chapter 36 Bamboo Bucket

Wu Ming was now even surer that Zhang Jian wanted to measure the extent of his strength by asking him to slay a strong demonic beast for its meat like the one they usually ate which was definitely stronger than what he was capable of handling.

Wu Ming knew that if he couldn't get past the test with flying colors, he would neither have the face to live in the thatched hut nor to listen in on the cultivation lessons. Therefore he decided that he would rather die than disappoint Zhang Jian. Since he had already committed to Zhang Jian then he, who had been known as the honored businessman in the past whose word was more valuable than gold, was definitely bringing some high level meat back before lunch.

Wu Ming had been a veteran cultivator and had survived on his own for a long time. He knew that he needed to gather supplies before he went out in the wild on his own. He put some vegetables, fruit and some dried meat strips in a bag and took some bottles to the well in order to take some drinking water with him. When he reached the well he pulled out the bucket from the well and started to fill the two bottles. As soon as he finished filling the first one to the brim he heard someone speak to him in his mind. First he thought that it was Cerberus but he could tell the difference between the two voices clearly. It was definitely someone other than the yellow dog who was trying to talk with him.

He began to wonder if there was another monster hiding around the hut. Everyone that he had met here was definitely a monstrous existence.

As Wu Ming began to focus on the voice, it started to become even clearer with each passing second.

"Please help me…you have to help me…please. I know you can hear me. Please don't ignore me. I can assure you that you are not hallucinating or imagining it. I am definitely talking to you…please."

Hearing the pleading tone of the voice, Wu Ming knew that this person was desperate and was in dire need of help. He tried to exercise caution since not every plead for help came from someone righteous.

"Who are you?"

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Well I can't hurt you since I don't have a body at the moment. I am stuck in this stupid bucket for eternity unless someone powerful enough decides to help me. As for your question regarding who I am, well I am too old for you to know me. All you need to know is that I used to be a part of the Immortal World a long time ago so you can rest assured."

Wu Ming followed the voice and reached the bucket. It was a bamboo bucket that looked quite old and its insides had turned dark green possibly because it had been underwater for too long.

The soul that seemed to be communicating with him was stuck in the same bucket.

No matter how he looked, Wu Ming could not discover anything special about the bucket that could have helped it hold a powerful Immortal cultivator's soul captive for so long.

"Well, I can't find any way to release you. This bucket seems quite ordinary; I don't know how it could have held anything at all let alone your soul."

"Fool, then try attacking the bucket BUT try not to use your cultivation while doing that if you love your life."

Wu Ming followed suit and kicked the bucket using brute force only.

As soon as he did, a ripple spread outwards with the bucket at the epicenter which pushed him backwards with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

"If you had used your cultivation, you would be dead now. Now, will you listen to me." The soul was possibly sneering at him at that moment as Wu Ming could detect a hint of laughter from its voice.

"Fine, you have proved your point. How do I help you?" Wu Ming was gasping for breath as he said those words.

"To be honest you can't help me. There are probably only three people in this world who have the strength to help me." The soul had lost the authoritative tone it had before as if it was reliving the past events.

"Maybe I can help you find one of them then? Who are they?"

"I can confidently tell you that you don't have the means to find two of them. As for the other one that you can approach is acting indifferent towards me. The three people that I mentioned are the Heavenly Emperor; ruler of the Immortal World, Ying; the sovereign of the Devil World and your master; Zhang Jian. As for the one that is acting as if he doesn't hear me is your master. I doubt you can help me there."

"I am sure that Zhang Jian has his reason for doing so." Wu Ming was unsure if he himself believed what he was saying but he wanted to trust Zhang Jian over some ancient soul that he did not even know.

"Look kid, I am not asking you to help free me. I am just asking you to take me with you wherever you are going. I am tired of people pretending to not hear me." The old soul had returned back to pleading now.

"You still haven't told me how you got stuck in that bucket. For all I know, you could have been some heinous traitor who was sealed in the bucket for your crimes." Wu Ming decided to be cautious lest he did something stupid.

"I was sealed by Yin before the war between the Immortal World and Devil World started. That is why unlike the other sect leaders from the Immortal faction who departed the world while fighting Yin I have stayed alive and sealed in this horrible bucket. Also it is not the bucket that has kept me here all this time, but it was the seal enveloping the bucket which reflected any outside attacks on it." The old soul finally came clean. It turned out that he had only been trying to hide his shame of not being able to participate in the war with Ying.

Since Wu Ming had determined that the soul had no bad intention in reaching out to him, he had decided to bring the bucket with him on the hunt for demonic beast meat for lunch.

This had been the very bucket that he had put the Black Fish King in after catching it. The soul had tried to talk to Zhang Jian then but Zhang Jian never heard the voice of the soul trapped in there.

Wu Ming thought that the soul must have offended Zhang Jian somehow which was why Zhang Jian had been ignoring the soul until now. Wu Ming wanted to help the soul clear any misunderstandings between him and Zhang Jian.

Wu Ming started by asking permission to bring the bucket with him on his run. He wanted to see how Zhang Jian reacted to that before asking him anything about the soul.

"Can I take this bucket with me? It might come in handy."

Zhang Jian saw the bucket and naturally assumed that Wu Ming was going fishing and decided to warn him out of kindness that the fish here were very hard to catch since he had experienced that first hand previously.

"Go ahead but let me warn you that those monsters aren't so easy to catch. You will need to exact patience before you reel them in."

Wu Ming reassured Zhang Jian that he would be careful and patient.