Hearing Lan Xiaobu’s words, Zhuo Heng gave a wry smile and said, “Ninety-nine percent of people have a Chaos River bracelet, but I don’t.”
“Why not?” Mo Wuji breathed a sigh of relief. As expected, Zhuo Heng didn’t have a bracelet, so when he went to the Chaos River Void Market, he forgot to remind him.
Zhuo Heng chuckled self-deprecatingly, “I come from some corner I don’t even know myself. I ended up at the Chaos River by chance and even visited the Haoyuan Universe once. Getting a bracelet at the Chaos River is possible, but receiving messages on it costs money. If you think the messages are useful, you can choose to view them, but viewing requires paying Dao crystals. Besides that, bracelet owners have to pay a certain amount of Dao crystals annually. If it weren’t for you and Fellow Daoist Lan giving me some Dao crystals, I’d only have about ten Dao crystals on me right now, barely enough to scrape by.”
Mo Wuji was stunned. He hadn’t expected that someone like Zhuo Heng, who had been mixing in the Chaos River for so many years, could be so poor. Had this guy come from the Great Derivation Realm or what?
“Do you know about the Great Derivation Realm?” Mo Wuji asked.
Zhuo Heng nodded, “I’ve heard of it. They say the Great Derivation Realm is the real deal. Mengmu Great Derivation originated from the Great Derivation Realm. Over seventy percent of Mengmu Great Derivation’s Creation Sages come from the Great Derivation Realm. Not only that, two of Mengmu Great Derivation’s Fourth Step cultivators achieved their Fourth Step because of the Great Derivation Realm. Most of the Dao veins in the Haoyuan Universe also come from the Great Derivation Realm. So, in the entire Haoyuan Universe, the Great Derivation Realm holds nearly the highest status.”
At these words, both Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu sucked in a cold breath.
Let alone others, after hearing Zhuo Heng’s description, they too yearned to go to the Great Derivation Realm. Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu had gone through immense hardship to achieve the Creation Realm in the Burial Dao Great Plain. Setting aside whether their Creation Realm was affected by that existence in the Burial Dao Great Plain, the fact that the Burial Dao Great Plain was a low-level universe meant its heavenly rules couldn’t compare to those of the Haoyuan Universe.
Now, both Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu wanted to achieve the Derivation Realm and then step into the Creation Sage Realm. To them, the Great Derivation Realm seemed tailor-made for their goals.
“When I went to the Chaos River Void Market, they released news that we know the location of the Great Derivation Realm and are about to head there. So now, many cultivators in the Chaos River Void Market are teaming up, ostensibly to hunt us down, but they’re actually preparing to go to the Great Derivation Realm. Clearly, someone deliberately leaked this information, likely to use us, though I’m not sure of their exact purpose,” Mo Wuji said.
“So, the news of the Great Derivation Realm’s emergence probably has nothing to do with Mengmu Great Derivation,” Lan Xiaobu said.
Mo Wuji nodded. Mengmu Great Derivation originated from the Great Derivation Realm, so it’s likely they already know its location. Many people want to join Mengmu Great Derivation precisely to reach the Great Derivation Realm. Now that the Great Derivation Realm’s location has been leaked, and it’s said that we know it, it suggests the leaker is probably not Mengmu Great Derivation.
“I bought some jade slips at the Chaos River Void Market, but I haven’t looked at them yet. The Chaos River bracelet issue reminded me, so I won’t take these jade slips out for now. Xiaobu, take control of the Seven Realms Stone and head deeper into the Chaos River. I’m going to study these jade slips,” Mo Wuji said, then entered his Mortal Realm.
Even if the other party was a Fourth Step cultivator, they wouldn’t be able to detect anything about his Mortal Realm. Even if he bought items with divine sense imprints, as long as they were in his Mortal Realm, there’d be no issue.
As Mo Wuji entered his Mortal Realm, Lan Xiaobu immediately took control of the Seven Realms Stone, plunging it deeper into the Chaos River. Though his strength wasn’t enough to reach the riverbed, the deeper they went, the less likely they’d be discovered.
As the top power in the Haoyuan Universe, Mengmu Great Derivation should, in theory, have a dojo in the Chaos River Void Market. Yet, oddly, there was no Mengmu Great Derivation dojo in the market.
At this moment, a red-haired man entered the Chaos River Void Market. Everyone who saw him quickly bowed and stepped aside.
Perhaps many didn’t know this red-haired man, but his cyan sage robe, embroidered with a twisted skull on the sleeve, marked him as a Cyan-Robed Enforcer of Mengmu Great Derivation.
For whatever reason, the Chaos River Void Market lacked a temporary Mengmu Great Derivation dojo, but their members could enter the market without any hindrance, not even needing to pay Dao crystals.
The red-haired man headed straight to the largest information tower in the Chaos River Void Market, the River Stone Information Tower. In the luxurious meeting hall on the top floor, five people were already waiting. Despite the abundance of chairs, none of them dared to sit, knowing who they were waiting for: Jin Yi, the Cyan-Robed Enforcer of Mengmu Great Derivation.
In all of Mengmu Great Derivation, there were only three Cyan-Robed Enforcers, one of whom was Jin Yi.
Rumour had it that Mengmu Great Derivation had three Fourth Step cultivators, but in reality, it was one true Fourth Step and two pseudo-Fourth Steps. Pseudo-Fourth Steps were those who failed to fully achieve the Fourth Step or didn’t complete the process, yet their strength far surpassed that of Creation Sages. These were called pseudo-Fourth Steps.
A hallmark of pseudo-Fourth Steps was that they could never truly reach the Fourth Step, let alone the Fifth Step.
This might be a悲伤的消息 for pseudo-Fourth Steps.
But considering there were only two or three Fourth Step cultivators in the entire Haoyuan Universe, the status of a pseudo-Fourth Step was immense, and countless people aspired to become one.
The red-haired man was Jin Yi, the Cyan-Robed Enforcer. As he entered the meeting hall of the River Stone Information Tower, the five waiting individuals bowed in unison, saying, “Greetings, Sage Enforcer Qing.”
Jin Yi nodded, took the seat at the head, and said, “Everyone, please sit.”
Only then did the others dare to take their seats.
“Since the founding of Mengmu Great Derivation, we’ve never faced such humiliation. The fall of one Yellow-Robed Enforcer and two Green-Robed Enforcers is beyond mere shame. If we can’t apprehend the culprit soon, Mengmu Great Derivation has no reason to continue dominating this vast expanse,” Jin Yi said heavily, his face radiating intense killing intent.
The five below sat in respectful silence, none daring to speak.
“Hu Chuan, what’s the progress of your investigation?” Jin Yi’s gaze fixed on a Yellow-Robed man, a Yellow-Robed Enforcer of Mengmu Great Derivation.
Hu Chuan was short, unremarkable in appearance, with narrow eyes. Despite being “just” a Yellow-Robed Enforcer, his status in Mengmu Great Derivation was significant due to his exceptional sense of perception.
At Jin Yi’s question, Hu Chuan stood, bowed, and said, “If my guess is correct, one of that group has been to the Chaos River Void Market.”
“Oh? Where are they?” Jin Yi’s eyes lit up. He knew that anyone Hu Chuan targeted rarely escaped, even if they were Creation Sages.
Hu Chuan said with shame, “I was incompetent and let them slip away.”
“Someone escaped your grasp?” Jin Yi’s tone carried doubt. Not only Jin Yi but the others were also visibly skeptical.
Someone Hu Chuan tracked had gotten away?
Hu Chuan nodded, “Yes, this person was extremely elusive. I only sensed something suspicious based on instinct. After he left the Chaos River Void Market, I followed immediately, but I found nothing. The divine sense imprint I placed on him also vanished.”
Jin Yi’s expression grew grave. Escaping Hu Chuan’s pursuit and removing his divine sense imprint was no small feat.
“Tell me the details,” Jin Yi said, not reprimanding Hu Chuan. Someone capable of killing a Green-Robed Enforcer wouldn’t be simple.
Hu Chuan responded, “The moment I saw him, I felt he didn’t quite fit in with the Chaos River Void Market. Later, when a female cultivator approached him to team up, that sense of incongruity grew stronger.”
“And then?” Jin Yi asked.
Hu Chuan continued, “I followed him into the Chaos River Void Market and found he was only buying methods to find Chaos Stones and information about this vast expanse. It wasn’t until he left that I was certain he was the one I was looking for. He told the female cultivator who approached him that he was going to reapply for a Chaos River bracelet, but he didn’t. I also suspect he’d never even heard of the Chaos River bracelet before.”
“How exactly did you lose him?” Jin Yi pressed.
Hu Chuan said, “That cultivator moved without a trace. I never sensed his divine sense, yet I had the feeling he saw through me. After leaving the Chaos River Void Market, he discovered my imprint, removed it, and vanished without me noticing a thing.” His tone carried deep shame; this was a first for him.
