Chapter 00353: The Pool of Life's End
# The Pool of Life's End
Chapter 353
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 353: The Pool of Life's End
In Lan Xiaobu's view, since Yu Ruo had entered the Pool of Life's End to bathe without any issues, and his cultivation was far superior to hers, plus the fact that he had written the Longevity Sutra himself, he should have no problem entering the pool either.
Though he guessed that entering the pool wouldn't harm him, Lan Xiaobu still cautiously dipped his hand into the water first.
A faint warmth spread through his hand, making it seem like a hot spring...
But just as the thought of a hot spring crossed his mind, Lan Xiaobu felt his vitality being sucked into a massive vortex, rapidly dissipating.
In just a short moment, he suspected he had lost tens of thousands of years of his lifespan.
Terrified, he quickly tried to pull his hand out of the water.
Though it felt like a long process, it happened in an instant.
Just as his hand was about to leave the water, a terrifying force yanked him, dragging him into the pool.
At this point, Lan Xiaobu didn't dare to think about anything else.
With a single thought, he entered the Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
Standing inside the Cosmic Dimension Matrix, Lan Xiaobu felt a wave of fear.
Thankfully, he had resolved the issues with the matrix earlier, or he would have been doomed.
This Pool of Life's End wasn't just about draining tens of thousands of years of lifespan—it was outright harvesting life itself.
But why hadn't Yu Ruo been affected? According to the white-haired elder, the pool was supposed to only weaken a cultivator's lifespan by draining their vitality.
Yet, Lan Xiaobu had clearly felt a deathly aura earlier—it wasn't just draining his lifespan; it was trying to kill him.
Lan Xiaobu couldn't figure out what had gone wrong.
After swallowing a few pills, he cautiously extended his divine sense out of the Cosmic Dimension Matrix and into the pool.
A searing pain, akin to having his soul torn apart, shot through him, and Lan Xiaobu's face turned pale.
The divine sense he had extended was completely devoured—no, not devoured, but torn apart.
His divine sense was utterly shredded.
At the same time, a foreign will seemed to follow his divine sense, attempting to invade his Sea of Consciousness.
Fortunately, Lan Xiaobu noticed it in time and used a Soul Thorn to destroy the invading will.
This was terrifying.
If Lan Xiaobu hadn't been used to tearing his own soul apart, making it incredibly resilient and accustomed to pain, the agony of having his divine sense shredded would have caused him to lose focus momentarily.
If that had happened, the foreign will would have invaded his Sea of Consciousness.
By the time he regained his senses, would he even have noticed the hidden will?
This place was full of strange and dangerous phenomena, making Lan Xiaobu even more cautious.
If he weren't already in the pool, he would have left immediately.
But now, even though he was inside the Cosmic Dimension Matrix, he was still within the pool.
To leave, he would have to extend his divine sense again.
Lan Xiaobu took a deep breath and prepared to extend his divine sense once more.
If he didn't want to die here, he had no choice but to keep trying.
This time, Lan Xiaobu was ready for any sneak attacks.
He fortified the outer layers of his Sea of Consciousness with multiple Soul Shields.
Additionally, he prepared to activate his Spirit Refining Technique the moment his divine sense touched the water.
His Spirit Refining Technique was currently at the seventh level.
He hoped that the technique would provide some resistance against the tearing force attacking his divine sense.
As his divine sense cautiously extended out of the Cosmic Dimension Matrix, Lan Xiaobu immediately activated the Spirit Refining Technique.
The same excruciating tearing sensation returned, but this time, thanks to the continuous operation of the Spirit Refining Technique, his divine sense wasn't completely destroyed.
A portion of it remained in the pool.
This meant that the tearing of his divine sense was actually helping him refine and strengthen it.
The pool continued to tear at his divine sense, but the pain, no matter how intense, was nothing new to Lan Xiaobu.
The constant tearing allowed the Spirit Refining Technique to work at its peak efficiency, and Lan Xiaobu's divine sense grew increasingly resilient.
The foreign will that had tried to invade his Sea of Consciousness was now being ground away by the Spirit Refining Technique, becoming a source of nourishment for his divine sense.
As the Spirit Refining Technique continued to operate, Lan Xiaobu's divine sense grew stronger and began to extend further.
At this point, Lan Xiaobu's entire focus was on his divine sense.
The pool was too strange, and he couldn't afford to be distracted even for a moment.
...
At the same time, in a stone house far from Lan Xiaobu and Yu Ruo's simple dwelling in the Immortal Emperor Village, five people—four men and one woman—had gathered.
One of them was someone Lan Xiaobu recognized: the gray-robed Immortal Emperor who had come looking for him earlier.
"Bai Hai, you called us here. Did you find someone?" asked a man with a large head named Gong Yunqi, whose strength was on par with Bai Hai's.
Bai Hai, the gray-robed Immortal Emperor who had sought out Lan Xiaobu, had previously acted indifferent toward him, not even leaving any contact information.
But now, he said, "Yes, I found someone. I suspect he's a seventh-level Immortal Array King. He's very young, and I don't know how he managed to recover."
From his words, it was clear that Bai Hai wasn't as indifferent toward Lan Xiaobu as he had appeared.
In fact, he seemed quite interested in him, as he had investigated Lan Xiaobu.
"What's the situation with this person?" asked a short man named Liu Yanjin.
In the Immortal Emperor Village, only these five had recovered their divine senses and some of their cultivation.
They had joined forces to find a way out of this place.
Normally, only one of them would keep their divine sense active to monitor the village while the others closed off their senses to focus on recovering their strength.
This time, it was Bai Hai's turn, and he had sensed Yu Ruo's divine sense, leading him to Lan Xiaobu.
Bai Hai explained, "These two are quite young. The woman's cultivation is negligible—she's probably just a Golden Core cultivator. The man's cultivation isn't high either, but his array skills are impressive. He claimed to be at least a sixth-level Immortal Array Master, but I suspect he's a seventh-level Immortal Array King."
"Even if he's only a sixth-level Immortal Array Master, that's barely enough for us. You didn't show that we're desperate for an array master, did you?" Liu Yanjin asked.
Bai Hai smiled faintly, "When he stopped me and told me he was at least a sixth-level Immortal Array Master, I knew he could probably set up seventh-level arrays. I just nodded and didn't leave him any information."
"Good. That way, he'll be desperate to cooperate with us when the time comes. For our escape plan, the array master will likely have to risk his life," Liu Yanjin nodded.
"I think he's already gone looking for a way out on his own, since he's not at his dwelling," the woman, Dong Ye, said calmly.
She was the only female among the five Immortal Emperors who had recovered their divine senses.
The other Immortal Emperors extended their divine senses to Lan Xiaobu's dwelling, only to find an empty courtyard.
Lan Xiaobu and Yu Ruo were nowhere to be found.
Bai Hai scanned the village with his divine sense but couldn't find Lan Xiaobu.
His expression changed slightly, and he said, "He wouldn't have gone to the Pool of Life's End, would he?"
Dong Ye replied, "Even if he did, he shouldn't die there."
"Let's wait for him. As soon as he shows up, we'll notify him to come here, and then we'll make another attempt together. I refuse to believe this damned place can trap me, Liu Yanjin, forever," the short Immortal Emperor declared.
...
Lan Xiaobu's divine sense continued to be torn apart, while the Spirit Refining Technique continuously tempered it.
It was now the eleventh day of Lan Xiaobu using the Spirit Refining Technique to refine his divine sense.
At this point, his divine sense could cover half of the pool.
But more importantly, Lan Xiaobu sensed that his Spirit Refining Technique was on the verge of breaking through to the eighth level.
Once his Spirit Refining Technique reached the eighth level, his divine sense would likely be on par with that of an ordinary Immortal Emperor.
On the twelfth day, as soon as the breakthrough moment arrived, Lan Xiaobu felt a series of explosions in his Sea of Consciousness.
His divine sense suddenly expanded, completely covering the entire Pool of Life's End.
His Sea of Consciousness had grown significantly, and the divine sense within the pool no longer felt the tearing sensation.
It was as if his divine sense now belonged in the pool.
Any interference was no longer about tearing but merely resistance.
The foreign will that had once tried to invade his Sea of Consciousness seemed to have vanished without a trace.
Though Lan Xiaobu knew that continuing to operate the Spirit Refining Technique wouldn't be of much use now, he had no intention of withdrawing his divine sense.
In fact, Lan Xiaobu had an even more daring plan: he intended to re-enter the Pool of Life's End.
But this time, he wouldn't go in unprepared.
Instead, he would use the Undying Technique to temper his physical body.
The Pool of Life's End was indeed terrifying, but it was also an opportunity.
At the very least, it had allowed his Spirit Refining Technique to break through to the eighth level.
With his divine sense at this level, no ordinary Immortal Emperor could easily ambush him.
With a drop of Void Immortal Marrow ready to be consumed at any moment, Lan Xiaobu stepped out of the Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
If things became unbearable, he could return to the matrix immediately.
As soon as he entered the pool, the same horrifying sensation of being torn to shreds overwhelmed him.
But this time, Lan Xiaobu's divine sense could create a protective field, giving him some buffer.
Soon, the violent tearing of his flesh and the draining of his vitality were transformed by the Undying Technique into tools for tempering his body.
In just a dozen breaths, Lan Xiaobu felt his physical body advance once more.
His body had reached the Immortal Physique level for the second time, and Lan Xiaobu was thrilled.
The first time, due to the constraints of the world's rules, he had thought he had achieved the Immortal Physique, but it hadn't been genuine.
This time, however, it was the real deal.
Now, Lan Xiaobu was even looking forward to the next Immortal Venerable Tribulation.
He wondered if his true Immortal Physique would give him an advantage against the tribulation.
As soon as he reached the Immortal Physique level, Lan Xiaobu clearly felt the draining of his vitality slow down and eventually stop.
When he simultaneously activated the Longevity Sutra and the Undying Technique, the vitality he had lost began to slowly return.
Lan Xiaobu was overjoyed.
It seemed that the vitality he had lost was still within the Pool of Life's End and hadn't been completely taken away.
(End of Chapter)