Volume One: The Celestial Cloud Palace Chapter 111: Turning the Tables

Chapter 111: Turning the Tables

At this moment, everyone inside the alchemy prison fixed their gaze simultaneously on the mouth of the bronze Yin-Yang Cauldron. There, brilliant rays of light shimmered amidst swirling mist, and a rich, intoxicating alchemical fragrance wafted forth, quickly filling the entire chamber.

Before the great cauldron stood Nangong Xun, clad in a green Taoist robe, and the Night Envoy, garbed in black. Both stood motionless, yet their eyes burned with intense desire—an obsession for a peerless treasure, as if beholding a stunning beauty about to emerge from the bath.

Whoosh!

As expected, a dazzling golden light erupted from the cauldron’s mouth, shooting up like a pillar connecting the heavens and earth within the prison. Instantly, the surrounding fragrance grew even more fragrant and heady, as if a single breath could renew one’s youth by a hundred years, causing an involuntary lightness of body and spirit.

Yet this “fragrant temptation” was powerless against Nangong Xun and the Night Envoy. Their gazes never left the cauldron’s mouth, and their bodies remained perfectly still, for within that golden light, the human elixir was nowhere to be seen—it was still inside the cauldron.

“Hmph, brat. Time’s up. Planning to stay in there playing dead forever? Come out of the cauldron now, or when?” Nangong Xun sneered coldly, his voice thundered through the void, sending ripples of blue waves crashing toward the great cauldron. The cauldron reverberated with deep, resounding clangs, shaking violently as the entire prison trembled.

From a distant cave in the mountainside, Yu Nan, Xiao Shanshan, and others sensed the sudden change and immediately guessed that Zhou Hao must have discovered what was happening outside the cauldron, hence his refusal to emerge.

“Little Hao is pretty sly, hahaha. That’s the spirit! Hide in the cauldron and don’t come out—drive them mad,” the turtle stifled his laughter, whispering softly.

Qingqing, perched atop the turtle’s back, was also surprised. She said, “Looks like we don’t need to remind them. Zhou Hao and Huohuo already understand the situation—excellent.”

Yu Nan smiled softly, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. Just moments before, she had worried that Zhou Hao, trapped inside the cauldron and unaware of the facts, might rush out only to be captured by the Night Envoy and Nangong Xun. But the plot had turned quickly—Zhou Hao had long seen through the Night Envoy’s scheme and wisely stayed hidden within the cauldron.

“Senior sister, if Zhou Hao had been caught when he tried to leave the cauldron, you would have rushed to fight Nangong Xun for him without hesitation, right?” Xiao Shanshan looked at Yu Nan and sighed deeply, recalling when Yu Nan had entrusted her with a token from the Celestial Palace. “You truly love Zhou Hao with all your heart, even willing to risk your own life.”

Yu Nan’s eyes gazed at the bronze cauldron with its open lid. She answered quietly, “When you care for someone wholeheartedly, you will risk everything to save them.”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The bronze Yin-Yang Cauldron vibrated as if struck by a meteor, booming like a great bell. Despite Nangong Xun’s efforts to shake it violently, Zhou Hao and Huohuo remained safely inside.

“Brat, let’s see how long you can hold out.” Nangong Xun frowned deeply, anger flashing in his eyes. As an exalted immortal, he could not tolerate being unable to subdue a mere junior cultivator who had just entered the Golden Immortal Realm. Such a failure would bring shame and ridicule from his peers, especially with the Night Envoy standing nearby.

—

Boom!

Nangong Xun extended his right hand, swiftly enlarging and lengthening it before plunging it into the cauldron, aiming to seize Zhou Hao. He wanted nothing more than to crush him mercilessly—though he refrained from killing him outright, having promised to leave Zhou Hao to the Night Envoy.

“Move your pig’s hoof! Clear the way. Zhou Hao’s coming out—don’t blind your dog eyes!” a mocking voice came from within the cauldron. It was Zhou Hao’s.

“You’re asking for death!” Nangong Xun could not tolerate such disrespect. He pounded the cauldron fiercely, frantically trying to seize a golden elixir inside.

Whoosh! The golden elixir darted left and right, agile and elusive, eventually slipping through the giant fingers and soaring into the air, finally appearing before everyone.

The round golden elixir floated, radiating a golden glow like a miniature sun.

Clatter! A black chain shot from the Night Envoy’s palm at lightning speed toward the golden elixir. With a loud bang, the elixir exploded, and two figures flew out.

One wore white robes, youthful and handsome—none other than the young Zhou Hao. The other, dressed in red, had fiery long hair flowing to her waist, a petite figure matched with an exquisitely charming fairy-like face—none other than the Nine-Petal Fire Heart Lotus.

The moment they appeared, it was clear they were very different from before. Both exuded a fragrant aroma, like orchids and musk. Zhou Hao’s cultivation, though still at the early Golden Immortal stage, was far more stable and solid, impressively so. Huohuo’s cultivation fluctuated wildly—sometimes at the early Lesser Immortal stage, then surging to the late Lesser Immortal stage, even breaking through the Golden Immortal barrier to mid-Golden Immortal.

Clearly, Huohuo was about to break through!

“Nangong Xun, you treacherous traitor! The Yunmiao Celestial Palace has nurtured you for years, yet you conspired with villains to harm the Palace Master, killed my master, and imprisoned many innocent immortals. Today, we settle the score!” Zhou Hao stood tall in the void, looking down at Nangong Xun with eyes sharp as an eagle stalking a prey.

Nangong Xun had already retracted his right hand. His face was ashen as he coldly stared at Zhou Hao in the air. His voice was emotionless: “A stray fish that slipped through the net—today I’ll send you to meet your master.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Behind the cauldron, three beams of light shot from the same cave, flying to Zhou Hao and Huohuo’s side.

“Nangong Xun, you murdered the Palace Master, the elders, and imprisoned countless immortals of the palace. Our master-disciple bond is severed. Today, even if it costs me my life, I will uphold justice for heaven!” Yu Nan coldly rebuked Nangong Xun.

“Exactly. You don’t deserve to be our master. I will kill you to avenge the Palace Master and the innocent elders and disciples,” Xiao Shanshan added.

Yet Nangong Xun remained unmoved by their words. To him, Yu Nan and Xiao Shanshan were mere children shouting at adults—he simply ignored them.

“Attack, Huohuo. I’m counting on you!” Zhou Hao summoned his yellow-skinned gourd, from which burst a white radiance enveloping himself, Yu Nan, Xiao Shanshan, and the turtle.

Nangong Xun and the Night Envoy were baffled, unsure what trick Zhou Hao was playing. Suddenly, thunder roared loudly from above the prison, jolting them awake.

“Tribulation?!”

Before they could react further, Huohuo soared into the swirling thundercloud vortex above, where lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, resembling dragons and serpents writhing. Amid the chaos, a red lotus appeared, enduring the punishing lightning tribulation.

Crack!

A thick arc of lightning descended, striking Nangong Xun where he stood still. The next moment, another thick lightning bolt struck the Night Envoy.

Both hastily exerted their power to dispel the lightning, but their resistance only provoked the “wrath of the tribulation.” The prison echoed with thunder, lightning engulfing the scene in a deluge, submerging Nangong Xun and the Night Envoy.

“Damn it! Whoever undergoes tribulation must not be too close to the one enduring it, or they will be punished by heaven’s lightning of equal power. The more they resist, the heavier the punishment, until the tribulation ends or they perish. There have been many cases of cultivators killed by passive tribulation. The most outrageous was when a Celestial King was struck dead by the tribulation of an ascending Supreme Immortal, body and soul destroyed,” the Night Envoy cursed furiously.

“We must escape immediately, or we will be implicated and forced to endure the Supreme Immortal Thunder Tribulation,” Nangong Xun said.

Immortals who defy the heavens face heavenly trials with every realm advancement. Surviving the tribulation boosts their cultivation, but failure reduces them to mere dust in the universe.

But now, Nangong Xun and the Night Envoy were undergoing a forced tribulation. No matter how they resisted, the more lightning they attracted, growing fiercer. Unless they could quickly leave the tribulation zone or Huohuo completed her trial, death was inevitable.

“Go!” The Night Envoy, equally furious, prioritized survival. There was no time to settle scores with Zhou Hao. Casting a deep glance at Zhou Hao and the others not far away, he clenched and then loosened his fists. Finally, he decisively ignited a black talisman, summoning a black vortex from the void that swallowed him and Nangong Xun.

In contrast, Zhou Hao and his companions were enveloped in the white light from the yellow gourd, shielding them completely from the lightning tribulation as if cut off from the outside world.

“Hahaha, impressive, my little Haozi! They schemed to have you forge the human elixir for their benefit, but you turned the tables cleverly, dragging them into the tribulation. This move is brilliant—turning the tables completely. Haha! Seeing their faces... oh, it cracks me up! I can’t stop laughing!” The turtle laughed wildly without restraint, clapping its limbs and clutching its belly, rolling on the ground in glee.