Chapter 00359: The Cauldron of Life and Death and the True Abyssal Wood
# The Cauldron of Life and Death and the True Abyssal Wood
Chapter 359
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 359: The Cauldron of Life and Death and the True Abyssal Wood
Lan Xiaobu noticed the pursuer behind him, and so did Gong Yunqi.
Anxiety gnawed at Lan Xiaobu, but he knew he had to stay calm.
He still had about ten breaths of time to act.
Trusting his instincts, Lan Xiaobu decided against escaping through the "Kan" position.
Neither the "Li" nor the "Kan" positions were safe.
His only option now was to set up the Six Yin Formation Flags to open a passage through the "Kun" position.
The "Kun" position was a death gate, but Lan Xiaobu felt he had no other choice.
Better to enter the death gate than be caught by that powerful pursuer.
Once inside, he might still have a chance to escape into the Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
If he were caught, the Cosmic Dimension Matrix would surely be discovered.
As he threw down several formation flags, Gong Yunqi was sweating profusely.
The pursuer was only two breaths away, and there was nothing he could do but wait for Lan Xiaobu to act.
"Follow me," Lan Xiaobu said as he opened the passage to the "Kun" position.
Surprisingly, he didn’t sense any deathly aura.
Without hesitation, he dashed inside.
Gong Yunqi, though not a ninth-grade immortal formation master, was still an immortal emperor.
He knew Lan Xiaobu had opened the death gate, but he had no choice.
He could feel the aura of death closing in behind him.
Without a second thought, he followed Lan Xiaobu into the passage.
As Lan Xiaobu entered the "Kun" position, he tossed out an explosive formation disk.
Just as a figure appeared where Lan Xiaobu and Gong Yunqi had been standing, the disk detonated.
Boom! The passage to the "Kun" position was shattered, disappearing completely.
A furious roar echoed from the sealed formation, but Lan Xiaobu didn’t hear it.
The moment he threw the explosive disk, a force swept him away.
Lan Xiaobu wasn’t alarmed; in fact, he was relieved.
He knew he hadn’t been killed but had been teleported away.
He had made the right choice.
The "Kun" position, though seemingly a dead end, was the only way out.
The teleportation lasted for an unknown amount of time.
Eventually, Lan Xiaobu crashed into a hard, iron-like mountain.
The impact carved a deep trench into the mountainside.
Feeling the clear rules of heaven and earth and the vibrant life force around him, Lan Xiaobu was overjoyed.
He had truly escaped.
Compared to the lifeless, gray canyon, the lush greenery before him made him feel alive again.
After swallowing a few pills, Lan Xiaobu thought of calling Yu Ruo out, but he noticed she had already advanced to the Spirit Refining Realm and was deep in cultivation.
Not wanting to disturb her, Lan Xiaobu waited for Gong Yunqi.
He assumed Gong Yunqi would also be teleported to the same location.
However, after waiting for several hours, there was no sign of Gong Yunqi.
If Gong Yunqi hadn’t entered the "Kun" passage, he was likely dead.
Lan Xiaobu doubted the pursuer would spare Gong Yunqi’s life without searching his soul.
He could only hope Gong Yunqi had entered the passage but was teleported elsewhere.
Lan Xiaobu scanned the area with his divine sense and found himself in a vast, endless mountain range.
There were some immortal beasts here, but the strongest seemed to be only at the sixth level.
Leaving his landing spot, Lan Xiaobu chose a secluded area to dig a cave.
He set up a ninth-grade defensive formation and a ninth-grade concealment formation outside the cave before entering his Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
Inside the Cosmic Dimension Matrix lay two items: an unremarkable iron cauldron—the Cauldron of Life and Death he had snatched—and a wooden bucket.
Compared to the somewhat impressive Yin Cauldron, the Cauldron of Life and Death looked utterly ordinary.
Lan Xiaobu focused his divine sense on the cauldron and picked it up.
As his divine sense penetrated it, he felt a soul imprint.
Without hesitation, Lan Xiaobu began refining the cauldron.
One by one, the restrictions within the cauldron were obliterated by his divine sense.
As he continued, the soul imprint hidden deep within the cauldron had nowhere to hide and was forced to retreat further into the restrictions.
As Lan Xiaobu refined the cauldron, old restrictions crumbled, and new ones formed under his divine sense.
When he reached the final restriction, Lan Xiaobu sensed a powerful soul imprint lurking in the deepest part of the cauldron.
This was undoubtedly the imprint of a top-tier expert.
Lan Xiaobu didn’t touch it.
Instead, he pondered a question.
Both the Cauldron of Life and Death and the Fate Formation Disk had soul imprints.
Why was it that when the Fate Formation Disk entered his Cosmic Dimension Matrix, he couldn’t control it at all? In fact, the Fate Formation Disk had nearly taken over his Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
The soul imprint in the Fate Formation Disk had almost seized his Cosmic Dimension Matrix and even prevented him from entering it.
Could the Cauldron of Life and Death do the same?
The terrifying existence within the Fate Formation Disk had forced Lan Xiaobu to discard it because the gap in power was too vast.
Keeping the Fate Formation Disk would have been too dangerous.
Lan Xiaobu set up various trapping formations and then focused his divine sense on the Cauldron of Life and Death.
All traces of the soul imprint within the cauldron were exposed under his will, with nowhere to hide.
Lan Xiaobu fell into deep thought.
Clearly, the soul imprint in the Cauldron of Life and Death had no effect on him.
Since the Cosmic Dimension Matrix was his, he could crush any soul imprint within it with a single thought.
So why couldn’t he do the same to the soul imprint in the Fate Formation Disk?
The existence within the Fate Formation Disk could even interfere with his thoughts because it had constructed a rule within his Cosmic Dimension Matrix—a rule Lan Xiaobu couldn’t touch.
Fortunately, the existence’s power was limited, and the rule depended on the Fate Formation Disk.
Once Lan Xiaobu discarded the disk, the rule vanished.
This meant that if an entity could construct rules and master their application, even within his Cosmic Dimension Matrix, Lan Xiaobu would be powerless against it.
Unless…
Unless Lan Xiaobu himself mastered the construction of rules.
But for him, constructing rules seemed as distant as the far reaches of the universe.
So far, his only brush with rules was through his divine ability, "Boundless," which touched upon a sliver of spatial rules.
"Boundless" was his most lethal technique, but it was only a glimpse into the vast world of rules.
Rules…
Lan Xiaobu began to understand that the ultimate goal of cultivation was to master and even tear apart the rules of the universe.
Only then could he truly be considered strong.
Time, space, life, death—these were all just rules.
If he wanted to reclaim the Fate Formation Disk in the future, he would need to master all the rules within his Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
Otherwise, he would be walking to his death.
With this realization, Lan Xiaobu’s mind relaxed.
He wouldn’t abandon the Fate Formation Disk.
One day, he would retrieve it.
With a sweep of his divine sense, all traces of the soul imprint within the Cauldron of Life and Death were obliterated under Lan Xiaobu’s will.
The refined cauldron shrank to the size of a bowl and landed in Lan Xiaobu’s hand.
This was indeed the Cauldron of Life and Death, and it was at least a spiritual treasure.
Lan Xiaobu felt there was a connection between this cauldron and the Yin Cauldron he had, but his current cultivation level was too low to discern it.
The Cauldron of Life and Death could be used both as an offensive and defensive treasure.
It could control life and death and refine anything in the universe that was otherwise unrefinable.
This was a valuable item.
Lan Xiaobu stored the cauldron.
He had given his defensive treasure, the Shining Heaven Seal, to Zhao Gongming, so the Cauldron of Life and Death filled the gap in his defenses.
Next, Lan Xiaobu picked up the wooden bucket.
It looked like an ordinary bucket made of planks, with nothing special about it.
Lan Xiaobu had taken the bucket not out of spite for Gu Xu but because he found it suspicious.
Gu Xu was a powerful immortal emperor who had recovered his divine sense.
Even Gong Yunqi might not be a match for him.
Why would such a person use a wooden bucket to earn contributions?
Of course, even if he was wrong, it didn’t matter.
Lan Xiaobu didn’t care much.
As his divine sense penetrated the bucket, he found nothing but ordinary planks.
Lan Xiaobu almost cursed out loud.
That old bastard had buried a wooden bucket in the ground, and he had thought it was something valuable.
It was just a pile of rotten planks.
Just as he was about to toss the bucket aside, something felt off.
The planks seemed unusually thick…
Lan Xiaobu focused his divine sense on the planks again.
As he delved deeper, he was shocked to find that his divine sense seemed to enter an endless, vast universe of wood.
The air was thick with wood and earth attributes…
Could this be True Abyssal Wood?
Lan Xiaobu was certain—this had to be True Abyssal Wood.
But how? Even a tiny piece of True Abyssal Wood was priceless.
This entire bucket was made of it?
Realizing the potential value, Lan Xiaobu’s heart raced.
If this bucket was truly made of True Abyssal Wood, its worth might surpass even the Cauldron of Life and Death.
True Abyssal Wood, though called "wood," existed beyond the five elements.
It was an ultimate treasure for crafting worlds of life and shaping existence.
It grew in the void beyond the known universe, and even a fingernail-sized piece was worth a fortune.
(End of Chapter)