Naturally, Zhen Changyuan had no issue with it. Lan Xiaobu had shared the domain rules of the Rootless Divine Realm with Sage Reincarnation and the others, confident that with the capabilities of Reincarnation, Blood River, Eternal Night, and Greenwood, they had numerous ways to reach the Rootless Divine Realm. He was unsure, however, of the exact methods they used to get there. Once in the Rootless Divine Realm, they could navigate the Seven Realms Desert to locate the Gray Dragon.
For Lan Xiaobu, there were also many ways to access the Rootless Divine Realm. He chose the simplest and most direct approach: tearing through the void domain.
The plane where the Rootless Divine Realm resided was likely adjacent to his current one. Lan Xiaobu tore through the void twice and found it. Sensing the domain rules of the Rootless Divine Realm, the Reincarnation Pot surged inside.
“This place feels familiar,” Zhen Changyuan remarked as the Reincarnation Pot entered.
Lan Xiaobu explained, “The Rootless Divine Realm was once the premier divine realm in this vast expanse, so it’s normal if you’ve been here, Senior Sister. Let me send a few messages to them.”
Lan Xiaobu took out his communication pearl, but Zhen Changyuan stopped him. “Junior Brother Xiaobu, if what you said is true, their communication pearls might be under Meng Qi’s control. Why don’t we head straight there? They might not have moved so quickly.”
Lan Xiaobu agreed. If Meng Qi’s soul fragment had truly possessed the Gray Dragon, even if Reincarnation and the others were twice as strong, they’d likely be no match.
“I’ll first check if they’ve left the Rootless Divine Realm.” Lan Xiaobu grabbed a handful of array flags and began setting up a formation. In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he completed a Path-Seeking Grand Array.
Activating it, a faint trace of energy pointed in a direction. “One of my communication pearls is that way, meaning they’re still in the Rootless Divine Realm. They may not have gone to find the Gray Dragon yet. Senior Sister, let’s go.”
Without summoning the Reincarnation Pot, Lan Xiaobu used an escape technique. After proving her destiny, Zhen Changyuan’s strength had soared. Though her escape technique wasn’t as advanced as Lan Xiaobu’s, she could keep up as long as he left traces of his dao rhythm. Tai Chuan returned to the Longevity Realm to study the Great Dao of Destiny, awaiting his chance to prove his path.
In just half a day, Lan Xiaobu stopped. Before him lay a dried-up sea. He didn’t need to search further—his divine sense had already spotted two familiar figures: one alive, one dead. The living was Blood River Sage Chun Yingsheng, the dead was Greenwood Sage Jiao Qingxu. Reincarnation and Eternal Night Sages were nowhere to be seen.
Both lay at the sea’s bottom. Blood River was pinned by a soul-binding dao rule through his dao base, nailed to the dry seabed. Jiao Qingxu lay nearby, lifeless.
“Don’t go over,” Zhen Changyuan called out, catching up.
Even without her warning, Lan Xiaobu wouldn’t have approached. Though it appeared as a dried sea, he saw it was a magical treasure. Entering would mean walking into someone else’s trap.
Lan Xiaobu was intimately familiar with the Rootless Divine Realm. The sea’s simulated heavenly rules, though mimicking the realm’s, couldn’t deceive his eyes or divine sense.
“My thought is to set up a formation to bind this place,” Zhen Changyuan transmitted. “This is a divine realm, after all. No matter how strong Meng Qi is, he’s likely at his limit, or he wouldn’t resort to such tactics.”
Lan Xiaobu replied via transmission, “Senior Sister, you’re underestimating Meng Qi. This treasure he’s set up is far more complex than it seems.”
Before he could finish, he sensed something wrong. Zhen Changyuan’s face changed, exclaiming, “Not good.” Lan Xiaobu’s expression darkened—he had unwittingly entered Meng Qi’s domain. Meng Qi cultivated the Seven Realms Great Dao, fusing one of his realms with this dried-sea treasure and assimilating it into the Rootless Divine Realm. Lan Xiaobu had plunged in without noticing.
Fortunately, he hadn’t pressed forward into the sea itself, or it would’ve been over. “Not bad, quick to realize you’re in my realm,” a sudden voice rang out. Jiao Qingxu, who had appeared dead, stood up.
“Body possession?” Zhen Changyuan stared at him. She spoke of possession, but knew the real issue wasn’t that—they were trapped in Meng Qi’s domain.
Lan Xiaobu said nothing, studying the risen Jiao Qingxu. He was certain Meng Qi wouldn’t possess someone like Jiao Qingxu—not out of kindness, but disdain. For someone as prideful as Meng Qi, only a dragon would do, which is why he placed soul fragments in Meng Buchen and the Gray Dragon.
Using Jiao Qingxu’s body suggested the Gray Dragon wasn’t ready yet—Meng Qi needed it to evolve further for full integration. Knowing Lan Xiaobu would come after learning of Blood River and Greenwood’s presence, Meng Qi had set this trap.
“I told you not to cross me, but you didn’t listen,” Meng Qi sneered, his hands stirring dao rules.
Lan Xiaobu felt the surrounding space vanish, his domain collapsing instantly upon extension. This was expected—in another’s realm, even a divine domain, maintaining one’s own was near impossible.
Zhen Changyuan’s gaze grew heavy. She’d never heard of anyone escaping another’s world alive.
“Don’t worry, Senior Sister,” Lan Xiaobu transmitted. “This isn’t Meng Qi’s full world. He’s still relying on his Gray Dragon disciple to re-prove the Seven Realms, so he can’t trap us with a true world yet. He’s using a Seven Realms divine technique—five realms, if I’m not mistaken. We’re in one of them. Break the five realms, and we escape his bindings.”
Lan Xiaobu cursed himself silently. After years of cultivation, knowing Meng Qi’s cunning, he’d still blundered into the Seven Realms technique, trapped within it—a bitter irony. It reinforced his need for caution, no matter the urgency. A moment’s care could’ve avoided this.
Zhen Changyuan nodded. Even a five-realm technique wasn’t easy to escape. In another’s realm, even the greatest abilities were stifled—it controlled all rules.
Lan Xiaobu knew he had an ace: the Cosmic Mill. He hadn’t revealed it against Meng Buchen, reserving it as a trump card and testing if he could win without it. That secrecy paid off. If Meng Qi knew of the mill, he’d have used different tactics or delayed revealing himself. Meng Qi only knew of the Reincarnation Bridge.
A devastating wave of killing dao rules swept in. Lan Xiaobu summoned the Life-Death Ledger, the rules crashing against it, leaving deep and shallow scars. Zhen Changyuan’s Void White Mountain suffered similar cracks. “Xiaobu, my mountain won’t hold for an incense stick’s time,” she transmitted, pale, frantically channeling divine essence to resist.
Lan Xiaobu understood: once her mountain fell, the killing rules would tear her apart, dissolving her into the Seven Realms dao.
“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Lan Xiaobu said, using the ledger to fend off the rules while slowly weaving his Longevity dao rules.
Seeing him form his own divine dao rules, Zhen Changyuan was elated. She hadn’t expected him to wield such power while locked in Meng Qi’s technique, with killing rules battering their defenses.
“Hm, your own Great Dao, and you’ve proven a rule-based dao, constructing your own rule space. Interesting. Let’s see my Seven Realms Displacement,” Meng Qi chuckled, his hands stirring. The space around Lan Xiaobu and Zhen Changyuan grew chaotic.
*Pfft!* Zhen Changyuan’s arm was torn off by the displacement. If Lan Xiaobu hadn’t swiftly grabbed it, she’d have lost it permanently. Blood sprayed around him as the shifting space sliced his skin, but it couldn’t sever his body.
Lan Xiaobu sneered inwardly. Using rule space for divine techniques? Meng Qi was blind. Rule space was a feint—his true aim was to create a ruleless space and unleash the Cosmic Mill to counterattack. Having mastered rule escape through ruleless space, he could deploy the mill within another’s divine domain.
He refused to believe his mill couldn’t grind down Meng Qi’s Seven Realms technique.
