Temporary Camp of the Eternal Life Sacred Path
The leaders of various sacred sects had gathered here, including Zhong Xingting, the Sect Master of the Eternal Life Sacred Path; Han Yue, the Sect Master of the Ten Thousand Dao Sacred Gate; and Zeng Changting, the Elder of the Taihan Sacred Mountain. At this moment, Ku Fangling had repeated what he had previously told Han Yue, and the atmosphere in the camp was grim.
Zeng Changting, the Elder of Taihan Sacred Mountain, sighed inwardly. If it weren’t for the fact that the Great Sage Kunwei was looking for an excuse to start a war, there would have been clues about this matter back in the Kuangque Secret Realm.
The silence in the hall didn’t last long. An external affairs elder from the Ten Thousand Dao Sacred Gate hurried in, holding a crystal ball. He said, “I’ve brought the recording of the fight between Gu Xietan from the Mo Yan Sacred Gate and Dai Xing from the Silver Sky Sacred Gate.”
“Play it immediately,” Han Yue ordered sternly.
The elder complied and activated the crystal ball, projecting the recorded scene.
Halfway through the recording, the Hall Master of the Eternal Life Sacred Path, Sang Dianzhu, stood up and said, “No need to watch further. It was Ku Xing who did it.”
By now, everyone had seen Ku Xing arriving later and pushing his way into the crowd. Shortly after, Gu Xietan killed Dai Xing. Even a fool could tell that Ku Xing was behind this.
Han Yue turned to Ku Fangling and asked, “Brother Ku, do you think this Ku Xing is Lan Xiaobu, the Dao Lord of the Great Wilderness Dao Court?”
Ku Fangling shook his head, “Their appearances are quite different, but I can’t be sure if he’s disguised.”
“Absolutely not. If he were disguised, I would have noticed,” Cang Buyou, the Elder of the Eternal Life Sacred Path, said without hesitation.
Zeng Changting spoke slowly, “Since he’s not disguised, the only possibility is that Lan Xiaobu knows the Heavenly Gang Transformation technique of the Heavenly Gang Sage. He has transformed his appearance.”
Everyone exchanged glances. Although no one spoke, it was clear that they all wished to capture Lan Xiaobu immediately. Rumors had it that the Heavenly Gang Transformation was one of the most supreme divine abilities from the Great Wilderness Universe, and transformation was just one of its many powerful techniques.
There were many powerful figures from the Great Wilderness Universe in the Eternal Life Realm, and most of them knew transformation techniques, either from the Heavenly Gang Transformation or the Earthly Fiend Transformation. However, these techniques were closely guarded by the Great Wilderness cultivators and had never been leaked.
“So, Lan Xiaobu is indeed from the Great Wilderness Universe,” Han Yue sighed.
Everyone understood Han Yue’s implication. Lan Xiaobu’s origin in the Great Wilderness Universe was why he named the merged realm the Great Wilderness Divine Realm and established the Great Wilderness Dao Court.
Cang Buyou snorted, “Let’s bring Ku Xing back to the Eternal Life Sacred Path immediately.”
“Yes,” Sang You, the Hall Master of the Enforcement Hall, responded and quickly stood up to leave.
“Wait,” Han Yue stood up and stopped Sang You. “Elder Cang, fellow Sect Masters, regardless of whether Ku Xing is Lan Xiaobu or not, I believe this matter is no longer just the concern of the Eternal Life Sacred Path. It involves all of our sacred sects. I suggest we bring Lan Xiaobu here and interrogate him together. He must pay for what he has done.”
Cang Buyou was displeased. He knew Han Yue wanted the Heavenly Gang Transformation, but he couldn’t refute the suggestion. After all, all the sacred sects had suffered significant losses, and it was unrealistic for the Eternal Life Sacred Path to monopolize the Heavenly Gang Transformation.
“Go ahead, bring Ku Xing here first,” Cang Buyou nodded to Sang You. If Ku Xing was indeed Lan Xiaobu and had exposed the Heavenly Gang Transformation, the Eternal Life Sacred Path wouldn’t be able to keep it to themselves.
—
Lan Xiaobu didn’t return to the Eternal Life Sacred Path. The resources in the Resource Hall of the Eternal Life Sacred Path were of little value to him. He was currently in a relatively remote area near the Eternal Life Secret Realm, which was also one of the many battlefields.
To Lan Xiaobu, the half-hearted battles between Taihan Sacred Mountain and the Eternal Life Sacred Path were frustrating. If they were going to fight, they should go all out. Since he was now the Chief of the Forbidden War Division, he decided to take drastic measures. Ideally, he would annihilate Taihan Sacred Mountain’s forces and then march straight to Taihan Sacred Mountain to wipe it off the map of the Eternal Life Realm.
To escalate the conflict, he needed to eliminate a key figure from Taihan Sacred Mountain to provoke their fury. The Forbidden War Division was essentially a covert operations unit, and as such, he could gather people for ambushes. Not only would they target Taihan Sacred Mountain, but if the opportunity arose, they would also strike at the Eternal Life Sacred Path and the Ten Thousand Dao Sacred Gate.
At that moment, Lan Xiaobu received a message from Sang You, instructing him to return to the camp immediately for an important discussion.
Lan Xiaobu was puzzled. Why would they consult him on important matters? He had been sent to the Forbidden War Division because Zhong Xingting disliked him. In other words, he was sent there to die. If it weren’t for Qi Muyu’s suggestion to reward him, he would have been lucky to escape punishment.
Sang You’s loyalty clearly lay with the Ji family, who wanted him dead. Therefore, it was unlikely that Sang You would consult him on anything important.
Thinking this, Lan Xiaobu sent a message to Qi Yan, a follower of Sang You in the Enforcement Hall. Qi Yan had handled the selection of the camp location last time. In fact, Lan Xiaobu only had contact information for Qi Yan and Qi Muyu in the Eternal Life Sacred Path.
As Sang You’s follower, Qi Yan was among the first to know about the plan to capture Lan Xiaobu. He was setting up the trap when he received Lan Xiaobu’s message: “Elder Qi, I’m heading to the Resource Hall of the Eternal Life Sacred Path to collect resources for establishing the Forbidden War Division. I wanted to ask, what is the highest cultivation level I can recruit into the division?”
“Ku Xing, there’s no time for that now. There’s a Resource Hall branch at the camp. Return immediately. I’ll help you out. I think you can recruit up to God-Sealing Realm cultivators…” Qi Yan replied almost instantly.
Lan Xiaobu’s heart sank. He knew that the Forbidden War Division was essentially a token gesture by the Eternal Life Sacred Path, a way to acknowledge his contributions. In a few days, the sect would likely disband the division for lack of results and then punish him.
But Qi Yan’s tone and prompt reply made Lan Xiaobu feel that the Forbidden War Division was being treated as something far more important than it was.
What was even stranger was that the Sect Master had previously told him to return to the Eternal Life Sacred Path’s Resource Hall to collect resources. Yet, in such a short time, Qi Yan claimed there was a branch at the camp. Did the Sect Master know less than Qi Yan? Moreover, Qi Yan was just a follower. What authority did he have to decide who could join the Forbidden War Division?
Clearly, what mattered to Qi Yan wasn’t the Forbidden War Division but Lan Xiaobu himself.
Lan Xiaobu instinctively concealed his presence and carefully extended his divine sense. He immediately noticed disciples from various sacred sects scattering, clearly searching for someone. Several disciples were heading in his direction.
Even if Lan Xiaobu were slow, he would realize that he had likely been discovered.
At this thought, Lan Xiaobu’s first instinct was to teleport away. However, he quickly abandoned the idea. He had seen several groups searching for him, including disciples from the Eternal Life Sacred Path, the Ten Thousand Dao Sacred Gate, and even Taihan Sacred Mountain.
This indicated that the sacred sects had ceased their war and were now united in capturing him.
If the space around him had been locked down by a sage-level expert, he wouldn’t be able to teleport away, and attempting to do so would only reveal his location.
As for the Reincarnation Pot, it was even more unusable. Preventing teleportation required restricting spatial rules, but preventing the use of the Reincarnation Pot only required a simple spatial restriction.
The more critical the situation, the calmer Lan Xiaobu needed to be. When he saw another group of Ten Thousand Dao Sacred Gate disciples approaching, he considered transforming into Qi Yan’s appearance to blend in. However, he quickly dismissed the idea. If they suspected him, they likely knew about his Heavenly Gang Transformation. If they knew he could transform, approaching them would be walking into a trap.
Lan Xiaobu transformed into a small tree instead and extended his divine sense. Soon, his expression turned grim. He was right—the space around him was filled with various spatial restriction rules. In other words, he couldn’t teleport.
To teleport, he would need to break through the spatial restrictions.
While anxiously pondering his next move, Lan Xiaobu had the Cosmic Dimension Model construct the dimensional structure of the spatial restrictions. Once the model was complete, he could use his spatial mirror teleportation to escape. His spatial mirror teleportation was based on spatial rules he had comprehended in the Abyssal Ruins, which differed from most teleportation techniques.
Before the dimensional structure of the spatial restrictions could be fully constructed, a figure landed in front of him.
Lan Xiaobu immediately reverted to his original form and took a step back. He was certain this person had discovered him; otherwise, they wouldn’t have appeared so precisely in front of him. He had great confidence in his transformation abilities.
“Elder Kong, you’re quite skilled to have found me so quickly,” Lan Xiaobu said, simultaneously locating the divine sense mark on his body. His expression darkened—he had been marked without even realizing it.
The elder before him was Kong Fusheng, a non-Five-Clans elder. Lan Xiaobu estimated his cultivation level to be at the early Quasi-Sage stage. He wasn’t afraid of Kong Fusheng, but he dared not act. If he made a move here, stronger experts would immediately descend upon him.
“Not bad, you’ve surprised me. It will be difficult for you to escape from here. Do you know about Kunwei from Taihan Sacred Mountain? He possesses a treasure called the Heaven-Separating Cover. Once inside it, any escape technique becomes useless,” Kong Fusheng said indifferently.
Lan Xiaobu was startled. Was he already inside the Heaven-Separating Cover? But he quickly dismissed the thought. Even if Kunwei had the Heaven-Separating Cover, the other sect experts wouldn’t allow him to lock down this entire space.
“Elder Kong, why are you telling me this? Don’t you want to capture me and take me back?” Lan Xiaobu asked calmly, having already locked down the divine sense mark. This incident served as a reminder—he needed to find a way to always detect whether he had been marked by someone.
