Chapter 1078

At the thought of the enhancements provided by the cauldron, Tianming realized that he was in a real pinch. Ouyang Jianwang was only a tenth-level samsaran back then, but he had managed to fight the twelfth-level Po Suo as the defender of the cauldron.

"This cauldron is a divine artifact. Theoretically, it requires astralforce to be activated. As such, the power Ouyang Jianwang was able to draw from the Heaven Cauldron was only the tip of the iceberg."

Back then, Great Emperor Xuanyuan had managed to use the Heaven Cauldron's power to deploy the Skysource Hellshaker Formation and seal off the specters, so the cauldron was definitely nothing to scoff at, despite being a borrowed item. It should rank much higher than any other artifact on the Flameyellow Continent. The highest-grade divine artifact, the Kilostar Photondragon, was merely a grade-two artifact. Now within the cauldron himself, Tianming felt a really oppressive air from the power it radiated.

"If I’d known I'd run into something like this, I would've researched the Heaven Cauldron the last time I went back!" He might have been able to master it for his own use. He hadn’t had astralforce the last time he touched it, after all, so he hadn’t known better.

The ethereal power generated by the orderian cauldron turned into black beams of light that shone on all five of his enemies and added to their astralforce, putting them far beyond the tenth level's power. Tianming was only able to deal with a single ninth-level ascendant, Liu Qinghuan, with all ten godswords, but now there were five people that were all stronger than he had been, and were experts of assassination to boot. They were all among the strongest people in the Divine Moon Realm, with no more than twenty people being on their level. Despite being much stronger than Tianming, they didn't look down on him at all. Though they felt confident in their ability to take him down, they all acted in unison to be quintuply sure. However, they wouldn't kill him, but instead capture and deliver him to the sovereign.

"There's no need to struggle," said all five of them, male and female voices mixed. Though they almost never showed up in historical records, Tianming had heard rumors of them. They were people with the most blood on their hands and were never referred to by their individual names. Instead, they had code names, namely, Violetmoon, Crimsonmoon, Azuremoon, Verdantmoon, and Onyxmoon. Violet, crimson and green were men, while azure and onyx were women.

Tianming could easily tell them apart thanks to their bane-rings, which were colored according to their codenames and visible on their faces. All of them had six bane-rings with differing designs.

The divine moonrace was far from weak. If they were allowed to cultivate with a nova source, they would be ten times stronger than they were now. Sovereign Xi's heptabane talent would make her stand out anywhere, even in Orderia.

Before the Pentamoon Slayers attacked, Onyxmoon raised a key and infused it with astralforce. It shot out a beam that hit the cauldron and caused it to rumble, activating the cauldron's power and splitting it among the five of them. Clearly, that key was crucial to activating the cauldron's power.

They had done this on the sovereign's order. After hearing about how Tianming had killed Liu Qinghuan, they were all really wary of him and went all out. They didn't want to risk anything, just like the sovereign who had sent out a hundred thousand troops. Underestimating Tianming usually came with a heavy cost, so the sovereign had decided to pull out all the stops. She didn't believe that after all of this, she wouldn't be able to deal with a puny man. It was overkill, just like using chainsaws to cut open a chicken.

Now, all of them were close to the eleventh level in power.

"Take him down," Onyxmoon said. All of them manifested their totems and charged in without another word.

Tianming was stunned as he looked at the key in Onyxmoon's hand. "Why does it look so familiar?"

It looked just like a flattened cauldron. As the Heaven Cauldron and the orderian cauldron looked completely the same, Onyxmoon's key matched what Ouyang Jiangwang and Xuanyuan Dao's keys looked like as well, both of which Tianming held on his person. Without too much thought, he took them out of his Skydragon ring. "They are the same!"

The Pentamoon Slayers stopped and their eyes widened at the sight of the keys. "Orderian keys?"

Tianming had basically confirmed that this orderian cauldron was just another Heaven Cauldron, based on their reaction. "They're the same. Great Emperor Xuanyuan said that the cauldron was borrowed, and the sovereign's also came from Orderia. In other words, Great Emperor Xuanyuan had been to Orderia to borrow the Heaven Cauldron! I have one as well!"

Too bad he had forgotten to look into it once he’d become an ascendant. If he had mastered it, it would be another trump card for him to use. Quickly, he reacted. Feigning an ignorant look, he raised the keys and said, "Didn't think I would have two keys when you only have one, right? I can use more power than you!"

"Quick!" They exchanged glances and quickened their speed. Their reactions and expressions gave it all away. The fact that they were so anxious proved that Tianming's plan could work.

They said this cauldron was granted to Sovereign Xi by Orderia to capture me. That means that even if they aren’t the owners of the cauldron, they can use it as long as they have the keys to it. If my keys won't work, they wouldn't be so nervous.

In other words, Tianming could very well control the cauldron. As for the reason why the Heaven Cauldron hadn't been reclaimed after two hundred thousand years, Tianming believed that it was because it had been sealed up for far too long. So it must have been damaged in some way that made it not that important to take it back. There was also a chance that Orderia had explicitly lended it to Great Emperor Xuanyuan to protect his world and forbade anyone else from taking it. He would have to research the cauldron a little longer to find the true reason. Either way, even if the cauldron was damaged, he could still use the keys!

Brother Ouyang used these keys to gain the recognition of the cauldron that time, but he wasn't an ascendant and had no astralforce. The keys must be a control mechanism for the cauldrons! Orderian cauldrons might be commonplace in Orderia, after all. They could be used to cover an area and give their users an advantage. Perhaps that was why keys were made that would allow even normal people to make use of them.

As the Pentamoon Slayers were trying to attack Tianming, he was zipping around with Meow Meow dragging him along. When he ran to a corner of the cauldron to avoid the attacks, he infused the two keys with his astralforce. causing them to rumble. His eyes widened with joy. "Don't tell me—"

The two keys also shot out black beams towards the cauldron, making it rumble even more than before as it sent a terrifying power toward Tianming. It was similar to the Grand-Orient Vortex, in a way. Once the power entered his body, it formed a gigantic vortex beneath his astraldiscs. Now he could utilize its power to multiply his own, just like the Grand-Orient Vortex. Similarly, he didn't even need his divine will to utilize that power; the divine patterns of the cauldron had taken over that function.

Now, he alone possessed more power than all five of them. He felt the power surging through every albus in his body wildly and immediately summoned his lifebound beasts. He could even send the power into their bodies, allowing them to take part of the burden.

Combined, they were probably twice as powerful as the Pentamoon Slayers. In fact, totems didn't have any astraldiscs and couldn't get the power boost, which further stacked the odds in Tianming's favor. The Pentamoon Slayers had completely tipped the odds against themselves by deploying the orderian cauldron and trapping Tianming within it.