Seeing Lan Xiaobu focused on refining the Chaos River and setting up the four paths of the Chaos Path, Mengyuan simply left the Seven Realms Stone, feeling that Mengmu Dayan’s lair was somewhere in the nearby void.
To establish the four paths of the Chaos Path, Lan Xiaobu spent nearly a month. When he returned to the Seven Realms Stone, he found Mengyuan had also come back.
Knowing she had gone to search for Mengmu Dayan’s lair, Lan Xiaobu immediately asked, “Any luck finding Mengmu Dayan’s lair?”
Mengyuan hesitated before saying, “I found a patch of void that feels somewhat familiar, but I’m not entirely sure.”
“Lead the way, let’s go there,” Lan Xiaobu said, thinking that if Mengyuan felt it was similar, it was likely the right place.
When Mengyuan came here before, she was a fifth-step Great Dao expert, and such experts have keen intuition. The void is vast and boundless, so why would she feel only this place seemed familiar?
Guided by Mengyuan, the Seven Realms Stone reached the spot she mentioned in just an hour.
“I always feel a deep sense of familiarity here, but every time I went to Mengmu Dayan, all my senses, including spatial awareness, were blocked. Yet, when I arrived here, I found no traces, so I wondered if it was just an illusion,” Mengyuan said, pointing to the void before them.
Lan Xiaobu’s divine sense probed out, covering millions of miles, but found no signs of spatial array gates, planets, or even formations.
“Maybe I got it wrong,” Mengyuan added quickly, seeing Lan Xiaobu frown.
Lan Xiaobu didn’t respond but instructed his cosmic dimensional model to stop building the cosmic wall’s structure and start constructing the void before them.
The cosmic wall wasn’t something he could complete in a day or two, but this patch of void could be modelled now.
The cosmic dimensional model didn’t disappoint. In just an hour, it constructed the dimensional structure of this space. From it, Lan Xiaobu could clearly sense the changes in the Dao principles here.
According to the model’s rule changes, this void would form a teleportation vortex every so often. Observing the vortex simulated by the model, Lan Xiaobu couldn’t help but marvel at the wonders of the vast cosmos. A teleportation vortex, difficult even for humans to create, formed naturally here with a fixed cycle. This vortex’s destination was surely linked to Mengmu Dayan’s lair, though how Mengmu Dayan found it was a mystery.
“Shall we search further ahead? My previous search might have been too limited, and I may not have found the true location,” Mengyuan suggested, seeing Lan Xiaobu deep in thought.
Lan Xiaobu waved her off, “No, it’s right here. We’ll wait, at most a month.”
With that, he tossed a Disguise of the Earthly Fiend divine ability to Mengyuan, “Practise this first, it might come in handy.”
“Is this the Disguise divine ability from the Earthly Fiend techniques?” Mengyuan recognised its origin instantly, shocked.
Many knew of the Earthly Fiend divine abilities, rumoured to be a primordial technique from the Great Desolation World. Though it spread, it degraded through oral transmission from a great divine ability to a minor one, then to a mere disguise skill.
For great powers, such ordinary skills were somewhat useless. Later, many experts enhanced it, transforming it into a new disguise ability through their own Dao. But no matter the changes, it paled compared to the true Earthly Fiend divine ability from the Great Desolation World.
Yet, what Lan Xiaobu gave her was the authentic, un degraded Earthly Fiend Disguise divine ability.
“Yes, master it quickly. You’ll act with me when the time comes,” Lan Xiaobu said.
“Understood,” Mengyuan replied, immediately beginning to comprehend the ability on the Seven Realms Stone. Once mastered, it would give her confidence even in escape.
For a fourth-step Great Dao cultivator like Mengyuan, mastering the Disguise of the Earthly Fiend took less than a month. In just a few days, she fully grasped it, able to seamlessly transform into any surrounding object.
Feeling she could even alter the charm of her Dao after disguising, Mengyuan was filled with awe, thinking this was the true art of disguise.
A month passed quickly. Mengyuan saw Lan Xiaobu staring fixedly at a spot in the void, unsure of his intent, so she followed suit and stared at the same spot.
But that day, she sensed faint, almost imperceptible void Dao patterns forming at the spot, quickly coalescing into a formation vortex. The vortex appeared briefly, vanishing after just a few breaths.
“Lord Lan…” Mengyuan hurriedly looked at Lan Xiaobu.
Lan Xiaobu chuckled, “You saw correctly. This should be the teleportation array to Mengmu Dayan’s lair.”
“But the vortex has vanished, appearing for less than ten breaths,” Mengyuan said, frustrated, thinking they could have rushed in during that time.
“I know,” Lan Xiaobu said calmly, “The vortex is still there, lasting at least a day. It’s hidden now by a layer of concealment array patterns. The vast cosmos is truly miraculous, forming such a natural teleportation vortex. I wonder how Mengmu Dayan found this place. Come, let’s go in together.”
“Lord Lan, is it too much of a coincidence? Could it be artificial?” Mengyuan asked instinctively.
Lan Xiaobu smiled, “It shouldn’t be artificial…”
He stopped mid-sentence. The cosmic dimensional model had only shown that this void would form teleportation and concealment array patterns, not whether they were artificial or natural. Lan Xiaobu had assumed they were natural.
The patterns, per the model, were derived from the natural rules of this space. If they were naturally derived, they must be natural, right?
But Mengyuan’s words made him reconsider. The cosmos was full of coincidences, but that didn’t rule out human intervention.
With that, Lan Xiaobu said, “Mengyuan, enter my world. I’ll disguise and take you in.”
If the vortex was artificially created, Mengyuan’s disguise might be detected with absolute certainty. Having found Mengmu Dayan’s lair, Lan Xiaobu didn’t want to fail at the last step.
“Alright,” Mengyuan agreed, stepping decisively into Lan Xiaobu’s world as he opened its entrance.
Once she was inside, Lan Xiaobu disguised himself as a void array pattern Dao principle and merged into the teleportation array patterns.
Upon entering, he felt himself being teleported a great distance. When it ended, he stood on a void plaza, with floating characters above: Great Dream Star Void Plaza.
The plaza held over a dozen teleportation arrays, surrounded by layered defensive barriers. From the plaza, Lan Xiaobu could clearly see a lush planet.
The plaza wasn’t large, containing only the teleportation arrays and a planet array gate entrance.
This was undoubtedly Mengmu Dayan’s lair. Elated, Lan Xiaobu vowed to wipe out this vile Dao sect today or his trip would be in vain.
His gaze fell on the teleportation arrays, one catching his eye: a teleportation array to the vast cosmos. If he could destroy Mengmu Dayan’s lair and hitch a ride, it would be too convenient.
Scanning the plaza with his divine sense, he saw no one. But when his sense reached the entrance to the Great Dream Star’s array gate, he spotted four guards, their bodies radiating Great Dream Dao principles, clearly practitioners of the Great Dream Dao.
Lan Xiaobu began setting up void array patterns on the plaza. Since he planned to destroy this planet, he wouldn’t let a single Great Dream Dao cultivator escape.
An hour later, using the cosmic dimensional model, he easily devised a way to bypass the planet’s protective array. Disguised as a spatial Dao principle, he slipped past the four guards unnoticed and entered Great Dream Star.
Great Dream Star wasn’t large; without suppression barriers, Lan Xiaobu’s divine sense could cover it entirely.
The planet seemed sparsely populated, with no more than ten thousand cultivators under his divine sense. Even if some were hidden, the number wouldn’t be much higher. This puzzled Lan Xiaobu. With Great Dream Dao’s ambition to control all planets and planes in the vast cosmos, why so few people? Had they all been sent out?
Finding a secluded spot, Lan Xiaobu summoned Mengyuan.
“Is this Great Dream Star?” Mengyuan exclaimed upon emerging, recognising it instantly from her prior visits.
“Yes, Great Dream Star. But why so few people? My divine sense detects no more than ten thousand,” Lan Xiaobu replied.
Mengyuan explained, “Great Dream Star is the heart of Great Dream Dao. Only core members stay here. I’ve only been here three times, each after rendering great service to Great Dream Dao.”
Lan Xiaobu nodded, “For now, we’ll set up a planet-wide array, then find Mengmu Dayan’s warehouse. Finally, we destroy Great Dream Star.”
