While Lan Xiaobu was still thinking about earning resources with his barrier spaceship, he suddenly sensed a faint trace of an imprint.
The Tingdao Ship! Lan Xiaobu was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected to detect the Dao imprint he left on the Tingdao Ship so soon after emerging. Previously, he didn’t dare act on the Tingdao Ship, fearing a Fourth Step cultivator or being overwhelmed. Now, having reached the Fourth Step of the Great Dao, why would he care about the Tingdao Ship?
He activated the Heaven and Earth Buckle, charging toward the Tingdao Ship.
The rift-breaking ship was much faster than a top-grade divine flying artifact, but it was slightly slower than Lan Xiaobu’s Heaven and Earth Buckle. Now at the Fourth Step, he controlled the buckle even faster.
Even so, catching up to the Tingdao Ship quickly wasn’t easy. As the Heaven and Earth Buckle pressed forward, Lan Xiaobu felt the Dao imprint he left on the Tingdao Ship growing clearer.
A year passed in a flash, and the shadow of the Tingdao Ship appeared at the edge of Lan Xiaobu’s divine sense.
As the Heaven and Earth Buckle neared the Tingdao Ship, Lan Xiaobu felt a faint sense of threat. He hesitated briefly, then accelerated the buckle. In just a few breaths, it reached the Tingdao Ship’s edge.
Lan Xiaobu knew his presence had likely been noticed by the Tingdao Ship, but he didn’t care. He reached out and tore through the ship’s restrictions. Even if there was a Fourth Step cultivator aboard, it only posed a slight threat, not a life-or-death crisis. What was there to fear? Unless there was a Fifth Step Great Dao powerhouse, which Lan Xiaobu was ninety percent certain wasn’t the case.
*Crack!* The Tingdao Ship’s protective array was strong, but for Lan Xiaobu, a Fourth Step cultivator skilled in arrays and barriers, it was child’s play. With one move, he tore through the restrictions and landed on the ship.
…
“Zong Quan, you…” A steward stared at Lan Xiaobu, shouting in shock as if he’d seen a ghost.
Lan Xiaobu, disguised as Zong Quan, eyed the steward up and down. He hadn’t soul-searched Zong Quan, so he didn’t know who this steward was.
The steward calmed down and roared, “Are you mad? You dare tear through the Tingdao Ship’s restrictions? Do you want to drag your Dao sect into this?”
“Noisy.” Lan Xiaobu slapped him, sending the Creation Saint-level steward crashing into the restriction’s edge, half-dead.
Lan Xiaobu had no intention of killing everyone on the ship. He headed straight for the third-level entrance.
On the Tingdao Ship, few cultivators lingered outside, as doing so required paying Dao crystals. So, when Lan Xiaobu slapped the steward away, only a few onboard protectors saw it.
As he approached the third level, two protectors rushed at him, activating their treasures, while another sent a message.
In the most luxurious cave mansion on the third level, a slightly plump man was smiling, sipping tea with a man and a woman.
At that moment, a flying sword rushed in, landing in the plump man’s hand.
His face darkened slightly. Unless it was a major issue, no one dared send him a transmission sword at such a time. Even major issues were usually reported by his trusted aides.
The handsome man opposite him smiled, “If Lord Chong has business, please attend to it. We’ll sit here for a bit.”
The plump man shook his head, “A minor matter shouldn’t require my attention. I’ll have a few protectors handle it…”
Before he finished, two loud thuds echoed, and two severely injured figures crashed at his feet.
One was his most trusted aide, Long-Haired Jin Jiang.
“Who are you?” The plump man stood abruptly, while the man and woman opposite him remained seated, their gazes fixed on the handsome man at the door.
The woman suddenly chuckled, “Brother Ting, he seems even more handsome than you, though a bit pale, like a sickly scholar.”
Brother Ting smiled faintly, seemingly unconcerned by the man at the door.
“I’m Zong Quan. I rode your ship before, but only in mid-tier cabins. A ship boss like you wouldn’t have noticed,” Lan Xiaobu said with a hint of mockery.
The long-haired man on the ground regained consciousness and said urgently, “Lord, he’s Yin Bu, an enforcer from the Fourth Saint Court of Waizeng Heaven. He went to the Jiuyuan Chaos Zone over three hundred years ago and didn’t return. I didn’t expect him to show up now.”
“Haha…” The plump man laughed, his eyes radiating undisguised killing intent. “A mere Yin Bu enforcer from the Fourth Saint Court dares act arrogantly on my Tingdao Ship? Even if your court’s Dao Lord came, they wouldn’t dare cause trouble here.”
Lan Xiaobu realized the plump man was definitely Fourth Step. Hu Youqing’s claim that there was no Fourth Step on the Tingdao Ship was false. Thankfully, he had been cautious, or he wouldn’t be here today. Besides the plump man, the seated man was also Fourth Step, and the woman was close to it.
The Tingdao Ship’s strength was indeed greater than he’d imagined.
“Lord Chong, need our help?” Brother Ting asked with a smile.
The plump man laughed, “I, Chong Yi, may not be much, but a mere Yin Bu enforcer doesn’t require assistance. Please wait a moment…”
As Chong Yi spoke, his powerful Fourth Step Great Dao domain swept out, instantly locking the surrounding space. To him, a Yin Bu enforcer from the Fourth Saint Court of Waizeng Heaven was at most a Creation Saint. For Zong Quan to tear through the Tingdao Ship’s restrictions and barge into his cave mansion was suicidal, likely because he heard there was no Fourth Step aboard and, having gained some opportunity in the chaos zone, was infinitely close to the Fourth Step, thinking he could act arrogantly.
But as Chong Yi’s Saint domain surged, his thoughts froze. He was horrified to find his domain disintegrating, and the space around him was gradually locked by the opponent’s domain. His domain wasn’t just breaking down—it was being devoured.
“You’re Fourth Step… No, Fifth Step!” Chong Yi was stunned. A Fourth Step couldn’t tear apart his domain so easily, meaning the opponent was a Fifth Step powerhouse.
As a Fourth Step cultivator, he knew if the opponent was also Fourth Step, he wouldn’t be so powerless.
Lan Xiaobu sighed inwardly. Back then, he and Mo Wuji used every trick, yet a weakened Fourth Step powerhouse, Qin Qingtian, escaped. Now, having reached the Fourth Step, he could crush a true Fourth Step cultivator.
To Chong Yi, if Lan Xiaobu was only Fourth Step, he’d fight to the death and ask Zhuo Ting for help. But a Fifth Step extinguished his will to resist.
The gap between Fourth and Fifth Step wasn’t something numbers or desperation could bridge.
The man and woman also stood, staring at Lan Xiaobu in shock. They thought he was seeking death by coming here. Even if Chong Yi wasn’t his match, they would have acted.
But now, Lan Xiaobu was crushing Chong Yi, the Tingdao Ship’s lord, with just his domain, clearly capable of crushing them too.
In the brief moment of Chong Yi’s shock, Lan Xiaobu swiftly locked his Dao veins and tore through his Purple Mansion.
Chong Yi looked at Lan Xiaobu in despair. “Enforcer Zong, you’re from the Fourth Saint Court. Don’t you know killing me will bring endless trouble to your court? We have no grudge, so why do this?”
Lan Xiaobu chuckled, “No grudge? I paid for a ticket on your Tingdao Ship, yet you kept scamming my Dao crystals along the way. If I hadn’t some skills and gained opportunities in the chaos zone, wouldn’t I have died on your ship? And you dare say we have no grudge?”
Chong Yi was stunned. What kind of reason was that? The Tingdao Ship had always operated this way, and for years, no one dared seek revenge. Even those who tried were killed by the Heavenly Court’s divine soldiers before acting.
