Chapter 3054: Earth Cauldron
Centered around the Sacrificial Heaven Bronze Cauldron, the stability of space had increased by an unknown magnitude. Even the divine power of a Great God could not shatter it.
The spaces of the Heavenly Court and the Fate Divine Domain were far from being this stable.
The spatial meridians of heaven and earth were all revealed, like threads and floss, stretching all the way to the dark horizon.
"It's over, there's no escape!"
The old yellow ox had already fled hundreds of thousands of miles away, yet was still fixed in space, its body unable to move, its two ox eyes bulging.
It was as if frozen by an invisible force.
It was a confinement from the inside out and from the outside in, every inch of flesh and blood, including the soul, was no exception.
No matter how powerful a cultivator, they were ultimately within space.
"Nine Cauldrons? Universe Cauldron?"
Zhang Ruochen's mastery of the Way of Space was already extremely strong, so he could naturally sense the changes in space. Although a surge of excitement arose in his heart, it quickly calmed down.
If he could not suppress the Demon God within the cauldron, not only would the Universe Cauldron be lost, but his life as well.
Gradually, the inside of the cauldron calmed down.
Zhang Ruochen was puzzled, thinking to himself: "Is the legendary Universe Cauldron's power really this abnormal? It actually suppressed her?"
Forgetting everything else, Zhang Ruochen split off countless spiritual power thoughts and continued to set up seals.
This time, the inscription patterns covered the entire bronze cauldron.
Inside the cauldron's space.
From the brow of that pink skeleton, a river of blood surged out, flowing along the bone body, forming a network, like the blood vessels of a human body.
As the blood merged with the bone body, the corpse-driving inscription patterns that Zhang Ruochen had carved on her dissipated one by one.
The aura emanating from her grew stronger and stronger...
But Zhang Ruochen, outside the cauldron, could not sense it. He set up ninety-nine seals in a row before stopping to study the Universe Cauldron's influence on space.
"It can actually manifest the spatial meridians so clearly."
Zhang Ruochen observed the direction of the surrounding spatial meridians and discerned some clues. His eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he murmured: "If the Sword Realm truly exists, it must be located at the convergence point of the spatial meridians. With this cauldron, the chance of finding the Sword Realm has increased a bit."
Withdrawing his divine qi, the light of the Universe Cauldron gradually dimmed.
Inside the cauldron, it remained silent and very calm.
The old yellow ox regained its ability to move, returned, stared at the Universe Cauldron, and said: "Zhang Ruochen, although I am your disciple, I must remind you that one must walk the right path. A forced melon is not sweet."
Zhang Ruochen was extremely wary of the Demon God within the cauldron, his nerves taut. He was caught off guard by Niu Jianqiang's inexplicable words.
The old yellow ox's eyes held a hint of sarcasm, and it said: "Don't think I don't know. I heard a woman's voice inside just now. It's very excessive. Although you, Zhang Ruochen, have always been dissolute, even if that woman didn't listen to you, there was no need to put her in the cauldron to refine."
"Believe me, I'll throw you in too?"
Zhang Ruochen always felt that the pink skeleton would not be so easily suppressed. He was extremely worried and racked his brains for a countermeasure. Hearing the old yellow ox's words, he was almost infuriated to death.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's grave expression and the murderous intent in his eyes, as if something serious had really happened, the old yellow ox dared not say another word.
"Previously, I also refined the Sacrificial Heaven Bronze Cauldron, but there was no change. Why did using divine fire to burn it just now melt the surface, revealing these shamanic inscriptions and patterns?"
Zhang Ruochen pondered deeply, raised his hands to look at them, and had a sudden inspiration: "Could it be because I evolved the Two Forms, turning my divine qi into yin and yang qi? Or is it because I stepped into the Great God level, greatly increasing the temperature of my divine flame?"
"Continue forward, along this qi belt."
Zhang Ruochen pointed a direction for the old yellow ox and returned to the *Sixth Patriarch's Zen Illustration Diagram* with the Universe Cauldron.
In that direction, the spatial meridians showed a converging trend.
Arriving at a wasteland, Zhang Ruochen took out the stone cauldron he had obtained outside the Yinsnow Heavenly Dao Field in the Abyss of Darkness and placed it on the ground.
On the stone cauldron, there were not only Sanskrit characters carved by the Sixth Patriarch but also the imprint of the Udumbara flower left by Yinsnow Heaven.
Inside the cauldron, the cultivation method of the *Underworld Soldier Scroll* was engraved.
If one said this was an ordinary cauldron, Zhang Ruochen would never believe it.
"Refine for me!"
Zhang Ruochen struck out with his right palm, and divine flame surged endlessly from his palm, refining the stone cauldron suspended in mid-air.
On the cauldron's body, the Sixth Patriarch's Sanskrit characters and the Udumbara flower imprint were already very faint. Under the burning of the divine flame, they gradually disappeared, and the stone cauldron's body began to slowly melt, dripping down golden magma.
"Hua!"
After one area on the cauldron's body melted, it revealed a bronze material, emitting a cyan light full of ancient charm.
Where the cyan light shone, the earth collapsed and disintegrated into source particles.
Before long, all the stone skin on the surface melted, revealing a heavy, mountain-like bronze cauldron. On the cauldron's body, there were also shamanic inscriptions and the mountains and rivers geography of an unknown place, as well as an ancient shamanic god with a human upper body and a snake tail.
The sound of the Great Dao resounded throughout the Qiankun Realm, and the rules of heaven and earth surged endlessly.
This time, Zhang Ruochen found that his consciousness seemed to merge with the bronze cauldron, allowing him to perceive subtle changes in heaven and earth that he had previously overlooked.
The form of the bronze cauldron before him changed slightly, no longer so unfamiliar.
Zhang Ruochen had seen it outside the shamanic hall in the Abyss of Darkness. It was indeed one of the Nine Cauldrons, identical. His excitement was beyond words.
He who obtains the Nine Cauldrons commands the world, all clans obey, and the Heavens bow in worship.
Throughout the ages, countless powerful beings at the Heavens level had searched ancient texts for them. Who could have imagined that he would possess such great fortune, obtaining two cauldrons in a single day?
But, having had some suspicions before, knowing that the two cauldrons were extraordinary, Zhang Ruochen did not go mad with joy. He gradually regained his composure and looked at the surrounding world, finding that the entire ten-thousand-mile wasteland had turned into source particles, causing the cultivators in the Qiankun Realm to panic.
Source particles are the foundation of all things in the world, coexisting with space, and are the most fundamental state of matter.
Zhang Ruochen had read the *Complete Book of Ancient Shamanism* and had some understanding of the Nine Cauldrons.
The Nine Cauldrons originally had no names, but later generations gave them names.
Heaven, Earth, Mystery, Yellow, Universe, Cosmos, Vast, Desolate were eight of the cauldrons.
The ninth cauldron was called "Shaman".
The forging of the ninth cauldron was the embodiment of the shamanic Way's peak period.
The cauldron before him was clearly the "Earth Cauldron", known as the Cauldron of Source.
Source is the Mother of Earth!
Zhang Ruochen thought to himself: "When the Nine Cauldrons appear, the world will surely fall into chaos. It seems that the ancient powerful ones with benevolent hearts, even if they obtained a cauldron, would not reveal it. That's why they used special techniques to change the cauldron's shape and material, hiding it in disguise."
"On the Earth Cauldron, there are the Sixth Patriarch's Sanskrit characters. It should be the stone skin wrapped by the Sixth Patriarch's hand."
"Now that the two cauldrons have revealed their true forms, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse."
Zhang Ruochen did not have the means of the Sixth Patriarch. Even if he tried to cover the Universe Cauldron and the Earth Cauldron again, he could not fool true experts. The only way was not to use them.
With the Sixth Patriarch's cultivation, even if he revealed the Earth Cauldron, no one would dare to seize it.
But what about after the Sixth Patriarch fell?
This would bring disaster to the Western Buddha Realm.
Of course, the Sixth Patriarch might have had another consideration: he did not want the world to fall into chaos because of the Nine Cauldrons' appearance. But now, the world was already in chaos...
If used well, it might be possible to trap and kill one or two great enemies.
Zhang Ruochen was thinking about whether to send one of the cauldrons to Tiannan or Shangqiu.
But after thinking about it, he couldn't bear to part with it.
This was the Nine Cauldrons!
He who obtains the Nine Cauldrons commands the world. That would be the true Heavenly Venerable!
Supreme under heaven, I alone am honored.
Zhang Ruochen held the Earth Cauldron in his hand, looking at the world of light rain before him, like the beginning of chaos. He wanted to recondense the source particles within ten thousand miles into a wasteland.
If possible, flowers, grass, and trees should all be able to be born.
After all, Zhang Ruochen also had considerable attainments in the Way of Life.
But distracting thoughts arose in his heart...
The source particles filling the world crazily converged towards him, condensing into a small, bright and dazzling divine stone.
"This..."
Zhang Ruochen was dumbfounded, looking at the divine stone, then at the Earth Cauldron in his hand.
As expected of the Earth Cauldron. Whatever one thinks of, it can condense.
Although the ten-thousand-mile territory of the Qiankun Realm could only condense into a small divine stone, it was still extraordinary, meaning Zhang Ruochen would never have to worry about divine stones again.
In the universe, wherever there is matter, it can be broken down into source particles and recombined into divine stones.
The Nine Cauldrons were clearly not just weapons of war; they had other various marvelous uses. Otherwise, how could they dare to claim, "He who obtains the Nine Cauldrons commands the world"?
Just this Earth Cauldron, if it fell into the hands of a Heavens-level expert, would mean endless divine stones, enough to command the world.
Zhang Ruochen did not lack the divine stone before him.
"Bang!"
The divine stone was shattered by the Earth Cauldron into source particles, spreading out. Under Zhang Ruochen's control, they gradually evolved into a landmass, turning into a ten-thousand-mile desert.
In the desert, soil and rock appeared, springs gushed out, and vegetation grew...
This evolutionary process was not so fast!
It required the participation of various Dao that Zhang Ruochen had cultivated, as well as the expenditure of a large amount of divine qi.
It took three months to restore the wasteland to its original appearance.
Wielding the Earth Cauldron, with a single thought, one could shatter heaven and earth and condense divine source.
Shattering the divine source, it took another hundred days to re-evolve heaven and earth.
These hundred days were not just about evolving a wasteland. In reality, Zhang Ruochen gained many insights and had new ideas for future cultivation.
Zhang Ruochen still had another cauldron, named the "Six Directions Heavenly Venerable Cauldron". It was obtained on the hunting battlefield a thousand years ago, inside the third dark star.
It was said to be the supreme treasure of Shi Fufu Jun, the master of Shiji Shen Star's Lan Chen Sea, one of the ten nine-level planets of the Stone Clan, originating from the border universe.
It had originally been kept by Xue Hou. Because Zhang Ruochen had stepped into the God Realm, Xue Hou returned the Six Directions Heavenly Venerable Cauldron to him on Xinghuantian.
Zhang Ruochen did not plan to refine the Six Directions Heavenly Venerable Cauldron for the time being, worried about inviting great danger.
Because, even when the artifact spirit of the Six Directions Heavenly Venerable Cauldron was in a dormant state, Shi Fufu Jun could not subdue it, only seal it away. This kind of dormant artifact spirit had too many uncertainties!
Zhang Ruochen looked at the Universe Cauldron and the Earth Cauldron before him, unsure whether to be happy or worried. In the end, he gritted his teeth and split off two divine souls, refining them into the cauldron bodies.
"Cousin, I did it!"
Kong Lanyou's joyful voice transmission reached Zhang Ruochen's ears.
(Chapter End)