Lan Xiaobu stayed outside the Great Ice Pan Palace, ensuring Shi Wanrong had escaped before calmly summoning the Seven Realms Stone.
“Tell me, what exactly happened?” Lan Xiaobu fixed his gaze on Tai Chuan, who stood before him with his head lowered, like a child caught misbehaving.
Tai Chuan felt ashamed. It knew Qi Manwei might be its future mistress, yet not only had it failed to protect her, it had ended up being auctioned off.
“After we arrived at the Great Yan Realm, I quickly advanced to the Creation Path Sacred Beast realm with the help of the Heart of Heavenly Poison. Just as I wanted to show off, the entire Great Yan Realm began to tremble. Then, it broke free from its boundary and hurtled into the void.”
Tai Chuan’s voice still carried a trace of fear.
Lan Xiaobu frowned, already suspecting the cause. The Great Yan Realm wouldn’t inexplicably break free from the vast domain of the Middle Universe. If a seventh-step powerhouse had intervened, locating the realm and controlling its cosmic rules could indeed allow them to drag it across planar domains.
“Later, we were all dumped in front of a woman whose cultivation was likely no higher than the fifth step of the Great Path,” Tai Chuan continued.
Lan Xiaobu interrupted, “The fifth step of the Great Path couldn’t pull the Great Yan Realm from the Middle Universe.”
Tai Chuan explained, “I overheard her talking with a young man and learned it was the younger man who brought the Great Yan Realm here. His name was Guan Chong, the Holy Lord of the Great Yan Path. The woman, Guan Yuxue, was his granddaughter.”
“How do you know about this Guan Chong?” Lan Xiaobu pressed.
He knew of the Great Yan Path, one of the four paths of the True Yan Holy Path.
Tai Chuan replied, “Guan Chong told Guan Yuxue, ‘Xue’er, I brought back the Great Yan Realm for you. Don’t lose it again—I might not be able to retrieve it next time. There are some interesting characters in this realm, including a mutated Chaos Unicorn. Taming it could be a great asset. If you don’t want it, it could fetch plenty of cultivation resources. There’s also a woman with a Chaos Dao Body—do with her as you see fit.’
“Guan Yuxue responded, ‘I didn’t expect a Chaos Unicorn and a Chaos Dao Body in the Middle Universe. This planar universe is peculiar.’ Guan Chong chuckled, ‘There’s also a Primordial Spirit Body and someone cultivating the Chaos Heavenly Poison Path. The Primordial Spirit Body was clever and slipped away mid-journey, but the others are here.’”
Lan Xiaobu regretted his carelessness. He was certain the escaped Primordial Spirit Body was Qin Qingtian.
Tai Chuan went on, “After instructing his granddaughter, Guan Chong came to me and threatened, ‘I’m Guan Chong, Holy Lord of the Great Yan Path under the True Yan Holy Path. Since you’re here, behave. Otherwise, even if you flee to the edge of the universe, I can easily drag you back.’”
Lan Xiaobu’s heart jolted. He immediately began constructing a dimensional model for Tai Chuan, hoping his current strength and the Cosmic Dimensional Model could reveal Tai Chuan’s structure.
After repeated attempts, Lan Xiaobu found no divine sense imprint on Tai Chuan. Yet he was certain an imprint existed, likely fused into Tai Chuan’s dao charm over time.
“Master Bu, is something wrong?” Tai Chuan asked, noticing Lan Xiaobu’s grave expression.
Lan Xiaobu nodded, “Yes, you’ve definitely been marked by Guan Chong.”
A thought struck him. Could the Great Ice Pan Palace have stripped Guan Chong’s imprint? If he had bought a Chaos Unicorn, he’d check for imprints. The palace might have preemptively removed it.
“Tai Chuan, what’s the strongest cultivation level at the Great Ice Pan Palace?” Lan Xiaobu asked urgently.
“Probably the sixth step of the Great Path. I heard it from a woman named Chang Yuan,” Tai Chuan answered.
Lan Xiaobu’s heart sank. The sixth step couldn’t strip an imprint left by Guan Chong. If Guan Chong wasn’t at the seventh step, he couldn’t have moved the Great Yan Realm across planes.
He could only hope Guan Chong hadn’t left an imprint, but that seemed unlikely. Guan Chong’s threat—that he could retrieve Tai Chuan from the universe’s edge—suggested confidence. A powerhouse like him wouldn’t make empty claims. He likely had the means to track Tai Chuan.
The vast cosmos was boundless. Even a ninth-step Great Path cultivator might never explore every corner in a lifetime. How could Guan Chong make such a claim? The only explanation was an imprint.
Tai Chuan, realizing the gravity, asked worriedly, “Master Bu, what do we do?”
Lan Xiaobu said slowly, “We have two options. First, find a chaotic region and use the Cosmic Dimensional Model to reconstruct your dimensional structure. Any divine sense imprint will show anomalies in chaos. Second, we find someone.”
“Who?” Tai Chuan asked eagerly.
Lan Xiaobu shook his head. He’d considered Shi Wanrong, whose backing was formidable—otherwise, the Great Ice Pan Palace wouldn’t have let her use Great Path Essence to refine an ice altar.
Though only at the fourth step, Lan Xiaobu’s insight was sharp. The palace coveted Shi Wanrong’s Great Path technique, which explained their actions.
A sect seeking a common cultivator’s technique? That technique was anything but ordinary. The palace’s reluctance to reverse-engineer Shi Wanrong’s dao base showed her backer’s strength. Such an act could alert that powerhouse.
But Lan Xiaobu soon dismissed the idea. Shi Wanrong’s backer, at best, matched Guan Chong’s level. That strength might not detect Guan Chong’s imprint, and even if they could, they might not help.
“Let’s go find a chaotic region to check for your imprint,” Lan Xiaobu decided. Taking Tai Chuan to the Holy Sword Palace now risked exposing himself if the imprint remained.
The palace had lost Tai Chuan. Barring surprises, Chang Yuan wouldn’t reveal anything for a decade. But Lan Xiaobu didn’t want to rely on others.
If Chang Yuan leaked now, the palace might already be appealing to Guan Chong.
“Yes, Master Bu,” Tai Chuan responded quickly.
“What about Qi Manwei, Du Bu, and Yi Qingshan?” Lan Xiaobu asked.
Tai Chuan lowered its head, “I saw Sister Qingshan killed. I don’t know where Du Bu and Sister Qi are.”
“Why was Yi Qingshan killed?” Lan Xiaobu asked, shocked.
Tai Chuan explained, “Sister Qingshan had reached the fourth step of the Great Path. After being captured, she understood her situation and suddenly attacked, trying to restrain Guan Yuxue to save herself. But Guan Chong was too strong. She barely moved before his Saint Domain suppressed her, and he killed her with a backhand.”
“That old bastard,” Lan Xiaobu seethed, resolving to deal with Guan Chong someday.
Even if the Great Yan Realm was yours, we didn’t steal it. We cultivated there without damaging the realm. Taking it was fine, but why kill? Yi Qingshan posed no lethal threat to Guan Yuxue—Guan Chong would’ve seen that. She only wanted leverage.
“What about the Heavenly Poison Saint?” Lan Xiaobu asked.
“He’s joined Guan Yuxue, becoming her lackey,” Tai Chuan said.
Lan Xiaobu gave a bitter laugh. He’d spared the Heavenly Poison Saint once, but the man didn’t repay the favor. He slacked off against Qin Qingtian and likely later teamed up with him—how else could Qin Qingtian have reached the Great Yan Realm?
Now he’d defected to Guan Yuxue.
Next time Lan Xiaobu saw him, he’d make him regret it.
“Let’s head to the Holy Sword Palace. I hear it’s in a chaotic region,” Lan Xiaobu said, steering the Seven Realms Stone toward the palace’s location.
The Holy Sword Palace had its own Great Path Holy City, Holy Sword City. Lan Xiaobu avoided teleportation arrays. Having saved Shi Wanrong, the Great Ice Pan Palace was likely hunting her and might monitor arrays.
Besides, anyone leaving the Holy Sword Palace could be scrutinized.
If the palace noticed him, rescuing others would be harder.
The Seven Realms Stone was fast. At full speed, it’d reach the Holy Sword Palace in about two years. Since the palace planned to send Qi Manwei to the Eternal Life Conference, she should be safe until it began.
