Immortal Cauldron

Immortal Cauldron is a long xianxia web novel by the online author Momo, serialized and completed on Qidian around 2010, about 450,000 characters in total. The story opens a thousand years earlier: Daoists, Buddhists, demons, and monsters agree to contest their powers in the Penglai fairy realm, and a bored rogue cultivator sneaks over to watch, not realizing that a "Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin" formation has already been laid there; by the time he notices and tries to flee, it is too late. After a thousand years of struggle, all the cultivators trapped in the formation have lost their bodies, leaving only remnant consciousness. A thousand years later the formation breaks, and Daoists, Buddhists, demons, and monsters entrust their consciousness to their respective magical artifacts and descend to the mortal world to find bodies with suitable aptitude as vessels for rebirth. The protagonist, Zhang Meng, is one of the trapped rogue cultivators; his consciousness is attached to the Chunjun immortal sword, and soon after descending he encounters a mortal shell of excellent aptitude and enters the cultivation world under a new identity. The story unfolds around the law of the jungle in the cultivation world: Zhang Meng acts domineeringly but keeps his bottom line, adhering to the principle of "mind your own business and have a clear conscience," clashes head-on with forces such as the Chunyang Yuxu Palace, takes his disciple to Mount Shu to contend for an immortal sword, and gradually grows amid the turmoil of demons and monsters running amok in the mortal world, finally settling scores with opponents such as the Xiaotian Demon King, who seizes others' bodies. The book combines cultivation and leveling up, sect conflicts, and battles for treasures, with brisk pacing and a vivid protagonist—a cultivation power-fantasy with a touch of humor.