The Great Ice Pan Palace was close to Yijing Saint City, so Lan Xiaobu didn’t need a flying treasure. With a few ruleless teleportation moves, he arrived outside its grounds.
Gazing at the palace’s daoist field, he was surprised. Built atop ice spires, massive pillars soared skyward, but the palace itself was unreachable by divine sense or sight.
The surrounding space was filled with intricate restrictions, making flight impossible. Lan Xiaobu guessed the palace’s disciples used entry talismans to access it.
Infiltrating such a place was daunting. Any disturbance could trigger the protective arrays, making escape difficult.
He regretted Gu Yuer’s disdain; otherwise, he might have gleaned more details from her. Now, he relied solely on himself.
Lan Xiaobu had confidence, bolstered by the barrier techniques he’d developed with Mo Wuji, elevating his array skills far beyond ordinary. Still, infiltrating the Great Ice Pan Palace via ruleless teleportation alone was insufficient.
Fortunately, he had the cosmic dimensional model.
Since reaching the Saint Realm, he rarely used it, but in this powerhouse-filled environment, his limited strength made it essential again.
The model was still analyzing the inter-world teleportation array, but Lan Xiaobu halted that to focus on constructing a model of the Great Ice Pan Palace’s structure. To speed up, he powered the model with his top-grade Dao vein.
The palace’s outer protective arrays were impressive but paled compared to a world-level teleportation array. With the top-grade Dao vein’s energy, the model completed the structure in just over half an hour.
Half a day later, Lan Xiaobu stepped into the void and vanished among the ice spires. Even with the model’s guidance, he moved cautiously, wary of detection.
A day later, he stopped before a true protective array. Without isolation restrictions, his divine sense clearly saw endless ice peaks inside. Dense vital energy, infused with clear ice-attribute Dao principles, permeated the area. For ice-attribute cultivators below the Fourth Step, this place would accelerate progress immensely.
Lan Xiaobu considered disguising himself as Gu Yuer but felt uneasy about mimicking a woman. Also, if exposed, it could implicate Gu Changjian.
Though he felt no loyalty to Moru World, he respected its Emperor and liked Gu Changjian, so he avoided actions that might harm them.
He thought of posing as a saint beast when a silver ice ship flashed past his divine sense, nearly too fast to catch. Outside, its speed wouldn’t be so extreme, but here, the ice-attribute spatial rules amplified it.
Ice attribute? Lan Xiaobu hesitated, then an idea struck. His form faded, replaced by a strand of ice-attribute Dao principle in the space.
Elated, he knew he couldn’t yet enter the palace’s array. His ice principle had flaws—visible aura and form, with heavy traces of manipulation. True Dao principles, like universal laws, had only rhythm, no tangible presence. To deceive the palace, he needed a flawless ice-attribute Dao principle, requiring mastery of the Ice Origin Dao.
But he didn’t need to master it. After reaching the Fourth Step, his Dao tree bore countless principles, including the Chaos Ice Origin Dao, acquired from killing Gu Qiang.
With few people in the palace—possibly due to the impending Eternal Life Conference or other reasons—Lan Xiaobu had planned to leave and study the ice principle disguise. Instead, he found a secluded corner to refine it.
A year passed. He saw only fleeting ice ships, no disciples.
In that year, with the cosmic dimensional model’s aid, he could disguise as an ice-attribute Dao principle. But under close divine sense scrutiny, flaws remained. Ideally, he’d perfect it, but time was short, and he was impatient.
Having modeled the palace’s arrays and being an array master capable of barriers, Lan Xiaobu, disguised as an ice principle, easily entered the daoist field.
Inside, ice peaks towered, their potent Dao auras palpable. Unlike outside, he could sense the strength of each peak’s occupants. The strongest rivaled Moru Heavenly Court’s Left Saint Minister, a Sixth Step nearing Seventh Step, confirming the palace’s formidable powerhouses.
Avoiding the strongest, Lan Xiaobu moved toward the outermost peak, where the occupant was the weakest, with the faintest aura and vital energy.
At its summit, he didn’t need the model. He tore through the cave mansion’s restrictions and stepped inside.
What kind of cultivation was this? Lan Xiaobu stared, shocked. A gaunt, yellow-haired girl, nearly naked save for scraps of undergarments, knelt on ice, exhaling vital energy into an ice altar.
Her hair was brittle, her body skeletal, ribs starkly visible. The scene wasn’t seductive but piteous.
His arrival startled her. She looked at him, puzzled—a man in an all-female palace—but continued her task without panic or pause.
Lan Xiaobu, about to act, saw she neither shouted nor triggered restrictions, so he held back. His divine sense scanned her, revealing countless invisible Dao threads binding her, undetectable to weaker senses. They blocked escape and even suicide.
He realized she was likely a punished prisoner, not a true disciple.
“Are you from the Great Ice Pan Palace?” he asked.
She shook her head, never stopping her vital energy transfer.
Using the cosmic dimensional model, he understood: she was forced to feed the altar, bound by an array that would kill her if she slowed, her blood mist nourishing it. Her soul would shatter, leaving no chance for reincarnation. Her survival stemmed from sheer will.
“You’re an enemy of the palace?” he asked.
She nodded. Unsure how he infiltrated, she hoped he was an enemy too, perhaps able to carry a message if not a friend.
Without her faint hope, she’d have chosen death.
“My friend was captured by the palace. I’m here to rescue them. Do you know Changyuan’s cave mansion?” Lan Xiaobu asked.
She nodded again, visibly excited, betting correctly that he was an enemy.
The model showed she couldn’t stop, or she’d be detected and disintegrate. “Tell me Changyuan’s location. I’ll set a latent cutting array here. After I rescue my friend and leave, it’ll sever your Dao threads and teleport you out. Surviving after that depends on your strength and luck.” He placed a ring on her finger, noting her destroyed world and lack of possessions.
Her eyes dimmed, believing he was lying. No latent array could cut her threads without shattering her soul, and teleporting her out past the palace’s arrays was absurd, even with an entry talisman.
