine river gods, and they don't eat people.

Even if they encounter human remains in the river, they won't bite like ordinary fish and crabs.

The river god (who patrols the river) has the responsibility of collecting and appeasing the spirits of the dead who died in the water.

If they encounter a dead body in the water, they must help it break free from its bonds and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation, rather than picking up and eating the corpse.

But for some reason this time, upon smelling the blood, they couldn't control their instincts and frantically drank the blood of the river immortals, gnawing on the crushed bone fragments and bits of flesh.

After eating that meat, their demonic blood boiled, and their demonic power surged.

Brother Futu stared at the surging Dan River and said, "Let's not worry about what happens to the thief who stole the cauldron. Right now, retrieving the divine cauldron is the most important thing."

Lu Jin Gong glanced at Guan Zhenren and said, "The thief who stole the cauldron is no ordinary immortal. I estimate that he is at least a Golden Immortal."

The powerful Golden Immortal, who had arrived here riding the divine cauldron, suddenly lost control of it and was instead crushed by it. Was this an accident?

"Has Grand Tutor Yu returned? She is the creator of the Ancestral Dragon Secret Technique, and only she can wrest control of the Divine Cauldron from the thief."

Chestnut Taoist looked around with hope, trying to find Grand Tutor Yu, who was slowly flying towards them with one hand holding a large cauldron.

Others are also searching.

But after waiting for what felt like the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the eastern sky began to lighten with the first light of dawn, and all that could be heard were the sounds of the wind, the waves, and the chirping of white birds from the dense forests on both banks.

Brother Futu approached Master Guan and used a secret method to transmit his voice, saying, "Master, do you remember the 'Xuzhou Cauldron'?"
When the King of Qin conquered the six states, he clearly obtained nine large tripods, but one of them, the Xuzhou Tripod, was inexplicably lost in the Si River outside Pengcheng.

It's a bit like today!
Could it be that the divine cauldron possesses a spirit and has run away on its own? Or is it something that Grand Tutor Fei Yu did?

We'd better cordon off the area immediately and start searching the river.

The Xuzhou Cauldron didn't disappear without a trace. Emperor Yu himself admitted that he secretly took the cauldron because he didn't want the Qin Dynasty to obtain all nine cauldrons.

Guan Zhenren thought to himself.

The case of the missing Xuzhou Ding (a type of ancient Chinese bronze vessel) has been an unsolved mystery for centuries. For so many years, there has been no answer.

It wasn't until King Mu visited Huoyun Cave and met Emperor Yu that he learned why the divine cauldron had been lost.

Therefore, the idea that the divine cauldron possessed a spirit and ran away on its own is utter nonsense.

Thinking of this, Guan Zhenren had a sudden realization and vaguely found the reason why the Phoenix Cry Black Mountain Cauldron was out of control: Emperor Yu could secretly tamper with things and quietly take away the Xuzhou Cauldron from the Qin army's tight guard, so why couldn't Grand Tutor Yu take away the Phoenix Cry Black Mountain Cauldron?

“Yes, Futu Zi, you are right. We should seal off the scene and search carefully. Lu Jin Gong, you will be in charge of this matter,” said Guan Zhenren.

"And you?" Lu Jingong looked at him with a suspicious gaze.

The divine cauldron is lost, such a big deal, yet you not only show no concern, but you are also unwilling to personally go down into the river to search for it.

"I'm going back to Xianyang to find Grand Tutor Yu," said Master Guan.

Dazexiang was not a sacred place for immortals to cultivate themselves.

There are no grottoes or blessed lands on Tianzhu Peak.

The corresponding middle realm was empty and desolate, with only howling winds and drifting clouds.

After Chen Sheng and Wu Guang led the "anti-Qin rebel army" to Tianzhu Peak, Fuqiu Gong used his mysterious supernatural power of "hiding the vast universe in a speck of dust" to hide a floating island immortal abode in a palm-sized gust of wind.

Before Master Guan and his companions could track down the Dan River, a streak of celestial light, tinged with red, sped in from the northwest and crashed directly into the "Floating Hill Immortal Palace."

As Fuqiu Gongzheng was calming his mind and breathing in the temple, he immediately felt a strong smell of blood rushing towards him.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that my old friend, who had gone out on business, had fallen halfway down onto the jade floor tiles.

It fell with a "splat".

The off-white stone slab was stained red with a large amount of blood, and an intestine four or five feet long was even dragging under the old friend's body.

The intestines wriggled like a live snake, trying to crawl back into the empty abdominal cavity.

"Brother Dong, what's wrong with you?" Fuqiu Gong exclaimed in surprise.

Dong Ye did not scream in agony at this moment.

He fell to the ground in a very disheveled state, his face as pale as a dead man, with beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

But he remained calm, smoothly taking out several porcelain bottles, pouring out healing elixirs, and popping them into his mouth one by one.

As the elixir entered his throat, he silently used his profound inner energy to refine it.

Once he had stabilized somewhat, he weakly said, "I'm done for!"

(End of this chapter)