Even with the dimensional model structure constructed by the Cosmic Dimensional Model, pinpointing the location of the marks, it took Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu a full month to remove them. After a month, Ou Ping was still working on stripping his mark.
“That’s terrifying,” Lan Xiaobu said, still shaken. Since embarking on his path, he had encountered many powerful beings, even those who could crush him without giving him a chance to fight back. But this was the first time he had faced an existence that could, with a single handprint, overpower him from countless realms away.
“Xiaobu, do you know how this mark was placed?” Mo Wuji approached, equally stunned. Without the Cosmic Dimensional Model, he would have been tracked the moment he stepped out.
Lan Xiaobu pondered for a long time before saying, “I can’t tell at all. The mark seems to have naturally fused with the rhythm of our Great Path, ready to integrate into our Dao foundation at any moment. The vast cosmos truly holds too many things we don’t understand.”
Mo Wuji fell silent. He, too, couldn’t figure out how the mark had been embedded. He cultivated the Mortal Dao, and nothing ordinary could escape his perception. Yet, this mark, placed on him from who-knows-how-many planes away, had gone undetected. Even now, after removing it, he still didn’t know how it had been applied.
“Xiaobu, I’ve decided to go into seclusion for a while to study how this mark was placed. Otherwise, what happens next time we’re not together and someone marks us again?” Mo Wuji resolved, knowing they didn’t dare leave anytime soon.
Despite having removed the marks, the moment they left the Chaos Road, they could be targeted again. Such a powerhouse’s perception didn’t always rely on marks; intuition alone could sense their presence. With Lan Xiaobu, the Cosmic Dimensional Model could detect marks, but what if they didn’t have it?
“Alright, I’ll explore the Chaos Road a bit. Maybe we can find a way to leave from here,” Lan Xiaobu said.
Mo Wuji nodded, “While you’re exploring, try using that Dao Heart Disk more. I feel it might be useful.”
He knew Lan Xiaobu hadn’t given up on finding a way to refine the Chaos Road. Before, it didn’t matter whether they had the Chaos Road or not. Now, it was different. The Chaos Road was their lifeline; leaving it meant being targeted, showing just how vital it was.
Lan Xiaobu had initially planned to steer the Seven Realms Stone to Station 2706, but he soon discovered that while the Seven Realms Stone could leave or enter the Chaos Road, it couldn’t shift spaces within it.
Using the same method as before, Lan Xiaobu refined some array flags with Chaos Stones. After setting up a Space-Tracing Array with these flags, a fork in the yellowish dirt road appeared, as expected. Lan Xiaobu stepped onto the fork, and the original path vanished.
As he had anticipated, a station appeared ahead, marked as Station 652. The last station he visited was 2706, and now it was 652.
Entering the station, Lan Xiaobu found no teleportation array or people. It seemed abandoned, long deserted.
He stepped out, refined more array flags with Chaos Stones, and set up another Space-Tracing Array. Like before, he reached another station, this time Station 782. This disappointed him, as he wanted to reach Station 1. Being Station 1, it would likely be close to the Chaos Road’s starting point.
Finding the starting point was crucial for refining the Chaos Road.
This random approach wasn’t working. Even with more Chaos Stones, it was too wasteful. His Chaos Stones were scarce and of top quality, all azure or better, sourced from Mengmu Dayan’s vault. Using such premium Chaos Stones to refine array flags was extravagant.
The only solution was to collect the array flags after each use and reuse them. By persistently trying, he’d eventually reach Station 1, right?
Deciding to act, Lan Xiaobu chose not to refine array flags on the yellowish dirt road. Instead, he opted for the Chaos Dao Hall.
Refining array flags in the Chaos Dao Hall consumed less divine sense. Plus, he could search the hall again while refining.
Lan Xiaobu took out the plaque inscribed with “Chaos Road” and extended his divine sense into it. As expected, a teleportation force enveloped him, and the next moment, he was dropped into a vast hall. The hall remained immensely empty, and with the Dao Heart Disk gone, the altar stood out even more starkly.
Lan Xiaobu walked the perimeter of the vast, empty hall again, his divine sense constantly extended, but he found nothing.
It seemed he’d have to rely on his old methods. Sighing, he took out several azure Chaos Stones to refine a few array flags. Once done, he’d keep trying repeatedly until he reached Station 1.
While refining the flags, Lan Xiaobu had the Cosmic Dimensional Model construct the hall’s dimensional structure.
By the time he finished refining the flags, the Cosmic Dimensional Model had completed the hall’s dimensional structure.
For the first time, Lan Xiaobu saw the Cosmic Dimensional Model fail to construct certain parts. Since acquiring it, he had never encountered anything it couldn’t model. Even the Great Cosmos Technique, though slow, could be gradually constructed.
But for this Chaos Dao Hall, the Cosmic Dimensional Model could only construct what was visible to the naked eye: the hall’s space, its rules, the altar, and the altar’s rule structure.
As for the hall’s walls, which his divine sense and sight couldn’t penetrate, or the scenery outside, the Cosmic Dimensional Model couldn’t construct them either.
Sighing, Lan Xiaobu controlled the Seven Realms Stone to leave the hall and return to the Chaos Road. He planned to continue using the Space-Tracing Array to find Station 1. If one year wasn’t enough, he’d try for ten; if ten years failed, he’d try for a hundred. He refused to believe he couldn’t find it.
Just as he took out the array flags to set up another Space-Tracing Array, a thought struck him. There was one thing he hadn’t modeled with the Cosmic Dimensional Model: the plaque inscribed with “Chaos Road.” It seemed ordinary, yet it could teleport him to the Chaos Dao Hall. How could it be simple?
The Cosmic Dimensional Model immediately began constructing the dimensional structure of the “Chaos Road” plaque. To Lan Xiaobu’s shock, while the model had quickly constructed the Chaos Dao Hall’s structure—though incompletely—it was excruciatingly slow with this small plaque. The only upside was that it could still construct it.
This wouldn’t do. Lan Xiaobu added several high-grade Dao veins to supply the Cosmic Dimensional Model with more vitality. The speed improved slightly, but it was still unacceptably slow. Frustrated, he threw in the white supreme Dao vein.
As expected, with the supreme Dao vein’s support, the Cosmic Dimensional Model’s speed in constructing the plaque’s dimensional structure surged. Even so, it took a full six months for a clear, detailed dimensional structure to appear before Lan Xiaobu.
Looking at the significantly depleted supreme Dao vein, Lan Xiaobu felt a pang of heartache. This was meant for proving his fourth-stage Dao, now diminished for no reason. But his attention was quickly captivated by the dimensional structure the Cosmic Dimensional Model had produced.
Seeing this crystal-clear structure, Lan Xiaobu gasped. He finally understood what the Chaos Road was, what the Chaos Dao was, and which six paths the Chaos Road encompassed.
Even more astonishing, he had encountered all six paths of the Chaos Road.
The first path was the Chaos Dao, the yellowish dirt road they walked, including all its stations. Qin Qingtian had only refined this Chaos Dao, also known as the Qin Tian Ancient Road.
The second path was the Chaos River. Lan Xiaobu hadn’t expected that the Chaos River they had visited was merely the second path of the Chaos Road, a part of it. How ironic that everyone sought Chaos Stones in the Chaos River, unaware it was a segment of the Chaos Road, one of its paths.
