Volume 1, Chapter 2: The Ding (Tripod Cauldron)

At an altitude of ten thousand meters, a Boeing aircraft swiftly passed by. Its front landing gear compartment slowly opened, and a tall figure leaped out from that compartment.

Without any change in posture, and without opening a parachute, he straightened his body and descended straight toward the ground.

With a dull thud, the man crashed straight into the ground, leaving a hole about a meter wide. Two thick and long arms reached out from that pitch-black hole, lightly pressing against the ground, and Xiahou's entire body emerged covered in dust. The only one who could use such a bold method of parachuting was Xiahou, who had practiced the eighth transformation of the Xuanwu Nine Turns, with a body harder than diamond, astonishing defense, and self-recovery abilities surpassing that of a diamond.

A common Toyota pickup truck used by American citizens slowly approached, and two young men in dirty work clothes jumped out of the car. They gestured towards Xiahou with their thumbs up: "Brother Si, you are truly outstanding in our bureau. Even the Big Boss Qinglong wouldn't dare to jump headfirst from over ten thousand meters like you did! Wow, impressive!"

Xiahou shook his head, his head a bit dizzy from the shock, and coughed heavily. His coughs were accompanied by echoes; with a sound in his throat, his spacious lungs could even produce an echo. Assuming a standard standing posture, hands behind his back, Xiahou said solemnly, "During the mission period, let's be serious. Are there any witnesses nearby?"

One of the young men immediately took out a small device and scanned around. "According to the mini drone we released, there are no large organisms within a radius of twenty kilometers."

The other took out a 3D image generator and placed it on the ground. After some operation, a hazy blue light revealed the internal structure of a building. "This is the peripheral image of Zone 53 underground base. The insider couldn't obtain all the blueprints, but he knows only two limited passages leading to the core area. Brother Si, your infiltration point is here!" A flashing red dot appeared on the schematic, and the young man pointed to it.

"This is a miscellaneous storage room, rarely frequented. Inside, there's a set of base uniforms and wireless earpieces. After changing clothes, follow the instructions from the insider."

Xiahou glanced at his watch and nodded, "Well then, let's not waste time. These things aren't new to any of us. It's now 21:37. If I haven't come out in two hours, the backup team will retreat." After glancing at the two young men, Xiahou smiled, "If I'm unlucky, tell Little Bug, Little Cat, and Little Bird to avenge me properly. But, I'm not that unlucky, am I?"

The three of them chuckled simultaneously, and after discussing a few more details, Xiahou enveloped his body in a thick, earthy yellow light and burrowed into the ground following their standard operating procedure.

At the same time, two red dots appeared on the wristwatch, one representing Xiahou and the other indicating the storage room he infiltrated.

With the aid of his earth-based abilities, Xiahou easily traversed the outer defense perimeter of Zone 53 and entered the storage room located in the lower levels of the base. He found a wireless earpiece from a wooden box in one corner and plugged it into his left ear. Then, he took out the tight-fitting black uniform and put it on. Xiahou suddenly widened his eyes and sighed helplessly.

The clothes fit well, tailored according to the standard height of 1.90 meters for a large man. However, Xiahou's physique was extraordinary; when he wore the clothes, his arms still protruded from the sleeves by over a foot! "Unlucky me, I knew something like this would happen. It's not the first or second time. Why do these insiders always prepare clothes that don't fit?"

With a helpless twist of his body, Xiahou forcibly compressed the structure of his arms by over a foot using his internal elemental force. With his arms now appearing even bulkier and his figure more peculiar, Xiahou cautiously opened the door of the storage room and sneakily glanced outside.

A clear voice came through the earpiece: "Stop complaining. With your physique, finding clothes that fit reasonably well is not bad. Don't make any noise; there are cameras in the storage room, but I'm controlling them. Listen to me, there's no one outside the door right now. Turn left and proceed two hundred meters to find an elevator. The password for the elevator is a993572x, and it goes down to the lowest level."

The insider controlled the cameras? Xiahou silently followed the insider's instructions, already admiring his colleagues in the Special Operations Bureau. They seemed capable of planting moles in any department of any country, a skill Xiahou found hard to match.

The elevator went directly to the lowest level, and as the doors opened, a woman wearing the epaulettes of a lieutenant colonel suddenly walked in. She casually glanced at Xiahou and asked, "Which department are you from?" She looked at Xiahou's uniform, which, apart from a few officers, was identical for most of the personnel in the base, revealing no clues.

Timely instructions came through the earpiece, and Xiahou followed them, flashing a smile as directed. "Lieutenant Colonel Kaelin, don't you recognize me? I'm your boss, hehe!" With a slightly peculiar look in his eyes, Xiahou glanced sternly at the lieutenant colonel's chest.

After a moment of hesitation, the lieutenant colonel, both embarrassed and angry, cursed, "Are you all from the Internal Security team, a bunch of thugs pulled from the military?" Proudly tossing her head, the lieutenant colonel pointed to the door of the elevator, "Are you planning to go up with me?" She glared fiercely at Xiahou's arms, which almost burst out of his clothes, involuntarily swallowing a gulp of saliva.

The insider continued to chatter, "Kaelin, there's a notorious slut in the base. With a bit of charm, you can get her into bed. Move quickly; we only have a little time. Hurry up, hurry up. Do you think it's easy for me to create a secret communication channel within the base's main computer control? If it's discovered, I don't fear death, but dying like those eleven brothers, without value, would be a loss for me."

Xiahou proceeded down a well-lit corridor, with numerous recessed alcoves on either side, each occupied by one or two burly men holding firearms, glaring fiercely at Xiahou.

"Ignore them; they're like you, soldiers from the Internal Security team. Your clothes have embedded chips, and I've raised the permissions to the highest level I can access. Just walk past them as if nothing happened; until the scanner alarms, they're just decorations."

Ahead was a heavy metal gateway. Instructions came through the earpiece again: "You have a magnetic card in your pocket. Swipe it in the card reader on the door, then enter the password z53sa35732. The password is meaningless; it's just to scan your fingerprint. But I've taken care of everything; you're good to go."

The metal gate opened, and amidst the vigilant gazes of the soldiers, Xiahou strode in confidently.

"Be careful; there's now an energy barrier in place. Try not to expose your abilities. That's why I had you infiltrate the outer storage room. Zone 53 is a hastily established base; many areas are incomplete, but its internal power is strong. Don't underestimate them. I still don't understand how my colleagues were exposed."

It was a peculiar space, resembling a vertical cannon barrel. A circular tube with a diameter of five hundred meters, stretching nearly a kilometer vertically. Steel beams protruded from the metal walls around, supporting numerous circular areas of various sizes. Through the transparent walls of these areas, many people could be seen busy with peculiar instruments.

"We're here. All I can do is get you close to the core area, but the rest depends entirely on your abilities. The core area is at the bottom of the cannon barrel, and the most crucial secrets are there. I hope you can obtain their research data. Good luck! I can't risk exposure; from now on, we have no contact." After a pause, the insider suddenly chuckled, "If you hear an alarm later, I'll do my best to create conditions for your escape... Good luck; I hope you won't be recognized by familiar faces too early."

Suddenly, there was a burning sensation in his ear as the earpiece emitted countless sparks and self-destructed. Xiahou muttered, "Familiar faces? Unlikely, right? Those who've faced us rarely survive. Occasionally, a few lucky ones end up maimed by White Tiger and won't serve again."

Shaking his head, Xiahou was astonished to find that most of the personnel in this vast space were wearing pristine white work uniforms, making his black uniform stand out conspicuously.

After pondering for a while, he walked straight toward the fully transparent elevator in the center of the space. Standing in the elevator, he casually pressed the button for the lowest floor and stood calmly in the center as the elevator descended slowly, smiling gently at the researchers in the circular transparent rooms he passed along the way.

The researchers paused for a moment, returned his friendly smile, then refocused their attention on the instruments in front of them.

"What are they researching, anyway? It's 9 p.m., and they're still working. Is it some kind of rotating shift? But it doesn't seem difficult; the security here is much weaker than in Zone 51. Or maybe they think we won't target this place?" Xiahou was curious; the defense here seemed miles apart from what Yang Tong had described. With support from an insider, infiltrating the central area near their core seemed quite effortless.

The elevator stopped, and Xiahou stepped out, but his heart sank suddenly.

In front of him stood a dozen men, all dressed in black uniforms, effectively blocking the only gateway to the core of the base. The faint release of elemental energy from them indicated that they were all formidable psychics.

"Is all the defense focused here?" Xiahou frowned. "So many psychics at the entrance, what about inside?"

Though he felt heavy-hearted, he put on a cheerful smile as he approached them. "Hey, anyone up for a game of blackjack? This duty is just too boring."

One of the psychics glanced around and lowered his voice. "You want the boss to punish us by making us run ten thousand laps around the base? Uh, new here? What department are you from?"

Xiahou blinked lazily and casually mentioned a team number he had encountered before. "Red Arrow. And you guys?"

One person exclaimed in surprise, "You're from the same department as me? How come I've never seen you before?"

A powerful force struck almost simultaneously at the chests of these men, like an enraged earth dragon, and the pale yellow elemental energy shattered their bodies internally. Xiahou looked helplessly at the stiffened figures of the dozen or so men standing there and sighed, "Execute Plan B, destroy this place." If they couldn't retrieve the data, then destroying it was preferable to letting someone else get their hands on advanced technology and using it against them.

In reality, when the Four Spirits acted, it usually meant destruction. Other types of missions were rarely assigned to them.

With a single punch, the two-foot-thick alloy door disintegrated in the bright yellow light. Xiahou swayed his tall figure and charged inside. The security defense system inside immediately kicked in, and countless tongues of flame swept toward him, but every bullet that touched his body was immediately deflected.

Dozens of psychics rushed at him from all directions, but Xiahou simply stomped the ground fiercely. A strange roar echoed in the air as dozens of huge yellow elemental forces surged from the ground, wrapping around these psychics like giant pythons, contorting them into various bizarre shapes before hurling them away.

The upper part of his uniform exploded, revealing Xiahou's original form. With his disproportionately long arms swinging wildly, each strike carried the force of tens of thousands of pounds, sending a group of elite soldiers, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, flying like sandbags.

Two extremely powerful auras suddenly shot over, and a voice roared angrily, "It's you again, Xuanwu! Do you remember me? You damn guy, why is it that every time we have something good going, your damn Four Spirits always show up?" These two auras were incredibly strong, a world apart from the psychics just now.

Xiahou looked up and saw a young man engulfed in raging flames helplessly spread his hands. "Bill? Are you okay? I'm sorry about your brother, who was taken out by Baihu. But you can't blame everything on me, can you?" With a punch, a strange sound echoed in the air again, as if the air around him was being sucked out. Xiahou's fist became nearly a foot in size, like an iron hammer slamming into Bill's stomach.

The flames outside did no harm to Xiahou. Bill opened his mouth wide, and a mouthful of blood with fragments of his heart and lungs sprayed out. A psychic who had reached S-level in strength was punched to death by Xiahou. Another equally powerful and beautiful girl gasped in shock and immediately conjured up a gust of wind to retreat dozens of meters, shouting in fear, "Monster!"

Dragging his two long arms, Xiahou frowned. "I'm just a normal big guy, where's the monster?" With a burst, a tuft of soil-yellow elemental force exploded beside the girl, and she grunted, blood spurting from all seven orifices, before collapsing.

With another kick, Xiahou kicked open another metal door. He grabbed the nearly ten-ton door and swung it randomly, causing more and more soldiers to panic and flee, inching closer to the core area of the base. Displaying his terrifying combat power, Xiahou complained, "I knew it would be like this. Every time I go on an external mission, it's always a full-blown fight halfway through! Why can't I be like Xiaoniao, steal something and leave without a trace?"

After a bitter smile, he casually threw the metal door more than twenty meters away, smashing two armored vehicles that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Xiahou sighed, "So, in the Special Operations Bureau, I can only do support or janitorial work." With another kick, the door in front of him, ten meters high, six meters wide, and two meters thick, shook violently.

After a moment's pause, Xiahou emitted a thick tuft of soil-yellow light from his body. With a roar, as if hundreds of stun grenades used by special forces exploded simultaneously, he knocked down all the hundreds of soldiers who were timidly chasing behind him. He slowly punched towards the big door.

With a dull sound like a drumbeat, the massive metal door was smashed out of its frame and flew out more than ten meters away. Inside the core research room of Zone 53, there was an immediate outcry of shock and anger. As the gate crashed down, a stream of bright red trickled out, with countless unlucky souls crushed beneath it.

With a fierce pounce, Xiahou rushed into the core research room, which spanned tens of thousands of square meters. With a wild flurry of his hands, a dozen researchers in white lab coats who rushed at him were tossed like straw, thrown several meters away. Considering that these people were civilians, Xiahou showed some mercy and didn't harm them.

Taking a deep breath, Xiahou, drenched in sweat, glanced around the laboratory and was immediately drawn to the three-legged cauldron in the center of the hall. The cauldron stood about five meters tall, entirely green, with countless carvings of mountains, rivers, vegetation, and monsters. A faint sheen emanated from the cauldron, exuding a majestic and solemn aura. To Xiahou, it seemed as though the entire space was under its control.

"Is this what you're researching?" Xiahou asked, frowning, paying no attention to the thousands of elite soldiers surrounding him.

A thin Jewish old man suddenly jumped out, screaming, "Yes, this is what we're researching! I don't care which country's psychic you are, I don't care what your purpose is here, please don't destroy anything here! Otherwise, you're committing a crime against human civilization! This cauldron contains technological information that surpasses Earth's current technology by at least a hundred thousand years!"

Xiahou shook his head. "My goal is to take away the data or destroy this place. Hmm, a hundred thousand years?" Xiahou suddenly understood why the urgent message from the insider. If any country possessed technology that surpassed Earth's civilization by a hundred thousand years, the implications for other countries were self-evident.

The old man screamed, "No, if you want to destroy these things, you'll have to step over my dead body!"

Xiahou nodded seriously. "No problem!" With a kick, the old man was sent flying more than ten meters away, lying on the ground moaning.

The old man screamed, "You damn soldiers, violent thugs, warmongers, stop him! Stop him!"

The soldiers cautiously watched Xiahou without moving. Xiahou scratched his head helplessly and said, "Sorry, old man, but it seems that the defense force of this newly established base is not enough to stop me. Frankly speaking, all the psychics in your entire country have been defeated by me or my colleagues, so relying on them to stop me is impossible."

The old man suddenly jumped up, his vitality seemingly endless. He looked at Xiahou with his head tilted, as if suddenly realizing something and smiled, "Ah, I've figured it out. You can't destroy anything here. All the data and equipment here belong to the United States. If you dare to do anything here, it will be a serious diplomatic incident, and even war may break out. You can't do this."

Xiahou shrugged, speaking candidly, "Perhaps you don't understand the situation between us. But actions between psychics won't lead to war. I may have forcefully entered your base, but psychics from your country have done the same. We have an understanding, and these small-scale conflicts won't cause much dispute. At most, there will be another round of economic sanctions, but now everyone has joined the WTO. Who cares about that?"

The old man screamed, "But you're taking away something that could change the entire course of Earth's civilization!"

Xiahou tilted his head, frowning as he looked at the large cauldron. "But I'm curious, this cauldron seems to be a product of China."

The old man stammered, finally saying, "But it belongs to us now. At least, I spent seventy million dollars to buy it from a relic smuggling group."

Xiahou nodded vigorously. "Ah, then, you're the one who broke the law first. According to the relevant laws of the International Criminal Police Organization, this thing still belongs to our country. At most, we'll give you back the seventy million dollars. But please hand over all the data." Hesitating for a while, Xiahou stared at the cauldron for a long time and sighed, "Damn, how am I supposed to take this thing away? Destroy it? What a waste."

After hesitating for a while, Xiahou still couldn't come up with a solution. But the old man smirked triumphantly, "You can't take it away, and you can't destroy it. But it's strange. When we first started researching it, it was only fifty centimeters tall. As we accidentally input high-voltage currents into it, its volume kept increasing. Hmm, I wonder, when the nearby nuclear power plant is completed next month and transfers all its energy to it, what will it become?"

Absorb energy? Increase in volume? The origin of this round cauldron is quite extraordinary!

Taking a deep breath, Xiahou gritted his teeth and hummed, "You can report to your superiors now, saying that I successfully took away this treasure. Well, it's because you're incompetent, not because I'm too powerful." He turned into a yellow light and pounced towards the cauldron. Anyway, let's give it a try. The five-meter-high bronze cauldron shouldn't be too heavy. With it, using Earth Escape, he should be able to smoothly run over a hundred kilometers.

Just as Xiahou was about to touch the bronze cauldron, an extremely intense white light shot down from above, piercing through his chest.

The yellow earth-based elemental force offered no protection, and Xiahou's right chest was pierced by a transparent hole the size of a bowl, a thin stream of blood flowing from the wound, gradually turning into a fountain. The powerful impact caused him to stagger, weakly leaning against one of the cauldron's feet.

Seven men dressed in black windbreakers, with a red arrow badge on the left side of their chests, stood on the bridge of the laboratory wall, coldly looking at the heavily wounded Xiahou. The middle-aged man in the center had a sinister smile on his face. "Mr. Xuanwu, I'm sorry our Red Arrow leader didn't come out to spar with you personally. We know it's futile; your psychic abilities are too terrifying. However, human intelligence can always defeat physical laborers like you."

Xiahou kept sucking in cold air, shivering all over. No matter who had an extra transparent hole in their chest, it was definitely not a pleasant experience. "Hever, I didn't expect you to ambush me. What weapon did you use? Its power is much stronger than a cannon."

Hever bowed triumphantly towards Xiahou, presenting a silver-colored weapon resembling a single soldier rocket launcher as if offering a treasure. "Please, behold, the latest technological achievement from this miraculous cauldron: the practical particle cannon. Amazing, right? From a bronze cauldron unearthed from a place in Shanxi, China, of unknown age, such information is contained within. Is it a prehistoric civilization? Or is it information left by extraterrestrial beings? It doesn't matter. All I know is that I defeated you."

Hever bowed again, smugly saying, "As you know, none of our country's psychics are your match, even if the seven of us join forces, we couldn't break through your defense. But what does it matter? We have technology and science, and they are being transformed into practical experiments within this base."

The seven powerful psychics jumped down from the bridge, slowly approaching Xiahou. "Imagine, when soldiers from our country each have such a particle cannon in their hands. Ah, what kind of changes will occur in the world situation then? Of course, that's what politicians consider. But what makes me happiest is that I defeated Xuanwu."

Hever grinned oddly. "Xuanwu, known as the strongest in vitality, the strongest in defense, and the third in destructive power in the world, I defeated you. So, how much should my fame increase? My salary should also increase by an order of magnitude. We can proclaim to the outside world that we, the Red Arrow, are the first superpower organization to defeat the Four Spirits of the Chinese Special Operations Bureau. Hooray! Perfect! Glorious victory, isn't it?"

An elderly silver-haired man, wearing a general's rank on his shoulder, slowly emerged from a portal suddenly cracked open in the wall. He said solemnly, "Mr. Xuanwu, don't you find it strange? With the technology we now possess, we could turn this entire base into an impregnable fortress. Yet, you still managed to sneak in so easily. Even your insider, that despicable mole, is alive and well, able to send a warning to your organization. Why is that?"

Xiahou smiled bitterly. He felt that the bronze cauldron was undergoing some strange changes. It seemed to be eagerly sucking up his flowing blood. Looking at the general, Xiahou could only cooperate and say, "So, why is that?" Why bother with so much? Any change in that bronze cauldron is good. If it can release hundreds of monsters from inside, Xiahou would love it. Can things get any worse? He didn't care.

The general's tone also carried a hint of smugness. "Because we need a specimen, and China's powerful psychics are the best candidates. For a long time, there have been no survivors in battles between your psychics, no prisoners captured. Therefore, countries around the world have formed a tacit agreement: events caused by psychics will not affect major relations between countries. But now, with someone like you as a prisoner, what advantage will we have? How much initiative will we gain?"

The general smiled and suddenly kicked Xiahou hard in the groin. "You filthy yellow monkey... Ah, my foot!" The general, who originally wanted to show off his power, suddenly clutched his foot and screamed in pain. The residual elemental force in Xiahou's body had mercilessly turned his entire shin into a mass of pulp.

Hever almost gleefully laughed, "General, you shouldn't underestimate a psychic, even if he's seriously injured, especially a powerful one like Mr. Xuanwu. You must show him enough respect, or the consequences will be like yours."

The general began to curse frantically, "Get rid of that mole for me! Lock up this damn Xuanwu or Tortoise for me! I will immediately demand a protest from the president to the Chinese side!" He glared fiercely at Xiahou and cursed, "Just wait, you yellow monkey, I will make you lose face in front of the whole world. You will be the first psychic in the world to be captured. Think about what price your country will pay because of you."

Hever smiled at Xiahou, weighing the particle cannon in his hand with pride, and arrogantly raised his foot, saying, "I have to say, technology rules everything, don't you agree? You will receive VIP treatment, dear Mr. Xuanwu." Hever and the other seven turned to leave, but suddenly turned back and said, "You have another choice. Our Red Arrow lacks a master-level psychic like you. Would you like to join us? We can announce to the outside world that you have been eliminated."

Inside the massive cauldron behind them surged an extremely powerful force, terrifying enough to make Xiahou tremble all over. He couldn't imagine where this force came from or why a five-meter-high bronze cauldron would contain such a terrible power. But he knew that these powers only emerged after his blood was absorbed by the cauldron. It seemed that his blood had become a trigger, awakening the vitality of the cauldron!

Yes, vitality. This cauldron was alive, or rather, it had a spirit. It was awakened by Xiahou's blood.

With his hands folded behind him, tightly hugging one of the cauldron's legs, Xiahou smiled bitterly, "I promised my wife that I would go home for dinner."

Hever frowned and waved his hands, "Okay, okay, we didn't say we were going to kill you. You have a chance to go home for dinner with your wife. Hmm, don't be childish, okay? Do you think that by holding onto that cauldron, we can't make you leave here?"

Xiahou grinned and closed his eyes, "I'm sorry to my wife because I can't fulfill my promise to her. But I also know one thing. When I was chosen by the Special Operations Bureau and received rigorous training from my master, the previous generation's Xuanwu, I swore: never to cause any harm to the country because of me."

A golden light several meters thick burst from Xiahou's body. He shouted loudly, "You want to use me? You will only get a corpse! Sorry... Xiaohua... We are really not from the same world. If... If I could have another life, I would definitely come find you and say, I'm sorry."

The unique method of driving the inner spirit artifact of Xuanwu truly activated, and Xiahou forcibly extracted the immense power within the cauldron, using his own body as a conduit, spreading it outwards.

Earth, water, fire, wind—all the elemental forces were contained within this bronze cauldron.

Like a burst of a golden gong, with a deafening explosion, Xiahou's body, merged with the various elemental forces, almost in a chaotic state of terrifying power, burst open, turning into a mass of blood plasma. Xiahou's blood sprayed onto the cauldron, causing it to swell to hundreds of meters in height, emitting a strange black light throughout its body.

Explosion, a catastrophic explosion, as if the spirituality within the cauldron had awakened, it seemed to understand something and made a decision, releasing its immense power completely.

In the blink of an eye, the base turned into nothingness. The ground within a radius of twenty kilometers around the base upheaved entirely, and a black light beam with a diameter of over ten kilometers shot straight up into the sky. Coincidentally, the beam struck the full moon in the night sky, causing the moon to emit a strange rumbling sound, and a strong blue light spread rapidly in all directions. Everything returned to normal.

Zone 53 now only had a deep crater over a thousand meters deep and ten kilometers in diameter, with nothing else left.

Far away, members of Xiahou's support team stared in disbelief at the scene, reminiscent of a scene from a science fiction blockbuster, and hastily sent encrypted messages.

"Mission accomplished, target completely destroyed... Xuanwu... Sacrificed."