“Something’s wrong, stop them…” A hawk-nosed cultivator finally sensed something amiss. They’d all said dao crystals couldn’t activate the teleportation array, yet these people still stepped onto it. That alone wasn’t much—testing was fine. But why did they all need to stand on the array for a test? Tossing a few dao crystals into the grooves to check activation would’ve sufficed.
More crucially, Du Bu had asked to join them. They knew Du Bu well—a man who sat rather than stood, spoke only when necessary. Du Bu had long known dao items couldn’t activate the array, so why pointlessly join these strangers? All signs pointed to one conclusion: Lan Xiaobu’s group might actually trigger the teleportation.
Though everyone heard the hawk-nosed man, no one moved to stop them. He was too far to intervene in time.
As the others stared in surprise at the hawk-nosed cultivator, Lan Xiaobu placed his four Qintian Stones into the array’s grooves.
The stones activated instantly, unaffected by the dao crystal coating.
A faint glow erupted from the array, and a void vortex appeared. As everyone in the waystation rushed out of their cave abodes, Lan Xiaobu and his group were swept into the vortex and vanished.
“Qintian Stones? They actually found Qintian Stones—four of them…” the hawk-nosed man muttered, his eyes filled with regret. He should’ve subdued Lan Xiaobu’s group the moment they arrived. Unbeknownst to him, had he acted then, he’d no longer exist in this world.
The teleportation was evidently long-distance. Wrapped in the void vortex, Lan Xiaobu and the others traveled for a full day without stopping.
Fortunately, the teleportation, though far, didn’t rob them of perception. Their divine senses could track the shifting void. Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu, having cultivated their own dao, though less powerful, sensed the changes more clearly than Thunder Sage and the others. They not only felt spatial shifts but also perceived transformations in spatial rules.
Clearly, in their perception, the void’s rules grew stronger, suggesting they were being sent to a more powerful cosmic domain.
Initially, they could track time’s passage. But as the void’s spatial shifts continued, they gradually lost precise awareness, knowing only that they were in the void, with its rules still changing. How long they’d been in the vortex, they couldn’t tell.
After an unknown duration, a sudden brightness flashed before them, and a river with rolling, majestic waves appeared in their divine senses. They all knew—this was the Chaos River. The teleportation wasn’t precise, merely sending them to the river, with their exact location left to chance.
It could hardly be called a river—even a void sea lacked such grandeur. Yet, at the edge of their divine senses, they sensed riverbanks. Perhaps these banks defined it as the Chaos River, or their presence caused the river’s towering waves.
As the teleportation force faded, they were about to fall into the river. But even the weakest among them was at Creation Dao level. With a twist in midair, their dao rhythms flowed, and they all surged toward a void platform above the river.
Lan Xiaobu led, but before reaching the platform, a dark beam shot toward him, its killing domain locking him in. The killing dao principles seemed unbreakable in the short term. Furious, Lan Xiaobu punched without hesitation.
No matter how strong the principles, they’d shatter under his Longevity Domain.
*Crack!* The divine dao principles exploded in the void. Lan Xiaobu’s punch deflected the dark beam, and he landed on the platform.
Mo Wuji and the others followed, landing beside him. They saw the platform held at least a dozen people. The attacker, a man in black robes, frowned slightly, surprised by Lan Xiaobu’s casual punch and his ability to evade the Soul-Piercing Lamp.
On the platform, Lan Xiaobu unleashed his Longevity Halberd, its killing momentum locking the black-robed man’s space as the halberd struck.
“Stop! What are you doing?” The black-robed man seemed incredulous that Lan Xiaobu would attack on the void platform.
Lan Xiaobu ignored him. The halberd’s momentum transformed into a palace-tone kill, its explosive killing sound like a thousand armies clashing.
It was clear to all—Lan Xiaobu was determined to kill this man.
The black-robed man shouted while summoning dual blades, forming a Realm-Deriving domain. But his domain was no match for Lan Xiaobu’s Longevity Domain. Their sage domains clashed, and the black-robed man’s shattered inch by inch.
The palace-tone kill’s momentum peaked, its sound tearing through the heavens, unstoppable. *One note at Yangguan breaks the heart; palace music rises, the halberd slashes ninety thousand miles!*
The halberd’s strike tore downward, far beyond ninety thousand miles, enveloping the entire platform.
Mo Wuji stayed still, watching two nearby cultivators. If they intervened, he’d act.
Why Lan Xiaobu was set on killing the black-robed man, Mo Wuji knew better than anyone. Following close behind, he’d seen the sneak attack’s dark beam. Had Lan Xiaobu reacted slower, it would’ve pierced his brow.
That beam’s corrosive dao rhythm, if it hit the brow, would’ve ruined one’s dao foundation, or worse, cost their life.
Not just Lan Xiaobu—even Mo Wuji would’ve struck without mercy. Against someone trying to kill him, Mo Wuji spared no one.
Lan Xiaobu thought the same, certain that if Qi Manwei, less experienced, had been in front, she’d have been hit. Though her realm was higher, her strength might not match his.
“You dare kill me? Killing is forbidden here…” The black-robed man felt the palace-tone kill’s terrifying dao principles, death’s breath grazing his brow. He no longer dared hold back.
*Crack!* As his domain shattered, Lan Xiaobu’s domain fully enveloped him, and his dual blades broke under the Longevity Halberd.
“Stop…” The black-robed man’s soul trembled in terror. He had countless reasons for Lan Xiaobu to spare him, but no time to voice any.
*Splatter!* Blood sprayed as the Longevity Halberd split his head in two.
“You actually killed me…” The black-robed man’s primordial spirit lingered in disbelief, but Lan Xiaobu didn’t care. A sweep of the halberd’s dao rhythm obliterated his soul, leaving no chance for rebirth.
“Killing is forbidden on the Chaos River’s void platform. You’ve broken its rules,” a flat voice said, devoid of emotion.
Lan Xiaobu stowed his halberd, choosing not to plunder the black-robed man’s world. With so many present, ripping open a cultivator’s world was taboo, and Lan Xiaobu, new here, didn’t want to overstep.
“Oh, so I should just stand still and let him kill me?” Lan Xiaobu retorted sarcastically. The speaker was a gaunt man with a sharp face, his dao rhythm seemingly stronger than the black-robed man’s.
The gaunt man chuckled, “When Yi Tingdao attacked, you weren’t yet on the Chaos River’s void platform, so technically, he didn’t break the no-fighting rule.”
“Who set these rules?” Lan Xiaobu asked calmly, unfazed.
The gaunt man chuckled again, ignoring Lan Xiaobu, clearly thinking stronger cultivators would deal with him, none of his concern.
