Change in Mysterious Cauldron

Qin Meng woke up to start. It was dark and the cold wind whistled through the woods. He groaned and lifted his head, finding a bunch of eyes staring at him with grave expressions around the campfire that burned and spread the warmth in the surroundings. The flames danced along with the passing gust of winds as if mocking the wind for its inability to do anything to the campfire. A naked body of a deer was roasting at the center, spreading a mouthwatering smell around, oil dripping inside the fire, making a sizzling sound now and then.

"A-are you alright?" asked a gentle voice from beside the fire. One could hear the worry of the speaker as the voice trembled and almost cracked due to excessive emotion.

Qin Meng grabbed his head, wincing. It hurt. But he nodded towards the girl he loved so much. He didn't want to make her worry any more than she already was. "I'm fine. What happened?"

"We don't know," said Yueyan. "You were cultivating, but then you started screaming, trembling on the ground while holding your head. Then the surrounding energy started to rush towards you, vanishing inside your body as if it was a vortex. I have never seen something like that before. But then—" she looked at him, face worried "—but then glyphs started to appear at the center of your forehead. At first, we weren't able to understand them; then it slowly took a shape of a cauldron and some kind of colorful baby bird along with four black dots that rotated around the cauldron."

"Wha—?" he looked wide-eyed at Yueyan and his jaw dropped. 'What the heck is going on?' he thought and then asked, "Can I have your mirror?"

Yeuyan brought a tiny mirror out of her small bag and passed it to him. Qin Meng eyed inside the mirror and indeed, he could see the Mysterious Cauldron at the center of his forehead and his Martial Spirit and the four Blank Martial Spirits were rotating around it. Although without looking carefully at his forehead, no one would know that they were moving continuously. It was still a problem, nonetheless. He didn't want to move around looking like this.

"Arghh!" As he was lost in thought another throb of pain hit inside his head. He grabbed his skull in pain but then a rush of information started to pour inside his brain. Only after the information completed did the pain stop. He opened his eyes—feeling numb inside his head—and realized Yueyan was embracing him tightly while crying loudly.

"Wh-what happened to you?" said Yueyan. "Talk to me. You bastard, I won't forgive you if you die like this—"

"I don't know anything else, but if you keep tightening your grip around me, I'm gonna die for sure."

Only then did she release him from her arms, eyeing him and then asked, "Are you alright? Why were you screaming again?" Her face was filled with anxiety and concern. Qin Meng felt warmth pouring down inside his heart and felt pleasant and sweet and blessed to have a love like her.

Qin Meng held her hand and said gently, smiling, "I'm fine. I have just broken through to the Swallowing Stage."

"What?" Yueyan looked surprised but then a cheery smile appeared on her face, looking delighted for his sake. Others joined in, congratulating him. Qin Meng was happy to drop the previous topic. He didn't want to reveal too much information about the Mysterious Cauldron to Yueyan; he still has much to discover about it himself.

"The mark on your forehead has vanished!" exclaimed the princess, looking at him with her ever-curious eyes.

"Oh, yeah, it's really gone," said Yan Yunjie.

"Wow, the meat smells so delicious," he said. "My mouth is watering and stomach growling. I'm so hungry." Qin Meng tore a piece out of the roasted deer on the fire and started wolfing it down.

All of them rolled their eyes at his obvious display to dodge the question. Nonetheless, no one talked about it after that, and they joined him, enjoying the tender and succulent roasted meat, dripping with oil, scenting with spices.

After finishing the meat, they decided to take a rest for some time before resuming their journey. Due to Qin Meng, they had wasted much time already. Though none of them blamed him, he felt somewhat guilty.

From wherever they passed the sound of insects stopped, resuming only after they walked some distance away. The occasional roars of the beasts echoed in the woods as the two moons tried to illuminate the world with their insufficient light beyond the shadowy trees and above the cloudy sky. The moonlight didn't make much difference inside the forest due to the shadows of the towering trees.

Qin Meng flipped his hand, palm facing the sky when no one was paying attention to him. Then something stirred and started to take form in his palm. At first, it was unclear but soon it took the form of a cauldron. Mysterious Cauldron. This time, however, there was no bird and no black dots rotating around it. Instead, they were embedded on its surface.

"We are not far away from reaching the next village," said Yueyan. Qin Meng was startled, and the cauldron vanished from his palm. A smile appeared on his face. He could control the cauldron now and summon it out from his consciousness anytime. He had yet to discover much about it, though. But he was sure that the cauldron was no ordinary artifact. Was it an artifact? He had no idea.

However, from the new information he received, he realized that the Nameless Breathing Technique was useless now. He could not use it to cultivate anymore. It was no cultivation technique that he had previously thought. No. It was the method to control the cauldron.

Now since he had successfully done it, the breathing technique was useless. In more easy words one could say that the breathing technique was only the Swallowing Stage technique. If Qin Meng wanted to improve his strength he needed to find another way or another technique.