The City of Eternal Life had grown noticeably quieter since Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji took over.
However, after six months, every cultivator living in the city discovered that the actions of Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji were completely contrary to the rumours.
Rumours claimed that Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji loved to sever others’ Great Paths, killing any cultivator with potential to prevent threats to themselves. Additionally, they were said to enjoy plundering others’ treasures, even taking those of the Heavenly Mechanism Saint and the Heaven and Earth Saint, let alone those of ordinary cultivators.
In reality, since arriving, Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji had not harmed ordinary cultivators in the slightest. Moreover, the City of Eternal Life gained a group of intelligent puppet treasures.
These puppets, naturally crafted by Mo Wuji, were all uniformly at the Quasi-Saint Realm. No one dared to tamper with them, as everyone knew they belonged to the two formidable figures.
To the delight of the city’s cultivators, once these puppets appeared, they immediately took over all vacant cave abodes, commercial buildings, and shops, leaving untouched those still occupied. Additionally, they established an identity system, allowing only registered cultivators of the City of Eternal Life to enter and exit freely.
External cultivators had to provide a guarantor to reside permanently in the city. For temporary visits, they needed to purchase a temporary jade token, and once their time was up, they had to leave immediately.
Shops and commercial buildings in the city only needed to pay a regular tax, and the puppets took responsibility for all other safety concerns.
Previously, with the Earth One Saint overseeing the city and a Creation Saint in constant seclusion, the city was relatively safe, with no fighting permitted. However, practices like market bullying or selling inferior goods were beneath the Earth One Saint’s notice. If someone cheated you in a transaction, you had to accept it. If you dared resist or fight back, you’d be killed on the spot, regardless of right or wrong—blame your own lack of discernment.
Now, things were different. Under the city rules enforced by the puppets, any market bullying could be reported to the Eternal Life Commercial Street. Once reported, the puppets would investigate, and if the accusations were substantiated, the offender would be obliterated by the city’s grand array. If the accusation was found to be false, the accuser would face the same fate. The belongings of the obliterated party would be split, with half confiscated by the authorities and half awarded to the rightful party.
Initially, some dismissed this, believing that no matter how powerful Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu were, they wouldn’t bother with regulating transactions. After all, in the Land of Eternal Life, everyone pursued eternal life—who would waste time on such trivial matters?
But after the puppets, backed by the city’s grand array, obliterated several market bullies, everyone realised that Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji were, indeed, “idle enough” to care. Two such powerful figures were managing matters irrelevant to cultivation. As a result, the trading environment became remarkably fair, with no further instances of market bullying or selling inferior goods.
Over time, more cultivators in the Land of Eternal Life learned of the equitable environment in the City of Eternal Life. Some began returning, and even those who weren’t originally from the city started arriving. However, whether they were former residents or not, leaving was easy, but returning was not. They had to pay substantial amounts of Dao-grade items or Dao veins and undergo a lengthy observation period. During this time, any violation of the city’s rules would result in expulsion or execution.
Soon, people discovered that even for the best treasure transactions or auctions, as long as taxes were paid according to the rules, no one dared to rob or covet them—it was genuine. Moreover, neither Mo Wuji nor Lan Xiaobu ever appeared in public or sent anyone to track cultivators who acquired valuable items.
As time passed, the City of Eternal Life attracted an increasing number of high-quality goods. Within a few years, all premium items were auctioned there.
The Creation Market gradually declined. Years ago, Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu had killed two cultivators there, and no Creation Saints had stepped forward to address it, let alone pursue them to the City of Eternal Life.
Not only did the Creation Saints fail to deal with Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji, but they also vanished without a trace. Their disappearance made cultivators wary of casually selling top-tier treasures in other Dao cities. This further convinced many that Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu were poised to dominate the entire Land of Eternal Life. In time, the City of Eternal Life became the central hub of the region, with land becoming nearly impossible to purchase.
Two cave abodes in the city were off-limits to others: one belonged to Mo Wuji, and the other to Lan Xiaobu.
However, neither Mo Wuji nor Lan Xiaobu had appeared since entering their abodes, and negative rumours about them gradually faded.
At this moment, both were studying the Heavenly Mechanism Bone.
Unlike Kong Yangshan’s study of white bones, Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji faced no interference from Burial Dao laws here, allowing them to focus entirely on sensing every trace of the bone’s Dao charm.
Initially, Lan Xiaobu didn’t pay much attention, assuming the Heavenly Mechanism Bone was merely a relic from a fallen giant cultivator. But when he sensed a breath of Great Path laws surpassing those of the Land of Eternal Life, he immediately realised he might have been mistaken.
He had encountered Creation Saints like the Heavenly Mechanism Saint and the Heaven and Earth Saint, but their Great Path auras were far inferior to that of the bone—not even on the same level.
This was undoubtedly from a powerhouse beyond the Creation Saint Realm, confirming their earlier speculation: Creation Saints were not eternal, as there existed beings stronger than them.
Upon realising there were existences beyond Creation Saints, Lan Xiaobu ceased studying the Heavenly Mechanism Bone. He decided to achieve the Yan Realm here. Regardless of whether the Eternal Life Saints came to besiege him and Mo Wuji, only by reaching the Yan Realm would he have a chance to uncover whether there was truly a fourth step beyond the Creation Saint.
—
Though the Land of Eternal Life was vast, truly desirable locations were scarce. Otherwise, Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji wouldn’t have chosen the City of Eternal Life as their dojo for achieving the Yan Realm.
Yet, the Land of Eternal Life still held some secret spatial realms, one of which was the Chaos Space. In its prime, the Chaos Space was the foremost space in the Land of Eternal Life, attracting countless cultivators seeking opportunities. It had indeed yielded many treasures, such as spatial Dao-grade items, spatial Dao scrolls, spatial array disks, and even intermediate Dao laws.
However, due to the influx of cultivators, within less than a millennium, the Chaos Space was completely plundered. Not only were its treasures exhausted, but its Dao laws were also shattered. Over time, it became an abandoned, desolate place with no visitors.
Fluctuations of Dao charm indicated the prelude to achieving the Creation Saint Realm.
The one comprehending the Great Path here was Qi Muwei. Years ago, her father, Qi Xuan, had obtained a spatial Dao scroll and passed it to her. When she invited Ji Congkong to study it together, Ji Congkong betrayed and killed her.
Though Qi Xuan was killed, he had shared the secret of the Chaos Space with his daughter, Qi Muwei. The secret was the location where he had obtained the spatial Dao scroll—a hidden spatial world within the Chaos Space. As the first to discover this world, he left a bloodline imprint, allowing only himself or his direct descendants to enter using their bloodline.
Back then, Qi Muwei had invited Pu Xiaobu, telling him about this secret place—the spatial world in the Chaos Space. When Pu Xiaobu declined, she came here alone to prepare for achieving the Creation Realm.
At this moment, spatial Dao laws swirled around Qi Muwei, with temporal Dao laws flowing as well. With each passing moment, her aura rose to a new level.
Having cultivated the Spatial Great Path for years and achieved the Eternal Life Great Path through it, reaching the Yan Realm, Qi Muwei knew her talent had likely reached its limit.
But she hadn’t expected Lan Xiaobu to produce a spatial Dao scroll more aligned with her Great Path, along with a temporal Dao scroll that complemented it. This caused her stagnant Great Path insights to surge rapidly. In this undisturbed spatial world, her insights advanced by leaps and bounds.
After an unknown number of years, Qi Muwei suddenly opened her eyes, which had been closed all this time. The aura of her spatial-temporal Great Path had climbed to its peak. At this moment, her saintly Great Path was no longer a spatial domain but had evolved into a spatial-temporal domain.
Qi Muwei stood up, her Dao laws becoming clearer. She had comprehended the Creation Dao laws and grasped the opportunity to become a Creation Saint. If she wished, she could become one in the next moment.
What she had once thought impossible was now within reach, yet she remained utterly calm.
“Today, I, Qi Muwei, achieve the Creation Realm, forging my own Spatial-Temporal Saint domain…”
