The cauldron was begging Red to stop. It did not dislike fire essence, but it was a divine cauldron. It had taste! It was like overloading the cauldron with food picked out of the dumpster to feed it level 1 essence gathered from the cave itself.
Red couldn't care less. All he wanted right now was to absorb the level 2 flame essence the cauldron was spitting out. Lana watched the scene with the crying cauldron for about an hour, by which time Red had already become full with the flame essence. It felt like his body was about to burst if he had anymore. This time it was much faster because of the fire seed that had birthed in his body. But Red didn't stop yet. He wanted to know if the excess level 2 flame essence could give him another fire seed.
It did not. But the flame essence was absorbed by the fire seed and it's nature changed. It's color changed from pale orange to a more darker color and Red could feel that he could now exert some control over level 2 flames.
Satisfied with the performance of the cauldron, Red patted it. "Good job, divine pot!" The cauldron was behaving like it was gagging but couldn't puke. "Boy!!! I will kill you! I am a divine cauldron not a pot!" The cave rumbled again, but before the cauldron made its move, Red began feeding it level 1 essence again from the cave walls. "Stop! Do not feed me any more of that trash!"
"If you come with me, I'll feed you better essence in the future. But if you mess around, get ready for some more of that sooty flame essence!" Red baited the cauldron before stopping his act of feeding it the essence.
"I am the damned divine cauldron! How dare you try to subdue me like some ordinary treasure! Blergh! Stop! Stop!"
Red kept asking it to accept Red as its master, but the cauldron had its own ego. It had travelled with peak experts of the ages and now a mere qi condensation realm pup was torturing it to submit!
However, each time that it raised its voice, it had the urge to vomit. It honestly couldn't take it anymore. "Fine! Drop some blood on my body!" The cauldron said, but inwardly was planning how to escape from the clutches of this crazy clown faced monstrosity.
Red bit his finger and brought a drop of his blood in contact with the cauldron and a bond was formed between the two. With a thought, the cauldron turned into a tattoo on his arm and with a thought he could summon it out again.
"Don't mess around with me! I was a divine cauldron before your grandfather 's grandfather's grandfather was a pup!" The cauldron yelled.
Red ignored its gripes and asked the questions he wanted to. "Where did you send the other three?" The cauldron was reluctant to answer, but with the threat of gagging again, he answered. "They were transported to the final test."
"Senior Cauldron, what is this a test for?" Lana asked respectfully. When the cauldron heard this he cried inside his heart. "Why can't my owner be someone like this respectful girl? I have a clown for a master who calls me a pot!"
It replied. "I don't know. Senior Flame Tribulation did not deign me with her plans. But if I were to guess, it is probably a test for inheritance."
"Lead us to the next area then, not the final test." Red was not in a hurry, who knows what other loot he could nab from the ruins, why rush?
"How did you know?" The cauldron asked, stunned. Red simply patted the cauldron and it felt like gagging again. "Pot, you don't need to act so surprised. You attempts at acting smart won't go past me. How many tests are there beyond this?"
The cauldron cried inwardly. "There is only the final test." Red smiled. "And is the next area in the cave the final test?"
The cauldron grumbled for a bit. "No it isn't. The next stage is Senior Flame Tribulation's herb garden." It already knew Red's request, so it didn't dally anymore and a door opened at one end of the cave. Bright sunlight poured in.
"Aren't we underground?" Lana asked. "How can there be sunlight?" Red absorbed the cauldron and walked along with Lana to the garden. The moment they did that, the door behind them closed.
It was as if they had come above ground or teleported to a different location all together. It felt like they were above ground with a pale blue sky and bright sun. But this looked nothing like the view on Sakura planet. "Isn't this how the mysterious homeworld is supposed to look?" Red wondered.
Humans had been in space for a long time. Several eras had passed for them to reach this point. As with every civilization, humans had their periods of dark ages and internal wars and conflicts. History about the origin planet of humans was forgotten, but it was mythologized in various fantasies and stories. The climate on that homeworld was particularly mythicized in idealistic terms and this sky reminded Red of those descriptions.
As he was looking at the sky, Red was suddenly frozen in place. "Swindler! I finally found you!" The voice belonged to Roy, whose talisman had been stolen by the old beggar. He had used some kind of treasure to seal Red's movements.
Then Red realized that a huge group was already here and the plants in the herb had all been uprooted. With the exception of one tree in the middle, the garden looked like a group of locusts had just ruined it all. Red was shocked by this technique, no matter how he revolved his energy, he wasn't able to move. He had never encountered this kind of attack before.
"You wasted the snail seal on this small fry!" Roy's companion balked. However, Roy was filled with vindictive victory. "I'll see who you are swindler, and I will destroy everyone connected to you!"
Lana tried to stop him. "Sir, we are all in the ruin as a competition. This person has helped me, so please let him off on my behalf." Roy shook his head. "Miss Lana, I respect your identity, but the issue between me and this clown is personal! Today he must die!"
In his head Red was angry. "Old beggar, I am going to smash this divine pot on your head next time we meet! You truly are a harbinger of bad luck for me!"