Chapter 916 - Golden Cauldron Pavilion

Liu Wuxie had exhausted every method, yet nothing worked. The mysterious imprint clung to the man's soul sea like a curse. It not only sealed his soul but could also claim his life at any moment.

In other words, the mark served not only as a defense against intruders but also as a safeguard against betrayal, similar to signing a soul contract.

As the Heavenly Dao Book unfolded, a radiant light enveloped the entire imprint.

A strange scene unfolded next as the imprint began to distort under the Heavenly Dao Book's radiance. It started to wriggle like a dying earthworm, shrinking in desperation.

Concern finally crept across the man's face as he sensed the changes in his soul sea, yet he was powerless to stop it.

When the imprint was damaged, an enraged roar echoed from a distant location in the True Martial Continent.

"Someone destroyed my imprint!" a black-robed man with a terrifying aura roared, causing the entire hall around him to tremble.

"Die!" The black-robed man said, and the black-clad figure before Liu Wuxie let out an agonizing scream.

The remnants of the imprint began to contract rapidly within the black-clad figure's soul sea, causing it to shatter completely and obliterate all his memories.

Just as Liu Wuxie had predicted, the mastermind was alerted when the imprint was damaged and swiftly executed the black-clad figure without hesitation.

"This is bad!" Liu Wuxie exclaimed.

Though he had anticipated this outcome, he hadn't expected the imprint to be so ruthless. The explosion of the soul sea left nothing behind, not even a single clue.

However, in that fleeting moment before the soul sea's destruction, the Heavenly Dao Book had enveloped the imprint and managed to extract a few fragmented memories before the black-clad figure collapsed onto the ground, dead.

"Wuxie, did you find anything?" Liu Xiucheng asked, his brows furrowed together.

"Not much," Liu Wuxie replied as he tried piecing the scattered memories together.

"Were you able to determine the mastermind?" Liu Xiucheng asked.

If they could, it would mean the Liu Clan's crisis might finally come to an end.

The fact that the mastermind could bribe Liu Xiaotian and control the Grand Elder meant he had an extraordinary background.

"Grandfather, have you heard of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion?" Liu Wuxie asked after piecing the fragmented memory together. That was all he managed to retrieve.

He wasn't sure if it referred to a place, a person, or a faction, so he could only turn to his grandfather for answers.

Liu Xiucheng pondered for a long time, searching his memory, but the name didn't ring any bells.

"Let's rule out the possibility of it being the name of a location. There's no location by such a name," Liu Xiucheng said.

"It's also unlikely to be a person's name. To control cultivators at the pinnacle of the Spirit Profound Realm, one would need to be at least at the high levels of the Earth Profound Realm. I have never heard of anyone by that name, unless they have been hiding in the shadows all along."

That possibility couldn't be dismissed, as many people cultivated in secrecy and were unknown.

"That leaves only one possibility—the Golden Cauldron Pavilion is the name of a mysterious force!" Liu Wuxie nodded. He came to this conclusion after ruling out the other two possibilities. But they didn't know the origin of this organization. Even Liu Wuxie had never heard of it.

"This is strange. I don't remember our Liu Clan making any enemies in recent years. Why are we being targeted repeatedly?" Liu Xiucheng was baffled. Though the Four Great Clans had their rivalries, no one would go as far as to wipe each other out.

Moreover, the Liu Clan wasn't small; no one would attempt to destroy them as it would come at a steep price.

"Grandfather, try to think carefully. Could we possess something that others covet? Like a treasure or a mineral vein?" Liu Wuxie asked. He could sense there was more to the matter than met the eye.

He was aware of the Liu Clan's reputation. They wouldn't bully the weak nor provoke unnecessary conflicts. Their only known enemy was the Wang Clan.

However, just the Wang Clan alone couldn't threaten the Liu Clan.

"I just remembered something!" Liu Xiucheng slapped his thigh as a memory surfaced.

"What is it?" Liu Wuxie asked, his expression tensing up, and he wondered if there was a secret in the Liu Clan.

"A great event took place in the Central Plains fifty years ago with the appearance of a mysterious rift. The Four Great Clans entered with the other forces, and we discovered that the rift led to an ancient world," Liu Xiucheng recounted.

Liu Wuxie listened intently and didn't interrupt his grandfather's narration.

"After entering that ancient world, many people found incredible treasures, and the Four Great Clans reaped substantial rewards. But just when we were about to leave, a mysterious ancient tower appeared," Liu Xiucheng said, his eyes glowing with recollection.

"Countless people rushed into the tower, but nothing was inside except a Buddha statue. Just when everyone was about to give up, a golden light shone from the Buddha's belly," Liu Xiucheng said, his voice thick with recollection.

Liu Wuxie could imagine the scene back then, and the appearance of a treasure must have caused bloodshed.

"When the light flashed, the Buddha statue cracked open. Inside, we found a strange golden parchment, no bigger than a palm. What followed was a brutal, bloody battle...," Liu Xiucheng said. The memory was painful for him, and the battle had dyed the entire tower red with blood.

"You all fought over something without even knowing what it was? What if it was just a piece of junk?" Liu Wuxie questioned. It could have been a mere golden parchment meant to decorate the Buddha statue with no other purpose.

"We did think about that, but the appearance of the golden parchment was accompanied by Buddhist chants, filling our minds with serenity. Most importantly, the parchment was inscribed with ancient texts and recorded an unimaginable technique," Liu Xiucheng recounted.

Though the Liu Clan and the various forces had obtained many treasures, most had been heavily eroded by time. The weapons they found had long lost their spiritual properties, reduced to little more than ordinary metal.

Only the golden parchment remained pristine, its text vibrant and untouched by the ages. In such a setting, even if it had been worthless, no one would have passed up the chance to claim it.

The Four Great Clans were the last to leave, meaning one of them had taken the golden parchment.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

After an ensuing struggle, the Liu Clan had emerged victorious but at a heavy cost. They had lost an elder at the Earth Profound Realm and over a dozen cultivators at the Spirit Profound Realm.

Liu Xiucheng had just become the patriarch and left the tower under everyone's protection.

"Could this golden parchment be the reason we're being targeted?" Liu Wuxie thought deeply and began to wonder about the origin of the golden parchment.

Moreover, what exactly was the Golden Cauldron Pavilion? Was it connected to the ancient world and the Buddha's status?

Questions swirled in Liu Wuxie's mind, but he couldn't come up with an answer.

"The other forces knew nothing about it, but the other three clans have coveted it for years. I suspect the Wang Clan must've colluded with an external force to steal the golden parchment from us," Liu Xiucheng said as he figured everything out.

The connection between the Wang Clan and the Golden Cauldron Pavilion was no coincidence.

"I believe the Golden Cauldron Pavilion knows the origin of that golden parchment. This is why they joined forces with the Wang Clan," Liu Wuxie speculated.

The Wang Clan didn't know about the golden parchment's origin, but that didn't mean others also knew nothing about it. Moreover, it made no sense for the Golden Cauldron Pavilion to attack the Liu Clan when there were no grudges between them.

Through their analysis, Liu Xiucheng and Liu Wuxie reached a troubling conclusion. Whether or not the parchment was the root cause, the Golden Cauldron Pavilion's involvement was undeniably bad news for the Liu Clan.

It was almost certain now. The Golden Cauldron Pavilion must have gotten Ba Jiao to poison his grandfather, and he had allied with Liu Xiaotian.

Since the Grand Elder would rather die than reveal anything, he also must have that mysterious imprint in his soul sea, and he would die a terrible death if he revealed anything.

"We've studied that golden parchment for years but haven't made any progress. The inscriptions on it have vanished completely," Liu Xiucheng sighed.

If it had truly been a treasure, they might have found some clues. But after bringing it back, the golden parchment had dulled, and its once vivid inscriptions had completely disappeared.

"Grandfather, we must return at once! I need to see the golden parchment!" Liu Wuxie wasn't convinced that the golden parchment was useless. There had to be a secret that ordinary people couldn't detect.

They no longer needed to visit Mount Gaze City, which was merely a decoy to lure out the traitors and enemies. In truth, the Liu Clan had never established any businesses there.

It had been worth it; they exposed the traitor and learned of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion.

As for the Grand Elder's fate, it was sealed the moment he betrayed the Liu Clan.

Bringing along the Grand Elder's corpse, the group of three raced back home. Time was of the essence, and Liu Wuxie had to uncover the golden parchment's origin before it brought calamity upon the Liu Clan.

The Fourth Elder remained in a daze throughout the journey, unable to comprehend why the Grand Elder had chosen to betray the Liu Clan.

Three days later, the group of three returned to the clan.

Liu Xiucheng held a secret meeting without delay. The Grand Elder's death was concealed; only ten elders attended the meeting.

Liu Xiucheng took out a Memory Talisman and replayed everything that had happened in the canyon before everyone. When everyone heard the Grand Elder's confession of his betrayal, gasps of shock echoed from them.

Even the elders who had once supported Liu Xiaotian fell into uneasy silence. While they had backed him as a candidate for leadership, none of them had ever considered betraying the clan—those were entirely different matters.

"Do not leak this out. The revelation of the Grand Elder's betrayal will only bring shame to the clan. We have to move on, and our top priority is to investigate the origin of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion!" Liu Xiucheng said, determined to mobilize the entire Liu Clan to search for the mastermind lurking behind the shadows.

Meanwhile, Liu Wuxie didn't attend the meeting and sought out Han Feizi instead.

Han Feizi had remained in the Liu Clan, staying by Liu Wuxie's side. He hadn't joined the Heavenly Dao Society.

"Brother Han, do you know anything about the Golden Cauldron Pavilion?" Liu Wuxie asked.