Chapter 27: Primordial Relic

Before he could step inside to celebrate his discovery, a gale roared out of the darkness, carrying a blood-soaked scent that was so thick it felt tangible.

Theo instinctively took a defensive stance, activating his Phantom Force skill just in case a hidden monster lunged at his throat.

He peered into the passage.

It opened up into a perfectly circular sub-cavern.

At the very center of the room, positioned beneath the convergence of the freezing and boiling energy from the vault above, sat a colossal cauldron.

The cauldron was forged from a material that looked like a fusion of living flesh and hardened meteoritic steel.

It was the Crucible of Genesis.

Thrum...

The moment Theo laid eyes on it, the artifact trembled.

The impact of that single vibration felt earth-shattering, shaking the foundation of the Ninth Peak.

In a daze, he saw an ancient man with wild hair standing before this very Crucible. The man tossed the severed head of a golden dragon into the boiling liquid, followed by the living body of a screaming demonic monarch.

The Crucible melted them down, fusing their impossible bloodlines into a single elixir.

The vision shifted. He saw the Crucible used by other mighty elders, swallowing entire armies of beasts to extract a single drop of supreme vitality.

Rumble!

"Whoa, okay, that’s not a vision... that’s an actual earthquake!"

Snapping back to reality, Theo quickly realized the tremors shaking the sub-cavern weren’t in his head. The Crucible’s awakening was literally tearing the Ninth Peak apart!

Theo turned and sprinted for the exit.

As he dashed out of the vault and back into the second-tier cages, an ancient voice echoed into his brain.

*I await the Devourer.*

Was that... the Crucible?

...

Ninth Peak, Main Laboratory.

White steam billowed across the courtyard as Elder Vespera slammed the lid onto a boiling vat of corrosive acid. Despite her advanced age and frail appearance, she moved with manic energy.

She wiped a streak of soot from her forehead, staring at the chimera heart floating in the acid.

"That boy’s living steel conduit neutralized the rejection rate! I’ve finally done it!"

Just as she prepared to extract the heart—

Boom!

The earth quaked. The glass vats in her courtyard shattered, spilling green sludge everywhere.

Vespera shot to her feet, her brow furrowing deeply.

Sensing the epicenter of the tremor, she vanished in a blur of purple qi, appearing at the doors of the containment block a second later.

"Earthquake!"

"The cages are failing! Run!"

The few outer sect laborers who had been delivering supplies were fleeing the mountain in terror.

Suddenly, the doors burst open, and Theo stumbled out.

His clothes were shredded, he was covered in dust, and he looked like a wild man who had just survived a cave-in.

Vespera rushed over, her eyes darting over his ragged state.

"Theo! What in the hell happened down there?!" Vespera demanded, grabbing his shoulder.

"Ah, you know, just doing a deep clean!" Theo replied, flashing a thumbs-up. "Might have bumped into a support pillar with the mop."

Before Vespera could interrogate him further, the sky above the courtyard darkened.

A bolt of golden lightning struck the pavement.

When the light faded, the Sect Master stood in the courtyard. A second later, Elder Silas dropped from the sky like a bat, followed by the masters of the Jade Cluster and Sunset Peaks.

Nine of the most powerful cultivators in the Silent Thunder Sect had just arrived on the Ninth Peak.

Whatever that Crucible was, it was important enough to summon the heavy hitters...

"Elder Vespera," the Sect Master said. "Is the seal broken?"

Vespera’s expression turned grim. She nodded slowly.

"It appears so. The Crucible of Genesis has awakened."

Elder Silas narrowed his eyes. "Awakened? That’s impossible. No one has possessed the fortitude to resonate with the Crucible in four hundred years. What triggered it?"

"Old relics have tempers too, don’t they?" the female master of the Jade Cluster Peak chuckled, though her eyes were sharp.

The other elders immediately glared at her.

The Sect Master snorted. "Do not disrespect the Ninth Peak’s ancestral treasure. The Crucible of Genesis predates this very sect. It only awakens when it senses a genetic blueprint capable of matching its hunger."

The Sect Master turned his gaze toward the containment block. "Let us go down and see what has happened."

The elders exchanged serious glances before nodding in agreement. They bypassed Theo and Vespera entirely, marching into the corridors.

Before long, the group of supreme experts arrived at the third-tier vault...

When they saw the gaping hole at the back of the cavern, their pupils constricted in shock.

The elders looked at one another, profound confusion and dread evident in their eyes.

Following the path, they stepped into the hidden sub-cavern.

When they saw the Crucible resting in the center of the room, the Sect Master sucked in a sharp breath.

"It... it has acknowledged a master," the Sect Master stated, his voice trembling slightly.

A primordial artifact... acknowledged a master?

"Acknowledged a master? Who?!" Elder Silas demanded, his composure shattering.

No one answered.

"How incredibly intriguing," the Jade Cluster Peak master murmured. "To have the Crucible acknowledge a master, yet the master simply left it sitting here in the dirt..."

"Perhaps the recoil was too strong, and they were forced to flee?" another elder suggested.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible," the Sect Master said, shaking his head. "The Crucible would never acknowledge someone who was too weak to withstand its resonance."

For a long moment, silence fell over the group of supreme experts...

"I will launch a full investigation," the Sect Master finally decreed, turning away from the artifact. "If I uncover any leads regarding this hidden genius, I will convene a private tribunal. Do not speak of this to the disciples."

"Should we seal the hole?" Silas asked, glaring at the rubble.

"There is no need," the Sect Master sighed. "Only inner sect elites are even allowed in the containment block, and none of them possess the fortitude to survive the passive pressure of this vault anyway."

After a brief discussion, the elders began filing out of the cavern, their minds racing with paranoia about a hidden predator walking among them.

Only Elder Vespera lingered behind for a moment.

She stared at the rock, then at the Crucible, her mind drifting back to the janitor waiting for her up in the courtyard.

"You really aren’t just a janitor, are you, partner?" Vespera whispered.