Chapter Five: The Cauldron of Heaven and Earth

Li Tian rode his auspicious clouds to Mount Buzhou, but after flying for a while, he descended from the clouds and continued on foot. The reason was the consciousness of Pangu: flying on Mount Buzhou consumed an immense amount of spiritual power, so it was simply better to walk. Fortunately, his walking speed was by no means slow. At his level of cultivation, things like shrinking the earth to the size of a footstep were mere trifles; with each stride, he crossed dozens of miles.

Indeed, Mount Buzhou lived up to its reputation as the transformed spine of Pangu, having formed its own small world. Mountains, rivers, lakes, plains—every kind of terrain could be found here. Its vast expanse was such that, without prior knowledge, no ordinary person would ever guess it was a single mountain.

As he made his way towards the summit, the higher he climbed, the stronger Pangu’s consciousness pressed upon him. By the time he reached halfway up, fierce astral winds howled around him, sharp as needles and greatly impeding his progress.

After another dozen days of arduous climbing, Li Tian finally gave up his plan to reach the top. Judging by the current situation, even if he managed to scale the summit of Mount Buzhou, he would likely end up battered and bruised all over—Li Tian had no penchant for self-inflicted suffering.

Only now did he understand why, before the demon race, no one had discovered the Heavenly Court here. Even with his cultivation at the late stage of the Great Luo Golden Immortal and his innate Golden Crow body, climbing Mount Buzhou was so strenuous—how could anyone have reached the top while Pangu’s consciousness still lingered?

Li Tian recalled legends that claimed the Qilin clan had settled on Mount Buzhou, but now he saw how ridiculous that was. With such overwhelming pressure on the mountain, what living being would choose to remain here? At least during these last few months, Li Tian had seen only a handful of creatures. As for later tales of myriad beings inhabiting Mount Buzhou, he reckoned that must have been after Pangu’s consciousness had finally dissipated.

On his way down, Li Tian noticed something he had missed before: Mount Buzhou was truly a land of treasures, with spiritual herbs and medicinal plants covering the slopes as far as the eye could see. However, such “low-level” items no longer attracted his interest.

Still, there ought to be many more valuable things on Mount Buzhou, should there not? Li Tian couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement at the prospect of treasure hunting. How could he return empty-handed from such a treasure mountain? Supposedly, among the ten great innate spiritual roots, the Gourd Vine and the Plantain Tree were hidden somewhere in Mount Buzhou, though their exact locations were unknown.

Both of these spiritual roots were extraordinary. The Gourd Vine, for instance, had produced several powerful gourds—the Purple-Gold Gourd, the Soul-Scattering Gourd of Nine-Nine—and its tendrils were fashioned into the Immortal-Binding Rope. Even Nuwa’s Demon-Summoning Banner was said to have originated from the Gourd Vine, though Li Tian’s memory of the details was hazy.

As for the Plantain Tree, it bore four leaves, each with an attribute of earth, fire, water, or wind, and each was made into a fan. Two of these—Taishang Laojun’s Wind-and-Fire Fan and Princess Iron Fan’s Plantain Fan—were renowned for their power. The fate of the other two, Li Tian did not know.

Yet, fortune did not seem to favor Li Tian. After searching Mount Buzhou for several months, he failed to find even a trace of those spiritual roots, leaving him rather dispirited.

“Could it be that it’s not yet time for them to emerge, which is why I can’t find them?” he speculated. But then he shook his head. If all things in heaven and earth followed the script of the Heavenly Dao, then the Heavenly Dao would be truly terrifying.

One day, as he passed through a valley, Li Tian suddenly sensed something calling to him. Sweeping the area with his spiritual sense, he discovered a massive black cauldron half-buried among the rocks.

His curiosity piqued, Li Tian examined the cauldron carefully with his spiritual sense. After a moment, he was certain: this was an Innate Supreme Treasure!

A cauldron of this level, anyone with a bit of knowledge about the primordial world could guess its origin—it was the Cauldron of Heaven and Earth.

This was no ordinary cauldron; it was formed from the seed pod of the Thirty-Six-Petaled Chaos Green Lotus, capable of refining all things and transforming the postnatal into the innate. It originally belonged to the Ancestor of Heaven and Earth, then passed to Hongjun, who gifted it to Nuwa.

It was with this very cauldron that Nuwa refined the Five-Colored Stones to mend the heavens. Obtaining this treasure would mean that, when the time came for Nuwa to repair the sky, Li Tian would undoubtedly share in the merit—or perhaps even surpass Nuwa and repair it himself.

“Heaven truly favors me, to let me acquire such a treasure!” Li Tian was overjoyed, though he remained cautious.

After all, the Ancestor of Heaven and Earth was a figure on par with Hongjun. Who knew what became of him, or why the cauldron had ended up here? There was no guarantee the Ancestor hadn’t left some hidden contingency. If Li Tian were to be possessed by such a trap, it would be no laughing matter. He was not naïve enough to believe the primordial world was a harmonious place.

With this in mind, Li Tian decided to find a test subject. Unleashing his spiritual sense, he soon located a minor demon a thousand miles away. With a single leap, he appeared before the demon, who was so weak that it had not even reached the level of a Celestial Immortal and thus was as insignificant as an ant in Li Tian’s grasp.

Returning to the valley, Li Tian pointed at a pile of rocks and commanded, “Dig out the large cauldron buried there.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

The little demon, anxious and fearful, dared not refuse. Glancing back at Li Tian with every other step, it began to dig nervously under his watchful gaze. Soon, it unearthed the pitch-black cauldron. The demon could sense its extraordinary nature but dared not entertain any covetous thoughts. Turning back carefully, it stammered, “S-senior, I’ve finished.”

Li Tian frowned, wondering if he was being overly cautious. Still, he remained vigilant. After a moment’s thought, he issued another order: “Drip your blood and acknowledge the cauldron as your master.”

“Me?!” The little demon was incredulous. Although it did not know the cauldron’s true identity, it could sense its ominous power. It had assumed that this mysterious senior needed muscle to excavate the cauldron, never imagining he would offer it such a treasure. Could it be that the senior found the cauldron unworthy and was gifting it to him?

The little demon’s imagination ran wild, but with its meager wits, it could not comprehend the true scheme. In Li Tian’s eyes, the demon was less than an ant—incapable of causing any disturbance. Letting it test the waters first: if nothing happened, Li Tian could easily seize the Cauldron of Heaven and Earth for himself.

With that, the demon, delighted, pricked its finger and prepared to acknowledge the cauldron with its blood, wholly unaware of the danger to come.

Li Tian stood watchfully behind. As soon as the demon completed the blood recognition and infused its power into the cauldron to begin refining it, a slumbering divine soul deep within the cauldron felt the surge of energy and abruptly awoke. In an instant, it invaded the demon’s sea of consciousness and erased the demon’s soul without resistance—clean and decisive.

“Hahaha! The Ancestor of Heaven and Earth has returned!”

The “little demon” spread its arms and laughed exultantly, only to suddenly freeze as it sensed someone behind.

“Who are you?”