Mo Wuji naturally didn’t idle either. He and Lan Xiaobu each took one side, advancing with the Seven Realm Stone, ceaselessly plundering the Dayan Realm’s resources.
Divine spirit herbs were collected in swathes, Dao fruit trees were uprooted in droves. Dao crystals, Dao veins? Those were a given, directly whisked into their personal worlds with grand teleportation techniques. Even Dao crystal lakes weren’t spared; whenever they saw one, they rolled up the entire lake.
No matter how abundant the treasures in the Dayan Realm, the areas Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji passed through were left in ruins, reduced to barren wastelands.
As they extracted Dao veins, they naturally headed toward the areas with the densest cosmic vitality. Thus, as they progressed, the Dao veins they collected shifted from mostly low-grade to mostly high-grade.
“Wuji, something feels off,” Lan Xiaobu said, his heart uneasy, his movements slowing considerably.
Mo Wuji immediately responded, “Do you have a treasure to conceal the Seven Realm Stone? It’s best not to let anyone know we have it and can leave at any moment.”
“I do,” Lan Xiaobu said, summoning the Book of Life and Death. In the next moment, the book tightly enveloped the Seven Realm Stone.
“Good stuff, that Book of Life and Death,” Mo Wuji praised.
Aside from the Hetu Luoshu, using the Book of Life and Death to cloak the Seven Realm Stone was perfect.
“Wait, look at this place,” Lan Xiaobu said, stopping after concealing the Seven Realm Stone and pointing to a massive canyon ahead.
The cosmic vitality seeping from the canyon was denser than anywhere else they’d been, and an indescribable aura of the Great Dao flowed within.
“Is this a supreme-grade Dao vein?” Mo Wuji said in shock.
He quickly confirmed it was indeed a supreme-grade Dao vein. Despite raiding Mengmu Dayan’s treasury and collecting numerous Dao veins in the Dayan Realm, they hadn’t encountered a supreme-grade one until now, as they were exceedingly rare.
“I heard a realm can have at most one or two supreme-grade Dao veins. If there are two, they must be yin-yang Dao veins. If there’s a supreme-grade Dao vein here…”
Lan Xiaobu’s words trailed off abruptly. He and Mo Wuji exchanged a glance, both understanding the implication: if this was a supreme-grade Dao vein, Kuang Can was likely healing here.
“Set up the array…” Mo Wuji said, already tossing out a handful of array flags. Lan Xiaobu, without hesitation, began placing flags on the other side.
Having collaborated for so long and studied Mo Wuji’s Heaven-Opening Array Dao Scroll together, their array mastery had soared.
In mere moments, they constructed a trapping-killing grand array. This time, they didn’t use heaven-opening treasures as the array’s foundation but instead selected several innate treasures.
They didn’t have many heaven-opening treasures, but they had acquired some innate treasures from Mengmu Dayan’s treasury.
Once the trapping-killing array was complete, Lan Xiaobu guided the Seven Realm Stone into the canyon. Outside, their divine sense had been blocked. Now, as the Seven Realm Stone forcefully breached the restrictions and entered the canyon, both were stunned.
Hundreds of cultivators stood neatly arranged on a clearing in the canyon, all uniformly blackened but not dead.
As Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji entered, they saw a blackened cultivator walk woodenly into a void array gate and vanish.
“Zhuo Heng?” Lan Xiaobu spotted Zhuo Heng, also blackened, clearly deeply poisoned.
Zhuo Heng seemed to sense something, slightly turning his head and seeing Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu. His eyes revealed a desperate plea for survival, as if begging them to save him.
At that moment, he was filled with regret. Had he listened to Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu, he wouldn’t have ended up like this.
But then he sensed something amiss. Hadn’t Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu refused to enter? Why were they here?
Lan Xiaobu had no time to bother with Zhuo Heng. In a grave tone, he said, “Wuji, this place is filled with poison Dao principles. These people have been permeated by poison Dao principles, turned into human-shaped poison Dao principles. I feel locked by poison Dao principles. Try it yourself.”
Mo Wuji nodded, “Yes, this poison is terrifying, but don’t worry. I have a way to dispel it, and I’ll help you dispel it later. Kuang Can, the Heavenly Poison Sage, uses a poison refined from chaotic dregs. No wonder he could dominate the Hundred Zero Universe. Scan with your divine sense, the area near that void array gate is full of poison Dao principles.”
Mo Wuji was certain that without his poison-dispelling method, they’d have to rely on Lan Xiaobu to control the Seven Realm Stone and flee immediately. This was no place to linger.
“No need to worry about me, I’ve already dispelled it,” Lan Xiaobu said, about to share his method but surprised to learn Mo Wuji could dispel the poison Dao principles.
Mo Wuji paused, then realised Lan Xiaobu had the Cosmic Dimension Model, which was immune to this poison. The model could instantly construct the dimension model structure of the poison Dao principles, rendering the poison laughable to Lan Xiaobu.
“Zhuo Heng, I can’t save you. Apart from a sliver of consciousness, your entire being and Dao principles have become poison Dao principles,” Lan Xiaobu said, hesitating before transmitting a message to Zhuo Heng.
Zhuo Heng couldn’t transmit back, but his intense desire conveyed his wish to enter reincarnation rather than remain here as a tool for cultivating Dao principles. Lan Xiaobu decisively used a spatial divine ability, tearing a gap in the spatial Dao principles binding Zhuo Heng.
In that fleeting moment of freedom, Zhuo Heng frantically dissolved his own Great Dao. Before dying, his eyes showed relief and gratitude.
“Bold!” Lan Xiaobu’s actions enraged Kuang Can. With a furious roar, a grey figure lunged forward. Before reaching Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji, boundless Heavenly Poison Dao principles had already locked down their entire space.
Lan Xiaobu’s face paled. He frantically burned his essence blood, struggling to break free and control the Seven Realm Stone to escape.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t escape the Great Dao spatial bindings. He, Mo Wuji, and the Seven Realm Stone were trapped in the opponent’s Dao domain.
Mo Wuji understood the situation. With a muffled grunt, he struggled to say, “Xiaobu, burn your lifespan with me. I’ll use the Seven Realm Finger, you use the Rift Rule Wheel Pattern. If we tear through this spatial binding together, we can escape…”
“Alright,” Lan Xiaobu said, burning his vitality and essence blood even more fiercely. Neither had expected Kuang Can to recover so quickly, already at seventy to eighty percent strength. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so powerless.
“Xiaobu, wait. I sense another fluctuation…” Just as Lan Xiaobu was about to unleash the Rift Rule Wheel Pattern, Mo Wuji suddenly called out.
He detected a Dao principle fluctuation entirely different from the Heavenly Poison Sage’s. He could sense it because he held the Dayan Cauldron’s core, which resonated faintly with some lingering Dao charm in the cauldron.
“Hmph!” A muffled grunt sounded, followed by a terrifying wave of Great Dao principles. The grey figure lunging at Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji paused in midair, then erupted with endless Heavenly Poison Dao principles.
“Wuji, act now!” Lan Xiaobu urged, grasping the situation. Someone had schemed against the Heavenly Poison Sage, Kuang Can. According to the schemer’s plan, Kuang Can wasn’t supposed to leave the void array gate until his healing was complete.
Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji’s arrival had infuriated Kuang Can, prompting him to attack. The schemer, seizing the opportunity, acted to force Kuang Can back and resume the original plan.
As for Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu, in the schemer’s eyes, they were mere prey, easily dealt with.
“Wait a bit longer,” Mo Wuji transmitted urgently to Lan Xiaobu. “I suspect the one attacking the Heavenly Poison Sage is a supreme powerhouse. The Dayan Cauldron’s core carries a trace of his Dao principle aura, and I’ve sensed the cauldron’s presence. He likely thinks we’ll end up like those poisoned cultivators, turning black. He doesn’t know we have the Seven Realm Stone and can leave anytime. Now, turn black quickly, and I’ll find a way to steal the Dayan Cauldron…”
Almost as Mo Wuji finished speaking, Lan Xiaobu’s body was covered in Heavenly Poison Dao principles, indistinguishable from the other standing cultivators. Not only Lan Xiaobu, but Mo Wuji too was blackened, shrouded in poison Dao principles.
In his mind, Lan Xiaobu wondered where Mo Wuji sensed the Dayan Cauldron. He admired Mo Wuji’s audacity, thinking of stealing the cauldron even in such a moment.
