"King Lu, are you heading to Kunlun?"
Elder Ji nodded upon hearing this. He felt it was indeed necessary to make a trip and see what was happening.
He just didn't quite understand why Lu Yuan wasn't taking anyone with him this time.
Reading his thoughts, Lu Yuan immediately said, "That place is rather dangerous right now. Ordinary people might find it difficult to return alive. So this time, I will only invite the Peacock King and the other beast kings to accompany me."
Elder Ji naturally had no objection to this decision. He merely asked, "Shall I arrange an airplane?"
"No need. We'll head there ourselves. Planes are too slow."
Lu Yuan understood the situation clearly.
Elder Ji nodded and said nothing more. With the intelligence delivered and response measures underway, it was time for him to return. "Understood, King Lu."
Soon, only Lu Yuan remained in the room, gazing in a certain direction.
The upheaval in Kunlun was unlike anything before.
Mount Kunlun held an extraordinary status in Huaxia, not only because of its countless legends, but most importantly because of something Lu Yuan cared about above all else: he knew there was a cauldron hidden within Mount Kunlun.
Had he not possessed memories of his past life, he wouldn't have known that one of the Nine Cauldrons—the Yongzhou Cauldron—lay concealed there.
Before the global upheavals, if anyone had claimed the Nine Cauldrons were in Kunlun, most people would have dismissed it in disbelief. But in this New Era, anything was possible.
Legend held that the Nine Cauldrons symbolized supreme sovereign power and a unified, prosperous nation, revered across successive dynasties as the ultimate treasures of state. In the pre-Qin period, rumors claimed that whoever possessed the Nine Cauldrons would command the Nine Provinces and reign supreme under heaven.
In the early Xia dynasty, the ancient Huaxia sage Yu the Great divided the realm into nine provinces and ordered each to cast a bronze cauldron bearing its name.
When King Zhaoxiang of Qin destroyed the royal domain of Zhou, he ordered the Nine Cauldrons brought back to intimidate the feudal lords under heaven.
Later, however, the Zhou royal house lost power and could no longer control the world. Few records survived regarding the cauldrons' ultimate fate. One had reportedly fallen into the Si River and vanished. After Qin conquered the six states, the Ancestral Dragon replaced their role with the Heirloom Seal of the Realm.
The specific name of this cauldron was not widely proclaimed, yet virtually every citizen in the country knew of it, for it was the Yongzhou Cauldron, one of the Nine Cauldrons.
In his past life, that cauldron had fallen into the hands of extraterrestrial beings. Now that Lu Yuan possessed sufficient strength, he naturally would not let it fall under the control of invaders.
Kunlun was truly a land of great fortunes, harboring numerous secrets awaiting discovery. However, this expedition was fundamentally different from previous ones; even Lu Yuan could not guarantee anyone else's safety.
Not only had he realized this, but many extraterrestrial beings were surely aware of it as well.
This time, a fierce battle might very well erupt—perhaps against extraterrestrial beings, or perhaps against others.
Previously, those beings had remained dormant and quiet because they could afford to pass up certain fortunes to preserve their lives. But this time was different. They would undoubtedly be itching to move, and those taking action would be exceedingly formidable.
Caution was the wiser path. The Peacock King and the other beast kings had at least reached the Sovereign King Realm and wielded formidable strength. Bringing them along made sense. Furthermore, great perils accompanied the journey, and they could watch one another's backs. Lu Yuan also required the beast kings' assistance, and he could use this opportunity to deepen their rapport, facilitating smoother cooperation in the future.
With that in mind, Lu Yuan left the room and headed straight for Jade Emperor Peak to seek out the Peacock King, the Nine-Tailed Fox King, and the other mutated beast kings.
Yet the moment he reached Mount Tai, Lu Yuan froze in surprise.
Aside from the Spirit Monkey, the other two were nowhere in sight. Instead, there was only a middle-aged man and a young girl of sixteen or seventeen.
Once mutated beasts embarked on the path of evolution and reached a certain realm, they gained the ability to assume human form. However, this transformation remained unstable; only upon attaining the Saint Realm could they become truly indistinguishable from humans. Clearly, the two beast kings were currently in this transformed state.
"Peacock King? Nine-Tailed Fox King?"
Sensing their auras, Lu Yuan recognized them as the two mutated beast kings who had already attained the Sovereign King Realm.
The Nine-Tailed Fox King spoke first. She appeared as an adolescent girl, yet her eyes brimmed with intoxicating allure. Having somehow obtained human clothing, her figure looked remarkably striking. Her eyes sparkled with immense excitement upon seeing Lu Yuan arrive.
"King Lu truly has a keen eye! Tell me, how does this look suit me?"
Her gaze danced with flirtatious brilliance.
Beside her, the Spirit Monkey looked at the Nine-Tailed Fox King with blatant disdain and mockery, unable to resist chiming in with a retort.
"Give me a break. Look at you—bare and hairless all over. Even I can't stand the sight of it."
Evidently, the monkey's aesthetic sensibilities were completely different from those of humans.
"You're just a monkey. What would you know? This is the form King Lu likes best," the Nine-Tailed Fox King snorted. Unoffended, she turned back to Lu Yuan, the radiant smile never fading from her face.
Lu Yuan felt rather speechless listening to their banter, though at times it was quite amusing.
"All right, you two have been bickering half the day. Give it a rest," the middle-aged man into whom the Peacock King had transformed said, shaking his head to quiet them. He then turned to Lu Yuan. "King Lu, what brings you personally up to Mount Tai?"
Ever since Lu Yuan had slain three Saint Realm powerhouses in succession, the Peacock King's respect had deepened considerably, adopting the full demeanor of a subordinate. After all, even within his ancestral memories, no precedent existed of someone in the Sovereign King Realm defying heaven to slay Saint Realm cultivators. He was increasingly convinced that cooperating with Lu Yuan—and even following him—was an exceptional path forward.
Lu Yuan smiled.
He informed the three mutated beast kings about the unfolding anomaly in Kunlun and invited them to accompany him.
The Nine-Tailed Fox King agreed immediately, laughter still lingering in her eyes. "Mount Kunlun, Home of the Myriad Gods! We've long wished to visit, but simply never had the opportunity. Now that King Lu has asked, we certainly won't decline. When the time comes, I hope King Lu will take good care of me."
The Spirit Monkey had also reached the Sovereign King Realm, but had chosen not to assume human form, remaining just as before.
Without waiting for further discussion, the Spirit Monkey spoke up directly: "King Lu, we will definitely go to Mount Kunlun." It seemed to have been planning for this day for quite some time.
The Peacock King spoke up as well, adding, "There is just one condition I hope King Lu can agree to."
Chapter 169