[Li Chengqian's attack followed immediately.]

["People of Great Qian, follow Zhen and advance, kill! Dragon God Might!!"]

[Li Chengqian transformed into a golden divine dragon and charged straight at the Nine Provinces Cauldron, crashing into it with full force!]

[The Sword Lord's voice was not loud, yet murderous intent filled the sky.]

["Sword, come!"]

[All the spirit artifacts from the Spirit Artifact Nation, their wills seized by the Sword Lord, began to be controlled uncontrollably, converging in midair, sword intent pressing down on everyone!]

[Yes, it was not only swords; under the Sword Lord's sword path and sword intent, if you are a sword, you are a sword!]

["Sword Dao Reincarnation!!"]

[After the Four Grand Marshals struck, all the Martial Kings, Martial Saints, and the martial artists below Martial King level who could launch long-range attacks all went all out, bombarding the gigantic Nine Provinces Cauldron in midair!]

["Rumble..."]

[The multicolored assault was entirely absorbed by the Nine Provinces Cauldron.]

["Da Chun! Can you hold on?"]

[The voice of the artifact spirit Da Chun, only you could hear.] 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

["Yi Brother, don't worry! Da Chun can hold on!!"]

[As more attacks landed on it, the Nine Provinces Cauldron began to sway in midair.]

[This seemed like a sign it was nearing its limit.]

["Da Chun! Don't force yourself! If you can't hold on, even using this much power I can still fight!"]

["No! The enemy is the strongest of the demon race in this world! The Nine Provinces Cauldron must give Yi Brother more power to win!"]

["But Da Chun..."]

["Da Chun achieved nothing his whole life, just a clueless chubby kid at the entrance of Luoding Village!

It was Yi Brother who told me I was the artifact spirit of a Great Dao immortal artifact!

Isn't a Great Dao immortal artifact supposed to guard an entire realm? Then let Da Chun complete his mission, help Yi Brother, and end the human world's civil war!"]

[The wobbling Nine Provinces Cauldron suddenly shone with a divine radiance at that moment, its majestic aura ascending another level!]

["Da Chun..."]

[In that instant, you almost saw Da Chun's simple, honest face fuse with the solemn Nine Provinces Cauldron!]

[At the same time, the powers of the Four Great Demon Ancestors had already united.]

[The cloud-and-thunder of the Azure Dragon, the flames of the Vermilion Bird, the colossal rock of the Black Tortoise, and the freezing cold of the White Tiger—four pure elemental forces—all concentrated into the Azure Dragon.]

["Annihilate all beings!!"]

[The Azure Dragon's kilometer-long body coiled above the clouds like a small mountain; its dragon head snapped open with thunderous force, spewing a beam of four-colored breath that lit up the land.]

["Boom!!!"]

[A hundred-meter-wide energy beam was stubbornly resisted by the Heaven-Grade formation on Cuwei Peak, the Two-Yin Stellar Formation.]

[This formation originated from the Eight Trigrams Sect of the Central Plains, one of the Eight Pillars of the Five Domains.]

["Protect the formation!!"]

[Leaders from every side continued to focus their power on the Nine Provinces Cauldron.]

[Martial artists below Martial King level began supplying the formation with their Three Energies, sustaining the Two-Yin Stellar Formation.]

[In short, the martial artists turned themselves into spirit crystals, burning their own energy to maintain the formation!]

["Humm—"]

[A Taiji diagram rose spinning from the great formation, resisting the Azure Dragon's "Annihilate all beings."]

[The Azure Dragon's eyes spewed murderous light as it continued to amplify its power in fury.]

["Human race! Such cunning plays, how can they contend with the might of my race! Shatter!!"]

[The brightness of the Annihilate all beings beam rose again!]

[Cracks began to appear across the massive Taiji diagram!]

["Crack... crack..."]

[With every crack, several martial artists across the mountains coughed up blood and collapsed.]

["Pft!!"]

["Brother Lin! Hold on!"]

["Brother Sun, don't worry about me, take the spirit crystals from my storage pouch and share them with the brothers..."]

["Brother Lin!!"]

[Similar scenes played out everywhere.]

[The Taiji diagram's cracks multiplied, like a mirror shattered on the ground.]

[Martial artists who could not hold on fell by the dozens.]

[The Annihilate all beings beam began to rub against the formation's light screen, the grating friction making everyone's scalp tingle.]

[Everyone could clearly see.]

[At the beam's terminus, pitch-black rifts appeared in the air and then mended as if by themselves.]

[Spatial rifts!]

[The Four Great Demon Ancestors had unleashed their bloodlines and united their powers to a degree that shook the very stability of the human world's space!]

[Despair enveloped everyone's hearts.]

[Until your voice rang out through the forest!]

["Cauldron of All Living Beings!!"]

[Wood-of-the-essence, life everlasting!]

[As a wood-element immortal artifact of a realm, the Nine Provinces Cauldron's greatest strength was not merely refining pills or guarding banners.]

[It contained a small world within, capable of accepting endless force with world-power, then converting it into whatever power was needed.]

[And in this moment, the power you needed could be summed up in two words.]

["Da Chun, convert all the power into Vitality Energy!!"]

[Da Chun, already at his limit, still gritted his teeth and persisted.]

["Alright! Coming right away!"]

[You stomped on the Lightning-Chasing, Thunder-Racing Boots and shot toward the sky!]

[The Female Emperor, Chen Jing, the Sword Lord, Li Chengqian, and others, to guard against the unexpected, clustered around you as escorts.]

[If the formation failed to stop Annihilate all beings, they would buy you a moment of defense.]

[And these people, each held the highest of statuses.]

[The old Grand Marshal from the Southern Borderlands, a Martial Saint, stood dutifully at the Female Emperor's side.]

[How could the Martial Saints and Martial Kings of the Northern Frontier abandon their Great Khan?]

[No matter how weak Li Chengqian's court might be, he was still the legitimate emperor of the Central Plains; protecting him was protecting legitimacy—who would object?]

[As for the Sword Lord, there's no need to say more: high looks, great power, immense charm, friends across the world, never short of followers.]

[Although you charged forward alone, behind you stood the strong warriors of the Five Regions as your escort!]

[Vitality arrived!]

[All the attacks from earlier had been converted by the Nine Provinces Cauldron into Vitality Energy and channeled into your body.]

[Vitality Energy is bodily strength.]

[The higher the Vitality Energy, the stronger the body's physical attributes—power, speed, defense, endurance—all those attributes tied to the physical form grow stronger!]

[This is common knowledge even among young martial artists in the Body Refining Realm.]

[Why Vitality Energy, not something else?]

["The Most Severe Father to Non-Humans" (Golden): when you fight non-human races, you can raise your Vitality Energy through soaring fighting spirit, increasing it up to one hundredfold...]

[Who is your enemy at this moment?]

[The demon race!]

[Thus, the Vitality Energy the Nine Provinces Cauldron fed you surged a hundredfold in an instant!]

[Your body was enveloped in a fierce red aura, Vitality Energy so strong it spilled uncontrollably outward!]

["Sword Lord! Lingyue! Throw me toward the Azure Dragon, use all your strength!"]

[Li Lingyue immediately refused.]

["No! What are you trying to do!"]

[The Sword Lord protested as well.]

["It's too dangerous; could you hand the Nine Provinces Cauldron's power to me? I'll hold it back!"]

[You urged anxiously.]

["Trust me! Across the Five Regions, who can stand against the demon race? Only I, Chen Yi!"]