Su Cen harbored some doubts. She’d encountered Immortal Emperors before, but the idea that an Immortal Emperor could casually slap an Immortal Venerable to death stretched her belief. Not to mention, the one who’d bound her with a domain might not even be an Immortal Venerable—perhaps an Immortal Emperor too.
Could one Immortal Emperor kill another with a single blow? Was the Indestructible Great Dao that powerful?
She kept these questions to herself, instead following Qiao Aolun’s lead. “Master, if we never find the continuation of the Indestructible Great Dao, are we stuck in the immortal realms forever? Or is there no cultivation beyond Immortal Emperor?”
Qiao Aolun hesitated for a long moment before sighing. “Su Cen, I didn’t tell you everything earlier. Let me put it this way: the Indestructible Great Dao is the strongest technique I’ve ever encountered. Cultivating it makes you invincible among peers. If we keep searching and still can’t find the follow-up, we’d have to switch to another technique.
“But I’ll warn you upfront—if you switch, you might not notice at first. As your cultivation climbs higher, though, the gap will widen. By the time you reach World God or even God King, that regret will haunt you for life…”
“Master, how do you know this? What’s a World God?” Su Cen asked immediately.
Qiao Aolun paused, then gave a bitter smile. “I’ve left the immortal realms before, but I came back—to find the Indestructible Great Dao. I met someone incredibly strong—not just strong, but overwhelming. At God King, he could challenge Unity God Realm cultivators. Without him, I’d have died in some forgotten corner. His example drove me to swear I’d find the Indestructible Great Dao and become a powerhouse too…”
Qiao Aolun’s quest for the Indestructible Great Dao was indeed sparked by Lan Xiaobu’s influence. He’d once been a star lord, the mightiest on his planet. So why, in the divine realm, had he become so feeble? He didn’t want to overpower foes with cultivation—he wanted to crush them with his Dao.
“What’s the Unity God Realm?” Su Cen pressed.
Qiao Aolun suddenly felt he shouldn’t have broached this with her, but since he’d started, he continued, “Su Cen, Unity God is far beyond you… well, not entirely. Haven’t you noticed how much clearer Changqin Immortal Realm’s laws have become in recent years, how much easier cultivation feels?”
“Yes, that’s exactly why I could reach Immortal King so quickly,” Su Cen replied eagerly.
Qiao Aolun nodded. “Right. It’s not just Changqin Immortal Realm—higher realms, like the divine realm, are seeing their laws perfect too. Broken domains are merging. Before, immortal realms were separate from divine realms. But that might change. They could fuse, and the strongest you’ll face might not be Immortal Emperors—maybe even Saints.”
Saints were legendary to Su Cen, figures from tales of the divine continents. She didn’t dare imagine meeting one and stayed silent.
“Meeting you here is fate,” Qiao Aolun said. “I’ve thought of a place where the Indestructible Great Dao might exist—a dangerous spot. Even with my current strength, I could fall there. But I’m going. If you’re willing to join me, I’ll take you now. If not, I’ll leave you some resources. If Changqin Immortal Realm merges with the Great Desolate Divine Realm someday, you could switch techniques.” His tone grew heavy by the end.
“Master, I’ll go with you,” Su Cen said without hesitation.
She’d faced countless dangers over the years and knew greater risks meant greater rewards.
Though she’d cultivated the Indestructible Great Dao for only a short time, she’d felt its might. Switching to another technique stirred a faint reluctance in her.
“Good—that’s the spirit of an Indestructible Great Dao cultivator. Let’s go. The place is called the Lost Sea…”
“The Lost Sea?” Su Cen’s face paled in shock. She knew it—not just knew it, but recognized it as Changqin Immortal Realm’s certain-death zone.
Anyone who entered the Lost Sea never returned.
“Well? Going or not?” Qiao Aolun watched her. Reluctance would be normal—certain death awaited there.
But that was for immortal realm cultivators, not him.
“Going,” Su Cen replied firmly after a brief pause.
…
Late Ninth Layer of Unity God Realm—Lan Xiaobu opened his eyes. Had his Divine Essence Pills not run out, he’d have kept secluding.
Calculating his time in seclusion, he estimated centuries had passed. Without the Pill Sea, even tens of thousands of years might not have taken him from Unity God First Layer to Ninth.
In those centuries, he’d consumed not millions but billions of pills—too many to count precisely. His stash, enough to form a small pill sea, had dwindled by a fraction. Still, it was a pill sea.
Time to aim for Quasi-Saint. Lan Xiaobu was pleased with his progress. Resource consumption didn’t faze him—strength was all that mattered.
Chaos-infused Divine Essence Pills ensured a stable foundation, a major perk.
He glanced at Bei Suting’s cave. Though his Concealment Array masked the divine qi, he sensed spatial rule fluctuations. She was progressing well, still absorbing pills voraciously.
Lan Xiaobu left his peak and found an open area. He tossed out five hundred million Divine Essence Pills, planted two top-grade spirit veins, and set up a simple Spirit-Binding Array.
He was targeting Quasi-Saint. No matter how strong the array, the tribulation would shatter it.
He’d held off using Chaos Divine Spirit Veins, planning to employ them for mid- and late Quasi-Saint after breaking through. At Quasi-Saint perfection, he’d seek First-Turn Sainthood.
As his cultivation grew, his understanding of heavenly laws deepened, and he continually refined the Eternal Life Technique.
Now, running it formed a divine qi vortex that could drain a mid-tier sect dry in moments.
Five years later, with half his pills consumed, he reached Unity God perfection.
This spot was remote—no cultivators had passed by in years, likely due to the Rootless Divine Realm’s sparse population and vast, expanding territory as its laws perfected.
Without more pills, Lan Xiaobu pulled out five Five-Needle Pine Dao Fruits—five-element fruits of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Using Five-Needle Pine five-element fruits to break into Quasi-Saint? Perhaps only Lan Xiaobu in the divine realm could afford such extravagance.
For anyone, this was beyond lavish. But to Lan Xiaobu, he felt poor. If he were richer, he’d have sought wind, thunder, ice, or even darkness fruits too. Despite his piles of spirit veins and pills, rare elemental fruits were nearly impossible to buy. His last Fire Origin Pearl find was pure luck, tied to his Fortune Dao Tree.
The five fruits melded their rules with Lan Xiaobu’s Eternal Life Great Dao. Under the Eternal Life Technique, he effortlessly triggered the Quasi-Saint tribulation.
Thick black lightning crashed like a torrential downpour. The first wave obliterated his protective array.
The fusion of Divine Essence Pills, top-grade divine qi, and Five-Needle Pine fruit rules burst forth, no longer concealable, spreading instantly.
Lan Xiaobu ignored everything else, frantically drawing in divine qi to assault the Quasi-Saint barrier.
Several powerful figures raced toward him. Seeing the mist of chaos-infused Divine Essence Pills, their eyes blazed with greed.
Chaos Divine Essence Pills—sacred cultivation treasures.
But the terrifying black lightning halted them. Those arcs, dozens at a time, could each kill any of them effortlessly.
Yet the tribulation-crosser seemed to withstand over a dozen bolts with ease, even giving the impression he might charge the sky to fight back.
“This is the most fearsome tribulation I’ve ever seen,” a Ninth Layer Unity God cultivator said, voice trembling. Nearing Quasi-Saint himself, this sight cracked his resolve.
He wondered: if his tribulation were like this, could he survive? His own answer came swiftly—no chance.
Too bad Lan Xiaobu was mid-tribulation, or he’d have reassured him, “Don’t worry, you won’t face this kind.”
“Is he breaking into First-Turn Sainthood?” another Unity God cultivator asked, equally shaken by the lightning.
