Mercy was out of the question. Under the suppression of the Samsara Charm, the black dragon—Meng Buchen—grew feeble, its momentum shattered.
A shadowy figure appeared above the dragon’s head, gradually forming a hazy, lifelike face.
“Master…” Meng Buchen stared, dumbfounded, unable to believe his master’s soul fragment was within him.
“Let Meng Buchen go, and I won’t pursue today’s matter. Otherwise, you’ll find no foothold in the Longevity Land. I am Meng Qi, the Seven Realms Saint. I swear on my path—if you don’t release him, you’ll regret it for eternity,” the figure said, glaring at Lan Xiaobu with stern authority.
Lan Xiaobu looked at Meng Qi, unimpressed, and slapped the air. “What are you, some fancy duster? Meng Qi, so great? Where’s all this superiority coming from? Get lost to samsara!”
Thud! The slap hit Meng Qi’s forming soul shadow square on. The surging Samsara Charm swept over, rapidly fading his figure.
Meng Qi was livid, nearly choking on rage. Since his rise, he’d never faced such humiliation. Even Longevity Saints called him “Brother Seven Saint.” Yet this ant, not even at Longevity Realm, treated him as less than a chicken.
Worse, he couldn’t resist the slap, dragged into nothingness by the Samsara Charm with boundless frustration.
Meng Buchen lost all will to fight. Moments later, the Samsara Principles crushed him, his thousand-foot body crashing onto the Samsara Bridge with a resounding boom.
Lan Xiaobu was about to tear into Meng Buchen’s world when he noticed the lack of resistance. He chuckled, “Not fighting back? Open your world yourself, then—save me the trouble.”
Meng Buchen gave a bitter laugh. “My two brothers and I searched for the Seven Realms Stone for Master, and yet… heh…”
He trailed off, interest gone, perhaps only seeking death now.
Lan Xiaobu understood his mood. Meng Qi’s soul hiding in him, unknown to Meng Buchen, was clearly a scheme. Meng Qi likely used him to hunt the Seven Realms Stone while planning to devour his essence and charm to bolster his reborn foundation.
Knowing his master’s betrayal, Meng Buchen was drained, devoid of fight. Working tirelessly for Meng Qi, only to be a stepping stone—who wouldn’t despair?
Seeing Lan Xiaobu pause, Meng Buchen looked up, puzzled. “Not striking? Pitying me? Or planning to bind my soul to serve you?”
Lan Xiaobu grinned. “Right, I do pity you. But I’m not sparing you, nor binding you…”
At “striking,” he grabbed downward, tearing open Meng Buchen’s world. A soul emerged, but before it could flee, the Samsara Charm locked it. Lan Xiaobu instantly knew—this wasn’t Meng Buchen’s soul, but Meng Qi’s.
“Meng Qi, you think after your performance, I’d say, ‘Leave a soul strand and be my lackey’?” Lan Xiaobu said, stunned by the haul in Meng Buchen’s world. Not many top treasures, but the sheer volume of miscellaneous items surpassed even his own.
“How did you know?” the soul asked coldly.
Lan Xiaobu waved, and dao fire engulfed the soul. Meng Qi or Meng Buchen—he didn’t care. Burn it.
Good thing he hadn’t planned to keep Meng Buchen as a lackey, or he’d have Meng Qi, a ticking bomb, by his side, bound to backfire.
These old bastards were relentless. Meng Buchen’s despair and Meng Qi’s hidden soul had almost fooled Lan Xiaobu into believing he was betrayed. Now he saw—Meng Qi could replace Meng Buchen anytime. Likely, when the Samsara Bridge trapped him, Meng Qi’s soul had already taken over.
After erasing Meng Qi’s soul, Lan Xiaobu kept Meng Buchen’s thousand-foot dragon corpse, storing it in his Longevity Realm.
Retracting the Samsara Bridge, he exhaled in relief. Eliminating Meng Buchen removed a major threat. Left unchecked, Meng Buchen could wreak havoc, especially if he traced Lan Xiaobu to the Great Desolate Divine Realm for revenge.
The only pity was mastering ruleless evasion but not advancing ruled evasion.
No choice but to move on…
As he thought of leaving, it clicked—ruleless evasion left no ripples because it operated in ruleless space.
Having proved ruleless, his charm could form ruleless space anytime. So, he could use ruled evasion in ruleless space, relying not on external void rules but his own.
Testing it, Lan Xiaobu flickered, creating ruleless space around him, then vanished.
He reappeared tens of thousands of miles away, ecstatic. No rule or spatial ripples.
Pure joy—a breakthrough.
This trip was worth it: perfecting both evasions, killing Meng Buchen, and getting a thousand-foot dragon corpse as a bonus.
A Longevity Realm dragon skeleton was immensely valuable.
Thinking of it, a bad feeling struck.
He recalled the gray dragon—a ten-thousand-foot corpse. This black dragon, a thousand feet, was Creation Path. What was a ten-thousand-foot gray dragon?
He’d thought the black dragon was the leader, the gray second or third. Now, the gray dragon seemed the boss.
If so, stronger than the black dragon, Meng Qi wouldn’t leave a soul only in the black dragon and skip the gray.
Lan Xiaobu’s scalp tingled, realizing Meng Qi likely had a soul in the gray dragon too. Both dragons were pawns for Meng Qi’s schemes.
Worse, he’d given the gray dragon’s location to the Samsara Saint, Evernight Saint, Blood River Saint, and Greenwood Saint. They’d likely found it by now. If Meng Qi’s soul was there, they were walking into death.
Too late for regrets—Lan Xiaobu had to rush to Zhen Changyuan and head there, hoping to make it.
Using ruled evasion, he reached the ruined Tai Ruins Hall square in half an incense stick’s time.
“Big Brother, did you see Meng Buchen? He tried to kill me, but Sister Zhen drove him off,” Tai Chuan said, rushing to complain.
“No worries, I killed him,” Lan Xiaobu waved off.
Zhen Changyuan relaxed. Though sure Meng Buchen wasn’t Lan Xiaobu’s match, a Creation Path powerhouse could still harm him with forbidden arts.
Lan Xiaobu turned to her. “Senior Sister Zhen, Meng Buchen was a dragon. What’s the usual size of a Creation Path dragon?”
She pondered briefly. “It varies by clan. Generally, only pureblood five-clawed dragons reach Longevity Realm. They need a ten-thousand-foot body to hit Creation Path.”
Lan Xiaobu froze. Meng Buchen was only a thousand feet, yet Creation Path? Then he got it—not Meng Buchen, but Meng Qi.
Meng Buchen likely hadn’t reached Creation Path, but with Meng Qi’s soul and path, he was a solid Creation Path powerhouse.
Either way, the gray dragon was likely stronger than the black.
“Senior Sister Zhen, my friends are in danger. I must go help now,” Lan Xiaobu said, worried for the four saints—key allies. Samsara Saint was the weakest, but the others, if Creation Path, were vital. Having sent them after the gray dragon, he’d feel guilty if they fell.
