"So, without me, you still can't manage!" Ying Shu's long-absent voice echoed in Ye Chuxiao's mind.

Perhaps because he had lost that sense of awe, Ye Chuxiao even felt a touch of 'long time no see, somewhat missed' emotion at this moment.

Of course, these were just some insignificant little feelings.

If it could help him break through in cultivation, Ye Chuxiao would twist off Ying Shu's pretty little head without any hesitation.

Compared to six years ago, this time Ye Chuxiao felt a distinct pulsation from the Heart Core. He could even, after deploying his domain, launch a mental counterattack following this pulsation.

Again, obtaining the Intent Realm domain was merely a symbolic ability of becoming an Intent, but it was by no means the entirety of the Intent.

Just like all previous realms, every improvement in each realm was a comprehensive and substantial enhancement from body to soul.

Moreover, the higher the realm, the more remarkable the improvements gained with each breakthrough.

At this moment, Ye Chuxiao restrained the urge to immediately counterattack, calmed his heart, and maintained a rational, outsider's perspective, observing coldly from a third-person point of view.

The connection of the Heart Core was extremely subtle. Even among the infinite methods in the myriad realms, few could compare to the Heart Core in its ability to aid in breaking through to the Wu Ding realm (realm of non-fixation).

This also meant that even if Ye Chuxiao's direct combat strength far exceeded Ying Shu's, at this moment, in the Heart Core game, he couldn't afford to be reckless or complacent.

"Yes! You're right!"

"Besides, leaving just like this, I'll still be somewhat unwilling." Ye Chuxiao said, as if giving a reason to summon Ying Shu back.

"Slowly approach a bit. You can try touching the cauldron with your finger, slowly...don't rush. I'll teach you a Kui Xi (peeking breath) finger technique. If there's any potential danger, your finger will sense a stinging pain before you touch it." Ying Shu said, directly transmitting the technique's qi circulation method.

The technique wasn't profound, just a rather clever application of qi.

Ye Chuxiao could have directly reached out, but he deliberately delayed for a few minutes before reaching out to touch the cauldron.

His finger approached slowly, but there was no warning.

The danger had been there, but for the current Ye Chuxiao, it was no longer dangerous.

His finger gently passed through a substance like an oil film, and his fingertip finally touched the cold cauldron body.

In an instant, a large amount of complex, fragmented images rushed towards Ye Chuxiao's soul with great force. Even though he was experienced in this area, he still found it too fragmented.

It was like watching a movie. Watching a two-hour movie with a complete storyline and clear logic was always more comfortable and immersive than watching two hours of chaotic, completely disjointed clips.

The memories from cultivators that Ye Chuxiao had previously digested were like unique movies.

But what he was enduring now was a much larger amount of fragmented editing.

These images were extremely chaotic, spanning almost thousands of years, from the bloody sacrifices of the primitive wilderness to the great disasters of withering and destruction, the shattering of mountains and rivers, and the prosperity and decline of different dynasties... All sorts of impressions that occurred in the long river of time were projected into Ye Chuxiao's memory by this Yunmeng Great Cauldron.

One moment he seemed to be in the Tianxiong (Heaven Bear) Tribe more than three thousand years ago, the next he was in the Haojing (Grand Capital) of the destroyed Dayuan Dynasty, witnessing the dynasty's most prosperous scene.

Legend has it that the Yunmeng Great Cauldron was cast by the Xia Emperor, but its function and origin seemed to be even longer and more ancient than Ye Chuxiao thought or imagined.

If Ye Chuxiao hadn't already reached the Intent Realm and had a firm and stable mind, this wave of impact might have shattered his mind.

Of course, even if he was fine, it wouldn't do to appear completely unscathed.

The moment he received the information, Ye Chuxiao reversed the concept. From Ying Shu's perspective, she had borne the brunt of this information torrent for Ye Chuxiao.

Even so, Ye Chuxiao pretended to take a while to barely recover.

"What were those just now...?" Ye Chuxiao asked Ying Shu.

Ying Shu also took a moment to recover before saying, "That's the fragmented consciousness of the Yunmeng Great Cauldron! It's an extremely, extremely rare national treasure-level artifact, with the function of stabilizing the earth's veins and water vapor, but its own consciousness is fragmented, squeezed to the surface. When you touch it, it instinctively regards you as a new 'host'."

"If I hadn't blocked for you, your self-awareness would have already been skewed, and you wouldn't think of yourself as a person anymore, but as a cauldron."

Ying Shu's judgment was still very accurate.

Ye Chuxiao also had nothing to add for the time being.

He allowed Ying Shu to continue.

"Is that so? It seems I owe you another favor!" Ye Chuxiao responded with some lingering fear, then took a small step back.

"Don't move! Don't go! There won't be similar dangers anymore. The original spiritual consciousness of the Yunmeng Great Cauldron has been dispelled, which means that another consciousness is parasitizing the Yunmeng Great Cauldron, replacing the position of the original artifact spirit."

"This consciousness is very likely to belong to Chen Wang (Morning King) Xiao Chi."

"Finding Chen Wang Xiao Chi will solve many of the mysteries that have remained unsolved for the past hundred years."

"Chen Wang Xiao Chi and Tang Su Tong, two generations of heavenly geniuses, one after the other, were certainly incomparably dazzling, but they also buried and erased too much of the past, causing many stories in our world to have serious breaks." Ying Shu said excitedly.

The growth of a heavenly genius was destined not to be peaceful.

In other words, whether it was Chen Wang Xiao Chi or Tang Su Tong, they had both killed many so-called senior experts and powerful contemporaries.

The fall of these senior experts and powerful contemporaries represented the almost complete burial of some hidden past.

Similarly, knowing these secret and unknown pasts was equivalent to finding and opening treasure troves that no one had ever known about.

For example, Chen Wang Xiao Chi must have killed some senior cultivators who had been at odds with him. Although those senior cultivators were not as strong as Xiao Chi, their accumulated wealth over the years was very substantial. After the senior cultivators died, the whereabouts of their hidden assets became unknown. If some clues could be obtained from Xiao Chi, wouldn't it be possible to inherit the treasure?

Moreover, Xiao Chi himself was a tremendous treasure.

Although there was no evidence to prove that he had broken through to the Wu Ding realm.

But based on Chen Wang Xiao Chi's combat record, it was very likely that he had indeed entered the Wu Ding realm during his lifetime.

Thinking of all the possibilities, even with Ye Chuxiao's current state of mind, he couldn't help but feel a little excited.

"There's another point of doubt. Does the Yunmeng Great Cauldron's ability to gather so much Dao rhyme originate from itself, or from Chen Wang Xiao Chi, or because the cauldron is placed on the Daheng Dragon Vein? Or is it due to the accidental factors formed by the combination of the three?" Ye Chuxiao thought to himself, concealing this idea so that Ying Shu wouldn't find out.

Before experiencing six years of space-time travel, Ye Chuxiao might have thought that those thousand-plus strands of Dao rhyme, although rare, weren't entirely unique.

Perhaps certain unique artifacts or special methods could create similar effects.

Now that his realm was high and he had seen more, he felt even more that the condensation of so much Dao rhyme was so incredible.

From the Huang Dou (Barren Battle) Realm to the Academy World and the Island World, he had never heard of a similar situation. Even for Intent Realm cultivators, Dao rhyme was still extremely precious.

This indirectly illustrated some issues.

His finger touched the Yunmeng Great Cauldron again.

Inside the Yunmeng Great Cauldron, the consciousness that was sleeping and recuperating seemed to be shaken, showing signs of slowly waking up.

"You can't let him wake up now, or you won't be able to control him at all."

"Now follow me and do it quickly. You have to squeeze your potential and consume your life force to do it." Ying Shu's voice sounded urgently, as if she had suddenly realized the possibility of the soul stored in the cauldron waking up.

But how could this be possible!

She must have foreseen it, but deliberately used a relaxed attitude to dispel Ye Chuxiao's doubts, guiding Ye Chuxiao step by step to gamble his life at this moment.

To Ying Shu, Ye Chuxiao's life and death were not so important.

Obtaining this Yunmeng Great Cauldron and controlling the soul inside, which was suspected to be Chen Wang Xiao Chi, was the most crucial thing.

Ye Chuxiao gritted his teeth and began to perform special techniques according to Ying Shu's instructions.

His fingers quickly changed positions, and he chanted incantations in his mouth.

"Demoness...no! Truly a witch. This set looks mysterious and profound, but it's actually sugar-coated poison. In the end, it's making me use my life force and soul as a price to actively transform into a lock, to lock up the soul in the cauldron that has no ability to resist at this time."

"Since I'm the lock, then she's naturally the key."

"After this set is done, she can abandon me and directly negotiate with the soul in the cauldron... How despicable!" Ye Chuxiao thought, and then transferred the part that eroded the soul to the Heart Core.

As for the consumption of some life force, it was insignificant to Ye Chuxiao.

As an Intent Realm cultivator who broke through in the Huang Dou Realm, a long life was just a moon in the well, a flower in the mirror. What was being consumed at this time wasn't really real.

If Ye Chuxiao couldn't break through to the Wu Ding realm, even with a life force of ten thousand years, he would die at the age of a hundred due to restrictions and flaws.

"Wait, you used it wrong..." Ying Shu wanted to stop him, but it was too late.

Her soul, intertwined with the life force consumed by Ye Chuxiao, transformed into an invisible lock and fell on the soul in the cauldron.

And the void key was simultaneously held in the hands of Ye Chuxiao and Ying Shu.

The technique ended, and the soul that had shown signs of waking up seemed to have fallen asleep again.

Ye Chuxiao frowned slightly, feeling that something was not quite right.

If this soul was Chen Wang Xiao Chi, then his 'performance' at this time would inevitably seem undeserved of his reputation.

But if it wasn't Xiao Chi, who would this soul in the cauldron be?

"Good! Very good! I didn't expect that you were still hiding your cunning. You actually have the ability to decipher my technique in an instant, and then infer from it, transferring the part targeting the soul to the Heart Core."

"It seems that I underestimated your talent." Ying Shu's voice sounded much lighter.

After just now, three-tenths of Ye Chuxiao's Heart Core essence had been cut in half out of thin air.

In other words, Ye Chuxiao now only had one and a half tenths of Heart Core essence in his body.

Ying Shu could have even less influence and interference on him.

And the half that was cut off transformed into a 'lock' and fell on the soul in the cauldron. In a sense, this soul in the cauldron was also forcibly brought into this Heart Core game.

"Thank you for the compliment. After all, you were going to sacrifice me as a pawn, so I can't remain indifferent." Ye Chuxiao slightly revealed his 'thoughts'. But were the thoughts he spoke truly his thoughts?

Ying Shu gritted her teeth in hatred, but instead, she let out a silver bell-like laugh in Ye Chuxiao's heart.

"That's really good! I've really cultivated you well."

"So good that I feel that eating you now... wouldn't be a loss at all!" Ying Shu threatened.

Then she proactively changed the subject: "Pay attention, he's awake, he's just pretending."

"Contact him and test whether he's really Xiao Chi!"

Obviously, Ying Shu was also a little puzzled. After all, there were no false reputations under a great name.

If it was really Xiao Chi, even if he was ambushed and unprepared... he shouldn't have fallen into control like this.

Everything had come too easily.

But soon, Ying Shu and Ye Chuxiao felt that the conclusion had been drawn too early!

The soul in the cauldron seemed to stretch.

Then, pulling left and right, it broke the lock that Ye Chuxiao and Ying Shu had jointly placed on him.

After breaking it, it directly crushed it and absorbed it as nutrients.

A suction force came, and Ye Chuxiao didn't actively resist. He was sucked into a special space.

In the blank space, the ground was like a withered pool, and above the pool was a throne.

A person covered in black armor and wearing a Shura mask sat on the throne, looking down at Ye Chuxiao, his eyes full of scrutiny.

"What year is it now?" the person on the throne asked Ye Chuxiao.

Ye Chuxiao called Ying Shu a few times, but he didn't know if there was really no connection. Ying Shu didn't answer.

"Qingfeng Year Two, just changed the reign title. It's been about a hundred years since your time. The specific time... I'm not very clear." Ye Chuxiao said calmly.

Although he had been pulled into this inexplicable space, he could leave whenever he wanted.

He still had artifacts with Wujian (interdimensional) characteristics.

"Hmph! A fatuous emperor has many reign titles."

"How many years have passed since Baohe Year Seven?" the person on the throne asked.

Ye Chuxiao said: "I don't know, I never keep track of the years."

"Who would bother to calculate that?"

"Who is the current Daheng Emperor?"

"Is it still Xiao Bao'er?" the person on the throne continued to ask.

Judging by this tone and manner, it should be Chen Wang Xiao Chi without a doubt?

But judging by Ye Chuxiao's intuition, there was still something strange about it.

But what was strange, he didn't know!

Xiao Bao'er was the late Daheng Emperor's childhood name, but it wasn't his formal name. Most of the people who called him that were his royal elders... Moreover, after the late Emperor ascended the throne, even the royal elders shouldn't call him that anymore.

This seemed to indirectly confirm once again that this person should be Xiao Chi.

"The problem is here. He seems to want to prove that he's Xiao Chi, but it feels stiff."

"If he's not Xiao Chi, then who is he?" A big question mark popped up in Ye Chuxiao's mind.