Dimensional Library Of Taboo Techniques!-Chapter 72: : Cauldron Of Immortality [3]

A/N: I deeply apologize for the inconvenience Chapter. Johnathan, I’m really sorry that happened. It has been fixed now.

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Which meant the demon was either in stealth mode—which was very bad for Xuan—or he was hiding.

Unfortunately for Xuan, it was the former. A clean cut came from behind, aimed precisely at his neck, but Xuan moved his neck and it grazed his cheek.

"Bwheehee," the demon laughed. Even at that, Xuan couldn’t pinpoint the exact spot.

"Shit."

The next thing he felt was a cut behind his back, dropping him to his knee. If it wasn’t for the fact Xuan randomly rewound five seconds back, he wouldn’t have dodged the cut meant to clean off his face.

Because when he rewound back, he saw the dagger forming through particles of steam, but that was only due to its speed.

And the blood on his back was slowly getting drained by the cauldron behind Xuan; it was like a very painful magnet.

So Xuan had to jump away from the cauldron before it sucked his body dry.

The whole village was now echoing with the cauldron demon’s voice.

Xuan stood up, calming himself before anything else. The demon wasn’t just in stealth mode, it was also unimaginably fast.

"Kweuk," Xuan coughed out blood, falling to a knee again; however, he sensed something.

Like the feeling of someone trying to stab you in the back—not just his guts—Xuan sensed the demon’s bloodlust behind him.

Bam!

And as he trusted that instinct of his, Xuan rolled forward, and the spot he was at before was completely ruined by an invisible fist.

"Eh? You dodged that?"

For a few minutes, the demon was now visible again, standing in front of Xuan, who gradually stood up. "So there’s a timer," Xuan said.

"What?"

"You can’t keep up something that strong for long."

Just after he said that, the cauldron demon proved him wrong and disappeared once more. "After I’m done refining you and your friends, my lifespan will—"

Slish

To the demon’s surprise, Xuan deflected one of his unseen attacks, which made him quite nervous, because Xuan had done that twice now.

"For someone who is invisible, you kind of smell everywhere."

Bam! Xuan lunged forward and threw a punch at midair, a fist that made contact with the abdomen of the demon, who coughed out blood with a groan.

"Wha-what?" the demon wondered. Xuan would have to prove that theory now. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The cauldron demon, still in stealth mode, sprang at Xuan, who stood still with his eyes closed and venomous dagger beside him.

Clang~

Xuan deflected his attack again, unperturbed. He could pinpoint the exact location now simply because the demon was very pissed off and his bloodlust had increased.

The demon expressed his frustration by yelling, as if he had become ten of himself; different attacks were all aiming at Xuan.

Each deflected strike sent a calamitous shockwave across the village. Even the ground began cracking, expanding with every contact.

"Why won’t I land a hiiiiiiit!" the cauldron demon roared out. Although Xuan had found a way, he still hadn’t landed a hit of his own.

With the stealth no longer helping, the demon was now visible. Xuan gave a cocky look. If the venom of his dagger could reduce strength that much until you’re dead...

Then—"I am going to stab you from immortal to mortal, prig!"

"Run," the demon told himself quietly, and before Xuan could move, the cauldron pot shot into the air like a space rocket.

And when Xuan looked up at the sky, the demon had escaped. He tried going after the cauldron, but a sharp pain stopped him.

He held his chest, and by the time he got up, there was no trail of the cauldron or demon.

"Slippery bastard," Xuan groaned again. When he turned around, wanting to leave, he fell to his knee, spitting out blood.

It was actually a good thing the demon left, because while it may have seemed as if Xuan had the upper hand, the cuts from the demon were really severe.

It was when he fell to his knee that he saw something drawn on the floor. Xuan slowly stood up and squatted near it.

"Motherfucker, he expects me to come after him as soon as he left," Xuan muttered, touching the floor, precisely feeling the little map.

He wasn’t going to rush himself. Even monsters take two or three days before they completely refine, so a human shouldn’t take less.

Although Xuan wasn’t sure of this because he hadn’t tried refining humans, he still couldn’t risk it knowing he was badly injured.

And who knows the trap the cauldron demon had waiting for him. "He couldn’t have just drawn his location without having something else planned," Xuan said.

Concluding, he needed to go back into town and attend to his wounds.

"Cauldron of immortality," Xuan whispered to himself. "Immortal? I wonder why he ran, still," he sighed and added while walking away.

"Immortal Emperor Xuan does sound nice."

---

Meanwhile...

Inside what seemed like a dried-up volcano, the cauldron demon arrived. The place was filled with charms hanging around.

It could be compared to places where idols were served.

He was really pissed off. "That bastard, twenty years old? What a fat lie. Probably the gods must have sent him here," he said, picking up a wooden plate and melting a few seeds inside.

His jaw was swollen thanks to Xuan’s punch. As he opened the cauldron and saw the souls were still green, he yelled.

"Condense already, you stupid humans!" The demon was feeling relentless.

"There’s no way he could have known—" He stopped talking as he heard a familiar sound. The cauldron was spinning fast, and as it suddenly stopped, the green souls had now turned purple.

That was the second stage of the refining process. Although he needed it to be quick, that was too quick for him not to pay attention.

"Interesting, those two were there before the girl, so it isn’t them," he said while eating the seeds he had melted.

"Could it be her?" He scratched his unkempt hair and sat on the floor like a monk. "No, it’s not her. She must have cultivated with that boy... ooooh wait."

The demon thought back to the fight and remembered the cauldron had drained a bit of Xuan’s blood.

His blood did something no one else had done—overheated the cauldron refining process.

The demon wasn’t clueless. After all, he was an immortal to whom the rules of this world didn’t apply, someone who had lived more than a thousand years.

He definitely knew what a taboo cultivator’s blood could do to his cauldron. Besides, Xuan wasn’t the first taboo cultivator.

"So that boy wasn’t lying. He really is twenty years old, who got that boost from using taboo techniques. If he kills me, then I’ll have a chance of telling the Ones, and if I happen to kill him, his refinement alone can give me a million years of immortality."

As of now, the cauldron demon sat on the floor while looking at the cauldron and speaking to himself. "If I inform the Ones about this, my sins could be forgiven..."

Then the cauldron started spinning again. "What? The third stage already?"

---

"What? What do you mean refining them would be faster than refining a demon?"

After Xuan bandaged himself up, he needed to expand his understanding of the cauldron of immortality.

Where else could he find any book he wanted if not the dimensional library? And now that he was here, the system was telling him something else.

"I apologize and understand how you must feel. However, I advise you let the cauldron demon go."

"What?"

"Because he has the authority to inform the owners of the taboo techniques that a human has found it again."

Xuan kept quiet. If the gods were to find out a human would soon be on the same level as they were...

He sighed and recalled what he told the demon at the tomb of a taboo god. "Let them come. Besides, if I stay here, he’s going to tell them anyway."

"Negative, young keeper. The cauldron demon has access to the Ones if he dies."

"Then I’ll just find another way to save my friends without killing him."

"It cannot be done," the voice sounded across the library. Not as soothing as before, but rather commanding. "For your own safety, I shall be shutting your access to the outside world for five years."

"What?" Now Xuan was pissed. When he looked at his hand, he saw the cube fade away. "You’re gonna let me live, and you’re doing that now?"

However, the whole library was quiet. Xuan didn’t get any reply. "That’s an order!" he yelled.

"I apologize, but that order is overwritten by my programming."

The feminine voice was heard behind Xuan. When he turned around, he couldn’t believe who it was.

The beautiful voice he heard. Xuan stumbles backwards.