With only a year until the teleportation, Lan Xiaobu settled into a small, unassuming inn in Tianmo City. He had no interest in exploring the city’s second, third, fourth, or fifth layers. To him, whatever they held was irrelevant.
Though he didn’t wander, he could faintly sense that the second layer housed the cultivator army, its bloodthirsty aura seeping through the restrictions.
The inn Lan Xiaobu chose was modest and inconspicuous. Once inside, he never left his room.
At the same time, in the Heavenly Court Hall on Tianmo City’s fifth layer, Emperor Ce Ku Huiyi looked helplessly at the man and woman standing before him. The man, Lü Yiren from the Rift-Breaking Saint Dao, had visited years ago. The woman, with phoenix eyes and thin lips, wasn’t striking individually, but together, her features were captivating.
Lü Yiren said calmly, “Moru Emperor, it’s been years since the incident, yet your Heavenly Court hasn’t given us an explanation. Isn’t that too much?”
The Emperor replied apologetically, “We’ve been trying, but the culprit is cunning, leaving no traces. With years passed, it’s been hard to uncover anything.”
Lü Yiren sneered, “Moru Emperor, we’re not fools. You sent people to investigate, but they used rift-breaking ships, not teleportation arrays, and dawdled along the way, unable to even confirm when they’d reach the crime scene. How can you investigate like that?”
Ce Ku Huiyi frowned. He had indeed sent people, but he hadn’t taken it seriously, and neither had they—a mutual understanding. As he prepared to urge his subordinates to work harder, Lü Yiren continued, “The Eternal Life Conference is nearing, and Moru World will attend. If your Heavenly Court puts in effort for us, the Rift-Breaking Saint Dao is willing to support your representatives, ensuring they aren’t casually killed like our ship’s lord.”
Ce Ku Huiyi’s face darkened, as did those of the hall’s officials. This was an open threat, implying that if Moru World didn’t investigate thoroughly, the safety of its conference attendees couldn’t be guaranteed.
“Lü Envoy, we’ve noted your words. If there’s nothing else, please take your leave,” the Emperor said, his tone icy.
As a world’s emperor, he couldn’t tolerate such threats. While Moru Heavenly Court feared the Rift-Breaking Saint Dao, a mere envoy threatening them was unacceptable. If not for restraint, he’d have killed Lü Yiren on the spot.
Left Saint Minister Pang Jie glanced at Lü Yiren, puzzled. Lü Yiren wasn’t foolish; threatening the Emperor would only deepen Moru World’s resentment and halt the investigation. Even a Rift-Breaking Saint Dao Ancestor might not dare threaten the Moru Emperor so brazenly.
Lü Yiren stepped back, unperturbed.
The woman stepped forward, clasping her fists. “Gu Yuer from the Great Ice Pan Palace greets the Emperor and esteemed friends.”
Great Ice Pan Palace? Why were they here? Ce Ku Huiyi, puzzled, said courteously, “So, it’s an immortal from the Great Ice Pan Palace. My apologies for not greeting you properly.”
The Great Ice Pan Palace was no small sect, cultivating the Chaos Ice Origin Dao, which progressed rapidly in the Great Universe’s chaos zones.
Gu Yuer said evenly, “A disciple of our palace went missing years ago on the Tingdao Ship. I’m here about that.”
Ce Ku Huiyi frowned. “Since the Tingdao Ship incident, we’ve been searching, but with years passed…”
“Emperor, our disciple didn’t vanish during the recent incident but centuries ago on the Tingdao Ship,” Gu Yuer interrupted, her confidence stemming from her palace’s reputation.
Ce Ku Huiyi realized she was being used by the Rift-Breaking Saint Dao. Why raise a centuries-old disappearance now unless prompted? He thought her foolish. If her disciple vanished on the Tingdao Ship, she should confront the Saint Dao, not him.
No wonder Lü Yiren was so bold—he’d gained an ally to pressure Moru Heavenly Court.
Before the Emperor could respond, Pang Jie laughed, “Friend Gu, you only learned of a centuries-old disappearance now? Clearly, the Rift-Breaking Saint Dao informed you. Otherwise, you’d still be in the dark. But centuries later, we need specifics on which incident to investigate thoroughly. Honestly, if we’d known earlier, it could’ve been resolved on the Tingdao Ship, not delayed until now.”
Gu Yuer fell silent. She knew Lü Yiren was using her, but the missing disciple was her sister, Gu Qiang. To learn who killed her, she had to side with Lü Yiren. Otherwise, if he claimed it was unrelated to the Saint Dao, could she wage war against them on behalf of her palace?
Ce Ku Huiyi said, “Daring to kill recklessly in Moru World, I suspect your disciple’s disappearance is tied to the Tingdao Ship’s robber. I’ll intensify the investigation and inform you of any leads.”
Unknowingly, he’d hit the truth. Neither he, the Rift-Breaking Saint Dao, nor the Great Ice Pan Palace realized the person they sought was in Tianmo City, within reach of a Dao Origin handprint.
In his room, Lan Xiaobu wasn’t cultivating but refining array flags and Dao pills. To face the Great Ice Pan Palace, he needed more confidence.
He refined Dao pills to test if he could produce low-grade Dao principle pills and array flags to prepare for the palace. He didn’t know its powerhouses, but he was certain he’d need barriers and arrays to confront them.
Time flew, and a year passed quickly. Cultivating his own Dao, Lan Xiaobu gained insights into Dao principle pill refining within that year. Given more time, he was confident he’d become a low-grade Dao Pill Saint.
To not miss the teleportation, he arrived early at the teleportation tower on the appointed day.
With his golden teleportation talisman, he was ushered into a vast room with a golden teleportation array at its center, labeled “World Teleportation” above.
Arriving early, he was alone, giving him time to study the array.
His divine sense scanned it, and the intricate, profound array patterns left him in awe. It was beyond his ability to set up or even fully comprehend. The spatial array patterns around it grew increasingly complex.
The Great Universe was filled with spatial rifts and chaotic spaces, some even more dangerous. Creating an inter-world teleportation array required deep understanding of spatial Dao principles and a top-grade Dao vein as a power source.
With no one else around, Lan Xiaobu began constructing a dimensional model of the array. It was too complex to master without guidance, but a model would allow him to study and replicate it later.
He realized that if he could create such an array, he could place one at the Great Ice Pan Palace. If trapped, he could escape instantly. The palace likely couldn’t produce such an array.
As he worked on the model, several figures appeared from the void—others heading to the Central World had begun to arrive.
